When Rayne saw the office of Dr Jahara she sighed. "I really don't want to be here," she answered looking over to Mac. He nodded knowing she didn't want to be at the psychiatrist's office but he knew if she didn't get treated for what would likely develop from being left alone, she'd have problems in life.
"I know you don't, but I want you to trust me. What you saw, that was not right. What you went through, no child should have gone through that. I know you've kept repeating you're fine, but sometimes, talking about it helps in ways you don't realize it does," he answered. She nodded knowing she did trust Mac with what he was saying. He was older and wiser in that sense.
As he helped her into her chair, he rolled her in. He knew the first session would be easier since it was an introductory thing and he'd get to stay with her. He checked his phone while Rayne was reaching forwards and saw no messages from Peyton. It wasn't that he didn't think that Rayne was right, but he hoped she was wrong. He noticed Rayne rolling her eyes as she glanced at him. "If she's going to call, she will."
"You already gave up on her?" Mac didn't think she had but he was a little concerned that she was being so dismissive about the lack of calls from Peyton. She shrugged and Mac chuckled at that. "A shrug isn't an answer. I need words to go with it."
"Peyton's in London doing work. I'd give her a week and then maybe a phone call," she admitted. Mac looked at her and realized what she wasn't saying. Peyton's behaviour really concerned her and made her afraid that she wasn't coming back. "I'm not afraid of betrayal in the sense of her not coming back." He looked at her and she pointed to her face chuckling. "Your face is kind of readable right now." He looked at her and she rolled her eyes. "Ain't my first rodeo in reading faces. I'm no Crime Scene Investigator, Detective, ME, whatever. But I learned how to read faces and detect lies from people."
"Almost as if," he began and she nodded. "You never believed Peyton when she promised to come home." She nodded at that and then chuckled hollowly before looking straight ahead. "Why'd you get emotional then at the airport?"
"Because for once I felt hope," she admitted. He looked at her shocked and she chuckled looking forwards at the ground. "I felt hope. That's something I haven't felt in a very long time. When you and Peyton promised not to abandon me, I believed."
"I haven't abandoned you. I still won't ever abandon you," he answered making her look at him. "I never have left you. My team and I are always going to be there. Through everything," he promised and she nodded looking at him. "You don't seem to believe that."
"You suck at reading faces at points," she responded. He looked at her and she chuckled at the little fact she got one over Mac Taylor. "It's not that I don't believe you. I do. Your team has been great and really been open to me. It's just the whole processing that Peyton may not be coming back."
"Even if she doesn't, you have more than me. Personal guarantee even when Stella is in New Orleans, she'll be contacting at least once a week," he answered and she looked at him confused. "Stella and I have always been good friends. So I know her." Before he could say more Jahara appeared and he carefully wheeled her into the room.
"It's good to see you Mac. Peyton had told me you two would be coming in today," she greeted and Rayne didn't even flinch at the mention of Peyton's name for once which proved what she said in the waiting room to be true. She wasn't even surprised anymore about what happened with Peyton. No communication except for one call when she was going to meet the other members of the team for lunch in the park. "And you must be Rayne." She nodded and shook Jahara's hand but didn't speak.
"She's a little quieter today as we've had a few little run ins since Peyton booked the appointment," Mac confessed. Jahara looked at him and he sighed looking a little guilty. "My job puts her at risk but I can't imagine my life without her. She's the daughter I never had. Rayne came into my life because of my job."
"That's a new one," Jahara admitted and she looked at Rayne. "You two met while he was working?"
"If it weren't for him, I'd probably be dead," she admitted. Jahara looked at Mac and she chuckled. "His team found me practically beaten to death and shot down. I got over that pretty quickly," she dismissed. Jahara then looked to Mac.
"She's telling the truth. We found her head bashed in and two gun shot wounds," Mac answered. He then looked at her and noted she wouldn't continue. "But I think what Peyton mainly set this up for was because we learned Rayne was missing for a year. Her orphanage owner lost his license and kidnapped her and 5 other girls," he explained.
"Have the other girls been?"
"The other girls were killed a few days before Mac found me," she answered almost nonchalantly and Jahara looked at her. "Pick my brain all you want. It's not going to change the facts. They were killed. The murderer is still out there and I'm in here blabbing for no reason. Honestly," she muttered.
"I see she wasn't exactly," Jahara began and Mac nodded knowing what she was hinting at. They both could clearly see that Rayne was covering it all up. Pretending nothing was wrong. But she'd eventually have to rip off the bandage that was her fear. But Mac figured she was waiting until the murderer was found and booked before it sunk in. "Mac, I think for now we should keep it to once a month but if you or Rayne ever change your mind," she began and he nodded.
When Mac was wheeling her out of the building she sighed in relief. "You weren't exactly easy on her."
"Been through shrink exams before. Thought I'd skip the whole chat thing and cut to the chase. I'm fine," she dismissed. He looked at her and she chuckled at the fact he seemed surprised. "Not Ryan's orphanage but the one before it? We had to all go through shrink exams once every other month."
"So what she was getting at," Mac began and she nodded. "Well she had a point. If at any time you think the thoughts start to get to you, there's no reason to hide it. You can tell someone," he answered and she nodded at that. When they returned to Mac's apartment, she saw the equipment had been reset up and Hawkes had arrived.
"Is it bad that I want to say how much I looked forwards to this?"
"Considering your attitude towards it two days ago? A bit," Hawkes answered as he helped her out of the chair again. As he was about to help her with the first few steps she surprised him by making them on her own and then starting almost immediately. "You're starting to get better."
"I can't keep hoping for results and not trying," she answered as she walked on the thing for a few minutes. Mac was about to go in until he noticed Rayne's exasperated face. "How long until I ditch the beam and can keep walking around a house normally?"
"Probably tomorrow we could start," Hawkes answered looking at her. "You don't have physiotherapy for a couple days as I arranged it with her since you do a lot around here with me after sessions and just in general," he explained.
Mac then walked in and turned on the news. "I don't see what's on the news that could be interesting," Rayne mused idly as she was waiting for Hawkes to come back to help her finish up.
"News changes every day," Mac responded casually. He knew she was only a kid so she had no appreciation for it yet. She liked the crime stories but who could blame her? Being involved in a crime put your fascination onto crime. As he was about to try and explain some interesting pieces, Mac saw a part coming up about Ryan Ducatti. "Your former orphanage owner is quite the man."
"Oh he had attention all the time," she answered as Hawkes helped her ambulate over to beside Mac who helped her settle into the couch. As the reporter came back on, Mac made sure to turn up the volume as even Hawkes was sitting to listen in.
"Ryan Ducatti, a 35 year old male was arrested on charges of kidnapping of children. He has also been confirmed to have been a suspect in a murder investigation of 5 of the girls he has been confirmed to have taken from homes that were in the property of the State of New York. His death came when he was being transported from the local police department for questioning back to his cell in Ryker's."
"I'm not too surprised Ryan is dead, but that still screams a threat," Rayne admitting yawning.
"Well someone who shouldn't be concerned about the threat should be going to bed," Mac chuckled as he saw the time. She shook her head as Mac picked her up and carried her over to her room and covered her up with her blanket.
Hawkes though was on the phone with Danny. "Danny, do we have any leads as to who did this?"
"We have our suspicions but we would need Rayne to verify something," he answered.
"Like what?"
"Ryan's face for one. It's badly damaged but Sid was able to clean it slightly," Danny explained.
"That girl is going through trauma as it is. We can't keep throwing things into the fire."
"We might have no choice."
"No we do. But ask her something Hawkes in the morning. Ask her if she knows what weapons old Daddy Dearest had," Flack responded. Hawkes made a sound and wrote it down before hanging up to see Mac coming out.
"She went down after a few minutes. What do we know about the death of Ducatti?"
"Well they wouldn't tell me the weapons but they want to talk to Rayne in the morning. See if she knows about someone called Daddy Dearest, having any weapons," he explained and Mac pulled out the pictures he had of the two club owners. "That's him?"
"Good man but clearly protective of Rayne. Might have retaliated. But we can't be sure."
"Let's hope he has no weapons because if he became a vigilante, we'll have to arrest him." Hawkes knew that Rayne wouldn't want to hear that they had to arrest the man she knew well for killing off Ryan Ducatti. "She has not had a single break since she came into our lives."
"She hasn't. But I also can see the truth about her. She's a fighter," Mac answered and Hawkes chuckled at that. "She had a chance to feel fear, to want to hide. But she's okay with going around and dealing with the fear that is Ryan Ducatti. Now her mysterious attacker is all that's left."
"She'll probably all have it hurt her at once." Mac nodded knowing how accurate the statement was. Hawkes knew the truth about what happened to some people when trauma occured and they had watched it with Lindsay. It didn't hit her until months later.
"Let's hope it's before Stella leaves," Mac responded and Hawkes nodded glancing back towards the room that Rayne was sleeping in.
When the morning light reached Rayne's eyes she sat up, and glanced around to see Hawkes walking in. "Mac was just going to send me to wake you. He went down the road to a diner to grab food as he really didn't feel like cooking this morning." She chuckled at that as Hawkes helped her transfer over to her chair. "I got a call from Danny and Flack last night."
"About Ryan's death?"
"Yes. First things first, as much as we're all certain, you need to identify him. We have the body down in the morgue," he began as they went to the living room and he let her turn the TV onto a show that she wanted to watch while they waited for Mac. "Then they had a question about these people," Hawkes began showing the pictures. "Do you know if they have any weapons?" Hawkes at first thought she wasn't able to hear him when she gave no response until she hit his hand with the remote. "Ow."
"I'm not talking about what I know about them," she answered.
"If you know what weapon they have," Hawkes began warning her.
"I want to hear from Sid what weapon did the damage first. I know all their weapons so I can tell you straight up if they have it," she answered. Hawkes looked at her and she chuckled humorlessly. "All their weapons are legal, but I don't want you pulling them in for questioning unless we know that they're involved."
"They have a motive," Mac reminded looking at her as he walked in. "You. You were hurt by Ryan and this killer that's still out there. From what I learned from them, they were very protective of you. So finding out what they did, could have inspired them to take some revenge."
"Here," she answered as she began writing out a list. "That's all the weapons for the both of them," she answered as Mac took it. "But let me go talk to them or at least bring them in but not for questioning. I might be able to get you something."
"Then we'll take them to the lab. Granted they will be cuffed for the walk through until they get to you," Mac answered. She nodded at that and as they ate in relative silence, they both heard the tell tale sound of a phone ringing. "Your's," Mac answered handing Rayne her phone.
"Speaking," she greeted as she hadn't recognized the number.
"Ryan Ducatti is dead. You should be celebrating. Rest assured your attempted murderer will face the same."
"Who are you?!" Rayne stood up in a flash and then bit her lip as she was in massive pain. She kept trying to evoke a response until she heard a dial tone and she frowned. "Not long enough to retrace that signal. But that was Ryan's killer."
"What?!" Hawkes looked at her and Mac noted it. Finally there was another normal reaction occuring. Her brain finally seemed to be absorbing the shocks. "Rayne, can you tell us the gender of the caller?"
"No. They were using a voice modulator. I could luckily hear that much but I couldn't tell you what they modulated it to," she answered. She then looked to be scared and then looked to Mac. "I'm getting a new phone. That was creepy."
"Agreed. You were using your cellphone you received from Ryan so it would make sense that the killer got your number. But if we change it, if they contact it again, we'll be able to find it." As Mac and Hawkes were getting Rayne into the vehicle, she looked concerned. Arriving at the lab, everyone watched as Mac and Hawkes were constantly monitoring who was around them while getting to the floor of the lab. Flack walked over as he saw them.
"Your friends? The ones you gave weird names of?" She looked at Flack expectantly. "One of them is missing. The other's here. Amara came in no problems. But her husband she claims went missing last night and Rayne looked at her phone checking messages. "What is it?"
"Nothing," she answered covering her face and Mac gave her a pillow and heard the quiet scream. He waited and as she let go he hid it again. "The caller didn't mention anything about hostages which means we're dealing with someone who has beef against him to start with."
"Agreed. But until we know who that someone is, there's no more doubts in my mind. You can't go anywhere alone," Mac answered looking at her. "Think hard though. Can you think of anyone he might have gotten into an argument with last time you saw him?"
"No. Most people on that side of town love him," she answered honestly.
"Then we have to talk to Amara."
"I'll be there in a few minutes. I need to go deal with that body first," she answered and Flack nodded as Hawkes wheeled her down to the morgue while Mac nodded to Flack.
"We have to find this killer and soon."