“I asked you, what flaw?” Ellie demanded.
Rainey answered just as the van came to a stop, “You can’t play anyone but yourself. You’ve paid so little attention to the world around you, you are incapable of an empathetic portrayal of anyone but Ellie Paxton Read. You’re a pretty girl, Ellie, but you’re not all that interesting.”
Ellie put the van in park and sang out cheerfully, “We’re here.”
Rainey fought the panic, replacing it with a moment of anger and frustration. Was this how she would die, at the hands of a serial killer she hadn’t even known existed? All she had done was go to a freakin’ funeral. How did this shit keep happening? What load of crap karma brought all these fiends out of the woodwork to fuck with her?
“Dammit,” she said aloud in frustration.
“What’s that?” Ellie asked, climbing over the center console to stoop in the passenger side foot well facing Rainey.
She began removing the coat, hat, and gloves she’d donned just before they left the farm. Her arm was bandaged now with a piece of cloth torn from the tail of her shirt, fitting her story of surviving in the woods, and she had explained the sound of breaking glass in the barn. This chick was smart, very. She had thought it all out, had an answer for everything anyone could ask. Rainey had been in Ellie’s house for a legitimate reason. All the forensic evidence pointing to Rainey’s presence would be of no value. The blood in the barn explained away. The motive for the murder, a deranged killer obsessed with the pretty blonde. Rainey and Theodore were the loose ends, and a murder/suicide would tie the bow up nicely.
“I was thinking,” Rainey replied, “that after all the crap I have been through, and I die because I came to pay my respects at a funeral. Now that is some shitty karma, right there. You didn’t have to kill me, Ellie. I wasn’t coming after you. I was going home to watch my children play in the snow. I thought you were a damaged girl who never recovered from a tragedy, but not a murderer. Well, maybe it did cross my mind, but really, I had better things to do, like hunt down this idiot for spying on me.”
“Sorry, it’s too late to turn back now,” Ellie said, continuing to undress, which began to unnerve Rainey even more.
Rainey glanced at Theodore’s face, just inches from hers now. His eyes were open, but he was absolutely still. She had no idea how long he’d been awake. The fear in his eyes indicated he’d heard plenty. Ellie was busy unbuttoning her shirt, having already folded her jeans and placed them on the passenger seat. Rainey mouthed the words, “Don’t move” to Theodore, and returned to distracting Ellie from her intentions, still working on the handcuff chain behind her back.
“You do know this is going to end badly. I may not be active in the FBI, but you won’t be dealing with the locals on this one.” She forced a laugh. “I can’t wait for the behavioral analyst to get a gander at you, a female killer with no remorse, none, not a drop. So few straight up serial murdering female psychopaths exist, I’m sure they’ll enjoy speaking with you on death row.”
“They haven’t executed anyone in North Carolina since 2006.”
Ellie wore only her bra and underwear now. She had a captive audience in Rainey and she milked it removing them. Rainey pretended not to notice, or at the very least be unimpressed. Ego-driven Ellie, she hoped, would lose focus on killing her and try to win even a speck of approval from Rainey.
“You’re right about the stay of executions here in North Carolina, but they still have a death row and solitary. Solitary would be like death to an attention craver like you. You’re about to kill a former FBI agent because you thought I was about to learn your secret. That’s the only motive you have. And the funniest part is I wasn’t even looking at you.”
Ellie let the bra slip down her arms and smiled. “Do you see me now?”
“Those aren’t the first pair of tits I’ve seen, Ellie. Plus you’re about to kill me. That’s kind of a turnoff.”
Ellie didn’t like rejection, evident in her tone when she replied, “Too late now, anyway. I have to get going.”
Rainey saw something sparkle at the base of Ellie’s neck. “Hey, that’s my wife’s Valentine’s gift. I’m going to want that back.”
Ellie laughed again. “She’ll never know it’s missing, now will she? Your poor family, how dreadful this is all going to be.” She threw all of her clothes inside her coat and tied it into a bundle. She picked up the Glock, reached down, and poked Theodore in the back with the barrel. “I know you’re awake, Graham. You never stayed out very long when you passed out. Stop playing possum and get up.”
A completely naked hot chick with a gun—Rainey thought this was probably some guy’s fantasy, but not Theodore’s. His hand trembled when he placed it on Rainey’s side for leverage and sat up on his knees.
Ellie held her arms out, displaying her body for the scared little man. “Is it all you ever dreamed of, Graham?”
Peeking around the passenger seat, Theodore answered flatly, “No, Ellie. When I dream about you, you always have a rifle pointed at me.”
Ellie aimed the Glock at him. “Well,” she chuckled, “this will have to do. Get up. Get in the driver’s seat.” She pointed the Glock at Rainey. “You, don’t move.”
Rainey stared into the barrel, pointed straight at her head. This was the worst way to die, shot with the weapon meant to keep her safe. Her thoughts ran to Katie and the triplets. Dying wasn’t going to be so bad, but the wake of sorrow Rainey would leave behind would devastate the ones she loved. Rainey hoped what they said was true, that she could watch her children grow from the other side. She mostly hoped the ache of loss welling in her chest wouldn’t follow her there.
“Fuck,” she spat.
“I offered. You refused,” Ellie said, her eyes darting from Rainey to Theodore, who was now sitting behind the wheel.
“I wasn’t talking to you,” Rainey shot back.
“Well, excuse the fuck out of me,” Ellie said, waving the gun around for emphasis.
Her personality was darkening with the setting sun. The windshield behind her revealed the last ambient light of day. The dashboard lights brightened in the coming dark, bathing Ellie’s naked body in an eerie soft blue light. The last thing Rainey wanted was to die with any image other than her family in her mind. She tried again to break the cuffs.
“I told you not to move,” Ellie barked.
With lightening quickness, Ellie bent and backhanded Rainey with the hand holding the weapon, catching the barrel on the bridge of her nose. Beyond the stunning of the blow, Rainey was sure her nose was broken. Blood ran from it and began to pool in the carpet.
“See, this is what happened. You and Graham struggled for the gun.”
Ellie wasn’t afraid of Graham. Her focus was on Rainey, who was tilting her head to keep from choking on the blood streaming from her nose.
Rainey knew if she was still talking, she wasn’t dead yet. In a voice that sounded like she had a severe cold, she tried to buy more time.
“If you shoot us in this van, you won’t be able to hear yourself think for days. People will notice and put it together.” It was a last effort to get out of van. In Rainey’s current position she was at an extreme disadvantage.
She heard Theodore say, “She is correct. The volume of that particular report can be ear shattering in a confined space of this type. You should at least roll down a window to ease the concussion.”
The information offered from both of them offended Ellie. “Shut the fuck up. Do you two think I’m retarded, or something? I’ve been at this a while. I think I can handle it without your input.” She turned the weapon on Theodore and said, “Put your foot on the brake and put the van in drive. Do not take your foot off the brake.”
Rainey couldn’t figure out what the hell this chick was going to do. “Are you going to shoot him in the head while he’s driving, with you still in the vehicle? Really, that’s your plan?”
Ellie held the weapon in her right hand. She bent down, reaching with
her left hand to dip into the pool of Rainey’s blood.
While Ellie was bent in the awkward position, Rainey shouted to Theodore, “Hit the gas,” hoping to topple the Glock wielding maniac off her feet.
Theodore’s reply added a new element of danger. “I can’t. The front wheels are in the sandpit.”
“Put it in reverse,” Rainey bellowed the obvious.
Ellie put the gun in Theodore’s ribs, “Touch that gearshift, and I’ll shoot you dead.” She smiled wickedly at Rainey. “I doubt you’ll be able to escape, but should you, know that I’ll be on the shore with your weapon, and I’m a very good shot.” She backed away, regaining her upright position, and continued to explain her plan. “The van will go off the ledge, float for about a minute, maybe two, and then you’ll sink to the bottom. It’s too deep to swim up without an air tank. Your ascent rate would be too fast. You probably wouldn’t survive the water temperature anyway. It’s about forty-five this time of year. I predict they’ll find you both, if they ever do, in a pile of bones still in the van.”
Rainey didn’t care about the water. She wasn’t going to be shot. That was what she heard. Her brain was already working out the time she would have and what she needed to do to survive.
“There is always a way, Rainey.” The voice in her head urged her to keep hope alive.
“Swimming in those boots and handcuffed, weighted down by that heavy coat, yeah, I want to see your heroine escape this trap, Graham or Theodore, whoever you are. It really doesn’t matter anymore. Dead is dead, whatever they put on your tombstone.”
Ellie held up the hand with the blood on it. Rainey heard Theodore slump over, as his foot came off the brake pedal, and the van began to roll forward slowly. Ellie grabbed her bundle of clothes and held it in place under the arm holding the Glock on Rainey. With her free hand, she opened the passenger side door, and then climbed onto the step rail. She leaned across the seat so that Rainey could still see her.
“Don’t die too quickly, Rainey Bell. I do hope you suffer.”
Ellie grabbed a handful of fabric on the thigh of unconscious Theodore’s khaki pants, lifted his leg, and gently placed his foot on the accelerator. The van lurched forward, picking up speed on the sand covered rock ledge, as the accelerator moved under the weight of his foot.
“Don’t worry, by the time the engine submerges, you’ll have toppled over the edge. Trust me, I know what I’m doing. By the way, that little wife of yours is going to need some comforting. I bet she’ll have a taste.”
Ellie slipped out of sight, followed by a splash, and the door slamming behind her.
Immediately, Rainey started screaming, “Wake up! Wake up!”
She rolled over on her stomach, tangling in the coat more, frantically twisting the chains behind her back. Her nose ached, but that was the least of her problems.
“Wake up! Put your foot on the brake. Wake the fuck up!”
The front wheels fell off the rock ledge separating the shallows from the depths below. The engine sputtered to a stop, as the van tilted forward, lifted, and floated for a moment. The weight of the engine pulled the front end down, leaving the back bobbing in the water like a fishing cork. The electrical system was still working, but would go shortly, leaving no light to find what she needed. Rainey rolled back and forth, trying to loosen the coat’s grip on her body, as the water began to fill up the front floorboards.
She tried again. “Theodore, wake up!” No response.
The last roll moved the coat enough to allow Rainey to press her body up against the bench seat. She wedged her knees into the front passenger seat and pushed with all her strength, willing herself to sit up. Once up, she whipped her feet around and got up on her knees. Using the seat in front of her to lean on, Rainey managed to get her feet under her and stand, stooped but standing. She flopped against a baby seat and screamed at Theodore again.
“If you don’t wake up you’re going to die.”
The water covering his feet probably woke him, rather than her frantic cries, but Theodore came to and instantly freaked out. He scampered out of the seat onto the center console, as he looked for higher ground. They were sinking now, the front was filling faster, and Rainey could see the van was halfway under water through the windows.
“Don’t look at me. I’m bleeding. Go to the very back and take your shoes off,” Rainey shouted, just as the chain she was still working on bound tight. Upright, she was able to get the cuffs in the position she needed. With all her strength, she brought her wrists together quickly. The cuffs snapped apart with a loud pop. She brought her hands around to the front, and with no time to celebrate, started untying her boots. Theodore remained frozen.
Rainey did not look up, knowing if he saw the blood, he would pass out. “Get moving. Get to the back. Take your shoes off, now. Strip down to your underwear. Now, Theodore! Now! Move!”
He reacted this time, clambered past her and over the baby seats to the rear of the van, where he started removing his clothes. Rainey hustled, pulling the shoestrings, which were survival cord, out of her boots. Once complete, she threw the boots into one of the baby seats. She looped the cords around one wrist, as her mental time clock counted the seconds. Her eyes kept watch as the water level rose steadily, now just inches from reaching the front seat bottom. Next her coat, jeans, socks, and shirts came off and into the seats, leaving her only in panties.
She still wouldn’t look at him, but she could tell Theodore had stopped moving. “This will be the last thing you ever see if you don’t get going,” she said, already reaching for the compartment where she had seen Katie’s trash bags.
“I was looking at the scar,” he said, through chattering teeth.
“Stop looking. My nose is bleeding and I’m not carrying your passed-out ass out of here. You’ll get yourself out or drown. Keep moving,” Rainey said, as she grabbed the box of bags and started pulling them out one after the other. She held one up to Theodore, keeping her head down and out of view. “Come get this bag. Put your clothes and shoes in it and tie it up tight. Leave a little air, but not too much. We have to be able to get it out the window.”
“Rainey, look,” she heard him say.
She peered over her shoulder, beginning to shiver now, as the water had reached the floor where she stood braced against the back of the center console. Only the rear window remained above the surface, as the frigid liquid began to come through every crack it could find in the van’s exterior. They were pointed nearly straight down. The compartments would be under water soon, and what they contained might keep them alive, if they didn’t drown first.
“I need you to do what I ask, Theodore,” Rainey said, shaking a bag open. “We’re going to get out of this, but I need you to focus. Get your clothes in the bag. We have about two minutes. That’s a long time, but only if we don’t stop to think about where we are.”
Theodore listened, fortunately. If he didn’t, Rainey was fully prepared to leave him to his own demise. In Rainey’s mind, “never leave a man behind” was not applicable in this case. Waiting for him to get his shit together was not an option. She started stuffing her boots, coat, and clothes in a trash bag, adding the extra tee shirts Katie left in the compartment. She closed the bag and tied it tight. Grabbing another, she shook it open and started emptying the other two compartments, throwing whatever she could grab into the bag. She stopped long enough to shove cotton balls in her nose, and then into the bag they went with diapers, hand sanitizer, juice, crackers, baby clothes, a jar of petroleum jelly, and the box with the remaining trash bags. The bag was heavy enough now, more would make it hard to swim with, and Rainey Bell planned on swimming.
With both bags tied tightly, she threw them, along with the empty bags she’d pulled out, over the seat to the back where Theodore stood, shaking visibly. His teeth chattered loudly behind lips starting to turn purple. She retrieved the rifle from under the water at her feet. The cold water shot pain up her legs. It was her body’s way of telling
her this was a bad, bad thing. “Get out of here,” it screamed. Her body trembled, as it tried to create life-sustaining heat on its own. Her brain would take the use of her extremities if necessary to keep her core warm. Rainey had precious little time before she would be unable to function.
She plunged into the icy water to reach for the keys in the ignition. Rainey didn’t need the keys. It was the small flashlight on the keychain she was after. The freezing water bit at her skin, as she felt for the silver cylinder they would desperately need when the electrical system finally failed. Once her fingers wrapped around it, Rainey yanked it free, breaking the chain that bound it to the key fob.
She came out of the water holding the light and took a second to wash any remaining blood from her face, and then climbed over the seat to join Theodore. The van came to rest on the bottom for a moment, but it was such a steep angle, it began to roll forward again. All the windows were under water now. The electrical system finally died, plunging them into complete darkness. Rainey turned on the tiny flashlight, illuminating the cabin, careful not to shine it on her face, in case there was any blood dripping from the cotton balls in her nose.
“Fill these empty bags with a little air and tie them off good,” she ordered. “Remember, they will expand and they have to fit through the window.”
The sliding van bumped into something, jostling its passengers, and then stopped its progression toward the bottom.
“Thank God,” she said.
“Wh-wh-what?” Theodore stuttered between his chattering teeth.
“We stopped descending. I don’t think we’re much more than twenty feet down. Hard to tell, could be a little more.”
“C-c-could b-b-be less.” Theodore tried to smile, but the cold made his lips vibrate.
“Can you swim?”
He nodded yes.
“You’re going into shock. Do not hyperventilate. Your body wants to. Do not let it. Short quick breaths.” She demonstrated and resumed instructions, “Focus and determination can go far to overcome this crash. You’re going to start feeling slow. Just do as I say. Focus on me. Do not think about anything but surviving.”
Colde & Rainey (A Rainey Bell Thriller) Page 17
