It started when he was about 16 years old after he returned from staying with his father for a year. Little white lies to not get in trouble. Then the stories began to grow and grow and grow! Totally unbelievable just like his father!
Last summer, he pulls a disappearing act for a couple days. His cell phone is turned off. I get a text stating he was dropped off in the woods and doesn't know where he is. He said he called 911 and the police didn't know where he was but gave him some coordinates. So, being a good person, I look up the coordinates on my laptop so I can plug it into my gps and go the estranged young man up. GREENLAND! Right! Bullshit again!
Finally I get the name of a church and town out of him and start heading over. I look up the library and tell him to go wait there for me, it will take me two hours. As I'm headed down the final road toward where the gps was leading me, I see him coming up the hill. He gets in the car and claims there was no library, though online it showed it across the street from the church!
He was out of money, and almost out of cigarettes too. I gave him a bottle of water, if I had only had a vial of truth serum to slip into it!
This one likes to talk, almost like diarrhea of the mouth. He would have fessed up. He would have told me, he was up to no good. His phone wasn't dead, he just turned it off not to be bothered. He wanted to hang out with his friends and maybe have a few beers. His girlfriend was driving him nuts, he was stressed and he needed a break.
I know that he talks so much; in 60 seconds I would have got it all! Times, names, and all the details!
...If only I had a vial...
I like this approach, a bit of a surprise--usually people start with the vial and serum and proceed to the truth-telling. You give us the backstory, speculate on the truth, but avoid actually dripping any serum into the water bottle--your take works for me.
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