B00CCYP714 EBOK (21 page)

“May I have a copy of this picture?” Rainey asked.

“You can have this one.” The tech handed Rainey the image from the folder, and then continued, “The bad news is there are thousands of Vermillion Red F150 trucks in the Triangle. It is a very popular truck.”

Rainey smiled. “Yes, but we know where to look.”

“We do?” Sheila questioned.

“Rainey has a geographic profile that makes us think he’s in one particular area,” Colonel Asher answered. “It’s mostly undeveloped land, south of Chapel Hill, still a lot of ground to cover.”

Rainey spoke directly to Sheila. “I understand the BAU is tied up at the moment.”

“I talked with Danny. Someone will be here in the morning. That’s the best he can do.”

A commotion on the other side of the garage drew everyone’s attention. Rex King was involved in a heated argument with Wiley Trainer. Since Wiley never lost his temper, this was indeed a moment to pause and watch.

“She’s the best chance we have of getting a confession. We’ve got nothing else on this guy,” Wiley said, his voice echoing loudly in the cavernous garage.

Rex roared back, “She killed a man and everyone is treating her like she’s above the law. Go on, taint your case. I’ll bet this guy’s attorney’s going to have a field day with this, a murder suspect questioning a rape suspect. You people have lost your minds.”

Rainey had never seen Wiley angry, but she was seeing it now. He lit into Rex. “And you are supposed to be nowhere near her case, so back off, or I’ll have you shuffling papers until retirement. You’re not above suspicion here, Rex. I’d remember that if I were you.”

“I’m not supposed to be near the case?” Rex was incredulous. “But she can be in here with evidence. This is a crock of shit.”

Rex stormed off. Rainey stared after him, shocked to see Martin Douglas Cross waiting by the door. The writer made eye contact with Rainey, nodded, and then followed the fuming detective out of the garage. Wiley approached while she was still trying to process what she had just seen. He motioned her away from the others. “Rainey, may I have a word with you?”

When they were out of earshot, he said, “Rainey, I know you’re working this missing girl on the sly, but I’ve got a rape suspect upstairs that some of the investigators think might be the serial. I’d like your opinion.”

Rainey looked over Wiley’s shoulder at the colonel. “Okay, but I’m going to need a favor in return.”

“I can’t fire Rex, if that’s what you want,” Wiley said, calm again and smiling.

“It would be nice if you could, but no, I need something else. I’m going to have a list of vehicles pretty soon. We’re going to need personnel to run those down. They’ll need to work in teams of two, no exceptions.”

“How many are we talking about?” Wiley asked, rubbing his chin.

“I don’t know yet, but I don’t want Sheila running into any paperwork or overtime issues when she asks. I think we can find this guy, Wiley.”

“You think his daughter is still alive, don’t you?”

Rainey turned so the colonel could not read her lips, just in case he knew how. From her experience with military personnel at Quantico, she knew them to be very resourceful.

“She’s alive. She may not want to be, but she is. The man that has her is capable of unfathomable torture, but he kept the last one for months. We catch the right break, we can find her.”

“Whatever you need, just ask,” Wiley said. “I can’t help but think about my own daughter. I can’t imagine what this man is going through.”

Rainey nodded in agreement. “I hope we never have to find out.”

#

Rainey left the colonel with Sheila, telling him he should go through the rest of Bladen’s personal items and look through her phone for anything that stuck out to him. She followed Wiley to an interrogation room, where they found Forest Sutton sitting across the table from his arresting officer, Blake Little. When Wiley opened the door, Officer Little was berating his captive.

“Knock off the bullshit, Sutton. Once these women get a look at you in a line up, you’re going away for a very long time. Cut a deal. Maybe they’ll keep you in isolation. You know what they do to rapist up at Central Prison, don’t you?”

Wiley interrupted Little’s rant. “Hey, I asked you to sit with him, not question him.”

Little stood up immediately. “Sorry, Captain.”

“Leave us alone with him,” Wiley said, with a bit of reprimand implied in his tone.

“Yes, sir,” the officer answered, leaving quickly.

Wiley eased back into his calm, soothing drawl. “Sorry about that, Forest. He’s up for a promotion to Sergeant. It tends to make them a little anxious to get that big bust under their belts.”

Forest Sutton smiled at Wiley, giving Rainey the impression that a rapport had already developed between the two men. She also noticed the scrapes on Sutton’s face and hands, and the little purple mouse forming on his cheek. It appeared there had been a struggle at his arrest. He was nervous, antsy, unable to sit still, constantly pushing his long bangs from his forehead. Rainey’s immediate reaction was this is not the serial rapist. His body language was inconsistent with the confident alpha male that had been breaking into women’s homes.

When he spoke, Rainey heard the voice of a timid, confused young man. “Man, that guy just won’t listen. Please find my girlfriend. She’ll tell you I wasn’t breaking into her apartment. Well, I was breaking into it, but she wanted me to.”

“We’re trying to locate her,” Wiley said. “She has not returned to the apartment and she isn’t at work. Do you have any idea where she could be?”

“No, and now I’m really worried,” Forest said.

Rainey believed him. Still, this could all be an act, and if it was, this guy was doing an Oscar winning performance of the anti-suspect in a serial rape case. But one thing was gnawing at her. When they walked in, she caught a whiff of the cologne she smelled on her coat last night. She wasn’t sure if it was the leather warming and releasing the smell, or if Forest here had been in Wiley’s car. So, she pulled out the chair next to Wiley and sat down.

“Forest, this is Rainey Bell. I’ve asked her to come talk to you. She may be able to help you clear this up.”

“Okay,” Forest said, barely looking up from the table.

Rainey smiled to put him at ease. “Forest, I’m not a police officer, but I’m acting as an agent for them, so I need to know that you’ve been read your rights and understand them.”

“Yes, I signed that paper waving my rights. Really, I haven’t done anything wrong.”

Wiley had filled Rainey in on the arrest details, but she wanted to hear what Forest had to say. She began with easy questions, things he would not lie about, facts easily checked, most of which she already knew from looking at the arrest report, but she needed a baseline of body language when he was being truthful.

“Okay, Forest. Let’s start out simple. How old are you? Where do you work?”

“I’m twenty-nine. I’ve been a paramedic with the fire department for seven years.”

Rainey noted that his head came up and his shoulders straightened when he mentioned his job. He made solid eye contact with her for the first time too. He was proud of his profession. It gave him confidence. Her next question was meant to test that confidence and was one of the reasons Forest was sitting in an interrogation room. He did not fit most of the profile Rainey developed for the rapist, but one aspect of Forest’s life sent up alarm bells.

“That’s right. I read that in the arrest report. It also said you applied to the police academy, and after being rejected, you enrolled in the forensic science program over at State college.”

Forest grew defensive. “I was rejected because I was sick during the PT test. I had the flu. I also realized that I really wanted to be in forensics instead of patrol duty, so I went back to school. I graduate in May.”

Rainey observed Forest lean forward, look her in the eyes, and defend his pride. He was being truthful. She knew that because Wiley had checked out his background, but it did put him squarely within the parameters of the profile. One other aspect of Forest’s demeanor made Rainey suspicious. He was not displaying the typical behavior of an innocent man, no demanding of his rights, no real outbursts of indignation at the charges, more pleading to be let go than professing of innocence. He was guilty of something. She pressed him for details.

“All right then, why don’t you tell me why you were arrested breaking into the backdoor of an apartment at quarter to five this morning?”

“I was supposed to,” Forest began, and then hesitated. “Man, she’s going to kill me.”

“Who?” Rainey asked.

“My girlfriend. This was her idea. I wouldn’t do something like this if she hadn’t, well, she pretty much insisted. She’s, uh, she’s—Oh man, she’s going to kill me.”

“Forest,” Rainey said, trying to focus him. “Let’s attempt to string a whole thought together. Just one at a time would be best.”

Forest ducked his head. Here was his guilt, his shame. “My girlfriend wanted me to break in her apartment and role play a domination scene.”

“You mean she has a rape fantasy and she wanted you to be the attacker.” Rainey stated it plainly, so the words would sink in.

Forest leaned forward, cuffed hands on the table. “I’m not like that. I didn’t want to do it. She insisted and she’s, she’s—”

“She’s hot, Forest. I saw her picture in the file. So, explain why she wasn’t at home when you planned your break in.”

“I have no idea. I thought she said last night.” He flopped back against his chair, exasperated, and Rainey caught the cologne scent again. “I’ve been on duty for three days. I left my phone in my buddy’s car, when he gave me a ride home from the firehouse last night, and I haven’t been able to track him down. Man, I am so going to catch hell for this.”

 “What kind of cologne is that you’re wearing?”

“I don’t wear cologne. My girlfriend has allergies.” Forest sniffed of his shirt. “It was that guy that tackled me. He must have bathed in the stuff.”

The rapist did not wear cologne either, but every woman Rainey interviewed commented that the attacker had a robust manly odor, not overly unpleasant, but strong, pervasive. It lingered in their homes after he was gone. It occurred to Rainey that the rapist knew this, and masked his scent at other times with cologne. When they caught him, Rainey believed he would prove to have been chastised at some point for his manly odor.

Forest leaned forward again, looking from Rainey to Wiley and back. “Look, I know I was stupid. I can’t believe I actually did it anyway. The reason that guy saw me was because I was so nervous I couldn’t unlock the door.”

Wiley sat up a little taller. “Are you usually faster at picking locks?”

“Yeah, I’ve been doing it since I was a kid. I’m pretty good at it most of the time. My granddad was a locksmith. He taught me how.”

That was another reason Forest was in handcuffs. He was found in possession of a lock picking kit. The rapist was also adept at entering locked doors, prompting speculation that he possessed the same skills of which Forest was now bragging.

A knock at the door stopped the questioning. Officer Little stepped in, a sheepish expression on his face. “We found the girlfriend. She said the break-in was planned for tonight, not last night. She thought Forest was working last night and stayed over at a friend’s house. She came home a few minutes ago to get her phone charger before going to work because her battery died.”

Forest, feeling vindicated, said, “See, I told you.”

Rainey smelled the cologne again, heavy in the air as before. She watched Officer Little walk over to Forest and remove the cuffs. He fit the rapist’s height and build, as described by the women he attacked. He also fit Rainey’s profile, the alpha male cop involved in the investigation, and she remembered seeing him at Maybelline’s. She listened as he spoke to Forest, watching for clues.

“I’m sorry you had to go through this. Under the circumstances, with all the rapes going on, you can understand why we had to take a close look. You were breaking into a woman’s apartment in the wee hours.”

Forest stood up, rubbing his wrists. “Yeah, well, that’s not going to happen again. She can find another boyfriend if that’s what she’s into. I’m done.”

Little chuckled. “She’s a firecracker, all right. She’s downstairs waiting for you.”

Forest looked stricken. “Can you show me the back way out of here?”

Little handed Forest off to another officer in the hallway and then stopped to talk to Wiley and Rainey.

“Sorry to have caused a false alarm. I really thought he was the guy,” Little said, watching Forest slink away toward the back exit.

Rainey watched Little. “Hey, what’s that cologne you’re wearing?”

Little wrinkled his nose. “It’s not me. The campus cop that tackled the guy, he’s bathed in the stuff. It follows you everywhere.”

The observation room door opened and two men joined them in the hallway. With them came the strong smell of the cologne. Rainey knew one of them—a detective working on the rape cases. The other man was younger, maybe late twenties, dressed in black pants and turtleneck, much like the police tactical teams wore. He was also the source of the cologne. Wiley stuck out his hand toward the younger man.

“Thank you for your help on this.” Wiley turned to Rainey. “Jason is an officer with the State College police department. As their liaison, he’s been working on the serial rape case with us. Jason Brand, this is Rainey Bell. She developed the profile we’ve been working with.”

Jason smiled broadly. “Yes, I know who you are.” He extended his hand for her to shake. “It’s an honor to meet you.”

Outwardly, Jason seemed calm and at ease. When Rainey clasped his hand, she felt him vibrating beneath the surface.

The whole time she was in the room with Forest, Rainey had been wondering why an experienced investigator like Wiley Trainer needed her to tell him they had the wrong guy. She glanced at Wiley and saw the twinkle in his eye. This was the real suspect Rainey had been summoned to evaluate. His interrogation was taking place right here in the hallway and Jason Brand had no idea.