Proof of Innocence

The dog started barking but stood back in a frenzied dance.

And the man holding her did something that surprised her and caused her whole world to tilt.

He shouted “Heel” at the big dog, and then he called her by her name. “Erin? Erin? It’s me. It’s Chase.”

Erin stopped fighting, her fists relaxing against his solid chest, her gaze halting on the face she remembered so well. Her voice cracked and she blinked to clear her head. “Chase?”

“It’s okay,” he said on a whisper. “You’re safe now, understand? You’re with me now and I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“Chase.” She said his name on the wings of a prayer and thanked God for sending her a hero. Chase Zachary. A hero who had once been the love of her life, her high school sweetheart.

A man who’d also been after her for over five months.

Should she try to run from him, too?

She hadn’t asked for this and she wasn’t prepared for what seeing Chase now could mean, but for a few brief seconds, she was so very glad to see him again. “Chase? Is it really you?”

“Yes.” His fingers gentled on her skin. “Relax, okay?”

Then he pulled her into his arms and held her close while she cried. Somewhere in the back of her frayed mind, she heard the big dog woof again. But this time the sound only reinforced how relieved she felt. Relieved and safe—unless he planned to take her into custody.

“Where are you taking me?”

Erin couldn’t quite wrap her brain around Chase finding her in these lonely, isolated woods. But when she glanced ahead at the dog leading them through the overgrown bramble and tangled vines, she understood. He’d had a little help from a friend. She could try to run again, but the dog would track her down. A weight of fatigue pulled at her like a heavy, stifling blanket. The enormity of Chase finding her caught up with her until panic set in. She had to run. These people would kill her and Chase, too.

Did she really want to go back out there alone? No. So she asked again, “Chase, where are we going?”

“Away from this place,” he said, his words just above a growl.

Earlier when she’d explained someone had been after her, Chase had quickly checked the woods before moving on, and then he’d made sure he and the dog guarded her at all times. They’d zigzagged back and forth, the dog stopping here and there to sniff the wind and the ground, but never alerting. Chase hadn’t made any small talk. He was intent on doing his job—which she figured now meant keeping her alive until he could get her under lock and key. Maybe the gunman who’d stalked her was gone. But she knew others would keep coming.

She thanked God the dog had led Chase to her at a time when she’d been out of options. But that joy was short-lived. “You tracked me.”

He nodded, his hand still on her arm. But then he stopped and tugged something out from under his shirt and shoved it at her. “I believe this belongs to you.”

Erin took the soft white-tinged bundle, but it was hard to see what it was in the dark. The material glistened in the moonlight and she let out a gasp. “My elephant scarf. How did you—”

“You dropped it the last time we talked.”

Erin swallowed back the emotional agony that scraped across her frazzled nerve endings. Their chance meeting so many months ago had stayed with her all this time. They’d had a brief argument that night just hours before Michael had died. Chase had made a sarcastic remark about seeing her at a White House dinner with Michael. He’d accused her of never being able to stand up to her formidable daddy. And he had been right. She was such a coward, she’d been afraid to tell anyone what had happened later that same night—the night she’d watched the congressman shoot Michael.

She’d been afraid to contact her father, afraid the congressman would make good on his threats to kill her father or ruin his career. And she’d been afraid to reach out to the one man who could have possibly helped her. The man now guiding her out of the dark woods.

And yet Chase had kept her scarf. “You’ve had this all this time?”

“Yep. I asked your father if I could hold on to it—to help track you.”

Chase had gone to her father? Of course they’d have to cooperate with each other regarding her whereabouts. She wondered how many times the authorities had questioned the senator. She could never be sure of her father’s true motives, but she loved him dearly and since her mother had died, Erin had tried to be the good daughter everyone expected her to be. She wanted to believe the senator would tell the truth no matter what. He’d taught her that much at least. Erin had managed to stay away from her father while on the run, so he wouldn’t be forced to lie on her behalf. But she missed him so much.

“Is he okay?” she asked, tears hot in her eyes. She’d heard her father had been injured in an attack a few weeks ago, and she’d managed to sneak into a DC hospital to check on him but only long enough to make sure he wasn’t seriously hurt. He never knew she was there. But she wasn’t ready to admit that to Chase.

“Your father is fine,” he answered. “He’s concerned about you, of course.”

Chase obviously didn’t want to discuss the man who’d come between them when they were so young and full of idealistic love. But then, Chase wasn’t one to discuss his feelings with anybody.

“I’m sure he’s concerned,” she replied, wishing she could explain everything to Chase right now. “And the Eagleton Foundation? Any word on that?”

“Kind of in a holding pattern from what we’ve heard. We questioned everyone who works for the foundation. No one knew anything about your whereabouts.” He gave her a quick glance. “They’re all concerned about you.”

She’d probably be voted out as CEO of the Eagleton Foundation. If that hadn’t already happened.

“I couldn’t contact anyone. It would have put them in danger, too.”

He didn’t respond to that, but he shot her a cautious glance and guided her over a tree root.

Holding on to the scarf like a lifeline, Erin loved the softness it brought back into her life. Knowing Chase had carried her scarf all these months gave her renewed hope. But the memories the exquisite piece of her past life brought out made her want to weep. She was no longer that girl and she was no longer a part of Washington’s elite society either. The nation’s capital was a very unforgiving place.

But she had her memories, good and bad. “My dad gave me this scarf for my birthday a few years ago. You know how I love animals.”

Chase glanced over at her. “Yep. I remember you going on a safari...one summer.”

The summer after they’d broken up.

Erin wrapped the delicate cream material stamped with blue elephants around her neck. “Chase, are you taking me back to DC?”

“No.”

Thinking he’d never been a man of words, she tried again. “Where are we going?”

“Where were you before?”

And so like him to answer a question with a question.

“In a hotel up on the highway.” They wound around a curve in the path. “I’ve tried to stay in cheap hotels to save cash. I’ve worked odd jobs to keep me going.”

Which he had to have known. He’d found her, hadn’t he? Was he testing her for the truth?

If so, he didn’t let on. “Then we won’t be going back to any of those places. They’ll be looking for you at every cheap motel in the area.”

They finally emerged from the woods and she saw a white SUV with official trim work and the words Capitol K-9 Unit stamped in dark letters on its sides. In bright red underneath, it stated Caution. Police Dog. Chase and the dog he’d called Valor stopped, both of them shielding her while the man did a visual of the area and the dog lifted his nose for any air scents.

“He’s beautiful,” she said after Chase used his key fob to open the high-tech vehicle. He helped her into the passenger’s seat, where what looked like an assault rifle was mounted inside the console between the seats. Valor jumped into a clean metal compartment right behind the two front seats, his doleful dark eyes washing over Erin with a certain curiosity that belied his training.

She automatically held her knuckles to his brown nose and allowed him to get to know her. “Hey there, Valor. Thank you so much for finding me.”

Valor whimpered a reply and did a little dance to show he understood. Chase patted the dog’s head and made sure he had some water. Then he closed the side door and got into the SUV.

“He’s a hard worker,” he said while he buckled up and checked the area again. Once he appeared satisfied that no one was lurking in the woods, he let out a sigh. “Erin, are you okay? Really?”