“The next morning, Brandon swore it would never happen again and I promised him I would do better, try harder to make him happy. But the thing is, Brandon was never happy. I see that now. Over the years, it only got worse.”
“Did you ever try to leave him?” Ari asks, and I laugh without humor.
“Only once,” I explain. “I had gotten as far as a few towns over when he found me and the lesson he taught me was that he would never let me go alive.”
“So, what did you do?” Ellie asks.
“I knew that I couldn’t live like that. I knew that it was only a matter of time before he killed me, and he would get away with it too. He told me all the time about how important his friends were in town. So, one day I decided, if it was going to come down to him or me, it was going to be me. That very next day I started putting a little bit of rat poison in his morning coffee. Not a lot at first, just enough to weaken him. Make him feel sick.
“I think he started to suspect something. He started preparing his cup of coffee himself in the mornings. But I was watching, I was ready. Brandon would only drink this one type of coffee. He made me go all over town to find where I could buy the little cups that go in those single serving brewers. And I wasn’t allowed to drink them. They were his only. So, while he was at work, I started making a solution out of the rat poison and water and injecting it into the cup under the label.
“On that last morning, he was feeling miserable, although that didn’t stop him from hitting me two nights before, he collapsed right there at the breakfast table. I never looked back. I just walked to the hall closet and grabbed a bag I had hidden under all of the winter coats and Christmas decorations with a few changes of clothes and all the cash I could pilfer from my grocery allowance.”
“And then what?” Ari asks.
“And then I got in my car and drove to Kentucky. I sold my car for a junker with no paper trail and—”
“And you drove here,” Russell interrupts.
“No,” I smile at him. “I landed in Tall Pines for a few months before coming here.”
“I’m so sorry that happened to you,” Ellie says placing her hand on top of mine on the table.
“Me too,” Ari joins in.
“But you see, I’m a cold-blooded killer. I have to go before Tanner has to lock me up and throw away the key,” I explain.
“Girl, that was more ‘Earl Had to Die’ and some straight up Dixie Chick shit, not ‘Making a Murderer.’” He shakes his head as if he’s disappointed in me.
“I’ll admit it was a little more ‘Arsenic and Old Lace’ instead of ’48 hours,’” Ellie says and Ari laughs.
“Have you all lost your damn minds?” I shout. “This shit is serious.”
“Good Lord,” Russell groans. “Do you even know if the bastard is dead?”
“What?” I whisper.
“Well, you didn’t stick around to watch him die, how do you know he’s really dead? You might not be a murderer after all.” The thought had never occurred to me. I always assumed Brandon was dead. But if he’s not . . .
“Oh no,” I whisper. “I have to go!” I shout before getting to my feet and running out the back door. I don’t stop until I’m in my old clunker of a car and heading down the road towards Tanner’s house.
I have to go.
I can’t let Tanner arrest me for murder. I won’t go to jail. And if Brandon isn’t dead . . . If Brandon hurt any of these people who I have grown to . . .love—especially Tanner who is so kind and sweet and generous—I would die.
