Free RAINEY DAYS by R. E. Bradshaw

distinctive marks on the paper. They concluded, after much passing of paper, that there was none. They also agreed that it looked like the same printer had produced each note. There was a characteristic shadow of smudge after each period. If they could find a suspect, they might be able to match the notes to a printer he had access to.
    “Lord, JW went and got him a fine looking woman,” Mackie said.
    He had just picked up one of the five by seven photographs from the table. When Rainey saw that he was looking at the picture of Katie in her bathing suit, she unconsciously nodded in agreement. Then, feeling odd about the way Ernie was looking at her, she felt the need to qualify.
    “That one gives me the creeps. It looks like he was standing right over her,” Rainey said.
    Ernie leaned in to get a better look, “How could a stranger get that close?”
    “If she was my woman, I wouldn’t let a man get within a mile of her, much less close enough to touch,” Mackie said matter-of-factly.
    Rainey answered Ernie, “I’m beginning to think it may not be a stranger. He knows too much about where she goes and what she does. And you’re right; I don’t think a stranger could have gotten close enough to take that picture, in particular.”
    Mackie thumbed through the other shots, “Did you ask JW where the bathing suit picture was taken? Maybe he can tell you who else was there.”
    “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