Tough Decisions
The police had already made up their mind they were going to release Luke, but wanted to question Ryan further. However, a second look at forensic tests carried out on the gun found in Volchok's room showed two sets of fingerprints, one belonging to Volchok, but the other actually belonged to Luke, meaning Ryan never had possession of the gun.
This threw the police as it meant they had to change the investigation with time running out before they had to either charge or release both of them. They then did tests on the broken bottle which was used to kill Volchok. They found Ryan's prints on it. They had to re-question both Luke and Ryan with the new evidence they had found.
Luke's re-questioning
Officer: "We've found a gun with two sets of fingerprints on it, one belonging to you, how do you explain this Mr Ward?"
Luke: "Volchok picked up the gun and fired it at me, he missed by a few inches and I went to grab it. I managed to wrestle it out of his hand and put the safety on to make sure it didn't go off again- that's how my prints were on it"
Officer: "How do you explain the broken bottle we found in the room containing Mr Atwood's fingerprints?"
Luke: "Volchok was strangling me so Ryan grabbed the first thing he could find to get him off me, which was the bottle. If he hadn't Volchok would almost certainly have killed me"
Ryan's re-questioning
Officer: "Why have we found your fingerprints on the bottle used to kill Mr Volchok?"
Ryan: "He was strangling Luke and it looked as if he was going to kill him so I grabbed the nearest thing I could find, which was the bottle. I just swung it and it hit him"
Officer: "Can you explain how we found Mr Ward's fingerprints on the same gun as Mr Volchok?"
Ryan: "Volchok fired the gun, Luke got it out of his hands. He then put the safety on so it wouldn't go off"
The stories matched up perfectly, almost too perfectly for the police's liking. However, there was nothing else they could do and they had no choice other than to release both of them without charge and drop the case against them.
Sandy picked them up from the station and said: "I knew you two were innocent, it was just a matter of time before you proved it". He then turned to Luke and said to him: "Why don't you stay with us for a few nights". Luke replied: "Thanks Mr Cohen, that would be great".
With that they then went back home, relieved that the whole saga was finally over