The Good Lie

by A.R. Torre

This was why I shouldn’t have befriended a fellow shrink. We couldn’t have a simple lunch without analyzing each other.

Part of the game, for many killers, is the con of the innocent, the hiding of the monster, the successful deception that proves to them that they are smarter and therefore superior.

“With this glass, rich and deep, we cradle all our sorrows to sleep.” I gave a wistful smile. “My dad used to say that. Though he was a scotch man, not Bud Light.”

The missing kid. Not Gabe, who hadn’t been able to escape. Scott Harden. Lucky Scott Harden.

Losing a child was like losing a limb. You were reminded of it every time you moved, until the consistent adjustments to life became a permanent part of you.

So, Robert Kavin meets Natasha. Graduates from law school. Practices criminal law for three years. She gets pregnant. Has a child—Gabe. When Gabe is ten, Natasha is murdered. Case goes unsolved. Seven years pass, and Gabe is kidnapped, then killed. Nine months pass, and Robert sleeps with me, then shows up in my home, asking me to do a psychological profile on his son’s killer.

“You manipulate people for a living. Manipulation to fit and believe your narrative. You play with emotions and, sometimes, facts.”

sociopaths who see other people as dispensable. Killing isn’t done for enjoyment but as a solution. If a person is in the way or causing an annoyance in their lives, they handle them the same way they’d handle a mosquito—kill it, flick it to the side, and move on. They don’t grieve, regret, savor, or think about the killing again unless that action causes consequences or requires cleanup.

attention seekers. They enjoy the power rush that comes from killing and want the media splash, the tearful families, the fear.

BH took them to a separate site, where he held them for six to eight weeks before killing them and dumping their bodies in a third location.

And there was something deeply personal about the archetype of the boys that triggered something in the killer. My hypothesis was that the killer’s high school years had been traumatic with respect to his mental growth.

Body spread-eagled, the genitals removed, a heart carved into his chest.” I tucked a lock of hair behind my ear. “And there’s always a pinkie finger missing. Sometimes other digits, too, but always a pinkie.”

“Serial killers are often overtaken by their id, due to a weak ego and superego. The psychodynamic theory blames those weak egos on a lack of proper development—typically during adolescence, and often from trauma.