Chapter Sixty-Seven: Innocent

Arriving at the Wheeler's house in the back of a cop car with Max definitely didn't seem like something Annie was going to do over spring break. Or ever. If Steve found out about this, he'd be pissed off. To the max.

When they walked in the house, Annie saw Lucas' parents and Erica, Dustin's mom, and the Wheeler's. No sign of Max's mom or either of Annie's parents.

Chief Powell saw Annie looking around a bit. "We rang your house, no one answered. Do you know how we can get a hold of your parents?" he asked her.

She shook her head. "Don't bother, they must've already left," she said. It was barely six days they were home this go around.

The chief didn't know how to answer, so he looked over at Max. "Is your mom home? We tried her, too, and no answer."

Max shook her head. "She's probably working. I can't call her at work, she'll get in trouble," Max said, quietly.

He nodded, and the kids were sat down on the Wheeler's living room couch. Chief Powell got one of the officers to get a notepad out and started to ask questions.

"What exactly were you all doing at the lake?" he asked.

None of them wanted to answer. They hadn't confirmed their story with each other, yet, so how were they going to know how to answer any of these questions and not give themselves away?

They looked at each other, seeing if anyone wanted to try and give an answer. Dustin mumbled something, and Max spoke up.

"We were just... we were just going for a walk," she answered.

"A walk?" The officer with the notepad was starting to get on Annie's nerves. "At nine pm?"

"To the lake," Dustin said, his voice way too high. "We were gonna... take a little swim... Little night swim?"

Annie tried her best to keep a neutral face on and nod. But it was hard. Not only was Dustin's voice absolutely hilarious, he was also not making things much better. It was too obvious he was lying.

"Dusty," his mom said. "Someone was just murdered there!"

They all slowly nodded. "Yeah, we... we didn't realize that until we got there!"

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

"And Nancy," Mrs. Wheeler jumped in, "was she with you at this night swim?"

"No."

"Yes! Uh..."

"We're not sure..."

Annie cleared her throat. "She was there. Then she left..."

"It's all a little confusing," Dustin added on.

"That's when you guys came," Lucas said. Their story was kind of taking shape?

Annie was nodding along. "They dared me to say what I said," she said, gesturing to the boys to her right.

Lucas let out an awkward chuckle. "Oh yeah..." He and Dustin started to laugh, Max and Annie weakly joining in. "About the killer..."

"You're lucky you didn't get shot!" Mr. Wheeler said, cutting the laughs off. Mrs. Wheeler gave him a look.

That's when Chief Powell got back into his questions. "Have you had any contact with Eddie?"

"That... psycho... freak... killer? God no! Nope. Absolutely not," Dustin answered.

The other three shook their heads with him. Max added, "We haven't heard from him..."

"We barely know the guy!" Was Lucas's response.

Annie asked, "Who?" They didn't have anything linking the two, she was totally in the clear.

"Oh, that's a bunch of bull!" Erica walked up from where she stood in the back of the group.

"Erica!" Annie bet her parents regretted bringing her.

That didn't stop her, why would it? "I mean, you realize they're lying. The whole couch is on fire."

"Erica."

"Just the facts!"

However, the other parents went with it. "Are you lying to these policemen, Dusty?" Mrs. Henderson asked.

"No!" Dustin yelled, voice all high and pre-pubescent. Annie and Max were shaking their heads vigorously.

"Lying to the cops is a crime, son," was Mr. Sinclair's two-cents.

"I'm not lying!"

Erica sighed. "The fire is consuming us."

Annie gave her a look. After last summer, she hoped Erica would be on their side, or at least on their page of thought. That was clearly a wrong thought process.

"Threaten them with a little jail time. Maybe that'll loosen their lips," Mr. Wheeler suggested.

"Okay-"

The brunette's eyes were wide. "Wait, what?"

"You wanna send our kids to jail?" Mrs. Sinclair asked.

That seemed to set them all off. Annie couldn't keep up with who was saying what and who it was directed at. She thought she heard Mrs. Wheeler mention Steve, and how Annie nor Max had an adult their for them. Annie at least appreciated having some adult on her side.

Her hand went to Max's gripping it with as much strength as she could. Slipping on her headphones would probably be a little too suspicious and get her yelled at by five different adults at once. So, Max's hand worked.

Chief Powell stood, drawing in Annie's attention. "Shut up!"

Everyone went dead silent and looked at the chief. Annie was scared to move.

"We're gonna try a more... civilized approach. One at a time," he said, looking at the parents. Then, he looked at the couch and pointed to Max. "You first."

Max was appalled. "Wait, what? Why me?"

"Follow me," Chief Powell said, and walked off.

"I'm not even in the Hellfire club!"

The other officer pointed at her. "Do I need to cuff you?" he asked.

Annie glared at him, not liking him more and more. She wondered how Hopper ever put up with having this guy in his office.

Max was taken aback, and looked at the others while the annoying officer- Callahan? Annie didn't care to know his name- had Max get up and follow. He looked to the rest of them on the couch before he left, but not before receiving a glare from the youngest Harrington.

They all stayed in their spots, no one brave enough to make the first move and disrupt the still air.

"Headphones." The whisper was barely heard, but Annie still did.

She carefully and, as normal as she could, slid her headphones back on her ears and pressed play. After the music resumed, she leaned back into the couch and crossed her arms over her chest.

Dustin cleared his throat. "Am I allowed to use the bathroom, or am I supposed to just... hold it...?" he asked.

"Go on," Mrs. Wheeler said, and she got up from the couch she was on. That was all it took to get people to move around a bit.

The parents were still a bit tense, so they didn't converse with each other so much. But it meant they weren't all staring at the kids, so Annie felt herself loosen up a bit.

They all ended up around one of the officers, starting to ask questions. "Come on," Lucas whispered, getting up from the couch. He then looked at the parents, his own looking over at him first. "Can we... we haven't eaten since this morning."

"Uh..." Mr. Sinclair looked over to the Wheelers, since it was their house and their food.

Mrs. Wheeler nodded and put a smile on her face. "Absolutely, please, go ahead," she said.

Annie and Lucas smiled at her, then turned and started walking to the kitchen. Mr. Wheeler said, "Karen." It was annoyed sort of low volume.

"They're still kids, Ted!"

When they got in there, the adults started really getting into questions with the officer. Annie didn't search around for food, letting Lucas lead that. She'd just nibble on whatever he found.

Her mind was consumed with thoughts of "shit," "fuck," and "dear God, please let Steve be okay."

A/n: I've started to schedule my chapters to post in the morning and honestly, it's so nice and easy. Makes me less stressed and all that.