2. just look for the cracks

Deling City, Galbadia

"I can't believe they're putting you up here," Rinoa said, wrinkling her nose as she sat gingerly on the edge of the bed. "This is kind of disgusting."

Xu rolled her eyes. "You slept in worse places during the war. Can the princess act. Care to tell me why you followed Kinneas like a lost puppy?"

The bed creaked as Rinoa shifted uneasily on it, and Xu thought that the Timber Princess might reconsider her decision to come here.

"How is Squall holding up?" Rinoa asked finally, worrying a nail as she studied Xu. "I keep seeing him on the news and he doesn't look well at all..."

Xu sighed in aggravation, and flicked her eyes toward Irvine in a deliberate "we don't have time for this" look. "The commander is as well as can be expected," she ground out. "Get on with it, Rinoa, please." The "please" stuck in her throat like a bad piece of fruit, but Xu forced it out anyway. Diplomacy, she told herself. Diplomacy before Thundaga spells.

Rinoa set her hands in her lap, spreading the digits against her neatly pressed white skirt. "I saw Ellone that night," she said finally, sounding as if she were confessing to some horrendous crime. "I didn't think to tell anyone about it until I saw Irvine asking around. I didn't think it meant anything!" Her defensive wail made Xu want to hit her, and when it finally died away, the SeeD was relatively surprised to find the windowpanes still intact. "She was at Ninth Circle--I said hi to her. She was with a bunch of the White SeeD."

"Wait a minute. Ninth Circle?" Xu asked.

Rinoa nodded, her head moving like a broken marionette's. Xu hoped like hell that she had just imagined Rinoa's lower lip trembling--the last thing anyone needed was a hysterical Sorceress. She looked down at Rinoa's wrist quickly, and was at least moderately relieved to see the silver glint of an Odine bangle around one pale arm. "It's a restaurant. One of the best in the city," Rinoa added, a little bit of pride creeping into her voice. "Damien's the owner."

Xu ignored the wistful tone that Rinoa's voice took when the name came up. "And Damien is..."

"It's his club. Creative name, isn't it?" Rinoa smiled a bit. "He's a sweetheart, really."

Diplomacy before Thundagas. Diplomacy before Thundagas. Xu approximated a smile, her lips tight. "Clever, I'm sure. We'll need to talk to him, and see any surveillance video he has."

Rinoa nodded. "That's why I came. Damien's not involved, though," she said quickly. "I just wanted you all to know. I just wanted--" She twisted the bangle around her wrist. "I just wanted to try to help."

Xu offered a better smile, a slightly more genuine one. "Thank you," she said stiffly. "You have helped."

Rinoa smiled back. "Tell Squall that I'm sorry about Elle," she added, slipping off the edge of the bed. "He should come to the restaurant sometime."

"I'll walk you out," Irvine said, unlatching the door for her. "Thanks, Rin." He cast a glance at Xu, who inclined her head a tiny increment--he would see to it that Rinoa managed to make it back to the rich end of the city without someone killing her, too. As the door clicked shut behind Irvine, Xu sighed again, loudly, and yanked the portable phone off of her belt. Squall was absolutely not going to like this.

Irvine Kinneas had always prided himself on being able to small talk women into pretty much anything-- most of the time, it was into the nearest available bed, but he occasionally just talked to them to keep them happy. However, for the first time in his lady-killer career, he was absolutely at a loss of what to say. Rinoa walked beside him in silence, turning her head every so often to look into the window displays of stores that all appeared identical to Irvine.

"So," he said finally, because the silence was starting to get uncomfortable. "Damien."

Rinoa nodded. "He's a good guy, Irvine. Don't worry. I'm taking perfectly good care of myself."

He shrugged. "I wasn't worried. Just curious."

They stopped at a corner, just behind a group of businessmen with their ties half-undone and briefcases still in hand, and waited for the signal to change. Rinoa seemed to latch onto something Irvine hadn't said, and continued talking. "He listens. He actually communicates, and can carry on a conversation. He's funny. He's successful and smart." She shrugged, the brief rise and fall of her shoulders making her pale pink sweater slip off to one side. Rinoa straightened it as she rose onto her toes, trying to see the crosswalk signal over the heads of the people in front of her. She looked different, Irvine realized. Not quite as uneasy. Not looking like she expected monsters to jump out from every corner.

Irvine bit his tongue against filling in the rest of Rinoa's litany for her-- he's easy on the eyes, he buys you everything you could possibly want, he doesn't kill people for a living.

"Well...good for you, then."

"I'm happy, Irvine."

The light changed, and they moved with the crowd, crushed up into the flow of people. Irvine put his arm casually around Rinoa's shoulders, pulling her closer to him, away from anyone who might recognize her. It was hard to say if Rinoa was a target-- already, someone closely associated with Squall had been killed. Irvine wasn't willing to take chances.

Rinoa didn't protest, but let him guide her, only saying, "Left here," when they reached another intersection. They came to a stop in front of a plain, mirrored-glass building, the words "Ninth Circle" written above the door in sans serif text.

"Here you are," he said. Rinoa nodded. "Take care of yourself."

"You, too. Come around sometime." Rinoa smiled at him, something similar to the cheerful ones she used to wear back at Garden, back when it was all sunshine and kittens-- back before she decided that Sorceress or no, she needed to live her own life. "Bring Selphie, too."

It was Irvine's turn to nod, and so he did, a quick bob of his head. "I'll let her know."

"Good night, Irvine." She turned, her palm flattening against the door to push it open, and paused. "Irvine-- tell Squall I'm alright, will you? Tell him not to worry."

Irvine nodded again. "I will."

They stood there for a moment more, and then someone stumbled out of the alley between the restaurant and its neighbor, nearly knocking down the trashcan. By the time Irvine looked up from the distraction, the door to Ninth Circle had opened and shut, and Rinoa had disappeared inside.

He glanced again at the drunk, and then turned away, moving back down the street and into the press of the evening crowds.

xx

Balamb Garden

Squall Leonhart had been back in his office for exactly four minutes and nineteen seconds when the phone on his desk shrilled loudly.

He seriously considered ignoring it.

It rang again.

"Leonhart," he said, cradling the phone between his cheek and shoulder as he picked up the stack of phone messages that his secretary had slipped in to drop off on his desk. They were all the same-- most from the ICGI, requesting confirmation on this mission or that. Ever since the International Council for Garden Institutions had started its efforts to streamline Garden operations, it had meant nothing for Squall except an increase in paperwork and a continual barrage of phone calls from their headquarters. Squall wanted to find whoever had been in charge of the project and punch them in the face.

For now, though, he half-listened to Kadowaki as she informed him of medical violations on the latest batch of cadets coming back from leave, and efficiently separated the pink slips of message paper into two piles-- one for the important ones, the other for perhaps building little buildings out of when he had free time.

Who the hell was he kidding? Squall picked up the sheaf of unimportant messages and dumped them into the black wire trashcan near his foot.

"Commander, there are also two cadets in this batch who have illicit substances showing up in their bloodstreams."

Squall stopped, his hand halfway to his computer mouse. "Drugs?"

"It's not coming up in any registered database, and neither cadet remembers taking anything. Do you want to talk to them?"

Squall shook his head. "I'll have Instructor Trepe do it. Thanks for letting me know."

"Yes, sir. I'll send you a copy of the test results, just so you can look over them. I'll also forward a copy to Instructor Trepe."

He gave a grunt of thanks, and hung up the telephone. Kadowaki was perfectly capable of admonishing a couple of cadets about drug use-- he'd let Quistis ask a few questions, to see if they were lying or not, and depending on what she found, he would have to determine an appropriate route of punishment from there.

The phone rang again, and he quelled the urge to run a lightning spell through it, instead snatching up the handset before it could ring again. "Leonhart," he repeated.

"Sir, we have a lead," Xu said, her voice perfectly neutral. "You aren't going to like it."

Squall rolled his eyes. "Tell me, and then I'll decide if I don't like it or not."

Xu paused for a second, her breath crackling with static through the receiver. "SeeD Kinneas located Rinoa Heartilly. Sir, she says that she saw Ellone Loire on the day of the murder."

Squall sat absolutely still. "How certain is she?"

"She says that she spoke with Ms. Loire at a restaurant uptown."

He barely remembered to exhale, then inhale again.

"Sir, what are your orders?" Xu's voice in his ear-- cool, unflappable Xu, reminding him that there was still a mission to do.

"Follow it. Find out everything."

"Yes, sir."

There was a dial tone in his ear, and Squall hit the disconnect button. He jabbed a series of numbers on the keypad, and drummed his fingers across the top of his desk as the phone connected to the detention facilities in Garden's basement. "This is Commander Leonhart. I want the White SeeD who were with Ellone Loire in my office immediately."