Page 87 of For Your Own Good

Zach stands up from the couch. Finally, everyone looks at him. “Explain tomewhat’s happening,” he says to Ezekiel. “You’remylawyer.”

“You’re right. I am,” he says.

“In private. I want to talk about this alone,” Zach says.

His parents exchange a look, but they agree. Once again, Zach and his lawyer go into his mom’s office. When they’re settled, Ezekiel starts to talk.

“The police and the DA want to know why you bribed a guard in order to see Courtney. Not once, but twice,” Ezekiel says. He holds up his hand, stopping Zach from answering that question. “They think—or rather, theyhopethat you can confirm she’s guilty. Further, if you did have something to do with Sonia Benjamin’s death, in all likelihood they are willing to believe Courtney convinced you to do it. That she is the ringleader, so to speak.”

Zach fights the urge to say this is all a lie. Every word of it. Instead, he tries to see it the way the police do. “So they’re willing to offer me a deal in exchange for testifying against her.”

“Exactly.”

“And what if I don’t know anything? What if they have it all wrong?”

“They’ll still move forward with the bribery charge,” he says.

“What about Courtney?”

“That I don’t know. Since Sonia Benjamin was killed the same way... I don’t know how they can proceed,” Ezekiel says.

Zach turns this over in his mind. Either way, he’s screwed. So is Courtney.

“Do you know what kind of evidence they have against Courtney?” he says.

“Not all of it, no, though I’ve heard some things. They found the poison at her house, in the yard. A lot of text messages about how much she hated her mom.”

“Do you know what kind of poison was used?”

“You don’t know?” Ezekiel looks surprised. He thinks Zach was involved.

“I have no idea.”

Ezekiel thinks about this for a minute, maybe trying to decide if Zach is lying. “I don’t know exactly. Only that it came from a plant.”

“A plant? Like... hemlock or something?”

“I suppose. I don’t know which one.”

Zach nods, thinking he’s going to have to search the internet again. Before, he was just looking up poisons in general. Now that he knows it’s a plant, he can narrow down the search.

Not that it will help him.

“Realistically,” he says. “What will happen to me if they go ahead with the bribery thing?”

“Under normal circumstances, given how young you are and given that it didn’t involve political corruption, I could plead it down to a misdemeanor. You probably would have to do some community service.” Ezekiel pauses. “But with this Courtney thing... I suspect they aren’t motivated to make that deal.”

“I’ll go to jail?” Zach says.

“Possibly. And you may end up with a felony on your record.”

“Great.”

“There’s something else to consider,” Ezekiel says. “The court of public opinion can be more important than a court of law. Meaning it won’t be long before everyone figures out the DA is talking about you. Especially after they arrested you at school.” He looks a bit angry about that. “Again, a strategic move on their part. They wanted people to see it.”

It’s not hard for Zach to imagine what the media will be like. He’salready seen what they’ve done to Courtney. He’s also seen how many people assume she’s guilty.

He and Courtney will be just a couple of rich, entitled kids who think they can get away with murder.