Booktree.ng_Forgotten-Witness

Hearings.
Jackpot.
“Ms. Bates – Josie – please, don’t get your hopes up that
this man knows anything about your ward,” Patriota said.
“That man pushed his way through a hundred people and
came directly to me. His exact words were, ‘I know where she
is’. That statement is specific to my testimony. This isn’t about
hope. This is about follow-up,” Josie insisted.
“Of course, of course,” Ambrose assured her. “My chief of
staff is doing exactly that, but your faith is misplaced. That
man has no answers for you.”
“I’m not talking about my faith in him but in you. I believed
your promise to do everything you can to help the victims of
Eastern European crime. Unless, of course, this has all been a
waste of time and you were pandering.”
“I only pander on Wednesdays,” Patriota teased. “In all
seriousness, the authorities are interviewing him. However, as
an attorney, you understand that what people say they know is
often very different from what they do know. That man may
have been moved by your testimony so he made something up
thinking he could make you feel better.”
The Senator leaned forward slightly, raising his palm as if to
show her there were no tricks up his sleeve.
“In Washington, as in a courtroom, people can become
fixated on their fantasies. They believe they have the singular
ability to expose a great and important truth. They show up in
any public forum: at schools, at rallies, and especially at
political gatherings. They will speak to anyone who will listen.
They are adept at choosing just the right words that will make
someone as passionate as you clutch at the straw they are
holding.
“They believe in atrocities and conspiracies. They come
here to save the world by speaking out and sometimes by
threatening those of us who serve the people. Washington is its