Booktree.ng_Forgotten-Witness

“Josie Bates was in the room when he jumped.”
Eugene was finally rewarded with Ambrose’s undivided
attention. Ambrose’s brow furrowed, his mouth turned down,
his head tilted as if he could now hear the call to action.
“She knew him all along then? Do you think Ms. Bates was
laying the groundwork for something? No, no,” Ambrose
shook his head, answering his own question. “To what end?
There’s no connection between this man and Eastern Europe.
There would be no reason to disrupt a hearing on a subject that
was so personal to her.”
“I don’t think it’s anything like that.” Eugene was quick to
reassure him. “I was thinking that Francis possibly came there
for you. It was unfortunate that he ran her down and that his
rambling could be construed as pertinent to her problem. It
was my fault not to recognize how determined she was to
follow-up. I could have mitigated the outcome by monitoring a
meeting in controlled circumstances. I’m sorry. I let you
down.”
“Nonsense, Eugene. I wouldn’t have thought it of her either.
I believed we had sent her on her way. We miscalculated,
that’s all. There is no fault. It was a fluke,” Ambrose assured
him but the senator’s mind was still working on the
permutations of possible problems that could come from that
woman’s curiosity about Ian Francis. “If Josie Bates did have
an agenda of some sort, we would have had reporters on our
doorstep by now. Did you speak with her?”
“I thought it best not to connect your office in any way
outside of the hearings. I was in touch with Officer Morgan
throughout. Morgan was following Francis to see where he
went. He didn’t even know Bates was in that room until the
incident. Then he interviewed her. Francis didn’t say anything
to her about his work. He never spoke to the desk clerk or
other residents. Morgan and Ms. Bates agree that he
purposefully fell from the window. The girl who was with him
has disappeared.”