Booktree.ng_Forgotten-Witness

“There are standing requests by the public for anything
referring to those programs, Senator–” Eugene began but
Ambrose silenced him.
“It is a small public, Eugene. Miniscule. The general public
has far more to worry about than things that happened three
decades ago.”
“But the phone–” Eugene started once more only to stop as
Ambrose threw up his hands.
“A dead man’s cell phone that, I might point out, is in your
possession. Put it in a drawer. Throw it away. Never think
about it again. I don’t know why you are fixated on this, but I
promise you, if you keep this up, your concern will become a
self-fulfilling prophecy.”
Eugene twitched. He colored a less-than-pleasing shade of
burgundy. Ambrose Patriota’s exasperation made no sense.
Eugene had meticulously created a timeline and presented
multiple scenarios of the impact on Senator Patriota should
this information find its way into the public domain, but the
senator refused to even look at it.
“The phone was purchased in Hawaii. On Molokai. The
woman who answered is Ian Francis’s daughter. His daughter,
sir.”
“And my children have cellphones, Ambrose countered.
“You cannot read any implied action into the fact that she
answered it or that she called you back. You are the one
poking at a hornet’s nest, not her. She might be wondering
why someone had her father’s phone, called her, and did not
speak. And, if she is in Hawaii, then she has already chosen
not to pursue the matter of her father’s death. That means she
does not want to call attention to it anymore than we do. That
also means that she probably has no idea what her father was
up to. Perhaps now she’s rethinking everything because of
you.”
“I realize that now. That was not wise.” Eugene
symbolically turned away from Ambrose, hunching his