For Forever and A Day

16.

Since the Accident:
11 months, 12 days
November 19th, 2010

After months of searching not much had come up. Ryan had watched the tapes over and over again, seeing only minimal details he could work with.

He checked car garages and dealerships in the area and tried to find if someone had taken a car or had rented one, maybe even bought a new vehicle.

But of course, people who weren't suspect would get new cars or get ones fixed regularly, and no cars had gone missing off any lots.

Hospital records had been checked and of course there was nothing from that night that could be suspicious of this accident. Any other cases had clear causes or events.

It looked like Ryan Blake was hitting a dead end.

He leaned his elbows up onto his desk and rested his head into his palms. He let out the long breath of air he was holding before he leaned back into his desk chair and stared at the mess of papers that sat before him.

"Come on Blake, you need some rest."

The officer shook his head, his unruly blond curls even more so from the constant running of his fingers through them.

"Not until I find something that I can work with."

"You won't find anything unless you get something rest."

"Dannings I need to find something, anything!"

Officer Delilah Dannings pulled her chair around from her desk to his and sat down. "Alright, what do we need to look through?"

Ryan handed her some paperwork and pulled up the security footage into his computer. "I keep looking at this to see if there's anything I can work with."

He clicked play and leaned back. Delilah's grey stared at the screen intently. After the first roll through she clicked the video to rewatch it a few times. Ryan Blake perked up slightly as her eyes narrowed.

Delilah only ever had that look on her face when she had something.

Finally Delilah Dannings paused the video and pointed to the back window. "There's an outline of a sticker here, maybe if we can get forensics to work on it we can get them to recreate it and maybe get a lead."

Ryan jumped up from his desk, not even waiting for the Officer to follow. He made his way to elevator in the front of the floor and clicked the down button. Delilah Dannings walked to catch up with him.

Ryan tapped his foot impatiently as he waited. "Come on, hurry up already!" He mumbled as he clenched and unclenched his fists.

The doors finally glided open and Ryan Blake stepped inside, pressing the button immediately after his feet hit the floor. Delilah barely had enough time to step inside with how quickly he pressed the button to close the doors.

The two officers went down to the forensics department in complete silence. Ryan Blake walked into the room of last forensic specialist. John Meyen was known to stay late, but tonight the man actually seemed to be in a hurry.

He was a shorter man, his dark brown hair was balding slightly in the back. He brown thin metal rimmed glasses over his brown eyes. He was always cleanly shaven and always wore a white lab coat over his shirt and tie.

"I'm sorry but no more requests tonight. I have to get
home."

"What do you have going on? I'm guessing it's something special if you're leaving this early." Delilah said with a smile.

Meyen laughed as he closed his brief case. "Yes, I have my daughters recital which starts at eight thirty so I have to leave now if I want to make it in time."

"Can you run one thing before you go?" Ryan Blake asked, desperation in his voice. He looked exhausted, especially considering he had been at the office since six that morning.

"I'm sorry Blake but I really have to go."

"Why can't you just run it?" Ryan asked through gritted teeth.

Delilah placed a calming hand on his shoulder. "Please, it should only take a few minutes. If it doesn't then you can finish it in the morning ."

Meyen sighed, placed his briefcase back onto his desk and pushed his glasses back in to place. "What do I need to run?"

"I sent you a video of a car. It's hard to make out but you can see the shape of a sticker on the bottom right of the back windshield."

Meyen opened the video nodded. "Yes, this should definitely not take long." Immediately John Meyen began to work.

Officer Ryan Blake grew more impatient as the second ticked by. Delilah Dannings held him back and kept him calm, but the officer didn't stop pacing and running his agitated hand through his curls.

Meyen finally finished and printed out the information they would need. "The sticker is actually something that you will be able to use. It's all in the paperwork."

Ryan quickly snatched the papers from the mans fingers and scanned through it. The stickers was found to be from a company in the area. It was an ad firm, easily distinguished by the shape of the stickers and that employees had them on their company mandated cars.

Before the analysis could continue, Ryan had already run back up to the elevator and headed back up to his desk.

"Thank you. Tell your daughter good luck." Delilah Dannings said with a smile. "Have a good night."

"You too Delilah and thank you." John Meyer said as he removed his lab coat and grabbed his brief case.

The elevator let out a ding as the doors began to open. Ryan ran between the opening doors and set the papers hastily onto his desk. He immediately began searching, finding the company called Paintet inc.

Ryan Blake picked up the phone to call but Delilah put a hand on top of the receiver to stop him. Ryan looked up, a deadly look in his blue eyes. "Let go of the phone Dannings. I have a job to do."

"But you also need sleep. We'll continue this tomorrow, after you're rested."

Officer Ryan Blake let out a sigh. He knew that she was right. He removed his hand from the phone and started to organize the files on his desks so he could put them away.

It wasn't all that late but after staying late every night so far this week Ryan needed one good night sleep to function the next day.

Officer Dannings nodded and took hold of the back of her chair and carried it back over to her desk. Ryan opened up his bottom right desk drawer and put the files into it. He grabbed his keys and locked it for safe measure.

He closed everything down on his computer and logged out for the night. He stood up, letting out another annoyed sigh as he grabbed his things to leave.

"See you tomorrow Dannings," Ryan said with a wave.

Delilah returned it, shaking her head as she gathered her things to leave as well.

"That man is whipped," she mumbled with a laugh as she heard the elevator doors close with a ding.