If the Witness Lied

I am using this book as my Young Adult book for the Literary Challenge and as my I book for 2013 A-Z challenge.  This book was borrowed from the Green Free Library in Wellsboro, PA.

November 5 was the birthday of the birthday of the father of Tris, Madison, Smithy and Jack's father, Mr. Fountain.  As Jack said, if dead people had birthdays.  This date is significant in this book because it is the reason that Madison and Smithy decide to come home.

Mrs. Fountain was discovered to have cancer while she was pregnant with Tris.  She decided not to have chemotherapy so her child could live.  After she died, Mr. Fountain had hired a number of housekeepers until Aunt Cheryl showed up.  She took over the household.  One day, there was an automobile accident.  Mr. Fountain is hit by his own car.  Cheryl said Tris had some how released the hand brake which caused the car to run over his own father.  There was a lot of news coverage as Tris was considered to be the cause of both parents deaths.

The girls moved away from home.  Madison to her god-parents and Smithy to boarding school.  Until November 6, when both of them decide independently to head home.  Jack stayed home and keeps an eye on their younger brother, Tris.  When Jack hears that Aunt Cheryl wants to paint his room, he leaves school because he does not want her to discover his dad's sunglasses and cell phone that he had taken from his dad's car and hidden in a pair of his dad's work boots, stowed in the back of his closet.  Cheryl had a habit of taking things to the dump when she remodeled.

Jack manages to get to his room without Cheryl seeing him.  He overhears Cheryl talking to someone about putting Tris on television because of "So much tragedy and emotion!"  This is not what Jack wants for Tris.  He goes and gets him from day care.  The children manage to get together and protect Tris.  One of the girls plugs in their dad's phone and when it is recharged Jack looks at the pictures and finds out that Cheryl lied.  Tris was playing with his dad's phone and got a clear picture of her hand on the parking brake.  The camera put the time and date on all pictures and Jack learned Cheryl killed his father.  Jack calls his friend Diana and asks her to get his dad's computer and briefcase from the garage to see if there is more evidence.

Since, I do not like to reveal endings, I will just say that if you want to find out what happens after Cheryl comes home and finds Diana on her computer, you will have to read the book.

I enjoyed seeing how the siblings manage to come together to protect their brother.  At times, I was not sure what would happen as the book shifts between the children.  Each of the older children remember their father's birthday in their own way.  The book tells how the girl's manage to get home and the misunderstandings that occur before they all get together.  They also find out that Cheryl lied to everyone including them.