Fin’s nod was almost imperceptible, telling me that the conversation was being recorded.
“Why don’t we all sit down,” I suggested.
Bre retook the seat on the sofa while Fin and I sat in chairs side by side.
“Vee, I want to ask a favor of you,” Bre said.
“A favor?” This was unexpected. “What favor?”
“I didn’t hurt Reid. I would never hurt him. He knew about the baby.” Her cheeks rose and her lips turned upward, despite tears spilling from her eyes. “Why would I hurt him?”
Shaking my head, I sighed. “I don’t know.”
“I wouldn’t. But they think I did. I want to believe this nightmare will all go away and I’ll be rendered innocent. If it doesn’t…if my attorney doesn’t win…” She wiped her cheeks with a handful of tissues. “I’d like you to raise our baby.”
“Say what?” I turned to Fin whose eyes were as round as saucers and back to Bre. “That’s…well, that’s a shock. I’m not qualified.”
Bre’s smile was back. “You are, the most qualified. I want our baby to know the love of his or her father. You know that love better than anyone else. You could tell our baby about his father in a way only a sibling could do.”
“Surely, you have family or someone,” I said.
Bre looked down as she nibbled on her lip. “I have a sister in Oakland. I was going to go there to visit after the funeral and let her know about the pregnancy.”
“Your one-way ticket to California,” Fin said.
“Yeah. It was one-way because I had enough credit with the airlines to cover a one-way ticket. I planned to return by the end of the bye week.”
“Do you have proof you planned to return?” I asked.
“Internet searches, but those weren’t enough to convince the judge I wasn’t a flight risk.”
“Does the judge or the prosecutor’s office know about the pregnancy?”
“I told Mr. Shiveley, my attorney. He said it might help with bond.” Her smile was gone. “It didn’t.”
“Did you tell your attorney that you claim my father is the father?”
Bre nodded. “He said that releasing that information at this juncture wouldn’t help my case. They already have the note I wrote, and he was worried the court might see me as a scorned lover.” She sniffled. “I wasn’t scorned, Vee. Reid wanted to have a new life with our child and me.”
Sighing, I rubbed my temples and looked to Fin and then Bre. “You mentioned a note. Did the two of you talk about the evidence the police have against you, Bre?”
“Yes. As I told Mr. Graham, I purchased Benadryl for Reid. His allergies were bothering him. The police found Benadryl in a pillbox in his glove compartment. He also had sleeping pills in his system.” She looked at Fin and back to me. “Reid took sleeping pills regularly at night to avoid sex with Daphne.”
I shook my head, not in disbelief but out of shock. “I’d rather avoid my dad’s sex life.”
“Anyway,” Bre said, “there was a note in the glove compartment, one I’d written when I put the Benadryl—in the store box, not in a pillbox—on his desk. In the note I said I bought the pills for him and told Reid I loved him. I also wrote that I was tired of waiting for his divorce. I wanted us to be together—a family.”
“And that last part,” Fin said.
“I wrote that our love would outlive our days. That wasn’t a threat.” She added the second part quickly. “It was something we would say to one another. We’d already missed out on too many years. Our love was too great to be contained in the days and years we have left. Had.”
“That’s their evidence?” I asked.
“They were able to track the purchase to a drugstore near Maker’s Mark. I used a company credit card.”
I stood and walked around my chair. “I don’t understand how that’s enough to charge you with murder.”
“They claim I was pressuring Reid to leave Daphne. When he didn’t, I knowingly provided Reid with medication that would impair his driving. They claim I put the pillbox in his car, so he’d have access to the antihistamine, and he’d get drowsy as he was driving.” She stood. “I wouldn’t.”
