Star Bright (44 page)

He deepened the kiss. When he momentarily came up for air, he said, “My only concern about that has already been addressed, that you’ll marry me as fast as we can manage it. If you get pregnant, I’ll be the happiest man alive.”

“Really? Even if we can’t get married right away?”

“Even if. All that matters to me is knowin’ that we’ll eventually be a family.”

It was all that mattered to Rainie, too. In fact, it would be her dream come true. She could think of nothing that she would love more than holding his child in her arms. She gave herself up to his kisses and slipped away with him into pleasure’s oblivion.

Over the course of that night, Rainie lost track of how many times they made love. She knew only that they were both still awake when the night sky began to lighten, marking the time when Parker had to leave her.

“I don’t want you to go,” she whispered, hugging his neck.

“I don’t want to go,” he whispered back.

The only sound in the house, aside from their breathing, was the drone of the music channel on her television. Evidently the volume level wasn’t so high that the agents outside felt it interfered with their surveillance, because Brandson hadn’t called to ask her to turn it down. When Parker drew away from her and started to get dressed, Rainie lay back against the pillows, staring solemnly at the ceiling.

“I hope he makes his move soon,” she said hollowly. “That’s the only control he has left over my life now, making me wait.”

Parker paused in buttoning his shirt to look over his shoulder at her. “Reverse that. He isn’t controlling you. You’re controlling him. He just doesn’t know it yet.”

She thought about that for a moment and then grinned. “You’re right. He used to love to play cat and mouse with me. Now our roles are reversed. I’m the chunk of cheese, but when he comes for it this time, snap!” She brought her palms together to mimic the mechanism of a mousetrap. “That’ll be the end of Peter.”

Parker chuckled and bent to kiss her good-bye. “I love you, Rainie mine. Come to work early this morning.”

“Why come early?”

His mouth tipped into a slow, devilish grin. “You think I’m finished with you, lady? Think again. I want to make up for all the lost time.”

“But where? The arena is filled with people.”

“The office isn’t, and neither is my house. Maybe we’ll compare tables and see which is best, yours or mine.”

Rainie giggled and flapped her hand at him, convinced he was teasing. But an hour later when she arrived at the ranch, she quickly found out otherwise.

The weeks wore on, and still Peter Danning didn’t show his face in Crystal Falls. Concerned, Rainie went to Loni for a reading several different times, but Parker’s clairvoyant sister-in-law could pick up nothing about Peter by touching Rainie’s hand.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “It happens this way sometimes. I just can’t
see
.”

During the hours after dark and before dawn, Rainie and Parker made love as much as possible, but despite their insatiable desire for each other, there were physical limitations that sometimes dictated. When they were too tired to explore each other’s bodies, they fell into the habit of exploring each other’s minds. Parker shared his saddest and happiest memories with her, and soon Rainie found herself doing the same. For so long, she’d felt distanced from her past, but being with Parker had enabled her to recall moments that had once meant so much to her.

He held her especially close when she told him about all her failed attempts to find her grandparents after her father’s death and tried to explain how sad it made her feel to know that their children would never know her side of the family. “My mom was an orphan, and my father severed all ties with his relatives. If we ever do a family tree, my side will have no branches, and if our kids have physical or character traits that aren’t obviously Harrigan in origin, I won’t be able to tell them what individual in my lineage passed those traits down to them.”

“Ah, Rainie, if I could find your grandparents for you, I would.”

A tight sensation came into her chest. “Yes, well, finding them would be no guarantee that they’d be interested in meeting me, so maybe it’s better this way. I can pretend that they would have wanted to meet me if only they’d known I existed.”

Parker talked with her about his sadness over his mother’s death. “It wasn’t just losin’ my mother that devastated our family. My dad was never quite the same after she died, so in a way, we lost part of him, too. We Harrigan men only love that way once, and Mom was it for him. He cares very deeply for Dee Dee, don’t get me wrong, but it’s more a strong friendship and affection that he feels for her than a romantic, once-in-a-lifetime kind of love.”

“Does that bother her?”

He smiled slightly. “Nah. They got together when they were older. Neither of them expected fireworks. They get along well and enjoy each other’s company. After workin’ for him for so many years, she’s like a mother to us kids. What they have is special in its way. I’m so glad Dad has her in his life now. He spent enough years alone.”

“What was your mother like? Can you remember her?”

“Some of my memories are dim, others as clear as if they happened yesterday. She was tiny like Samantha, and pretty as a picture. I can still remember the sound of her voice, which was soft and almost musical, but what I remember most clearly is her laugh. You know how some people just let go and when you hear them laugh, you can’t help but chuckle, too? That was what her laugh was like, and she laughed a lot, one of those people who could always find humor in almost any situation. Dad says she was the light of his life, and I truly believe she was.”

Rainie cupped her hand to his lean cheek. “There you go, talking about inner light again.”

He smiled and caught her thumb in his teeth. “Maybe that’s because yours shines so bright.”

Several weeks after Rainie filed for divorce, special agents Slaughter and Simpson returned to Crystal Falls and requested another meeting. As before, the gathering took place in Parker’s kitchen. This time, the meeting was much more relaxed. Rainie’s attorney wasn’t present, and Parker served some of Dee Dee’s peanut-butter cookies to go with the coffee.

Special Agent Simpson opened the dialogue with, “I’m sure you’ve probably guessed our reason for wanting to meet with you today.”

Beneath the table, Rainie threaded her fingers through Parker’s. “I’m assuming it’s because Peter has yet to make a move, and you’re coming to think that he may not.”

The blonde nodded. “Exactly. When we went into this, we fully expected the situation to pop right away, but evidently Danning is smarter than we thought.” She smiled and shrugged. “We’re not happy about that. It was our hope to nail him, drag a confession out of him, and put him behind bars for the rest of his natural life, but it doesn’t appear that it’s going to play out that way.”

“You surely aren’t plannin’ to leave Rainie high and dry.” Parker’s body stiffened. “You gave her your word that she would have ’round-the-clock protection. You gave
me
your word on it, too.”

“We have no intention of leaving Ms. Hall high and dry, Mr. Harrigan. But we can’t ignore the fact that final dissolution of the marriage is a mere two weeks away. Once that occurs, it is our belief that the danger to her will be over.”

“So you’ll continue to protect her until the divorce is final, and then you’re out of here?”

“At that point, she’ll no longer need us.”

“Bullshit,” Parker said. “Are you forgettin’ that Danning is certifiably nuts and totally unpredictable? How can you think he’ll just let her go?”

Special Agent Slaughter cleared his throat and said, “Danning is inarguably crazy. We agree with you about that. But it isn’t entirely accurate to say that he’s unpredictable. Serial killers are infamous for establishing a murder pattern.”

“He’s not your run-of-the-mill serial killer,” Parker shot back.

“True, but when you trim away the expensive suit, all the polish, and the meticulous planning, he isn’t really so different from all the others,” Slaughter replied. “We brought in an FBI profiler to do a case study on him, and the first thing he picked up on is that Danning, like most serial killers, follows the same pattern, time after time. Danning may
think
he’s brilliant and absolutely unique because of the way he goes about killing his victims, but in truth, he is fundamentally similar to every other serial killer we’ve profiled.”

“I’m still not clear on how that makes Rainie safe once the divorce is final.”

Slaughter took a sip of his coffee. “I completely understand your alarm, Mr. Harrigan. But, please, just hear us out.” When Parker sat back to listen, the agent continued. “If you look at every infamous serial killer on record, they all follow basically the same pattern. First there’s the hunt for a victim. Some killers are opportunists who hang around in public places, waiting for a woman who fits their criteria to happen along. If she seems vulnerable, he strikes. In Danning’s case, the hunt is more a matter of research.”

“He has very specific victim criteria,” Parker inserted.

“Yes,” Slaughter agreed. “He looks for young, lovely, gullible, and wealthy young women with no family and few friends. But other serial killers have specific criteria as well. Bundy, for instance, targeted young women who bore a striking resemblance to one another. Many psychologists believe that he was exacting revenge against some female figure in his past and chose victims who looked like her.”

“I’m still not gettin’ how that relates to Danning.”

“Hear me out, and perhaps you will.” Slaughter chose a cookie from the platter but then set it aside on a napkin, forgetting to eat it as he warmed to his subject. “After the hunt is successfully executed, the killer captures his prey. Bundy usually lured his victims into his car, charmed them into trusting him, and then disabled them. Danning lures his victims into marriage, charms them out of their money, and also renders them helpless. At this stage, there usually follows a period of torture, sometimes brief in duration, sometimes long, depending upon the killer’s pattern. Bundy’s attacks were brief but brutal. Danning prefers to toy with his victims over a long period of time.”

Rainie shivered and closed her eyes.

“I’m sorry,” Slaughter said softly. “I know this is an unpleasant conversation for you, Ms. Hall, but I think both you and Mr. Harrigan need to see the similarities between Danning and someone like Bundy in order for me to put your minds at ease.”

Rainie lifted her lashes, steeled her spine, and nodded.

“The period of brutality,” Slaughter went on, “is normally sexually arousing for the serial killer, and it’s common for him to be almost ritualistic in its execution, sometimes to a point that he leaves what we call his trademark at every crime scene. Bundy often viciously bit his victims, for instance, and that became one of his trademarks. After the torture period, be it brief or prolonged, the killer finally murders his victim. At this point, he is high on adrenaline and the thrill of the kill. Outwitting law enforcement and getting away with the murder is his finale, what turns his crank the most, because it makes him feel superior to the poor cops who are chasing their tails, trying to nail him. Most serial killers are very charming and intelligent individuals. They’re often high achievers in school and later in their professional lives.” He leveled a look at Rainie. “Is any of this striking a chord with you?”

Rainie nodded. “You’re describing Peter, almost to a tee.”

“Exactly. His pattern is different on the surface but fundamentally the same, and that pattern is extremely important to him. It’s a game to him, and the only way he’ll play is by his rules.”

“Where are you goin’ with this?” Parker asked.

“Things haven’t gone according to Danning’s plan, and now we believe he’s decided not to play.” He raised a finger to forestall Parker from interrupting again. “First off, Ms. Hall vanished without a trace right before he intended to kill her.” He raised another finger. “Then he came under suspicion for killing her.
Not
his usual pattern. Part of the thrill for him is murdering his victims without the cops ever suspecting foul play. After Ms. Hall thwarted him and he came under suspicion, things began to fall apart for him. Unwilling to give up, he hired a pricey investigator to locate Ms. Hall, but she was so clever that finding her wasn’t easy. Before the investigator could track her down, she threw yet another wrench in the fan blades by filing for divorce.”

“But—”

“Just hear me out,” Slaughter requested of Parker again. “Danning has undoubtedly considered this situation from all angles and knows that he will fall under suspicion again if anything happens to Ms. Hall prior to dissolution of the marriage. If he waits until after dissolution, he can’t walk away with her money. Two important aspects of the game have been ruined for him. In short, the gratification he usually feels won’t occur, so the fun is gone.”

“The fun?” Parker echoed.

“I know it’s sick,” Simpson inserted, “but he’s obviously a very sick man. The profiler feels that the danger to Ms. Hall is nearly over. Once the divorce is final, Danning’s usual pattern is blown to smithereens, and the pattern is everything to him, a ritual of sorts. He will eventually strike again, but he’ll choose a different victim—someone who fits his criteria in every way. Ms. Hall no longer does. He could never woo her again, or lure her into the trap. That being the case, he’ll move on and find a young woman who will play the game according to his rules.”