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She wore a simple cotton dress that was patterned after the bib overalls train engineers used to wear, gathered at the waist, with a white tank top underneath. Rainey was sure the designer had Katie in mind when it was created. It hung on her body in just the right way, accenting her long, thinly muscular, arms and legs. It was a conservative dress, but on Katie, the simple seemed to match her natural beauty, making conservative sexy, in a way Rainey had never thought of.
    Rainey watched as Katie reentered the school and then called Ernie back at the office. A package containing the original notes and pictures had been delivered from JW’s office. Rainey asked Ernie to scan the contents and email it to her, and then asked her to lock the package in the office safe. After hanging up with Ernie, she gave her time to scan the documents, using the time to scan the horizon for anything unusual. After a few minutes, Rainey checked her email and read the notes from the stalker.
    The notes appeared to have all been typed on regular computer paper, just a single line across the middle of the page. Someone had hand-written dates, in the top right corner of each note. The notes had begun in late January, arriving once a month after that. The language was not outwardly threatening, just creepy, at first glance. The January note simply said, “Do you realize how lucky you are?” A note like this would have probably been dismissed and thrown away had it not accompanied a picture of Katie lying in a hospital bed. JW had mentioned an accident and losing a child. The picture had obviously been taken by someone in the room with her. If it was not JW behind the camera, Rainey could see why this correspondence had gotten his attention.
    The note dated February twenty-second asked, “Do you believe in fate?” The picture with this one was of Katie inside the Literacy Center, leaning over a young Hispanic boy, pointing at something on the page of the book in front of him. This time Rainey could tell the picture had been taken through the front window of the Center, because the dust on the storefront glass distorted the image slightly. It had been taken at night. The picture in March showed Katie in what Rainey surmised must be the backyard of her home, judging by the familiar shrubs in the background. The attending note asked another question, “Should one laugh in the face of providence?” This guy was warming up to something, but Rainey was not sure where he was going with the questioning.
    The note from April was more alarming, due to it indicating possible thoughts of action. The single line read, “Is a second chance worth taking?” This time, in the picture, Katie was standing outside of her car with two bags of groceries perched precariously, in one arm, while she fumbled with her keyless remote. The expression on Katie’s face made Rainey laugh. She quickly looked at the next month’s picture, which captured Katie alone on an isolated beach, her pants rolled up, carrying her tennis shoes in one hand and a bucket in the other. She appeared to be looking for shells, as the ocean wind whipped her light blue jacket out like a cape behind her. The note with this picture wanted to know, “Is it not a matter of fate rather than choice?”
    Rainey was beginning to see a pattern in the wording of the notes. All of the questions contained words like luck, chance, destiny or fate. The stalker believed something must be done; it was out of his control. He was bound by fate, but to do what? The latest note was dated just two weeks ago, June twenty-fifth, which happened to be Rainey’s birthday. The picture was unsettling in itself. Rainey must have overlooked it when she had gone through the envelope earlier. The angle of view suggested the person holding the camera had gotten very close to a sleeping Katie, lying on a lounge chair, wearing a black one piece bathing suit. An open book lay across her chest, her eyes covered by large dark