Another Investigation of the Crime Scene

　　Emma felt that Benjamin's smile was somewhat eerie and asked, 'What are you laughing about? Do you know something that I don't? Are you playing tricks?'

　　'Let's go, now we need to meet someone,' Benjamin intentionally changed the topic.

　　'Meet who?'

　　'Aunt Ava.'

　　'The one from "CCTV News"?'

　　'Exactly.

　　She knows a lot, and if we want to find the real murderer, we must find a breakthrough from her.'

　　'She might not say anything.

　　Last time, she ran away as soon as James revealed his identity.'

　　'She was afraid of getting in trouble with the police, but I'm not a cop.

　　Perhaps she will tell me something.

　　Let's go, we'll discuss everything once we meet her.'

　　Emma saw Benjamin walking ahead and quickly caught up, saying, 'Hey, I thought you would be mad at James and no longer care about this case!'

　　'This case is very interesting.

　　Why should I give up on finding the truth of the case?'

　　'You said before that no one commissioned you for this case, so you wouldn't take it.'

　　'My commission was established when James found us.'

　　'But he said he wouldn't let us handle this case anymore.'

　　'What he says doesn't matter.'

　　Benjamin and Emma hailed a taxi and headed to the North Shore community.

　　This time, it felt different from the previous two times; the community seemed much quieter.

　　They circled around but didn't see Aunt Ava's shadow.

　　'Let's go see her at her place.

　　Maybe she's cooking at home,' Emma suggested.

　　Indeed, it was time to cook, which explained why there weren't many people in the community.

　　Perhaps people were all preparing meals at home.

　　Benjamin didn't object to Emma's suggestion, and they both hurried to Building 5.

　　It was easy to find Aunt Ava's home, and they knocked on the door.

　　'Who is it?' A man's voice responded from inside.

　　After the door opened, they saw a very muscular old man standing there, sizing them up, and asked, 'Who are you looking for?'

　　'Is Aunt Ava at home?' Benjamin politely asked.

　　'Who are you?' The old man looked Benjamin up and down once again.

　　Benjamin pointed upstairs and said, 'I live upstairs.

　　I just moved in these past two days.

　　I heard Aunt Ava is very enthusiastic and knows many things, so I came to inquire about a few questions.'

　　'Oh, so you guys just moved in.

　　No wonder you look unfamiliar to me.'"

　　"The old man quickly accepted Benjamin's words and said, 'I am Ava's husband.

　　You can call me Grandpa Daniel.' 'Hello, Grandpa Daniel,' Benjamin warmly shook his hand and asked again, 'Is Grandma Ava at home?' 'The old lady went out to buy groceries.

　　If you have something to discuss, come inside and talk.' Grandpa Daniel made way for them, showing great hospitality.

　　'Since Grandma Ava is not home, we'll leave now and come back later,' Benjamin said.

　　'Your Grandma Ava always talks nonsense, exaggerating and never being accurate.

　　If you have any questions, it's better to ask me instead.

　　Come, come inside and have a seat,' Grandpa Daniel insisted.

　　Benjamin and Emma entered the house.

　　The furnishings were simple but clean, indicating that the two elderly people were living relatively well.

　　Grandpa Daniel asked them to sit on the sofa in the living room, poured tea and water for them, and then asked again what they wanted with Grandma Ava.

　　'We heard that there was a murder case in our upstairs neighbor's apartment,' Benjamin pretended to be afraid.

　　'You know, we just moved here, and the security of the neighborhood is our top concern.' 'It is true that there was a murder case upstairs, but you don't need to worry about it.

　　Usually, our neighborhood doesn't even have petty thefts.

　　This murder was purely accidental,' Grandpa Daniel said nonchalantly.

　　'That's good to hear,' Benjamin appeared relieved and continued, 'That woman was so pitiful.

　　She was dating a man five years younger than her, and in the end, that young boyfriend killed her.' 'Who told you that? Your Grandma Ava? That old lady loves to talk nonsense!' 'Isn't that what happened?' 'Of course not.' 'But that's what everyone is saying.

　　They also say that the woman's boyfriend is the security guard of our neighborhood, and after he killed her, he quit his job and ran away overnight!' 'That's pure nonsense! Yes, in our neighborhood, there is indeed a security guard named William.

　　And it is true that he was the woman's boyfriend.

　　But he couldn't have possibly killed her!' 'Why not?' 'Believe me, I can judge people accurately.

　　From the moment I saw William with that woman, I knew their relationship was extraordinary.

　　And it turned out I was right.

　　You haven't seen William yet, but once you do, you'll know that he's an honest boy who wouldn't even dare to fart.

　　No matter what, I refuse to believe that he is the murderer!' 'Do you have any evidence to prove that he is not the culprit?' 'I don't have evidence, I only trust my own eyes.

　　That kid definitely couldn't have killed anyone.' Benjamin had thought that Grandpa Daniel would have some evidence, but he was disappointed to find out that Daniel's beliefs were solely based on his own feelings.

　　Before Grandma Ava returned, Benjamin didn't want to disclose his identity, so he stood up and said, 'I suddenly remembered there are some things upstairs that need to be taken care of.

　　I will visit you and Grandma Ava later.'"

　　"Alright, no matter what you guys need, you can always come find me," Uncle Daniel accompanied the two of them to the entrance.

　　Benjamin and Emma walked upstairs.

　　Room 601 had already been sealed by the police, with a seal attached to the door and the door locked.

　　The first time they arrived at the crime scene, there were too many personnel.

　　This time, coming to Beian District, in addition to wanting to ask Aunt Ava some questions, Benjamin also wanted to reexamine the crime scene to see if there were any overlooked details.

　　The locked door and seal couldn't stump them.

　　Emma sprayed some water on the seal and easily tore it off from where it was attached to the door frame.

　　When they left, as long as they reattached the seal, it wouldn't draw anyone's attention.

　　She picked the lock, walked in, and closed the door behind her.

　　No one outside would notice anyone inside, and besides, not many people would come up to the sixth floor.

　　The interior of the room remained mostly the same as when Benjamin had first come here.

　　He carefully inspected every corner but didn't find anything suspicious.

　　Finally, he squatted down in front of the wardrobe and looked at the shoe prints and the corner that was missing.

　　"This was kicked broken by someone." "It must have been William accidentally kicking it when he was hiding in the wardrobe," Emma said.

　　Benjamin shook his head and said, "No, it wasn't him.

　　I carefully examined his shoes, and there were no traces left on the soles, so it shouldn't be him." "Are you referring to the fact that there were no wood shavings from a broken matchstick on his shoes?" Emma asked.

　　"Yes." "After the wood shavings are broken, it doesn't necessarily stick to the top of the shoe.

　　Even if it happens to stick to the shoe, after William left here, he went to another place.

　　There's no guarantee that the wood shavings didn't fall off along the way." "I say it's not him, there's another important reason." "What reason?" "Remember when Ethan said that when he was cleaning the scene, he heard a sound similar to a match being broken?" "You mean, the sound at that time was caused by someone breaking it here?" "Yes.

　　Don't forget, William had already left the scene at that time, so it couldn't have been him who broke it." Emma stared at the wardrobe for a moment and said in a low voice, "To be honest, I think we've made a very big mistake." "What mistake?" Benjamin turned around and looked at Emma.

　　"When William left here was only what he himself claimed.

　　No one actually saw it happen." "Are you suggesting that William lied, and when Olivia left, he didn't leave either? When Ethan was cleaning the scene, he hid in the wardrobe again and accidentally broke it here?" "You have to know, there are only his shoe prints in the wardrobe.

　　Besides him, who else would hide in the wardrobe? Maybe we've all been fooled by his honest appearance.

　　Perhaps he's not as honest as he seems, at least he has a great deal of suspicion in this matter.

　　After Olivia left, he did want to leave, but in the middle, he came back and when he wanted to leave again, he was blocked here by Ethan.

　　Helplessly, he could only hide in the wardrobe again." "What's the motive?" "The jewelry on the victim's body."

　　James makes a reasonable point.

　　William's family is very poor, and he conspired with Sophia to extort money from Ethan, but in the end, they didn't make a single penny themselves.

　　As he walked halfway, he felt more and more that it wasn't worth it, so he decided to go back and take the deceased's jewelry, but he didn't expect the deceased to suddenly wake up and argue with him.

　　In his desperation, he killed the deceased.

　　Benjamin didn't immediately refute Emma.

　　He thought carefully for a moment and said, "What you said may have some merit.

　　Let's temporarily assume that the person hiding in the closet when Ethan cleaned up the scene was William.

　　Ethan said that after hearing the sound of a matchstick breaking, he heard footsteps.

　　But when he came to check, he didn't find anything.

　　Where did the person hiding here go? How did he leave?"

　　"The window.

　　Don't forget that Ethan said he felt a breeze when he came here.

　　The window was open at that time.

　　The killer must have left through the window," Emma said excitedly, thinking that Benjamin agreed with her reasoning.

　　"William returned here midway, killed the suddenly awakened deceased while taking the jewelry from the deceased, and when he wanted to leave, he was blocked by Ethan.

　　Finally, he escaped through the window."

　　Perhaps because the window was closed and this is the sixth floor, the police did not consider the possibility of the killer leaving through the window when they examined the scene, so they didn't inspect the window.

　　Benjamin walked over, opened the window, and found some marks on the windowsill, indicating that someone had stepped on it.

　　The shoe prints were very clear and clearly different from the shoe prints William left in the closet.

　　If someone thought that the killer had left through the window or if someone had opened the window during the investigation, they would have noticed this shoe print.

　　Unfortunately, when the police were investigating the scene, they were only focused on protecting the evidence and preserving the scene, so no one thought of opening the window, and no one discovered this shoe print.