Paula patted Rainey’s hand. “Guilt gets heavy. My momma says, ‘It’s easier to clean someone else’s house than your own.’ It took me a long time to see the wisdom in that, but she’s right. It’s easy for us to sit across from you, analyzing your behavior through all of this, cleaning your house, so to speak. You did the hard part. You went after the dirt in the corners. I admire you. I always have.”
“Thank you, Paula. The admiration is mutual.”
Paula exchanged smiles with Rainey and then turned back to the case file. “Okay then, let’s see if we can find more information you can take back to the Triangle and catch this jerk.”
Rainey leaned forward, anxious to talk about anything but herself for a while. “I think the key to catching him is finding his lair. I’m pretty sure it’s down here in Chatham County.”
She pointed at a map on the table, marking the crime scenes. Her fingertip rested on the dot indicating Arianna Wilde’s farmhouse.
“I suggested a comparison be done between the occupants of this area,” she pointed at the cluster of crimes near her home, “and property owners near the crime scenes in this area down south. No matches thus far, but it could be listed in someone else’s name, a wife or parent maybe. I doubt it’s a rental, though.”
Paula nodded her head. “I agree, he owns this place or has exclusive access to it. He couldn’t chance a landlord stopping by. You should suggest they expand the search to include all household members. I know that’s a lot of names, but I own property without my husband’s name on it. It was left to me by my grandmother.”
“Brooks would have a better shot at making the connections,” Rainey said. “I can’t ask her to do it. I’ll have to get the task force to make a request.”
Paula picked up her cell phone. “They already asked for a consultation. We’ll just extend the evaluation a bit, shall we?” She hit a few buttons and stuck the phone to her ear. “Brooks, I need you to do something for me.” She paused and then said, “It’s for Rainey. Would that move it up the list?” Another pause. “I thought it would.”
Paula began giving Brooks the details of the search she needed. Rainey picked up her phone and tried Katie’s number again, and still received no answer. She was thinking about calling Wendy’s phone when Paula hung up with Brooks.
“Okay, she’s on it,” Paula said, just as Danny walked into the room.
“I just got off the phone with Detective Robertson. She had some somber news. Kaitlyn Whitaker’s body was found this morning.”
Rainey said, “Let me guess. In the Cape Fear River near here.” She pointed again to the area around the Wilde farmhouse.
Danny said, “Don’t ever doubt your skills, Rainey. They found her body here, tangled in a dead tree caught on the dam.”
He pointed to a spot, less than an inch from Rainey’s fingertip.
Rainey asked, “How long has she been in the water?”
“You said, she wouldn’t have lasted twenty-four hours with this guy,” Danny said, acknowledging with a nod that again she was right. “The medical examiner estimates the body has been in the water almost two weeks. She was dumped there soon after being taken.”
Rainey shook her head. “Damn. This is one time I really didn’t want to be right.”
#
Rainey spent the next two hours buried in the Triangle UNSUB file with Danny, Paula, and Roger. Their conclusion was the same. Rainey’s recommendations to the task force were excellent—interview people on the running trails, add patrols within his hunting grounds, and look for property connections in both areas where he committed crimes.
“He doesn’t seem to have an end game,” Danny said. “He’s left so much DNA and linkage evidence my five-year-old nephew could convict him. He isn’t worried about a DNA match, so I doubt he has a record. He’s not expecting to be questioned or face a DNA request. He’s confidently above suspicion.”
“These guys are the hardest to catch,” Roger said, as he stood and stretched, “but his narcissism will be his undoing. He may feel invincible right now, but his ego will trip him up. Until it does, he’ll keep killing. He’s been washed in the blood now. He couldn’t stop if he wanted to.”
“He could be working up to someone he knows, his true fantasy,” Paula suggested.
Rainey had been pacing around the room, listening and thinking. She stopped suddenly.
“He’s married, or in a committed relationship. To blend in where we think he lives, he has to be. He shares a home with someone. Why would a woman, living in the area blanketed with warnings of a late night prowler, not question where her significant other spends his nights?”
“He has a reason to be gone, a job that keeps him away at night,” Danny offered.
“He travels for his job. These crimes are near the airport,” Paula said.
“Neither of those options fit our UNSUB. He spends too much time stalking his targets to be traveling for work. He has to learn their patterns and be there days on end to know what he knows.” Rainey paused and broke into a smile. “Either she’s the one traveling or she’s completely drugged up on sleeping pills for hours at a time. Both of those things are searchable. Restricting the field to residents in this area, we can cross-reference that with connections to property owners in southeastern Chatham County.”
“Frequent flyers might be easy to track, but a lot of women take a sleeping aid. That’s going to be a huge list,” Danny said.
Rainey started reeling off parameters. “Narrow the search. She’s thirty-five to forty-five, white, upper middle class. She started taking the drug or traveling approximately September 2013. That’s when we believe the UNSUB began his fetish burglaries. If it’s the drug, go back a few months. He would have had to gauge its effect on her, before feeling comfortable enough to leave for hours. It might be a combination of both drugs and travel. People that move through time zones often rely on sleeping aids.”
Rainey realized they were all looking at her, smiling broadly.
Paula chuckled and said, “Nice to see your swagger.”
#
“Rainey, I’m sorry,” Wendy said. “I left Katie’s phone in your office and just now recovered it because she asked for it.”
“It’s okay,” Rainey said, trying to calm her sister.
“I saw all those texts and missed calls and expected the door to be broken down any minute,” Wendy replied.
“I’m not that over-reactive. I would have called your phone before I called the SWAT team,” Rainey said, chuckling.
“Yeah, well, Katie’s reaction was the same as mine. She freaked and told me I had to tell you to call off the tactical assault immediately.” Wendy followed with laughter. “She’s in the bathroom. Hang on, here she comes.”
Rainey heard Wendy say to Katie, “Here, the SWAT team has been told to stand down.”
“Did she really call—” Katie’s voice grew louder as she put the phone to her ear. “Did you really call the SWAT team?”
“No, I thought you were probably sleeping. I really wasn’t worried.”
“Bullshit,” Katie said.
“You’re right, I was getting worried. I was about to call Wendy to inquire about you when the phone rang. How are you, by the way?”
“John gave me some anti-nausea meds and I actually ate a cracker a minute ago.”
“I’m sorry I’m not there to take care of you,” Rainey offered.
“I have plenty of people taking care of me and the kids. I’ve actually slept most of the day anyway. I’m very boring. How did the presentation go?”
“It went well, I think,” Rainey answered.
She slid a bit further down the hall, away from the BAU’s main doors, where she waited for Danny.
“Danny read your text to me,” Rainey continued. “I’m sorry, Katie. I should have talked to you. I didn’t want you to know. I thought protecting you from my pain was the right thing to do. I was wrong to shut you out like that.”
“Have you forgiven me?” Katie asked.
“I never blamed you,” Rainey responded.
Katie persisted. “Have you forgiven me?”
Rainey sighed. “Yes.”
“Okay then,” Katie said, “I forgive you too.”
Though Rainey carried guilt for the mistakes she made, she never thought Katie blamed her. Her failures blinded her to the perceptions others may have held of those same disappointments. Rainey carried a small seed of doubt about what Katie could have prevented. It made sense Katie would have reservations about Rainey’s handling of the situation.
Rainey replied with only, “Thank you.”
There was a bit of a pause, before Katie said, “I love you, Rainey Blue Bell.”
“I love you, too, Katie. I’ll be home tomorrow and we can put this behind us now.”
“That must have been one hell of a presentation,” Katie replied.
“I’m going to keep a regular appointment with the Bureau psychologist for awhile, but yeah, it was a good day. I banished a ghost.”
“Forever my hero,” Katie said, and then abruptly added, “Oh, I don’t feel so good. Gotta go, honey.”
The call disconnected. Rainey still stared at her phone when Danny arrived at her side.
“Everything okay?” He asked.
“Yes, she’s puking as we speak, but it could be worse.”
“How’s that?” Danny said, leading the way to the elevator.
Rainey chuckled, answering, “I could be there sympathy puking with her. I swear I’ve lost control of my gag reflex.”
Danny joined her chuckles with his. “I’m not sure it’s just you. I can look at decomposing bodies, but when my nephew lost his cookies at Thanksgiving, I turned green and nearly followed his example on Mom’s rug.”
“We are a sick and twisted duo, my friend,” Rainey said, tucking her arm through his as they entered the elevator.
“That we are, Rainey Bell, that we are.”
#
They stepped outside into an ice storm, already in full progress.
“Hey, I have some of Katie’s cheese ravioli and sauce in the freezer. Let’s just go to my house before the idiots clog up the roads,” Danny suggested.
That’s how Rainey found herself in Danny’s kitchen, standing by the oven, surrounded by aromas that took her home. She’d slipped into sweatpants and a long-sleeved tee shirt with UVA emblazoned in orange across her chest. Danny put the pan in the oven and went upstairs to change. He had not returned, but she could hear him talking on the phone. When he appeared in a tee shirt and jeans, she was pleasantly surprised.
“I was sure they were calling you back in,” she said, sipping from a glass of bourbon she poured herself. She held up her glass. “Want one?”
“Yes, please,” he said, sounding tired.
“Are you okay, Danny?” Rainey asked while putting ice in a glass for him.
“Yes. I’m leaving in the morning for Kentucky. Flights are grounded because of the ice, or I’d be going now.” She handed him a three-finger pour because he looked like he needed it. He took it and clinked his glass against hers. “So, cheers to an evening at home, compliments of mother nature.”
Rainey leaned back on the kitchen counter. “When’s your next mandatory vacation?”
“A couple of weeks from now,” he said, leaning on the opposite counter.
“Why don’t you come down? I’ll take some time off and we’ll take the kids fishing. It should be warm enough by then to go out on the lake.”
“I’m going down to the Keys. Do a little sport-fishing,” Danny said, not making eye contact.
He could never lie to Rainey. She saw through his attempt to omit details.
“Alone?” Rainey asked, grinning over the rim of her glass.
“Well, no, but she likes fishing too.”
“Is this Connie or was the last one named Martha? I can’t keep up.”
“Her name is Cathleen. She’s with NSA,” Danny answered. “I met her at a Christmas party. She’s a friend of Paula’s.”
“I approve of her security clearance,” Rainey said with a chuckle. “Wow, it’s March and you’re still dating her. That’s a record.”
“I like her, Rainey. She never blinks when plans have to change. She knows what that’s like. We see each other when we can and that seems to be enough. She has a life and doesn’t want to change mine. She’s fun. She makes me laugh.”
“What’s wrong with her?” Rainey asked, not laughing this time.
“What do you mean? Why does something have to be wrong with her because she’s nice to me?”
Rainey’s grin turned into a teasing smirk. “Because you haven’t mentioned her, not once, and I’ve been talking to you nearly every day since December.”
Danny stared at the floor.
Rainey’s laughter filled the kitchen. “You like this one. Daniel John Bartholomew McNally, you have fallen in love.”
Danny flushed red. “She’s a great girl, Rainey. You’ll like her.”
“Why haven’t we met her? Are you afraid we’ll scare her off?” Rainey teased.
“I didn’t want to jinx it, not yet.”
“I know you have a picture. Cough it up,” Rainey demanded, as she placed her glass on the counter.
Danny reached into his pocket for his phone, pulled up a picture, but was reluctant to hand it over. He stumbled through the explanation for his reticence. “I—uh—she is—well, she’s a lot younger than me,” he finally sputtered out.
“Give me that,” Rainey said, taking the phone from his hand. “How much younger?”
“She’s thirty-five.”
Rainey looked down at the picture. Cathleen had dark hair and hazel eyes. She smiled broadly at the camera, a genuine smile that said she liked the person behind the lens.
Rainey asked, “Did you take this picture?”
“Yes, why?”
“She likes you too. She’s pretty, Danny. Twelve years age difference might be a little much. Does she want children?”
“No, we talked about that. It’s not a medical issue or anything. I’d be sixty-five when the kid graduated from high school if I had one now, so I’m good with hanging out with yours. Cathleen says her sisters and brothers have plenty and she can visit them whenever she wants. She is very career driven. I’m sure that’s why she doesn’t mind my erratic job schedule.”
“I’m happy for you, Danny. I hope things work out. She sounds like the right fit.”
“This will be our first trip together. We’ll see how it goes.”
“Well, she has to pass the triplet test, you know, so don’t do anything rash.” Rainey picked up her glass and offered a toast. “To happy endings, all the way around.”