Authors: R. E. Bradshaw
RAINEY DAYS (12 page)
“Wake up Junior and the boys,” she directed him. “Put them around the block in groups of two, always together.” She repeated, “Always together, remind them. Make sure they dress to blend in with the college crowd. They should call, if they see anything suspicious. Nobody goes after this guy alone. Oh, and ask Junior to move my car around to the driveway and park it out back. I left the keys in it.”
“What are you smiling at?” Katie was speaking to JW
Rainey turned around to see that JW was actually smiling, an odd response under the current circumstances. He must have seen the questioning expression on Rainey’s face.
He shrugged his shoulders, “I was just thinking I picked the right person for the job.” He turned to his wife, “I think she has everything under control and I think we should respect her expertise, in this matter.”
“Don’t be condescending, I’m not one of your tort juries,” Katie snapped.
“I don’t know what you’re so angry about. I was trying to protect you,” JW shouted back, the old temper just under the surface.
Katie screamed back through tears, “You were trying to protect your goddamned career, JW, at least be honest about that.”
Katie stormed out of the room and down the hall. Rainey heard footsteps pounding up an unseen staircase. JW watched his wife leave and then looked at Rainey. He made a move to go after Katie, but Rainey raised her hand and waved that idea off. Rainey dropped her eyes to the floor thinking how best to diffuse the situation. Mackie had been watching intently the whole time.
He finally spoke up, “Mr. Wilson, I could sure use your help setting my boys up.”
JW pushed the dark bangs out of his eyes. He nodded, saying, “Sure, sure...” as he followed, Mackie back out into the foyer.
“Call Ernie,” Rainey said to Mackie. “Tell her not to go to the office alone. I will contact her later.”
Rainey followed in the direction in which Katie disappeared. She found the stairs, just off the kitchen and followed them to the second floor. She looked in several rooms before finding a locked door at the end of the hall. She knocked softly.
“Katie, it’s Rainey. May I come in?”
She heard Katie’s bare feet coming toward the door, the hardwood squeaking with her steps. The door lock snapped back and the door handle slowly turned. Katie opened the door and immediately turned her back to Rainey, walking across the room to sit in an armchair near the window. Her face remained turned away, as Rainey entered the room and closed the door behind her.
“Lock it, please,” Katie sniffled. She reached for the tissue box, on the table, as Rainey turned back and set the latch.
Rainey came over and leaned against the window casing, so she was facing Katie. Katie was embarrassed by her tears and waved Rainey away.
Rainey reached down and brushed some stray hairs from Katie’s brow. She wasn’t sure why she did that, she wasn’t normally so familiar with other women, but it just felt like the thing to do. Rainey spoke softly, “Go ahead, and get it out. It is an honest response to stress. You’ll feel better, if you just go with it.”
Through her tears, Katie said, “I’m sorry that you had to see that outburst. I’m not usually so out of control.”
“This is an extreme circumstance, you’re allowed at least one outburst,” Rainey tried to lighten the mood.
Katie was suddenly seized with the giggles. She began to laugh and cry at the same time.
Rainey continued, “Good, laughter through tears, another excellent way to relieve stress.”
This caused Katie to double over. Rainey smiled down at Katie, watching as the giggles subsided and Katie began to take deep breaths, trying to regain her composure. After a few minutes, Katie sat up straight, smiled up at Rainey and excused herself to the restroom. She came back, after having splashed some water on her face and running a brush through her hair. Her eyes were lined in red from the crying, and her cheeks were a bit splotchy, but other than that, she looked like she had her act together.
She smiled at Rainey, “Thanks, I needed that.” She sat back down in the chair.
“Anytime,” Rainey smiled back.
“So former Special Agent Bell, what happens next?”
“May I?”
Rainey reached for the chair under the desk near the window. Katie nodded in agreement. Rainey moved the chair close to Katie and sat down. Katie leaned in to listen. She was calm now and focused. Rainey wanted to ease Katie’s mind somewhat, but not downplay the seriousness of the circumstances the two women found themselves in together.
“I think we are done with our stalker for the evening. My experience with this guy is he does not want to be caught. He knows I will probably contact the BAU and has gone to ground to watch and plan his next move.”
Katie calmly asked, “So, you think we are safe for the moment?”
“He will want to catch either of us when we least expect it. He will assume the cavalry is coming, so yes, he is gone for the time being,” Rainey reassured her.
Katie thought for a second. Then she asked, “So you think you are a target too, because of what happened?”
“He left the note for me,” Rainey said. “He wants me to know it’s him. He wants me scared, that’s part of his sick game.”
Katie creased her brow and looked into Rainey’s eyes. She seemed curious and empathetic at the same time, asking in a quiet voice, “Are you scared?”
Rainey hesitated to answer, and then she responded softly, “Yes, I’m scared. I’d be lying, if I said I wasn’t. However, fear can keep me focused. That’s what I’m counting on.”
Katie smiled, “I’m counting on you.”
Rainey met Katie’s smile with her own, “Your safety is my number one priority.”
Katie reached over taking Rainey’s hand in hers, “We’ll do this together, okay.”
They shared a moment that was suddenly ended by the cell ringing on Rainey’s hip. She looked at the caller I.D. and saw Danny’s name flashing in the window.
She stood up and walked toward the door, saying, “I need to take this. It’s my contact at the BAU.”
Katie nodded that she understood. Rainey unlatched the door and went into the hallway, closing the door behind her. She did not want Katie to overhear this conversation.
She flipped open the phone, talking into the receiver, “Damn, it took you long enough.”
“What do you mean, he’s back?” Danny sounded out of breath.
“Where are you?” Rainey asked him.
“I’m running up the stairs, because the fucking elevator in this old ass building is not working at the present time. What do you mean he’s back? Are you talking about our guy?”
Rainey felt the fear surface at the back of her throat. When she tried to speak her voice came out dry and harsh. “Yes,” she crackled out, and then cleared her throat. “Yes, it’s our guy and he knows where I am.”
The man who nearly killed Rainey had become “our” guy, because Danny blamed himself for the attack. Rainey never blamed him. She knew it was her fault. She was tracking a serial killer, in his territory, and she was distracted. Danny still felt guilty. He sat beside her bed for weeks, refusing to leave even when she had gone home to her apartment in Bethel, Virginia. When she left the Bureau last July, he had been grief stricken that he had caused it all. He made her swear to call if she ever needed anything. Rainey needed something from Danny right now. She needed him to rain down FBI agents from the skies all over “our” guy, before he succeeded in killing her this time.
“We’re on the way. Send me all the particulars. I’ll go over it with everyone on the way down,” Danny said, still running from the sounds of things.
“Thanks Danny,” she said, feeling the emotions well up in her throat.
Her eyes began to burn and water. She told herself it was just the stress release, from hearing his voice.
“Hang on Rainey, I’m coming,” she heard him say; before she flipped the phone shut and fell against the wall.
Rainey buried her head against her arms and sobbed. She had not cried in almost a year. The built up tension released from her chest, in breath taking retches. She did not hear the door open, but did not fight the hands that gently lead her back into the bedroom. The door shut and latched behind her. She was tenderly led to the bed, where Rainey buried her face in the pillows and cried until she had no more to give. A cold washcloth was applied to her forehead. A soft hand stroked her back until she rolled over. She opened her eyes, as Katie softly brushed the tear-dampened hair from her face. Katie smiled at Rainey.
“I’m glad you got that over with,” Katie said, “I’ve heard it will make you feel better.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Rainey gradually pulled herself together, while Katie excused herself to take a shower, leaving the bathroom door open a bit, should Rainey need anything. She lay back on the down pillows, Katie had carefully fluffed for her, feeling stupid for breaking down and yet, lighter from the release. Rainey should have broken down more often, but she could not let the tears begin, for fear they would never stop. She had lost the most important person in her life and shortly after, lost all of her dignity. The rapist had degraded her into a piece of meat for his perverted pleasure. He had left her scarred both inside and out, to be constantly reminded of him, and what he had done to her body and soul. Rainey had been made what she feared most, a powerless victim.
She sat up and threw her legs over the side. Her shoes were on the floor, by the bed. She did not remember taking them off. She slipped the shoes on and walked over to the window. The sun was just starting to lighten the sky, turning the blackness to a deep rich purple. Though the clouds had cleared, only the brightest stars could penetrate through the haze created by the city lights. Even out by her house, the lights of the Triangle area shrouded the tiniest stars from view.
She looked at her surroundings. The scene analyst in her began to take mental notes. This was a woman’s room. There were no outward signs of a man’s presence. Colorful, freshly cut flowers sprung out of various sized vases, on every flat surface. There were no pictures of JW, anywhere. The only pictures Rainey saw were of the smiling faces of children, tucked into the dresser mirror. It appeared only one person had been sleeping under the covers. Magazines and books were stacked on the floor, on the unoccupied side of the bed. JW had not slept in this room in a very long time. She heard the water in the shower shut off.
Katie’s voice came from the bathroom, “You doing alright out there?”
Rainey walked nearer to the door, “Yes, but I really have to pee.”
“Oh my gosh, you poor thing. Come on in here.”
Rainey pushed the door open slowly, saw the toilet and made a beeline for it. For some reason, when her eyes saw the toilet, her bladder decided need had now become desperation. She rushed to get her pants down and barely made it in time. When she looked up, she saw Katie’s reflection in the mirror. She was toweling off behind the opened shower door and glanced up, just in time to see Rainey looking at her. Rainey felt the rush of embarrassment flush her face, as she quickly looked away.
“Don’t be embarrassed. You’re not the first to take a peek,” Katie said, from behind the door.
Rainey was mortified. “But I’m not…,” she stammered, before Katie cut her off.
“I’m not either, so I guess it really doesn’t matter then, does it?”
Katie came out of the shower with the towel wrapped around her and pranced like a sorority girl into her bedroom, where Rainey could hear her opening and closing drawers. Rainey sat on the toilet, in shock. She had been looking. Rainey had seen that Katie was naked and looked anyway, not diverting her eyes until she was caught. It was an entirely new reaction to a female nude body, since Rainey had been in and out of women’s locker rooms her entire life. She had never responded with any sexual curiosity to a woman, but she was sure that was exactly what had just happened. What she did not need right now was for her mind and body to start exploring a new sexuality, especially without her full attention. She had quite a lot on her plate as it was.
“Are you ever coming out of there?” Katie inquired.
Rainey finished on the toilet and flushed it, before answering, “Yes, I just need a moment to splash some water on my face.”
“Take your time, I just want to brush my teeth,” Katie chimed.
Rainey washed her face with cold water several times and toweled off. She looked in the mirror over the sink. Her hair was now a wild tangled mess. She ran her fingers through it and stuck it back in a ponytail. She rinsed her mouth out, splashed cold water on her face again and dried off.
“That’s as good as it gets,” she said to her reflection in the mirror.
Her tear reddened eyes stared back. She dropped her gaze and left the bathroom. Katie had slipped into a pair of gray sweats and a pink tee shirt with a “Girls Kick Butt” logo across the chest. Her hair was still wet and pulled back with a clip, pinned to the back of her head. Even dressed this casually she was beautiful. She was on the phone.
“Who are you calling?” Rainey said, concerned she may alert the wrong person to their predicament.
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