RAINEY DAYS (37 page)

Rainey and Katie pushed the dresser over in front of the door. It would not stop him, but it would slow him down. Her answer, as to whether JW had found the shotgun, came when a blast slammed into the other side of the wall, where the bookshelf was. Rainey pushed Katie down behind the bed. She pulled the mattress over them, protecting them from the splintering wood and shrapnel. Rainey was relieved to see that Freddie had sprinted into the bedroom behind Katie. He flashed through the room, taking shelter in the bathroom.

Jumping from the only windows, in the room, meant a drop of more than fifteen feet onto hard ground. Rainey put the forty-five in the holster and crawling over Katie grabbed her father’s other shotgun, by the bathroom door. There was only one way out of this room, without going through the door. The floors were too thick to blast through, but the exterior wall was only seven and a half inches thick. The front deck continued just on the other side of that wall.

When JW ran out of shotgun shells she heard him throw the gun down, his footsteps nearing the bedroom door. She heard him say, “Oh, Katie,” in his singsong child voice, “Katie, you know I killed the baby, so I wouldn’t have to share you with another little boy.”

Rainey scrambled to her feet, yanked out the forty-five and fired into the wall and door, hopeful of hitting JW, or at least sending him toward the back of the house. After six rounds, Rainey put the forty-five back in the holster, picked up the shotgun and pumped all nine shells into the exterior wall.

Rainey grabbed Katie, who was still clutching the other shotgun, leading her through the hole Rainey had just blasted in the wall. Rainey kicked the few pieces of wall left intact, pulled the forty-five again and stepped onto the deck. She aimed the pistol at the front door, keeping her eye on the window. Nothing moved that she could see. Freddie shot out of the bedroom, through the hole and down the steps.

Rainey heard JW hit the bedroom door with two more rounds from the revolver. She screamed, “Run Katie!”

Rainey ran between Katie and the window, firing back into the house, laying down cover fire for them to make it to the stairs. Rainey heard the blast and shower of glass as JW blew out of the deck doors in the master bedroom. He could be coming down the back steps or circling back through the house. Rainey had to get Katie behind cover.

When their feet hit the ground, Rainey pushed Katie toward the back of JW’s car, parked in front of Mackie’s Escalade. Once behind JW’s car, Rainey peeked over the trunk, looking back toward the cottage. She dropped the empty magazine from the forty-five and slid a full one into the stock, racking a bullet into the chamber. She could see the two bodies of the agents, under the cottage, two large Styrofoam cups lay beside their bodies. JW had drugged everyone, with an offer of cold iced tea. It was then that she noticed Mackie was not sitting up in his vehicle anymore. Rainey had a spark of hope that he was alive.

Katie whispered behind her, “Listen.”

Rainey could hear far off sirens, lots of them, coming fast, but too far away at the moment. Then Rainey heard the sounds of a struggle in the cottage above them. She knew it had to be Mackie. Rainey bolted from behind the car and charged up the steps.

Katie was screaming, “Rainey, don’t! Stop!”

Rainey could not leave Mackie, in the cottage, possibly fighting for his life. She took the steps two at a time. Rainey was four steps from the top, when JW’s body crashed through the remains of the shattered front window, bounced off the deck railing, and collided with the ground below. Rainey turned to see JW trying to move. She ran down the steps and approached him.

JW was bleeding from his mouth and nose. He was having trouble breathing, but still attempting to crawl away. Rainey raised the pistol in her hand and aimed it at his face. She stood there trembling, staring down at the man who had brutalized and raped her, terrorized her and the woman that she loved. Now he lay dying, at her feet. The sirens were getting closer. If Rainey was going to kill him, she had to do it now.

JW sneered up at her from the ground. He said, “Do it.”

Just as her finger began to squeeze the trigger of the forty-five, Rainey heard the shotgun blast pierce the air, without warning. JW’s chest exploded in front of her. She jumped around and realized Katie had been standing behind her. Katie still had the smoking barrel, of the shotgun, aimed at JW’s now dead body. A gaping hole in his chest had blown away his last breath. Rainey put her weapon in the holster and slowly took the shotgun, from Katie’s hands. Suddenly a revolver landed on the ground by JW’s body. Rainey looked up to see Mackie, leaning over the railing, his outstretched hand having tossed the revolver.

“I know, honey. I know,” was all Rainey could think to say. She took Katie to the steps and sat down beside her, waiting while the sirens grew louder.

 

A small army, consisting of Mackie, Ernie, their families and friends, along with Rainey and Katie descended on the cottage, as soon as the FBI and local law enforcement released the scene. Rainey, Katie, and a very angry Freddie, had only spent two nights, in a safe house, to keep the press at bay and allow the crime scene techs time to do their jobs. Once Mackie’s crew had cleaned up all the broken glass and splintered wood, the repairs began right away.

Rainey and Katie spent days sorting through all of Rainey’s father’s memorabilia. The shotgun blasts had ruined some of it, but for the most part just gave the pieces more character. She let Mackie have anything he wanted out of the collection. Rainey kept some things that held special memories for her, including the dagger with the blood stained handle. The rest she offered to the North Carolina Military History Society, which they gladly took.

Just ten days, after the crime scene tape came down, Rainey and Katie were serving iced tea to the workers, who were putting the final touches on the repaired cottage. Rainey looked up to see a lone black SUV coming toward them. Rainey and Katie both dreaded this day, because what Danny was coming to talk to them about, they had tried so hard to forget. Maybe this would finally be the end of it and they could move on.

Rainey sighed and glanced at Katie, who was laughing with Thelma about something. Katie had sawdust in her hair, which was pulled up off her neck with a clip. She was wearing one of Rainey’s old tee shirts, which swallowed her whole; a pair of shorts cut from sweatpants, and was covered in dirt from head to toe. While the last bits of trim were being added to the new bookcase inside, Katie had been slaving away on flower boxes. She built them herself out of scraps from the repair job and had happily been filling them with dirt for the last half hour.

Katie’s bruises had almost faded away. The cuts were healing nicely and she could smile broadly again, which she did often. Katie was happy, for the most part, slipping into sadness less and less with each passing day. When those times came, Rainey did her best just to be a shoulder to lean on. Rainey did not offer advice, she simply did what she thought helped Katie the most, gave her time. Danny was coming to flip the hour glass again and they would start over, but time would heal them both, together.

Rainey looked over at Mackie. He noticed the approaching SUV, as well. Mackie had only been knocked out for a short time, from the heavy dosage of sedative given him, because he was so overweight. A fact that he reminded everyone, every time he sat down for a meal, had saved his life. Mackie put down the tomato sandwich Thelma had brought for him, a sign that he was dreading this last meeting, too.

“Katie,” Rainey said, “Danny is here.”

The laughter faded quickly from Katie’s eyes. Thelma gave her a knowing pat on the hand, and went to say goodbye to Mackie, leaving Rainey and Katie alone. Katie looked at her hands, and made some excuse about needing to wash up. Rainey knew she was going in ahead of everyone else to gather herself for the coming storm of emotions.

Rainey grabbed Katie’s hand as she passed, saying, “We’ll get through this.”

Katie smiled at her and said, “Yes, we will,” then pecked Rainey on the cheek.

When Danny walked up to Rainey, he was carrying a thick file in one hand. Mackie dismissed the crew for the day. He explained Katie and Rainey needed some privacy with the FBI and the remaining few pieces of trim could be handled in the morning. Then Rainey, Danny and Mackie joined Katie, who was already sitting on the new couch, when they walked in. Mackie’s big chair had been ruined in the fire fight and replaced by two winged back chairs from Katie’s former home. Mackie could not fit in them, so he stood, leaning against the wall behind the couch. Rainey joined Katie and Danny sat opposite them, in one of the chairs.

Danny began, somberly, “I wanted to meet with you one more time, before we close the investigation. I hope the information that I am about to share with you, will help explain some of the questions you may have.”

From an analyst’s point of view, JW Wilson’s criminal behavior would be something to study for years. Rainey, at one time, would have found him fascinating, as a research subject. Now, all she wanted was to get this meeting over with and put him out of her mind, as far as possible. Rainey decided to encourage Danny to hurry along.

“Danny, can we just get started.”

“Sure, Rainey,” Danny said, “First let me explain what happened to John Taylor. As you know we still have not found his body, but we did find his blood in the trunk of JW’s car. JW killed him and gave a homeless man twenty thousand dollars, who just happened to look like JW and Taylor, to fly to Philadelphia and disappear. The homeless man came forward after the news broke and he realized we were looking for him. There was a John Tyler on the flight to LA, but he really was John Tyler, not Taylor. It was just a coincidence.

JW set Taylor up, because he needed an out. He knew we were getting too close. He thought, if he gave us someone else, he could get away with murder and go on with his bid for Senator. His mistake was he thought he could kill you and then he would stop.”

Rainey broke in, “He had to know the DNA would not match Taylor. He knew we would keep looking.”

“Well, that is the really interesting part,” Danny said. “Taylor’s wife told us that John had been convinced by JW to donate sperm in his name. The two men looked so much alike no one would have ever known. JW’s sperm count was too low ever to get Katie pregnant. John and his wife discussed it, and since they were not going to have children, they thought it was a good thing to do. JW made John swear never to tell anyone. He did not know John had told his wife.”

Katie was beyond shocked. She asked Danny, “So, John’s sperm was implanted in my egg? How did JW think he could get away with that?”

“When he turned in the specimen at the doctor’s office, JW must have kept some for himself. That’s what he put on Katie, so we would think we had the right guy. The lab knew something was wrong with the sample and this explains it.”

“He was planning this for a long time, wasn’t he?” Katie said, quietly.

Danny nodded in agreement, “Yes, he planned things out far in advance. That was part of what made it hard to catch him. He was very cunning.”

“But why get me involved, in the first place?” Rainey asked.

“JW found out you were back home. He needed an excuse to be around you. JW knew you didn’t know he attacked you. He must have gotten such gratification from your assault, he could not resist coming after you again, and having the FBI to challenge fed his fantasy. It was the ultimate fulfillment of his need for sexual dominance at the destructive expense of the victim, in your case, the ultimate victim, that motivated his every move.”

Katie said, “He didn’t just start killing for no reason. He must have shown some signs of this behavior, at some point, but then I didn’t see it either, until he raped me, and then I just thought he was a pervert, not a murderer.”

Danny opened the file. He did not need it. He spoke from memory, telling the tale of one JW Wilson. “It appears JW had mental problems that were identified back when he was eleven years old. JW had become rebellious and assaultive to adults, abusive to his sisters, and was caught peeping into a neighbor’s windows. He was found to be in possession of porn and bondage materials, he claimed to have gotten from an older boy. Both boys were involved in a very unhealthy, sexual relationship with an older woman. His parents, a drunk ambivalent mother, who left the raising of the children to the nanny, and a cold uncaring father, threw money at the situation. JW was sent to a special hospital in Europe for adolescent males, specializing in sexual dysfunction.”

“No one ever told me that,” Katie said.

Danny continued, “During his stay in the hospital he claimed his three older sisters terrorized him. They played doctor with him and made fun of his penis. He admitted, in therapy, that he fantasized about hurting women. He learned quickly that telling the truth about his fantasies got him into trouble. Young JW learned to hide his real feelings and became the All-American boy.”

“I remember when he came back from Europe, telling us stories of snow skiing in the Alps all summer,” Rainey said.

“He became an accomplished liar, at an early age,” Danny said, “but, the trouble he found himself in his senior year brought his sadistic fantasies back to the surface. His father shoved the “misunderstanding” under the rug with his money. The father also took JW to the morgue and showed him female autopsy victims, reminding him that he could have killed the girl and then he would be facing prison. It was his father’s idea of scared straight, but it must have turned JW on. His father had no idea that he introduced his son to the image that would drive JW’s fantasies, from that moment on.”