Black Tuesday by Susan Colebank

officer?” Jayne felt her mouth go dry. She’d only heard about hardened criminals having probation officers. Guys with tattoos and crusty apartments and really bad drug habits.
    â€œYes.” He looked down at whatever was written in his note-pad. His bald head was red from too much sun and not enough sunscreen. “Until this goes to court, you’ll need to check in with her every day. You’ll also be released to your parents, which means you need to always tell them your whereabouts.”
    â€œReleased to my parents?” Not that it mattered. She was home 24/7 anyway.
    â€œUntil this case goes to court. You will also not be able to drive, given the situation . . .”
    Jayne had started tuning him out. She twisted her gold watch around on her wrist, barely aware of what she was doing. She sneaked a quick glance at her mom, but Gen was concentrating on whatever Officer Bradley was saying.
    She tuned back into the conversation when she heard the man clear his throat. The faint smell of a sweet cigarette was coming off of him. Cloves, maybe? Her grams smoked those. “We’ll start off slow and simple. Ready?”
    Jayne nodded.
    â€œOne, you had a red light when you hit the red Toyota.”
    Jayne nodded.
    â€œThe tox reports from the hospital show you had no drugs or alcohol in your system. That’s good. Now, were you—” The chirp of a high-pitched ring tone interrupted his words. He pulled a cell phone from his belt. “Excuse me.”
    Jayne tried to calm her nerves while he talked. No big deal. Breathe. He just wants the facts about that day. You don’t have anything to hide. So what if you’re confined to school and home? You do that anyway. And the car thing? You knew that already. And there’s no way you were going to touch the Jetta again, anyway .
    Officer Bradley was still on the phone. Jayne didn’t turn to look at her mom to judge her reaction to all of this. Right now, Val and her note-taking was making her feel better. She was just glad her dad wasn’t here. He was home with Ellie, working on his notes for some all-natural product line he was developing for some big cosmetic company.
    She’d also asked him to stay home.
    If he had been here, he’d be holding her hand and trying to shelter her from the harsher things the lawyer wanted to say. She didn’t need that. It was time to face the truth. The truth would be nice for once.
    That way she wouldn’t be blindsided by a woman with a mike and a fake concerned look on her face.
    Jayne chewed on her lip, eating the little bit of lip gloss that was still on.
    The officer clicked his phone shut and made a phlegm-filled sniff as he reattached it to his belt. “That was my captain.” He looked at Jayne, and her heart sank even before he said the words. “Brenda Deavers was taken off life support an hour ago. She’s dead.”
    TWO MONTHS LATER ...

12
    WILL THE DEFENDANT PLEASE RISE.”
    Jayne felt weak. Val stood next to her, holding her hand. It would’ve been too awkward with their height differences to try to put an arm around Jayne’s shoulders.
    Val was so tiny, Jayne felt like she was the one offering her hand for comfort. Then again, she wasn’t her usual Amazon self lately. She felt like she’d shrunk an inch or two, and based on the waist of the skirt she was wearing, she’d lost an inch or two around her waist.
    â€œJayne Lee Thompkins, you have pled guilty to vehicular manslaughter. Do you wish to say anything before sentencing is imposed?”
    Jayne’s mouth felt like she’d licked chalk dust from a blackboard. There’d been no testimony, just Jayne meeting with Val and the prosecutor to go over the accident and work out what her punishment would be.
    And she was numb.
    Over the last eight weeks, Jayne had been numb. And she was sort of glad about that.
    Especially when she’d gone to her locker and a