"Hailey, what happened, happened. You should feel liberated, not like, I don't know. Like you're going to hell or something."
Hailey bit her lip and shrugged. "Maybe getting caught by the Wheelers was God's way of telling me I should wait, like I'd planned."
"Or," Jasmine sang, "maybe last night was God's way of telling you not to lose your virginity in the guest room at a friend's house."
Hailey cracked a smile.
"See? You can turn that frown upside down," Jasmine said. "You'll feel better if you get on with the day and leave last night in the past."
Sitting upright, Hailey moved the purple comforter aside and then brushed the hair from her face. "You're right. I'm an intelligent, loving, independent girl. I'm moving into full-fledged womanhood. I need to leave my girly preconceived notions and fears behind."
Jasmine tugged Hailey out of bed. "There's the Hailey I know and love. Let's get dressed and go eat breakfast somewhere, okay? It's sunny outside. Let's enjoy the day as the intelligent and independent women that we are."
Hailey settled on the floor and pulled the day's outfit from her duffle bag. "Um, Jazz?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you think I should tell my mother?"
"About last night?" Jasmine laughed. "Uh, no. Absolutely not."
"Isn't this something that's shared between a mother and daughter? I mean, you told your mom after you lost your virginity, right?"
Sitting on the edge of the bed, Jasmine replied, "I told my mom after the second time I had sex. And that was because I thought I better get on birth control. You know, better safe than sorry."
"So, you don't think I should tell her?"
"Hailey, your parents are pretty religious. If you told your mom that Conner started going down—"
"Gross! Don't say it like that."
"Okay. Fine." Jasmine opened the door to her walk-in closet. "I'm just saying, if you tell your mom about last night, she'll only give you a speech about not doing anything sexual before marriage. If you told her that you lost your virginity, well, that's a different conversation."
Hailey set her toiletry bag onto the floor. "That makes sense."
"Let me put it this way," Jasmine said as she disappeared into the closet. "Your mom would absolutely, totally freak out."
* * *
Trevor emerged from the steamy bathroom and walked straight to Adam's dresser. "I need underwear," he said as he opened a drawer. "I'm not wearing mine from yesterday."
He dropped his towel and slipped on a pair of boxer briefs.
"Seriously?" Adam shouted. "My underwear too!"
"I'm not wearing dirty clothes home. They probably smell like beer. My mom will notice the moment I walk into the house."
"Unless my mom already told her."
"My mom would have called or texted to chew my ass out."
"Yeah," Conner said. "I didn't hear from my parents either."
A cell phone chimed, and the three looked at each other, amused but stunned by the timing.
"Not mine," Adam said.
Trevor plucked his phone from the desk. He looked at his cell with confusion and tapped the screen. Several seconds later, he said, "Son of a bitch."
"Your mom?" Conner asked. Then his cell phone alerted him to a text message.
A moment later, Adam's phone chimed as well.
Trevor sighed as he sat on the office chair. "You guys just got the same text I did, right?"
Conner read aloud: "Hello. This is Lou Price. I'm a paranormal investigator in town to research the Jared Smith case. I was informed that you were a close friend of Jared's, and I'd like to talk to you about your friend. Your cooperation would be very important to the case, and I'd appreciate any information you can provide me and my team. Please respond as soon as you can. Thank you."
He dropped his phone to his lap. "Crap. The whole world is going know about this. It's going be a big-time news story or something."
As Adam opened his mouth, his phone signaled a new text. He checked the message and then lowered the screen. "Levi got the same text we did."
"Now what?" Conner asked. "Are we responding to this guy?"
Trevor continued to dress in Adam's clothes. "My first instinct is to ignore this guy. But maybe we can get some information from him."
"We talk to him," Adam said, "and he tells us, what?"
"I don't know. Whatever he knows about the possession story."
"Really?" Conner asked.
"It's worth a shot, isn't it?"
Conner shrugged. "I guess."
Trevor returned to Adam's bathroom. As he searched for cologne, he thought the paranormal investigator might be the best chance they had to piece together what had happened to Jared. Maybe they didn't need to talk to Jared's parents or the priest. Maybe the investigator-guy would give them enough information they could use to convince their friends to finally let the possession story fade away.
* * *
It seemed that Newman was a quiet suburb on Saturday mornings. The roads were relatively bare of traffic. Driving into the Gramercy Heights neighborhood, Lou watched the rows of stone townhouses give way to block after block of well-maintained Colonial homes. Each address featured at least one enormous tree, a row of hedges either bookending the sidewalk leading to the porch or along the front of the house, and a moderately large, manicured yard.
"Well, look at these fancy houses," Dave muttered.
Lou shrugged. "We've investigated spooks in mansions owned by people worth millions. This is nothing."
"Well, these folks aren't out for a quick buck with a hoax."
Good point. "There are lots of people who consider the limelight more valuable than money, though. Especially teenagers."
The car's GPS announced a right turn.
A few blocks later, Lou parallel-parked along the curb at Haven Park. "Where'd the kid say? The tennis court?"
"No. Basketball."
"All right. Let's get to it. Remember, friendly and curious without being pushy. These kids are gonna be resistant or hopefully open to discussion. Once we figure out which, we'll know how to proceed."
"Are we recording audio or video?"
"Bring both. We can use either in the pilot if they sign off on it."
They stood near the
