Rainey Nights

by R. E. Bradshaw

  “Rainey… Rainey… What’s wrong?” Danny asked, alarm in his voice. He received no answer and tried again. “Rainey, are you hurt? Is Katie all right?”

  She managed to sputter, “She… she left.”

  “Where did she go? Is she somewhere safe?”

  Rainey took a gasping breath and said, as fast as she could, because it was probably going to be the only coherent words she would mutter for a while, “She’s at her parents’ house in Durham. Could you put a patrol car on the house?”

  “Yes, I’ll do that right now.” Rainey heard Danny turn to someone, barking orders. “I need you to get a patrol car outside of Timothy Meyers’ house… No, I don’t know the address. Look it up… Yes, Timothy and Melanie Meyers, Durham… Don’t stand there. Do it, now!” He returned to Rainey. “Rainey, do you need me?”

  She stammered out a response, “No… I’m okay… Danny, I didn’t know… I didn’t know it would hurt like this.”

  Rainey closed her phone and fell into one of the big pillows on the couch. She could smell Katie’s perfume on the fabric, which only made the racking sobs that shook her body more intense, but she couldn’t pull her face from the pillow. The last time she indulged in such self-pity was the day she met Katie, after learning the Y-Man was back. Katie had held her while she collapsed in a shower of tears. This time there was no Katie to soothe her breaking heart. Rainey hugged the pillow to her tightly and completely fell apart.

  #

  Rainey was startled awake by a knock on the door, followed shortly by the sound of the door opening and the alarm going off. She jumped off the couch, unable at the moment to understand what was happening. She reached for her gun on the table, where she placed it before passing out. A searing pain, from the deep muscle bruise left by the bullet, jolted her from her stupor.

  “Stand down, it’s just me.”

  Ernie’s voice penetrated the fog in Rainey’s hung-over brain. She fell back to the couch and buried her head beneath a pillow.

  “Good Lord, what in the hell happened here?”

  She was near Rainey now. She could see Ernie in her mind, probably standing over her with her hands on her hips. The table in front of the couch was scattered with the remnants of Rainey’s dance with the bourbon devil. The now dried out sandwich lay uneaten beside her Glock. Several glasses were on the table, progressing from a shot glass to the tea glass that had done her in. The only positive thing Rainey could think, at the moment, was thank God the bottle had not been full.

  “I see you’ve been up to your old tricks.” Ernie began cleaning up while she reprimanded Rainey like a wayward teenager. “I thought we were past all this. Liquor is not your friend, Rainey. It might have helped in the moment, but look at you now. Bet your head hurts like hell.”

  Ernie carried the empty bottle and glasses to the kitchen. She continued her one sided conversation, while Rainey remained immobile on the couch.

  “You are not a bit of good to anybody in this state. When are you going to grow up and find a different way to deal with problems? So, she left you. Do you think getting drunk is going to get her back? Thank the Lord, Mackie slept in his truck outside. Anybody could have walked up on you last night.”

  “Getting walked up on,” was how Rainey’s father expressed being unaware. He had been walked up on more than once in the jungles of Vietnam. He and Rainey shared the same feral cat defenses, cautious and suspicious, constantly checking the surroundings. Maybe it was because he raised her that way, but those characteristics had served her well. She had forgotten his first rule of defense last night. He would remind her often, “Rainey, always, always be aware. If you see them coming, you got a chance.” Rainey wasn’t even aware of what time she finally succumbed to the alcohol.

  “You’re one of the smartest people I know, but you don’t have a lick of sense.” Ernie was suddenly standing over Rainey again. “Get up. I brought you a Coke. Go take a shower. I’ll fix you something to eat.” Rainey remained motionless. Ernie kicked at Rainey’s foot. “I said get up. You’ve wallowed in self-pity long enough.”

  Rainey’s muffled voice came from under the pillow. “Go away.”

  “Rainey Blue Bell, I said move!”

  Rainey was tall and strong enough to snap this little woman like a twig, but even as Rainey approached the age of forty-one, Ernie intimidated her as if she were still a child. Ernie raised four boys who all grew to be over six feet tall, and mothered Rainey most of her life. She took no crap from them as kids and she wasn’t about to take it now. Rainey knew she was fighting a losing battle. She sat up, glaring at Ernie from underneath her now matted mass of hair.

  “You got no one to blame but yourself for the mess you’re in. Stop feeling sorry for yourself and fix it.”

  Rainey’s voice was scratchy and dry, when she asked, “How did you know Katie was gone?”

  Ernie handed Rainey the Coke, saying, “She called me, balling. Neither one of you has the patience God gave Job to work out your problems. She’s hot headed and you are like a snake when backed in a corner. You always lash out, say things you don’t mean. You’ve been that way your whole life. I called Mackie and he came over here.”

  The Coke disappeared from the can into Rainey’s mouth; the sugar began to course through her body. She vaguely remembered seeing Mackie’s Escalade show up on the security camera feeds. She was coming around and said, “You haven’t known me my whole life and I stopped acting like a hormonal teenager long ago.”

  “I know you must have said something hateful. That poor girl is all kinds of torn up.”

  Rainey remembered what she said to Katie about not bringing a child into this environment, the one thing Katie wanted more than anything. A pang shot through her chest, her stomach rolled over, and she was up and off the couch in a flash. She ran to the bathroom and threw up.

  When she could speak again, she gasped out, “Fuck my life!”

  She climbed into the shower, careful with her shoulder, and let the water wash away the salty trails of tears from her cheeks. She had to wash her hair with one arm. If Katie were there, she would have done it for her. Katie. What was she going to do about Katie? She tried a dozen different scenarios in her mind, but none of them seemed plausible. She needed to apologize for saying such a hurtful thing, but perhaps it was the truth. Maybe Katie was right not to want to live like this, and certainly bringing a child into Rainey’s life would scare anyone. Rainey was once again faced with the choice of her job or her relationship. After the way Rainey reacted to Katie’s apprehension, there was no way Katie would compromise, now.

  Katie wanted a child more than she wanted Rainey. She came as a package deal. Rainey knew that from the start. Katie had been upfront about having a child. She discussed it with Rainey before they committed to a relationship. Rainey said yes, without even thinking. Truly content for the first time in her life, she would have said anything to keep Katie. Rainey remembered holding Katie in her arms and promising they would be happy. They had been, until this week. The stress of building a house, Rainey’s job, Katie trying to get pregnant, and now this asshole out there hunting them had been too much. The polish on Rainey’s perfect world had begun to tarnish.

  She climbed out of the shower and dressed in her favorite button fly jeans, worn thin in all the right places. Her shoulder was stiff and achy, even the water in the shower hurt when it bounced off the now fully bloomed black bruise. The blood just below her skin was already being pulled down her arm by gravity, enlarging the discoloration. She looked in the bottom drawer, where Katie hid all Rainey’s tattered tee shirts, found an old Kitty Hawk Pier shirt, and pulled it on slowly. The tee shirt made her feel close to her father. Fishing all night on the pier was one of their favorite things to do together. She missed him every day. She more than needed him today.

  When she arrived in the kitchen she found dry toast, two ibuprofen, and a glass of orange juice on the table with a note from Ernie. The note said:

  If you can
keep this down, we’ll talk about a real meal. You need to do several things and I suggest you do them in the following order:

  1. Eat your breakfast.

  2. Focus. There is a killer after you, or did you forget?

  3. Call Katie, and apologize for whatever bonehead thing you did.

  4. Re-focus, because you can't think when you talk to Katie.

  5. Come to the office. Danny will be here in an hour.

  Numbers two, three, and four were the tough ones. Rainey had no chance of clearing her head and calling Katie was going to be a challenge. What could she say? She thought about it while eating her toast. She was still thinking when she finished the last piece of crust. She put food and water down for Freddie, who she presumed was out on his morning stalk. She then wrestled her still damp hair into a ponytail. When there was nothing else she could do to delay the inevitable, she picked up her phone and dialed Katie’s parents’ home. She was relieved it was not Katie’s mother, but Tim who answered. She wasn’t up for twenty questions from Melanie.

  “Good morning,” she said, trying to sound better than she felt.

  Tim answered in a cheerful voice, “And good morning to you. I suppose you would like to speak to my daughter, or has something else happened?”

  “No, everything is the same as when we last talked. I just need to talk to Katie, if she’ll speak to me.”

  She could hear Tim moving around. She supposed he was going to ambush Katie with the phone.

  “I’m taking the phone to Katie, now. Oh, by the way, the police car is outside. Thank you.”

  Rainey was relieved. “Good. I’m glad they are there.”

  She heard Tim tap lightly on a door and then say, “Katie, honey, Rainey’s on the phone. She wants to speak to you.”

  Rainey heard Katie’s muffled voice, but she couldn’t make out what she said.

  Tim spoke again, “Katie, I’m not going to relay messages. Be an adult and come to the door.”

  There was sound of rustling around and then Katie’s voice came over the line. “I don’t want to talk to you.”

  “Katie, I’m sorry.”

  “Sorry for what, Rainey, that you finally said what you really think, instead of what you thought I wanted to hear?”

  “Well, I can tell you’re still angry. I guess a rational discussion is out of the question, at this point.”

  Rainey called that one correctly. Katie shouted into the phone, “You’re damn right!” Katie took a breath and gathered steam. “Go play FBI agent. That’s what you want to do. Go be a hero, get your thrills.”

  “Katie, I don’t want to be an agent. I didn’t ask for this.”

  “No, you didn’t, but you knew there was a distinct possibility that this would happen. Something you didn’t think was necessary to share with me. Now, I really know why you are the way you are. Your paranoia, the nightmares, it’s not because of what you’ve seen and done. It’s because you knew someone was coming. How many more men are going to come hunting you?”

  Rainey could only answer, “I don’t know.”

  “Well, you should know. Instead, you stay out there on the lake like bait, just waiting for them to come for you. You might not have a death wish, Rainey, but it’s as if you don’t think you should have survived the first attack. You put on a show of moving on, but you haven’t. I survived nearly being murdered and look at the rest of my life like a bonus. You look at it like borrowed time. I’m not going to sit around and watch you wait to die.”

  The connection terminated relatively quickly after that. Rainey held the phone in her hand, staring down at it. Katie was right. Rainey could know more about the criminals that might come after her. She did just sit back and wait. Rainey could have been more proactive about their safety. She could have had Danny checking these guys’ mail, if they were in prison, or keep her posted on the unsolved cases she was involved in. She simply closed the box and prayed it stayed closed. But what Katie did not understand was, even with all her training and precautions, Rainey would never know for sure if, or when a psychopath was coming for her.

  The phone rang in her hand. It was Katie’s parents’ number. Rainey flipped the phone open and put it to her ear.

  Katie began talking right away. She was much calmer than before, when she said, “Rainey, I’m not coming home until you catch this guy. So, you go get him. I don’t want you distracted worrying about me or us. When this is over, we’ll talk.”

  “Will you promise me you’ll be careful? Don’t go anywhere by yourself.” Rainey pleaded. “Why don’t you and your parents leave town?”

  “My sisters will be here tomorrow. My mom suggested we go back to L.A. with them.”

  “That would be great,” Rainey said, relieved that the Meyers family, at least, appeared to have discussed it. Then quickly, before Katie could hang up again, she said, “Katie, I don’t want to lose you. Just let me deal with this and I will spend the rest of my life keeping my promise to you.”

  All the wind had gone out of Katie’s anger, now. In a hushed voice, she asked, “What promise are you talking about?”

  “I promised you we’d be happy.”

  Katie sniffled. Rainey knew she was crying again.

  “I love you, Katie.”

  “I love you, too, Rainey. Please, be careful.”

  “Always.”

  Rainey heard the call lost tone and knew Katie was gone. She flipped the phone shut with a mission to accomplish, so she could have her life back, a life with Katie, children, and a happily ever after. She understood why Katie didn’t want to come home. The distance between them made it easier for Katie to deal with the fear and worry. Katie recognized that she was a distraction and she wanted Rainey focused on the killer, not her. Rainey had a job to do, and if given the chance, she would kill this bastard. He would be one less asshole Rainey would have to worry about in the future, and before this was over, she would make sure Dalton Chambers was sitting on death row, where he belonged. If they would let her, she would insert the needle.

  #

  When Danny arrived, shortly thereafter, Rainey met him at the door of his SUV. She had already filled Ernie in on her plans. Before leaving the cottage, she redressed, digging out her former work clothes from the closet in her old room. That’s where she kept the FBI jackets and hats, the dark suits, and other echoes of her former life. Now, she looked like the poster girl for the FBI; white blouse, black slacks, and blazer to match, with her Glock clipped to her hip. Her hair hung in a thick braid down the back of her neck. A few loose curls framed her face. She wasn’t going to sit back and play defense any longer. She was in offensive mode, focused, and ready to do battle for her life.

  Before Danny could get all the way out of the vehicle, Rainey said, “I’m in. Get me my credentials.”

  Danny asked, “For good, or like on the Y-man case, temporary reinstatement?”

  “It’s temporary. I’m never going back full-time.”

  Danny smiled. “I processed the paper work for your temporary reinstatement before I left.” He reached back into the vehicle, producing Rainey’s credentials in the leather case she recognized as her own. A long, deep scratch in the leather was a reminder from a particularly hairy arrest. He smiled when he handed it to her. “I had a sneaking suspicion you might be needing this.”

  Rainey took the case, opened it, and saw her official badge number on the gold shield. The picture on the ID was at least two years old. It was taken just before her father was killed. Rainey barely recognized her former self. Too much had happened since then. She thought she left all this behind her. Rainey put the credentials in her blazer pocket and looked back at Danny.

  “When this is over, I want to sit down and come up with a plan to keep this from happening again. Katie pointed out that I’ve been sitting around waiting, instead of getting ahead of these guys. If one of these assholes breathes my name, I want to know about it.”

  “Are you and Katie all right?”

  “A
s all right as we can be, right now.” Rainey kicked at the ground. “She’s staying with her parents until this is over.”

  Danny must have sensed Rainey’s mood accurately, because he let the subject of Katie drop. He pointed to the office door. “Okay, let’s get you caught up.” He started for the door.

  Rainey grabbed his arm. “Danny, I want to see Dalton.”

  “Right now? I need to tell you what we found at the last crime scene.”

  “Now, Danny. You can catch me up on the way.”

  “Are you sure that’s wise? This could be his whole reason for doing this, to see you scared.”

  Rainey narrowed her eyes. “Do I look scared to you?”

  Chapter eleven

  In 1870, North Carolina began construction on Central Prison, the first institution of its kind in the state. The castle-like building, complete with parapet walks and conical spires, took inmates fourteen years to build, using granite quarried just outside the prison's east wall. The prison underwent many renovations over the years, the last in the 1980’s, losing its Gothic dark looks for a more modern façade. Only a few of the older buildings remained on the prison’s twenty-nine acres, located near downtown Raleigh.

  Central Prison housed the Tar Heel state’s worst criminals, along with Death Row where inmates awaited appeals and the ultimate punishment a jury of their peers prescribed for them. Velma Barfield, the first woman in the United States to be executed since 1962, and the first woman to receive a lethal injection, said her re-born Christian final prayers there. Rainey hoped this was the last place Dalton Chambers would draw a breath.

  A long corridor stretched the length of the prison, connecting all the buildings. Command stations and secure entryways controlled access into each building along the passage. When Danny left the prison yesterday, he asked that Dalton be moved to “Cell C,” where Death Row inmates spent the hours just before the state exacted its retribution. There were no executions scheduled, making it the most isolated area in the prison. Danny wanted to know every person that came in contact with Dalton. This was the easiest way to control that. Besides, Rainey thought it was an excellent way to give Dalton a glimpse of the reality of his future.