Read Experiment in Terror 04 Lying Season for Free Online

I just grabbed the flare gun out of Dex’s backpack and shot it at her.”
    The twins hollered simultaneously.
    “ You’re fucking joking!” Matt cried out.
    Even Al looked too flabbergasted to get mad at his son’s use of language at the dinner table.
    “ No, I wish I was. I just fired it. She was maybe only ten feet away.”
    “ And did that…kill her?” Marda asked.
    “ I don’t know. I don’t think so. She was already dead, so how could it? But what I think it did was trick her. My theory is that most ghosts don’t really accept the fact that they are dead. I think they spend most of their time wandering around in another dimension, living in denial. I don’t know. Anyway, I think all that did was make Mary think I killed her, at least long enough so that we could get away. It at least knocked her ass off the cliff and that’s all we needed.”
    “ Why the hell didn’t you write about this?” Matt said, shaking his head and reaching for his glass of wine.
    I laughed.
    “ Why? Because...who the hell would believe me? I sound like a lunatic, I know I do.”
    “ You sound like your grandmother,” my mom said in the coldest tone I’d heard from her lips in a very long time.
    Al gave her another look, this one fully loaded. Something was going on but I couldn’t read into it, not across the table in this busy Italian restaurant. My mother rarely spoke about my grandmother. She died when I was very young and I only saw my grandfather when we went on family trips to Sweden.
    “ What’s that supposed to mean?” I said to her, trying my hardest to not sound defensive.
    My mother looked down at her manicured fingers for a second before taking a tepid sip of water. “Your grandmother lied a lot, that’s all.”
    I smiled at her though there was nothing pretty about it.
    “ I’m not lying.”
    She didn’t say anything else but she didn’t need to.
    Trying to dissipate the tension, Tony spoke up. “Too bad you don’t have one of those boxes from Ghostbusters. You know, some way to contain them.”
    “ Yeah,” I agreed absently, still keeping my eyes on Al and my mother. “But we’re still trying to figure this whole thing out. Learning as we go.”
    “ You and this Dex fellow,” Al said, noticing my gaze, and for once I was glad to talk about Dex.
    “ Yup. Going up to Seattle on Monday to film the next episode at the Riverside Mental Hospital. Then on Friday there’s a Christmas party for work. ‘Tis the season.”
    “ And is your work going to be paying for your hotel this whole time or are we going to have to help out?” my dad asked, returning to the table just in time. It’s like he has some radar that alerts him when someone mentions anything money related. Or touches the thermostat.
    “ No.” I glared at him despite my promise to play nice because it was his birthday. “I’m staying with Dex and his girlfriend.”
    It’s like a collective breath was held above the table. Everyone froze. Finally Ada started coughing on her water.
    “ Are you insane!?” she yelled and grabbed my hand. I pulled back, surprised at her outburst. Aside from when Al and Marda had asked her about Layton, she had been silent the entire dinner.
    “ Possibly?” I answered.
    My mom reached over and tapped Marda on the arm gently. “She’s in love with her Dexter partner.”
    Marda nodded knowingly while I exclaimed, “No I’m not!”
    I swear everyone at the table rolled their eyes in unison.
    “ And his name isn’t Dexter!” I sat back further in my chair and crossed my arms. “Whatever, I’ll be fine. I have a date on Sunday night anyway. With another man. Who isn’t Dex.”
    Another gasp at the table. This was the longest dinner ever.
    “ Don’t act so surprised,” I muttered.
    “ Who with?” Ada asked.
    “ My bootcamp trainer, Brock,” I said, ready for everyone to laugh the way Dex had. Surprisingly, everyone looked impressed.
    Finally my mom said, “Now this guy sounds like a