Cliff and Robert were asked to leave. Judy Fabray walked determinedly inside the room throwing Rachel a look, as if she was something rather disgusting on her shoe. Rachel didn't mind it; she was actually used to it coming from Judy. It was impressive how people that looked so much alike could be so different. Tears prickled her eyes and she felt herself quiver.
She dropped her eyes, not wanting to look at the woman who reminded her so much of Quinn. Her blonde hair, her hazel eyes, her overall facial features… it was too painful. There was also the fact that Rachel felt like she had never hated someone or something that much.
"She knows where that boy is, I'm telling you!" Judy cried to Lamb.
Lamb lifted his palms authoritatively, quieting her. "Mrs Fabray, I understand the stress you've been going through, but I must ask you to let me do my job."
Rachel's eyes were still firmly fixed on the ground when a pair of bowling shoes appeared in her vision and she knew they couldn't be Russell's. She lifted her gaze to see a tall, skinny, dark haired, goofy looking man, who smiled down to her. Vinnie Vanlowe.
Rachel knew Vinnie since the day she was born. He was a private investigator, and he and Robert had shared an office for years. Vinnie was hard to describe, but if Rachel really had to use one word for the purpose, she would use man-child. She didn't dislike him entirely, though.
"Hey Rachel. What's up?" he greeted her, as if they were just meeting each other at a café or something.
"Well, you know. I didn't imagine there'd be air conditioning, but other than that, this is pretty much how I pictured hell," she replied dryly. "What are you doing here, anyway?" she asked, frowning, already suspicious about what was going to be his answer.
Vinnie Vanlowe was known to be the private detective with the lowest morals in the town. That had been one of the many reasons Robert had stopped working with him, that and because, after a while, Vinnie went from entertaining and interesting, to completely unbearable. Rachel always thought of him like the "cool uncle," even though he was only good in small doses.
"Big case, missing person." He gestured with his fingers to indicate he was after money, primarily. "You know the drill. So where's the boy, Rachel?" he asked, casually.
"Alright, alright, I'll ask the questions here" Lamb cut in. His loathing of private detectives included Vinnie. "Mr Fabray, a word of advice: private investigators only make the work of law enforcement officers harder. Now I have to ask you all to step outside so that I can have a little talk with Miss Berry here."
"Keep us posted on any developments," Russell requested, simply, not daring to glance toward the girl who was still sitting on the chair by the table, with her back turned toward him. Judy, though, before leaving the room, made sure to throw Rachel one of her scornful glares.
The Sheriff nodded and then they were all alone. Lamb rested a pad of paper and a pen in front of her, on the table.
"Write down anything you can think of about Noah Puckerman. Secret credit cards, fake IDs, hiding spots, places he always wanted to visit, his favorite restaurants, friends out of town, everything."
Rachel reluctantly picked up the pen but paused, looking up at the Sheriff. "Let me ask you a question. Do you think the baby is better now, with Puck, or with the Fabrays? You know what they did to Quinn. You couldn't do anything because Russell Fabray is too important in Lima, but you knew the kind of abuses they put her through…"
"Despite my thoughts about the subject, what you're friend is doing is wrong. The Fabrays have the right to order him arrested and they have the right to Faith Fabray. Now, start writing. You are not going home until that pad is full. And then, if I happen to discover that you left anything out, I will make it my personal mission to see you in prison as an accessory."
Rachel sighed. She really hated this, but she had no choice. Unenthusiastically, she wrote down everything she could think of, leaving nothing out.
The Sheriff's department's office was quiet when Rachel was finally let go. She raised her eyes to the clock fixed over the door and realized it was almost ten o'clock. Three hours she had been in the interrogation room. Her head was aching and she was feeling completely exhausted. The thought of the comfort of her warm sheets was the only motivation for her to keep walking.
The way she was feeling, the last person she wanted to deal with was Vinnie Vanlowe.
He was waiting for her outside the building, chewing gum, leaning against his car, his hands in his pockets. Rachel sighed heavily "What are you still doing here?".
"I'm waiting for you, silly" he said in the jovial tone he used with everybody, as if they were all his old friends.
"What do you want?" Rachel asked, testily, crossing her arms.
He turned his head and spat the gum he had been chewing out before facing her again with a confident smile. "I thought I would give you the opportunity to tell me where the boy is, save us all some time and trouble, and, you know," he shrugged, dismissively "earn some karma points."
Rachel stared at him like he was crazy. "I don't know where he is," she repeated for the twentieth time that night. "I have no idea where Puck is. And, even if I did, you would probably be…" she rolled her eyes, pretending to be counting "the last person I would tell."
"Did I hear that right?" Vinnie teased. "Did you just insinuate that you would tell Osama Bin Laden where the boy is before you would tell me? Because back in my day we had a little thing called patriotism".
Rachel rolled her eyes in annoyance and she tried to walk away, knowing that a conversation with Vinnie Vanlowe was one of the most stupid things she could engage in. Vinnie grasped her arm, softly. "Okay, okay…" he conceded. "Let's make this fair for you. The old couple"- Rachel almost chuckled when she realized Vinnie was referring to the Fabrays- "is paying me big money. Let's say… 2 thousand dollars for the information"-he winked in a way he was sure was charming. "The karma points are yours to keep and if you act now I'll throw a free set of steak knifes."
Rachel sighed, lowering her head, as if she didn't know what else to do. She knew he didn't understnand she wasn't involved for her own gain. She straightened herself up and she repeated, using fake sign language as if that would help Vinnie to understand what she was saying "I don't know where he is."
"Alright" he smiled, as if this conversation was the most stimulating thing he had done in a while. "You can't blame a guy for trying" Rachel was about to turn away to leave when his voice called her again. "But seventy hours from now, I'm gonna have that kid back. And you'll wish you had those steak knives".
"Hey Rachel? You know what would make me happy? If I got home in time for dinner" Quinn announced teasingly, as she eyed the brunette at the wheel.
Rachel gasped, feigning offense. "I can't believe how ungrateful you are. I've just voluntarily offered my time to drive you to your doctor's appointment and you can't stop complaining about my driving."
"Oh, don't pretend like you're so selfless. You wanted to see the first ultrasound. Admit it." Quinn eyed her amusedly. "Besides, I'm not complaining about your overall driving, I'm just saying you could accelerate a little bit." Quinn gestured to the window. "Look, Grandpa just passed us. I think I'm going to go into labor before you get me home."
"Haha, being careful is funny" Rachel replied sardonically. "Now, shut up. You're distracting me and I don't want to crash."
"Well, I don't think it's possible to crash at 20 mph," Quinn commented, looking through the window. Who would know that Rachel's quirks that annoyed her so much two years ago were now some of the things about her that Quinn most appreciated. Rachel was Rachel, no matter how people felt about it. She was not going to speed up just so she didn't look dorky; if she was .comfortable driving at 20 mph, that was how fast she was going to drive.
Suddenly, red and blue lights flashed into the car and the Sheriff's deputy's car behind them ordered her to pull over. Rachel looked through the rearview mirror, confusedly, as she pulled over.
"What the hell?" Quinn exclaimed, equally confused, as the car stopped behind them.
Rachel watched as the car's door opened and the Sheriff appeared from inside, holding his flashlight and a smug smile. "Shit. It's Lamb."
Quinn turned to look through the back window, frowning. "I really don't understand what that man has against you, but it's really starting to piss me off."
"Shhh, just keep quiet. I'll talk. You know he's always trying to find a reason to take me in, and your mouth could do the trick," Rachel warned her, as she reached for her wallet where she had her license.
Lamb took his time approaching the car, as if relishing every moment of the anxiety he was causing. When he finally reached Rachel's window he slightly bent over to look through it, pointing his flashlight directly at her face, making her squint, and then at Quinn.
"Well, well, well. Look who we have here."
"How are you tonight, Sheriff?" Quinn asked in a subtly provocative tone.
Rachel glared at her, before turning back to Lamb. "Is there anything wrong, Sheriff?"
Lamb's eyes lingered on Rachel, before he held his hand open. "License, please," he requested simply.
Rachel hurried to hand him her driver's license. He seemed disappointed that she had one. He handed it back to her, calmly, pointing the flashlight directly into her face again. "Are you aware that this particular road has a minimum speed of 30 miles per hour?" he asked, arching his eyebrows seriously.
Rachel's jaw dropped to the ground. "You're actually going to give me a ticket because I was going too slow," she half stated, half asked. She knew Lamb would do it. By her side, Quinn had broken into laughter, dropping her head backwards against the car's seat.
Ignoring Quinn, Lamb eyed Rachel in annoyance. "Don't you take road safety seriously? It's a serious thing, Miss Berry." Rachel couldn't believe that Quinn was the one laughing hilariously when she was the one being lectured about not taking things seriously.
"Yes, I understand and agree. I apologize for driving too slow. I won't let that happen again"
Lamb stared at her for a moment, before continuing. "Unfortunately"-yes, he had said unfortunately- "this is your first time being pulled over. I'm going to let you go with a warning, for now."
"I appreciate that, Sheriff," Rachel replied.
"But you've been warned now. Next time I won't be so lenient."
"I understand. I appreciate your compassion," Rachel nodded, eager for him to leave. He nodded and without saying anything else, walked back into his car.
"What an ass," Quinn commented, as she watched the Sheriff get inside his car. Rachel sighed in relief, as she turned her car back on. "Road security is a serious thing" she mimicked.
"Just forget him. You know he hates my father."
"Right. I thought that a town's Sheriff would be mature enough to be able to separate his personal feelings from his profession. But what am I thinking, it's Lamb we're talking about…" Quinn shook her head disapprovingly.
Rachel got back onto the road. Quinn watched as she struggled with pressing the accelerator harder than she was used to. She was eyeing the speedometer anxiously. "A little bit more…" she mumbled under her breath.
"Do you want me to drive?" Quinn asked, because she could see Rachel was very nervous about speeding up.
"No, no, it's okay… I just have to get used to this."
The Sheriff car had already disappeared when both Quinn and Rachel heard a scratching against the side of the car. It was almost like they had run over something, but whatever it was it had escaped a full contact crash. Rachel immediately pressed the brakes.
"Oh my God. Did you see that? Oh my God." Rachel was freaking out.
"I didn't see anything".
"It all happened to fast. It jumped on the road, I couldn't stop the car fast enough." Rachel looked nervously through the window. "Oh my God, I just ran over a deer."
"A deer?" Quinn leaned over Rachel to see if what she was telling her was true. There was nothing on the road. Whatever Rachel had bumped into, had escaped inside the woods by the roadside.
"Yes. I saw it. It was brown and… you know…" Rachel gestured something that Quinn didn't understand. "Oh my God, I have to see if it's okay." Rachel opened her door, stepping outside.
"Rachel, there's no deer in Lima…" Quinn tried to call her, but the girl was already disappearing inside the woods "Where are you going?..." she hurried to unbuckle her seatbelt and followed the brunette. "Rachel! Come back here. Are you crazy?"
Quinn's legs were longer, and she was able to catch Rachel quickly, as the girl desperately searched for the injured deer.
"You can't just go inside the woods at night. What are you thinking?".
"I need to see if it's okay," Rachel repeated, not looking at her, bending down and starting to call the animal.
"Look, whatever it is, it ran away. I'm sure it's okay," Quinn tried to reason, wearily.
"It might have internal injuries, Quinn!" Rachel cried exasperatedly.
Quinn stood there, glaring at Rachel, as if she was the most incomprehensible thing she had ever faced. And she probably was. Rachel didn't seem to mind her stare, as she continued her search. Finally, Quinn sighed, and she gave up, because she knew that if she didn't let Rachel try to find the poor injured "deer," she would never shut up about it.
Quinn sat on the edge of the road. "Don't go out of my sight, okay?" she called to Rachel and Rachel only nodded.
She let Rachel take her time. Rachel's compassion and the fact that she actually cared were one of the many things that Quinn envied in her, along with her talent and her smile. It was hard to be annoyed at Rachel when she was so perfect and adorable and a genuinely good person. Quinn glared at Rachel the entire time, deep in her thoughts, thinking about how she had gotten there – not specifically that place at that night – but with Rachel as her best friend. She was so thankful about how things had turned out. Rachel made her a better person. Rachel taught her things everyday, without even realizing it. Rachel made her happy and Rachel was everything that Quinn could have asked to have by her side during what she could predict to be a hard year to come.
Eventually, defeated, Rachel came back to the edge of the road, her face expressing the frustration caused by her half hour long failed search.
"I can't find him." Quinn smiled. Now it had turned into a him? She knew that in the near future Rachel would start referring to him as Bambi. "What else can I do?" she asked miserably.
Quinn grinned in affection, as she held out her hand to Rachel. "Come here," she mumbled softly. Rachel took her hand and let Quinn pull her down to sit by her side. Rachel sighed heavily as she rested her head on Quinn's shoulder, and the blonde touched her face. They stayed like that, watching the woods, for several minutes.
"Didn't you have to be home for dinner?" Rachel finally asked, breaking the heavy, meaningful silence that had settled between them.
"Well, after the pregnancy thing, I think it's hard for my parents to be mad at me for not for not making it to dinner," she answered slightly sarcastically.
"I think it would be best if you didn't provoke them," Rachel commented quietly.
Quinn turned her head to look at her "Do you want to be somewhere else?" she asked.
Rachel bit her lower lip before answering bluntly "No."
"Me neither. I'm right where I want to be."