Relatively Rainey (18 page)

Danny touched his glass to hers. “I hope mine is as storybook as yours.”

#

“Hi, Mom,” Rainey said to the phone screen.

She was on video-chat with Wendy, when she was taken into the kids’ bathroom to say goodnight. The triplets were all in the bathtub, splashing Grand-mère, the designation Constance had chosen for herself, refusing the standard grandmotherly terms. It came out more like Grammar from the toddlers’ mouths, which made Rainey laugh every time.

“Hi, Rainey. Grandpa John is checking on Katie and I thought I’d give Nana Melanie a break and bathe these rascals.”

Timothy reached for the phone.

Wendy’s voice said from behind the camera lens, “No, not in the bathtub.”

“Nee Nee, mommy sick,” Weather said, hands on her hips. Except for her piercing green eyes, she was a miniature Katie, mannerisms included.

Hoping to avoid any of Weather's authentic sound effects, Rainey said, “Grandpa John will make her feel better.”

“When you come home, Nee Nee?” Timothy asked.

“I’ll be home early enough to eat breakfast with you. Okay, buddy?”

“Okay.” Satisfied, Timothy went back to giggling and splashing Grammar.

Rainey saw Mack stand up behind Constance with a full cup of water in his hand.

“No, Mack,” she said sternly.

He looked at the screen and judged his chances of getting away with his ploy. He surmised correctly that Rainey could not reach him and Mommy was too sick to care. With a grin Rainey recognized as Katie’s genetic influence, he dumped the cup on Constance’s shoulder before she could move.

The triplets giggled with delight.

Weather pointed a stubby little finger at Constance. “Grammar taked a shower,” she said and cackled with laughter.

Constance had softened in her advancing age. She laughed and picked up the cup Mack had dropped, filled it with water, and dumped it over his head, saying, “You little rascal.”

More giggling ensued. Rainey laughed too, even though Mack had ignored a direct admonition. Sure the children already suspected her disciplinary shortcomings, she was saved from exposing more when Danny walked into the den with two steaming coffee mugs. Rainey turned the phone’s camera toward him.

“Look, guys, it’s Uncle Danny.”

The phone emitted shouts of something that sounded like Uncle Danny.

“Hey there,” Danny said, coming closer to the phone. He handed Rainey a coffee mug and then waved at the camera. “I’m glad you feel better.”

Timothy was still giggling and Mack was eyeing the cup again when Rainey moved to stand beside Danny so they could both see the screen.

“Mommy puke all the time,” Weather informed Danny. She seemed the most concerned about Katie’s stomach issues.

“I heard about that,” he replied. “Tell her I hope she feels better.”

“Okay,” Weather answered and started climbing out of the tub.

Wendy chuckled, telling Weather, “Not now, honey. In a minute, when you’re dry.”

“Okay,” Weather said and looked back up at the camera. “Unc Danny, Endy say not now.”

“Yeah, wait until you’re dressed,” Danny encouraged.

Timothy pointed at Constance, saying, “Unc Danny, Mack wet Grammar,” before throwing his head back in laughter, which caused his butt to slide out from under him.

He splashed backward in the water, sending a spray directly into Grammar’s face. She was drenched. The camera started shaking with Wendy’s laughter, as her arm came into view holding a towel out to Constance.

The triplets fell into a belly-shaking fit of cackles. They were near bedtime and it was one of those contagious laugh cycles to which they were prone when tired. No one was immune from the giggles when the triplets found something amusing.

“Good gracious. What is going on in here?” Rainey heard Katie say.

“Hey honey,” she said, as the camera view swung around to focus on Katie in the doorway.

“Mack wet Grammar, an an Timoty splash her,” Weather reported.

“Mack?” Katie said, calmly.

He stopped laughing and said, “I sorry, Grammar.”

“Timothy?”

He too responded with, “I sorry, Grammar.”

Constance, who would have grounded Rainey for life for such an infraction, wiped her face with the towel and said, “It’s okay. That was funny, wasn’t it?”

The triplets started the rolls of laughter again.

Katie threw up her hands and looked at the camera. “Hi, Danny.”

He waved while Weather narrated. “Unc Danny say he hope you feel better.”

“Thank you. I’m going to go back to bed. You guys be nice,” she said to the giggling children in the tub. She looked back at the camera. “I’ll call you later, Rainey,” she said, before darting from the room.

Weather continued her narrator’s job with, “Mommy puke too many times. Bleck, blecccck.”

“Okay, you guys be good for Nana and Grammar,” Rainey slipped and used the kids’ pronunciation, and quickly covered it with, “Goodnight. I love you. See you in the morning.”

“Night, night, Nee Nee,” they said, almost in unison.

“Night, night, rug rats,” she said before the screen filled with Wendy’s face.

“Hang on a sec, Rainey. I need to ask you something.”

Rainey waited as Wendy moved away from the bathroom and down the stairs, before she began to speak again.

“Hey, did the kid in the hoodie send you that picture?”

“Cane? Yes, it was in my inbox this morning,” Rainey said, hoping she wouldn’t die with an image of Jedidiah Lilly’s dick on her phone.

“I got a message from Connor. He said Cane disappeared last night. Nobody has seen him. When did he send the picture?”

“Hang on, let me look.”

Rainey pressed her finger to the screen, pausing the video chat, and checked her inbox for the penis picture. She pressed her finger on the screen again, re-engaging the paused chat.

“Wendy, he sent that about fifteen minutes after we left yesterday. I think you should call Sheila Robertson and tell her what you know. That’s what I would do. Let her take the heat from Lilly’s people and the higher ups. You are not equipped to deal with this on your own.”

Rainey heard a notification signal from Wendy’s phone. Wendy frowned at the screen.

“Who is that?” Rainey asked. “Is that Connor?”

“No, it’s Nick Prentiss. He’s been calling and texting me for two days. He doesn’t seem to get his unanswered calls and the lack of replies to his texts are signs he should move along.”

Danny asked, “He does know that nearly everyone in your family, including you, is armed, right?”

“Hi Danny,” Wendy replied. “Yes, he is aware of that fact. He’s harmless. He needs some arm candy for a fundraiser. His date probably dumped him when she realized he’s a shallow prick.”

A heavy sigh from Wendy immediately followed another ding warning of a new message.

Since he was the closest thing to a brother Rainey had, she guessed Danny's protectiveness of Wendy came with the territory.

He asked, “If that’s him again, that’s harassment. Give me his number.”

Wendy laughed. “I got it, Danny, but thanks. It’s another cop, the one that introduced me to Nick. He now has the bro-team in action. His bro either wants to date me or plead his case. Hard to tell.”

Danny smiled at the screen. “Just keep playing hard to get. The right one will simply sweep you off your feet with no effort and no bro-team action.”

Rainey was still mulling over Cane’s disappearance. “How does Connor know that kid isn’t staying at a trick’s house?”

“They check in with each other. He said Cane just vanished. He thinks Barron might be with him. He’s not answering his phone. I ran a check. He isn’t in the system, at least not yet.”

“Call Sheila, Wendy. It’s all that you can do.”

“I’ll call her in the morning. I need to check out a few things first.” Wendy probably didn’t mean to add aloud, “If I break this, I’m golden.”

Rainey wanted no further involvement in what was rapidly becoming a firestorm case, and what she viewed as Wendy’s mishandling of it. As her younger sister torpedoed her career with unbridled ambition, Rainey did not want to be along for the ride. She’d be there to pick up the pieces, but riding shotgun into a shit-storm wasn’t in Rainey’s book of familial responsibilities. Little sis was going to have to learn this lesson on her own.

“How’s the paper going?” Rainey asked to change the subject.

“I haven’t had much time to gather my thoughts,” Wendy said, smiling at the screen. “These kids are a full-time job. I don’t know how you guys do this when you’re alone with them, one on three. Mack hid from me in your office for a good fifteen minutes. It’s amazing how he managed to climb those shelves in the closet. He was lying on the top shelf when Katie came down. She used all of his names and he came scampering down like the pied piper had called him.”

“She is his muse,” Rainey said, and then cautioned. “Keep the closet shut while you’re in there, and close the office door when you’re not.”

“It was closed, Rainey. I’m not inept. He was there one minute and then he wasn’t.”

“You can’t take your eyes off of them,” Rainey replied with a chuckle. “They’re quick.”

Wendy countered, “I don’t know if those gymnastics lessons were a good decision. You’re likely to find Mack on the roof.”

“Not for a few more years, I hope.”

Wendy arrived in Rainey’s office. She could see her desk through the screen as Wendy moved behind it.

“I scanned through the file. I’m going to read your notes next, but I was thinking, what if the UNSUB's wife travels for a living? That would explain his freedom of movement. Can you trace that?”

Danny smiled at Rainey.

She returned it, before saying to Wendy, “Yes. We started a search this afternoon.”

“I should have known you’d think of that.”

Rainey reassured her. “We just thought of it today. That’s good work, Wendy. Nice catch.”

Wendy beamed into the phone screen. “Thanks, sis. Well, I’ll let you go. I need to finish reading your file and start writing that paper, now that the kidlets are heading to bed.”

“Oh no, not yet,” Rainey said, laughing loudly. “I promised them Endy would do story time tonight. It takes at least two books, sometimes the same one twice. Enjoy.”

“I am never having kids,” Wendy said and waved goodbye to the camera.

Rainey ended the call and placed the phone on the coffee table.

“She’s pretty sharp,” Danny observed.

“Yes, she is, but she’s reckless. She’s over her head in what is going to be a nasty scandal. That looks promising to someone trying to make detective with lightning speed, but she worries me.”

“Reminds me of someone else I knew once,” Danny said, as he took his seat on the couch.

Rainey sat on the opposite end, nodding her head. “I know exactly what she’s thinking. That’s what scares me, Danny. She’s also got that hothead Engel following her around. Did you check on that for me?”

“Yes, I did. He’s a piece of shit, between you and me. The Bureau line is Aaron Engel resigned after his wife filed domestic abuse charges. She dropped the charges, but the Bureau saw enough evidence in his file, alleged abuse of a prisoner, excessive force, things like that. He was forced to resign or be fired. He chose to leave. Sometimes a bad one gets through all the psych tests. This guy has issues.”

Rainey nodded. “I would agree. From what Wendy and Mackie said, Engel is unable to control his rage. I’m worried he’s targeting Wendy because his wife has gone underground until his trial for assault and battery. There are more charges pending for threatening Wendy and violating his wife’s VPO.”

“Those victim’s protection orders are not worth the paper they are written on,” Danny said in disgust. “Perps walk right through those VPOs and kill people every day it seems.”

“Wendy challenged him. Mackie said she’s lucky this guy didn’t get to her. She’s still young enough to believe she’s invincible.”

“Again, I say, I knew someone like her once.” Danny tipped his coffee mug in Rainey’s direction.

“You did not know me when I was her age,” Rainey said.

Danny raised his brow in question. “Am I wrong?”

Rainey conceded, “Well, let’s just hope the Bell family survival streak stays intact.”

Danny asked the obvious question. “What about your dad? Didn’t he break the streak?”

“That guy wasn’t trying to kill my dad. We can’t stop what we don’t see coming, but head-up and straight into a fight, I’d put money on a Bell.”

Danny laughed. “I would too, Rainey. I would too.”

#

Rainey called Katie at nine o’clock. She and Danny had an early flight and both were drained from the emotional day. Katie answered on the first ring.

“I’m so glad you called early. I haven’t blecked in several hours, but I’m exhausted. I just want to sleep.”

“I can tell Weather has been talking to you. Blecked may be part of our household vocabulary from now on,” Rainey replied.

“She’s very concerned. I think she’s going to be a doctor. She’s fascinated by John’s stethoscope.”

Rainey yawned. “You thought she was going to be an astronaut last month because she learned the names of the constellations you taught her. She’s a sponge.”

“We should enroll them in foreign language enrichment now while they can absorb it quickly.” Katie finished in a long yawn.

“You go to sleep. I should be there by seven-thirty if the flight is on time and the traffic isn’t bad. See you for coffee.”

Katie made a blecking sound, followed by, “Don’t talk about food or coffee or anything that has to go into my stomach. I’ll see you in the morning. I love you.”

“Get some rest. I love you too. Sweet dreams.”

SUCH STUFF AS DREAMS ARE MADE ON

“The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes.”

― Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

7:15 AM, Friday, March 6, 2015

The Bell-Meyer’s Residence

Chatham County, NC

Danny dropped Rainey off at the airport before five and headed back to Quantico to catch a helicopter ride to Kentucky. Another killer was on the loose and Agent McNally had been asked to engage in the hunt. Rainey’s flight landed a few minutes early. She grabbed her carry-on and exited with the first class passengers, ahead of the masses. She rushed to her car and sped away, hoping she hadn’t missed breakfast with the kids. It was her favorite time of the day with them.