“She needs her family.”
Brooke looked at her.
Then at Preston.
Something passed across her face.
Until that moment, she had been clinging to him as if he were the one person protecting her.
Now she had heard his own voice offering me as the person who would absorb the consequences if anything went wrong.
She looked down at her bandaged wrist.
“I want to talk to them alone,” she said.
Preston’s voice hardened.
“That’s not necessary.”
Brooke stood.
“I said alone.”
The officer led her toward a consultation room.
Vivian watched her leave, then rounded on me.
“You’re enjoying this.”
“No.”
“Don’t lie.”
“I’m documenting it.”
Her mouth tightened.
That answer bothered her more than anger would have.
Officer Reed asked Preston to move to another area.
He objected.
The security officer shifted closer.
Preston finally went.
Vivian remained in the hallway with me for another few seconds.
“You have no idea what you’re doing,” she whispered.
“I know exactly what I’m doing.”
“That baby will be your husband’s child whether you like it or not.”
“I know.”
“You’ll destroy his life.”
I looked toward the room where police had taken him.
“I didn’t give Brooke the keys.”
Vivian’s face went still.
“I didn’t tell an unlicensed driver to use my car,” I continued.
“I didn’t tell her I could frame somebody else if she crashed.
And I didn’t ask anyone in this hallway to commit fraud.”
Her eyes flicked toward the nurse.
The witnesses mattered now.
She knew it.
So did I.
A few minutes later, Officer Reed returned and asked if I could answer additional questions downstairs.
I followed him to a small interview room near the hospital’s administrative wing.
He began with the Mercedes.
It had crossed an intersection against a red light and struck an SUV entering on green.
The SUV driver had suffered a broken collarbone and several cuts but was expected to recover.
Brooke had suffered minor injuries.
Her pregnancy was being monitored, and hospital staff had not identified an immediate emergency involving the baby.
Then he asked about the car keys.
I explained that Preston had told me the Mercedes needed maintenance several weeks earlier.
He had begun driving it periodically, while encouraging me to use my older Honda.
Because we were married, I had not reported the vehicle missing.
“Did he have general permission to drive it?” Officer Reed asked.
“Previously, yes.
He did not have permission to hand it to someone else, especially someone he knew could not legally drive.”
“Any reason you installed the dashboard camera?”
“I installed it two years ago after someone sideswiped me in a parking lot and denied it.
