Proof of Innocence

Chase hoped he could find Erin soon, and he wished he could have helped her the night of the murder, or at least stopped her from going to the Jeffries estate. But they’d bumped into each other near the Washington Monument and the tension between them had somehow overshadowed any clear thinking.

She hadn’t even realized Chase was jogging along the path until he stopped and called her name. “Erin?”

Erin had whirled, her honey-blond curls collapsing in a silky waterfall around her face and shoulders. She wore a patterned scarf bundled loosely around her shoulders and a short wool jacket over jeans and high-heeled boots. A gold necklace sparkled against her skin and the blue pattern in the cream-colored scarf matched her deep blue eyes.

“Hey, Chase.” Her gaze moved over his fleece hoodie and back to his face, surprise masking her obvious discomfort. “Still staying in shape, huh?”

He jogged in place, and then relaxed. “Yep. Part of the job.”

She walked closer, her arms wrapped against her midsection to ward off the winter chill. He could see she’d been crying.

“Are you okay?”

Lowering her head, she looked down at her boots. “I’m fine. Just working through some things.” She stared off into the lights twinkling all around the city. “I wonder if it’ll snow tonight.”

Her tone suggested she didn’t want to talk about anything but the weather.

Chase had never known when to give up, however. “Erin, are you sure you’re all right? You shouldn’t be out here alone.”

“I told you, I’m fine.”

He tried one more time. Seeing her made his life hard, but he cherished their brief encounters all the same. “Anything I can do?”

She shook her head and wiped at her eyes. “No, nothing. I have to go.” She pivoted, her eyes holding his. “It was...good to see you again, Chase.”

Chase reached out to her, his fingers brushing against her scarf. “Erin, you know I’d do anything for you, no matter what.”

“I don’t need your help,” she replied, ripping away from his touch. “Not anymore.”

That comment brought out a pent-up bitterness in Chase. “You mean, because you don’t need me in your life now, right? I saw you with Michael Jeffries at that recent White House dinner. I guess your father is still calling the shots.”

“I have my own life now, Chase. No one tells me what to do.”

“Okay,” he said, hating himself for caring. “Or maybe you still don’t have the courage to stand up to your daddy.”

The hurt in her eyes as she turned away made Chase want to take back that accusation. But it was too late for that. Too late for a lot of things.

“Erin?”

“I have to go,” she’d said, her expression as chilly as the night wind blustering through the bare branches of the nearby cherry trees.

She’d taken off so fast her scarf fell away from her jacket. The soft material fluttered toward the ground like a dying butterfly, but Chase caught it up in his hands.

Chase had held it and called out to her. “Erin?”

But she’d already slipped out of sight.

Chase had been one of the last people to see her the day of the murder, and he’d beaten himself up over that tense conversation. What had she been crying about that night? Why hadn’t she let him help her?

A few hours later, he’d seen her broken starfish necklace in an evidence bag and Chase had become obsessed with finding Erin. It might be too late for them, but he wouldn’t let time run out on saving her.

This latest lead from Fiona and the research team had brought him to a rural area of Virginia about forty miles southwest of DC. Months ago, someone matching Erin’s description had been seen by a couple, Edward and Mavis Appleton. The elderly Virginia husband and wife had helped Erin in the days after the murder, but they’d been attacked by some thugs also looking for Erin. Since then, no one had come forward with any concrete sightings, but the team had proof that she’d been using internet cafés and remote libraries to do some online research, all of it pointing toward a strong corruption case against the supposedly upstanding Congressman Jeffries. Smart. She’d tried to bring down Jeffries on her own.

Since the man was now wanted on said corruption charges, Erin had obviously been onto the truth. Because the congressman had fled and was now missing, Chase wanted to find Erin before one of the congressman’s henchmen did.

The big dog at his feet whimpered and danced around, dark eyes staring up at Chase with anxious clarity. Valor was ready to get on with things, too.

“Yeah, boy, I know,” Chase said to his K-9 partner. Trained in search and rescue, Valor knew only that he was needed to find someone. But how could Chase explain to his faithful companion that they’d gone off the grid—way off the grid?

Leaning down, Chase allowed the fawn-colored Belgian Malinois to sniff the now-familiar cream-and-blue patterned cashmere scarf.

“We need to find her, Valor,” he said, praying that after so many months of uncertainty regarding Erin Eagleton’s whereabouts, one of his leads would finally pay off.

Valor sniffed the delicate material, then started trembling. The big dog was ready to go. Chase held tight to the leash and made sure Valor’s protective vest was secure. Then he gave the command to “Find.”

Valor took off into the Virginia woods located along a jogging trail near a narrow stream. Chase held tight and ran along with the animal. Had they hit on something so soon?

Was Erin somewhere nearby?

TWO (#ulink_6f9fb1c2-c23b-5c19-b932-c67947f256eb)

She was running in circles. Every tree hulked like a giant monster waiting to grab her. Every snap of a branch caused her to whirl in a dizzy spin of fear and slap at some unseen assailant. Earlier, unable to sleep, she’d heard someone outside her room—and she’d seen a man dressed in dark clothing and carrying a gun. Erin hadn’t stayed around to see if he’d come to call on her. She was used to mysterious assailants trying to kill her. Going out the back and over the balcony, she’d taken the first path into the dense woods, thinking she could circle back and hide somewhere in the small town and then board a bus out. Somehow.

Now it was dark and she was soaked with sweat and the bugs were trying to finish her off. The short dark auburn wig she wore seemed to be shrinking on her head. It pressed into her skull like a wet mesh helmet and had her whole head itching with a fire that burned all the way down her backbone. The few possessions she managed to carry around bounced together in the deep pocket of the old jeans she’d been wearing for days now. She had a little cash left and she had her research notebook. She sure didn’t want to lose that since it had all her memories and all of her questions and, maybe, a few answers. Erin had to get somewhere safe before morning. Another hotel with a front and back entry, so she wouldn’t be cornered, more attempts to search online for information and clues, news articles and tips.

This was her life now, a never-ending nightmare of always looking over her shoulder with an ingrained fear that might not ever leave her. She was pretty sure she’d finally outrun her pursuer, so she planned to hike out of the woods.

Searching for any sign of the lights toward the town, she shifted in the gray moonlight and slid behind a big tree. What was that sound? Was someone running toward her again?

Footsteps echoed out over the woods and the swish of bushes being shoved aside followed. Someone was still after her.

Holding her breath, Erin closed her eyes and prayed for guidance. She would survive this. She’d heard the news reports regarding the vast array of corruption charges being brought up against Congressman Jeffries. Now he’d been indicted for some of his crimes. But surprise—he’d fled like the coward he was. At least she wouldn’t have to be the one to prove he was corrupt. But she still had to prove she hadn’t killed Michael. She knew the truth and she intended to tell that truth once she...once she what?

Turned herself in and tried to reason with the police?

Or maybe gave a long statement over the airwaves and screamed to the world that she was on the right side of the law?

Or maybe she could call her powerful father and hope that the scandal of having a fugitive daughter hadn’t ruined his position in the Senate or severed his strong ties with the Washington elite. But she’d been careful about not having contact with her father so she couldn’t start now. He’d have to report hearing from her. Knowing that being involved in such a scandal could indeed ruin her father’s career right along with any thoughts she had of her life going back to normal, Erin didn’t know where to turn next.

She dropped her head and stood there, defeated and exhausted. When she heard pounding footsteps coming toward her, she knew she had no choice. She had to run as fast as she could.

But a thought occurred to her. In the cover of darkness, she could at least try to stop the gunman in his tracks before she took off. She’d trip him up and try to hit him over the head, maybe use some of the self-defense maneuvers her father had his security team teach her. That had worked when the congressman’s aide Leon Ridge had tried to kill her the night of the murder. Maybe she could find the strength to fight off this latest assailant.

Erin crouched behind a huge live oak’s aged trunk, a broken limb her only means of protection. She waited, holding her breath, her mind whirling with the vision of her hitting her stalker over the head, tripping him with one foot while she hit at him with all her might. Then she’d run. As fast as she could.

But when she turned to put her foot out, a dog’s woof caused her to stumble. Right into two waiting hands.

Erin started fighting, kicking and screaming as she tried to gain a foothold.