Proof of Innocence. Lenora Worth
down at her hands. “We parted at around nine or so, but later—not long after I saw you—he didn’t answer my calls and I got worried about him.”
Chase checked his notes. “You and I spoke around ten that night,” he reminded her. “I remember glancing at my watch and wondering why you were out walking so late.”
“I needed to think about things,” she replied. “I was worried about Michael’s frame of mind and I was upset that...I couldn’t make it work with him. I went to his condo to check on him and he wasn’t there. I figured he’d driven out to his father’s estate to possibly discuss getting the congressman’s help with this child he was so worried about. He told me he needed to talk to his father, so I headed out there.”
Chase held up a hand and decided he could tell her what he knew for a fact. “Let’s stop for a minute. We’ve confirmed that Michael was talking about a two-year-old boy who belonged to his father’s housekeeper, Rosa Gomez—”
She shook her head and held her hand toward him. “But then the child couldn’t be related to him.”
Chase hated to spill things to her in this way, but he had to get all the facts straight and he had to feed them to her one by one. “Erin, the little boy—Juan Gomez—is the son of the congressman. We’ve pretty much established that he’s Michael’s half brother.”
Erin went still, her eyes widening. “I can’t believe this. Do you think...Michael went to his father’s house to confront him or to at least ask him to take Juan out of foster care?” Then she gasped. “They were in a heated argument when I came around the corner to the patio. What if that’s why the congressman shot Michael?”
It was Chase’s turn to be shocked. Leon Ridge had told them it was an accident. “Are you saying that’s what happened that night?”
She nodded, tears forming in her eyes. “Yes, Chase. I went there to find Michael and...I walked up on them arguing. The congressman said something about Michael ruining everything. He reached for a gun and then they were struggling, pushing and shoving, and the next thing I knew the gun went off and...Michael fell to the ground.” She put a hand to her heart. “Then blood went everywhere and...I screamed and ran toward Michael.”
Chase saw the terror in her eyes. “And then what happened?”
“I took off my jacket and tried to stop the bleeding. Congressman Jeffries stood there in shock, or so I thought. He tried to explain that it was an accident, but I saw him hold that gun to Michael’s stomach and pull the trigger.
“After that, I didn’t know what to say, but I kept begging him to call for help. He didn’t move and then he turned nasty and pointed the gun at me, telling me if I told anyone what I’d witnessed he’d swear that I shot Michael. When I took out my phone, he grabbed it from me and even threatened to kill my father.”
She gulped in a breath. “When I begged him to call 911, he said he’d ruin my father, that he’d frame him and destroy his career. He asked me if I wanted that on my conscience.” She put a hand to her mouth and shook her head. “I didn’t know what to do.”
Chase got up and came to kneel in front of her. “Hey, it’s okay. If you’re telling the truth and Michael did know about Juan Gomez, we have more than enough information to prove his father had a strong motive for shooting him.”
“I am telling the truth,” she said, pushing him away. “Why would I lie?”
Chase didn’t think she was lying, but he had to keep questioning her. “Why didn’t you call your dad or even me? Why did you run, Erin?”
She lifted her head and stared at Chase, her dark blue eyes still moist. “One of the congressman’s goons showed up when I was trying to help Michael. Leon Ridge—that creepy aide who was always hanging around. I asked him to help me and that’s when the congressman told his aide to rip off the starfish necklace Michael had given me for my birthday and to drop it near Michael’s body—and then he demanded that Leon shoot him in the shoulder so it would look like I’d done it. But before he let that stupid man shoot him, he told Leon to take care of me. He never wanted anyone to hear what I had to say about that night. He made it look as if I’d shot Michael and I’d run off. Only, he never figured I’d live to tell the truth.”
Chase could understand the fear in her eyes. Leon Ridge had pretty much told them a similar story. Funny that Ridge hadn’t mentioned that he’d taken Erin out to be shot. Ridge refused to even talk about Erin or her whereabouts. He said he had no idea where Erin was and he didn’t care.
When Chase thought about how close she’d come to dying, he asked the obvious. “But you got away?”
“Yes, but only after Leon Ridge put me in a car and took me out to the woods. The minute he dragged me out of the car, I kicked him and used one of my boot heels to dig into his foot. He shot at me and missed. Then I ran and ran and...I’ve been running since then, hiding out all around Maryland and Virginia.” She grabbed at Chase’s shirt. “Now do you believe me?”
Chase lifted her up and tugged her into his arms. “Yes, Erin. I believe you. And now that I’ve heard your side of the story, we’ll compare notes and I promise I’m going to do everything I can to clear your name.”
Erin nodded. “I’ve blocked out a lot of that night. Michael wanted to tell me something.” She closed her eyes. “He said something. He kept looking over my shoulder and he whispered a word.” She gasped and grabbed at Chase’s sleeve. “I thought he was trying to say gone. That he was telling me I needed to leave. But Chase, what if he was saying a name?”
“Juan,” Chase said, the horror in her words chilling him in spite of the hot summer night.
She bobbed her head again, tears falling down her face. “Juan.”
Chase drew back, deciding he needed to be honest. “We have Leon Ridge in custody and he told us Jeffries shot Michael, but we found that hard to accept. He claims the shooting was an accident, and that the congressman and he came up with an alibi. He said he shot the congressman to make it look as if an unknown assailant had done it, but he never mentioned that he saw you that night. And he refused to discuss Juan Gomez and the boy’s connection to the congressman.”
“What? Why didn’t you tell me that before now?” Her expression changed, an angry frown clouding her face. “Let me guess. You were waiting to see what I’d tell you, right?”
Chase tried to calm her down. “I had to be careful, Erin. I didn’t want to confuse you or upset you.”
“You don’t believe me after all.” She pushed him away. “You probably think I’m lying about him taking me out to kill me.”
Chase tugged her back around. “I told you, I believe you. Ridge never told us he’d even seen you. He clams up when we ask about you being there that night.”
“That’s because Jeffries will have him killed if he says anything else. I’m surprised he said that much, He was there when the congressman decided to pin the whole thing on me, but I got away from Leon. The congressman can’t be too happy about that.”
“Ridge is obviously the fall guy,” Chase explained. “We interviewed the congressman about Juan and the murder, but he denied any involvement. He tried to convince us that Juan was Michael’s child.”
“That’s not possible,” Erin exclaimed. “Michael couldn’t have children. It was...always a sore subject between us.”
“We know the child isn’t Michael’s for that very reason. Leon tried to convince us of that, too. We reminded Leon of the opinion piece Michael wrote for one of the local papers, promoting foster care and adoption. The congressman got tripped up in his own lies on that one. He’s wanted on corruption charges, but...now we’re talking murder,