Rainey defended her decision. "What if it was you laying there, bleeding? Would you want me to wait twenty minutes for the cops to get here, before I came out of the house? Would you have waited, if you thought it was me?"

"No, I wouldn't have waited, but then there isn't a killer stalking me, leaving heads on my dock."

With a little more emphasis than was called for, Rainey said, "I took a vow to protect and serve. I've known from day one that my life may have to be given for someone else's. You need to consider that I have been trained to stay alive, before you judge my actions."

Mackie turned his head quizzically. "Who was that meant for, baby girl, me or Katie?"

The newly recomposed deputy walked up with a roll of crime scene tape, ending that part of their discussion. Mackie helped the deputy seal the scene, while Rainey called Danny, letting him know everything was okay, and what she had discovered. Rainey walked over to Mackie when she was finished "Hey, I'm sorry. I was still in a bit of shock. You didn't deserve that."

"It's okay, baby girl. You got a lot on your mind."

Rainey remembered Ernie. "Look, you better call Ernie. Tell her what's happened so she won't hear it some other way." Mackie was already pulling out his phone. "And tell her the crime scene guys will be back in the morning, so she won't freak when she sees them."

"Anything else?" Mackie asked, poised to dial his phone.

"You should go on home, too. It's going to be a while before they finish processing the scene. Danny is on his way. He won't let me stay out here by myself, so don't worry." Mackie started to say something. Rainey interrupted, "Really, I'll stay in the house."

Mackie would worry, but he agreed to go home. Danny arrived exactly an hour after Rainey's call. The rest of the team, Detective Robertson and her officers, the Medical Examiner, and crime scene investigators were already there when Danny pulled into her driveway. Rainey sat on the stairs, alone for the first time since the first officers arrived. Freddie perched on the step beside her, watching all the activity down at the dock, somehow aware that he needed to be close to her.

Danny approached, trying to force eye contact. "Rainey, are you okay?"

Rainey looked him straight in the eyes, because she knew he was looking for her reaction. Danny wanted to know if she could remain on the job. She was rattled, but Rainey wasn't backing off.

"I'm fine, Danny. p.i.s.sed, but fine."

Danny sat down on the step just below her. He leaned back on one elbow so he could see her face. Danny knew her, maybe even better than Katie did. He knew what to say.

"You know, they keep running that part where you questioned Cookie's s.e.xuality on the news. That's pretty funny stuff. Katie clapped when I showed it to her."

"Is she okay? Does she know what happened?"

Danny patted Rainey's knee. "That's a strong girl you're hooked up with. She's more worried about you than herself, at this point."

"Did you convince her that she's in more danger than me? The plan is her first. Did you tell her that?"

"I did, and I also forced her to accept an armed guard at all times. She'll be outside the door when Katie goes to the bathroom. She'll sleep on the floor in Katie's bedroom. Katie will not move inside the house without protection, and if she leaves the house, which I totally objected to, a male officer will accompany her, as well. Two patrol cars are in the driveway."

Rainey perked up. "She? Who is guarding Katie?"

Danny smiled. "The biggest, baddest woman I could find. She's from vice. She's been around. Detective Robertson says no one will get by this cop, not even you."

Rainey was unsettled by the news another woman would be sleeping in the same bedroom with Katie. It took her mind away from the scene at the dock, which was exactly what Danny had calculated it to do. She smiled down at him.

"She's safe then?"

Danny stood up, extending his hand to Rainey. "She's locked down tighter than the President. The Secret Service doesn't get to sleep with him."

Rainey took his hand and raised her eyebrows. "On the floor, right? You said she's sleeping on the floor."

Danny laughed, pulling her to her feet. "Well, now, I guess that's entirely up to Katie. We all know what happened the last time she had a female bodyguard."

At midnight, Rainey's cell phone rang. She was still down at the dock, waiting for the crime lab to finish collecting evidence. They were packing up to leave for the night, but would come back first thing in the morning. Daylight could reveal more evidence. Rainey pulled the phone out of her pocket. She saw Katie's name on the caller ID, flipped the phone open, raising it to her ear rapidly.

"Katie, is everything all right?"

"Yes, I'm fine," Katie replied, softly.

Rainey stepped to the other side of the building, away from Danny and the few others still talking under the bright halogen lights brought in by the investigators.

"Katie, what's wrong?"

"This is all wrong, Rainey. Me over here and you there, people getting their heads cut off, a strange woman watching me sleep, it's all wrong."

"She's really watching you sleep? Where are you? Is she watching you, now?"

"No, I'm hiding in the bathroom," Katie said, laughing.

It did Rainey's heart good to hear Katie laugh. She smiled into the phone. "Well, you can't sleep in there. You're going to have to come out sometime."

"I will... I just missed you. I wanted to hear your voice, know that you were okay, before I try to sleep, which seems to be impossible without you next to me."

Rainey's throat tightened, her voice hushed, when she said, "I miss you, too."

"You do know last night was the first night we've been apart since July?" Katie asked.

Rainey kicked at the ground. "Yes, I'm well aware of that."

"I saw you on TV." Katie changed subjects, as she often did, forcing Rainey to pay attention whenever she was talking to her. If she didn't, she could end up completely lost. Katie continued, "That was so good, what you said to Cookie. I laughed."

"Yeah, Danny told me you clapped."

"Oh, she deserved it. That was fabulous... You looked great, by the way."

Rainey never took compliments on her looks well. She said, shyly, "You're biased."

"No, really Rainey, you looked fantastic, confident. The FBI Agent persona looks good on you. I never saw it before, but you looked... I don't know, comfortable maybe."

"I wasn't. The shoes were killing me."

It was quiet for a moment, and then Katie said, "Do you miss it? Is that what you really want to do? Am I keeping you from your pa.s.sion?"

"No, Katie. I was gone from the Bureau long before I met you. I just didn't know it, yet. I don't have to be in the FBI to do what I do. I would like to consult on cases from time to time, if you can live with that, but I don't want to be submerged in this anymore. It's just not a good place for me to be."

"Are you sure, Rainey? I don't want you to wake up one day and be sorry. I don't want to be the reason you gave up such an important part of who you are."

"But it's not all I am."

"I know that," Katie responded, quickly. "You are a cop at heart, though. I don't think you would be happy if you weren't chasing bad guys."

"Katie, I... I know I'm not the ideal person to have a relationship with. My job is scary sometimes. My past catches up with me occasionally. I respect that frightens you. I can do more to make you less fearful, but I can't promise you that something bad won't happen. I could be killed in a car accident, just as easily as on the job. I trained for this, just like you did to be a teacher. I can handle myself out there. The question now is, can you learn to respect that?"

Rainey hadn't meant to speak so freely. The silence on the other end of the phone suggested it might have been too much.

Katie cleared her throat. Her voice sounded dry and tense, when she answered, "I know I love you more than I've ever loved anything, but I can't answer that now. We jumped into this relationship under similar circ.u.mstances. I don't want our decisions concerning the future to be clouded by all this. Do you understand, Rainey?"

Rainey saw Danny coming toward her. The last of the investigators pulled away in a county van.

"Katie, I have to go now. Danny's coming." She was wriggling out of answering the question posed to her. The doubt that their relationship would ever work out was quite evident in Katie's voice. Rainey couldn't deal with that possibility at the moment. "Promise me, you'll do what the deputy says, okay?"

"I'll make sure to stay with my escort. I don't want to worry you, Rainey. You focus on catching this guy. Like I said, it's who you are."

Rainey heard the edge in Katie's voice. She could tell Katie was trying to control it.

"I love you, Katie. Don't give up on me."

The phone went silent.

As predicted, Danny slept on the couch. This became a problem for Rainey soon after she went to bed. She couldn't sleep, tossing and turning in the big bed for more than an hour. Rainey pounded on the pillows, changed sides of the bed, and even lay across it sideways at one point. She could smell Katie everywhere, and she felt the empty s.p.a.ce where Katie should be. Rainey thought she might have been able to fall asleep on the couch, but then Danny was there. She ended up on the futon in the home office and finally slept a few hours.

Now, Rainey was standing in the closet, looking at shoes. In the two years since she last dressed in suits to go to work, Rainey wore tennis shoes, hiking boots, even tactical boots, but not heels. Yesterday had nearly done her in. She was dressed in dark blue slacks and blazer, with the obligatory white blouse, the other "uniform" of her FBI days. Katie had rows of brightly colored heels. Rainey had the blue and black variety of low-heeled calf boots and the smallest heeled pumps she could find. She owned one really nice pair of high-heels that went with the black dresses she wore on rare occasions. Rainey's clothes fit on half of one of the long racks that ran along the walls of the large, master bedroom closet. Katie's wardrobe filled the rest.

Rainey stared at her shoes, wondering if anyone would notice if she just put on a pair of Nikes. The thought then occurred to her that she wasn't really an agent anymore. She slipped back into that skin yesterday with ease, but despite what Katie said about her looking comfortable, it didn't quite fit anymore. Rainey left the suit and blouse in a pile on the closet floor, not even bothering to hang them up. She wouldn't be needing them anymore.

Danny was waiting in the kitchen when Rainey emerged from the bedroom dressed in black jeans, a black silk shirt, black linen blazer, and her favorite black tennis shoes. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, hanging out the back of her FBI ball cap. Danny poured a cup of coffee for her, before sitting down at the kitchen table.

"I have to say that is the most comfortable couch I've ever slept on." Danny smiled cheerfully.

Rainey peered out from under the bill of her hat. "I'm glad someone got some sleep."

Danny eyed her up and down. "I see we're done following the FBI dress code."

"I've never understood how we are supposed to chase down criminals in heels," Rainey protested.

"You're not required to wear heels." Danny grinned.

"Yeah, try wearing dress slacks with flats. Not a good look."

Danny sipped his coffee. Then he said, "Besides, you aren't supposed to be chasing them. That's for someone else to do. We profile them, they catch them, that's how this works."

Rainey stared down at her coffee cup. "I'm not waiting for someone else to catch this guy."

"I know, 'you're hunting and I'm to stay out of the way,' but Rainey, you know the way we do it works. The cop with a score to settle storyline rarely works out for the best in real life. You're ignoring years of experience that tells you I'm right. I'm going to ask you one more time, please don't paint a target on your back. We'll catch this guy."

"I am using my experience. You know we would be trolling for this type of UNSUB. We'd have undercover all over this, hoping one of them would attract his notice. He wants me; more specifically he wants Katie, then me. I need to be right in front of him. I have to draw his attention from Katie and any other woman in his path. At least, I'm prepared for him. I'm afraid these other women, including Katie, would be dead the moment he said h.e.l.lo."

"Okay, I see your point." Danny leaned forward, placing his freckled forearms on the table. "Here's the other thing, if we blanket this one bar, what's to say he doesn't move to another one?"

Rainey had thought about that. "He hit the same location twice on purpose to draw us in. He had to involve me in the case, somehow get close to me. This type of UNSUB needs to control the situation, so he's studied this location. We might find a personal connection to this particular place, after we catch him. The location of the abductions, my involvement in the case, this is all part of his fantasy."

"You are ignoring the obvious conclusion here, Rainey. He's also fantasized about the trap he's set for you. He knows you won't be alone. He's not going make a move in front of all those people and the cops he knows are there. His strategy has to include getting you alone. How has he planned to do that?"

"It's going to come in transit. I don't think he wants to confront me on my own turf, here at the cottage. When I'm in my car is the only time I'm alone."

Danny hammered home, "Again, you've missed another way he gets to you. He draws you to him, using Katie."

Rainey narrowed her eyes. "But you promised me, she is safe. Danny, I can't do this if I should be with Katie. If there is any doubt in your mind about her welfare, then I'm not leaving her side, period."

Danny tried a lighter tone, when he said, "As long as she doesn't try to elude her body guards, I have a hard time believing anyone could even speak to her without a well trained officer in very close proximity."

Rainey smiled at Danny's use of the word "elude." Katie had not attempted to elude her last set of bodyguards; she simply forced them to do what she wanted.

Rainey stood up and walked to the sink, while saying, "I made her promise to go nowhere without an escort." Rainey started laughing, while rinsing her coffee cup.

Danny joined her at the sink. "What's so funny?"

Rainey chuckled, under her words. "Her sisters are coming today. I think I'd much rather be bait for a killer than have to stay in that house with those women."

Danny's cell phone rang, as they were walking down the steps of the cottage. He saw the caller ID and turned on the speakerphone. "Good morning, Miss Brooks. I have Rainey here with me. She can hear you, so don't talk about her like you usually do."

"McNally, you are not nearly as funny as you think you are." Brooks' voice cracked into the morning air. She didn't give Danny time to respond. "How's my girl, this morning? I saw the crime scene photos when I came in - Gruesome - Just some f.u.c.ked up people in this world, I'm telling you, just f.u.c.ked up. And most of them know your name. You need to get a new name like Jane Smith or some s.h.i.t..."

Rainey had to distract Brooks from her diatribe. She had obviously had too much coffee. "I've thought about that," Rainey interrupted, then quickly asked, "Hey, did you find anything on that church?"

It worked. Brooks was redirected appropriately. The information Rainey sought came through the speaker in Brooks' highly caffeinated voice, "You were correct about the bogus P.O. Box, but not like you think. There was a box rented two years ago by a John Paul Pope. Of course, there is no such person connected to the San Diego area. I did find several though, which amazed me. Anyway, the place is a mail service, mostly dealing with military personnel. That's why they did not find it unusual to have been forwarding the mail to another box in Raleigh for the last eighteen months, where the mail was picked up regularly until the first body was found. The mail has stacked up there and is being held for you at the main downtown post office."

Brooks took a much-needed breath and continued, "The Church does not actually exist, as you might have guessed. To pa.s.s a simple security check in the prison mailroom, the church listed a physical address, email address, and contact person - the same Mr. Pope - all of which is one big fairy tale. The address is an empty lot. The email address is Gmail that can be accessed from anywhere in the world, from multiple devices, and bounced through several filters and additional mail servers. The address has only received mail, except for the spam we all must endure, from the two prisons Dalton has been housed in."

Rainey interrupted again, "Has there been any activity on the account?"

"No activity, if you don't count the regular clearing of said spam, and a monthly mailing of the bulletin to another Gmail account that bounces back to this one. That's just to keep the account active. No other outgoing mail except to verify the address for prison security; once, two years ago when the bulletins started arriving in Virginia, and three months ago when Dalton was moved to Central Prison."

Danny asked, "Did you trace the monthly uploads of the bulletin?"

"Yes, I did. They were uploaded from Internet hot spots starting in San Diego, two years ago. Then at the same time his mail began to be forwarded the UNSUB started using networks in the Raleigh-Durham area, on the coast, in the mountains, really all over the state of North Carolina, and up into Virginia. Your boy is a sightseer. He uploads at different times of the month, so no pattern there. He trolls through neighborhoods until he finds an unprotected network. I checked out the families. No leads. He never hits the same place twice. There is literally no way to trace him, unless he tries to upload now. I got his a.s.s, if he even peeps into that account."

Rainey thought back on what Brooks said about no mail since the first body was found.

"Danny, he must have another way to communicate with Dalton. He knew we would search his cell. Why didn't he get rid of the evidence? Why give us this line of communication to his pupil?"

Brooks chimed in. "You might think I'm crazy, but Charles Manson had a cell phone and a Facebook account. I'm just sayin'."

Danny was adamant. "I would have found a cell phone. He's been moved, anyway. He certainly doesn't have it now."