R. E. Bradshaw - Rainey Nights (22 page)

If you can keep this down, we’ll talk about a real meal. You need to do several things and I suggest you do them in the following order:

1. Eat your breakfast.
2. Focus. There is a killer after you, or did you forget?
3. Call Katie, and apologize for whatever bonehead thing you did.
4. Re-focus, because you can't think when you talk to Katie.
5. Come to the office. Danny will be here in an hour.

Numbers two, three, and four were the tough ones. Rainey had no chance of clearing her head and calling Katie was going to be a challenge. What could she say? She thought about it while eating her toast. She was still thinking when she finished the last piece of crust. She put food and water down for Freddie, who she presumed was out on his morning stalk. She then wrestled her still damp hair into a ponytail. When there was nothing else she could do to delay the inevitable, she picked up her phone and dialed Katie’s parents’ home. She was relieved it was not Katie’s mother, but Tim who answered. She wasn’t up for twenty questions from Melanie.

“Good morning,” she said, trying to sound better than she felt.

Tim answered in a cheerful voice, “And good morning to you. I suppose you would like to speak to my daughter, or has something else happened?”

“No, everything is the same as when we last talked. I just need to talk to Katie, if she’ll speak to me.”

She could hear Tim moving around. She supposed he was going to ambush Katie with the phone.

“I’m taking the phone to Katie, now. Oh, by the way, the police car is outside. Thank you.”

Rainey was relieved. “Good. I’m glad they are there.”

She heard Tim tap lightly on a door and then say, “Katie, honey, Rainey’s on the phone. She wants to speak to you.”

Rainey heard Katie’s muffled voice, but she couldn’t make out what she said.

Tim spoke again, “Katie, I’m not going to relay messages. Be an adult and come to the door.”

There was sound of rustling around and then Katie’s voice came over the line. “I don’t want to talk to you.”

“Katie, I’m sorry.”

“Sorry for what, Rainey, that you finally said what you really think, instead of what you thought I wanted to hear?”

“Well, I can tell you’re still angry. I guess a rational discussion is out of the question, at this point.”

Rainey called that one correctly. Katie shouted into the phone, “You’re damn right!” Katie took a breath and gathered steam. “Go play FBI agent. That’s what you want to do. Go be a hero, get your thrills.”

“Katie, I don’t want to be an agent. I didn’t ask for this.”

“No, you didn’t, but you knew there was a distinct possibility that this would happen. Something you didn’t think was necessary to share with me. Now, I really know why you are the way you are. Your paranoia, the nightmares, it’s not because of what you’ve seen and done. It’s because you knew someone was coming. How many more men are going to come hunting you?”

Rainey could only answer, “I don’t know.”

“Well, you should know. Instead, you stay out there on the lake like bait, just waiting for them to come for you. You might not have a death wish, Rainey, but it’s as if you don’t think you should have survived the first attack. You put on a show of moving on, but you haven’t. I survived nearly being murdered and look at the rest of my life like a bonus. You look at it like borrowed time. I’m not going to sit around and watch you wait to die.”

The connection terminated relatively quickly after that. Rainey held the phone in her hand, staring down at it. Katie was right. Rainey could know more about the criminals that might come after her. She did just sit back and wait. Rainey could have been more proactive about their safety. She could have had Danny checking these guys’ mail, if they were in prison, or keep her posted on the unsolved cases she was involved in. She simply closed the box and prayed it stayed closed. But what Katie did not understand was, even with all her training and precautions, Rainey would never know for sure if, or when a psychopath was coming for her.

The phone rang in her hand. It was Katie’s parents’ number. Rainey flipped the phone open and put it to her ear.

Katie began talking right away. She was much calmer than before, when she said, “Rainey, I’m not coming home until you catch this guy. So, you go get him. I don’t want you distracted worrying about me or us. When this is over, we’ll talk.”

“Will you promise me you’ll be careful? Don’t go anywhere by yourself.” Rainey pleaded. “Why don’t you and your parents leave town?”

“My sisters will be here tomorrow. My mom suggested we go back to L.A. with them.”

“That would be great,” Rainey said, relieved that the Meyers family, at least, appeared to have discussed it. Then quickly, before Katie could hang up again, she said, “Katie, I don’t want to lose you. Just let me deal with this and I will spend the rest of my life keeping my promise to you.”

All the wind had gone out of Katie’s anger, now. In a hushed voice, she asked, “What promise are you talking about?”

“I promised you we’d be happy.”

Katie sniffled. Rainey knew she was crying again.

“I love you, Katie.”

“I love you, too, Rainey. Please, be careful.”

“Always.”

Rainey heard the call lost tone and knew Katie was gone. She flipped the phone shut with a mission to accomplish, so she could have her life back, a life with Katie, children, and a happily ever after. She understood why Katie didn’t want to come home. The distance between them made it easier for Katie to deal with the fear and worry. Katie recognized that she was a distraction and she wanted Rainey focused on the killer, not her. Rainey had a job to do, and if given the chance, she would kill this bastard. He would be one less asshole Rainey would have to worry about in the future, and before this was over, she would make sure Dalton Chambers was sitting on death row, where he belonged. If they would let her, she would insert the needle.

#

When Danny arrived, shortly thereafter, Rainey met him at the door of his SUV. She had already filled Ernie in on her plans. Before leaving the cottage, she redressed, digging out her former work clothes from the closet in her old room. That’s where she kept the FBI jackets and hats, the dark suits, and other echoes of her former life. Now, she looked like the poster girl for the FBI; white blouse, black slacks, and blazer to match, with her Glock clipped to her hip. Her hair hung in a thick braid down the back of her neck. A few loose curls framed her face. She wasn’t going to sit back and play defense any longer. She was in offensive mode, focused, and ready to do battle for her life.

Before Danny could get all the way out of the vehicle, Rainey said, “I’m in. Get me my credentials.”

Danny asked, “For good, or like on the Y-man case, temporary reinstatement?”

“It’s temporary. I’m never going back full-time.”

Danny smiled. “I processed the paper work for your temporary reinstatement before I left.” He reached back into the vehicle, producing Rainey’s credentials in the leather case she recognized as her own. A long, deep scratch in the leather was a reminder from a particularly hairy arrest. He smiled when he handed it to her. “I had a sneaking suspicion you might be needing this.”

Rainey took the case, opened it, and saw her official badge number on the gold shield. The picture on the ID was at least two years old. It was taken just before her father was killed. Rainey barely recognized her former self. Too much had happened since then. She thought she left all this behind her. Rainey put the credentials in her blazer pocket and looked back at Danny.

“When this is over, I want to sit down and come up with a plan to keep this from happening again. Katie pointed out that I’ve been sitting around waiting, instead of getting ahead of these guys. If one of these assholes breathes my name, I want to know about it.”

“Are you and Katie all right?”

“As all right as we can be, right now.” Rainey kicked at the ground. “She’s staying with her parents until this is over.”

Danny must have sensed Rainey’s mood accurately, because he let the subject of Katie drop. He pointed to the office door. “Okay, let’s get you caught up.” He started for the door.

Rainey grabbed his arm. “Danny, I want to see Dalton.”

“Right now? I need to tell you what we found at the last crime scene.”

“Now, Danny. You can catch me up on the way.”

“Are you sure that’s wise? This could be his whole reason for doing this, to see you scared.”

Rainey narrowed her eyes. “Do I look scared to you?”

In 1870, North Carolina began construction on Central Prison, the first institution of its kind in the state. The castle-like building, complete with parapet walks and conical spires, took inmates fourteen years to build, using granite quarried just outside the prison's east wall. The prison underwent many renovations over the years, the last in the 1980’s, losing its Gothic dark looks for a more modern façade. Only a few of the older buildings remained on the prison’s twenty-nine acres, located near downtown Raleigh.

Central Prison housed the Tar Heel state’s worst criminals, along with Death Row where inmates awaited appeals and the ultimate punishment a jury of their peers prescribed for them. Velma Barfield, the first woman in the United States to be executed since 1962, and the first woman to receive a lethal injection, said her re-born Christian final prayers there. Rainey hoped this was the last place Dalton Chambers would draw a breath.

A long corridor stretched the length of the prison, connecting all the buildings. Command stations and secure entryways controlled access into each building along the passage. When Danny left the prison yesterday, he asked that Dalton be moved to “Cell C,” where Death Row inmates spent the hours just before the state exacted its retribution. There were no executions scheduled, making it the most isolated area in the prison. Danny wanted to know every person that came in contact with Dalton. This was the easiest way to control that. Besides, Rainey thought it was an excellent way to give Dalton a glimpse of the reality of his future.

Since the door on the cell holding Dalton had only a small narrow window, the guards placed him at a little stainless steel table attached to the floor outside the cell. He waived his right to council, which would have delayed the meeting until arrangements could be made. Dalton was anxious to see Rainey, too eager to do the smart thing and wait for his North Carolina attorneys to be present.

When Rainey entered the room, Dalton appeared to have been staring at the door, awaiting her arrival. He broke into a smile of self-satisfaction when he saw her. He was handcuffed and chained, wearing a stun belt, just like the last time Rainey was at “The Onion,” in Virginia. A few feet away a guard held the control box, with his finger on the button, ready to light Dalton up. He was three years older and was starting to look more like the man he would have grown into, if he were not a sadistic killer. He would die long before his cherubic looks turned him into a distinguished looking older man. Even with the appeals process, Dalton would be dead years before he turned forty. Rainey was going to see to that.

Rainey walked straight to the table and stood over Dalton, just within his reach. She hoped he would make a move towards her. She wanted one good punch to his pretty face, before the guards could get to him. Dalton sat absolutely still, but his eyes travelled up her body. He made no effort to conceal his leering look at her chest, while he spoke.

“Well, hello Rainey. I can call you Rainey, can’t I? Can’t call you Agent Bell anymore. I hear you’ve left the Bureau.”

Rainey stepped back and took a seat at the table opposite Dalton. She smiled, saying, “It’s Agent Bell again. I got my credentials back, just so I can testify at the death penalty stage of your upcoming trial.”

“Well, tried and convicted in your mind already, is it? They have nothing on me, but what I told you after I made a deal. My lawyers tell me they’ll have all that thrown out. I’ll be back in Virginia within the year.”

Danny sat down. He spent the drive to the prison filling Rainey in on the details of the recent body find, and a bit of information that made Rainey ecstatic. He now repeated it for Dalton.

“I’m surprised your lawyers haven’t told you why North Carolina is so interested in prosecuting you, now. Maybe they don’t know, yet. They’ll find out at the arraignment on the sixteenth, I guess. No harm in telling you now, though.” Danny paused to let Dalton sweat a bit. “You weren’t such a careful killer on that first one. We found DNA on the head, in the mouth to be exact. It was too little to test back then, but tests became available, making it possible to identify you positively as the killer. You’re toast, Chambers.”

Dalton’s reaction was typical of his previous behavior when caught. He turned his frustration on Rainey. He leaned forward, placing his cuffed hands on the table. “I can see the top of the scar where he cut you. Were you scared, Agent Bell? Were you terrified? Do you dream about what happened? Do you scream at night when he comes for you?”

Rainey answered with no emotion, “No, actually I have very little memory of the attack and he’s dead. So no, I don’t dream about him.”

“Yeah, I read about that, how your girlfriend stepped in to save your life.”

Rainey laughed. “Don’t believe everything you read in the paper, Dalton.”

Dalton smirked. “But that stuff about you being a pussy licker, that’s true, isn’t it?”

He was trying to make Rainey lash out at him. His whole game was to try and shock her into losing her cool. She didn’t take the bait. She leaned in closer and whispered, “Is that why you’re so obsessed with me, cause I’m getting some pussy and you’re not?” She ran the tip of her tongue across her upper lip.

Dalton had not expected that response. It startled him. This was a different Rainey Bell than he had dealt with before. The Y-man assault
had
affected her, but not in the way he wanted. He sat back away from her and turned his attention to Danny, while Rainey was sure he was plotting his next attempt to break her. “You tossed my cell yesterday and got me put in isolation. What else can I do for you, today?”