In the Clearing (Tracy Crosswhite, #3)

by Robert Dugoni

sometimes if she stirred the pot, something unexpected bubbled to the surface.

“The thing about a lie, Hastey, is it’s never just one, is it? You think if everyone agrees to say nothing, then nothing can happen to anyone. But soon you have to tell another lie, then another, and pretty soon, you’ve told so many lies you don’t know what the truth is anymore.” Tracy tapped her sternum. “But deep inside, the truth lingers, and that soft, nagging conscience just keeps pecking away, fighting to get out. It just keeps pecking and pecking and pecking, until you just can’t stand it. You can’t sleep. You can’t function. You’re drinking too much, eating too much. You’re self-destructing. You’re wondering if you’re going to have a heart attack, or maybe lose it entirely, the way Darren Gallentine lost it.” Devoe looked white as a sheet. “And then that secret that seemed so simple has suddenly become a huge anchor around your neck, and it starts to pull you under because you no longer have the strength to keep your head above water. You start to drown. You’re going under, Hastey, and you know it.

“It’s a terrible thing when a child is stripped of his perception that his parents are perfect. Kids want to believe their parents will always be there to take care of them. One of the hardest things about getting older is losing that naïveté that allows us all to believe in myths and fantasies, having it replaced by harsh reality. We don’t want to believe our parents aren’t perfect, some far from it.”