For the next week, their time at the precinct is spent as efficiently as possible. While Gilbert combs through records of every torched car post-September 1982 within the country, Ludwig cross-referenced every Jane Doe he could find.

Sadly, there were a few women who died without a name. He could only hope that one of them was Elizabeta but with each passing day, the odds were not looking good.

Examining each one after another, the list of impossibilities only grew bigger. Any bodies found *before September 14th 1982 were an impossibility. Any bodies that were found *after September 14th 1982 but were dated to have died before then were ruled out. Any bodies with physical characteristics that didn't line up were impossibilities. Height, race, and facial features were taken into consideration and quickly ruled out most of the Jane Does. Ludwig expanded the list to *all Jane Does in the country, but to his frustration, it seemed that wrapping up this case would not be so easy.

Gilbert wasn't having much luck either. The records of torched cars were thankfully all online but were tedious to look through. Without a solid filtering system, Gilbert had to take note of what dates he had already scrolled through on a notepad and pick up where he left off each time. When he complained about the shitty system, Ludwig just told him to email Natalya and have her contact the right people. Cue Gilbert deciding to just go tell Natalya in person, leaving Ludwig to continue investigating alone.

But having been through the entirety of the unidentified Jane Doe's list, Ludwig supposed he was hardly investigating but combing through the same information as if something new would suddenly appear. Figuring that it was about lunch break anyway, he rubbed at his eyes and went to see where his brother had gone off to.

Unsurprisingly, he was sitting backwards on a wheely chair as he leaned into Natalya's personal space. He spun around when he heard Ludwig enter and the detective had a bad feeling about his brother's silly smile.

"Come see what our station's getting!" Gilbert spun back to Natalya. "Come on, pull up the list again!"

Natalya sighed in what could only be compliance and Ludwig joined her to see what they were looking at.

"We're getting some cool new tech!" Gilbert cheered and tapped the screen as if Ludwig would've missed it otherwise.

His eyes quickly raked over the list of goods as he read it out of obligation. He could see they were getting some new squad cars and motorbikes. No doubt Gilbert would want to test out the two-wheeled death trap the instant he saw it. There were more bulletproof vests and other protective equipment. He could see some drones and similar tools for surveillance. And finally, he could see some tools for their forming marine department, such as a few fully equipt boats and anything you could imagine would come with it.

"Do you think we'll get to use any of it? I reaaaally wanna fly one of the drones. How cool would that be?"

"It's for the station. If you need it, request it through me," Natalya said, no doubt for the nth time and reminding Gilbert.

"I don't see us needing these for our investigation," Ludwig added, rolling his eyes as his brother threw himself backwards dramatically and forgot the back of the chair was at his front. He yelped as he almost went past the point of no return and his chair rocked as he quickly grabbed at the arms.

Natalya reached to tip the chair but Gilbert stuck his tongue out to deter her fingers. Naturally, it worked, Natalya pulled her hand back faster than one could blink and her face shrivelled up as she glared.

"Gilbert, did you find any leads?" Ludwig crossed his arms as he tried to usher his brother back on topic.

"Nope, nothing. I said I'd tell you if I did but I've been over it twice and her car wasn't there. Bummer."

"Hmm," Ludwig responded. Whether it was in acknowledgement of Gilbert's statement or agreement that it was indeed a bummer, he didn't know. But their methods were slowly closing in around them and he needed to stop thinking about how bleak this could all turn out.

"So, how about lunch everyone?" Gilbert untangled himself from the chair and almost fell over as he pulled his legs from where they were trapped in the armrests. "Come on! It's so nice outside we have to go sit out there! Think about vitamin D Lud."

Ludwig sighed. His brother had him there. Vitamin D from the natural sun was important, sometimes he worried he didn't get enough exposure walking to and from work.

"It'll be a nice day tomorrow, and the day after that," Natalya stated, but still locked her computer and pushed back her chair. "We have nothing but 'good weather' for the next few weeks. Will you demand that we have lunch every day?"

"You know it! So what are we getting for lunch?"

"Something healthy," Ludwig said as they stepped out onto the street and Gilbert pouted.

"It's always something healthy."

"He never said you had to get something healthy for lunch," Natalya remarked. "You said 'we' as if the question was what was the individual getting for lunch and not a collective."

"Why are you so technical?" Gilbert laughed. "Maybe we were all getting the exact same thing for lunch but I didn't want to choose."

"If that's the case, *we're all getting something healthy," Ludwig asserted as he directed them to a cafe.

"I don't have a problem with that," Natalya responded as she stepped in behind him and tried to shut Gilbert out.

"Hey! You can't tell me what to do," Gilbert insisted as he fought with Natalya for the door, almost hitting himself when he suddenly gave up and he pulled too hard. He scowled as she smirked.

"No, unfortunately I can't," Ludwig joked. "Eat what you please. It doesn't bother me."

"I'm sure I *could make it bother you."

"I'm sure you could, but please resist."

"We'll see."

In the end, they all ordered coffee. Ludwig had a sandwich, Natalya had a cheese and ham croissant and Gilbert had a chocolate Berliner. They sat in a sunny window booth, the soft leather seats warm from the sun. It was a pleasant break from their investigation, but despite not currently being at their work the conversation eventually wound around to it.

"How's the investigation going?" Natalya asked directly.

"Not terrible," Gilbert shrugged, "but not good. We're taking suggestions."

"Maybe walk through the marked route on the map. Annotate what's different from 40 years ago. I doubt the roads would've changed much. Maybe try to figure out where she could've stopped if she did. More information couldn't hurt. It'd certainly buy time for a better idea."

"Well, I guess that's something we could add to the list. Let me know if you think of any other awesome ideas!"

Ludwig's eyebrows furrowed as he listened to that exchange, then mentally facepalmed when he realised what Natalya being on the same page meant.

"Gilbert," he couldn't keep his exasperated disappointment off of his face. "Did you repeat everything to Natalya?"

"Yes. I don't see how it's an issue. If you're gonna say something about confidentiality then just remember that she works with us, so she's already half-way in the loop. Plus if we need help we have to go to her anyways so she might as well already know what's going on!"

Ludwig sighed, that reasoning was... reasonable, but regardless.

"You should've at least informed me that you told her. It would help if I was 'in the loop' as well."

"You got it! And you know now. So Natalya can tell both of us if she has any awesome ideas on how to track down Elizabeta, her car, or her murderer."

"Let's just start with Elizabeta or her car," Ludwig added. "Finding one of those would likely lead to more answers."

That marked the end of that conversation and Gilbert went back to finding something else to talk about. Meanwhile, Ludwig didn't find it a bad idea that Natalya had been filled in. After all, an outside perspective might help.

When they were back at the precinct, they jumped right back into the investigation. Ludwig unclenched his tense jaw as he compiled a list of all car-relevant places that had been active since at least 1990, just in case it took a while for Elizabeta's car to enter the system. Potential criminals might've waited for a couple of years to get rid of it just in case they thought authorities would pick it up.

But that brings up another problem. There was a possibility that some car-relevant places had shut since 1982. If Elizabeta's car had been disposed of in a place that had since shut down in the 40 years that have passed, then it would be very difficult to get those records.

Plus there was always the possibility that places didn't keep records from 4o years ago.

Ludwig hated to admit it, but this method of investigation just wasn't that efficient inherently because too much time had passed. It was frustrating, but it was still something so regardless he'd have to try.

The rest of the day was spent contacting every place with a request that they search their records and hand over any information about a matching car or something completely unidentifiable yet plausible it could be her car.

By the end of the day, between the efforts of two detectives, every place had been contacted and left either an email or phone message. Now all they could do was wait.

While Gilbert leaned back in his chair, hands behind in head in satisfaction, Ludwig just couldn't feel the same. Anxiety was eating at his nerves and his fingers itched to run through his hair because if they didn't get any results from this, he didn't know what they would do next.