The officer nodded dutifully at what the motel owner had to say, while his partner wrote scraps of information on his note pad, but whilst they appeared absorbed by their duty, they shared the same thought, that the man's story was farfetched. One seeing him as a timewaster, trying to make a good story before putting in an insurance claim, the other seeing something entirely different; that she had been here.
The Lady would want to know of this, but it would be suspicious if he left in the middle of taking a statement to make a phone call. He was about to suggest to his partner that they wrap it up, when the motel owner said something interesting.
"I got her registration number," he said, his podgy face eager to please. He wouldn't let that witch of a girl get away with what she had done to him.
The first officer nodded to the other to write this down. The owner dug into his pocket and pulled out a scrap of grimy paper, folded and touched many times with greasy hands. He opened it proudly and read.
The officer in charge nodded, and made the standard promises that the events would be looked into and the girl apprehended. With the motel owner sufficiently pacified, the two officers walked back to their car. The junior officer took his seat, but was made to wait when his partner declared he had a personal call to make, mentioning something about a kid's birthday, and walked back to a payphone that they had passed on the way out.
The phone rang incessantly before The Lady managed to pick it up. "Yes?" she asked, annoyed.
"I think I have something for you…" said the voice on the other line.
The Lady, her interest captured gave the speaker her full attention.
"You may continue," she said as if granting a favour.
The officer grinned down the phone, he knew that he had some information worth knowing, and he was happy to be the one delivering it.
"I've found her, Heartilly, she's on the road. I'm putting in an order for all officers to be on the lookout for a stolen car. She's not going to get far," he said smugly, perhaps overestimating his ability to recapture the highly wanted target.
"And how do we know it is her?" the Lady asked calmly. She very rarely gave out praise, and she made those that were lucky enough to receive it work hard to deserve it.
"Her friendly ghost threw a man across the room, he's babbling about sorceresses and magic. She took off after that."
"Good," the Lady said grudgingly. "Keep me informed."
The officer returned to the car, his partner non-the wiser that his colleague was crooked. He spoke into the radio as they drove back to the police station.
"All units to be on the lookout for a blue zero two Sunrise, registration seventy five, Oscar, Yankee, Bravo. Driver of the car said to be female, extremely dangerous."
The radio crackled as he clicked it off, and he listened to the sounds of other reports being made to the control room.
Meanwhile, in a blue zero two Sunrise headed in the opposite direction, Rinoa was shaking. Her eyes were filled with stagnant tears that refused to fall, and instead clung to her eyelashes and blurred the world. She tried desperately to take control of her fear, but it wasn't easy. If it hadn't been for Squall…
"Rinoa, you need to pull over," Squall said in a low tone of voice that betrayed his concern. They were pushing the speed limit now, and Rinoa didn't seem to be concentrating any more.
She rubbed a tear from her eye and shook her head. She wouldn't stop, she'd keep going, she wouldn't stop and let another man try and hurt her.
"I need to get out of town," she said staring straight ahead.
"You're going to crash," Squall warned.
No longer in possession of a body, Squall didn't have a fear of dying. There was no heady rush of adrenaline or thrill of surviving tough battles and narrow escapes as when he was alive. But even though he feared nothing for himself, it didn't stop him worrying for Rinoa.
"Well, if we crash, at least it's only me who'll die," she retorted, her foot tipping the accelerator a little harder. "It'd save a lot of problems. Who knows, I might come back as a ghost too!"
She laughed, but Squall had heard enough.
"It doesn't work like that Rinoa," he growled at her. He clenched and unclenched his fist, hoping to stem the anger that threatened to spill forth. When she passed the hundred miles per hour mark he decided that she had risked her life enough and took control of the vehicle, his forehead creasing as he concentrated.
The car was slowing, even though Rinoa's foot was pressing the accelerator down as far as it would go. She knew Squall was doing something to the car, slowing it and pulling them back into safety.
"Quit it!" she shouted at him. "It's my life! Let me have at least one thing I can control!" Rinoa shoved at his form, but her hands passed right through. His brow was furrowed in concentration but he managed to throw her an impressive glare anyways.
The car behind beeped at them for slowing so abruptly, and pulled out into another lane to overtake them. Rinoa's vehicle steered itself as if on auto-pilot and she released her control on the steering wheel, folding her arms across her chest. She looked at the desert, hoping it would be able to prevent the lecture she knew would be coming from her seething passenger.
"That was stupid!" Squall shouted finally losing his temper.
Shock, panic, and tendrils of fear wrapped around her. Rinoa succumbed to the multitude of emotions, no longer able to stave them off with false exaggerated anger at Squall.
"I'm going to die!" she wailed desperately and burst into tears. "It's useless. They're going to kill me, and there is nothing you can do about it. It'd be better if I just crashed now and got it over with!"
"Stop it," Squall warned, shooting her a look that was a mix of concern and authority in between concentrating on keeping the car on the road. "We need to stay calm. Where does your father live?"
Rinoa wiped her eyes on the back of her hand and gripped the wheel in the pretence of driving. It took a while before Squall's question registered in her mind.
"Why?" she asked.
"Because you need to go somewhere safe, we can't rely on motels."
Reluctantly Rinoa gave Squall directions, but she was not looking forward to arriving at their destination. It had been a while since she had stayed under the same roof as her father; it was almost like admitting defeat as an adult to move back home.
"Your father is General Caraway?" Squall asked intrigued. "Do you think the Brotherhood knows that?"
Rinoa shrugged. She felt drained now, adrenaline had propelled her this far, but a lack of sleep, and a constant dull fear had taken its toll. Why did it matter who her father was, she was still on the hit list, and it seemed unlikely that going home would make her any safer, even if her father was the general.
"Squall," Rinoa said suddenly. "I don't understand why I can see you. Do you think that's why the Brotherhood want me?"
"I don't understand it either," Squall admitted.
"It's not as if I'm the only one either…" Rinoa mused to herself.
"The only one, what?"
"The only one who can see you..."
The car jerked suddenly, as if someone had just hit the brakes, then continued in a smooth motion. Rinoa didn't know why Squall hadn't figured that out, he'd been right there after all.
"That car mechanic, remember, he saw you too and he really freaked out. Come on, you must remember," Rinoa prompted, feeling as if there was something important that she was missing about it.
"Well, I did seem to appear from nowhere to him," Squall said, not ready to delve too deeply into something that was insignificant and a waste of time.
"But there was something more to it than that." She frowned, tapping a finger to her lips in thought. "It's almost like he knew you were a ghost and wanted to get away from you as fast as he could."
Squall shrugged. So it was a strange event, but at the moment he couldn't make himself interested. He had to get Rinoa somewhere safe, and that was his only priority. If they survived the Brotherhood, then he'd find the mechanic and apologise for scaring him, if that was what Rinoa meant.
"No," Rinoa said answering herself. "No, there's no way he'd know… unless… but what if he did?"
"So what if he did?" Squall asked slightly annoyed that the subject wasn't being dropped.
"Well, he might be able to help us. Face it Squall, we could use all the help we can get." She could see that Squall wasn't convinced.
"We know nothing about him, except that he's in contact with Seifer, or at least the Brotherhood. There's no way we can trust him."
"It's a long shot I know, but we've got nothing else."