Authors: R. E. Bradshaw
RAINEY DAYS (15 page)
“That’s all I want, Rainey, is for you to trust me. We’ll get this guy.”
“Okay, how can I help?” Rainey asked. She sat back down.
“One of the other agents is going to take your statement. She’ll want to go over your stalker investigation with you in detail. I’ll need the note you received last night, from JW, and the one addressed to you.” Danny said, and pulled a pad from his pocket. He thumbed through a few pages, before he found what he was looking for. “You said the originals are in a safe, in your office?”
Rainey answered, “Yes, I can get them for you, but they’ve already been run for prints. Only JW’s prints showed up.”
“I’d still like to have a look at them. We’ll send someone with you to get them later.” Danny looked at the pad again, asking, “Do you think he targeted your friend’s wife to get to you?”
“No,” Rainey answered quickly, because she had thought about that already. “I think it was just a fluke. How could he have known, I knew JW?”
“Okay, I thought it was worth asking.” Danny went on, “Anyway, I’m going to need you to give the video of the guy you saw the other night to James. Maybe he can enhance it.”
“Sure, anything else?” Rainey stood up.
Danny rose from his seat and moved in close to her, “You never answered my question, how are you?”
“Tired, angry, frustrated and yes, scared,” Rainey answered him.
“And the dreams?” Danny persisted.
“They did go away soon after I moved, but I started having them again around my birthday.”
“Maybe you’ve experienced something recently, something you are unaware of, that triggered the return,” Danny suggested.
“It’s possible, I guess,” Rainey said, thinking of the prospect that she may have subconsciously picked up on something she had seen or heard.
“Okay, then, after the agent has talked to you, we’ll see about getting those notes and pictures from your office,” Danny said, putting an arm around her shoulder.
Rainey leaned into him and put an arm around his waist. They stood there for a moment then went back to the kitchen. Some of the agents were eating fruit and nibbling on toast while they went over investigative reports. Rainey recognized the names on the folders, the killer’s victims. She saw her own name and felt her stomach turn over. In that folder were the details of what she had endured the night she was attacked. Pictures of her brutalized body were clipped to the inside. She had not seen the pictures. She was not even aware they had been taken, but she knew they were there. There were always pictures of the victim.
Katie was leaning on the kitchen island, pen in hand, writing on a pad that said, “Teach from the Heart” across the top.
Rainey moved over to the island. She leaned down on her elbows next to Katie.
“Making another list I see,” Rainey said.
“I need more supplies, even with the ones Junior brought in a little while ago,” Katie said, tapping her head with the end of the pen.
“You really don’t have to feed everybody.”
Katie turned her face to Rainey, they were inches apart. “It keeps me busy. I couldn’t just sit around. I’d rather not have the time to think about a crazed man out there hunting us.”
Katie’s eyes were even more dazzling up close. The starburst patterned colors of her iris, ranged from a deep midnight blue to sky blue, with golden highlights.
“Rainey, I asked if you have any requests.” Katie was looking at Rainey, who had been lost in the other woman’s eyes. She had not heard Katie speaking to her.
“No, I’m fine, but thanks for asking,” Rainey managed to say, though she was beginning to panic.
What was happening to her? Rainey was developing a major crush on this woman. Not now, she thought, not while I need to be focused on keeping us both safe. Rainey knew what falling for someone felt like. She had done it with Bobby and a few others along the way, but never with a woman. Unless she counted the schoolgirl crushes she had experienced, but they never felt like this. She felt an electrical charge between them, a physical heat that kept rising. Rainey had to get away, but she wanted to stay right here beside Katie. She was so conflicted it must have shown on her face.
“What’s wrong?” Katie asked.
Rainey stood up. “Nothing’s wrong. I was just thinking.”
“It must have been something important. You looked so worried,” Katie said, studying Rainey’s face.
Rainey thought quickly, “Danny called me a victim. I have a hard time thinking that way.”
“It must be hard, going from the hunter to the hunted,” Katie said. Her look of empathy was genuine.
“Yes, it is. I’m not looking forward to going over it all again,” Rainey said, moving away from Katie.
Katie remained focused on Rainey, forgetting her list. “I’m a good listener, if you need to talk, not about what happened, just if you need a shoulder to lean on.”
Rainey smiled, “I appreciate that.”
Katie went back to her list and Rainey wandered over to the agents at the table. A tall, athletically built, black woman with close-cropped hair asked if she could take Rainey’s statement now. Rainey remembered her name was Paula, but she only knew her in passing. She was a new member of the BAU and Rainey had not had time to get to know her, before she left. Rainey showed Paula to the living room where they talked for an hour. Rainey went over every detail she could remember about the stalker investigation. Paula did not ask any questions about her attack, to Rainey’s relief.
She went out to the Charger and retrieved the notes, passing them off to an agent wearing latex gloves. She gave her laptop to James so he could copy the video file and the pictures she had taken, while on the stakeout. Rainey asked if there was anything else she could do for them, and they said no.
Rainey decided to call Ernie and give her the details of what was happening. She told her to stay home and keep the doors locked. Rainey was not sure how far this lunatic would go to terrorize her. She did not want to think about Ernie being in danger, but she told her to load her gun anyway. Ernie, though petite and very feminine could shoot the eyes out of a gnat. Rainey’s father had a gun for the office, because their clientele were, after all, criminals. Ernie had insisted he teach her how to use it. She was a crack shot from the beginning, having grown up on a farm surrounded by guns; she was very capable and willing to use one.
“Now, don’t you go trying to be a hero. Let those other agents do their jobs,” Ernie scolded.
“I won’t do anything crazy, I promise,” Rainey said. “You be careful, too.”
“Don’t worry about me. My boys will take care of me and I will shoot the little bastard, if he tries to come in my house, I guarantee you that.”
Rainey believed her. Not only would Ernie shoot someone, that person would have to get past her four sons, who were all over six feet tall and loved their momma. She thought about Freddie.
“Could you get the boys to take you to the cottage to feed Freddie for me? I might be gone for a couple of days. You don’t have to go today. I’m going to get the notes and pictures out of the safe and I’ll feed him.”
“He can feed himself from all the stuff he drags up, but I’ll go out there anyway,” Ernie said.
Rainey laughed. “He doesn’t eat them, they’re gifts.”
“Gifts, my behind,” Ernie said. “That cat’s a killer, no question about it. I think he’s part bobcat.”
“I’ve thought that myself, from time to time,” Rainey said. “You take care now and I’ll see you, as soon as this is over with.”
“Rainey, you know I love you, don’t you?” Ernie said softly.
“I love you too, Ernie. I’ll be careful,” Rainey said, almost tearing up. “I gotta go,” she added, so she would not have to say anything else.
“Be safe, honey. See you soon,” Ernie said, and then hung up.
Rainey found Danny chatting with Katie, in the den. He had just finished interrogating her, but she really had little to offer in the way of successfully identifying her stalker. She had been completely unaware of his existence until last night. They were talking about her teaching career when Rainey came in. Katie was going on about how she loved her job and the challenge of molding young minds. Rainey listened as the animated Katie told amusing stories about what messes six year olds can get into. Most involved scissors and glue.
When Katie finished, Rainey said, “Danny, do you think I can go home now, take a shower and grab some clothes. I would really love to brush my teeth. I can grab the stuff out of the safe while I’m there.”
Katie brightened, “Do you think I can come along, so we can go to the grocery store?”
Rainey and Danny responded simultaneously, “No.”
“Please, I don’t think he’s going to try anything, in the grocery store,” Katie argued.
Danny thought, and then said, “Okay, we have to go meet Detective Griffin. He’s got a room set up at the police department. We’re moving most of the agents down there.”
Rainey asked, “How many are you leaving here, with us?”
“I’m assigning Roger and three others to watch you. Their only job is to keep you covered at all times.”
Rainey looked at Katie, “Roger is a good agent. He’ll keep us safe.”
Danny continued, “I think four agents ought to be able to take a lady shopping, if she needs to.”
Danny had fallen under Katie’s spell. Against his better judgment, he was doing what would make her happy. Rainey probably would have given in, too. They loaded up, Katie and Rainey in the Charger and four agents trailing in an SUV. It took twenty minutes to get to the cottage. Rainey listened as Katie talked about growing up just outside of Durham, with her parents and sisters, and where she had gone to high school. She never once mentioned JW. She questioned Rainey about her childhood and Rainey told her the story of discovering her real father at age ten. They arrived at the cottage just as Rainey was finishing up the story.
“That must have been a real shock at that age, well, at any age, for that matter,” Katie commented.
Rainey parked the car under the cottage. “It all turned out for the best, in the long run,” she said.
They got out of the car and walked down to the office, followed by four large men in suits.
Rainey went in the office to retrieve the file containing the notes and pictures. She handed it to Roger, who put it in the SUV when they went back to the cottage. Katie looked out at the view from Rainey’s front deck.
“This is really nice and I love the cottage look. It reminds me of Nags Head,” she said.
Rainey unlocked the door and disabled the alarm. She turned back to Katie, “It should. My father copied the plans from a place down there. He loved the beach.”
“You must miss him terribly,” Katie said.
Rainey answered, “Every day.”
They entered the cottage, Roger first, then one other agent. They checked the place out and determined it was safe to enter. Roger stationed two agents on the back deck. He and the other agent would stay by the front door. Rainey and Katie went inside together. Katie was immediately enthralled by all the memorabilia.
“This is some great stuff. Your father collected it all?”
Rainey called out from the kitchen, where she had gone to get them each a bottle of water, “Yes, it took him years. I think I’m going to donate most of it to a museum, except for the things that actually belonged to him when he was in combat.”
Rainey returned from the kitchen and excused herself to take a shower. She left Katie examining a helmet from World War II, complete with bullet hole and blood stained webbing. Rainey went into her bedroom, found her overnight bag and put some things in it. She was used to packing a travel bag, not knowing when she would return. When she was in the Bureau actively, she had a “go” bag packed at all times. She picked out some jeans and a tee shirt to wear today. No need to be uncomfortable, she thought.
Rainey checked on Katie, before she went to the shower. Katie was lost in the hundreds of artifacts strewn around the cottage’s large main room. She told Rainey to take her time and went back to her sightseeing. Rainey shut the door on the bathroom, and then shed the clothes she felt she had on for days. She put them on only yesterday afternoon, so it had not been as long as that. The hot shower helped release the tension in her neck, as the water pounded down on her. She rolled her neck and moaned when it popped, relaxing her muscles. She was really tight.
She took the time to think about her feelings for Katie. This was all so new and exciting, yet inappropriate, considering three major factors. First and second, Katie said she was not gay and neither was Rainey. Third and lastly, she was JW’s wife. Although unhappy, Katie was still married to JW. Maybe, when this was all over, Rainey would examine her newfound attraction to women, but now was not a good time. Besides, she did not think it was all women, just Katie that pushed her, previously unknown, buttons. She wished she had someone to talk to about it, but there was no one she was willing to trust with this. She was on her own.
After the shower, she stepped out of the tub and began to dry off. Rainey heard something hit the door and then the latch opened and the door swung open slowly. Freddie came around the door and began rubbing on her recently dried legs. He purred loudly as he twined himself between her legs. The bathroom door handle was the type you pulled down to open. Freddie had learned the trick of opening it, at an early age.
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