Chapter 3

What had started out as a fun afternoon of blowing off school and cruising the town was turning into a full-fledged nightmare for Jamie White and his sidekicks Joey and Jeffy.The reality that they'd caused a serious accident had finally started to penetrate their beer-fogged brains,and Jamie was now trying desperately to elude the police cruiser on his tail while Joey and Jeffy were screaming bloody murder at each other.

"Shut up,losers!"Jamie finally snapped as the officer driving the cruiser repeated a previous order for the sedan to pull over."I can't think with you two screaming in my ear!"

"What's to think about?"Joey shot back,trembling both with anger at Jamie for getting them all in this mess and fear for the consequences they would suffer if the police caught them."We gotta lose those cops and ditch the car!"

Jeffy wasn't saying much of anything;he just kept repeating "Oh,God..."He was overwhelmed with guilt about the crash and wishing that there were some way to erase it.He didn't want to have to face the other driver's family when they found out what had happened....

As if reading Jeffy's mind,Jamie said,"Once we get rid of this car,we have to think of a way to keep the cops from figuring out that we were the guys who hit that other car.And we can't tell anybody about those beer cases I took from Dad's private stash."

Unfortunately for Jamie,Joey,and Jeffy,their hopes of being able to cover up their role in the accident were about to be dashed.In the midst of their frantic debate,the officer driving the first squad car had called in a second one to intercept them.It had turned a corner about two blocks away and was now moving to block the intersection in front of them."38-Lima,this is 17-Zed."the officer driving the second squad car said over his radio."We have the juveniles in sight coming up on the corner of Main and Grandstaff."

"Nice work,17.You just make sure they don't get past the lights,and we'll cut them off on this end."

"Got it."The officer driving the second squad car braked to a stop,then motioned his partner to disembark as Jamie threw the sedan into reverse in a frantic but vain final effort to get away from the cops.

The Lane house,4:47 PM

It was killing Jane to just stand there talking to the cops while the EMTs and firefighters worked to pry Daria loose from her wrecked car.But Trent had told her:'Leave the rescue stuff to the pros,Janey.We don't want to get Daria hurt any worse than she already is.Besides,the sooner you tell the police what you saw,the sooner they can nail the jerk that hit her.'

"You said there were two other young men in the car along with the driver?"asked the police officer taking her statement.

"Yeah,and they all had these really dorky boy band haircuts."Jane said."I figure they must have been about sixteen or seventeen--younger guys wouldn't be able to drive,and older guys would know better than to walk around looking like refugees from N'Sync."

Turning first to Trent,then back to Jane,the cop inquired,"Did either of you happen to catch the number on his license plate?"

"The first three numbers were 277."Jane told him."The rest of it was either EKX or ERX,I'm not sure which."She and Trent watched with concern as the EMTs gingerly placed Daria on a stretcherboard,then carried it into the waiting ambulance."Anything else you need to know?"

Turning a page on his notepad,the cop said,"Yeah,there is...did you happen to notice if the young man in the other car was swerving or otherwise driving erratically?"

"He was swerving all over the place."Jane nodded."He must have been weaving back and forth a hundred times before he hit Daria...I wouldn't be surprised if he was drunk or stoned."

"Me either."the cop sighed,thinking to himself that he might be getting too old for this job."Is there a number where we can get hold of you for further questioning if we need to?"

Jane took a pen from her pocket and began writing."OK,here's my home number,this is the number for the principal's office at Lawndale High,and that's the number for the Zen."Watching the EMTs shut the ambulance's back doors,she wished she could ride up to the hospital with her friend.Daria must be feeling scared as hell right now,she thought.