Knowing his age at the time didn’t change the fact that he’d kept crucial evidence out of the hands of the authorities, but Tessa could see his point. He was young, scared. The uncle, now that was completely different.
“It’s not an excuse,” Lee said. “You’re willing to testify to this? Under oath?”
George nodded. “Yes. I should have spoken up all those years ago, but . . .”
“It’s too late for an apology, whatever excuse you have. This might have changed the outcome of my trial. Do you realize the consequences of what you did?” Tessa asked, her voice several octaves higher than normal. “I . . . swear.” With that, she walked out of Poppy’s room. She was not going to resort to violent behavior and wind up back in prison because this stupid young man had not had the guts to tell the truth. Such cowardice had contributed to her being in prison in the first place.
Chapter 18
Tessa wanted to run out the front door, and would have if not for the large number of media people gathered at the gates outside her house. She forced herself to stop at the bottom of the staircase before she acted on the impulse and continued to run outside, only to find herself surrounded by unfriendly reporters of various kinds. Trapped inside her house was turning out to be almost as bad as being in prison, although, to be sure, she didn’t have a guard like Hicks teasing and taunting her. The media had taken her place.
“Hey, are you okay?” Jill asked as she came up behind Tessa. “You ran out so fast.”
Tessa took a deep breath, hoping to calm herself, but it didn’t help. “How can that little . . . punk live with himself? I am so . . . angry! His testimony could have helped my case. I am, I don’t know—” She twisted her long hair in her hand. “I feel as if I need to act, to do something other than just sit here and wait on Rosa and Rachelle, and that”—she pointed upstairs—“total jerk. It’s hard, Jill. Very hard.” Tears surged again, something she was becoming quite used to, and, as was becoming more common now that she was out of prison and did not have to hide her emotions, she let the tears stream down her face.
“I know, sweetie, I know. We are going to make this right no matter what we have to do. I promise. I think Lee Whitlow is top-notch, and I swear I haven’t Googled the man. He’s smart and seems to know what he has to do for you; and Sam does as well. You’re the toughest gal I know, Tessa. I couldn’t have endured all this and kept my sanity.”
Tessa gave up a halfhearted smile. “Bull. I don’t believe that for a minute.”
Voices coming from the top of the staircase were heard before Jill could respond.
Lee, Sam, and George came down the stairs.
George held out his hand to her. “Mrs. Jamison, I can’t even begin to know what you have been through, but I . . .” He stammered, and this almost made her feel sorry for him. Almost. “I will do anything I can to help with your new trial. It was totally wrong of me and my uncle not to go to the police and the DA to let them know what we had found.”
Hesitantly, Tessa took his offered hand. “Yes, it was wrong, George. Very wrong, but I do not suppose there is any point in my rehashing your reasoning. As long as you’re willing to tell what you saw now, I’m okay.” To be sure, Tessa was fudging a bit on this, but anger, recrimination, and holding on to the past could not change her future.
George nodded, looking relieved, and Sam led him out the back entrance. Once the people of the press saw him, they were likely to put two and two together, if they hadn’t already. And neither Tessa nor any of the others wanted them to get too much of a head start on learning about the new witnesses and what they might testify to.
Lee looked at his watch. “It’s almost eight o’clock, so Rosa should be here pretty soon. Are you sure you want to sit in on this one?” he asked Tessa, as they all returned to the living room. “You can tell me what you want to ask her, and I will.”
“No, I want to confront her myself,” she said adamantly. “I know her, and I need to know why she . . . No, that’s not it. I do know why. What I want to hear from her own mouth is exactly what she saw that day.”
“Fair enough,” Lee said. “Though I’ll want to question her, inform her what to expect when we go to trial. I don’t want her running off.”
“Isn’t there something you can do legally to make sure she stays here to testify?” Jill asked. “I would hate to see her take off because she was afraid.”
“There are a few tactics I can use,” Lee said. “I doubt I’ll have to. When I spoke to her, she was extremely remorseful, and without having the threat of being deported as an excuse this time around, I don’t think I’ll have to resort to any legal razzmatazz.”
Sam came back into the living room. “I have taken the liberty of ordering take-out from Papa Luigi’s. I know the owner, and asked them to call me when they were close, so I can meet them around back,” he announced. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I am famished.”
Tessa realized that she was hungry and was thankful that Sam had taken the initiative to feed them. Half an hour later, Sam’s cell phone rang, telling him their dinner was right around the corner.
There was still no sign of Rosa,
