"Oh, jeez," Lou groaned. "Look at these guys. They think their hot shit. Or they're totally immature asses who are gonna be giggling and high-fiving like thirteen-year-olds."
"Well, all four guys. That's a good sign."
"Let's hope so."
The group of young men approaching reminded Lou of the guys who'd mocked and harassed him in high school. Typical jocks who thought they owned the high school and asserted some God-given authority around town, like the popular crowd wouldn't exist without them. Walking toward him, they appeared like four muscular, stylishly dressed teens in some catalogue fashion spread. The way they carried themselves with an air of privilege—punks, Lou considered them. And his body reacted with damp armpits and clammy hands.
Lou's eyes settled on the dark haired, most serious looking of the bunch. He appeared to be in the lead. Perhaps he was the big kahuna within the hierarchy.
"Hey," Mr. Serious-looking muttered. "You're Lou Price?"
"Yes, hello." Lou offered a wide smile. "I'm glad you guys agreed to meet with us. I'm Lou, and this is my partner Dave Taylor."
"I'm Levi." Then he pointed out the others. "This is Trevor, Adam, and Conner."
Lou gestured to a set of park benches. "Should we sit? Or would you prefer to go somewhere like a diner or something?"
The slightly tallest, Adam replied, "Nah. This is good for now."
"All right. Well, let's go have a seat, and then we can talk a bit."
Once the group situated themselves at the benches, Lou said, "If you don't mind, we're going to record audio for now."
Since no one objected, Dave set out a small digital voice recorder.
"First," Dave said, "state your name and your age. Then we have documentation that you've agreed to talk. Once we conduct interviews, we'll ask you to verbally authorize the use of your interview."
"Authorize for what?" Adam asked.
Lou leaned back and crossed his legs, resting a foot on his knee. "Right now, we just wanna hear what you have to say. Later, if you permit, we might use your interview in a television pilot."
Trevor tucked his hands into the pockets of his jeans and shook his head. "Ah, hell no. I don't want to be on TV."
"We're not filming," Lou said, anxious that he'd scared one or all the boys with the mention of television. "If we want to use your interview, we'll ask your permission to use the recording. Or we can have a voice actor read your interview for the pilot. We can even change your names if you want to protect your identity."
The explanation seemed to put the boys at ease.
"Okay," Conner said. "What do you want to talk about, exactly?"
Ah, here we go. "To start off, when one of you responds for the first time, state your name and age before you answer the question." Lou removed a small notebook from the pocket of his jacket and flipped to a page. More for show than anything else. He never wrote down a list of interview questions. He always flew by the seat of his pants. "The four of you were good friends of Jared Smith's, correct?"
"Yeah, we were."
"Name and age," Dave said.
"Oh. Adam Wheeler. I'm eighteen. And yeah, we were really good friends with Jared. We all grew up together."
Lou asked, "And was that up until the time of his death?"
The nanosecond of hesitation by the four teens didn't go unnoticed by Lou.
"No. Not until . . . Oh, yeah. My name is Conner Preston, and I'm eighteen years old."
Lou signaled for Conner to continue.
"None of us were really friends with him anymore when he died."
"Was there a reason for that?"
"He wasn't the same. He changed. And he's the one who basically decided he didn't want to be friends anymore."
"He wasn't the same how?"
Trevor stated his name and his age of eighteen, then said, "He was moody. He started getting into trouble, like at school and stuff. Jared wasn't the happy guy we all knew when we were friends."
Lou glanced at a blank page in the small notebook. "Have you heard the stories surrounding the cause of his death?"
Nodding, Conner responded, "Cardiac arrest. And there's a rumor that he was possessed by the devil."
"C'mon, man," Trevor said. "That's why you're here. You wouldn't be talking to us if you didn't want to hear about a possession story."
Lou chuckled. "Well, that's true. And I don't want to make light of Jared's death, but yes, Dave and I are interested in the possession story. We're paranormal investigators. It's our job."
"You investigate ghosts and stuff?" Levi asked. "Oh, sorry. My name's Levi Miller. I'll be eighteen next week."
"Happy birthday," Lou said. "Yeah, we investigate ghosts and stuff. But let's stick to the preliminary interview, then I'll tell you guys all about us and our work."
Trevor sat, and finally all four seemed to relax.
"Do any of you believe the story that Jared was possessed?"
Levi shook his head. "I don't know what to think."
The other three eyed each other, seemingly reluctant to respond. Then Conner said, "Is it even possible? I mean, does it really happen?"
"There are documented cases of presumed legitimate possession. I'm sure you guys are familiar with the movies The Exorcist and The Exorcism of Emily Rose. Those are based on true stories."
"Based on," Trevor stressed. "Doesn't mean they're true."
"Well, no, it doesn't mean they're true. But it's pretty much accepted as fact. There are always going to be skeptics and people who refuse to believe no matter how much evidence is provided. But that's where Dave and I come in. We're here to confirm or debunk the story."
"Then what?" Adam asked. "If you find out it's true, then what happens to Jared's memory?"
"Is that what you guys are worried about? Jared's memory?"
"Yeah," Conner said. "We don't want people dragging his name through the mud."
Lou leaned forward. "If it turns out that the story
