Chapter 6 - Travis Chooses a Side
Travis denied signing the statement.
He called it a forgery.
The signature expert disagreed.
The paper was authentic.
The ink was seventeen years old.
Caroline explained that Travis signed it privately after the police left.
He was nineteen at the time.
He told her he wanted to help me.
Then Gerald threatened to remove him from the family business.
Travis changed his story.
He became our father’s most loyal son because loyalty paid better than truth.
Detective Ruiz interviewed him after child protective services removed his boys.
Travis demanded immunity.
He offered information about the correction room, the hidden cameras, and Gerald’s influence over local officials.
The prosecutor refused full immunity.
Cooperation might reduce his sentence.
It would not erase what he allowed.
Travis called me from the county jail.
I almost declined.
Then I thought of his children.
“What do you want?”
“I didn’t know Dad would hit Lily that hard.”
“He used a belt on a three-year-old.”
“He said it would be one strike.”
“You discussed punishing her before we arrived.”
“Mom planned that.”
“You laughed.”
Silence.
Travis had spent his life believing guilt belonged only to the person who delivered the final blow.
“What does Dad know about me?” I asked.
“He was going to release your juvenile report.”
“Anything else?”
“He has records from your first year as a prosecutor.”
“What records?”
Travis lowered his voice.
“Dad paid someone to influence one of your cases.”
I stopped breathing.
Eight years earlier, I prosecuted a contractor named Lowell Hayes for bribery and falsifying safety inspections.
Hayes accepted a plea agreement after a witness unexpectedly changed his testimony.
At the time, I believed the witness became frightened.
According to Travis, Gerald paid him.
Hayes had once worked for Hutchinson Construction.
Gerald needed the case resolved without a public trial that might expose his own company.
“You are saying Dad interfered with a criminal prosecution.”
“Yes.”
“And you knew?”
“I delivered the cash.”
The admission gave prosecutors leverage.
It also put my legal career at risk.
If the defense claimed I knowingly concealed misconduct, every case I handled could be reviewed.
Travis understood that.
That was why he called.
“Help me get my boys back,” he said.
“Or Dad’s lawyer gets the records.”
“You are threatening me while Lily is in intensive care.”
“I am trying to save my family.”
“No.”
“You are repeating Dad.”
I ended the call.
May you like
Then the intensive-care alarm sounded.
Lily’s brain pressure had begun rising again.
