“I appreciate that, Jim, but I’m going to wait until I’ve beenformallycleared of all wrongdoing.”
Silence.
With her attention still glued on Sin, she raised her eyebrows and waited. This wasn’t on her. Now, this was on them.
“I hope you aren’t harboring any resentment.”
Seriously?“I don’t want to come back to work, find out there’s some unforeseen glitch, and get placed on A.L. again,” she said while strumming her fingernails on the conference table.
“I understand and I respect your decision. I’ll be in touch.”
She hung up and inhaled a deep breath. Then, she retrieved the laptop from the credenza, returned to the conference table, and signed in.
“No comment?” Sin asked.
“I’m all yours.”
A shadow darkened his brow. “Yes. You. Are.”
“I’m determined to find the bastard masquerading as Uncle Charlie.”
“Poor Uncle Charlie doesn’t stand a chance against you.”
“No,” she said. “He doesn’t.”
THEY SPENT THE REMAINDER of the day hacking into the online accounts of Easy Does It Truck Rental. Come six o’clock, they’d narrowed the list to forty-three rentals at sixteen different locations in the region.
“Tomorrow, we ride,” she said. “With any luck, we can find the guy who ran you off the road.”
“Speaking of riding, I’m picking up my bike tonight.”
“Let’s find Uncle Charlie first.”
“I won’t let him take my power.”
She rolled her chair next to his and peered into his eyes. “How about this? I care about you and want to ensure your safety. Let’s find him first. In the meantime, you can rideme.”
He flashed her his killer smile and her heart skipped a beat. “Deal.”
After closing the laptop, she rose and shrugged into her coat. “Hannah invited me to have dinner with her. Joey’s going to be there and I’m going to take his mug shot.”
“See you at home?” Sin asked.
“Absolutely.”
On the way to Hannah’s, Evangeline stopped at her sister’s favorite D.C. bakery. She parked a block and a half away, but made it inside before the clerk locked up for the day. The delicious aroma of baked sweets flooded her nostrils. With a boxed red velvet cake in hand, she left.
As she approached a gentleman’s club at the end of the block, a man stepped outside, lit a cigarette, and started walking.
What the hell? No way, it can’t be.
The man rounded the corner and Evangeline two-stepped it to catch up. Puffing away on the cigarette, he strolled into a parking garage. Evangeline followed, but hung back.C’mon, turn around.
He pressed the elevator button, the doors slid open and he entered. When he turned back around, the lit cigarette dangled from his mouth. The doors closed and the trail of smoke vanished into the frosty, night air.
Without question, that was Joey Thomason.He’s hanging out in a strip joint?
Fueled by anger, she hoofed it back to her car and pressed her way into the bumper-to-bumper traffic. By the time she pulled up to Hannah’s, she was ready to do battle with the “good” pastor.
