Chapter 16
Fin
As I pulled out of the Maker’s Mark parking lot and past the guard gate, my irritation at still not being cleared to practice was top of mind.
I almost missed the absence of reporters.
It wasn’t that there were fewer than there had been prior to Reid’s funeral.
There weren’t any. The side of the road where news vans had been camped out was now clear.
The sight filled me with relief. Hopefully, they’d given up.
Their constant hounding was one less thing Vee had to worry about.
Leaving Maker’s Mark earlier than usual, I sailed through Lexington traffic.
Not far from Vee’s place I pulled into the grocery store parking lot, more out of habit.
As I parked my truck, I remembered Vee saying she wanted to cook tonight.
The truth was that I wanted to cook. I wanted to do something—anything.
I wasn’t sure how Troy Dennison spent four weeks watching practice from the sidelines.
Even in L.A. I practiced, running plays I’d never run during a game.
This was the fourth day I sat out—watching.
I finally walked over to Vee out of desperation.
Just sitting on the sideline was eating away at my nerves.
Dennison made a seamless reentry onto the team.
The kid was something special. I believed that in my bones.
I could live with sitting on the sidelines during the game.
It was the inability to practice and work out that had me on edge.
This was my thirteenth year in the league. The Coopers contract would keep me dressed in amber for a total of three years. At the end of that contract, I’d be thirty-nine years old. Gripping my steering wheel, I felt every minute of those years, even the ones I hadn’t yet experienced.
Gritting my teeth, I took a deep breath. The pain on my left side was beginning to subside. It wasn’t as sharp as it had been two weeks ago. Stepping out of the truck, I felt a twinge. Every ache or tenderness was like nails on a chalkboard. More irritating than painful.
This wasn’t my first rib fracture. The first time it happened was when I was in Green Bay. I was younger and only missed one week of practice and one game. With this fracture we were already nearing two weeks.
By the time I made it back to Vee’s place, I had two bags of groceries I carried up from the garage. Vee was welcome to show off her culinary skills, but if she’d forgotten or was too exhausted from her day, I had a backup plan along with more eggs, bacon, and veggies for my breakfast specials.
I supposed there were men who didn’t want to cook.
If that man was a bachelor for most of his life, he better either enjoy delivery or unhealthy fried fast foods.
Eating healthy was always more important to me.
I could wait and eat breakfast at Maker’s Mark.
I’d eaten two meals a day at the football complex while in LA.
Starting the day by cooking for Vee was almost the perfect start. Add some morning sex to that schedule and it was perfection.
The kitchen was cleaned and my groceries were put away when I received a call from Ethan, the resident concierge at the Vine.
“Hey, Ethan.”
“Mr. Graham, there’s a visitor here who would like access to Ms. Hubbard’s condominium.”
“Did you try calling Ms. Hubbard?” I asked.
“Yes, sir. My call went to voicemail. Um, the visitor thinks it would be better if she were allowed up rather than waiting down here.”
“Who is the visitor?”
“Ms. Bre Stanton.”
Shit.
Bre was right that she shouldn’t be waiting in plain sight. “Give her a one-time card for the elevator. No access to the condominium.”
“Are you certain Ms. Hubbard would agree?”
I wasn’t. “It’s better than Ms. Stanton waiting downstairs.”
“Yes, Mr. Graham.”
After I hung up, I texted Vee, warning her that Bre was on her way upstairs. I asked Vee to tell me if she wanted Bre to be gone before she came home.
While I probably should have declined Bre’s visitation, my thoughts immediately went to Clark and his story. He believed Bre was framed. And he also believed Reid’s death wasn’t an accident. I’d wanted to talk to Bre but decided against going to her. Now she’s come to me.
I couldn’t practice with the Coopers, but I could work to untangle the knots threatening Vee’s future.
Looking down, I realized I was still wearing the blue sweater and blue jeans from earlier today. I hadn’t practiced so changing clothes hadn’t been an issue. I turned as a knock came to the door. Without a smile, I opened the door.
I’d only seen Bre Stanton a few times. In my mind she wasn’t that remarkable.
That didn’t mean she wasn’t attractive, only that to me, she didn’t stand out in a crowd.
Bre was slender, with a runner’s body—not many curves.
Her brown hair was short and lacked style.
Her eyes were puffy, their color a strange mix of gold and brown.
The last week had no doubt taken their toll on her, and she wasn’t doing much of anything to highlight her appearance. Wearing loose blue jeans and a puffy jacket, she probably wouldn’t have been recognized on the first floor.
“Mr. Graham,” Bre said, “I was hoping to speak with Vee.”
“She’s not home.”
Bre tilted her chin toward the doorway. “May I? I won’t stay long.”
I opened the door wider. “I’m not sure we’ve been introduced. As you obviously know, I’m Griffin Graham.”
Bre nodded. “And I’m Bre Stanton. You were there when the police—” She wiped her cheek with the back of her hand. “The last week has been a nightmare.”
As I led her down the hallway into the living room, she surveyed the condominium. “Reid told me about Vee’s place. It’s as nice as he said.”
Not wanting to get into a long conversation, I asked, “Do you have a message you’d like me to relay to Vee?”
Her face contorted and her nostrils flared. “I’d never hurt Reid. I need her to believe that. The evidence they have…it doesn’t make sense.”
I looked down at my buzzing phone. Vee’s name was on the screen. I looked at Bre. “You’re welcome to have a seat. If you’ll excuse me for a moment. This is Vee.”
Swallowing, she nodded again.
Taking the phone down the other hallway to the bedroom, I shut the door. “Vee, Bre’s here, in the condo. I was worried that she’d be spotted on the first floor.”
“Record the conversation.”
“What? Is that legal?”
“I want to know what you two talk about. My lawyer said if one person—you—is aware of the recording device, the recording is legal in Kentucky. She also recommended I don’t speak with Bre. But you’re not me.”
“Is there anything you want me to ask?”
“Ask her what evidence the police had to charge her.”
I nodded. “Okay. Are you on your way home?”
“I am. I just stopped at the grocery store.”
My lips curled. “You don’t have to cook if your day has been long.”
“My day’s been horrendous, but I’ve been looking forward to this all day. I’m going to cook and show you that I can.”
“Vee Hubbard. I believe with all my heart that you could walk on the moon if you put your mind to it.”
“Just record the conversation.”
“I’ve never done that, but I will.”
“Don’t tell her,” Vee warned.
“Yes, ma’am,” I said with a smirk. “See you soon.”
“Soon.” Vee disconnected the call.
It took me a minute to familiarize myself with the recording feature on my phone, but as soon as I had it working, I carried the phone back into the empty living room. I turned in a circle, wondering where my guest had gone.
A few moments later, Bre came out of the half bath near Vee’s home office. “I’m sorry.” She had tissues in her hand. “Between losing Reid, the hormones, and everything that’s happened, I’m a mess. I went on a hunt for tissues.”
“Would you like a glass of water?”
Bre inhaled. “Thank you. I’m determined to get a message to Vee.”
Removing a glass from the cupboard, I filled it with water from the refrigerator and handed it to Bre. “You were saying the evidence the police have doesn’t make sense. What do they have?”
“I purchased Benadryl a few weeks before Reid’s accident.” She took a breath. “It wasn’t unusual for him to ask me to buy things or run errands. I did it all the time. Benadryl is just an antihistamine. Reid was complaining about his allergies kicking in.”
“That’s the evidence, that you bought him Benadryl?”
Bre nodded as she sat on the edge of the sofa and placed the glass of water on the coffee table.
“They found a pillbox in his glove compartment with the note I’d written when I gave him the Benadryl.
The thing is, I didn’t put the medicine in a pillbox.
I gave him the box from the store. Well, I left it on his desk.
There was a note. It was a silly, mean-nothing note.
We wrote those to each other all the time. ”
“What did the note say?” I asked.
Bre stood and walked toward the windows. “It said I’d bought the Benadryl for him, I loved him, and I was tired of waiting for him to divorce Daphne. It said that I wanted us to be together like he’d promised.”
She had my attention. “Is that all?”
“No.” She turned away and dabbed her eyes. “It said ‘our love will outlive our days.” She spun back around. “That was something we said to one another. It wasn’t a threat.”
I remembered the police detective’s picture of the pillbox. “Did you ever see the pillbox?”
Bre turned back toward me. “No.”
“How did they connect it to you?”
“The note and the fact that I’d bought the Benadryl. They were able to trace a purchase to my company credit card at a drugstore near Maker’s Mark. I just stopped there one morning because I remembered Reid having the sniffles, and I was trying to help.”
“Are your fingerprints on the pillbox?”
“They didn’t say.”
I didn’t understand the connection. “How do they believe Benadryl was used to kill him?”
“Reid told me that he sometimes took benzodiazepines, sleeping pills, at night. He said he did that so he’d fall asleep and Daphne wouldn’t try to…” She looked down and back up. “He didn’t want to have sex with her. The sleeping pills helped him avoid it.”
Fuck, this was above my pay grade.
“Okay. Sorry, I’m not a pharmacology major. What do sleeping pills and Benadryl do?”
“They can increase drowsiness. And shouldn’t be used in combination with high-blood-pressure medication.
They claim I purposely gave him the Benadryl to make him tired.
They believe Reid fell asleep driving. That’s what caused his accident.
” She sat back down on the sofa. “I have a public defender. I’m so scared. ”
We both turned to the opening of the front door.