An unexpected loneliness filled her heart. Forcing down the sadness, she entered the classroom and got busy setting up. Twenty minutes later, she stood in front of a packed class of women. After welcoming them to Introduction to Self-Defense, she began.
“There are lots of precautions designed to keep women safe,” she said. “But during an attack, we might not have time to think about what we’ve learned. We operate on instinct and muscle memory to fight off our assailant. Today, I’m going to teach you a couple of ways to do that.”
She held up common items women might keep in their handbags—mace, a pen, car keys, and a small pocketknife. “Each of these can be a defensive tool, but they’re useless if we aren’t holding them in our hands. In an emergency, there’s no time to fish them out.”
“We can also kick and punch. It may be difficult to think about clawing someone in the eyes, but it’s a deterrent designed to give you an opportunity to get away. And while it’s easy for me to say, ‘don’t get into their car’ or ‘don’t let them drag you into a building’, it’s hard to resist someone who could be twice as strong as you.”
Several women in the audience nodded.
“What about martial arts?” someone asked.
“Great question. If that’s something you want to do, go for it. Here, we teach basic self-defense for women who want to learn how they can best protect themselves in everyday situations.”
Tucker walked in and Evangeline invited him to join her. After he introduced himself, they demonstrated a few of the techniques she’d discussed.
She loved helping women find ways to boost their confidence and empower them. In her classes, the bad guys didn’t win, but in the real world, they got away with plenty. When the class ended, Evangeline answered a few questions before leading a handful of the women to the front desk.
Late morning bled into midafternoon. After a brief break and a protein bar, she taught the class four more times. It was close to six thirty by the time she’d ushered the last group to the front desk. As she turned to leave, she did a double-take and her stomach dropped.
What the hell!
Joey walked by, carrying two gun cases. Because the lobby was still crowded, he was too busy navigating around everyone to notice her. Following him outside, she scanned the parking lot and spotted him just before he ducked into a vehicle.
Hurrying to hers, she jumped in, but she had to wait while several people walked by before backing out. By the time she exited the parking lot, she was sure she’d lost him.
Then, she saw his car at the light and pulled out behind him, following him east as he made his way back into the city. What the hell is a pastor doing at a shooting range?
She followed him to a burger joint where he waited in the drive-thru line before continuing on to an older brick-front home with a front-facing patio in southeast D.C.
On her way home, she called Henninger. “Hey, Julie, it’s Evangeline. Still busy?”
“No, it’s pretty much back to normal. Whew, that was a whirlwind, huh? What’s up?”
“Can you check the sign-in sheet for me?”
“Hang on. Okay, I’ve got it. It’s gotta be twenty pages long, plus, Tucker mentioned he saw a bunch of people who never bothered to sign in.”
She couldn’t ask Julie to sift through that many pages. “How long do you keep those sheets?”
“For as long as it takes me to enter the data. Half the time I’m trying to decipher their chicken scratch.” She laughed.
“I need to review those before you scrap them.”
“No problem.”
“I’ll be by tomorrow,” Evangeline said and ended the call.
After arriving home, she took a quick shower and dressed, plugged the Applegates’ address into her phone, and bolted.
Twenty minutes later, she arrived at their McLean home. Sin’s motorcycle was already parked out front. After she rang their doorbell, Mark Applegate swung open the front door and welcomed her in as the senator strolled into the foyer.
Evangeline introduced herself and shook their hands. “Thank you for allowing me to speak with Bethany.”
“We needed to bring our daughter and granddaughter home as quickly and safely as possible,” the senator explained, “which is why we hired Sinclair.”
“I’m not sure what Sinclair has told you about me,” Evangeline said.
“He can’t say enough good things about you,” Senator Applegate replied. “If he believes in your innocence, then so do we.”
“I appreciate your saying that,” Evangeline said. “It’s been a challenging time. I’ve spent the last eighteen months focused on the case that led me to your daughter. And I can’t let go until I solve it.”
The senator nodded. “I admire a woman who believes in something so wholeheartedly that she puts it above all else. Sacrifice isn’t easy, is it?” With a warm smile, she brought Evangeline into the cozy kitchen. Sin rose to greet her and her heart fluttered at the sight of him.
“Hello, Evangeline. Good to see you.” While his words were unremarkable, the spark in his eyes was smokin’ hot.
Trying to be casual, she glanced at his black dress pants and black dress shirt, then swallowed down a sigh. He extended his hand and she shook it. Touching him didn’t just feel right—it felt necessary.
“Thanks again for setting this up.” Gushing was not her thing, but she couldn’t stop the small smile from tugging on the corners of her mouth.
After the senator poured Evangeline a coffee, Mark suggested they talk in the family room. Rather than leave the center cushion open, Sin sat beside her on the sofa. Her body warmed. She loved having him in her personal space.
Bethany came into the room, a baby monitor in one hand, her phone in the other. She looked different. Could have been the environment. Maybe it was the clothing—comfy pants, a college sweatshirt, and bunny slippers.
After her mom made the introduction, she said, “Bethany, Evangeline wants to find the man who contacted you about buying Mia.”
“Yeah, sure,” Bethany replied as she sat on the floor. “I met Pete in a grocery store and we got to talking. I told him I wanted to give my baby up for adoption. That’s when he told me he knew someone who’d pay me cash for her.”
“Did he tell you who?”
“Someone called Uncle Charlie.”
“How much did Pete offer you for your daughter?”
Bethany chewed her lip before glancing at her mom.
“It’s okay, Bethany,” Senator Applegate said. “You can tell her.”
“Ten thousand if I could provide papers that my baby was healthy.”
A low growl erupted from Sin. She looked over at him and his jaw muscles were flexing.
“Let’s talk about Uncle Charlie,” she said to Bethany. “Did you meet him, too?”
“No, but I talked to him on the phone, like, once.” She scrolled through her handset. “No, wait, twice.”
“Is there anything that stood out from either of your conversations with him? A gruff voice or maybe an accent, or you could tell that he was smoking.”
Bethany paused, then shook her head. “He sounded like a nice guy. He had a regular voice, no accent or anything.”