Part 2 (2/2)
”Okay Rainey Bell, you be safe and Big Momma Brooks will be right back to you.”
The line went dead. Rainey flipped her phone shut and put it back in her pocket. Just before she turned away, she glanced up at the winds.h.i.+eld. By law, it could not be as dark as the other windows. Suspended from the rearview mirror, a gold chain glinted in the sunlight. Rainey saw at least a dozen gold bands dangling from the chain. Dalton kept his trophies where he could see and touch them. If she asked him about the rings, he would claim that they were just trinkets to hand out to others. Rainey had a gut feeling DNA testing would prove that to be a lie.
She walked back into the room with the others, forcing herself to remain calm. They were within inches of a serial killer, she was sure, but they had no evidence to take him in. They could ask him to come with them, but he was too smart for that she thought. Of course, he could be one of those killers that liked playing games with the police. Dalton struck Rainey as the type who would disappear, as soon as they lost sight of him. He would reinvent himself somewhere else and start killing again. He was intelligent enough to pull it off. Ted Bundy did it and took his dirty deeds all the way across the country. They could not let Dalton Chambers leave here today, not without some kind of plan to keep track of him.
Rainey rejoined the group. She looked at Danny. ”Sorry, that was my mother. I had to answer it or she would just keep calling.”
Danny knew it wasn't her mother. Rainey avoided answering her mother's phone calls at every opportunity. He feigned concern. ”Is everything all right?”
”It's my little brother. He's gotten himself in a bit of trouble.”
Danny also knew Rainey was an only child. ”Is there anything you can do?”
Rainey needed him to know Brooks was looking into something and that they had nothing so far, except the rings. She thought the rings were the answer. Now, they just needed enough probable cause to get a search warrant. ”I told her to call a lawyer and then call me back. I don't know what she thinks I can do from here. My hands are tied.”
Pastor Morrell spoke up, ”May G.o.d be with your family during this trying time. Thank goodness he never gives us more than we can bear.”
Dalton added an, ”Amen.”
Rainey wanted to pull her gun and put this guy in cuffs right then, but they could not jeopardize a conviction by moving too quickly. She needed evidence beyond the churning in her gut.
Danny began to fill her in on what she missed. ”Dalton has been telling me what a wonderful young woman Crystal was. He met her at a retreat last fall in Roanoke.”
”Oh, is that where you're from?” She wanted to catch him in a lie.
Dalton was too smart to fib about something she could check so easily. ”No, ma'am.” He poured on the charm. ”I'm from a little town about a hundred miles south of here called Acredale, but like I said, I travel a lot.”
”All in the service of G.o.d,” the pastor chimed in. ”Dalton is on a crusade to help our youth make the right decisions, ignore peer pressure, and follow the Lord.”
Rainey looked at the pastor. ”So, you know Dalton through his work?”
”No, I just met this fine young man today,” the pastor answered. ”He's been filling me in on his mission. We discovered that he has been to many of the churches of pastors I'm very familiar with. It does my heart good to know the youth have a positive role model to look up to. This young man has traveled from Rockingham, North Carolina to Iron Gate, Virginia and back, all to the Glory of G.o.d and...”
Rainey watched Dalton, as he listened to the pastor. His body language suggested he wasn't comfortable with the preacher continuing to speak. His eye twitched again, just before he interrupted.
”Pastor Morrell, thank you for those kind words, but these folks want to know about Crystal's mission, not mine.”
”No, I'm very interested in your work,” Rainey said to Dalton. His veneer cracked just a little, so she decided to push him. ”I'd love to hear more about this abstinence ministry. I'm also curious as to why you only travel 220 on your quest. Surely there are bigger audiences in larger towns, more souls to save.”
Dalton regained his composure, answering, ”There are already abstinence programs set up in most of the big cities. These kids out here need me more than the ones in the city do. This is the kind of place I grew up in and I know we needed it when I was in high school.”
”Since you minister at churches along this road, you may have come in contact with some of the other victims. Do you know if you were in one of the churches they could have attended? We're researching any tie the victims may have in common. We think they may all have signed an abstinence pledge.”
Rainey wanted to watch Dalton squirm. She just told him they were connecting the dots. He had to be thinking it wouldn't be long now until they had proof of his involvement in the case.
He answered, ”No, I don't think I met any of the other girls. It's hard to tell from the pictures in the paper.”
The pastor started to speak and Dalton visibly lost the color in his cheeks.
”Well now, Dalton, you told me you were at Pastor Wells' church and I think one of those girls went there. Maybe you did meet her. And I know one of them went missing from Pastor Smith's congregation in Rockingham. You were there last September you told me. That was a while before the girl went missing, but if she signed the pledge, I'm sure you must have met her.”
Dalton tried to recover. ”I'm sorry, Pastor Morrell, but I meet so many girls. I'm sorry to say they all start to blend together after a while.”
She knew they had him. She could now tie him to at least three locations where the victims were killed.
Rainey probed even harder. ”And yet, Crystal stuck out among all those other girls. You seem to remember quite a lot about her.”
Dalton Chambers stared at her, at a loss for words for the first time.
He was saved by Pastor Morrell's comment. ”Oh, Crystal would be hard to forget. She made an impression on everyone she met.”
Deputy Knox, who had been silent up to now, began to speak. ”Yes, Crystal was a special girl. The man who killed her is a coward. He's not a man at all. He had to use an instrument to do his dirty work, couldn't get it up probably. Sorry, Pastor.”
Rainey would have hugged Knox, if she could. The young deputy's understanding of what they were dealing with was uncanny. She obviously paid attention in psychology cla.s.s. Question this guy's manhood and he would come unglued.
The pastor went on talking, oblivious to what was happening around him. ”It's okay Sister Knox. Our anger can sometimes make us speak plain. I just pray that the villain is captured soon and brought to justice.”
Danny joined the party. ”Which in Virginia means the b.a.s.t.a.r.d gets the needle.”
Knox added, ”Those creeps always make a deal to save their skins.”
”Vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord. G.o.d will punish the wicked. It is not man's place to pa.s.s the ultimate judgment,” Pastor Morrell commented.
He was about to get up on his pulpit. Rainey quickly steered him in another direction. ”Do you think you could supply us with the phone numbers for these pastors you mentioned, the churches where those two victims went?”
”Sure. I'll need to go to the office. Would you like to follow me?”
Once again Deputy Knox was right on cue. ”I'll go with you. I need to say h.e.l.lo to Miss Mary anyway. I'll ask her about Crystal's ring.”
”Is there anything else I could help you with before I go?” The preacher asked.
Danny answered, ”No, I think that just about does it. Thank you for your time Pastor Morrell.”
He shook both Rainey and Danny's hands and then went off with Deputy Knox, through an archway that led into the church. Just when they were almost out of sight, Dalton surprised Rainey by moving to go after them.
He said, ”Hey, wait. I need to make a call. My cell battery is dead. May I use the office phone?”
The pastor turned back and smiled. ”Why of course you can. Come on.”
Knox looked stricken. Rainey thought quickly. She and Danny couldn't stop Dalton from going. They needed a minute alone so Rainey could tell him what she knew. If she tried to hold Dalton without cause, other than a hunch, he could walk away. Knox looked back over her shoulder at Rainey, after letting both Dalton and the pastor go ahead of her. Rainey put her hand on her weapon and nodded at Gillian. She hoped she understood the unspoken message, ”Watch your back.”
She called to the deputy, ”We'll be in the parking lot when you're ready to go.”
As soon as they cleared the doorway into the hall, Rainey and Danny broke into a run toward the exit. They needed backup and they needed to watch Dalton's only escape route, his truck. He could run into the woods, if he found another way out, but that truck was his lifeline. Rainey suspected he was like many of the s.e.xual s.a.d.i.s.ts who were driven to travel great distances. Jon Barry Simonis, a serial rapist, traveled over eight thousand miles in ten months across twelve states. Jon Barry stated to one of the original Behavioral a.n.a.lysts, Roy Hazelwood, that it gave him a freedom from responsibility. It was a myth that all serial murderers travel and operate interstate. Most of them had a defined geographic area, but they still may drive endless hours. Rainey believed, as did some psychologists, it was a need for stimulation provided by the constantly changing scenery pus.h.i.+ng the s.a.d.i.s.t to keep moving. Dalton would need his truck.
There was also the possibility the truck contained more evidence, other than the rings, which Dalton could not explain away. He wouldn't want the cops going over his truck. No, Rainey was sure he was going to come out of the church any minute, hop in, and drive off. They had to stop him. This might be their only chance. If he got out of sight, Rainey was sure he would leave the area, but he wasn't about to stop killing. Once she and Danny were outside, Rainey pulled out her phone. Danny already had his out.
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