Colde & Rainey (A Rainey Bell Thriller)

by R. E. Bradshaw

  So was Katie. She was up and moving fast toward the door. Rainey assumed she was running to get Danny, which was a very smart move. Danny had access to Brooks; the computer genius at Quantico with tools to track phones most people didn’t even know existed.

  Ellie sang out in her nonchalant style. “You have no idea how hard it was to crack your phone, but a few drinks and a blow job can get you a lot from a lonely geek on vacation.”

  “I see you haven’t missed a trick, pun intended. I suppose he thinks you’re Sally Sue from Peoria or some other unsuspecting former friend, whose identity you usurped along the way.”

  “I probably should have pulled the trigger on you while I had the chance,” Ellie commented. “I’ll not make that mistake again.”

  “Fortunately for me, you will not have a second chance,” Rainey said, calmly.

  An airport announcement for a connecting flight to Los Angeles sounded in the receiver. Ellie was on the move. It would be too easy to suggest she was headed for LA. Ellie wouldn’t be that stupid.

  Rainey pretended not to hear the boarding call and continued, “I’m sure you are long gone. You better work on that accent, though. It’s hard to mistake that eastern North Carolina drawl for anything else.”

  Accommodating Rainey’s suggestion with the skill of a practiced character actress, Ellie dropped the drawl for a perfect French/Canadian accent, saying, “Parlez-vous français? Connaissez-vous le Québec?”

  “My father always said not to get too far from the truth on your fake identity. The Canadian thing might work, unless you run into a real Québec resident. Then it might get a bit dicey.”

  Katie returned with a disheveled Danny, who was, as Rainey predicted, already on the phone. He made a hand gesture to Rainey, asking her to keep Ellie talking.

  “I had some time, while I was traveling. I did a background check on you. Man, they’ve got your personal life locked down like Fort Knox, but I did find some articles about your father’s death. How sad. Oh, and that article from the Y-Man about your attack, that was really dark. Not much happy in Rainey Bell’s life.”

  “I’d be happier if crazed killers didn’t call my house before sunrise,” Rainey remarked, while watching Danny in the hallway speaking quietly to someone.

  “I saw pictures of your wife. You were right, she is gorgeous, and that family of yours is picture perfect. I’m almost glad you survived to keep the family intact.”

  “Almost?” Rainey laughed. “I suppose you’re wondering if I’m going to look for you now.”

  “Don’t bother, Rainey. As you said, I’m long gone.”

  “New life, new name, new lives to ruin—is that it? You’re on to the next. Must be tough starting over with nothing.”

  “Nothing? You don’t believe that, do you? Surely you know I was smart enough to have an out.” Incredulous, Ellie continued, “I doubt that was your assessment of me to your FBI colleague. Danny, wasn’t it? Super-cute ginger man. Is he a good fuck? You know you had some of that, Miss ‘I have my principles.’ Or was he part of your sport-fucking days before you switched teams?”

  “Danny? No, I never slept with him. Never kissed him, either. That would be like kissing my brother.” Rainey chuckled for effect. “Oh, that’s right, you don’t have a problem with that.”

  Serial killers had boundaries, warped ones, but boundaries nonetheless. These boundaries were crossed without compunction, yet the depraved minds still knew the societal taboo of their actions could not be overcome. Ted Bundy didn’t want people to know he practiced necrophilia, but had no problem talking about decapitating his victims. He didn’t want to talk about the little girl he raped and murdered either. Ellie’s boundary line was drawn at incest. She wasn’t bragging about that dirty deed. Her tone darkened.

  “Forget you met me, Rainey Bell. Don’t come looking. I won’t make the same mistake twice and you’ll never see it coming.”

  “Are you trying to make some kind of deal, Ellie? If I don’t look for you, you won’t look for me, is that it?”

  Ellie resumed her sunny disposition. “Yes, I’d say that’s it. I’d rather not look over my shoulder and I’m sure you have better things to do than wonder if I’m watching you through a rifle scope right now.”

  Rainey replied to the threat with no emotion. “Well now, that’s interesting.”

  “What’s that?” Ellie asked, taking the bait.

  “You’re afraid of me,” Rainey said, making sure her smile could be heard in her tone.

  “Ha! Me, afraid of you? I’m giving you the opportunity to live your life with that hot wife and those adorable triplets. You got lucky. Take advantage of your second chance.”

  “Second chance? Oh, this is at least a fourth or fifth attempt on my life. There have been so many I’ve lost track. I’m hard to kill, they say. So, give it your best shot, Ellie.”

  “Game on, then,” Ellie said, trying to sound confidant, but Rainey could hear a crack forming in her adversary’s veneer of indifference.

  By now, Rainey knew the phone call would bring few clues to Ellie’s whereabouts. She was too smart to have stayed on the line without a plan. The trace would lead to a location far from Ellie Paxton Read’s final destination. She wasn’t coming after Rainey. She was testing the water to see if Rainey was going to knock on her door one day. Rainey decided to plant that seed of doubt deeply in Ellie’s brain.

  “Run, Ellie, run. This should be fun. When I find you, be a good sport and come peacefully. Like Graham said, people that fuck with me end up dead. You know the funny part is, I didn’t kill any of them. Kind of like the people around you, they just don’t live long.”

  “Remember, Moby Dick did not end well for Ahab,” Ellie said, trying to be witty.

  “Call me Ishmael,” Rainey countered with wit of her own. “Good bye, Ellie. See you soon.”

  Rainey hung up before Ellie could.

  “Did Brooks get a fix on my phone,” she called out to Danny.

  She heard him giving instructions to whomever he was talking to on the phone. “Send the picture to TSA. Check the rental car counters too. She probably dumped the phone.” He waited and then said, “Call me if they find anything.” One more pause before, “Yes, I’ll tell her.”

  Danny stepped into the bedroom from the hall. “The ping registered near Charleston International Airport.”

  Rainey climbed out of the bed. “She was in the airport. I could hear the paging system. I’m guessing my phone will be located in a trashcan near a ticket counter she never approached. You can check flights, but I’ll bet she keeps driving to another departure point.”

  Katie came to stand beside Rainey and asked, “Is she a threat to us?”

  Rainey put her arm around Katie. “No, honey. She was calling to see if I was coming after her. Ellie Paxton is putting as much distance between us as possible. She hasn’t dealt with many people like me, ones who saw the beast beneath the beauty. In the past, I’m sure she ran from them as well.”

  “Or killed them,” Katie commented.

  Danny lightened the mood with, “Brooks said you need to go ahead and have that tracking device implanted. It would make finding you so much faster.”

  “They have those?” Katie inquired. She didn’t wait for an answer, adding quickly, “Where can I get one put in her and how fast can it happen?”

  Rainey and Danny laughed.

  Katie’s hands flew to her hips. “I’m serious.”

  Rainey shook her head. “That’s what’s so funny. I am quite sure that you are, but the technology isn’t quite perfected yet.”

  “Well, let me know when it is and you’ll be first in line.”

  Rainey yawned as the sun broke the horizon and peeked through the blinds.

  Katie put a hand in Rainey’s back. “Go back to bed. I’ll make you some breakfast and bring it up to you.”

  “No, I’m awake.” Rainey looked at the baby monitor on the bedside table. “I can’t sleep through sunrise anymore,
even when they don’t wake us up. When I stayed at the Wise house, it was too quiet. I missed hearing them breathe.”

  Danny chuckled. “I never in a million years pictured you with a family, Rainey. Hard core single woman to the end, I truly believed. And here you are almost four years later all sappy and lovesick because your children aren’t at home.” He faked tears and goaded her like the brother he was, “It’s beautiful man, I tell ya’.”

  “Hey, don’t laugh too hard,” Rainey teased back. “Ellie thinks you’re hot, but then she slept with her brother. You attract the strangest women, but one day we’ll find that special someone just for you.”

  Katie pushed them both toward the door. “I will pray that her first four years with you are less fraught with peril.”

  Rainey and Danny said in unison, “Amen to that.”

  #

  6:51 p.m.

  Mostly Cloudy, 45oF, Windchill 41.2oF

  Danny caught a flight out of Raleigh-Durham International Airport just after lunch, but not before the reports came in on the airport lead. Rainey’s phone, located in the Charleston airport, was still on and waiting to be found, as Ellie meant it to be. Security tapes showed a dark haired female, in a big floppy sunhat and facial feature-concealing large sunglasses, drop the phone in the bin on her way to the rental car garage. The cameras followed her to the express lane, where she hopped in a waiting convertible and drove away. She used the credit card of the geek that cracked Rainey’s phone to pay for her expensive ride. They found the clueless man passed out in a motel room, not far from the Charleston Airport. He became completely unnerved when informed he had a drunken one-night stand with a serial killer. Lucky man was all Rainey could think. The rental car and the credit card were found down at the Charleston docks, where the rich yacht owners played. Round one to Ellie.

  After Danny left, Rainey napped most of the afternoon with Katie spooned into her back and Freddie curled in the bend of her knees. Ice bags came and went at intervals, between Ibuprofen doses and sleep. The romantic getaway reservations were cancelled before breakfast, after Katie got a good look at the state of Rainey’s face. It even shocked Rainey when she saw the two black, puffy bruises under her eyes.

  Her comment to Katie had been, “At least my nose is straight.”

  Despite all their amorous intentions leading up to Valentine’s Day, the hours ticked away while they caught up on much needed rest. Rainey woke up once and decided that this was true romance, cuddled together, warm and secure. The spa day and romantic dinner would have been nice, not to mention the promised of unbridled, children not in the other room, passion they teased each other with for days. But the intimacy of being held while she slept peacefully was more than enough show of affection for a tired woman with a broken nose. This was the romance Rainey always dreamed of and it was hers every day. Besides, her face throbbed at the thought of raising her blood pressure.

  They rose together about four thirty, showered, and then went their separate ways in the house. Katie went to the kitchen to make dinner, while Rainey took Captain Wise’s file to her office, and Freddie went outside to survey his grounds. Rainey took the protective mask off and placed it on the corner of her desk. The swelling had gone down considerably through Katie’s constant care. Her nose still ached, but the stuffiness had gone with the aid of a bit of nasal spray. Rainey no longer sounded like a six-year-old with bad sinus drainage.

  After opening the mail, she checked in with Junior. All was well and he was staffed for the romance weekend fiascos that filled jail cells with drunks and anger management intervention candidates. Junior kept up with Rainey’s abduction and recovery through Katie, and had in turn informed Mackie of her safe return home.

  “Mackie said you were the only person he knew that could go to a funeral—”

  “And end up abducted,” Rainey finished for him. “Honestly, did Katie call everybody?”

  Junior chuckled. “I heard the phones on the hill were ringing off the hook. I guess doing time as a politician’s wife came in handy.”

  Rainey laughed with him. “She does have access to some private numbers not available to the public. See you Monday, and don’t forget to romance that new wife of yours. The criminals can sit in jail a few hours longer if need be.”

  “See you Monday, Rainey. Glad you’re okay.”

  After talking with Junior, she checked her email. Ernie, who was oblivious to any of the drama, sent the message, “Wish you were here,” with pictures of glaciers and eagles attached. Rainey sent a reply encouraging more photos to show the kids and did not mention her recent brush with death. There would be time to share the incident with Ernie without interfering with her dream vacation.

  Caught up with correspondence and her business duties, she turned her attention to Wellman Wise’s file. With a new perspective and a different agenda, she started taking notes for her quest to find Ellie. It was going to take weeks and possibly months to process all the data. That’s where her team of computer geniuses was going to help. The notes she took included ideas for a program that could sort through information and search for the woman they all would like to see behind bars.

  Rainey had her head down in the file for almost an hour when there was a knock on the open office door.

  “Agent Bell, can I tear you away from your investigation for a romantic dinner for two?”

  Rainey looked up to see Katie smiling at her. She put her pen down immediately and beamed at all she’d ever dreamed of.

  “I’d love to have dinner with you. It smells delicious. My stomach caught wind of it a while back and began to talk about it.”

  Katie crossed to the other side of Rainey’s desk. She had changed into a silk blouse, lacey bra, and freshened her hair and makeup. Her perfume crossed the room with her and swirled around Rainey’s head. The effect was the same as the first time Katie batted those baby blues at an unprepared Agent on medical leave. The result found the woman she loved standing in front of her, in their home, the mother of their children, still flirting as if they’d only met. Every day, every moment, Rainey knew she was blessed. Katie confirmed it again, when she leaned over the desk, exposing much more than the curve of her breast, but keeping enough hidden to make an observer want more. Rainey had to admit, the girl had skills. Her smile broadened, reminding her of the bruised condition of her face.

  “Ms. Meyers, I’m afraid you’re being quite forward,” Rainey teased.

  Katie’s eyes sparkled with delight. She loved that Rainey could not resist her and used it to her advantage often.

  “I made your favorite, cheese ravioli.”

  “Oh, now you’re just fighting dirty,” Rainey said. She glanced down at the corner of her desk at the mask. “I think I need to remind you that I’m on injured reserve.”

  Katie grinned. “You’re going to need that mask when you see your Valentine’s present.”

  Rainey stood up, grabbed the mask off the desk, and walked past Katie out the door.

  Katie called after her, “Where are you going?”

  “To look for a football helmet.”

  #

  8:05 p.m.

  Mostly Cloudy, 44oF, Windchill 38.6oF

  Rainey pushed back from the table. “I can’t eat another bite.” She smiled at Katie, who was glowing in the candlelight. “I am so glad I married you. I mean you’re beautiful, intelligent, and unbelievably sexy, but it’s really all about your cooking talents.”

  Katie took a sip of the wine she nursed all through dinner, and winked over the glass at Rainey. “I have to keep my girl satisfied. Wouldn’t want some young thing to come along and tempt her, would we?”

  Rainey’s one-sided grin appeared. “Did Danny tell you about Ellie’s proposition to fulfill my fantasies?”

  “He mentioned something about that, when her picture came up on the news this morning. You had gone upstairs to change out of your pajamas.”

  “Did he tell you what I said to her?”

  Katie pu
t the wine glass down. “He just said you brushed her off.”

  “I told her you fulfilled all my fantasies, all of them, and I am very happy right where I am.”

  “Is that so?” Katie said, rising from her chair. She moved around the table to stand next to Rainey. “You’re not getting bored with the whole family and wife thing?”

  “No, I think being a mother has made you more attractive.” Rainey reached out and pulled Katie into her lap, so they were eye to eye. “If I didn’t think my nose would explode from the increased blood pressure, I’d clear this table off and have you for desert.”

  Katie threw her head back and laughed. “You know just what to say to a girl, you sweet talking thing you.”

  Katie leaned in for a tender kiss, careful of Rainey’s nose and her blood pressure. The doorbell rang, just as Rainey was deciding she wasn’t that badly bruised.

  Katie sprang off Rainey’s lap. “Oh, that’s your Valentine present. Wait here.” Before she left the dining room, she turned back to say, “You’re going to need the mask,” and then exited with a wink.

  It happened so fast, Rainey was late putting together that the person entering the gate had a biometric key. She had to know them, so it could be only a few people. Danny was back in Virginia. Mackie and Ernie were out of town. Only their parents and her half-sister, Wendy, were left, and Rainey couldn’t see what they had to do with a Valentine gift. She was running this over in her mind, when she heard an unmistakable sound.

  Tiny feet in tiny shoes pattered across the hall toward the dining room. The next sound made Rainey’s heart sing. A chorus of “Nee Nees” rang out as the three loves of her life rounded the corner. The singing praise stopped abruptly when the children saw Rainey’s face. She hadn’t put the mask on yet, which might have freaked them out more, but she wasn’t sure how. Mack turned to grasp Katie’s leg. Weather plopped down in the floor and tuned up, but didn’t cry. She appeared at a loss for what was required and just stared at Rainey. Timothy stopped, leaned forward to get a good look, and then ignoring the other’s hesitancy, toddled forward.