Never Lie

by Freida McFadden

EJ is Susan’s son. She asked me to work with him about two years ago, stating that he had “no direction in life.” Within one session, I had diagnosed EJ with narcissistic personality disorder—the characteristics of this diagnosis include a long-term pattern of exaggerated feelings of self-importance, cravings for admiration, and impaired empathy.

He follows my gaze to the portrait hanging on the wall. His eyes darken the way they did when he first saw it.

My friends were totally wrong about all the red flags.

he has a temper. But he would never hurt me. I know that for a fact.

So it seems like Dr. Hale had her last session with this EJ person, then started up again almost right after. And there’s no final session. The last tape with those initials has black pen on it. That means she was still seeing this patient at the time of her disappearance.

It hits me now that he mentioned in the beginning of the tape that he had brought her a bottle of wine. A bottle of cabernet sauvignon from South Africa. When Ethan brought out the wine, he mentioned it was from South Africa. Was it the same bottle of wine? It seems too much of a coincidence that Dr. Hale had two bottles of cabernet sauvignon from South Africa.

“You should eat them. Put some meat on your bones—men like that.”

the only way two people can keep a secret is if one of them is dead.