Daisies || Max Mayfield

69: Dustin Can't Lie

"What exactly were you all doing at the lake?" Powell stood over us, his arms crossed with a menacing look on his face. Me, Dustin, and Lucas were sitting squished on the Wheeler's couch, while Max sat on the armrest and leaned on my shoulder.

"Uh-" 

"It's comp-"

"We were just going for a walk." Max answered.

"A walk? At 9:00 p.m.?"

"To the lake. We were gonna take a little swim." Dustin's voice qsa squeaky as he shifted, clearly lying. "Little night swim."

"Dusty. Someone was just murdered there." His mother said.

"Yeah, we...we didn't realize that until we got there." He stuttered.

"That's why we didn't swim!" Lucas added.

"And Nancy, was she with you at this night swim?" Karen asked. 

"No."

"Yes."

"Uh, we're not sure." Lucas smiled sheepishly. 

"She was there." Dustin supplied. "Then she left. It's all a little confusing." 

"That's when you guys came."

"Right. Then they dared me to say what I said." Max muttered. I scoffed.

"We get really competitive when we play truth or dare," I added. 

"You're lucky you didn't get shot." Ted said, lounging in his Lay-Z-boy.

"Have you had any contact with Eddie?" 

"That psycho freak killer?" Dustin's voice cracked. 

"God, no."

"Nope."

"Absolutely not."

"No. We haven't heard from him." 

"We barely know the guy."

"Who?" I followed along, amazed by the lack of lying skills Lucas and Dustin had.

"Daisy, Eddie is your neighbor," Powell said.

"Oh, that's a bunch of bull." Erica stepped forward, arms crossed. 

"Erica!" Her mom scolded. 

"I mean, you realize they're lying, right? The whole couch is on fire."

"Erica."

"Just the facts." She held up her hands, shaking her head. 

"Are you lying to these policemen, Dusty?" Claudia asked. 

"No." His voice squeaked even higher than before.

"Lying to cops is a crime, son." Lucas's father said. 

"I'm not lying!" He exclaimed. 

"The fire is consuming us." Erica exaggerated. 

"Threaten them with a little jail time. Maybe that'll loosen their lips." Ted announced, sitting up. 

"Okay-" 

"You wanna send our kids to jail?"

"We need to take this seriously." 

"He didn't mean it like that!"

The adults clamoring and shouting got louder and louder, all until Powel screamed.

"Shut up!" I jumped, instinctively holding up my hands to block my face. He stood up, shushing us. "We're gonna try a more civilized approach. One at a time. You first." He pointed at Max.