Chapter Five:
The phone call John had received at the diner was from one of his buddies that were still in the FBI. John had asked him to look into Sonia Toledo being in the INL. His buddy had said that all lines of information were shut down and he couldn’t get answers from anyone. John was really starting to worry that Antonio was getting way too involved in something that would have deadly consequences for everyone.
Also, that same afternoon, Evangeline asked around about Judge Hernandez, the judge that had resided over Kelly’s custody case of Ace, but she came up with nothing too. She was really frustrated and couldn’t understand still, what had gone wrong. While she was leaving the courthouse, she got a call from John.
"Hey", John said, "where are you? I called your office and your assistant said you were out."
"I had to come to the courthouse to file some papers and I asked around about Judge Hernandez", she replied.
"Did you find out anything?" he asked.
"Nothing", Evangeline replied. "It’s kinda like some of the people are nervous, but they stonewalled me. It only makes me want to find out even more now."
John had a frown on his face as he listened to her on the phone. He said, "That sounds suspicious to me. I’m kinda worried about you asking around. Let me look into it some before you ask more questions. Can you go along with that?"
Evangeline said, "Well, I like to handle things on my own when I can, but if you feel funny about it, I’ll trust your gut and let you ask the next round of questions. How’s that?"
John said, "Thanks, it would make me feel better about it."
John went on to tell her that he really had a lot of investigation to do on a couple of different cases, so he’d be busy and probably wouldn’t be able to see her for the next couple of days. Evangeline said that that would be okay because she’d really gotten behind between Kelly’s case and Todd’s shenanigans and she had a lot to do herself.
John said, "Don’t forget about Friday though. It’s just you and me and that date we’ve been trying to go on for what seems like forever."
Evangeline said, "I can’t wait. It’s what’s going to get me through the rest of the week."
He smiled as he said, "Yeah?"
She smiled as she said, "Most definitely, yeah".
As they both hung up, they kind of stared into space smiling, him thinking of her and her thinking of him.
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Back at Lion Heart, Tico Santi received a call from someone at the courthouse. He was told that Evangeline Williamson had been asking around about Judge Hernandez. Tico didn’t like this one bit. He told the voice, "Keep me informed if she snoops around anymore."
As Tico hung up, he thought to himself, "This Evangeline Williamson could become a problem. If she gets too close to the truth, she’ll have to be dealt with." He made another call and told someone to find out background information on Evangeline Williamson. He may need it later if she continued to ask around about Judge Hernandez.
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John and Evangeline went on with the rest of their weeks as usual, doing their jobs and doing them well. Both had tried calling each other at different times, when they’d think about each other, but they never caught each other to talk.
John had a message from Evangeline on Wednesday evening saying, "Two days to go and I’m really looking forward to it."
Evangeline had a message from John on Thursday evening saying, "One day to go before it’s just you and me, alone, a real date." He said he’d call her Friday around lunch time to firm up their plans. She was starting to get that queasiness in her stomach again, just thinking about him and in anticipation of their date. She was starting to freak out a little, in a good way, so she decided to call Nora because she had to tell someone.
"Nora, it’s Van, do you have a few minutes to talk?"
"Sure Van", Nora said. "What’s up?"
"My big ‘real’ date with John is tomorrow night and I’m starting to freak out. I need you to talk me down", Van said.
Nora laughed and replied, "Calm down. You know you really want this. Just admit to yourself that you have feelings for John and stop trying to analyze them. Enjoy yourself. You deserve this".
"Do I?" Van replied. "After the way I hurt RJ? Should I really be this excited about a date? Am I setting myself up for a big fall here?"
"Come on Van", Nora said, "stop beating yourself up over what happened between you and RJ. Granted, it was a bad situation, but things happened that you couldn’t control and you have to go on and let it go. I love RJ, but if you had stayed with him and denied your attraction to John, it would have only turned out worse I think. Be happy that you’re having these butterflies for someone and are excited about seeing them. It’s a feeling you’ll come to cherish".
"Thanks Nora, I needed to here that. I don’t have to be in control all the time, right?" Van said.
"Right", Nora replied.
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John was in his office late on Thursday night, getting all his paperwork in order and ruminating over data he had collected. He wanted to make sure that nothing would stop him from his Friday night plans.
John started to get nervous every time he thought about taking her out on a real date. Technically, he hadn’t been on a date since Caitlyn and he was rusty. Also, he was really just starting to get to know Evangeline and he hoped that what he had planned would be something she’d enjoy. He thought to himself, "When did this happen, me being nervous about taking someone out? How does she do this to me? Have I really opened up, like Mike was saying?"
As John sat there at his desk thinking, Bo walked in to talk. "You’re here late tonight John", Bo said.
"Yeah", John said. "I’m just trying to piece together some of this Santi information and figure out where Sonia and Tico are coming from. Also, I still think Sonia and RJ have something to do with Octavio Vigil’s body being found in the quarry."
Bo said, "Has RJ slipped up at all? Are Sonia and RJ still together all the time?"
John replied, "RJ is cool as a cucumber. It’s just hard to get anything on him. Actually, Sonia’s been with Antonio more lately, so I don’t know if there is still a connection between her and RJ at all at this point." After saying that, John remembered that Evangeline was going to try to get information on Sonia and RJ, but he was glad that her cases had made her kind of back off from that a little.
Bo said, "I know you’re taking some of this personally because of your friendship with Antonio and also your relationship with Evangeline, but you’ve been working a lot lately. You really need to take a breather and get away from this place for a while".
John laughed and said, "It’s funny you’re saying that because I was going to tell you that tomorrow evening, I’d like to have some time off and not be on call unless it’s something really important. I have some plans I’d like to pursue".
Bo said, "I’m not even going to ask who with, or what your plans are because I know you won’t give up any information. All I can say is have a good time and tell Evangeline I said Hello".
John just kinda stared at Bo as Bo left his office.
"Tomorrow’s the day", he thought and "she said she can’t wait".
