Beyond the Consequences
Page 17

“He said that he’s been with you…” Phil looked to Claire. “…for weeks.”
“I’ve never seen him before in my life.”
Tony squeezed her hand.
“I still don’t know how he knew where we’d be. And what did he mean, with me?”
Contemplating the earpiece, Phil asked, “Nichol, may I see Sophie?”
Shaking her head, Nichol hugged her doll tighter. “No, she’s scared. That bad man scared her.”
Taylor and Phil exchanged glances. “Honey,” Taylor began, “you know that Mr. Phil and I are here to keep you safe, right?”
Nichol nodded.
“We also want to keep Sophie safe, just as I did in the bathroom. Can I please see her for a minute?”
Apprehensively, Nichol’s dark eyes turned to her mom. Claire nodded, unsure of Phil and Taylor’s new fascination with the doll. Nichol slowly held Sophie out to Taylor. “Mr. Phil, Sophie wants to go to Miss Taylor.”
Phil smiled. “That’s just fine, Nichol. Miss Taylor can make sure Sophie’s safe.”
“I’m going to look very closely at Sophie when we get back to your apartment. Is that okay, Nichol?”
“Don’t let her get hurt again.”
“Again?” Taylor asked.
“Yes, she got an ouchy on her back.”
“I won’t let anything happen to her,” Taylor reassured.
Claire squeezed her daughter’s hand and watched as Taylor’s soft blue eyes gave Nichol the comfort she needed.
“I’ve called ahead; our things should be packed for us to head home,” Tony declared.
No one disagreed.
A FEW DAYS later back in Iowa, Claire and Tony sat in their office as Phil and Taylor explained their findings. “There was a microphone, GPS, and transmitter hidden inside of Sophie. That’s how Rudolf knew where you were or where you were going.”
“Did it happen at the company?” Tony asked.
“We’re confident that it was placed post-manufacturing,” Taylor replied. “However, upon further inspection, a smaller, more sophisticated tracker was found in the doll sent for Nichol’s birthday. The FBI didn’t find it at first because it’s made of a new polymer that is radiolucent. So it didn’t show up in their initial tests and x-rays.”
Phil interjected, “We suspect that the tracking software was placed when Nichol left Sophie at the ice cream shop in Iowa City. I remember thinking at the time that I hadn’t seen the doll when we left the shop. If they still have their security footage we could confirm our suspicions, but I think Rudolf was there and stole the doll when Nichol and we weren’t looking. I didn’t recognize him at first, but now I’m beginning to think he seemed familiar. We believe he inserted the transmitter, GPS, and microphone and then left Sophie for us to find. When we retrieved her, we never thought to look.”
“Yes, that ouchy that Nichol mentioned was a small incision sealed with clear glue,” Taylor added. “I asked her when it happened and she said after Sophie got lost at the ice cream shop.”
Claire shook her head. “I don’t know if Nichol mentioned Sophie’s injury before or not. I don’t remember. I’d bet that if she did, I didn’t think anything of it.”
“The FBI confirmed that the DNA on the electronics in both dolls matched Rudolf’s.” Phil forced a reassuring smile. “There’s no reason to think he was acting in conjunction with anyone else. His history is of lone stalking. The FBI is also confident that he isn’t related to or involved with the sender of the Rawls-Nichols gifts. He never in any of his attempts at contact used the names Rawls or Nichols, always Rawlings.”
“Great, so one psycho down and another to go,” Claire said with a sigh.
“The most important thing is that you and Nichol are safe,” Tony reiterated.
“And you,” Phil added, looking directly toward Tony. “In Rudolf’s delusions, he foresaw saving Claire and Nichol, and setting them free—by keeping them with him and assuring that you were permanently out of the picture.”
Claire gasped. “Permanently? Does he have a history of violence?”
“No,” Taylor answered. “However, it’s well documented that criminals tend to escalate in their behavior. He was bolder with you than he’d been in his previously known cases. Taking Nichol’s doll was quite the risk. His success undoubtedly fueled his confidence. Through the software he placed in Sophie, he had up to the minute updates of personal family matters. His intimate knowledge helped to perpetuate his delusion.”
“Wouldn’t that intimate knowledge have helped to refute his need to save Claire and Nichol?” Tony asked. “After all, he heard us interact. There was never anything that he would’ve heard to make him believe that either Claire or Nichol were in danger.”
Phil cleared his throat. “As we’ve said, the man was delusional. Anything he heard, without visual confirmation, could be misconstrued in his mind. We know that the only real threat was from him, but he didn’t see himself that way.”
“I don’t think I want to know any more about him, other than he’s out of our lives,” Claire said. “Tell me that there’s no chance of him getting free and coming after us.”
“It should be open and shut. After all, he was caught in the act,” Tony added.
“It wasn’t just what he did at the store; the FBI confirmed Rudolf had an unlicensed gun in his possession.”