Relentless (Elisabeth Reinhardt Book 1)

by Nancy Alexander

  Jake paced back and forth in his 12 x 12 cell. He kicked the walls and every object in the room unleashing a storm of non-stop obscenities. He was furious. He was in a rage! His leg hurt where that spic or wetback or whatever he was, shot him. The nerve of that guy shooting him! They patched him up in a prison infirmary while 5 guys held shotguns on him. Really? It took 5 guys? His arms and legs were chained to the bed and they still had 5 guns trained on him? They must be scared to death of old Jake Gennett, he thought. They said the wound wasn’t serious and shipped him here. He didn’t know where Custer was, hadn’t seen him since they pulled up in front of that bank building in Chicago. He didn’t think Custer was dead though, he would have heard about that. And what about Slim? That was a shocker! Good old Slim, always so fast on the draw got himself shot dead. Wow that was something. He could hardly believe that. And he had been caught! How the hell had that happened? How could Jake Gennett have been caught? And by an old lady? A shrink! Really? One minute he was pushing an old lady around in her fancy office and the next minute the damn A-Team charges in. And then entering the world of the unreal, little Reggie Lee Raines comes strutting in through a secret fucking entrance, of all things and suddenly he’s caught!

  How the Hell had that happened? How did sweet little Reggie pull that one off? She saunters into the room and says ‘You looking for me?’ Like in a movie or something... All he needed was one more minute with her. He’d have slashed her throat from ear to ear and the old lady’s, too. He paused a moment and relished those thoughts. Oh how he’d love to hold a knife to her throat… He almost had her, he had had her in his arms backing down that stairway and somehow she slipped out of his grasp. It was unbelievable! How had she done that? He had her dead to rights. In his arms, gun to her back and she got away and he got caught!

  He was furious! He was stir crazy already. He had to get out of here. They couldn’t keep him here, he thought, he’d get himself a good lawyer and get out. They couldn’t make those charges stick. Those charges were Bull Shit! He’d get himself a mouthpiece like Perry Mason, some guy who wanted the lime-light. Any lawyer would love to get famous defending the leader of the Parkland Killers. Yes, he’d get a great lawyer and he’d get off. They didn’t have anything on him, stuff from an old car mostly. Well anyone could put stuff in an old car. They couldn’t prove it was him! Those charges were bogus. He’d show those cops who they were up against. He was Jake Gennett and he was famous. The TV lady said so. She said he was the best or the first some-kind of killer in the United States. Yep! He was famous and famous people never stayed in prison. Look at OJ Simpson. He got out and they had him dead to rights. Nah, Jake wasn’t worried. He’d get out. Him and Custer would both get out. Then they’d join up and keep on doing their thing. Good old Custer, he could always count on Custer. Him and Custer they’d go on without Slim. They’d get together after they got out and go on together. They were a gang. The three of them, well now it was just the two of them, it was too bad about Slim. He felt bad about Slim getting shot and all. He remembered seeing him there on the floor… blood dripping out of his chest. Shot by some big white dude. He’d get that guy one day. He’d pay him back for shooting his pal. Poor old Slim...

  CHAPTER 68

  HIGH FIVE!

  They sat in Gus’s Diner eating pie and drinking coffee. There were no papers on the table. No strategies to discuss. They were there to say good-bye and to congratulate themselves on finally catching the Parkland Killers. It had been an exhausting 6 weeks but they had made it. One killer was dead and two were in Illinois in Maximum Security. It was a relief that they were gone, out of the way, off the street and out of their hair. All that was left was the clean-up. The finalization of reports on each victim, all the paperwork about what they did and when and why they did it. All the accounting for every law man killed or wounded in the line of duty, every crime scene, every man hour paid for, every vehicle used or wrecked in this multi-state devastation. But they were done! Or at least they felt done. They felt relieved that it was finally over. They had worked their hardest. Overcome their jurisdictional issues and become a finely tuned working team. They grinned at each other and High 5’d across their pie plates.

  So Chester asked, “Are you really going to quit after this? I have to say I can’t imagine you on a fishing boat for the rest of your life. You’re too vital! You’re too much a lawman to settle for the slow and boring.”

  “Well,” Lou smiled, “I do like my trout!”

  “So that’s your answer,” Chester teased, “You like your trout? What about your killers? You like them too don’t ya? You like to catch them right?”

  “Yep,” Lou agreed, “Maybe I’ll stick around for a while. Maybe move into a consulting role.”

  “Well, I think that’ll be too slow and too hands off for you, but maybe it’ll work for a while,” Chester responded.

  “What about you, Chester?” Lou asked, “You going to stick around here in Hurricane or are you looking for something bigger?”

  “I’m going to stay put for a while. Hurricane is a nice place to live and raise kids. My little girls love their school and I’d hate to take them away from that. But, for the future, who knows, maybe I’ll head on up to Quantico with you!”

  “Sounds great,” Lou grinned, “I’ll recommend you, just let me know if you want to join the BAU and I’ll put in a good word for you.”

  “You got it, Buddy. I’ll let you know. We’ll see. I’m just glad this mess is over with. They sure had us going for a while and we still have a lot of pieces to put together. I was planning on meeting with the US Attorney General about this case. It will probably be tried in a federal court, since it crosses so many jurisdictions. Want to go up there to Tamms and meet with our Killers? I’ve got some questions to ask them.”

  “You got it, Buddy, let’s go up there together and tag team them.”

  Gus kept sending Star over with fresh slices of pie. He watched the lawmen at the table and thought of all their hard work to catch those killers. It was all over the papers how those three fellas grew up right here in Hurricane and turned out to be the worst guys on the earth. That was mind-boggling. “I remember those guys when they were kids,” he told Chester and Lou as they were coming in. “They used to hang around the diner here after school eating burgers and fries. One of those kids, a boy called Custer asked me if he could work here. Maybe if I’d said yes, he wouldn’t have turned out this way.”

  “Well,” Lou said, “Don’t feel too bad about that Gus, you can’t tell about a thing like that.” Gus nodded and went on, “He didn’t have no dad at home, that Custer kid, sad little kid he was. I feel real bad about that now. Wish I’d of given the kid a little job, taking out the trash or something like that. Seemed like a nice enough kid too,” Gus added, “Now that Jake boy, he was a mean one. I remember way back to when he first moved over here to the Raines Farm. That was one mean, sneaky kid, probably no hope for him. But the Custer kid, now he might have had a chance. Funny how you can pick stuff up like that from the get go… Guess people are what they are from the beginning.”

  Gus thought the whole town was upset about this. Lots of people around here knew those kids. Lots of people felt real bad about all this. All those dead girls and lawmen who were shot, it was a tragedy, that’s what it was. Gus was glad that he had played a little part in the whole crime solving thing. After all, he had introduced them to those Raines girls and that was part of how the case was solved. He felt good about his role in this, proud of himself that he had helped the cops.

  He walked over to their table and sat down with them. “So, Fellas,” he asked, “you about done with this Parkland Killer stuff? Anything else I can do for you? I’ll be happy to fill in some blanks, if there are any. You know, I’ve known those guys from the time they’re little tykes.”

  CHAPTER 69

  SPRINGTIME

  Four tiny yellow beaks could be seen peeking out of their woven grass nest barely hidden by unfolding p
in oak leaves. Gina, her hair slowly returning to its natural state was curled up in a chair by the window. She was mesmerized as the robins flew back and forth feeding their offspring, warbling their distinctive melodies. “‘It always amazes me to see how naturally animals know how to care for their young,” she mused.

  “Uh huh…parenting is harder for people, isn’t it,” Dr. Reinhardt reflected. The blue eyes moved from the fledglings to her therapist’s face.

  “Subtle,” Gina said smiling, “Very subtle.”

  Dr. Reinhardt smiled and said nothing.

  “Actually,” Gina continued, “It was pretty good. I saw the Bakers week before last and that was fantastic. And this past weekend my friend Tanya and I went home to Hurricane. My family was overwhelmingly supportive and happy to see me. It was really kind of amazing. I’m glad so glad Tanya went with me. We stayed in a hotel and talked most of the night. It felt like a relief to just be able to say things out loud. It was like she helped me bridge the gap. You know the ‘me’ that I was and the ‘me’ that I am now. She helped ground me in my current life and helped them to see me this way too.”

  Dr. Reinhardt nodded.

  Silence...

  “Mama is still in the hospital, you know, getting evaluated for a rehab facility. She still can’t walk, but they think she’ll recover.”

  “That’s good,” Dr. Reinhardt said quietly.

  Gina nodded and continued, “It was hard for Mama. Everyone was there this weekend and when I walked into the hospital room, everyone cried, even my big brothers. They just hugged me and cried. We all cried. We couldn’t stop looking at each other. They told me what just happened with the police and Jake and how Mama got hurt and Papa got shot. We talked about the farm and how they were going to manage that now that Papa was gone. They’ve hired some people to take care of things in the meantime. I guess they’ll put the farm up for sale. I’m not sure. I think Clint and Dale are handling that. I guess they’ll sell the livestock and take the dogs and cats home with them. I’m not sure. I think they’re handling it. We talked about what happened back then when I was a kid, what happened to me, where I went, what all of us have been through all these years. You know, catching up with each other. It was good Tanya was there ‘cause she was really an outsider and could ask all kinds of questions that I felt funny about asking. Plus she could tell people things that would have sounded conceited coming from me. You know awards I got and stuff like that. She knows practically everything about me so she just joined in the conversations. It was sort of like a sister from another life…..

  “I met all my nieces and nephews and all my new brothers and sisters-in-law. It was nice, really…. I felt like a stranger, but also like I was family, long missing family. We talked for hours and hours. Most of the time we stayed in the hospital room, but sometimes we left and went for walks or out for a meal. The five of us stayed together the whole time. Other relatives came and went, but we stayed together. It was like we couldn’t get enough of each other.

  “Mrs. Goodwin and Mrs. Eades came by to see me. It was so wonderful to have them there with me. We hugged and hugged. None of us thought this day would ever come. They stayed for a few hours and they helped me tell the story about how the underground network and Family Court Emancipation worked. My sisters were shocked that Mama knew all the time that I had been declared an emancipated adult by the court. Mama said she never understood what all that meant. She said she never told ‘cause she was afraid Papa would have killed her. He very well might have, he would have been furious, that’s for sure. That’s part of why I was surprised they never came looking for me. I knew Papa would try to find me if he knew about the court thing. He hated the government. He would have looked for me not because he loved me so much, but because I was his and not the government’s. I understand why Mama would have kept it a secret. What I don’t understand is what stopped Papa from looking for me. Clint thinks it’s because he thought one of the boys did something to me and he was protecting his sons. Patty Sue and Betty Jo said he acted like he didn’t know what went on with the family, but he really did. I don’t know. None of this makes all that much sense to me. He wouldn’t have been protecting Jake that’s for sure, he hated Jake.” Gina said with a shrug, “I guess there are some things I’ll never know.”

  Dr. Reinhardt nodded, “That’s true. What about your mother?” Dr. Reinhardt asked.

  “Mama was really sad and sorry,” Gina replied, “I believe her that she’s sorry. She talked about how blind she was back then. How she was attached to Jake and couldn’t believe bad things about him. She talked about him being her little sister’s boy and she felt she had to be good to him because her sister had died. She always felt bad about leaving her sister behind when she married my Papa. They never saw much of each other after that and that hurt her because they had been so close. She felt if she’d stayed closer to her, her little sister wouldn’t have married that alcoholic she married. That’s why she felt so determined to take care of Jake. Thought she owed it to her sister, like it was her fault her sister died. Crazy thinking, I know, but it’s how she thought. I believe her. Things change. Tanya says that Mama was trapped by the times and by her own beliefs. They think Mama sees it now; that she favored Jake because of her feelings about her sister. We all understand that she abandoned me to Jake. Mama says now she can’t believe she took up for Jake and turned against me. Over and over she begged me to forgive her.”

  “Have you forgiven her? Her and your siblings?” the therapist asked.

  “I’m not sure about that exactly” Gina said thoughtfully, “I’m not sure. My friend Katherine, she’s my friend from church, says it’s good enough that I’m willing to listen and maybe to start again. I guess that’s the place to start. I’ve been without that family for a very long time. I’ve gotten used to it. I was a member of the Baker family and got used to being without them too. Now I’m free to be a member of both those families. I don’t know how this is all going to play out …..” Gina bit her lip and drifted off.

  After a long pause, Dr. Reinhardt said, “Give it time. You don’t have to decide anything right away. You’ll see how you feel now as a competent adult and what you want your family life to look like.”

  “I guess you’re right. I’m not in any rush. I’ll see how I feel when I’m with them. The hard thing will be expanding my life to include all these new/old people. I’m used to being alone most of the time, hospital, church, Tanya’s and Katherine’s families. That’s been pretty much it. A limited life for years cause of dear cousin Jake.”

  Dr. Reinhardt nodded, “And speaking of Jake, did you meet with the police when you were down there?”

  “Absolutely, Chief Rugger and I are getting to be good buddies!” she laughed, “He updated me on the gang and what’s going on with them. Jake and Custer are in the same prison but they are in isolation. The actual trials won’t be for years, I imagine. Till all the evidence is collected and the exact charges decided. The Chief thinks Custer will testify against Jake and that will make the state’s case. He doesn’t think I’ll have to testify. There’s a mountain of hard evidence against them and a lot of witnesses to things that happened along the way, including Mama and the folks who were at the farm the night Papa was shot. It’s up to the DA. Katherine and Tanya both said they’d go with me if I have to testify. It’s just a relief that Jake is in prison and will never get out. I hope he never gets out,” she added.

  “Speaking of getting out,” Dr. Reinhardt said, “I saw in the newspaper that the twins are being discharged next week.”

  “Yes,” Gina grinned, “that’s another amazing miracle. Both twins survived the separation surgery and are going home with nursing staff round the clock. Neither twin needs intensive care now. Each baby is functioning independently, so they are good to go! It’s been very exciting for the whole staff, the whole hospital, actually. Everyone is so happy about it. More surgeries will be needed in the future, but for now, they are medically stabl
e and can go home and get stronger. It will be a loss for me, though. I’ll really miss those babies. Goeff and I both promised to go and see them once they are home.”

  “So…. How is it going with Goeff?” Dr. Reinhardt asked smiling.

  As small smile tugged the corners of her mouth, Gina blushed and looked down at her hands, “I’ve never had a boyfriend, you know, so I don’t really know how it’s going. It feels pretty good, Tanya says we make a cute couple,” she said with a shy smile. “We really like spending time together.”

  “A whole new world is opening before you,” her therapist smiled at her warmly.

  “I can’t thank you enough for your help, you and your group of rescuers. You literally saved my life.”

  “You are most welcome, Gina. We are truly glad we were able to help.”

  “I was paralyzed by fear for years and years. Once I confronted my history, here with you and learned some things about emotional power and learned self-defense from Gil, I was ready to take him on. That moment was the most powerful moment of my life,” she said. “It was amazing. When I walked through that door and said ‘you looking for me, Jake?’ It was like I was on steroids. It felt great. Greater than great! The backstairs flip-kick and his capture was icing on the cake. For me, it was all about that moment when I walked into the room and confronted him. Now, that was amazing. I think it showed me that I was strong and powerful.” She paused reflecting. “I know I have emotional issues to work through related to the trauma and my family’s abandonment, but I think I’m going to make it!” She sighed happily and smiled across the room.

  Her therapist smiled back at her, “Oh yes, Gina, you are going to make it!”