Rainey with a Chance of Hale (A Rainey Bell Thriller Book 6)

by R. E. Bradshaw

  Rainey laughed. “Shh, don’t tell on me.”

  Very quietly and trying desperately not to show his anxiousness, Chance said, “The Gaskill folder goes after the Alyson Grayson file.”

  Danny pretended not to hear. “Cathleen is after me to eat healthier too.”

  “Although I cheat occasionally, I do feel better. You should try it,” Rainey said, just before Chance lost it.

  Through a clenched jaw, he said, “I know what you’re doing. You didn’t come here unprepared. You know my OCD is an issue. Please, put the folders in order or mess them up, but don’t leave just that one out of place.”

  Rainey took the Gaskill folder out of the line of files on the desk.

  “Is that better?” She asked with a knowing smile.

  Chance sighed with relief. “I can’t help how my disorder makes me feel. It got worse after I got off the drugs and alcohol. Rationally, I understand it, but it doesn’t help me cope. The COs tease me about my cell. They will toss it just to watch me scramble to put it all back in place. Those steroid junkies are the worst, just waiting for a reaction so they can pound an inmate.”

  Rainey gave no credence to Chance’s plea for pity. She picked up the Gaskill file and noted the worn edges. A quick glance down the line at the other well-handled folders told Rainey the one she held had garnered a lot of extra attention.

  “You’ve spent some time with these folders.”

  Of course, Chance had spent hours with his files, pouring over each detail. Innocent or guilty, these files were an obsession. As the rust bucket to showpiece truck restoration exemplified, Chance’s preoccupation with detail was a defining element of his personality.

  Rainey dug a bit deeper into the family tragedy. “Before we get to the files, I want to ask you about the people that died that night in the explosion. You hated OB. You’ve made that clear. What about your grandmother, Letha? She helped raise you. Was she one of OB’s ‘disturbed’ women, as you called them?”

  “Yes, I’d say she was. Letha was simple and beaten down, like a trapped animal. She was happy to cook, sew, and work in her garden. I don’t remember Letha ever leaving the home place unless she was too sick to wait on OB. He’d send her to the hospital and fetch her when they had pumped the life back into her. When I was young, I couldn’t figure out why she came back. Why didn’t she run? I get it now. She was a prisoner in OB’s home, both physically and mentally. Free will was no longer a concept she understood. I think he may have hit her too hard at some point.”

  “Did your father, I mean—hell, it’s hard to keep this straight. Did Joshua see his father beat his mother?”

  “Yes, but OB beat him too, so what was he going to do. Even as a grown man, OB would take the rod end of that ankus to Joshua like he was an animal. He pretty much beat on everybody, so I don’t doubt that he clocked Letha a time or two too many.”

  “So, you felt sorry for her?”

  “I was just trying to survive, man. Letha didn’t have much to do with me. She favored my cousin Robby. Everyone did.”

  Danny entered the conversation again. “Let’s talk about Robby.”

  While Danny held his attention, Rainey looked at the Tammy Lynn Gaskill file. The name had not come up in her investigation of Chance Hale. She read the file with one ear tuned to the conversation in the room.

  “What about Robby?” Chance asked.

  “He’s really your half-brother, not a cousin.”

  “That’s correct. His mother is OB’s daughter, Sarah.”

  “And OB is his father,” Danny added.

  “Yep, that son of a bitch was a piece of work. You’ll never hear me say I’m sorry he’s dead. I wish he had been killed a lot sooner.”

  “What about Sarah’s husband, Roger? Do you think he knew? Did Robby know?”

  “Robby found out when I did back in 2009. We grew up being mistaken for brothers, even after Robby filled out and got taller. We knew our family was weird, but what kid imagines they are the product of incest. OB was in charge, but I say they were all complicit because they hid it so well.”

  Without looking at him, Rainey could tell by his tone that Danny was not buying the story, when he asked, “What changed in 2009?”

  “Rainey is the one that verified what we had suspected. She had that DNA I gave up in 2005 analyzed. She told me about it when I was arrested in 2009. Robby got tested after that. We knew then that we had the same father and it wasn’t Joshua. I don’t know what Roger knew. He was OB’s lackey. He wasn’t any better than the women who never stood up to him. They were all stupid enough to let OB treat them like dirt.”

  Rainey finished reading the file and handed it to Danny, as she replied to Chance’s comment.

  “Stupid has nothing to do with it. One of the most unexpected facts to emerge in our studies of women involved with sadistic males is how normal these women’s lives were before they met him. Most were of average or better intelligence. Many were women one would never expect could be dominated in this way.”

  Chance tried to hide his smirk but was not successful. He said, “I guess I should read more books written by you profilers. Look, I was just a kid. From what I saw, no one, not one adult ever stood up to that man, not even the cops. How did they expect the children to come out unscathed?”

  Rainey told him what she knew to be true. “At some point, they stopped caring. Somewhere in the process, even the most compassionate person can lose their connection to humanity. It often comes down to survival instincts. If they can’t save themselves, how in the hell can they save anyone else?”

  The door opened, revealing Lieutenant Holmes carrying a phone.

  “Here’s the phone you requested. You can plug it in over there. Dial zero, identify yourself, and the operator will connect you with an outside line.”

  Danny said, “Thank you,” and took the phone.

  Holmes observed the desk with the files spread out and asked, “Is there anything else I can do for you?”

  Rainey pointed at Chance’s ankle chains. “You can remove those. I don’t think Chance is going to make a run for it, but leave the waist chains and cuffs.”

  “Turn your back to me, inmate,” Holmes ordered.

  Chance did as he was told and Holmes removed the restraints.

  “Anything else? Water? Coffee?”

  Danny made up for his earlier bad attitude. “We don’t want to be any trouble.”

  “No trouble at all. I understand a threat has been made to your family.” He nodded at Rainey. “Whatever you need, I’ll be glad to help.”

  Rainey responded, “Thank you, very much. Water would be great. We really appreciate your helping us out.”

  “I’ll be right back. If there is anything you need, just ask. I’ve got kids too.”

  Holmes left the room. Danny plugged in the phone, dialed zero, and spoke with the operator. Rainey turned back to Chance.

  “The body found in the Albemarle Sound, Vanessa Wilhelm. What do you know about her?”

  “She wrote a blog about serial killers. She contacted me for an interview about Joshua.”

  “The man she believed was your father.”

  “Yes. She was writing a book about the children of serial killers and the permanent stain left on their lives.”

  “Did you talk to her?”

  “At first through letters. Then when I could trust her, we switched to emails. She was waiting to be cleared by the prison for a visit. Then she just disappeared.”

  “Do you know if Vanessa spoke with anyone else in your family?”

  “Well, there’s Robby. I understand he is in a long-term care facility after a drug overdose. He was in a coma for a while, and now I’m told he has recovered some function, but suffered permanent brain damage. Gee described him as a toddler with dementia in a man’s body. “

  “You’ve always maintained that someone in your family or an employee of Hale Trucking set you up for all these murders. Wasn’t Robby your prime suspect?”<
br />
  “Yes,” Chance answered, somewhat defeated, “but it can’t be him, not if the person who sent that picture of you is involved. Besides, Robby was already hospitalized by the time Vanessa was killed.”

  “Why do you think her death is connected to you?”

  “Oh, come on. The newspaper said the medical examiner’s office believed she died of a head wound and the body was frozen before being placed in the sound. Every woman in these files died of a similar wound and was frozen at some point. That right there should tell you I had nothing to do with those murders.”

  Rainey reacted to his attempt to clear himself of wrong doing with, “And you could just have easily engaged someone to kill her and make it look like the other murders, as a way to shift suspicion from you before your first parole hearing.”

  “Like who? Besides my lawyer, before he quit, Gee and his mom are the only people I’ve communicated with in the eight years I’ve been in prison. Gee is all bible and forgiveness bull shit. He only comes to try and save my soul. And Jean is kind of in and out of reality, Gee says.”

  “You talked to Ms. Wilhelm, right? How do we know she’s the only serial killer fan you talked to? It wouldn’t be the first time some wacko partnered up with a killer on the inside.”

  “Check my visitor logs. Check the email account I used. The prison records incoming and outgoing mail. They read it too. Look all you want. You’ll find nothing there.”

  Rainey smiled. “There are a number of ways you could have connected with someone on the outside. If you have one email account, you can have more. Don’t play dumb, Chance. We know you aren’t.”

  “Rainey,” Danny said, to get her attention. “Brooks is on the line.”

  Melatiah Brooks, part of the Communication and Information Technology Unit, or CITU, and an old friend from her FBI days was an investigative lifeline Rainey knew Danny would miss in his soon to be civilian life. Rainey lost the use of Brooks’ skills, but they maintained a close friendship.

  Taking the phone receiver from Danny, she said, “Hello, Ms. Brooks.”

  “Hello, Rainey Bell. I should have known it had been just a little too quiet where you’re concerned. Are my babies safe?”

  “Safe at Grandma’s.”

  “Where is Katie?”

  “She’s with Cathleen. They are fine.”

  “And you?”

  “Well, I’m inside a prison, so I think I’m pretty secure.”

  “All right, then. So, someone is threatening that beautiful family of yours again. I’m already running a search for images and language concerning you all, but it sounds like this was a private email, so I don’t expect to find anything.”

  “I don’t expect you will, this time. We need to look at all activity on an email account being used by a prisoner here, illegally I might add,” she cut her eyes at Chance, who was watching her closely. “If we can get you access to the computer and the system he used, could you find other accounts he might have but is reluctant to give us.”

  “Yes. I can compare the known emails with language in the other’s and see what pops up.”

  “Good. I also want to look at an account belonging to a murder victim, Vanessa Wilhelm. Danny will give you the details.”

  Brooks had a few requests of her own. “I need to speak to the I.T. people there at the prison. It will make this go much faster if I don’t have to break through firewalls and security programs.”

  “Danny can make that happen. Remember, I’m a civilian. People don’t jump for me like they do a federal badge.”

  “With a badge or not, you know I will always jump for you.”

  “I know, my friend, but let’s keep this one above skirting the law levels.” Rainey stared straight at Chance. “If we find anything, I don’t want it thrown out of court.”

  “If a prisoner was accessing email illegally, we have legal grounds to see who he’s been communicating with. On the Vanessa Wilhelm account, I’m going to need a warrant to access any emails that did not go to the prison.”

  “Danny can make that happen. She’s a murder victim, so a warrant probably already exists for her Internet activity.”

  “Okay. Tell him to make it happen fast. I’m up to my ample bosom in…well, I’m sure you’ll know soon enough. The world will know. What a fucked up mess we have here in DC. That’s why I’m in on a Saturday when I should be with my boo watching cherry blossoms bloom.”

  “You should quit and come work with me,” Rainey said. She chuckled, but she was serious.

  “If the marmalade man stays in office much longer, I will probably do—”

  Rainey heard a man’s voice in the background and then Brooks reply, “Yes, sir. I just sent you the email.”

  Rainey waited for Brooks to return to their conversation. She heard her mumbling, “These fuckers are going to make me lose my mind up in here,” before she said, “Okay, Rainey Bell, I’ve got to go. I’ll call you back in about two hours, give or take. Is there anything else, before I go?”

  “Yes. There was an explosion on Halloween of ’98. The actual date would be November 1st, early morning. It happened at OB Hale’s residence, a little south of Hillsborough, North Carolina. That’s Orange County’s jurisdiction. Four people died. I need the police reports, especially the ones from the State Police and ATF.” Rainey eyed Chance again and added to her requests. “Oh, and I need you to find an assault victim, Tammy Lynn Gaskill. She used to live in Orange County, but the assault was recorded in Durham County. She may be married. She’d be about thirty-two years old now. Contact Sergeant Detective Sheila Robertson with the Durham County Sheriff’s office. She took the victim’s statement.”

  Chance’s eyebrows arched in question.

  “Oh, I remember her from your Christmas party last year,” Brooks said in Rainey’s ear.

  “Yes, that’s her. Find out if they ever ran the DNA evidence from the Gaskill case through NCIC. The date of the assault was September 25, 1998. If they ran it before 2005, ask her to run it again.”

  “Will do. Be safe, Rainey Bell.”

  “Always, my friend. Always.”

  15

  Still at the…

  Butner Federal Correctional Complex

  Butner, NC

  Danny left the room to talk with the prison staff about Chance’s access to a computer and to facilitate the I.T. department’s communication with Brooks. He also needed a fax machine to work on the warrant for Vanessa Wilhelm’s communications with Chance.

  Before leaving, he asked, “Will you be all right in here alone? Do you want the Lieutenant to stay with you?”

  Rainey looked over at Chance, who had resumed his place in the corner chair.

  “No. I don’t think we’ll have any issues. Right, Chance?”

  “Right,” he answered, a little more subdued than before.

  It was the first time Rainey had ever seen him show a scintilla of guilt concerning an investigation involving him. He had never wavered in his claims of innocence. His reaction to her inquiries into the Gaskill case left a door open. Rainey walked right in. She sat down in the chair across from him and began.

  “Okay, Chance. We have been trying to have this conversation since 1998. Let’s get this done, once and for all.”

  Chance, who had been staring at her from under a quizzical brow, blinked back to his mask of innocent cooperation and said, “Okay. Do you want to talk about Alyson first?”

  “No. Let’s start at the beginning.”

  “The beginning of what?”

  “Your life. What is your first memory?”

  Chance thought for a second, before stating, “The day OB killed Geordie. I was four. That’s the only memory I have of my mother.”

  “You said you were four when that happened? That’s young for retaining memory.”

  “I know I was four because she left soon after that. I was never allowed to talk about her ever again. I asked OB about her shortly after she left. He slapped the shit out of me and to
ld me never to mention the ‘whore’ again. I asked Joshua where she went and he whipped me. I asked Robby, and he punched me in the nose, called my mother a whore, and then told OB all about it. I learned not to ask. You have to understand how discipline worked for OB.”

  “And how’s that?”

  “If a family member broke one of OB’s rules and another family member knew about it, it had to be dealt with and reported. If Robby hadn’t punched me, he would have received a punishment far worse than mine. As it was, I had a bloody nose and a blistered butt, and I never asked about her again. At least not until after they were all dead.”

  “Who did you ask?”

  “I asked Gee about her. He is six years older than me so he could remember her better than I could.”

  “What did he tell you?”

  A cloud of emotion seemed to settle over Chance. He hesitated before answering, “That I shouldn’t try to find her. He said my mother tried to kill us.”

  “Who? Who did she try to kill?”

  “Me, Robby, and Gee. Gee was ten. Robby was six. I was four. I don’t remember any of it, but he does. He said Naomi—that’s my mother’s name, Naomi Annalisa—anyway, Gee said she took us out to the grotto for a picnic. She gave us brownies laced with some kind of drug. Gee said he fell asleep and woke up because Robby was screaming. My mother was trying to drown him in the lion’s pool. I was already floating face down. He said he pulled me out of the water and ran with me over his shoulder to find Jean. I guess the running knocked the air into me because he remembered I started crying before he found his mom. When they got back, Robby was crying, and my mother was gone.”

  “Again, wow. That’s a horrible thing to live through. Did you and Robby ever talk about it?”

  “No. Like I said, OB forbid my mother being mentioned. We couldn’t talk about her at all.”

  “Even when you got older, you never talked about this with Robby?”

  “Never. You have to understand; we thought OB was the devil himself. He always seemed to know everything we did and said, like the place was bugged or something.”

  “What did they say happened to your mother?”