Release!: A Walker Brothers Novel (The Walker Brothers #1)(21)

Just like that? That easily? He believed I was innocent? “Why?”

He slowly released his grip on my wrists, as though he was reassured I wasn’t going anywhere. “Because you’ve given me no reason to doubt it. You’ve worked most of your life, and you came to me begging for a job so you could make a living. You were honest when you didn’t have to be. I don’t think you’re capable of whatever crime you supposedly committed.”

He helped me sit up, but he kept a supporting hand behind my back.

“You barely know me,” I argued, stunned that he didn’t appear to have any doubts.

No one had ever believed me, not even a jury of my peers.

“What happened?”

Tears sprang to my eyes again, and I clasped my hands together because I was trembling. Trace was the first person to doubt my guilt, and his exoneration touched my soul. “I don’t understand why you believe me.”

“Believe it. You don’t have to understand why. Just tell me what happened, Eva.”

His voice was low and soothing now, and I felt my body finally relax.


One of his large hands reached out and covered my conjoined fingers. “Stop fidgeting. If you did nothing wrong, you have no reason to feel guilty.”

It wasn’t all guilt that was making me nervous. It was him. Trace made me uneasy, but not in a frightening kind of way. “Nobody has ever believed me. And I don’t like to talk about it.”

I hated remembering how terrified I was, how I’d been duped by a mother who hadn’t given a shit about me. She had known what had happened to me. I’d called her, and she had denied that she’d had anything to do with the crime, but I could tell she’d deliberately left me to take the blame if the theft had been discovered.

“Tell me,” Trace said insistently.

I swallowed hard, knowing I owed him an explanation. “My mother didn’t work much, but she got a temporary position with a Mrs. Mitchell as an assistant and companion right before she met your father. In fact, she met your dad because she worked for the Mitchell family. They were rich. Probably not as rich as your family, but well-to-do.” What I really meant was that the Mitchell family probably had only millions instead of billions, but they were still incredibly rich. “Mrs. Mitchell introduced your father to my mother during a party.”

I turned my head and saw him nod, but he was silent, waiting for me to go on.

“My mother stole some very pricey jewelry from her employer right before her temporary job ended, during an event Mrs. Mitchell was having to celebrate her son’s birthday. I came to the festivities to work with my mother - Mrs. Mitchell offered me decent money to come work that night as hired help. I was serving food, and on the cleanup crew. I couldn’t turn down the extra income for one night’s work. It was a decision I eventually regretted.”

“How did you get blamed?” Trace asked curiously.

I shrugged. “My mother left the jewelry in our apartment when she realized your father was going to get serious very quickly. She wasn’t going to risk being caught with the goods, so she left them when she went to Texas to be with your father. By the time Mrs. Mitchell raised the alarm and the theft was being investigated, my mother was gone. They found the items in our apartment and I was the only one living there.”

“That isn’t enough—”

I interrupted before he could say anything more. “Mrs. Mitchell swore my mother would never steal from her. It didn’t hurt that your father had already proposed to my mother, and she’d left to live her happily ever after in Texas.” I couldn’t keep the bitterness out of my voice. “I don’t think Mrs. Mitchell wanted to believe that she’d set your dad up with a thief, and she didn’t want something like that to go public. There was also video evidence.”

“You were caught on video?”

I shook my head. “Not me. It had to be my mother. We both started out wearing the same uniform that afternoon, but she changed shortly after arriving at the mansion because your father was attending the party. She didn’t want to be seen as one of the workers. I don’t think the Mitchell family ever saw her in the uniform. They weren’t around while we were setting up.”

“Did she do it on purpose?” Trace’s voice was getting irritated.

“Probably.”

“So she planned to pin it on you?”

“I really don’t think she planned on getting caught. She didn’t try to sell the items right away. They were hidden in her room at the apartment. She’d stolen before, and had never gotten caught. Little stuff. Shoplifting and petty theft. She went big this time, but I think she was too afraid to take the jewelry with her when she went to Texas to be with your dad.”

“How in the hell did they mistake her for you in the video?”

“No one remembered seeing her in uniform, and the quality of the video was bad. They could only tell the approximate weight, height and hair color of the person taking the jewelry. That description fit…me. It also fit my mother. Which one do you think they suspected when I had the goods and my estranged mother was marrying a very rich man?”

“Did you confront your mother?”

I nodded. “Only on the phone. She swore she knew nothing about it, and she told me that I needed to pay for my crimes right before she told me that she never wanted to talk to me again and hung up.”