by R E Gauthier
“That is why I wanted you here with me; to get my mind off of all this FBI stuff and help me get back to feeling more like me. You have a perfect plan; make all the arrangements and I’ll leave a message for Doc telling him where I’ll be if they need me for anything.”
Jess started making the plans and she went and called the number Doc left her for his phone. She needed this so badly and she couldn’t wait to just get away today.
***
Lying on the massage table after getting her haircut and styled she allowed herself to relax and listen to the soothing music. The hands on her lower back were strong and thorough as they worked out her muscles. Miranda let her mind drift away and let sleep carry her into its soothing grasp.
Standing there in front of her; naked and in all her splendor and smiling with so much love in her eyes. Miranda couldn’t get over how beautiful she looked and sighed in the awe of how her body affected her. Looking at her face and those beautiful eyes then suddenly everything changed and she was in the bedroom. Kate sobbed and begged to be let go. A woman stood over her laughing and holding a knife. She knew she should run but fear had frozen her limbs and she squatted there hidden unable to move. She watched the woman standing over Kate squat down and whisper into Kate’s ear. Miranda had a hard time to hear what the words were. Then the woman swiftly took the knife and slit Kate’s throat. Miranda saw the pain and shock in Kate’s eyes and...
Miranda woke up with a start and bolted upright on the massage table. She had to get away, had to run. The masseuse looked at her with concern but she couldn’t speak.
“Ma’am is there something wrong? Did I hurt you?” the older woman asked.
She just shook her head, donned the discarded robe and rushed from the room.
Once outside the massage room she felt the vertigo take over her body and the spinning continued until all went black.
Jess sat beside her while she lay on some sort of furniture when she came to. The fuzziness of her eyesight would not clear and her breath seemed to catch in her throat; choking her. She began to panic. What is happening to me?
“Oh my god Randi, you had me so worried. You passed out after your massage and they came and got me. You were out for several minutes. I called an ambulance; they should be here soon.” Jess held her hands and stroked her forehead.
Getting an explanation hadn’t helped her relax she tried to sit up and the room began to spin once more. She lay back down and tried again to speak.
“Jesss...where am I? What is going on?” She tried to clear her mind but the muddled thoughts and blurred vision continued and she closed her eyes. The spinning got worse and she forced her eyes open because even blurred, her vision with her eyes open helped keep the vertigo at bay.
“Don’t try and get up Randi. The paramedics should be here soon.”
Just as Jess said this Miranda saw two uniformed people approaching.
Jess told them what had happened and they asked her a few questions about Miranda’s age and any health concerns. The voices were starting to muffle and then everything went black once more.
Chapter Forty
“Healthy doubt when faced with a lack of evidence is scepticism.”
Kelsey sat in the room watching the video surveillance camera of the interrogation. Race had come into the Baltimore FBI Field Office at her request but when she arrived she had been immediately taken into the interrogation room, without being able to see Kelsey. She now sat in the chair across from Rachel and Nikki and looked confused and kept asking for her. She had wished she could tell her why she had been asked to come in and explain everything to her, but her hands were tied. As much as it pained her to not be part of this questioning she knew Nikki and Rachel had been right to exclude her.
Nikki leaned forward and looking directly into the camera she asked Race to state her full name for the record.
“My name is Racinda Lynn Norwood. What is this all about and where is Kelsey...I mean Agent MacGregor. I want to see her.” Race said looking from Nikki to Rachel and back again.
“I’m sorry Miss Norwood but SSA MacGregor is not able to be here. I’m also sorry that you are confused and we will clear this up as soon as possible for you.” Rachel said offering Race a cup of coffee.
Kelsey knew that Rachel would use interrogation techniques that would form a rapport with Race so that she would talk more freely, but she just wanted them to ask her the important questions so they could clear up this whole mess and look for the real killer.
“You were adopted by Durham and Carla Redmond and lived in New Jersey most of your childhood. Is this correct?” Nikki asked, looking directly into Race’s eyes.
“Yes I was until they disowned me when I was sixteen.”
“When you had an altercation with four girls at Kent Place School and then later that night you killed your uncle for allegedly raping you.”
“Allegedly...?
Race looked like she wanted to punch Nikki in the face for that. She knew her best friend asked the difficult questions and unlike Rachel she didn’t care about forming a rapport.
“Just answer the question Miss Norwood,” Nikki prompted.
“Well no one believed me then either. He raped me for years. That day was a day from hell, I went to school but didn’t think that it would be the last day I’d sleep in my bedroom, kiss my mother goodbye and be Cassandra Redmond.” Race looked furious.
“Well I say allegedly because it wasn’t proven in a court of law that he raped you. There was evidence of sex with him that is not disputed but what couldn’t be proven is that it wasn’t done without your consent.”
“Consent...? I was SIXTEEN...I was a minor and like every other time he raped me, he forced himself on me.” Race now looked like she was about to get up and rip Nikki a new one. She knew the tactic Nikki used she had used it many times; get the suspect riled up and angry then they’re more likely to be careless and say something they normally wouldn’t.
“You were angry that your parents left you with your uncle and you were still angry from the incident at school earlier that day so you took it out on your uncle and murdered him.” Nikki played with fire but she knew her job and did it well.
Race got up and lunged across the table and Kelsey wanted to spring into action but stopped when she saw Nikki calmly smile into the face of Race and hiss at the enraged woman.
“Sit down Miss Norwood.”
Race slammed back into the chair and glared at Nikki, she knew that Nikki had played the questioning to perfection. She had been sitting where her best friend sat right now in front many suspects and knew how good it felt to have the desired effect you were hoping for. They now knew Race had the rage needed to kill her uncle and possibly kill their four victims. I just know she couldn’t have done it.
Nikki would now switch tactics and direct Race to this case and gauge her response to photos of the four women when they were teenagers and then their autopsy photos.
Nikki arranged some files and photos on the table and then placed the photos of all four victims in front of Race. Kelsey watched with rapt interest to see how Race behaved, she couldn’t read her expression as she calmed and looked quite neutral.
“Do you recognize any of these four girls Miss Norwood?” Nikki asked.
Race looked down at the photos and nodded.
“I know all of them. They’re the four girls who bullied me for the better part of my time at Kent Place School. Is that why I am here?”
“We’re asking the questions Miss Norwood,” Nikki said firmly. “ If they bullied you for that long as you have alleged and they bullied you the day you attacked them, why did you suddenly have the courage that day to stand up to them?” Nikki led Race into discussing her frame of mind that day. God she’s good.
“You fucking cun...t,” Race began but then stopped and controlled her breathing; she clearly attempted to calm herself down. “I don’t know I guess I got tired of them always picking on me. They picked on me and call
ed me an injun, even though my mother had been bleaching my hair and made me wear blue contact lenses since I was six. Even my parents hated that I wasn’t a little white girl.”
Anger bubbled up inside of her threatening to overwhelm her walls; she and Nikki had learned that the Redmonds adopted Race when she was an infant when they learned they couldn’t have children. The couple had gone through some cheap adoption agency that didn’t have all the red tape so they could bring home a baby sooner. Learning now that they forced Race to deny her heritage; forcing her to be like them: white and ordinary angered her beyond reason. Race had been wronged her whole life. She had reason to be enraged and vengeful. She still couldn’t help feeling that they still didn’t have their killer.
Rachel reached out and held Race’s hand and played her part perfectly; using empathy to keep a rapport with the interrogatee.
“Would you like a moment to collect yourself?” She asked trying to give Race an out to continuing the questioning.
“Are you finished? Can I go now?”
Nikki took out pictures of all four victims.
Rachel reached out and pointed to Kate Montgomery and asked the simple question, “How do you know this woman?”
“Well that’s Kate; we went to school together. I went to school with all of them, I already told you that and Jeremy he’s Cynthia Trenton’s boyfriend but they’re dead. Race seemed to be thinking as she paused. “Is that why I am here about their murders?”
“You know about their murders but we didn’t say anything about that.” Nikki stated not really asking a question.
Ignoring Race’s question, Nikki took a few photos from a folder and laid them out on the table. They were autopsy photos of all four victims.
“All four of these people were killed in three separate events over the last year or so. We would like to know what you were doing on the 15th of May last year, June 15th and July 15th of this year.”
“Just wait a minute, I only knew about Cynthia and Jeremy murders last year, when I... I didn’t know about the others, they were all killed? You think...you think I’m the one who killed them? I didn’t kill anyone...well no one on home soil. I killed plenty in the line of duty as a Marine fighting the War on Terror but I’m not your killer.”
“You knew all of our victims and had reason to kill them, you admitted you hated them for bullying you and we can see you’re quite capable.”
“I hated them for years but I never wanted to kill them.”
“You didn’t want to kill them like you killed your sexual abusive uncle?”
“I...I see what you’re doing and I won’t play anymore, if you want me to answer any more questions I want to speak to Agent MacGregor and a lawyer.”
Kelsey watched the emotions and expressions play across Race’s face on the monitor and she could tell she told the truth but they needed Race to give them solid alibis to prove she’s not their killer.
“Please answer the question Miss Norwood where were you on these dates and we’ll leave you alone for now,” Rachel said laying a hand on Race’s clinched fist.
“I’m not your killer and to prove it I have been privately contracted to a security detail in Brazil for a diplomat since last April. I had been given a holiday release from that duty two weeks ago. If you want to check this for yourselves here is the number you can call.” She pulled her phone out and passed it to Nikki.
Nikki took the phone and spoke to Rachel privately.
“I’ll check this out for myself while SSA Mitchell here asks you a few more questions.” Nikki rose and left the room.
Rachel asked Race if she could get her anything else; Race asked for a bottle of water and again asked to speak to Kelsey.
“I’m afraid I can’t do that. SSA MacGregor is not available she’s busy with other aspects of this case but as SA Hyland stated we do have some more questions for you.”
Kelsey could see that Race looked impatient and looked to be trying to loosen her neck muscles and taking deep breaths obviously attempting to calm down.
“I already told you I want a lawyer before I say anything else.”
“Please Miss Norwood; we all want the same thing here, to get to the bottom of this.”
“What other things would you like to ask me? I wasn’t here during those dates so I’m not your killer there isn’t much more I can tell you.”
Just then Kelsey got an idea and texted Rachel a few questions to ask Race. She watched as Rachel took her phone out and checked her texts.
Rachel looked into the camera and began her questions.
“Miss Norwood you said you were in the Marines; what we’d like to know is why were you discharged?”
“It’s in my records but I was honorable discharged after an incident in Afghanistan,” Race said flatly.
“What was the incident?”
“I had been raped by three of my squadron leaders.”
The shock on Rachel’s face mirrored her own hearing Race’s matter-of-factly statement. She certainly didn’t expect to hear that. Of course they had not looked into her service record before they began questioning her.
“That must have been horrible for you; I can’t imagine what you went through. Especially after what your uncle did to you,” Rachel took Race’s two hands into her own.
She wanted to be in there with Race and tell her how sorry she felt for all she had to endure.
“Yes I went through hell and then they released me after I served three tours to Afghanistan. I am expendable and they were not.”
“What did you do after you got discharged?” Rachel asked quietly.
“I went to therapy after they deprogrammed or as they like to call it debriefed me. Basically they told me what I could talk about while on missions and what I wasn’t allowed to talk about after leaving the Marines.” Race said taking s sip of the bottled water. Her arms were crossed and her left leg restlessly bounced up and down. Clearly she had closed herself off and tried to calm herself down.
Rachel looked into the camera as she asked her next question.
“Where did you go to get therapy?”
“It’s a private group therapy for women who were rape victims in New York. We knew everyone’s first names only. We talked about everything and I mean everything. They knew my whole life story.”
Kelsey knew what she wanted to ask Race now but she allowed Rachel to ask the remainder of the questions she had asked her to ask first.
“When you killed your uncle you used a knife, what happened to that knife?”
“I hid it that night and went back and got it after I had been released from Juvie. I wanted a souvenir of me finally have the strength to do something about him messing with me.” Race spat out the last of those words.
“Where did it go after that?”
“I kept it with me until I deployed out the first time, then I put it in storage.”
“Is it still there?”
“No, I took all my stuff out of that storage facility when I moved down to Brazil. I haven’t seen it since. It must have gone missing.”
Nikki walked back into the room at that moment and Kelsey sent her a text to show Race the photo of their possible murder weapon. She asked Race if the photo of the knife matched the knife she had used to kill her uncle.
“Yeah it looked like that one only it had the Marine’s insignia on the blade I looked at that knife every time he would rape me wishing I had the courage to use it to make him stop. That night I finally did. Did you contact my employer? Did he tell you I was in Brazil from last year until two weeks ago?”
“Yes I spoke to Mr. Sousa and he confirmed that you were in fact in his employ during the times of the murders.”
“So you can let me go then. I’m not your killer.”
Rachel looked at Nikki and they both looked into the camera. Kelsey wasn’t sure what to do next. She texted Nikki asking that they both come discuss their next step with her.
She paced the floor waiting for them to
enter the room. They walked in and she pounced immediately on Nikki.
“She’s not the killer but she had a knife fitting our murder weapon’s signatures. I’m trying to figure this out. Should we call Doc in on this? I think we could use his Behavioral skills.” Kelsey looked from Nikki to Rachel.
“Mack I think that would a great idea,” Nikki said as she took out her phone to make the call.
“Rachel is it okay I go in and talk to her? Since we know she isn’t the killer. I won’t say anything about the case. I just want to know she’s okay.”
“I don’t see why not, just be careful what you talk about...”
She only half heard the rest of Rachel’s concerns as she went into the interrogation room. As she entered she heard Race’s intake of breath.
“Well it’s about time you got here. What the hell MacGregor? Was it really necessary to put me through all this? I think you could have just sat down with me and asked me these questions without all this FBI bullshit.”
“I’m sorry Race I couldn’t; my hands were tied. I had to play this by the book.”
“You think I could have done this?” Race asked shaking her head.
“No I never thought you did. I had to follow the evidence and it pointed towards you but I couldn’t sit down and talk to you. I’m sorry it had to be done this way.”
“Yeah you keep saying that but what I want to know is I’m I free to go, now?”
“I’m...well...No we need you to answer some more questions.”
“MacGregor this is a bunch of bullshit. What more can I possibly tell you that I haven’t already?”
“We need to know who you may have had in contact with over the years that would know what happened to you.”
“Seriously...?”
“I’m sorry Race, I’m sorry for all of this.” she stopped herself from saying how sorry she had been about last night. Race looked hurt and she knew it wasn’t only because of today’s events. Any further thoughts were halted and her heart thudded to a stop as Rachel came in and whispered into her ear, “Miranda is in the hospital.”