DIREFUL SANITARIUM - [COMPLETED]

Part 46

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Treacher's P.O.V

I reviewed the details of the case again, trying to make connections between the facts of Raven's liberation. The CCTV footage showed him boarding a black 4x4 pick-up truck and leaving, but we had no solid leads as to where it was headed like it was vanished on the streets into thin air.

I had scoured all recorded CCTV footages around Elderville and Aceredo. I had managed to collect every bit of surveillance footage from the surrounding streets, piecing it together to get a general idea of their route. But in the last footage I had, there just didn't seem to be any clear sign of where they went. I kept replaying it, scrutinizing every frame, but I just couldn't make sense of it. It was like hitting a dead end.

I even reached out to Sherlock in order to obtain any surveillance footage from around the area where the mysterious man handed off the envelope to the nurse. However, he was unable to provide any helpful material to me.

'It was a stroke of unfortunate luck,' I recalled him saying, 'that all the CCTV cameras happened to be turned off in the vicinity where the nurse and the unknown man conversed. In the meantime, I have already dispatched my officers to the area where the vehicle was last seen to follow up with potential witnesses. Any additional information or sightings will be reported to you immediately, sir.'

I also checked the registration records, searching for any relevant information about the car, identifying the make and model of it and reached out to mechanics, auto body shops and car dealerships to know if they have possibly seen it.

"Haa .. " I sighed, leaning forward in my seats with my elbows on the desk, reading reports and interviews while jotting down notes considering other possible leads, every clue, no matter how small but there was nothing that stood out. My frustrations grew thinking about it.

Actually, there are other various methods to track and trace a car, including checking LTO records to identify the owner of a vehicle, and running license plate numbers through it to see whether the vehicle has been reported stolen or involved in any other crimes .. but I learned one thing today:

'We can't trace the car using its license plate because it's obviously fake. That unique identification number is just messing with you, detective, if you don't know what it means,' Sherlock told me an hour ago.

"FMIYC-69 .. ?" What does this .. wait .. is this---

I was deep in thought when my phone suddenly rang, bringing me back to reality, so I answered the call.

"Yes?" I said cautiously.

["I heard about what happened to Raven. He ran away?]

I paused for a moment before heaving out a sigh. "That's right."

["Really?"] I heard his soft laugh from the other line.

"How did you know about Raven's disappearance?" I asked with my brows furrowed in confusion. "I've been assigned to investigate his case but I didn't tell you anything yet," I said after a moment. "Did you talked to Hunter?"

["How come Hunter let his guard down on him and let him escape?"] He asked ignoring what I said.

"That's .. that's a good question," I said, feeling a tinge of annoyance. "As I recall, Hunter said he was quite busy that night and Raven took advantage of his distraction."

I thought about the CCTV footage I had seen. Raven left the sanitarium very smoothly, without alerting anyone.

["I can't believe, Hunter can also be gullible sometimes when he's with Raven."]