Relatively rainey, p.10
Relatively Rainey, page 10
part #5 of Rainey Bell Thriller Series
“Yeah, but you can’t keep them,” Cane complained over the next arriving flight.
Water Boy waited out the rumble before continuing the narrative, “It’s not so bad. You eat, you get clean, and he even washes your old clothes. He let me spend the night after the party was over—fed me breakfast the next day. It’s not what he does or what those other fucks do. It’s nothing new.”
The smallest boy, the one who wanted to know if Rainey was Wendy’s mother, appeared the youngest and most vulnerable. With big blue eyes and the freckles of boyhood still covering the bridge of his nose, he burst forth with the real news.
“Those guys died because they knew who one of the men in the masks was.”
Rainey needed clarification. “Wait, what men in masks?”
Connor filled Rainey in on the details. “Look, here’s what happens. Ford comes to get them—”
Rainey stopped him. “Ford?”
“Yeah, he lived in an old piece of shit Ford car for a couple of years, so people called him Ford. That’s what he said, anyway. I don’t know what his real name is. He wants the little guys for a ‘party’ with rich pervs.”
Water Boy continued his description of his evening at the party. “They all wear masks. Some are custom made. Some are those S ‘n M masks, black leather, where you can only see their eyes. One guy wears the Guy Fawkes mask, you know like Anonymous.”
Barron spoke up, chuckling as if it wasn’t the traumatic experience that it was. “One of them wears a hockey goalie mask with a skull demon thing painted on it. How fucked up is that?”
Conner waited out the next departing jet, before he said, “The dead dudes said they knew one of the guy’s voices and when he showed his dick, they recognized that too. They started running their mouths about it and the next thing you know they just vanished.”
Wendy inquired, “What does Ford look like?”
Barron answered, “He has dark hair. He wears a mask, like a Lone Ranger mask. He wears nice clothes and he's always tan.”
Conner said, almost as an aside, “It’s a Princess Bride mask.”
Wendy, who entered information faster than Rainey could dream of typing into a phone, asked, “How tall? Is he overweight, skinny, average?”
Water Boy said, “He’s about six foot tall, and he works out, got abs like a boss. He has a gym in his house.”
“You think he killed those kids?” Rainey asked.
Connor answered, “There are some rich guys that have a lot to lose too. I’d look there before I went after Ford. He’s just making a living. Those kids were trying to figure out how to blackmail the rich dudes without ending up in jail and then they were gone.”
“Tell her who they said it was,” Wendy prodded.
Barron volunteered, “It was Reverend Lilly. I recognized his voice too.”
Rainey peered at the boy. “Are you sure?”
“He came to conversion camp once a week. I’ll never forget that voice.”
“But you didn’t see his face,” Wendy added.
Connor’s smirk returned. “Lilly's idea of rehab is to abuse the gay out of you. Says it's,” Connor adopted an exaggerated southern preacher delivery, “natural domination practiced by the victors in the Bible and we need to understand it isn't meant to be enjoyable.” He dropped the accent for his conclusion, “We’re all graduates of the Lilly brand of re-education. Now he’s been elected State Representative. He’s untouchable.”
He shouted the last part over another jet roaring out of Raleigh-Durham International. Rainey had to wait for more convincing until she could hear herself think again.
She raised a brow and questioned the boys. “We are talking about Reverend Jedidiah Lilly, the guy who said all gays should be caged and left to die off? Which, by the way, proves what an idiot he is.”
“Yes,” the boys answered in unison.
“Do you have anything other than verbal recognition?”
Cane pulled out his phone and said, “How about a picture of his dick?”
“How did you get a picture of his penis?” Rainey asked.
“Blake, one of the dead dudes. He sent it to me. Said if anything happened to him to give this to the cops.”
“How did those guys get a phone into the party? This Ford person must check for things like that.”
Connor explained, “The dead kid from Durham, he had this spy cam he stole from his dad’s house. It was small. I was going to pawn it for him because he wasn’t old enough to sign the ticket. He had it with him that night, and he said he palmed it, and then hid it in his pocket after Ford gave him clothes to wear.
Rainey turned back to Cane, “Why didn’t you give the photo to the police and tell them what you know after they disappeared?”
His dark eyes bore into her. “I did. They arrested me for having a stolen phone and took it. I spent the weekend in youth detention and was sent back to my fucked up foster family.”
“Was the phone stolen?”
“No, one of my tricks gave it to me, so he could reach me, but he told the cops he lost it. They gave it back to him after they erased all the pictures.”
“So, how do you still have a copy?”
Cane looked incredulous. “Haven’t you heard of the cloud?”
Rainey pointed at the phone in his hand. “Is that a gift from a trick as well?”
“Yeah, but it is my phone. This guy likes me. He wants me to come live with him, but I ain’t down for being no house boy.”
“My email address is on the card I gave you. Will you email me the picture? It needs to be saved in more than one place.”
“Yeah, I can do that,” Cane said, smiling for the first time.
Connor ended the conversation with a warning to his friend. “If anyone finds out you have that picture, you’ll be in that pond too. That was a warning. Shut up or die.” He looked up at Wendy. “We’ve seen superheroes like you before. We are still on the street. Leave these kids alone before you get them killed. Run your mouth too much, and you’ll be in the pond with them. These guys will come after you too. Come on, lost boys, let’s go get some food on the do-good cop’s sister.”
Brooding Lips contributed his brand of realism, as he turned to skulk away, “Shit, ain’t nobody going to believe a bunch of little fags anyway, right?”
Rainey turned to Wendy. “I can see why you were not sure of what to do with this information.”
Wendy smiled at her big sister. “Yeah, but you will.”
PART II
THE NIGHTMARE WAKES
“Even if she be not harmed, her heart may fail her in so much and so many horrors;
and hereafter she may suffer—both in waking, from her nerves, and in sleep, from her dreams.”
― Bram Stoker
CHAPTER FOUR
6:15 PM, Wednesday, March 4, 2015
The Bell-Meyers Residence
Chatham County, NC
Rainey entered the house through the door from the garage to see the triplets seated at the table in the breakfast nook.
“Hey guys,” she said, happy to see them feeling better and eating a full meal.
“Nee Nee,” they said in unison and scampered out of their chairs to surround her, but had learned to stand and wait, while her weapons were put away in the safe by the door.
Weapons secured, Rainey hung up her coat and threw open her arms for hugs and kisses.
“Where’s mommy?” Rainey asked, at the end of the greeting rumpus.
“Mommy is puke,” Weather said, using the new word she learned during the stomach virus episode.
Melanie, Katie’s mother, came back from the refrigerator with more juice for the kids and filled in the blanks for Rainey. “She took down just after lunch. She’s upstairs in bed.”
“Oh, that’s not good,” Rainey said. “Maybe I should cancel this trip.”
“Katie wants you to go. Don’t worry about the kids. Wendy will be here, and Constance said she’d come help too.”
Rainey’s tenuous relationship with her mother had improved with the birth of the grandbabies but was still not the kind of mother-daughter connection Katie had with Melanie. Rainey had avoided her since the hallway striptease incident.
“Nee Nee, Mommy sleeped on da floor in da bafroom,” Mack said. He was still having trouble with his ‘th’ sounds.
“She did?” Rainey asked, and was immediately inundated with commentary.
Timothy said, “Her sick. She say go get Nana, an’ an’ I go get Nana.”
Weather’s account was more detailed. “Mommy said, ‘Get out.’ She goed bleck, bleccckkk, in the potty.”
“Okay, okay. Why don’t you guys finish eating and I’ll go check on Mommy.” Rainey said, feeling her stomach turn as Weather’s puking sound effects brought back the recent horror show of the triplets' gastrointestinal distress.
Rainey couldn’t understand her queasiness after all the crime scenes she’d walked. Katie couldn’t either.
Last week, as Rainey cleaned up yet another spewing while repeatedly gagging, Katie said, “You can examine a dead body with no head, and this makes you sick. You are too complicated for words.”
Rainey responded, “You can’t puke at a crime scene.”
Katie had warned, “You can’t puke on the dining room rug either.”
Timothy climbed back into his booster seat, saying, “Mommy say, ‘Dammit, dammit, dammit.’”
Melanie chuckled.
Rainey tried to stifle a laugh and said, “That’s not a nice word, is it?”
“Noooooo,” the three chimed together.
“I’ll tell her, okay?” Rainey said, still struggling to maintain a straight face. “But since she’s sick, I don’t think she should be in trouble, do you?”
Weather, who had experienced “trouble,” said, “She can be timeout when she feels better.”
“That will work,” Rainey said. “I’ll tell her.”
Melanie, who was hiding her smile behind the kitchen towel in her hand, suggested, “You go check on her. I’ll finish up here and then bring them up for bath time. Unless you want to eat first.”
Rainey’s stomach turned at the thought of what she might encounter upstairs. She waved off that idea.
“No, I think I’ll wait a bit,” she answered. “Eat your supper guys and then we’ll do baths and story time.”
Rainey climbed the stairs to the third floor and found Katie shivering with chills in the bed.
“Oh, honey. I’m so sorry,” she said, as she sat down on the edge of the mattress.
Katie responded, “Don’t shake the bed,” without opening her eyes.
Rainey stayed completely still, asking, “Is there anything I can get you? Do you need another blanket? Do you want something to drink?”
“Rainey, I love you, but stop talking. I just need to sleep.”
Rainey stood as gingerly as she could, trying not to shake the bed. “Okay, sweetheart. I’ll check on you in a bit.”
“Fine,” Katie said, seemingly unwilling to say more.
Rainey changed clothes in the walk-in closet and tiptoed out of the room.
#
Three hours after arriving home, Rainey finally sat down on the chaise lounge in the master suite. She had bathed the triplets with Melanie’s help, read If You Give A Mouse A Cookie twice, and tucked the kids into their toddler beds for the night. Mack wouldn’t go down without seeing Mommy, the love of his life. Katie came to the nursery door, pale and weak, blew kisses to each child, and said, “I love you.” She immediately ran to the bathroom in the master suite and had only settled back down a few minutes ago.
Rainey could have slept in one of the second-floor bedrooms, but thought the chaise would be okay for one night. She watched the comforter on the bed rise and fall with Katie’s shallow sleeping breaths. Freddie, Rainey's ever-faithful cat, now an old man prone to bed sleeping instead of the night wanderings of his past, curled up at Katie's knees.
Between bouts of sickness, Katie told Rainey to go on the trip as planned.
“It’s just one night,” she had said. “We’ll be fine. You need to do this.”
Rainey brought upstairs the case file she was presenting to her former colleagues at Quantico. She made herself comfortable, as best she could, and began to review the case once more. She knew every detail and had already prepared the visual aids for her presentation. Still, Rainey searched for the things she had missed, the ones she nearly paid for with her life. She opened the file folder and began reading.
Rainey woke sometime later from a deep sleep. She sat up quickly, suddenly aware that something was amiss. Katie had not moved. The comforter rose and fell slowly with her breathing. Freddie had left the room and was probably on his night prowl to the food bowl in the kitchen. Rainey stood and walked out into the hallway. She waited a moment, listening. She glanced back at the security panel by the bed. Her heart startled into rapid beating at the realization the alarm was disarmed.
Quickly she moved to the nursery door. The room was dark. The nightlights had been extinguished. Rainey rushed into the room, feeling of each bed to find them empty. Panic set in.
She screamed, “Katie! Katie wake up! The kids are gone,” and broke into a run back toward the master suite.
Rainey reached her side of the bed, where she kept a small gun safe.
“Katie, Katie, wake up!”
She looked down at the bed. Katie was completely covered in the comforter from head to toe and not responding to Rainey’s pleas. Movement at the door caused her to spin while feeling blindly for the fingerprint lock on the safe. A dark figure stood still in the hall.
“Katie, for god’s sake, wake up,” she shouted again.
Her finger hit the bio lock on the safe. The box sprang open. She fumbled for the pistol, keeping her eyes on the dark figure. She heard Katie move and turned her head to speak to her. The figure breathing slowly in the bed had not been her wife.
“Hello, Rainey. Thought you were rid of me, did you?”
Katie began to scream her name from somewhere in the house. The pistol was in Rainey’s hand now, but he was on her too fast. He smashed into her body, sending the weapon flying across the room. He sat on her chest and smiled down at her, while she swung wildly, hitting only the air between them before someone grabbed her arms and pinned them to the floor. She could only see a glint of the second attackers blond hair.
“Rainey! Mom! Help me,” Katie cried.
Rainey was in a fight for her life and couldn’t break free of the two men holding her down.
“I’m going to enjoy watching you bleed to death,” the one holding her arms said.
Suddenly, a scalpel appeared in the hand of the man sitting on her chest. He brought it down to her throat.
He yanked off the black mask he had been wearing to reveal his face, saying, “The cut will be deeper this time.”
“Rainey! ” Katie’s voice was close, but Rainey couldn’t see her.
All she saw was JW Wilson’s face inches from her own, as she tried to buck him off her chest. The triplets began to cry and scream.
“Oh God,” she thought, “Don’t let them see this.”
“Rainey! Please wake up.”
She heard Katie’s plea and in a flash her eyes opened.
“Rainey, it’s me.”
Katie was bending over her, trying to hold her arms down. Rainey was on the floor by the chaise lounge, the contents of the file she had been reading spread around her. The triplets were in the doorway, crying. Melanie was attempting to shield them from the scene in their parents’ bedroom. Rainey blinked a few times and realized her nightmare was over. She sat up and leaned back against the chaise, trying to calm her breathing.
Katie left Rainey and moved to the door to comfort their frightened children.
“It’s okay. It’s okay. Nee Nee had a bad dream. Nana is going to take you downstairs for a cookie and some milk. Okay?”
“Wait,” Rainey said and crawled to her feet.
She walked to the door and got down on her knees. She hugged her children close.
“I’m sorry I woke you. I had a bad dream. That’s all. I’m okay now.”
Timothy said between sniffles, as he touched her face, “You were scared, Nee Nee.”
“Yes, I was, but it was just a dream. Everything is all right now. Go with Nana. I’ll come down in a minute and have a cookie with you.”
Melanie looked down at Rainey, saying softly, “I hope this trip helps you, honey.”
Rainey hugged the triplets close to her and responded with a nearly inaudible, “I do too.”
Weather patted her on the back and whispered against Rainey’s neck, “You had a bad dream. You okay now,” just as her parents did when the little girl experienced a terror in the night.
Suddenly, Katie took off for the bathroom.
“Go with Nana, now,” Rainey said and patted each one on the butt, before turning them loose. “I love you.”
Rainey watched them toddle off with Melanie, before returning to the chaise to pick up the pages of the reports and crime scene photos scattered on the floor. Once that was completed, she went to the bathroom door and knocked lightly.
“Katie? Are you okay?”
The door opened, revealing Katie wiping her face with a towel. Wet wisps of hair stuck to her forehead.
“I’m so sorry,” Rainey said before Katie could say anything.
Katie stared up at her for a second and then said, “You could have hurt me or the kids.”
“I would nev—”
Katie cut her off. “You have no idea what you might do and neither do I. The night terrors are worse now than ever.” She held out her arms for Rainey to see. There were red marks, where Katie had obviously tried to wake her. “I’m just glad I got away from you before you did serious damage. I can’t stop you when you’re like that, and that scares the shit out of me.”
