Lucy
She didn’t tell her parents about the gold bracelet she’d found under the seat of Jep Parsons’s car. She didn’t dare. Instead, she tucked it into the back of her sister’s jewelry box, hoping no one would realize Ella had been wearing it the night of the accident. It was bad enough sneaking onto the garage lot and removing the tarp from the Mustang. Her parents were already under so much pressure. Even with Ella making slow progress, things were not improving at home. If anything, they were getting worse. With Ella finally out of the woods, awake and alert, it was like they could shift their anger from fighting for her to fighting who did this to her.
When Lucy got home from the bookstore, there was a strange car in her driveway. She propped her bike up against the garage and walked around the sleek black Mercedes. Inside, her parents were seated on the living room sofa and two people Lucy did not recognize sat across from them in armchairs. The man, dressedin a navy suit, looked up when she came in the door. “Oh, hello. You must be Lucy.”
The young woman taking notes on a steno pad beside him glanced up, too.
“Lucy,” her mother said, “this is Mr. Jeffries and his partner, Ms. Williams.” As if that explained everything. “Would you like a snack?”
She followed her mother into the kitchen, watching as she pulled crackers from the cupboard and a block of sliced cheese from the fridge like it was any other afternoon.
“What’s going on in there?” Lucy asked, nodding toward the living room.
Her mother didn’t seem to hear. “Oh no. I meant to offer them coffee.” She set the box of crackers down and hurried over to the coffee machine. “I should probably do decaf at this hour.”
“Mom, whoarethose people?”
Her mother looked at her like she’d forgotten Lucy was there. “Honey, go ahead and make yourself a bite. We won’t be much longer, and then I’ll start dinner.” Then she disappeared into the living room to inquire who wanted coffee.
Lucy took her plate, taking the steps purposefully slow so she could listen in.
The woman was talking about the accident. “So, according to the police report Ella did have a concentration of alcohol that exceeded the legal limit. But that doesn’t matter to us in this context, because the defendant was driving.”
It mattered to her parents. “Ella should never have beendrinking. And she should never have gotten in the car with that fool.” Lucy’s father threw up his hands, his voice rising with them.
When she reached the top of the stairs and was safely out of view, Lucy lowered herself onto the top step as quietly as possible. From there she could still see the backs of her parents’ heads sitting on the couch.
“Unfortunately, these things sometimes happen with teens, Mr. Hart,” the man said. “In this case, Ella is the victim. Our job, as her lawyers, is to protect her from further damages.” He cleared his throat. “We have two options here. His insurance policy will kick in, of course. But we can also go after the family.”
“You mean sue the Parsons family?” her mother asked, sounding alarmed.
“In some cases, yes, people do go after the family.”
“Still, it seems cruel, doesn’t it? His parents didn’t throw the party. They didn’t provide the alcohol. It was a bunch of kids drinking at a beach party.”
The woman, Ms. Williams, piped up. “I know it’s hard not to think of this personally, especially when it involves another family here in town, but it isn’t personal, Mrs. Hart. It’s a matter of compensation for damages incurred. It’s a way to make sure Ella is taken care of.”
“Let’s also remember, Jep Parsons is eighteen years old. He’s no longer a minor.”
“What does that have to do with it?” her father asked.
“I’m saying you can file a civil suit without going after his parents.”
“He’s just a kid. What does he have, besides a totaled car?”
“A whole lot, as it turns out,” Williams said.
Jeffries passed her parents a piece of paper. “Jep Parsons has a fifty percent stake in the family business. He has the financial resources.”
For a wordless beat her parents turned to each other. “I didn’t know he owned part of his father’s business,” her father said finally.
“Fifty percent. So he does have means.”
Lucy sucked in her breath. It was just as Ella had told her. And Jep could lose it all.
“I don’t know,” her mother said, voice wavering.
“Let me reassure you both, civil suits of this nature are not uncommon in a situation like yours. Ella has suffered severe injuries. There is no way to know for sure how this accident will impact her long term, or what kind of care she may need in the future. You want to be prepared.”
