Actually, CJ's "poor, misunderstood Eric" would be the most incriminating evidence against him. Or cloud of smoke, if he indeed is innocent. And I agree, there would be quite an explanation to give. The 1st person narrative also gets us to see reality through Chris' eyes, who starts the story completely despaired by the disgusting blackmail, and who has consequently a bad opinion of Eric. He is guilty, no doubt, he even admitted some of his crimes, the issue that remains is to know if he was forced to act the way he did (I doubt it) and if he runs the crime ring. I didn't join the Pro-Ericers, but of course a shocking revelation can still be in order. Well, make that "is in order". The epilogue has been written for a long time, I'm eager to know what's in it.