"I didn't see it when I first went through the envelope and I forgot to ask him about it when I talked to him," Rainey answered.

She could not believe she had not thought to ask JW about the bathing suit picture. What else had she overlooked? The memories and dreams of her attack were interfering with her thought processes. That is why she left the bureau; she could not concentrate well enough. The image of Ernie filleted over her desk flashed into her mind. She closed her eyes and pinched the space between her brows.

"Are you alright, honey," Ernie said.

Rainey covered with, "Yeah, just a headache."

"Can I get you anything for it?" Ernie asked, at the same time beginning to clean up the lunch dishes.

"No, I need to go to the house and take a shower. That will probably take care of it," Rainey responded.

Rainey opened her eyes and stood up. She walked over to the counter and put her empty plate and fork down. She finished off her bottle of water, leaving the bottle in the recycle bin so Ernie would not gripe.

"I'll be at the house for the next thirty minutes at least, and then I need to get back to the teacher," she said, heading for the front door.

Mackie unfolded his considerable frame, "Let me walk you over," he said.

Once they were out of Ernie's earshot, Rainey told Mackie the truth about her encounter with the stalker last night. He agreed that JW's wife was definitely in danger.

"If this guy is that bold, he won't stop until he has made face to face contact with her," he grumbled out in his deep bass voice.

"Yep, he will not be deviated from his plan," Rainey said. "These guys can't stop themselves, they have to be stopped."

Mackie added, before she left him at the bottom of the cottage steps, "I don't care what JW said, you keep that Glock on you all the time."

Rainey laughed, "You didn't think I would go anywhere without it, did you?"

A laugh rumbled out of his barrel chest, then he said, "Rainey, call me before you get out of the car next time, okay?"

"Sure Mackie, I'll call you next time," Rainey said, smiling down at the big man from her front deck.

Mackie backed away, smiling up at her, "You'd better, because I'd hate like hell for your father to come back from the grave and haunt my ass, if I let anything happen to you."

"Don't worry; he's too busy making my grandmother's afterlife a living hell to worry about us. He's probably messed with Constance a few times, too," Rainey said, laughing at the image of her mother screaming through the mansion.

Mackie waved goodbye, shouting, "No doubt about that... Call me when you get parked tonight."

She waved goodbye, then picked up Freddie, who had come out to greet her and was purring, rubbing against her legs.

"I sure hope you didn't leave me any presents in there, I don't think I can take any more surprises today," Rainey said, hugging the big cat to her chest.

She looked around the property from her tree top vantage point. From here, she could see out onto the lake and far down the approaching road. The property was truly out-of-the-way. She could not see another soul. It was the perfect place for her to heal. Now if she could just get on with it. Just as she turned to unlock the door, Freddie sprang from her arms.

Freddie was the kind of cat that did what he wanted when he wanted, and only then. Evidently, he did not want to go in the house. Rainey found him one day hanging out behind the office. He could have only been six weeks old, at the most. He was solid black with wild hair shooting in all directions. He had a tail, but it was so twisted and curled, it looked like a nub. His tail never grew out, and the nub was currently flicking back and forth, while he stood on the railing of the deck. His fir had flattened out into a sleek black coat and he grew so large, he looked like a miniature panther, with a nub tail, of course. His wide gold eyes were staring across the parking lot, his chest rumbling in a low growl. Rainey believed Freddie thought he was a dog, or at least a tiger.

"Whatever it is, leave it outside," Rainey said, running her hand along his back.

Freddie jumped down and hurried down the steps, beginning the long slow stalk toward his prey, as soon as his feet hit the ground. Rainey scanned the edge of the woods holding his focus. She could not see what he was after, but she hoped he would not catch it. His prizes for her tended to be messy. Rainey looked back down at him and smiled, turning toward the door anticipating happily, a much-needed long soak in a hot tub.

CHAPTER SEVEN.

Contrary to popular belief, substantiated by the entertainment industry, profiling does not somehow magically identify the offender the police are looking for. It does indicate, however, the kind of person most likely to have committed a crime with the unique characteristics involved in the case. The Bureau stopped using the terms "psychological profile" or "criminal personality profile" long ago. The analysis of the type of person, who may be the perpetrator, could be a vital tool to law enforcement, but was a small part of the services offered by Rainey's old unit.

The Behavioral Analysis Unit or BAU is a component of the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime, located at Quantico, Virginia. The BAU assists local law enforcement agencies all over the country, providing criminal investigative analysis, by reviewing the case using methods developed from years of studying criminal behavior. Through this research, a process in which to study crimes developed. The criminal act itself is evaluated, along with a comprehensive look at the specifics of the crime scene. Complete background information on the victim is analyzed and the police reports are scoured for information. The Medical Examiners report is evaluated as well. The information is hashed out and a profile with this type of criminal offender's characteristics is developed. The BAU is not finished with the process until suggestions are made to the investigators, as to how to proceed in the subsequent search for the offender. It was akin to making a medical diagnosis and including a treatment plan. Rainey's current treatment plan for Katie's stalker was to go back through the evidence again, while she waited in the parking lot of the Literacy Center.

Rainey arrived at Katie's school, before the parents again, and watched as Mrs. Wilson led her little troops, in a line, out of the school. When she dismissed them, some of them tore away to waiting parents, but most hung around to get a hug from their teacher. Katie smiled at the children and gave them each a special moment of her time. Katie Wilson appeared to love her job.

Katie did not go home after school. Instead, she drove to a bookstore on Chapel Hill Boulevard. Rainey could not follow her in, because she had been seen yesterday. She was still kicking herself, in the ass, for that one. Katie appeared in a window in the cafe section, sipping coffee, and eating what looked like a bowl of soup. She read a book while she ate, once pausing the spoon just inches from her partially opened mouth, as what she read captivated her attention. When she finished eating, Katie left the bookstore and drove to the strip mall near North Miami Street, in one of the most crime-prone areas, in the city of Durham.

Rainey found a parking place where she could watch Katie through the storefront window. She used her digital camera to take periodic shots of the cars and people who came and went. While she waited, Rainey brought up the file containing copies of the notes and pictures on her laptop. Her training told her the wording in the notes was a key factor in figuring out who this guy was. The perpetrator spoke of fate and destiny, in some form or another, in each note. He believed in a fantasy he conceived, as a predetermined future. The powers that be had put Katie Wilson here at this time and this place, just for him. In his twisted mind, he must fulfill whatever the fates have destined for him.

Rainey scribbled her thoughts on a legal pad, checking every few minutes to see that Katie was still hard at work molding minds. She noted the grammar and style indicated the author was educated, probably at least some college education. The note from June, "Is it now the time when destiny is ours to hold?" sounded like a quote Rainey had heard before. She typed it into Google and the results came up Paul Martin.

She wondered aloud, "Who the hell is Paul Martin?"

The name went into the search engine resulting in two likely candidates for the quote. It was either a hockey player or the former Prime Minister of Canada. Rainey decided it was probably the politician. She noted no contractions in any of the messages and the order of the words suggested formality in the writing, an affect probably. If the guy was not educated, he wanted people to think he was.

The sky was overcast, with storms moving up from the south. The cloud cover had lowered the temperature into the low seventies and a steady breeze was keeping the humidity at bay. Rainey had her windows down half way and could hear the winos and young bloods talking loudly and laughing, down at the other end of the strip mall. She kept an eye on them and noticed on several occasions that they were watching her as well.

"They probably think I'm a cop," she said to herself, knowing the black Charger was a favorite with law enforcement.

Rainey turned back to the legal pad. She began formulating a list of characteristics of the unknown suspect in this particular crime. She had established that he probably had at least some college education. The guy was following Katie at all hours of the day, as evidenced by the pictures. He must have a job that allowed him to be unaccountable for large blocks of time. Since Katie had to be in her mid thirties and most victims are in the same age range of their assailants, he was probably thirty-five to forty-five years old.

Rainey had seen him, she was sure, so she knew him to be athletically built, about six foot two or three, about two hundred and twenty-five pounds. She had not seen his face, but assumed he was probably average or better than average looking. He was able to move around Katie without being noticed, so he could blend in. Not only could he blend in, Rainey believed, Katie and JW probably knew him. No stranger could have gotten that close to Katie, unless she was at a public pool and Rainey highly doubted that, but she would check.

Again, she looked back at the notes. JW said that the notes were sent to him at his office. Were the notes directed at JW or Katie? If they were meant for Katie, why were they sent to JW? Was the stalker asking if JW believed in fate? Why would he target JW with the notes when his obsession was with Katie? Maybe part of his fantasy was to antagonize the male in the relationship with his victim. Maybe Katie was just the pawn in his game, his real obsession being with JW.

Having done all she could with the notes, she turned her focus to the pictures. There did not seem to be anything else to learn from the photos. She had looked at them so many times, she was sure she had not missed anything. She was drawn repeatedly to the picture of Katie in the black bathing suit. Something stirred in her, something she recognized as sexual attraction, but told herself it could not be that. Rainey was not, and never had been, a lesbian. Sure, she had the normal adolescent crushes and had no problem finding other women attractive, but Rainey loved men.

She loved the way a freshly showered man smelled and how his cologne blended with his natural scent. She had a healthy appreciation for the athletic build of baseball players, big guys with lean muscles. Rainey liked the way it felt to lie in a man's arms, to have him pull her tight in close to him, his warm hairy legs wrapped in hers. In addition, the sexual aspect of the woman on woman relationship had never been anything with which Rainey considered experimenting. Rainey enjoyed having sex with men, bottom line.

So why was she becoming so enamored with Katie Wilson. Rainey had only spoken with her for ten seconds. She looked up just in time to see Katie jumping up and down, clapping her hands at some accomplishment made by her student. Her smile animated her whole face, her expression of joy so genuine. Who could resist a face like that? Rainey realized she was grinning back through the windshield at Katie, her smile so infectious.

Maybe Rainey just needed a friend her age. One like Katie, to make her laugh and forget all the horrible things she had seen. Katie seemed to represent all that was good and wholesome in the world. That must be what attracted Rainey, she thought. Here was someone so beautiful and unsoiled by the ugliness of life. Katie could still smile the smile of childlike wonder, something Rainey had not been able to do since her first days with the FBI.

Rainey looked at the bathing suit picture again, this time thinking that it was the way Katie slept, so peacefully unaware of the danger, which attracted Rainey. The last time Rainey slept like that was when she was still with Bobby. He was a cop in Alexandria, Virginia, and a wonderful guy, who loved her. She felt safe with him, there in the darkness of their little one bedroom apartment, but ultimately the relationship could not compete with her job. He called to say he was getting married last month. She dated some, since they broke up four years ago, but nothing serious, and after the attack, the last thing Rainey wanted in her bed was a man.

Headlights flashed across the windshield of her car, drawing Rainey's thoughts from the picture on her laptop screen. She watched as the sleek black luxury sedan rolled slowly toward her. It looked just like the car JW drove. The crowd in front of the liquor store shouted at the driver, who kept coming closer to where Rainey watched with heightened interest. The car's windows were tinted and rolled up tightly. The night sky, now in approaching darkness, was made darker by the impending storm. Glare from the naked fluorescent lights along the storefronts splashed over the windshield of the oncoming car, making it impossible to see the driver.

Rainey's nerves prickled. She sat up taller and set the legal pad down in the seat next to her. The Glock was securely in its holster, fully loaded and one in the chamber, but she felt for it anyway. The approaching vehicle made a wide sweeping turn, in front of her and then pulled to a stop next to her, the driver's side windows of both cars facing one another. Rainey peered through the tinted glass as the window of the other car came down slowly. She recognized his perfectly combed hair before the window was down halfway.

"Damn it, JW! What the hell are you doing here?" Rainey said, through clinched teeth, not wanting to be overheard.

"I had to talk to you," he replied.

"You do have a phone, don't you?"

Rainey did not want Katie to see them out here talking. She glanced toward the Center and saw Katie with her back turned, talking to a tall black woman.

JW stuck his hand out the window, offering her a small manila envelope, "Here, look at this. It was in the mail at the house. I found it when I got home, just now."

Rainey did not want to touch the envelope, in case of prints, but she had no choice. A man in a black expensive car, handing a package to someone in a black Charger with tinted windows, could look suspicious in this part of town. Rainey did not need any more attention than JW had already stirred up with his arrival. She quickly took the envelope, from his outstretched hand.

"You know you could have waited to give this to me, until I was parked outside your house tonight," Rainey said, before she looked in the envelope.

JW replied flatly, "I didn't think it could wait."

Rainey looked across at JW, confused by his tone, "Why, what does it say?"

"Look for yourself," he said. The look he gave her made Rainey uncomfortable.

She used a pencil to extract the note from the envelope. A picture fell out of the folded paper onto her lap. There was an audible gasp when she saw the image. Somehow, the stalker had snapped a picture at the exact moment she and Katie had shaken hands, yesterday. There was Katie smiling, hand extended, with the little smudge on her cheek, and Rainey grinning broadly back at her. Rainey picked up the picture from her lap, by the edges. She looked back at JW.

"I thought you didn't know my wife," he said.

Rainey felt like she had been caught smoking, in the bathroom, at school. She defended herself weakly, "I didn't... I mean I don't. I just met... I mean, she surprised me yesterday. I made up a story about taking pictures of the flowers. I even gave her a fake name."

"So, I'm not being set up or anything," he asked in all sincerity.

"No, why would you ask such a thing?"

JW sat up taller in his seat, glaring at her, "Why didn't you tell me Katie saw you?"

"Because I was stupid and let her sneak up on me like that," Rainey said, honestly. "Don't be so paranoid."

Rainey saw him visibly relax, his entire demeanor changing back to the charming southern gentleman. She was glad. She did not like the way his questioning had made her feel.

"I'm a politician, Rainey. We're all paranoid. That doesn't mean someone isn't out to get me."

Rainey smiled reassuringly at him, "Trust me. I'm on your side." She looked down at the paper draped over the pencil, "So, what does the note say?"

"I don't remember. The picture freaked me out so much; I just took off to find you."

Rainey took the legal pad from the other seat and laid the note out on it. She unfolded it with the pencil.

On one single line, across the center of the page, was the question she read out loud, "Why do you tempt fate?"

She heard JW ask, "What do you think he means?"

Rainey thought for a moment, before she answered, "I think Katie isn't the only one with a stalker. The only way he could view me as a threat is, if he knows who I am and what I do, and to know that, he had to have followed you to my office."

JW perked up, "Do you really think so?"

Rainey looked at the picture again, "Why else would he send this picture, one with me in it? Katie was in the yard long enough for him to take a picture of her alone."

"And you never saw him?" JW asked.

Rainey sounded dejected, "No, I never saw him," then she brightened, "but I haven't finished looking at the pictures I took yesterday."

JW sat silently. Rainey saw him glance in his rearview mirror. She imagined he was trying to decide if his wife was really safe with Rainey watching over her. She tried to imagine how conflicted he must feel, weighing his wife's safety against his political career. The average person would see nothing threatening about going to the police, but after living near Washington, Rainey understood how the most innocent circumstances could be twisted against a young politician. JW probably had a few skeletons he would rather leave buried.

Finally, he turned back to her, "Okay then, I should probably leave before Katie sees me."

Rainey felt sorry for him. He did not look as if he believed what he was doing was the right thing, but he had to do it. She tried to comfort him.

"Go home, get some rest," she said, and then added, "I'll be right outside all night."

Instantly, he put back on his charming veneer, "At least, that is a comfort. Be safe, Rainey."

Rainey watched JW roll away, passing the jeering crowd, on his way out of the parking lot. She hoped he would be able to get some sleep. She certainly did not want a replay of last night. Had he not said he was running, because he could not sleep? JW had a lot going on, with his law practice and his duties as a State Representative, not to mention someone was stalking him and his wife. Rainey wanted to end that worry for him.

She looked down at the picture of Katie shaking her hand. They looked like two old friends greeting each other. She put the picture in the visor above her head, taking one last look at it, before flipping the visor up and out of the way. That is when she noticed the lights were off in the back of the Center, and people were filing out the front door. Katie was among one of the last to exit.

Two of the young bloods, from in front of the liquor store, were making their way toward the people leaving the Center. Rainey watched as the two teenagers, hats on sideways and pants sagging down, exposing at least a foot of boxer shorts, got closer to where Katie had parked. She came to full attention when one of the youths said something to Katie, who by now was almost alone, most of the others having found their cars. Rainey relaxed when Katie waved and went toward the teenagers. She hugged each of them and talked with them for a few minutes, before it started to rain, forcing Katie to run to her car and the teenagers to seek shelter. Katie started the Lexus sedan and drove out of the parking lot, Rainey's Charger not far behind.

Rainey followed Katie from a distance, as she drove toward her home, all the while thinking what an amazing person she seemed to be. She looked forward to the day she really had the chance to get to know Katie Wilson. She hoped it would be very soon.

CHAPTER EIGHT.

It was nine o'clock, by the time Rainey parked the car outside the Wilson home. The hard rain had subsided to a soft drizzle. Rainey had a different vantage point tonight, but she could still see the right side of the house and hedges. She did not have a good view of the front lawn or the driveway side of the yard, but both areas had outdoor lighting that would probably prevent anyone from trying to enter there, unnoticed. She settled in, got the webcams rolling and called Mackie.

"Mackie," he growled into the phone.

"Hey there, hope your evening is going well," Rainey said, cheerfully.

"It'd go a whole hell of a lot better, if I could get this asshole to come out of this damn house."

Rainey laughed, "And which asshole would that be?"

"I got Charlie 'Butterbean' Beasley laid up in his girlfriend's house," he grumbled, "but the little fucker's been in there for four hours and I know he's got to come up for air sometime."

"Maybe he's sleeping over," Rainey suggested.