David was just walking out of his front door when he saw Jackson Montgomery walking towards him.
"What do you want?" said David bluntly.
"I need your help." said Jackson; he had a brown paper parcel in his hand.
"I think you'll remember I told you after you cheated me out of my rightful claim on the hospital that I would never do you another favour." said David, roughly pushing past the lawyer.
"This isn't for me!" Jackson called after him. "It's for Marissa and AJ!"
David stopped and closed his eyes. He was still very angry at Jackson but if his daughter needed him…
"What do you need from me exactly?" he asked with a resigned sigh.
Jackson handed David the box.
"We need you to do some medical tests. We think this box contains evidence that proves Rupert Henderson was involved in a hit and run. We think Carol Robinson is using this secret to blackmail him into publishing all this filth about Marissa. We want to break her hold on him."
"What exactly will I be looking for?"
"Blood and engine oil, I think." said Jackson. "Also anything that could prove Rupert Henderson's injuries were caused by a car accident." Jackson pulled a file out from under his arm. "Jesse obtained copies of Henderson's medical records."
"And if I find a connection?"
"If we find a solid connection then Henderson and Robinson can be arrested for perverting the course of justice, manslaughter and so many other good things." said Jackson with a grin. "Any proof that is less solid can at least be used as a lever to stop the blackmail and the newspaper reports."
David licked his lips and took the file from Jackson along with the box.
"I'll give it a look." said David, "But I can't make any promises!"
…
When he got to his lab in the hospital, David first looked through the medical records. The crushed foot was something most commonly associated with car impact with the buckling brake pedal impacting the foot. He also noticed an even more tell-tale injury, a vivid bruise running from the shoulder across the chest. That sort of injury was usually caused by a seatbelt.
David made a note of his findings and moved across to the parcel. In it he found a number of papers but sealed in a two zip-locked bags were two blood stained items, medical gloves and long strip of fabric.
Careful to create controlled condition, David took samples from both items. The gloves and the fabric strip.
His first move was just to compare the blood stains. They were fairly degraded, and it would take much too long to get a DNA comparison, but a simple experiment proved that the blood types matched along with a number of chemical traces which was strong evidence that they came from the same individual. Thanks to the medical records David also knew the blood type matched Henderson's. The fabric sample had additional contamination. David found traces of high grade engine oil and some other chemical dust which he found harder to identify. In the end he typed the chemical components into Google and was surprised to find it was a powder used in the manufacture of air-bags. The type of cars this chemical could be found in in 1993 was very limited, but included the Porsche 911, Type 964, Turbo; the exact same car that hit the bus stop on a New York street twenty years ago. The fabric looked like a piece of shirt. If the blood proved to be Henderson's, then they now had excellent evidence that he had been the driver of that car.
Feeling rather proud of himself, David picked up the phone and dialled Jackson's number.
"I think we've got him." he said simply.
"We have?"
"Well everything you gave me seems to tie him to the car… but only if we can prove the blood on the shirt is really Henderson's."
"So what do you need?"
"A DNA sample would be nice." said David.
Jackson was quiet for a moment at the other end of the line and then he spoke.
"First we'd need to track Henderson. I'll talk to Jesse."
"Good," said David. "I'll start extracting the DNA from these samples. Just get something to me as quickly as you can."
"We will." said Jackson firmly.
…
FOREVERnLOVE they'll be back tomorrow.