The chilly air burst into the car as Jasmine opened the door with an exaggerated groan of irritation. "Glad that's over with."
"Hurry," Hailey cried. "It was already nice and toasty in here."
"Sorry." Jasmine dropped her backpack onto the floorboard and slid onto the seat. "I have detention on Monday and Tuesday too. Can you believe that?"
"Seems kinda extreme. But you did call Rachel an effing stupid, slutty b-word."
"Everybody knows that's what she is," Jasmine replied. "Not like I said something completely untrue."
"And you shoved her."
"She grabbed my arm. I was defending myself."
"Well, you completed one day of detention. Two days to go. It's a small price to pay, really. Miguel and Alex were suspended."
"Good point." Jasmine slipped her phone out of her pink backpack. "You wanna go get some coffee or hot cocoa or something?"
"Sure. I could use a caffeine boost."
"And," Jasmine sang cheerfully, "Trevor wants to hang out tonight. So, you wanna go too? Conner will be there."
Hailey tried to restrain a wide smile.
"Oh, you do. Good." Jasmine giggled. "Adam's parents are going out somewhere. So we're gonna meet at his house.
"It's not like a big party or anything, is it?"
"No. Just our usual small group. No party."
"Okay." Hailey reversed the car, revealing a large tree garnished with leaves exploding with autumn colors. The sight of the vibrant reds and yellows released the smile she'd tried to hide. And she smiled broadly as she drove toward the street outside the lot.
* * *
Lou and Dave arrived a good ten minutes early to Pomodoro's, one of Newman's most popular and pricey Italian restaurants. It was meant to be a calculated move so that Stella and Walter felt like they were seeking out the paranormal investigators rather than vice versa. However, Lou was irked when the hostess informed him that their party was already seated at a table.
Attractive in a form-fitting green dress, Stella rose the second she spotted Lou and Dave approaching. "Well, hello, fellas. It's been a long time, hasn't it?"
Lou extended his hand. "Yes, it has."
"How long has it been?" She turned to Walter. "Almost three years now, right?"
Shrugging, Walter dipped a piece of bread into seasoned olive oil.
She chuckled. "A man of few words."
"No words at all," Dave said as he sat at the table and grabbed the wine menu. "How's it hanging, Walter?"
Stella kissed Lou on the cheek. "Well, it's always the good stories that bring us together, huh?"
"You're right about that." Lou wiggled his butt on a seat and set his hands on the table. For several drawn-out moments, everyone simply eyed each other. Then Lou said, "Still with that Tiffany chick?"
She laughed. "Her name is Tara. We've been together eight years, and we have a five-year-old son. Jeez, Lou, your memory is shit."
"Eh. Sorry."
"Are we making small talk, or are we going to get to business?"
Dave signaled the waitress. "Can we order first? I'm starving."
"Oh, sure. Of course," she said. "Let's order and then get into it."
Lou settled more comfortably in his seat and selected a piece of bread from the chef's basket. "How'd you hear about this story?"
"Scouring the web," she said.
"Yeah, same here. Dave brought it to my attention."
"Were you immediately interested?"
"Not really. I had to read some of the online stuff first. One of the guys from the Paranormal Society contacted me. So I knew they'd done some research on it before writing up a post."
"Same. I know Bob Schumacher there. He talked to someone at the family's church. I guess they provided enough confirmation for him to wanna chase the story."
"Where does that leave us, then?"
"You and I know the Paranormal Society probably won't pursue this case beyond a journalistic perspective. You and I are investigators. It's up to us to prove that there's a real story behind the rumors."
Lou detected her ball-buster persona emerging.
"So, what's your angle?" she asked, leaning closer to the table. "Are you seeking the truth? Or are you just going along for the ride for your personal benefit?"
"I'm gonna take this case seriously, like all the others."
She suppressed a laugh. "Just like that haunted mansion in Rhode Island?"
"I begin every case as a skeptic willing to reveal the truth. Hoax or not, I want to investigate legitimate hauntings."
"You exaggerated that case."
"I back up all my findings with evidence."
She relaxed in her seat and crossed her arms. "What's this deal you got with the production company?"
Bitch. Obviously, she had a Hollywood connection that spilled the beans about his possible cable network series.
The waitress arrived at their table, and Lou was thankful for the interruption. The pause in conversation might allow him to redirect the discussion back in his favor.
"Let's order," he said. "Then let's talk about the details we know about the case before we discuss any deal you or I might have in the works."
NINE
Lou regarded Stella's beauty as a damn shame, especially to straight, horny single men like himself. She had flawless bronze skin that looked perfect without makeup. Her blonde hair shimmered with a natural shine that surely couldn't be duplicated in a salon. Stella exuded confidence, which only further enhanced her sexy factor. And her body—oh, how Lou had fantasized about her figure on numerous occasions.
He secretly harbored animosity toward Stella's wife, Tara—not that he'd ever met her. He had nothing against homosexuals. Live freely, he believed. But the fact that the beautiful woman across the table from him would never cast him an interested glance pushed him closer to the status of lonely, pathetic male. For two reasons. One, he wasn't attractive enough to captivate her attention. Secondly, she was a happily married lesbian with a young son and—to the best of his knowledge—not a single heterosexual experience in her past.
Now, in true Stella Wilcox fashion, she was busting his balls about the possessed–kid story and his possible cable network deal.
"So, let's compare notes," she said.
"All right, watcha got?"
She exhaled as if forced to surrender her upper hand. "Fine."
A ploy to make me think I'm the one in control. "Might as well help each other with forming a well-rounded story."
"The kid's name was Jared Smith. He was seventeen years old. Several months ago, he started showing signs of aggression. You know, mood swings, getting into trouble, cussing his parents out, and other behavior that seemed out of character. Then he was expelled from school for breaking a teacher's finger."
Lou nodded. He knew everything she was telling him.
She continued, "The family's priest got involved roughly two months ago. He experienced some odd occurrences in the house and with the boy. Typical poltergeist–type stuff."
"Incidents that accompany possession."
"Yeah. I guess the thing that convinced the priest was an incident involving the sound of squealing pigs. What's more, allegedly Jared levitated off the floor while in a standing position."
Maintaining eye contact, he waited for her next bit of information, but she remained silent.
"That's it? That's everything you got?"
"Pretty much." She raised a wineglass to her lips as the waitress placed bruschetta, calamari, and antipasto salad onto the table. "You have anything to add?"
"Those are all great surface details," Lou said. "Dave and I pretty much knew everything you mentioned. But we also learned that the kid was a popular jock at school. He'd started turning away his friends about six months ago. Dave talked to one of the kids who posted the stuff online. He told us who Jared's closest friends were. So, that's a promising lead to follow up on."
"Any additional details regarding the kid's possession
?"
"The parents had taken Jared to a psychologist, and after a few sessions the shrink stopped seeing him after she started to hear banging and other strange noises in her office. The parents were desperate, and that's when the priest got involved."
"Hmm." She nibbled a bite of bruschetta. "You're going to track down his friends?"
"Leave no stone unturned. You know how it is with these things. Get as much information as possible from every available source."
"I know." She smiled. "That's why Walter and I are interviewing the priest tomorrow."
* * *
Conner walked into Adam's house and headed straight for the living room, where Hailey, Jasmine, and Trevor sat. "Where's Adam?" he asked.
"Upstairs," Trevor said, "Getting dressed."
He contemplated going up to Adams' room, but he cozied up next to Hailey on the sofa. "I heard you had a crazy day at school."
"Yeah. But you know how Alex can be."
"An asshole."
"Uh. I was going to say jerk. But yeah, you're right. He can be a complete asshole."
Stunned into silence, Conner locked eyes with her as Jasmine and Trevor laughed like they'd heard the punchline to a hilarious joke.
Hailey smirked as though genuinely pleased with herself.
The front door opened and closed. Miguel and Levi walked into the living room with two six-packs of beer each and Kayla close to their side.
"The life of the party has arrived," Miguel announced.
Levi removed an electric-blue beanie from his head and ruffled his hair. Slumping onto the nearest chair, he said, "I'm starving."
"How'd the match go?" Trevor asked.
"Seth Daniels beat me ten to eight."
"Damn. Sorry," Conner said. "You've had a pretty good winning streak. Next time you'll kick ass."
"He was tough. He's been working on his technique, and it paid off. He seemed quicker and stronger."
At the sound of the doorbell, Adam bounded down the stairs. A minute later, he entered the room with three boxes of pizza. "Dinner!"
* * *
Stella wasn't willing to divulge how she'd persuaded the priest to agree to an interview. "I'll let you know how it goes."
"I'm reaching out to Jared's closest friends tomorrow. So, I'll let you know how that goes." Lou twirled puttanesca onto his fork. "I don't see any reason why we can't help each other out."
"You gotta admit, the priest is a damn good catch."
He paused his chewing long enough to mutter, "Yeah."
"That's a rather reserved response."
"Yeah, getting the priest to talk is fantastic. Hopefully he'll provide all the creepy details. Since he allegedly performed the exorcism, he should have a lot of important information."
"Well, I hope so." She pressed a cloth napkin to her lips. "I'm sure Jared's friends can give you some great information too."
"We both know it takes several sources to develop a story. While the priest can talk about the exorcism, Jared's friends can fill in the blanks concerning his behavior and circumstances that led up to the possession."
Lou would have done just about anything to sit down with the priest. He had to acknowledge the fact that Stella was damn good at her job. She'd convinced the priest to talk. Now he had to convince Jared's friends to discuss what they might know about the possession. They both knew their work on the case would merge at some point. They needed each other. And if he managed to secure an interview with Jared's parents, then she'd need to admit that's a damn good catch, Lou. Perhaps Jared's friends would be his ticket to Jared's parents. But in the meantime, he still had one thing that Stella didn't: a possible cable network series about to go into production—a tantalizing prospect that he could use to his advantage.
"I'm gonna step outside to smoke," he said. "Then we can order dessert and talk about the Hollywood deal."
"Great." She picked up her phone. "I need to call Tara and Owen."
* * *
Since earlier that afternoon, when Jasmine mentioned the get-together that night, Hailey had started working out a plan in her head. She was going to cut loose, go with the flow, let her hair down, allow herself to experience living on the edge, so to speak. She knew there would be alcohol, so she'd decided that she'd at least taste it. She knew conversation would turn inappropriate at some point, so she'd promised herself the freedom to participate, to some degree. And she knew that she and Conner would spend time focused on each other—him behaving more flirtatious as the night wore on—so she'd vowed not to be so uptight. She'd let her emotions and intuition lead the way without ignoring her good judgment and her right to make her own choices.
She hadn't told Jasmine of her intentions, and she felt bad about not sharing her thoughts with her best friend. They'd been friends since kindergarten, and although Jasmine had blossomed into the typical popular, pretty, cheerleader-type high schooler, Jasmine had not abandoned their friendship in favor of friends more hip and more popular. And Hailey was grateful.
If she had revealed her plans to Jasmine, Hailey knew Jasmine would have inflated expectations for the night. And Hailey didn't want to deal with that. Especially since there was a likely chance she wouldn't stick to her plan of rebellious liberation at all.
Jasmine was preoccupied with Trevor, whispering and kissing on one end of the sofa. Miguel and Levi were curled up together in an armchair. Adam and Kayla had slipped out of the room a while ago. Now, Conner clutched Hailey's hand and looked into her eyes as he spoke.
"I can't believe you drank half my beer," he said. "I bet you're drunk now, huh?"
She giggled. "No. Can someone get drunk off half a beer?"
"Yeah, probably you."
They both laughed.
"Well, I feel more relaxed. But I'm definitely not drunk."
"Your parents will be so pissed if you go home drunk."
"I'm not drunk. Plus, I'm spending the night at Jasmine's."
"Oh." Conner stared as if examining her.
"What?"
"Nothing." He leaned his shoulder into hers. "You wanna go talk somewhere?"
Talk, huh? "Where? And won't Adam's parents be home soon?"
"They won't be home until after eleven. It's only nine thirty."
She glanced at Jasmine and then Miguel, both completely absorbed in their boyfriends. "Oh, okay. Then yeah, we can go somewhere."
He smiled broadly, stood, and pulled her to her feet. "C'mon."
When he led her to the stairs, she hesitated for a fleeting moment but didn't show her reluctance to Conner. And who was she trying to fool? Of course she'd known what his suggestion of going somewhere to talk implied.
Upstairs, they walked down the hall to a guest room. Inside, he led her to the bed and sat. "Is this okay?" he asked.
"Uh, huh." Seated next to him, she ran her hands down her jeans, resting them on her knees. She thought about asking him to turn on a lamp but decided against it. "It's nice spending time with you again. I mean, you know, away from school and stuff. Hanging out."
"Yeah. It is nice."
She took a deep breath. "I'm sorry that I've avoided you."
"Well, not completely."
"No, not completely. But since that night."
He smiled faintly. "It's okay. We're here together now, right?"
"Uh, huh."
Looking into her eyes, Conner smiled and then kissed her.
* * *
After ordering coffee and a slice of Italian rum cake, Lou rested his forearms on the table. "So, should we talk about Hollywood?"
At this, Walter and Dave perked up.
"Yes," Stella said. "Let's get into the Hollywood stuff."
"Obviously someone mentioned it to you."
"One of my friends in L.A. works at a talent agency. Someone in her office is affiliated with the production company that's been talking to you. Avery something."
"Avery Avenue Productions."
"That's them."
"Dave and I have a de
al for a pilot episode. We're finalizing details and planning a schedule. But we're thinking about presenting them with the Jared Smith story. You know, give them something they can't possibly turn down."
"Hmm." Leaning back, she raised her coffee to her lips. "If they get excited by the Jared story, you'll be setting a firm standard. The following episodes will need to wow your audience. Or at least entertain them as much as an investigation into a possessed kid."
"You and I both know that it's up to us to either squash the details of an alleged haunting or to convince an audience to buy into it. I don't exaggerate a haunting, contrary to your belief. When the haunting is genuine, I reassure people that what they experience is in fact true."
"Give them something to chew on."
"Exactly." Lou sat more upright in his chair and traded glances with everyone at the table. "I have Dave. You have Walter. We both have great interviews to start fleshing out the story. Likely, the information we get will lead to more information. We can mold this story into a creepy tale of possession and poltergeist activity and demons and exorcism."
She didn't respond with enthusiasm, so Lou continued, "Walter and Dave won't need to film any ghostly shenanigans. We don't need footage of a possessed kid. We can take all this information and present the story as a true case of demonic possession."
"Provided that it's true," she said.
"Well, yes. Of course. I don't wanna waste my time making up a story." He finally pierced his cake with a fork. "If there's nothing to this story, then I'm gonna move on. Dave and I can seek out the next haunting case to use for the network."
A smile returned to her lips. "It sounds like you want Walter and I to work on this pilot episode with you."
"If we work together on this, we'll come up with a great story. You know it. I know it. And soon enough, the network will know it. Let's give them something they won't hesitate to commit to. This could lead to great things for all of us."
Tucking her chin, she drummed her shiny, manicured fingernails on the table and stared into her cup of coffee. Then she tilted her head to Walter. "What do you say? You wanna be on TV?"
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