Elvendude by Mark Shepherd Page A

passed.

    "Don't get cute, " Paul said, now looking for someplace to put out his cigarette. He gave up and snuffed it into the glass top, as Daryl had seen him do many times when he was drunk. "I thought you said you were going over to Adam's last night. To study. "

    Oh, yeah, he thought. Forgot about that. "Well, we did," he added, hoping that this enhancement to the lie would dig his grave no deeper. " Then we went to the party." He became frantic as he tried to remember what happened before he went out, what he'd said, when he'd left. It was all a blank up until just before he went out to the Wintons' backyard and zonked out. And, of course, he remembered waking up and finding the bodies. But none of that really mattered now.

    He remembered very little, and that made him nervous. These lapses in memory had recently become more frequent, but since his friends had them, too, he didn't really see anything alarming about it. Unless you're trying to con your way out of a situation . . . 

    "There were deaths over there," Paul said. "Lots of deaths. You'd better start remembering quick. I've had a bad day and I'm not in the mood for your childish crap."

    You've had a bad day? Geeeez. Tell me about it!

    "Okay, okay," Daryl said, thinking as fast as he could under the circumstances. "I think they got ahold of some bad dope."

    Paul nodded, as if he'd suspected it all along. "And?"

    "And it looks like it did them in. I wasn't doing any of it. If I had, I'd be dead, too."

    Which was true. He'd passed out drunk before he could do any of it.

    Paul rubbed his face with his hands. "Good God, Daryl. Do you have any idea how much trouble you've caused me? Your mother called me in hysterics, said something about murders, then it turns out your friends just did some bad stuff. Really bad stuff. What did the cops say?"

    "They looked everywhere," Daryl said, but something about his father's attitude was depressing him. No, not his attitude. What he wasn't saying. Nineteen people just died, and I'm the only one from the party to walk away alive. And he didn't even ask me if I was okay.

    "Did they find anything?"

    "Nope. Guess, well, I'll tell you what I did."

    "I think you had better."

    "I got rid of it all. Flushed it down the toilet. Went through the entire house."

    Paul's eyes rolled upward, in apparent relief. "That's the first smart thing you've done all year. Evidently they didn't charge you with anything."

    "They didn't find anything."

    Paul shook his head, annoyed. "That only means they're going to be watching your young butt, son. What the hell are you doing with drugs anyway? You're too young to be doing that crap. If you ever went down for something, I'm the one responsible, not you, not until you turn eighteen! Where are your brains ?"

    Eighteen? he thought. Doesn't he know my birthday was yesterday?

    "Dad, I turned eighteen yesterday," Daryl said, getting a little angry. Dad had completely forgot.

    Paul glanced at his watch. "You did? I thought . . ." Then he shook his head. Now, he was smiling. "So you're not my problem after all. You're an adult now. If you screw up, you get to pay for it."

    "That's right," Daryl said. "I pay for it. Why are you getting so uptight about it?"

    "Don't talk back to me, Daryl," Paul said, his voice even and low, menacing. "You're still living under my roof, eating my food, with my rules, and if you keep this crap up, my hours!"

    "Okay, Dad, you're right." Daryl looked down at his feet, feigning humility. Don't you dare lay a curfew on me!

    "I know I'm right! I'm always right, and don't you forget it. I don't care what you do, but stay out of trouble with the cops, and stay out of jail! It's getting harder to defend drug cases these days."

    You would know. "I'm sorry. It was just, well, my birthday party, that's why I went."

    "Yeah, I know. But you were stupid to go anyway! The Wintons' house? You might as well have waved a banner!"

    Daryl didn't know what he meant by