Chapter 528: Raising the Butcher’s Knife Against the Daughter-in-Law

Chapter 528: Chapter 528: Raising the Butcher’s Knife Against the Daughter-in-Law

Speaking of this, Vivian Dunn frowned. Theodore Hughes’s mother played favorites, but since neither of her children said anything, it wasn’t their place to speak up as bystanders.

After hearing the whole story, Zoe Sawyer let out a long breath.

This was a pretty good outcome. At the very least, the mastermind behind the scenes was caught, and the victims’ losses could be recovered in time. If it had been one of those cases where the culprits fled abroad and transferred their assets out of the country, it would have been next to impossible for the victims to get their money back. The case would be dragged out indefinitely, and ultimately, the depositors would be the ones to suffer the greatest losses.

More importantly, Zoe harbored some rather dark thoughts. The scammers had targeted the elderly and families like Wren Rowan’s. According to their original plan, if the police hadn’t discovered their scheme this time, they could have made a clean getaway with their local spoils in just a little while. And Roger Rowan’s family would have been left with nothing but a few contracts, forced to call the police and hire lawyers in a desperate attempt to defend their rights.

By then, the main culprits would have long since fled. The police would need time to investigate, and even if they eventually tracked them down, the scammer couple might have already absconded to a new location or even overseas. Defending their rights would have been even more difficult.

For the elderly depositors, it was even easier—just stall. Stall until the old folks couldn’t hold on anymore. Once they passed away, there would be nothing else to worry about.

Zoe rubbed her face, forcing herself to snap out of it, and then shared her speculations with Vivian.

"Because that’s exactly how many scam syndicates operate. There are plenty of similar cases at the police station, so it’s perfectly normal for you to think of that," Vivian said, patting Zoe’s shoulder comfortingly. "The ending is a good one. Learning from it and minimizing the occurrence of such incidents is what we ought to do."

True.

Zoe kicked her feet a little awkwardly. She really had been overthinking things.

"Let’s go. I’ll take you back to your dorm. Captain Keller and the others still have work to do, so they asked me to take you back as soon as you woke up," Vivian said.

"Okay!"

Over the next few days, aside from the tasks assigned by the chief, the door remained quiet. There were no warnings, and opening it ordinarily yielded no abnormalities.

Just when Zoe thought it would be another peaceful day, around one o’clock in the afternoon, she suddenly sat bolt upright from her nap at her desk and sprang to her feet. The chair scraped against the floor, letting out an ear-piercing SCREECH.

Whether they were sleeping or writing reports, everyone in the office instantly fixed their eyes on her.

"What’s wrong? Did something happen?" Heath Hale looked at Zoe, his eyes filled with concern.

Zoe walked toward the door, her tone frantic. "Yes! Something happened! Hurry up and get ready!"

Upon hearing her words, the team members nearest the door immediately grabbed their equipment and geared up. Catching sight of them ready out of the corner of her eye, Zoe didn’t hesitate. She grabbed the doorknob and swiftly pushed the door open.

On the other side of the door, a ferocious-looking old woman of about seventy was raising a kitchen cleaver. Not far in front of her lay a young woman on the floor, clutching her face and wailing. Her body and the floor around her were soaking wet, shimmering with an oily sheen. And the cleaver in the old woman’s hand was already stained with blood.

"Save her first!" After opening the door, Zoe quickly stepped aside to let the prepared team members rush in.

Hearing the sudden noise behind her, the old woman subconsciously turned her head. But before she could clearly see who it was, the situation turned against her. As she moved, the cleaver paused in mid-air. The first team member to rush over seized the opportunity, lunging forward to snatch the cleaver from her grasp. Working together with the colleagues following closely behind, they pinned the old woman face-down on the floor with her arms behind her back, restricting her movements.

"Who are you?! This is my house! You’re trespassing! It’s illegal!" the old woman yelled as she struggled. Her expression shifted from ferocious, to astonished, and finally to threatening.

The team member pinning her down applied more pressure. "You know the law, yet you still dare to commit murder!"

The rest of the team split into two groups. One group called for an ambulance and took photos of the scene, while the other went to check on the victim’s condition.

Zoe, Sean Hughes, and the others also hurried over.

With the door no longer blocking the scent, Zoe didn’t even need to get close to smell an overwhelmingly strong stench of gasoline mixed with blood. However, intermingled with these two smells was a faint, almost imperceptible foul odor. But because the gasoline smell was so overpowering, it was impossible to discern the source of the foul odor right away.

Following the trail, they saw that the liquid surrounding the victim indeed had an oily sheen, and her clothes were dyed dark red from fresh blood.

"How is she?" Zoe and Sean stood to the side, looking at the woman who had fainted from the pain, and asked in a solemn tone.

The team member tending to the woman’s wounds didn’t stop their hands. "Not good. The cuts are too deep. The worst one narrowly missed her major artery."

Hearing this, Zoe and Sean couldn’t help but gasp. What kind of deep-seated grudge could warrant such heavy-handed cruelty?!

"It’s good if she dies! Good! If she’s dead, no one will fight my son for the house!" Upon hearing the team member’s assessment, the old woman completely ignored her own pain and laughed with maniacal arrogance.

"Quiet!" the team member guarding the old woman reprimanded her.

"This is my house! What right do you have to act so wildly in my home?! Watch out, or I’ll call the police to arrest you all!" Because she had been pinned face-down from the start, the old woman hadn’t clearly seen who had apprehended her. She could only bring up the police, attempting to intimidate everyone with the empty threat. At the same time, she continually pounded her hands against the floor to create noise, hoping to attract the neighbors from downstairs.

"Then go ahead and call them. We are the police. What would you like to report?" Evan Keller walked over to the old woman, crouched down, and flashed his badge at her.

He had been wondering why Zoe was in such a panic, thinking the door had given another warning. He never expected that this time, it would be a live crime scene. Furthermore, if Zoe hadn’t opened the door in time and the team hadn’t rushed out to subdue this old woman, it would be highly questionable if the victim would even still be alive!

The commotion here was too loud, and with a team member heading out to wait for the ambulance, the surrounding neighbors sensed something was wrong. They stepped out of their homes one after another to see what was going on.

"Police? Why are you here? What happened to this family?" A neighbor who looked to be around the same age as the old woman walked over, their expression and tone brimming with confusion. Everything had been perfectly fine, so why did the police suddenly show up?

The police officer guarding the door held out a hand to stop them from coming any closer. "Police investigation. Please step back."