Part 33 (1/2)
Hazel turned. There was a rustling in the foliage.
”Oh my G.o.d,” Carolyn said. ”Who's there?”
Silence.
Then something hard rammed into Hazel, knocking her to the ground. Ellen screamed.
Hazel tried to get to her feet, but someone was holding her down. Hazel turned her head and bit down, hard. The attacker flinched and Hazel jumped up.
”Get to the car!” Matty shouted. He dashed up the steps and grappled with the attacker.
Someone grabbed Hazel's wrist and pulled her up.
”Come on!” It was Ellen. They ran together back down the driveway.
”Call 911!” Matty shouted.
As they ran, Hazel felt in her pocket. Her phone must have fallen out. She was about to say so when Carolyn began speaking into her own cell.
”Please help! We're on Descanso Road, by the abandoned house. We're being attacked!”
”Matty!” Hazel yelled. She reached the car, fumbled with the door, and turned on the headlights. Their harsh, yellow glare lit up the scene, exposing Matty-and Josh.
Looking stunned, Josh backed away slowly, putting his hands up.
”What are you doing here?” a familiar voice demanded. The girls turned to see Sylvia, glaring, her hands on her hips.
”You killed Breona and Megan. You set Brandon up. Now you want us dead too,” Hazel accused.
”That's not true!” Sylvia insisted. ”Someone sent me a text....”
In the distance the wail of approaching sirens rose.
”You set me up,” Sylvia said, backing away. ”One of you did this!”
Sylvia shoved Hazel out of the way and jumped inside Matty's cruiser. The keys were still in the ignition.
”Sylvia!” Josh cried. ”Wait!”
Matty tackled him before he could move, pinning him to the ground.
Tires squealed as the car shot backward.
”No!” Hazel cried. Sylvia couldn't escape. Not after everything she'd done.
Sylvia gunned the engine. The car ran over a jagged tree trunk. She s.h.i.+fted into drive and pressed the accelerator. The tires screamed and smoked, but the car didn't move.
She revved the engine again. But the car was immobilized-held in place by the burnt remnants of the tree.
Red and blue lights flashed over the driveway as the police approached.
”I didn't do it!” Sylvia screeched, putting her head down on the steering wheel. ”I swear I didn't do it!”
And then the police were there to take her away.
EPILOGUE.
Months went by: juvenile hall, therapists' offices, social workers' cubicles, police stations, courtrooms.
The charges against Hazel, Carolyn, and Ellen-conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and dozens of others-had been dropped in return for their testimony against Sylvia and Josh.
Brandon's body wasn't found in the swimming pool. But he had been buried in a shallow grove near it. Sylvia swore on the witness stand that she had received a text message: I know where Brandon is; I'm taking U down!
She said she had panicked, and that was why she and Josh were there-to move him so no one would find out the truth.
”But that's what they wanted me to do!” Sylvia insisted. ”They wanted to frame me!”
The jury didn't believe her for a second. The police had found no trace of the message in question. In possession of the most d.a.m.ning physical evidence-Brandon's body-Sylvia had been convicted of a laundry list of crimes, and Josh had been convicted of many of the same.
She was also charged with the murders of Breona and Megan, her trial pending for each of them.
But Sylvia's testimony at the first trial seemed destined to d.a.m.n her for the rest.
”I didn't kill them!” she screamed. ”They turned against me. They thought they could take me out. But they can't. No one can. I'm the reason the PLDs exist! Without me, they're nothing!”
And in a way she was right.
Christmas went by in a blur, and soon it was time to go back to school. Most of the students avoided the surviving PLDs.
The absence of Sylvia Orly was like the elephant in the room that everyone could see but no one wanted to talk about.