Chapter 21

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The clock on the stove read seven thirty. Glen poured the last of the coffee into a mug and made another pot. He'd planned on feeding Ingrid before Notus showed up, but after the way she reacted to him in bed, he knew she'd finally opened herself up to him and was thinking with a clearer head.

His gut tightened even thinking about how damn sexy she'd been in bed. All innocent on the surface and hiding her wildness for him in the privacy of his bedroom. He wanted her out of her shell and the shit she dealt with behind her. She deserved to embrace life again.

"You okay?" asked Thad.

Glen put the lid on the can of coffee and looked up. "Yeah, fine."

Thad grunted. Glen lifted his mug to his lips, hiding the spasm in his lip. If slipping out of Ingrid's body to answer the God damn door was okay, he was okay.

"Do you need someone to punch some sense into you?" Chuck stepped into the dining room. "You've got a woman upstairs in a world of trouble, and you're walking loose like you've boned her all night."

Glen concentrated on his mug. "I've got things under control."

"She's now under our protection." Wayne crossed his arms. "We don't invite missing persons into our lives."

"She's not missing." Glen whistled low, stopped, and turned around and opened up the cupboard grabbing a bag of sunflowers still in the shell. "She found me."

"You're going to argue details?" Thad chuckled. "Bro, we've seen how you act with her. Her life is going to go back to normal, or at least a new normal. Let her start the process now."

Chuck placed papers on the dining room table. Glen put a handful of sunflowers in his vest pocket and a few in his mouth. The whistling was no longer fun to control. He needed something else to distract him from the spasms in his lip and sunflowers would do the trick.

"Come look at these," said Chuck.

Glen walked around the counter and studied the photo on one paper, ignoring Thad's advice to step away from Ingrid. He knew what he was doing. Ingrid wasn't only a person asking for Notus's help. She belonged to him. He'd fucked her, and he wasn't planning on stepping away.

He tapped the closest piece of paper. "That's him. Evan Kingsley."

Smiling into the camera, the guy looked young, spoiled, and cocky.

Movement out of his peripheral vision grabbed his attention. He stretched out his arm and reached for Ingrid's hand. She hurried over and latched on to him.

He put the paper down. "I poured you a cup of coffee, and there's an oatmeal breakfast bar on the counter beside the mug."

She stepped away from him, opened the wrapper, bit off a section of the bar, and covered her mouth with two fingers and mumbled. "Thank you."

"Are you ready to hear where we're at and what we need to do?" he asked.

She drank from the mug and nodded. "Yes."

Glen looked up at Wayne. "Let's get it done."

Wayne motioned for Chuck. "Go ahead."

"Evan Kingsley lives in an apartment complex in the Piedmont area. We've got an address and number." Chuck picked up another piece of paper. "He's an IT specialist with Romero, a company in Beaverton."

Ingrid watched Chuck without blinking. Glen put his hand on her back and rubbed. She hid her reaction from everyone in the room, including him.

"I went through our records and plugged into past missing person cases and cold cases." Chuck looked at Ingrid. "Nobody under the name of Ingrid Peterson or Heidi Lundin has been reported missing. I went back five years. Now would be a good time to give us a different name or a different spelling..."

"I don't understand that. I am Ingrid Peterson." She inhaled deeply. "My parents didn't report me missing?"

Glen's lip tingled, and he bit down on one of the sunflower shells. He wanted to remove Ingrid from the room and bring her back after he found out everything. That way he could break the information to her gently. As it was, she had to face some hard truths. Not knowing her previous life, he had no idea if she had a good relationship with her parents or if their lack of interest was a red flag in her story.

"No. I have access to all missing person reports." Chuck cleared his throat and lowered his voice. "Let's remember that this is only background information as we build a case, off the record. We haven't talked to your folks or Kingsley or the police. Their side of what happened the last two years could be different than you imagine. You should keep an open-mind."

Ingrid reached over and grabbed on to the thigh of Glen's jeans. "You didn't talk to Steward Kingsley, did you?"

"No." Chuck fingered the stack of papers and pulled another one out. "Wayne watched over your parents' house last night, and Thad parked at the end of the block at Officer Kingsley place."

"We're all here now because Evan Kingsley is at work. He works Tuesday through Saturday, and we verified that he started a half hour ago." Wayne pulled out a chair and sat down. "Before we discuss anything more. I need to tell you I talked to an attorney last night after I left for the stakeout. We've used him before when Notus needed a lawyer. Since he's on retainer with the club, everything I discussed with him is kept private. I discussed with him the statute of limitations for assault and battery, which you've said describe happening two years ago and prior. In Oregon, there's a two-year limit. Do you know the exact day and month of the last time Kingsley put his hands on you?"

Ingrid let go of Glen and rubbed her stomach. "He never touched me."

Glen lifted his hand and cupped the back of her neck. Her clammy skin damp against his fingers. He leaned over and whispered, "It doesn't have to be his hands, Blue. It can be items and furniture he used to hurt you."

"Oh." She moistened her lips. "June second was the last day. I ran away that evening. It was Evan's birthday."

Wayne looked at Glen. "It's mid-July."

Ingrid body trembled. "What does that mean?"

"It means your two years are over and you can't prosecute Evan Kingsley for the damage he's done to you." Wayne widened his feet and grimaced.

"What about personal injury?" asked Glen, his anger growing. "He can't be untouchable for what he's done."

Wayne lifted his hand, silencing Glen. His pulse raced. He understood the ramifications of the club handing out the punishment. Business wouldn't be discussed with outsiders around, including Ingrid.

"I don't understand what all this means." Ingrid crossed her arms and clasped her elbows. "Are you saying he can't be arrested, so my parents are safe?"

Wayne nodded. "That's what I'm saying. It's been too long. Any report you make to the police will not be prosecutable. They can't arrest him, and he will remain free to live his life."

Ingrid backed up and turned around. Glen rubbed a hand over his face. Last night, he knew of the possibility, but Jesus...there had to be something the police could do to nail Kingsley. Ingrid shouldn't have to worry about Evan coming after her or those she loved.

"Ingrid?" He tagged her hip. "We can still take you home. I can be there while you explain to your parents, and offer you protection. There are ways to keep yourself safe. A restraining order—"

"No." She shook her head and turned around. "A restraining order is only a piece of paper, and I don't qualify. The abuse had to have happened within the last one hundred and eighty days. I checked right after I ran away and decided it was best to disappear. The homeless women have told me taking a restraining order doesn't work, and they should know. They've been in my shoes. They tried to get help."

His chest ached for her. He wished like hell he could tell her of another way to get Evan out of her life, but she was right. The abuse had happened too long ago in the eyes of the law.

"I don't know what to do," she whispered. "Evan knows I'm in St. John's, where I work, and probably watched me run across the bar to all of you, and go home with Glen. He could go after my parents because I've made him mad."

"What would you like us to do?" asked Glen.

"I feel like I've made a huge mistake and I can't go back to protecting everyone." Ingrid looked up at him. "My parents have to be told what Evan is capable of, and I'm the only one who can tell them. I can't hide to protect them any longer since Evan knows where I am. I never wanted this to happen."

"Do you think you want to go home, back to your parents?" He lifted her chin to keep her gaze focused on him.

"Yes. I think I need to go back home." She put her hands on his chest. "If I'm there and Evan somehow get inside their house, he'll focus on me, and not my mom and dad. I rather have him hurt or kill me than my parents."

"That's not going to happen," he said.

"I would suggest talking to law enforcement. There could be a way around the requirements to obtain a restraining order that we don't know about." Wayne stood and scooted in the chair. "I know it's a long shot, but you need a legal record of what you've lived through in case anything should happen or Kingsley tries to make contact with you. That report would help you in the eyes of the courts."

Glen brought her to his chest and wrapped his arms around her. During her explanation of what she wanted, he'd cracked every single sunflower, and the shells poked irritably against his cheek. "A record is a good idea, Blue."

She nodded against him. "I don't even know how to tell my parents or what they'll think when they see me. They never reported me missing. All this time, hiding, running, telling the police I was someone else, nobody was looking for me. I don't even think Evan was. He found me because we ended up in the same location."

He barely heard the last few words. "Everything will be okay, and if it's not, you can always come back here and stay with me."

"Okay," she whispered. "Stewart is going to hate me when I make a report about his son."

"That's not your worry." He kissed the top of her head. "Right now, you come first, and we're going to take care of you."

In the other room, Wayne talked to Lieutenant Gomez on his cell phone, setting up a meeting. Glen continued holding Ingrid. The motion was started. He wasn't sure when the next time he could hold her would be. But, he'd be by her side.