For Forever and A Day

17.

Since the Accident:
11 months, 15 days
November 22nd, 2010

No judge in their right mind would sign a search warrant on a weekend, so when Monday morning came around, Ryan Blake was already waiting.

It took a lot of convincing but the warrant was signed and Officer Ryan Blake immediately made his way back to Paintet Inc.

He walked into the building and immediately made his way up to the secretary in the lobby. He flashed his badge at her. "I'd like to see your boss. I have a search warrant I'd like do show him."

It didn't take long for him to be brought up to Thomas Jordan's Office.  When he entered the room Office Ryan Blake flashed  his heart winning  smile, his eyes glistening happily. "Now, let's pick up where we left off with you giving me the information I need."

~*~

Back at the office Ryan Blake happily sat down at his desk and began to go through the information he required. With his hi-lighter he marked the information that seemed to be pertinent. The more information he went through, the more things seemed to become suspicious.

A Miss.Mellisa Winston. She had the car the night of the accident and suddenly asked for two weeks leave of work. She took one week for personal leave that fell under sick and the second was taken as a vacation week.

She called in at the end of the two weeks and gave her resignation. The black explorer was not returned until almost another month later. She claimed that she had to get another car before she could return the one the company gave her.

When the car was turned the sticker was gone so she had to pay for a new one to be placed for the next employee that would be in possession of the car.

The more he looked the more things added up for Ryan Blake.

"Delilah Dannings!"

Delilah took a sip of her coffee as she walked away from a conversation with another officer, only being able to give a parting wave.

"I have a suspect."

Ryan Blake showed his partner . She leaned over his shoulder and looked at the paperwork as she continued to sip her coffee.  "Looks like one. What are we going to do?"

"We need to check out her record first. Then we need to talk to her."

Officer Delilah Dannings nodded as she walked around and sat back at her desk. She set her half drunk cup of coffee down and began to type in her computer. "It looks like she's wanted in a few other cases as a suspect."

"What for?" Ryan Blake asked.

"It looks like here another case of vehicular homicide a few months ago and a case of second degree murder ."

"Any details on the second degree?"

Delilah shook her head, her bun shaking slightly at the gesture. "Since it hasn't been solved the case isn't open unless given permission."

Ryan Blake nodded. "Well we should probably get in contact with these teams and see if we can find her."

~*~

"Alright, you going in?"

"Roger that."

Delilah Dannings and Ryan Blake was on edge as they watched from command center. They could see from the body cameras what the officers were doing.

Ryan was  clenching and unclenching his hands, taking breaks from that to run his hands through his hair or rub the back of his neck occasionally. Delilah was forcing her legs to keep straight to stop herself from rocking back and forth nervously.

Ryan Blake wasn't the only one too invested in finding this woman.

The two watched as hand signals were tossed back and forth and men and women broke off to cover other entrances and exits.

They had tracked Melissa Winston to a small house on the outskirts of a small town an hour or so away from the city.

Ryan Blake saw fingers go up before the began to count down. The numbers reached zero and it took a few tries but the door was kicked open. The back door was left in tact as was another side door. An officer stated station at the  broken front door.

The rooms were searched and when everything was clear they began to check the house. Everything seemed normal until Ryan Blake noticed something seemed off.

"Excuse me sir but I think you should check the closet in the main bedroom again."

"What for?"

"You'll see it sir. There's something not right about the back wall."

"Officer Warner, follow me." The two went back into the main room and opened up the door to the closet. The one Ryan Blake addressed set down his gun and began to feel around the wall.

On the bottom right corner he saw it. It was small but it looked like a small handle. He reached down, the officer behind him holding up her gun in ready position.

He grabbed onto the handle and pulled, the wall revealing a small door.  The man picked up his gun when the door was completely open against the wall.  He looked in, ready for a fight but stopped. "The Target is unarmed." He set his gun down and reached into the small space.

The officer told hold of the red headed women's arm and pulled her from her hiding space. Tears were streaming down her face and she sobbed uncontrollably. For good measure handcuffs were put on her, holding her arms behind her back.

"The target has been acquired" finally was radioed and Ryan Blake let a large grin spread across his face.

Delilah Dannings gave him a strong pat on the back.

"It's almost over."