“There you go. You’ll feel better when that chocolate hits your stomach.”
“Like on Harry Potter,” the neighbor suggested. “Well, I guess he’s too young for Harry Potter. I don’t know what they watch these days or when. I don’t have any grandkids yet. I hope he’s all right.”
Rainey smiled at the chatterbox neighbor. “Did you see or hear anything this morning, anything unusual.”
“Like I told the other officer, I called about a prowler last night, but the police checked around our house and Wendy’s. Everything was locked up tight.”
“What time was that?”
“It was 3:35. I looked at the clock out of habit. I usually hear Gary Don, when he leaves in the mornings. He sleeps in the room on this end of the house because of how early he has to go in. I got up to get a glass of water. My kitchen window looks right at Wendy’s fence. I could have sworn I saw someone in her backyard. I knew she wasn’t home. So I called the police.”
“The police found nothing?” Rainey asked.
“Well, they found Gary Don. He was in the garage and hadn’t left yet. He does that in the morning. He thinks I don’t know he hides cigarettes in the garage. He mostly quit, but he sneaks a few. I don’t say much—”
Rainey redirected the story, “Did your husband see anything while he was out having his morning smoke?”
“Oh, he’s not my husband. He’s my boyfriend. Can you believe I’m sixty-two and living in sin for five years? My momma would roll over in her grave. I got me a young one.” The neighbor lady winked at Rainey. “He’s only forty-one. He wants to marry me, but my son doesn’t like that idea. Says he’s after the money Barney left me. Gary Don doesn’t need my money. He has a job. I just try to keep the peace between those—”
Rainey interrupted again, “Did the police look around or just take your boyfriend’s word for nothing happening?”
“He said the cops looked around and didn’t find anyone. All Wendy’s doors were locked. Gary Don said I was seeing things, but I know I saw a shadow between the fence slats. The police left, Gary Don left, and I went back to bed. I got up at six-thirty like I always do. I turn my TV up real loud so I can hear the news while I take a shower and get dressed in the back of the house. I was leaving for work when you pulled up. I called my boss and told him I’d be late today. I’m just so frazzled with all this happening.” She shook her head. “I told Wendy she’d love it here when she moved in last summer. It was a nice place until this crazy man started scaring the bejesus out of people.”
“Endy say ‘Get da fuck out,’ ” Mack said, cookie crumbs flying from his lips. And then, in a whisper, he repeated the neighbor’s words, “Crazy man.”
The neighbor reacted with, “Oh my.”
Rainey covered for Mack. “I’m sorry, I didn’t get your name.”
“Juanita, Juanita Cashion.”
“Juanita, you’ll have to forgive Mack’s language. He’s had a bit of a shock.”
“Bless his little heart,” Juanita said. “How old is he?”
“He just turned three in December. Tell Ms. Cashion thank you for the cookies and juice, Mack.”
He wouldn’t look up. Rainey didn’t press him.
She excused his shyness, saying to the neighbor, “He’s a little overwhelmed right now.”
“He’s one of the triplets in the pictures Wendy showed me. So you’re the sister with the triplets and the lovely niece and nephews. She talks about them all the time. Is your spouse coming to get him?”
Rainey was ready for the neighbor to go away. “His mother is with our other two children. I’ll take him home in a few minutes.”
She was hoping for the offended right-wing idiot so that rolling up the window wouldn’t be rude, just self-preservation. But she got, “My nephew Jimmy and his partner are using a surrogate. Did you have them or did your partner? Oh, I guess you said ‘his mother’ didn’t you. I just think it’s wonderful that you people can marry, now.”
Rainey flinched at “you people” and was about to dismiss the neighbor for some peace and quiet when the woman suddenly changed the topic.
“Oh my, I believe that is the biggest, blackest man I have ever seen.”
Rainey glanced at the woman and realized she was looking back down the driveway. Rainey looked into the rearview mirror and chuckled.
“Yeah, he’s big all right.” She looked down at Mack. “Mackie’s here, buddy.”
Mack came to life. He loved the man for whom he was named. His head swiveled from side to side, trying to find him. Mackie approached the driver’s side of the car and the neighbor backed away.
Mackie’s face filled up the open window. “Hey there, little man,” his bass voice rumbled through the car.
Rainey unlocked the doors and prepared to get out when the passenger door jerked open. Katie was in the car, snatching Mack up from the seat in an instant. Rainey hadn’t seen her, distracted by Mackie’s approach.
“Mommy!” Mack was delighted. He loved Rainey, thought the world of Mackie, but Katie was his first love.
“Oh, my God. I’m so happy to see you. Are you okay? Are you hurt?” Katie rattled off questions too quickly for Mack to answer.
“Slow down, Katie,” Rainey said, opening the car door to stand. “He needs some time to process, honey.”
Mack said, “Crazy man hurt Endy. She say hide. I hided.”
“You are such a smart boy, Mack,” Katie said, hugging him tighter.
“You hug me too hard, Mommy.”
“I’m sorry. I was worried.” Katie eased her grip on him. “Is that better?”
“Nee Nee come, Mommy. Nee Nee say, ‘Show me your hands.’ I show her.”
Mack held up his chocolate-stained hands.
“Did you aim a gun at him?” Katie glared at Rainey, who was now standing beside her.
Katie had more color in her face than she did earlier, but that could have been a blush of anger. Although Rainey knew that anger was the next stage after having the bejesus scared out of you, to use the neighbor’s phrase, it didn’t stop her defensive reply.
“No. He was hiding in the closet. I had no way to know it was Mack and not somebody else. I did not point my weapon at our child, Katie. Give me some credit.”
Mack put his little chocolate-stained fingers on both his parents’ lips. “Don’t be mad.”
“Oh, I’m not, Mack. I’m glad Nee Nee found you.” Katie looked at Rainey and apologized. “I’m sorry. I was just so…”
Rainey cut her off. “It’s okay, Katie. We are all a bit worked up.” She tousled Mack’s sandy blonde hair. “We’re all safe now, right Mack?”
“Endy not safe,” he said, his little lip forming a pout.
Katie reassured him, “Nee Nee will find her. That’s what Nee Nee does, she finds people.”
“Nee Nee found Mack,” he said with a beaming smile in Rainey’s direction.
“I’m going to go look for her, buddy. You go home with Mommy. You’re safe now.”
“Safe with Mommy,” he said and hugged Katie again.
Mackie wore a long black leather coat with matching fedora and stood on Katie’s left. Rainey, on her right, wore her long black wool coat. Hence the comment Sheila Robertson made as she approached.
“Y'all look like the mafia surrounding this poor woman and child.” She put an arm around Katie. “How is everybody doing?”
Sheila was keeping the conversation light, because of Mack’s presence, but she looked at Rainey with worried eyes.
“We’re better, now,” Katie answered.
“Good, good. You can take Mack home, Katie. I’ll need to keep Rainey though. I’m going to depend on her statement and you can call us if Mack remembers anything pertinent.”
Rainey thanked Sheila, adding, “I’ll be right with you.”
“Take your time,” Sheila said to Rainey. To Mack she said, “I hear you are a very brave boy. You did a great job hiding. You’ll have to teach me how when I come to see you at your house, okay?”
Mack smiled, as his gregarious personality slowly returned. “Okay. I show you.”
“Good. You’re a smart boy, Mack. Very smart.” Sheila patted Katie’s arm and then moved away.
Katie said to Mack. “Will you go with Mackie to the truck? I’ll be right there. I need to talk to Nee Nee.”
Mackie held out his enormous hands. “Come on, little man. Let’s go home.”
Mack went willingly into Mackie’s arms. Rainey stepped over and kissed his little cheek.
“I love you, Mack. You are safe now. No one’s going to harm you, I promise.”
“I love Nee Nee and Mommy.”
“Good to know, buddy. See you in a little while.”
Mackie walked away with little Mack waving over his large shoulder at his parents.
“He looks so small in Mackie’s arms,” Katie observed.
“I look small in Mackie’s arms,” Rainey commented.
“Is he going to be okay, Rainey? What did he see?”
“From what he’s said, I don’t think he saw anything. I have a feeling Mack’s presence may have startled the UNSUB. Wendy realized what was happening right away and told Mack to hide.”
“Should I talk to him about it?” Katie asked.
“No, don’t ask him questions, but if he wants to talk, just listen. He’s going to want to discuss it at some point. He’ll probably talk to Timothy and Weather. You might have to rein in some little imaginations, maybe answer some questions. He’s also mimicking some language we’ll need to curb, but don’t punish him for remembering. Redirect him. Don’t get too complicated with answers to his questions. Keep your comments simple and truthful. ‘We’re looking for Wendy’ is about all you can say right now. The most essential thing is a return to normal. Just keep an eye on him and remind him he is safe.”
Rainey sighed, torn between her son’s needs and those of her sister.
Katie patted her on the back. “Wendy needs you. You go find her. Mack will be okay.”
Rainey’s eyes began to water. She was compartmentalizing like crazy, shoving emotions into boxes so she could think. For a moment, those feelings slipped out, as she said, “Wendy fought for him, Katie. There’s blood everywhere. She fought for her life and Mack’s. I have to find her.”
“You’ll find her. Remember, she’s a Bell. You are a hard bunch to kill.” Katie stood on her tiptoes and kissed Rainey lightly on the lips, before adding, “You be careful.”
“Always.”
#
“Okay, Rainey, tell me what you think,” Sheila said, standing in Wendy’s living room.
“Is her underwear drawer empty?” Rainey asked.
“Yes. There is an empty drawer and we found some clean ones dropped near the dresser. She may have surprised him in the act.”
“Either the fetish UNSUB was here or someone wants us to think so,” Rainey said, before asking, “Did they find any evidence leading out to the woods?”
“Most of the prints around the house are marred by the earlier reported prowler response. Two sets of prints go out the back gate, up onto the paved trail, and then disappear. It looks like she was walking with him. That surprises me. I would have thought he’d have to carry Wendy or drag her out unconscious.”
As if she knew exactly what her sister had been thinking, Rainey said, “When she realized she couldn’t overpower him, she got him away from the house, away from Mack. It looks like they crashed through this table. If she was still walking, then all this blood might be non-life threatening, a possible head wound. You know how they bleed. It looks like her head hit over here on the wall and there is a big smear.” Rainey turned to Sheila, stating matter-of-factly, “She went with him to save Mack,”
They were alone in the room. Sheila stepped in front of Rainey and looked into her eyes, searching for something.
“Are you good? Should I call in Teague? Are you too close to this, Rainey?”
“Go ahead and call him. Your bosses will want someone else on this, but trust me when I say I’m better than I’ve been in a long time. Don’t shut me out, but by all means, bring in whoever you need.” She paused, returning Sheila’s stare. “But you know I’m the best shot you have of finding my sister.”
“I’ll call Teague to please the bosses, but I’m sticking with you. You have never let me down.”
“Okay,” Rainey said and that was the end of doubts. “I run by here some mornings and pick up Wendy. We run the trails behind her house. There’s a parking lot not far from here with access to the trails. That’s the only place he’d be sure a parked car wouldn’t draw much attention. Everyone is on edge. They would have noticed a strange vehicle. The woman next door didn’t see a car and the cops didn’t find one when they came out to look for the prowler.”
“He stayed late this time,” Sheila noted.
“If Wendy had been fifteen minutes later, he would have probably jogged off with the morning runners. He had to have left before six-thirty, just before the sun came up. He probably took her through the woods straight to the parking lot. He couldn’t risk anyone seeing them together.”
“Okay, I’ll have the woods searched from here to the parking lot.”
Sheila spoke into a radio while Rainey began thinking aloud, “The fetish UNSUB would have known she wasn’t here. Maybe she surprised him, which disrupts an organized killer’s fantasy. He took Kaitlyn Whitaker without a fight. If he wanted Wendy, he would have planned better. At this stage of his game, getting caught unaware while on a surveillance mission would lead to mistakes. Mistakes are what we need at this point.”
She stopped that line of thought and moved on to more possibilities, “Now, that’s if the fetish killer has her.”
Sheila, finished with the radio call, tried to keep up. “Who else could it be?”
“Were there any signs of a break-in, other than the window I broke this morning?”
“No. He must have picked the lock if he was already in here when Wendy arrived. He could have reset the alarm once inside, just like on the other houses. The alarms were always working when first responders reached the crime scenes.”
“It wasn’t working when I arrived. It was still disarmed. Either Wendy didn’t think she would be in the house long enough to rearm it or it was off and she came in regardless of the danger.” Rainey walked over to the wall, examining a blood smear near the baseboard. She spoke while squatting next to the wall. “Unless she let him in.”
“Why would she do that?”
Rainey looked up at Sheila. “Because she knows him, or he could have used a ruse. Wendy would have opened the door to someone asking for help. She isn’t jaded yet.”