Part 16 (2/2)

There was still the press conference to get through before she could go home. Danny thought it was a good idea to have Rainey in front of the cameras, in case the UNSUB was watching. He would be, Rainey had no doubt about that. Her presence might agitate his already stressed puppet mind. His master was locked away where he could not communicate with him. The UNSUB was on his own.

The press conference was held outside the courthouse on the front steps, just before the six o'clock news. Rainey and the rest of the team stood behind Danny, as he explained to the public what was happening and warned the lesbian community to be on alert. The reporters listened quietly until Danny finished his statement, and then they began to hurl one question after another in his direction. Most of the inquiries had something to do with identifying the UNSUB, but one voice rang out above all others. It was Cookie Kutter, the television news reporter that dogged Rainey and Katie incessantly for weeks last summer. Rainey hated her, and her parents too for giving her such a stupid name.

”Agent McNally, why is Rainey Bell here? Has she rejoined the FBI?”

Danny responded, ”We asked Agent Bell if she would help on this case, and she has been reinstated temporarily.”

Cookie wasn't about to let up. ”Is it because she worked on the Dalton Chambers case or because the UNSUB is killing lesbians and Agent Bell is one?”

Danny was growing agitated. Rainey heard it in his voice, when he answered, ”Agent Bell's expertise in the Chambers' case is unequalled. The UNSUB we are searching for is copying Chambers' crimes. Agent Bell's insights are paramount to this investigation.”

A wall of sound erupted at Rainey. It seemed that all the reporters began shouting questions at once.

”Agent Bell, are you thinking about returning to the BAU full-time?”

”Have you visited Dalton Chambers since he's been at Central Prison?”

”Is your connection with Dalton Chambers the reason this UNSUB is killing lesbians? Are you a target of yet another serial killer, Agent Bell?” That was Cookie. Rainey recognized her superior tone.

Danny stepped aside when Rainey moved in front of the bank of microphones.

”I'll make a brief statement,” Rainey began. ”I do not want my presence to sidetrack you from the real story here. There is a person out there hunting young women in this community. There are two families grieving the loss of a daughter. There are heartbroken friends of the victims. These young women, Lisa Jones and Kim McNatt, deserve justice for the crimes committed against them. Do not lose focus on what's important today. Get the word out about this UNSUB. Someone knows him, somebody has seen him. Help keep this community safe. My involvement should not be a distraction. I am here simply to a.s.sist the local police and the FBI in finding justice for these young women.”

Cookie's voice rang out. ”Where is Katie Myers? Is she still living with you? Is she still a lesbian?”

Rainey glared at Cookie. She wanted to strangle the bottled blonde. Instead, she smiled, and answered, ”She's somewhere safe.” She started to walk away, but the devil got the better of her. She added, what Rainey was sure would be the sound bite of the day, ”Be sure to have that man of the hour draped on your arm there, Cookie. Wouldn't want people to think your continued interest in my personal life means you are anything but heteros.e.xual, would you?”

Two hours after the press conference, Rainey got a ride home from a deputy. She planned to go home, soak in the tub to help with her sore shoulder, and then spend the evening processing all the information she gathered so far. Danny got a call from Katie's mother. He was invited to dinner, where he could talk to Katie and her parents, together. Rainey was not invited. Although she had stated she didn't want to interfere with Danny's discussion of Katie's safety, she was hurt by the exclusion.

The sun had been down about an hour when Rainey arrived on her front deck. Ernie was long gone. She waved goodbye to the deputy and entered the cottage. It had never felt so lonely to enter the quietness of the cottage. The warning, beep - beep, from the alarm bounced off the walls. Rainey lived alone most of her adult life. She welcomed the quiet of her home all those years. Now, the stillness in the air felt heavy. The life had gone out of the house. Katie was not there to breathe it back again.

Rainey disarmed the alarm and heard Freddie's doggie door pop open and shut. At least she was not completely alone. She hung up her jacket, put away her weapon, and set the alarm. She went to the kitchen, flipping on the light as she entered. Freddie squinted up at her and meowed loudly. Rainey reached down to get his empty food bowl, when she noticed Freddie was leaving muddy tracks on the floor. He regularly tromped through the swamp surrounding the property. This wasn't the first mess he'd made.

”Look at your feet. You're leaving paw prints everywhere. Katie would not be pleased.”

Rainey pulled some paper towels from the dispenser under the cabinets. She wet a couple and knelt down to clean up the mess.

”You know what this means, don't you? You have to have a bath.”

Freddie meowed, doing donuts around her arms while she cleaned.

”No arguments. If you get this on the comforter, Katie will kill us bo....”

Rainey froze in mid-word. Looking down at the paper towel in her hand, she saw that it was not mud, but blood she was wiping up. She dropped the towel and grabbed Freddie up from the floor. She checked him from head to toe. No wounds were present, but his paws, legs, and face were wet with blood. Rainey dropped the cat and ran for the gun safe, by the front door. She pulled out the Glock, still in its holster, and clipped it to the belt at her waist. She moved to the bedroom, opened the gun safe in the wall, and pulled out her father's twelve-gauge shotgun. Rainey loaded it quickly, and then racked one of the five sh.e.l.ls into the chamber. She grabbed a flashlight from the bedside table and headed out of the room, before catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror.

Now, this is the part of the movie where Rainey always shouted at the TV, ”Don't go out there alone, you idiot. Call for back up and wait.” Instead, she carried the shotgun to the closet in her old room. Rainey yanked her FBI windbreaker from a hanger, and used it to cover her blood stained white blouse. She kicked off her low-heeled pumps, and slipped into a pair of boots. Prepared to do battle, she picked up the shotgun, and went back to the kitchen.

Rainey stopped in the living room, turned on the TV, and brought up the security cameras. Nothing looked unusual. She pulled her cell phone out, and dialed Danny's number. When he answered, she said, very quickly, ”My cat just tracked blood into my house from outside. It could be a dead animal, but it's fresh. Someone could be hurt.”

”Rainey, I'm on my way to Katie's. Don't go out there alone. I'll turn around. Do you want me to send a car?”

Rainey's heart was pounding. The hair on her scalp and arms was tingling. Something bad was happening. ”No, Danny! You go to Katie. Make sure she's safe. Send a car. I'm going out there.”

”Rainey, wait!”

She slammed the phone closed and put it back in her pocket. She closed her eyes to calm her mind and body. She heard her father's voice, ”Remember your training, Rainey. Don't let anyone walk up on you. You make sure you see them coming.”

Rainey whispered, ”Always.”

Rainey shut off the lights in the kitchen, so her silhouette wouldn't show in the doorway. She opened the door slowly and peered into the now black night. She clicked on her flashlight, probing the deck for the source of Freddie's footprints. There was nothing there but more paw prints, leading her down the back stairs. When she reached the ground, the prints were harder to see. She put the shotgun to her shoulder, holding the flashlight to the barrel and went hunting.

Rainey checked under the cottage and around her car, stopping to grab her ballistic vest from the backseat, and squatted by the car. She put the vest on quickly, fastening the Velcro straps tightly to her torso. This was war and she wasn't going in totally unprotected. She listened for sirens, and hearing none, proceeded down the driveway to the road. She trailed the light around the perimeter. Still, there were no signs of blood or a body. Freddie stepped out of the darkness in front of her. With his black fur, he was impossible to see unless he wandered into the light. He walked about ten steps in front of her, as she made her way down to the office, scanning her surroundings constantly. Tiny gravel, on the surface of the road, crunched beneath her feet. She moved to the shoulder to lessen the sound of her approach. Freddie sauntered down the road, as if they were out for an evening stroll. If there was danger lurking, Freddie was unaware of it. That was a good sign.

Rainey approached the office, crouching down to make herself a smaller target. She swept the ground under the Mountain Dew painting with the flashlight, seeing nothing there but dried gra.s.s in need of cutting. She moved to the front of the building, checking all the windows and the door. Everything was locked up tight. Rainey s.h.i.+ned the light in the windows. Nothing looked out of place.

She was running out of places to look without going into the woods, which Rainey was not prepared or stupid enough to do. If the source of the blood were in the thick woods and swamps, they would need to bring dogs to find it. She crept around the corner, toward the lake. The beam of her flashlight bounced off the surface of the water and into the trees. She searched the sh.o.r.eline, as she eased down the side of the building. She ran the beam of light over the ground behind the building. She saw no traces of blood anywhere. Freddie followed her and danced around her legs.

”Where did you get that blood all over you?” She whispered to the purring feline between her legs.

Still cautious, but relieved at not having found a body on her property so far, she headed back around the building, scanning the surface of the lake by the dock. Rainey's father had installed motion detector lights on the dock to discourage people from using it as a make-out haven. If anyone had crossed the motion detector barrier, the dock would have been lit up like a landing zone. Rainey continued toward the parking lot in front of the building. She stepped too close to the sensors and the dock burst into view, startling her down to one knee, shotgun poised to take aim, trying to adjust her vision to the sudden brightness. She blinked several times against the blinding glare of the lights. That's when Rainey saw the blond hair.

For a moment, she was frozen in time. Everything stopped. Her heart, her breathing, her ability to move, all ceased to function. She was suspended there on one knee, while her mind tried to make sense of what it was seeing. A sudden rush of adrenaline seized her and thrust her legs and arms into action. She ran down the dock, falling to her knees in front of a b.l.o.o.d.y piling. Staked out, in a macabre cannibalistic scene, was a decapitated head. A ma.s.s of blond hair covered the face. Rainey reached up with trembling hands, parting the hair gently to the side. She saw the woman's startled expression and fell back. Rainey's arms slid to her sides, her chin dropped to her chest, and she began to sob. Gasping breaths of air burned her lungs. Waves of sadness washed over her, juxtaposed with her immense relief. It wasn't Katie, but Rainey had just located Kim McNatt's missing head.

Chapter thirteen.

Rainey put herself back together before the first police car arrived, with Mackie hot on its tail. She waited at the end of the dock. The deputy leapt from his car and ran toward her. She pointed at the head on the dock. When the deputy saw it, he gagged, covering his mouth with one of his hands.

”Don't puke on my crime scene,” Rainey said.

The deputy went over to his car, leaned on the hood, and lost his dinner.

Rainey called out to him, ”When you're done, call it in,” and then turned her attention to the panting Mackie at her side.

”I'm all right. I guess you heard the call go out on the scanner. Sorry, I didn't call to warn you.”

Mackie began to calm down. ”I wish you'd called me before you went outside.”

”I know, but I didn't have time. Someone could have been bleeding to death out here. I couldn't wait.”

”That's just the excuse you're using to justify such a stupid move. Rainey, you know better than that.”

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