Answering Margaret's question about whether or not she could give her the ring, Laura said "No, sorry. It's my gift. It's only fair that I should wear it for a while before letting someone else have it."
(She was this close to putting an end to her transformation. Oh well ...)
Margaret shrugged.
From behind them, they heard a car driving into the parking lot. They turned and saw that it was a police car. "I can handle this myself," Laura said. "I'll see you later, okay?"
Margaret nodded, then headed into the church. Now that she was no longer in close proximity to the rune ring, the changes to her mind and body came to a halt. Even so, she was a much different person (mostly body-wise) than she was that morning. Barring any other magical influences on her, Margaret would be a Latino woman for the rest of her life.
Laura walked over to the two cops. One of them was a man named Officer Kurt Maybourn and the other was a woman named Officer Danielle Chase. Both were white.
"Are you the one who called about a stolen car?" Officer Maybourn asked.
"Yes, that's me," Laura said. Her hair began to stiffen somewhat, and her breasts became just a bit bigger, as did her butt. But all of that went unnoticed by her. Frankly, she was so focused on getting her car back, that she didn't notice anything happening to her body. Of course, if she had noticed, she might not think anything of it anyway.
"And your name, please?" he asked.
"Laura Ferguson."
Officer Chase looked oddly at her. "You're not Laura Ferguson."
"Excuse me?" Laura asked.
"I know her. I've seen her before. You're not her. Listen, if this is some kind of scam ..."
"Hey, I don't know what you're talking about." Laura pulled out her driver's license, which clearly showed a photo of a Latino woman (her) on the front. "See, that's me."
Officer Chase took the license and looked at it. "It seems real."
"That's because it is real," Laura said, snatching it back. "Now what are you gonna do about my car?"
"Do you know the license plate number?" Officer Maybourn asked.
Laura nodded, then gave the number.
"Are you sure?" he asked.
"Of course I'm sure."
"Well, that car over there has that number," he said, pointing.
Laura turned and saw that he was pointing at the gray sedan. "But that's not my car. Someone must have switched the plates or sumthin'," she said.
Officer Chase couldn't believe that they were called out here to deal with this woman. It was such a waste of their time. "Listen, lady," she said. "This isn't funny. Wasting police time can be a serious offense. You ..."
"But I ain't wasting your time," Laura said, getting more upset. Her car was stolen and these two idiot cops wouldn't help her find out who took it.
Officer Chase grabbed the woman's car key and walked over to the gray sedan. Then she put the key into the lock and turned. Laura was shocked. The door opened! But ... that was impossible. That wasn't her car!
To say the cops were not amused would be an understatement. But regardless of that, Laura got off with only a warning.
The police car sped off, leaving Laura alone in the parking lot, completely dumbfounded.
