As Rainey stepped into the kitchen, she said into the microphone, “Wiley, leave the recorder going. I want this interview on tape.”
“Interview?” A voice other than Wiley’s said. “She’s got a gun. How is this an interview?”
Wiley interrupted. “Quiet the chatter. We’re rolling, Rainey. Anything else?”
“Can you get me Jacquie’s missing person file and her record? I don’t need it right now, but I’d like to have it soon.” She paused a second and then asked, “And Wiley, could you tell Junior to call Katie and let her know everything is okay?”
“Is everything okay?” Wiley hesitated to be as optimistic as Rainey.
“Yes, everything is going to be just fine,” Rainey answered, as she pulled out a chair across from Maybelline and sat down.
Without asking and with great confidence that her assessment was correct, Rainey picked up the pistol from the table, took out the clip, and cleared the chamber. A single bullet bounced off the tabletop onto the floor and rolled away, as Rainey spoke to Maybelline.
“We’re not going to be needing this weapon, so I’m just going to put it over here.” Rainey slid the pistol away from both of them, but put the clip in the back pocket of her jeans. She was confident, not stupid. She refocused on Maybelline. “When we’re done talking, you and I are walking out of here with no further problems, right?”
Maybelline leaned her elbows on the table and looked Rainey in the eye. “Your daddy done right by me. You say you’re going to do right by me, too. I’ll take you at your word. I’ll come on when we’re done.”
Wiley understood the exchange and replied, “Okay, weapon secured. The two SWAT guys by the front door, you stay put. The rest of you stand down. This is no longer a hostage situation.”
Rainey smiled at Maybelline. “Now, tell me about Jacquie.”
Chapter Three
When Rainey stepped out of the house with Maybelline handcuffed and walking beside her, they were bathed in the glare of the camera lights. The cordoned-off area had been reduced, allowing the reporters to get closer to the scene. Cameras flashed and questions were being shouted, but Rainey paid no attention. That is, until one voice rang out above all the others.
“Rainey! Rainey Bell! Is Jacquie Upshaw one of the victims of the serial killer terrorizing the Triangle? Was her mother justified in seeking attention for her disappearance?”
Cookie Kutter. Somehow, she had managed to survive her fall from grace, after being arrested for driving under the influence and leaving the scene of an accident, which occurred in the parking lot of a well-known lesbian bar. She had hounded Rainey and Katie for three years. Katie had even slugged her once, on camera, which made the news and was captured on countless digital recorders around the Triangle. Rainey had her own copy of the video, which she secretly played for a laugh now and then, but always when Katie was not around.
During a live press conference, Rainey created her own popular Cookie Kutter sound bite. She accused Cookie of being a little too interested in her personal life, hinting the reporter might be covering for her own attraction to women. Rainey had called that one correctly. Cookie suffered a very public outing and arrest not long afterward. Still, she had risen from the ashes, wrangling a reporting job with a local cable and web news organization, covering the crime beat in the greater Triangle area. They even gave her an hour-long crime show. Her brand of journalism played to the public’s taste for high drama and was regrettably quite popular.
Rainey suspected Cookie was heavily involved in The Triangle Lesbians blog, the one that called her “Agent Sexy,” and followed her family everywhere. The blog posted pictures of the triplets, which crossed the line as far as Rainey was concerned. Molly had been trying to shut the page down legally for a while. The successful defense attorney was also a target, dubbed the “Triangle Tryster” by the author of the blog, referencing her former penchant for one-night stands. Her trysting ways mended, the blog continued to recount her every public appearance. Molly, however, had no legal standing to shut down the page. All of the photos of her were taken in public settings, but Rainey’s situation was quite different.
As a former FBI agent, Rainey had ample reasons not to want her image on the Internet, and she stated so before a judge. Her old teammate in the Behavioral Analysis Unit, Danny McNally, testified on her behalf as well. The release of personal information and pictures of her comings and goings put Rainey’s life, and those of the people she cared about, in much more danger than the average citizen. Some of the photos of Rainey and her family were taken with long-range lenses and showed them in the yard of their highly secured home. The judge agreed the photos crossed the “expectation of privacy” line, ordering the website to cease publishing those types of images and personal information about Rainey and her family.
The shell corporation set up to mask the identity of the website owners did shut down the page. Only to have it reappear, republished by a different entity, and with the focus now squarely on Rainey and her family. Rainey had her good friend Melatiah Brooks, a computer analyst assigned to her old FBI unit, hunting the origin of the site. So far, Brooks had no luck tracking down the source, as the page jumped from server to server around the world. Whoever was behind the blog had extensive computer experience and an unhealthy interest in all things Rainey Bell, which made her very nervous. She glared at Cookie Kutter, somehow knowing she was involved.
“Rainey, will you make a statement? Are you actively involved in the hunt for a serial killer and rapist in the Triangle?”
Rainey handed Maybelline off, telling her, “These officers will take care of you now. I’ll be in touch with you soon.” She turned to the uniformed men. “Don’t manhandle her. She’ll cooperate.” She looked up at the woman with whom she just spent the last half-hour, holding her hand while she cried over her lost child. “Isn’t that right, Maybelline?”
“All the fight done gone out of me. I’ll be good.” Maybelline suddenly put her head down on Rainey’s shoulder and whispered, “Bless you, Rainey. Your daddy raised a good girl.”
Rainey patted the huge woman’s back. “I’ll find out what happened to Jacquie, I promise.”
The officers escorted Maybelline to a waiting police cruiser, while Rainey turned her attention to Cookie. She could hear Molly and Katie in her head, begging her to walk away, but the temptation to approach Cookie was overwhelming. Other reporters were shouting questions, but Rainey concentrated on one voice, Cookie’s.
“Rainey, how do feel about bonding out the woman who may have killed your partner, Miles McKinney?”
That was it. Mackie wasn’t dead or dying. Wiley had come over the earbud to tell Rainey so, while she was still talking to Maybelline. He had broken ribs and some bleeding between the chest wall and his lung, but he was in stable condition. The vest had done its job. Cookie’s wording was exactly what Rainey hated about the media. Suggesting a thing was true with a carefully worded question, a “may have” here and an “allegedly” there, was sensationalism at its core. Cookie and her ilk had turned the noble mission of the fourth estate into a melodramatic reality show.
Rainey quickly crossed the ten feet that separated them, moving right up to Cookie’s microphone, and forcing a smile. “Since members of Mr. McKinney’s family may be watching, you insensitive tart, I’m happy to report he is in stable condition and resting comfortably.”
Cookie was an old pro at taking insults. She moved on to her next question without batting an eye. “As a consultant with the multi-county task force formed to investigate the disappearances of nine women in the Triangle area, are you ready to tell the public there is a serial killer among us, raping and killing at will?”
The other reporters had begun to gather around Rainey and Cookie, shoving microphones between them to catch the exchange. Rainey decided this was not the time or place to settle her old scores with Cookie. She stepped back, so that all of the cameras had a good angle and made a short statement.
&
nbsp; “I am merely a consultant and cannot speak for the various law enforcement agencies involved. Since a statement has already been made about the sexual assaults, I am willing to comment on that. There is a serial rapist in the Triangle area. He is focusing on college-age and young professional women. He is entering their homes when he knows they will be alone. Precautions should be taken. Double check window and door locks, and report any strange activity around your home, no matter how trivial it may seem. This rapist is watching his victims prior to the assaults. If you find a window screen loose, notice a stranger watching your house, or feel like you are being followed, get to a safe place and call 911. I encourage all young women to listen to your instincts and stay vigilant. If it feels wrong, it usually is.”
“What about the serial killer the task force is investigating?” Cookie shouted. “Are he and the rapist the same person?”
She elbowed another reporter out of the way, in order to move her CKCB logo encased microphone closer to Rainey. The logo was for the Cookie Kutter Crime Beat show. She closed the show each day with, “CKCB. See a crime, come see me.” Rainey saw a crime every time Cookie opened her mouth.
“Before a serial killer is declared present, there must be evidence, Ms. Kutter. The task force is investigating missing women. I will only say the rape cases do not appear to be related to these disappearances.”
Another reporter asked, “Are you going to release a profile of the serial rapist, Agent Bell?”
“I am no longer an agent, guys. We’ve been through this,” Rainey answered, dodging the question.
If Cookie could not entice Rainey into saying there was a serial killer on the loose, she certainly was not going to let her get away with evading the profile inquiry. “You didn’t answer the question. Can you give us a profile? The public has a right to know what to watch out for.”
Oddly enough, Rainey partially agreed with Cookie. Rainey thought portions of the profile she compiled should have been made public, but as a hired consultant, how the various departments handled the investigation was not her call. The unknown subject, or UNSUB, in this case probably lived near Raleigh, and had committed multiple rapes in all twelve counties within a forty-five mile radius of the capital city. The assaults were spaced out every forty-five to ninety days and were never in the same county back to back. The resulting confusion of jurisdictional lines complicated the investigation, something Rainey thought was intentional. After various departments engaged her to interview several of the rape survivors, Rainey found there were similarities in victim selection, parallel precipitating events, and evidence that the rapes were the work of a single, very deviant, dedicated criminal. Some of the information Rainey gave the investigators might help prevent another rape, but there was no guarantee, and that was why one other element of the profile kept it from being released.
Rainey had summarized for the command officers in the rape investigation, “When you catch this UNSUB, he will be somehow connected to law enforcement, a cop most likely. If not an active duty officer, he will have been at one time. He may also have military training or work in the security field. His behavior during the crime, demonstrating knowledge of current investigative and forensic procedure, makes it probable that he is presently working in law enforcement.” The final sentence was what sent most of the departments into a tizzy. “He is more than likely involved in the investigation of these crimes in some form or fashion.”
That part of the profile could not be made public knowledge. The unknown rapist did not use a police ruse to gain access to the victims, so concealing Rainey’s suspicions did not put more women in danger. Admitting the rapist was probably a cop could scare women into refusing to seek help or not reporting the assaults. The powers that be only released the complete profile to a few select investigators and kept everyone else in the dark. If he was among them, the department heads surmised, it would be unwise to let the rapist know they were looking for a police officer. Rainey agreed with that assessment, but still thought most of the profile should have been released, instead of the whole thing being quashed.
As she pointed out to the reporters in front of her now, “I just offer the profile. What the investigators do with it is entirely up to them.”
Wiley Trainer came to Rainey’s rescue. “I’m sorry folks, but we need Rainey to fill out some paperwork.”
He grabbed her arm and steered her away from the reporters still shouting questions at her back. She was almost home free, when Cookie’s voice rang out above all the others.
“Hey, Agent Sexy. How about one more smile for the cameras?”
Rainey pulled away from Wiley and took three long strides, bringing her nose-to-nose with Cookie. “If I find out you are behind the stalking of my family, you’re going to need a new microphone. I don’t think that one will work after you pull it out of your ass.”
#
Rainey already had enough excitement for one night, and she still needed to go to the hospital to check on Mackie. Wiley had pulled her away from Cookie before things could become more heated. He escorted her to his car, where she sat in the backseat and wrote out her statement. She slipped out of the vest, glad to be released from its compression of her diaphragm, and found her coat on the seat beside her. She could smell a man’s cologne on the leather, where he had lifted it to move it from the front seat. It was not offensive, but she marveled at how quickly she noticed the manly scent. It was not something she smelled on her clothing often anymore.
She slipped on the jacket and dug in the pockets, coming up with her phone and a small piece of paper. Rainey was about to toss the paper in a fast food bag on the floorboard, thinking it was just some pocket trash she picked up somewhere, when she saw ink on one of the folds. She unfolded the small rectangle to discover a handwritten message, definitely intended for her.
“Profiling the rapist as a cop—not too original,” was printed in blue ink.
So much for the profile remaining eyes-only for a few people. The thin blue line had leaks. Rainey glanced around, knowing he would be watching to see her find his note. There were cops everywhere and the rapist was one of them.
She muttered to herself, “Maybe not original, but I’m right.”
There would be no fingerprints on the note. He was too smart for that, but Rainey would turn it over to the rape investigators tomorrow, and suggest they look at any video to see who was in Wiley’s car. She did not remember him locking it when he tossed her coat in the seat. Of course, if they caught the note writer, he would say the profile offended him, and he was just taking up for his brothers in blue. Rainey knew that was not the reason he left the note. It was the adrenaline rush from doing it. As with the rapes and his involvement in the investigation, this guy lived for the thrill of getting away with it.
Rainey zipped the note up in a never used little pocket and then called Katie.
“Honey, I’m all right,” she said, immediately upon Katie’s answering.
“I saw you come out of the house on TV. I gathered Mackie is okay from your exchange with Cookie. Really Rainey, ‘insensitive tart’, that’s the best you had?”
“You won’t let me say bitch anymore, so that’s all I could think of.”
“I suppose the microphone up the ass comment was you forgetting that you’re working on your language skills,” Katie said, suppressing a giggle. “I’m just glad it’s cable so they didn’t bleep it out.”
“You know she drives me crazy,” Rainey said, laughing too.
“I love you. I know you’re going to the hospital next. Give Mackie a big kiss for me and tell Thelma if she needs anything, just call.”
Rainey smiled into the phone. “I will. I love you, too. Go to bed. I’ll be late. One of us has to be able to deal with our sunrise-worshipping children.”
“I’ll let you sleep in. I have to take them with me to the shelter in the morning anyway.”
Rainey was amazed at how Katie could handle the triplets. She could feed, dress, and h
ave them buckled in their car seats in no time, whereas Rainey would have still been trying to get Weather’s balled up toes in her little shoes.
“Get me up. I’ll help you,” Rainey said, because no matter how inept she felt at being a parent, she hated missing a moment with her children.
“Okay, honey. Be safe.”
Rainey gave her standard answer, “Always.”
After hanging up with Katie, she left Wiley’s car with her vest dangling from one hand. She was ready to leave, but needed to locate Rex to retrieve her weapon. Rainey was looking for him, when she spotted Bobo on the sidewalk across the street. He was talking to a man, who was writing notes on a pad.
“Damn. That’s all I need. Bobo talking to reporters.”
She looked around for Junior, thinking he had probably followed Mackie to the hospital. The SUVs were no longer parked down the block. Rainey had no choice but to deal with Bobo alone. She had a few things she wanted to say to him anyway. Now was as good a time as any. She was almost across the street, when Gunny appeared at her elbow.
“Hey, boss. Junior told me to stay here in case you needed anything. He drove Mackie’s vehicle and the other guys followed in Junior’s. I’m going to need a ride.”
“Okay, I’ll be leaving in a minute, but I need to find Detective King. He has my weapon. And I need to talk to this numbskull over here.” Rainey nodded her head in Bobo’s direction.
Gunny chuckled. “I’m surprised he’s still here after Junior threatened to kick his ass. Guess he saw him leave.”
That made Rainey smile. Junior was cleaning up his mess. Still, she did not like the idea of Bobo giving a statement to the press. Although he held up during the Dalton Chambers investigation, Rainey presumed it was more out of self-preservation than noble intent.
She turned to Gunny. “Could you find Captain Trainer? He’s the negotiator I was talking to earlier, the older guy with white hair.”
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