TREVOR: If he had a secret, why would I tell you? That has nothing to do with what happened to him. [If he experienced something that he didn't share with his parents, that might be something of value to know.] Actually, the last few months when we weren't friends much, I don't know if he told his parents anything that was like a secret or not. I don't know.
ADAM: Well, maybe. I mean, nothing bad or anything. Just the usual stuff, you know? [Such as?] We all smoked weed a few times.
Jared's dad mentioned that he thought his son might be intimately involved with one of you. For Mr. Smith's sake, was that something that Jared wanted to hide from his parents?
CONNER: [Laughter.] I'm not going to talk about Jared's sex life.
LEVI: Seriously? I'm the fag, so of course you're asking me, right? You gotta be kidding me. Did you ask the other guys too? [We haven't interviewed Trevor or Adam yet.] Well, obviously straight Conner didn't say it was him, so now you're asking me. [I don't wanna upset you. And honestly, Mr. Smith doesn't care. It was just a question that he didn't have any answer to.] I'm sure it's really important to the investigation for you to know if Jared and I were fooling around. [I'm sorry. There's no need to be angry. Like I said, Mr. Smith doesn't care if his son was gay. He just—] Jared wasn't gay. And you know what? I don't think I wanna do this interview anymore. [Maybe we should take a break. Let you calm down a bit. Then we can continue.] Yeah, I'm gonna take a break. And if I finish this interview, I'm not talking about any gay stuff. [That's fine.]
TREVOR: You're being serious? [Laughter.] Hugging or even a kiss on the cheek doesn't mean we were banging each other. Jeez, you old people today are so uptight, man. I mean, seriously, get over it. Today's kids aren't scared to be close to their friends. [So, you never had an intimate relationship with Jared?] Really? I thought you'd understand that my answer is no. [Just clarifying. Mr. Smith doesn't care either way.] Are you a homophobe? [No. Of course not.] Well, I already gave you my answer. Jared and I didn't have a thing going on.
ADAM: His dad said that? Then I guess he knows something. It wasn't me. Sometimes we cuddled when we were hanging out. But that's like totally harmless stuff. The other guys too. [Like I said, Mr. Smith suspected. He's fine with it.] Wait. Does Jared's dad think we were all, like, screwing each other? [Laughter.] I wasn't Jared's smo-guy. [What's a smo-guy?] Um, you really don't know? [If I did, I wouldn't ask.] Smo is suck me off.
When Jared started to change for the worse, did he push you away or did you pull away from him?
CONNER: Probably both. I definitely stayed away more when he started getting angry. Maybe I should have been a better friend, though. [How so?] Maybe I should have tried talking to him more. You know, to see if he was okay. Maybe he needed our help.
TREVOR: Well, I know I pulled away from him after he . . . well, after he acted different. He wasn't the same Jared anymore, and I didn't want to be around that.
ADAM: I didn't hang out with him that much anymore. And then he just stopped being friends with us. So, it was like, his decision to not be friends. I mean, I don't know if I would have stayed his friend. He wasn't the same guy.
Do you know if he was interested in the occult?
CONNER: Like witches and stuff? No.
TREVOR: He didn't even like scary movies that much.
ADAM: What do you mean? [Supernatural stuff.] Uh. He didn't, like, worship the devil or anything.
CONNER: I did see him looking something up online, once. [What was that?] Cambion. I didn't ask him about it. But I looked it up later. A cambion is—[The offspring of a human and demon.] Yeah. [Interesting. And that's it? Nothing else?] No. That's it. But I never saw any other occult-type stuff.
He never played with a Ouija board or had a sudden interest reading about black magic? Anything like that?
CONNER: When we were kids, he was afraid of the dark for a long time. Like, longer than any of us were. I doubt he was interested in scary stuff.
TREVOR: No.
ADAM: Nope. I don't think he liked any of that stuff.
So, nothing supernatural? Nothing strange? No experience that you can pinpoint as maybe being the cause of his condition?
CONNER: Um. [Long pause.] I guess there was something that could be considered strange. Maybe supernatural. I don't know what to call it. [What happened?] Well, it was when we all went on the camping trip to Lake Bantam. In June. [You think something happened there that instigated his possession?] I think so. Maybe. Yeah. [What was that?] When we found the goat.
TREVOR: Yeah, we think something happened during our trip to the lake. [Lake Bantam?] Yeah. I guess that means Conner told you. [He told me his version. But I need to hear yours.] Yeah, right. Okay. [What do you think happened that instigated Jared's possession?] I think . . . no, I know it was when we found the goat.
ADAM: Yeah. At Lake Bantam, during our trip. [When the four of you discovered the goat?] That's when we think it started. [Pause. Teary-eyed.] Yeah, it started at Lake Bantam. [Are you ready to tell me what happened to Jared—to all of you—during that trip?] I guess so. If Conner and Trevor told you, then I'll tell you. [They did.] Okay.
SIXTEEN
Lou thanked Adam for his time, shook his hand, and promised to be in touch. Once he closed the door to his hotel room, he turned with an excited smile. "Well, that was interesting, wasn't it?"
Exhilarated, Dave asked, "Are you kidding me? Yeah, it was."
"I certainly didn't expect all of that."
"Me neither. But this is great. We got one hell of a story now. This is fantastic. That production company is gonna go nuts when they hear everything we got."
Kneading his hands, Lou walked to the minibar. "Would you like a drink? I need a drink to celebrate."
"I'll take a beer."
Lou set a bottle of beer onto the coffee table and then grabbed a glass for his vodka and orange juice. "When the priest provides all the exorcism details, this story will be too good to pass up. Looks like you and I are gonna be TV stars soon."
Dave raised his beer in a cheer. "Hell yeah. Things are gonna change for the better real soon"
Sitting again, Lou grabbed his cell phone from the table. "We'll tell Stella and Walter at dinner."
"Hell, she's gonna flip when she hears the kids' stories."
Tapping on his cell, Lou agreed. "This is gonna go down as one of our best investigations."
For minutes, they discussed the many tidbits revealed by Conner, Adam, and Trevor. When Lou's phone signaled the receipt of a text, he swiped it from the table and read.
"She can't wait to hear what we got. Meet for dinner at six."
* * *
When Conner had finished his interview, he'd driven his mother's car straight home and retreated to his bedroom. He'd expected to feel relieved once he'd shared the whole story about Lake Bantam. Instead, he felt remorseful. For three hours, he tried to occupy his mind with something other than Jared, the lake, and how the interview might make him and his best friends look.
Adam strutted through Conner's bedroom door shortly after two o'clock. Upon seeing Conner seated on the bed, he rushed across the room and leaped into the air, landing on top of Conner.
With Adam's elbow jabbed into his rib and the weight of his buddy pinning him to the mattress, Conner cried out, "What the hell?"
Laughing, Adam wrapped his arms around Conner, squeezing tight and pressing their cheeks together. "It's time to cuddle."
"Ow. Fine. But you're crushing me."
Adam released his grip and flopped onto the bed, leaving one leg draped over Conner's.
For several seconds, neither spoke. Then Adam said, "I'm glad that interview's over with."
"Me too."
Again, moments of silence passed.
Conner asked, "Did you tell him everything?"
"Yep. He said you did too."
"Yeah." Sitting upright, he asked, "Do you know if Trevor did?"
"Lou said he did. That's why I decided I should too. Because you and Tre
vor did."
"I haven't heard from him. Have you?"
Adam shook his head as he got off the bed. "I texted, but he hasn't texted me back yet." He hooked his thumbs through the belt loops of his jeans and rocked back on his heels. "Levi texted all pissed and said he walked outta the interview."
"Because of the deal between him and Jared?"
"Yeah. I mean, I didn't expect Lou to ask about that."
Conner shrugged. "Well, Jared's dad thought that was a secret."
"I told Lou what a smo-guy is. But I didn't mention—"
"I didn't say anything."
"Oh." Adam rubbed his unruly hair. "I'm hungry. I didn't even get to eat lunch."
"I zoned out and forgot," Conner replied, standing. "You want to eat something here or go somewhere?"
"Here. Things are kinda weird at my house since Friday night."
Conner laughed. "I bet."
"Like, my mom is paying more attention to me now," Adam said as he walked out into the hall. "Even my dad gave me a big talk this morning. Saying how proud they are of me. Stay out of trouble and everything, you know?"
"That's good. Better late than never."
Adam twisted his face into a sarcastic expression.
"Not trying to be rude," Conner said as they walked toward the stairs. "Just saying."
"Yeah, I know. But it's—"
"Kinda weird."
"Yep."
At the dining room table, they sat with their plates of food as Mason entered the house with two of his friends. The young teens gathered in the dining room, eyeing the two high school seniors with both interest and admiration.
"Whoa," Mason said, "you guys are pigs."
Conner squirted spicy mustard onto his tuna salad sandwiches. "We haven't even eaten lunch yet. Plus, good protein helps build your muscles. You'd know that if your scrawny ass worked out more."
"Hey, I'm building muscle." Mason snatched the bag of chips from the table. "You were a scrawny ass at my age."
"Yeah, I'm speaking from experience."
The blond teen chuckled. "He's gonna need to work out a lot to look like you."
Conner flexed his biceps. "All three of you, actually."
Chewing his food, Adam mumbled in agreement.
Everyone looked toward the foyer at the sound of the front door opening. Trevor marched into the dining room. He grunted a "hey" as he approached the table with a serious expression and the attitude to match.
"You runts go somewhere," Trevor said, "so the big boys can talk."
"Jeez," Mason replied as he directed his friends to the kitchen. "Good seeing you too, Trev."
"Hey," Conner shouted, grabbing the chips from Mason. "Don't steal our food. Get your own."
Once the three younger guys were gone, Trevor sat. "It's all out in the open now, huh?"
"Yeah," Conner replied. He analyzed Trevor's semi-scowl, the way his eyes squinted as if irritated by the thought swirling around in his head. "Now you're pissed about it?"
"I'm not pissed. I'm worried."
"About what?" Adam asked.
"That we're going to look bad, like we totally screwed our friend and deserted him."
"But we didn't."
Trevor gulped Conner's Gatorade Zero. "Seems that way. It didn't back then, but now I feel like we were a bunch of dicks."
Silently, Conner agreed. It hadn't seemed like a big deal to let Jared go off with that guy at the lake. Now it seemed like a colossal mistake. "But we didn't know anything bad was going to happen."
"Yeah, I know but—"
"If we thought something bad was going to happen to Jared, we wouldn't have let him go."
"We can't change anything," Adam said. "It could have been one of you or me. Who knows, maybe all of us. Like, we could all be cursed now or something."
Trevor raised his eyes to the ceiling as though he'd witnessed a random act of unbelievable stupidity. "All of this is so ridiculous."
"Well, yeah," Conner said. "But it explains what happened and how it all started. We can't ignore what we—"
"Except, Jared's dead."
The statement seemed loud and definitive, as though somehow the certainty of Jared's death had escaped them until that very moment.
Conner clenched his jaw. His eyes burned with tears he didn't want to shed. Unpeeling the layers of Jared's story with Lou had produced emotions Conner usually did his best to control and conceal. Trevor's blunt statement about Jared's death revived his grief.
"And Levi and Jared," Trevor mumbled. "What the hell was that crap all about?"
"Because his dad asked," Adam said. "It's not gonna be part of the show."
"Mr. Smith could've asked us. Instead of avoiding us and banning us from Jared's funeral, he could've talked to us about everything."
"But he didn't," Conner stressed. "Because we weren't around anymore. We avoided Jared just as much as Jared avoided us. So why would Mr. Smith ask us anything? We were MIA."
"What other secrets did you guys talk about?"
"Nothing," Conner said. "I didn't even talk about Jared and Levi. I didn't see the point."
Trevor looked at Adam. "What about you?"
"I talked about Levi because I thought you guys did."
"Anything else?"
"I said we smoked weed a couple times."
"Seriously!" Trevor replied, raising his voice. "Did you also tell him we stole candy bars in the third grade? Or about you and—"
"Stop." Adam shifted in his seat. "Calm down."
"No. I don't want to calm down. I'm tired of all this. I want it all to go away."
"So do we," Conner said. "But why are you yelling at us?"
From experience, Conner knew that Trevor expressed anger to the point of not wanting to subject his friends to an explosion of fury. Instead, he'd stomp away. And that's exactly what he did.
"Because Jared's dead!" Trevor hollered. His square jaw twitched as if he'd bit his tongue to control lashing out. "And it's probably our fault." Then he marched out of the house.
Tilting his head back, Conner rhythmically pressed his fingertips along the nape of his neck and blew out a puff of air. "Well, now we gotta calm him down."
"He'll be fine," Adam said. "We can talk to him later."
Mason poked his head into the room, his friends hovering over his shoulder. "What the hell was that about?"
"Nothing," Conner groaned. "Get your asses outta here."
Silently, he and Adam continued to eat. Then Adam finally asked, "What now?"
"I don't know. I think I need a nap."
"I should get home." He stuffed the last bite of sandwich into his mouth and rose to his feet. "See you later?" he asked, pelting Conner's forehead with breadcrumbs.
Conner swiped at his forehead.
"Sorry." Adam chuckled.
"Maybe I'll come over after dinner."
"Cool." Adam strolled out of the room.
When he heard the front door shut, Conner slumped in the chair. His mind was too clouded with thoughts to focus on one topic without straying to another and then another. He just wanted to lay in bed and drift to sleep so he didn't have to think about anything.
His phone chimed. He contemplated ignoring it because he wasn't in the mood for a chat. But he checked it anyway. A text from Levi.
Miguel doesn't need to know anything.
Then he noticed a text from Hailey, sent a couple hours earlier. If he didn't spend the evening with Adam, maybe he'd hang out with her to boost his spirits. He clicked on her text, prepared to read about their date the previous night.
Reporters showed up at church today.
He set the phone onto the table with a thud and then went upstairs to take a nap.
* * *
Hailey sat in the back seat of her parents' brand-new silver Acura ILX. Her younger twin sisters sat beside her, completely engrossed in their cell phones. Since the surprise arrival of the reporters in the church parking lot, she'd remained quiet and observant. T
he adults had reacted with mild irritation but swift evasion. Hailey had been impressed by the prompt efforts of everyone to shield the children, the rectory, and the deacons. Now, having departed lunch at a fellow churchgoer's home, an almost irresistible impulse to discuss the reporters danced on the tip of her tongue.
She checked her phone. Still no text from Conner.
"Are Father Bersani and Father O'Leary going to be able to keep the reporters away?"
"That's parish business, dear," her mother said. "Best leave the discussion to the church. It's not our affair."
"Yeah. But those reporters are trying to get the story on Jared. Doesn't that involve all of us?"
"No," her father said sternly. "Your mother's right, this is not our affair. Let's drop the subject."
"I went to school with him. I knew him. Someone my age is dead because the devil—"
"I said, drop the subject." He locked eyes with her in the rearview mirror. "This isn't an appropriate conversation to be having with your sisters present."
She averted her eyes to the houses they passed.
Following a moment of silence, her mother asked, "What's gotten into you lately? You've had a bit of an attitude the past week."
"I have not."
"You most certainly have so. And your judgement has been less than ideal."
"What does that mean?"
"The other night, that incident at the Smiths' house and the cops."
Hailey sighed. "I thought the subject of Jared was off limits."
"Do you have some morbid fascination with what happened to Jared Smith?"
"No," Hailey huffed. "Don't be ridiculous."
"Excuse me, young lady?"
"Watch yourself," her father interjected. "Don't talk to your mother with that tone."
"Sorry."
"Again, your mother's right. You've been acting out lately."
"If you say so."
"There's that attitude again. Better embrace silence."
Biting her lip, Hailey wanted to shout "I want to talk about the terrible thing that happened to Jared. I want to understand how something horrible like that could happen to an innocent person." Yet she refrained from giving in to the impulse. Still, she was tired of being treated like a little girl. She was tired of obeying demands and putting on a good-girl front to appease her parents' expectations of her.
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