Part 16 (1/2)
Danny waited the appropriate amount of time for responses. When none came, he said, ”All right then, let's go give this profile.”
Rainey hung back as the team filed out of the room. Danny started for the door last. He turned back to her.
”Are you coming?”
”No, I'm a distraction. Too many people out there know - even saw - what happened to me. I don't want them thinking about that while you give the profile. I'm going to call Brooks, see if she found anything.”
”Okay... Hey Rainey, give Katie a call. Set up a time after the press conference when I can go see her.”
”Sure,” Rainey said, softly.
Katie flooded back into her mind. Those emotions had been in their appropriate box while she was in agent mode, but now rushed forward with a vengeance. Danny opened the door to leave.
”Danny, if something happens, will you make sure Katie knows what she meant to me?”
Danny didn't say, ”Nothing's going to happen,” the usual reaction when someone hears an appeal like Rainey's. He knew it was more than a possibility that he would be required to fulfill that request.
”Yes, Rainey, I'll tell her.”
Danny closed the door behind him. Rainey returned to her seat. She opened the file with the bulletins and newsletters from churches around the country. Rainey learned from the fan mail that Dalton requested his fans put him on their church mailing list. Most of his correspondents were church people. Some were honest Christians, trying to save his soul. The others were the type of sick, demented, women and men, who find serial murderers attractive.
Rainey was drawn to one bulletin in particular. On the cover, a color picture of a stained gla.s.s window depicted a woman on her knees praying. At first glance, Rainey thought it was a man with long hair, a disciple or a saint, but now she could clearly see b.r.e.a.s.t.s under the long cloak. She used the zoom feature on the tablet to look at the picture more closely. The praying hands of the woman were wrapped with a gold braided chain, resembling rope. A small, gold cross dangled from the chain.
Rainey quickly punched Brooks' number into her cell phone.
”CITU, how can I be of service?” Brooks sounded extremely professional.
”Oh, you must have done something really bad to be answering the phone like that.”
”Rainey Bell, is that you?” Brooks asked enthusiastically, and then just as quickly changed her tone. ”I am not happy with you. Can't even call or email an old friend. Just take off with not so much as a goodbye or kiss my a.s.s.”
”Last I checked those particular lines of communication work both ways, and don't tell me you don't have my number or my email address. You probably have a satellite image of my house. How far is it from my front door to my office?” Rainey asked, teasing.
”Thirty yards. By the way, I love the Mountain Dew hillbilly sign, but don't try to distract me...”
Rainey cut her off. ”See, I could feel you watching me. I knew it. And under what official guise did you gain access to that image, oh great one?”
Brooks laughed. ”Okay, you got me. I had to see where you were. How are you? Is life good there in the countryside?”
”You should come and see for yourself.”
”Honey, you know my black a.s.s ain't going no further south than it already is. You feel me?”
”That is such a crock of s.h.i.+t and you know it. You can't tear yourself away from that computer room. You're afraid it will die without you.”
”Girl, you know I can't leave my babies here alone, they need me.”
Rainey could just see Brooks looking around her room filled with monitors and whirring fans. ”All right then, put your babies to work for me.”
”McNally filled me in on this copycat down there. I saw your temporary reinstatement paperwork go through yesterday. I a.s.sume you are working the case?”
”Yes, and I found something I need you to look into. Can you pull up the doc.u.ments Danny sent you, the ones from Dalton Chamber's cell?”
Brooks responded, ”I'm running the doc.u.ments through a word recognition program. So far no hits on anything remotely connected to you or the Raleigh-Durham area.”
”Look at the church bulletin from the House of Holy Redemption, in San Diego.”
Rainey heard fingernails rapidly tapping on a keyboard. Brooks followed quickly with, ”I got it up on my screen. What am I looking for?”
”Find out everything you can about the church. I see it has a return P.O. Box instead of a physical address. It's probably bogus.”
”I'll dig around. Should I call you or McNally with what I find?”
”Call Danny. He's the lead on this.” Rainey paused and then added, ”Thanks, Brooks. When this is over, we'll have a nice long chat.”
”Rainey Bell, I know this Chambers guy promised to have you killed. As of now, I'll have a program running twenty-four hours a day. If someone so much as breathes a word about you in the future, you will know it. We should have done this years ago. I should have thought of this.”
”I have a degree in computer forensics. I should have thought of it myself,” Rainey answered, disappointed that she hadn't had the forethought to write a simple search program. She continued, ”When this is over, I'm going to do a lot of things differently. I am thankful that you are one of the people that will be watching my back... I love you, Melatiah Brooks.”
”I love you, too, Rainey Blue Bell. You be safe.”
”Always.”
Next, Rainey called Katie's cell phone. She got no answer. She left a message, and then dialed the Meyers' home phone. Katie's mother answered.
”h.e.l.lo, Mrs. Meyers, this is Rainey. May I speak with Katie?”
Rainey felt like a teenage boy calling his girlfriend's house late at night. It was early afternoon, but still, she would not have been surprised if Melanie Meyers hung up on her. Of the women in Meyers family, Katie was most like her mother. She was the source of Katie's good looks and her temperament. Joyously happy to be alive every day, but fiercely protective of her family, Melanie was as much a force to be reckoned with as her youngest daughter.
”Rainey, I'm sorry, but Katie's asleep. I took her cell phone and made her lie down. She was up all night.”
”Could you have her call me when she wakes up? Agent McNally wants to set up a time to meet with her this evening.”
”Yes, I'll tell her... and Rainey, I'm sorry this happened. You were good together.”
The statement stung Rainey. It sounded like Melanie believed Rainey and Katie's relations.h.i.+p was over. She wanted to say she was fighting to keep that from happening, but she said, ”I'm sorry I brought this killer into your lives.”
”It's not your fault, Rainey. You couldn't have known this would happen. You take care of yourself and I'll give Katie your message.”
”Thank you.”
Rainey hung up. Melanie had meant to make Rainey feel better, but she only made the guilt worse. Rainey had known this could happen. Hoping it wouldn't was not been the best course of action. She could see that now, and if given the opportunity, she would do her best to keep it from ever happening again.
When the team returned to the conference room, Detective Sheila Robertson returned with them. Rainey asked her to set up a meeting with the owners of Feme Sole for the next day. It was already close to 4:00 p.m. and Rainey was beginning to feel the drain of her previous night's indulgence. She had to make plans with James, so he could prepare the surveillance equipment Rainey would be wearing when she entered the bar Sat.u.r.day night.