“I don’t get people in trouble,” I say. “What are you talking about?”
“She won’t tell because she’s part of this,” Briggs says.
We all get quiet, waiting for him to continue.
“We just did a hit-and-run,” Briggs says. “A guy could be dying right now and we left him. All four of us left him, which means we’re all at fault. If the cops find out, we’ll all be charged.”
Oh my God, what if he’s right? What if I just committed a crime?
“That’s not true,” I say, hearing the panic in my voice. “Finn’s the one who took off, not us.”
“But we’re with him,” Briggs says. “We could’ve stayed behind, but we didn’t. We left.”
“Shit,” Parker mutters.
“So we keep our mouths shut,” Finn says. “As long as none of us tells, we’re good.”
“That’d work if it were just the three of us.” Parker looks back at me. “But Ella’s gonna tell. She’ll run to the cops as soon as we drop her off.”
“If she does,” Briggs says, “we make her the one who was driving.”
“Wait . . . what?” I lean closer to Briggs. “You’d seriously do that?”
“We’re in this together,” Briggs says. “If one of us tells, the rest of us will turn on whoever did it. It’s three against one.”
“And you’re most likely to tell,” Parker says to me. “So if you want to avoid jail, I suggest you keep your mouth shut.”
Finn laughs as he looks at his phone.
“This isn’t funny!” I yell at him.
“I’m just thinking of you trying to make it in prison.” He laughs again.
“Who’s making the call?” Briggs asks as he pulls into a gas station. It looks really old and run-down, like it’s not even in service anymore. The pay phone is near the building.
“Is this place even open?” I ask.
“It’s closed for the night,” Briggs says. “I’m just hoping the phone still works.” He opens his door and gets out. “I’ll do it.”
“What are you going to say?” Parker asks, but Briggs closed the door before he heard him.
I jump out and meet up with Briggs at the pay phone.
“Get out of here,” he says, picking up the receiver.
“I want to know what you’re going to say.”
“Ella, I’m serious, get back in the car.”
“No. If I’m part of this, I need to know what you’re going to tell them.”
He shakes his head. “You really fucking piss me off.” He takes a breath, then dials the number. “Yeah, I have an emergency. I think I saw a guy passed out on the road, but it was dark and I couldn’t really tell if it was a guy or an animal. I didn’t stop because I wasn’t sure if it was safe. Anyway, I just wanted to make sure if it is a guy, that he gets help.”
Wow, he’s good. He doesn’t even sound nervous. I wonder if he just came up with that story or if he was thinking about it while we were driving here. He gives the person on the phone directions, but isn’t too specific, making it seem like he just saw something by the road as he was driving and can’t really remember the exact spot. But he knows where it is, and so do I. All four of us do. That part of the road will be burned in our memories forever.
“Yeah, like I said, I don’t know exactly where on the road it was,” Briggs says. “It was too dark to tell. It’s maybe ten miles outside of town. There’s a sharp curve right next to where I saw it.” He nods. “Yeah, okay. Thanks.” He hangs up. “Let’s go.”
“What’d they say?” I ask as we walk back.
