Authors: R. E. Bradshaw
RAINEY DAYS (33 page)
Katie said, “And this gorgeous creature is the middle sister, Helena. She’s a model and lives in LA.”
Maria piped up, “Why don’t you tell Rainey how old Helena is?”
Helena answered for Katie, “I’m forty-two. Rainey, it is a pleasure to meet you.” She extended her hand, for Rainey to take. Helena left the South in the dust and embraced her LA persona.
Only one thought crossed Rainey’s mind, “I hope I look that good at forty-two,” but she said, aloud, “The pleasure is mine.”
Helena had a moment of recognition, “You are the one who left the message on my phone. Maria was coming anyway and I couldn’t leave Katie defenseless against her, so I had to follow.” She looked down at Katie, “I know you didn’t want us here, but she could not be stopped.”
Maria defended herself, “With Momma and Daddy gone, someone had to come take care of her. God knows JW wouldn’t.”
Helena snapped back, “He took care of her six months ago and she came out fine.”
Rainey thought the sea gulls were about to erupt again, but Katie quieted them, when she said, “I’m divorcing JW.”
Maria was thunderstruck, “What?”
Helena was much less dramatic, saying only, “Thank God.” Rainey liked Helena right away.
Katie was in the hospital and under the influence of medications, so Rainey figured Katie thought, “What the hell. I can always claim the drugs made me say it, if it goes badly.”
“That’s not all of it,” Katie said. “I’m moving in with Rainey.”
“You’re going to move in with a friend and let him have your house. Are you out of your mind?” Maria said, showing her true colors and totally missing the point of what Katie said.
Helena remained quiet, looking at Katie, trying to understand what Katie said. When Katie took Rainey’s hand and returned her sister’s gaze, the light came on for Helena.
“Congratulations! I’m so happy for you both, well, except for the fact someone kicked your ass,” Helena said, bending to give her sister a kiss on the top of her head.
Maria was still trying to put the picture together in her mind. Rainey could visibly see Maria’s mind trying to put the square peg in the round hole. It just was not working for her. Everyone in the room turned to her. Maria was unable to make the puzzle go together.
Katie said, “Maria, I’m a lesbian.”
Helena made Rainey laugh, saying, “Oh, thank god. I have a lesbian sister. That will be so hot in LA, you know with the whole Ellen movement.”
Maria was not so supportive, asking, “When did this happen, you were just pregnant six months ago?”
Katie gripped Rainey’s hand tighter, but Helena saved her from having to say anything to Maria. Helena leaned across the bed and said, “You insensitive bitch.”
Maria began to ring her hands, “I’m sorry. I’m just so confused.”
Helena was breathing down Maria’s neck, “What is so hard to understand? Katie has left that asshole JW and is now in love with a woman. Is that too unclear for you?”
“Katie, what will people think?” Maria asked.
“Oh, for fuck sake,” Helena said, exasperated, “it’s the twenty-first goddamned century.”
“Maria, I don’t care what people think. If I lose my job, my family, my friends, I will have gained one good thing in my life. One thing that I chose, one time that I threw caution to the wind and lived my life the way I wanted to.”
Helena was extremely funny and Rainey could not wait to get to know her, even though her Hollywood affect was a little too much. Helena started digging through her giant handbag, saying, “God, Katie, that was profound. I have to write that down. That would work so well in a screenplay.”
Maria pressed on, “What about JW? You will ruin his career.”
“Fuck JW!” Katie said, with venom enough for even Maria to understand.
“Okay, if that’s what you think is best,” Maria said, not convinced, but conceding.
Katie looked at them both, “Do not tell mom and dad. I will do it when they get back from their holiday.”
Both sisters shook their heads back and forth, neither wanting to be the one to break that news to the parents.
“What can we do for you, while we’re here?” Maria asked.
“If you really want to help, go by my house and pack some clothes for me. It will be at least two weeks before I go back to school. The bruising would scare my babies,” Katie said.
Maria could not control her mouth, “I should say it would. Give them nightmares for weeks.”
“You are just a fucking idiot, aren’t you?” Helena asked Maria.
Once again the squabble began and was silenced by Katie’s voice, “Look, either help me or get back on the jet and go home. I can’t deal with you two at each other’s throats.” Katie sat back on the bed.
Rainey decided it was time to intervene, “She’s getting tired. She hasn’t gained back all her strength yet.”
Katie protested, “But I’m strong enough to go home, Rainey.”
“Okay, honey, what do you need from the house?” Helena asked.
“I have nothing, so a little of everything, underwear, bras, socks and shoes, the basics, you know. Bring the toiletries from my bathroom and my makeup. I need pajamas, lying around stuff and some shorts and tanks. My luggage is in the walk- in closet.”
Maria was a bringer of bad news, it was her character, “What about JW? Won’t he be angry?”
Katie paid no attention to Maria and spoke directly to Helena, who did not seem to care if JW was angry, “JW probably won’t be there, so I’ll give you the alarm code.”
Rainey spoke up, “Just in case, I think you should take a police escort and one of my guys will come with you to carry things.”
Maria looked more frightened than ever. She was not used to so much excitement and it was taking its toll. Margie came in with Katie’s breakfast, which she ate, while relaying what details of the attack she wanted her sisters to know, leaving out some of the things she had been told happened to her.
Rainey went to the bathroom, to use the phone. She called Mackie, to arrange the sister’s escort to JW’s house. He said he would take them over in the Escalade, and meet the police there. Mackie would arrange everything with the police, because he had such a long working relationship with the departments in the area.
Margie came in with pain pills and news that Katie may go home this evening when Dr. Marsden came for rounds. Katie drifted off to sleep, still talking to her sisters. Rainey took the sisters down to meet Mackie and couldn’t wait for Katie to wake up so she could tell her about the look on Maria’s face when she saw Mackie. Rainey wished so badly that she had taken a picture.
Katie’s sisters were off on their mission and Rainey was kind of glad to see them go. The air around her became more still. She grabbed a breakfast burrito and took it back upstairs, assuming her position in the recliner, once again the guardian of Katie’s dreams.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Danny came in, just after Katie had awakened and eaten lunch. She was once again rejuvenated from her nap and wanted to hear everything Danny could tell her about the case.
Danny told them, “We had to release John Taylor. He finally asked for a lawyer, after his wife arrived, from New York.”
“Poor Ann, she must be so upset,” Katie said.
“Pissed off, is more like it, she nearly took my head off,” Danny alleged.
Rainey was more interested in where the Veterinarian had gone, “What about Taylor? Are you covering him?”
With confidence, Danny said, “Like a blanket, he can’t breathe without us knowing it.”
“We might go home tonight, that’s all. I don’t want to be surprised by this guy, in the middle of the night,” Rainey said, warily.
Danny was adamant, in his reply, “Trust me, Rainey. He will not get near you. I’ll put a couple of agents out there with you, but this is our guy, I know it.”
Katie was still mulling over John Taylor’s arrest in her mind, she asked, “What kind of hard evidence do you have to link him to the murders?”
Danny’s confidence waned a little, “Katie, this guy had the means and opportunity to commit every one of these killings and attacks. He fits the physical description. He fits the profile to a tee.”
“But that’s all you have, circumstantial evidence,” Katie stated, like a lawyer. Rainey was reminded that Katie had been married to one. Katie probably helped him study for his law exam.
Danny wasn’t out yet, he had one more play, “We have his DNA and when it comes back a positive match, he’s getting the needle, no question.”
Rainey was still on the fact that the guy was free, “Who’s on Taylor’s tail?”
Danny ran his fingers through his hair, “Don’t worry Rainey. I got the best guys on this, Roger and Bobby. You remember Bobby, right? They aren’t going to lose him.”
“You got a tracker on his car?” Rainey was not listening to Danny tell her it was under control, she wanted details.
Danny was getting frustrated, “Yes, Rainey. If he moves, we will know it.”
Katie piped in, “What about his wife’s car?”
“Would you two relax? In twenty-four hours we should get some preliminary reports back, on the hair samples and DNA. Until then, we’ll be watching you and Taylor.”
Leave it to Katie to ask the question nobody seemed to want to hear, “What if it isn’t him?”
“Then we keep looking. If it isn’t Taylor, then it is one of his friends and yours. We will find the connection,” Danny answered her, earnestly.
Danny thought he had his guy, but he was prepared to be wrong. Rainey hoped she and Katie would not pay the price for it, if he was.
Danny laughed to himself and then said, “You know what the kicker is? JW is representing Taylor.”
Rainey reacted, “You have got to be kidding me.”
Katie smiled and shook her head, “It’s just the kind of thing he would do,” she said. “He can make a name for himself and he’ll have his face all over the media. It’s perfect for him.”
“He must not think Taylor is guilty. I can’t see him taking on a losing cause,” Rainey said.
Katie explained, “Right now, it’s free publicity. He can always drop out of the case, if it sours for him.”
Danny shook his head, “JW has some anger management issues, that’s for sure.”
Rainey told Danny that the agents, outside the doors, would go with them, if Katie did get discharged and he could switch them up later, if need be. Before he left, Danny assured them, once again, that they were safe. Rainey wished she felt as confident as Danny did.
Soon afterward, Maria and Helena reappeared with a pair of pajamas and slippers, from Katie’s house. Mackie had the rest of Katie’s things in his Escalade. There had been no confrontation with JW, only because he was not at home.
Maria started in right away, “Katie your house is a mess. There are dirty dishes and clothes everywhere.”
“It’s not my house anymore. Not my problem,” Katie said, not bothered at all by JW’s treatment of her former home.
Helena tried to put a positive spin on things, “Your yard is gorgeous, though.”
“Thank you. It took a long time to get it that way.”
Once again the voice of gloom and doom, Maria said, “Aren’t you going to hate leaving it, after you worked so hard to make it nice?”
Katie was not affected by Maria’s attitude, “I can start over at Rainey’s place. She has lots of property.” She turned to Rainey, “May I plant a vegetable garden, too?”
“Whatever you want,” Rainey answered her.
Katie cocked her head, “Do you have a boat?”
“Yes,” Rainey said, wondering where this was going.
Katie ignored her sisters for a moment, “Can you pull me on water skis?”
“Yes,” Rainey said, “I didn’t know you skied.”
“I love to water ski. I haven’t been in forever,” Katie said, excited at the prospect.
Maria, observing the conversation between Rainey and Katie, said, “Exactly, how long have you known each other?”
Katie did not flinch, “About a week,” she said, happily.
“Katherine Ann Meyers, have you lost your mind?” Maria turned to Rainey, “I’m sorry, Rainey. You seem like a nice person, but my sister is not a lesbian. If you seduced her while she was being chased by a serial killer, she might not have been thinking straight, no pun intended.”
“Maria, you have the wrong impression,” Katie was enjoying this, she continued, “Rainey wasn’t a lesbian. I turned her into one. I seduced her.”
Helena slapped Katie a high five, adding, “You go little sis!”
Maria shook her head, in confusion. She said, “I just don’t understand. How do you go from being not gay to gay, in a week?”
Rainey could not resist. She had to say it, “You sleep with a woman. Now, that I’ve done it, I’ll never go back.”
At that moment, Rainey learned a lesson about sisters. They can rag on each other all they want, but no one else gets to play.
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