Never Lie

by Freida McFadden

It’s so amazing sharing my life with him. Except for the one big secret he doesn’t know about yet.

My mother always said not to leave the house in shoes you can’t walk a mile in.

“And the asking price is so low. This house looks like it should be worth four times as much as that.”

Even as I nod my head in agreement with him, I get another wave of that sick feeling. Something terrible has happened in this house.

“Adrienne Hale,” he reads off the back cover. “Isn’t she that shrink who got murdered?”

That’s how Ethan is. He’s always so confident. I love that about him. So I follow my new husband to the kitchen. But the whole time, I can’t shake the horrible feeling that those green eyes in the portrait over the mantel are watching me.

“Of course. The water is a bit brown though, I have to warn you. I’ve gotten used to the metallic taste, but it bothers some people.”

“Brown water? Adrienne, you should have somebody take a look at that.”

“Oh, I don’t mind. It tastes fine. Let me grab that water for you.”

I just hope he feels the same way about me after he finds out about my revelation. I feel ill every time I think about it. But I can’t keep it from him much longer.

It was a worrying reminder of the fact that I’ve only known my husband for a little over a year. I don’t know yet exactly what he’s like.

I pluck the tape with the red marker off the shelf. Perhaps it’s a privacy violation for me to listen, but it’s not like there are any real names on it. And it’s not like I’m going to get any sleep tonight.

The painting of Dr. Adrienne Hale. The one that Ethan took down and placed facing away from us. It’s back on the wall. And Dr. Hale’s green eyes are boring into me.

“You mean that? You’re not just saying that to make me feel better?” “No! Why do you think I’ve been wanting to buy a house? I want to fill it with kids!” “Oh my God.” I squeeze his hands in mine. “This is such a relief. I thought you were going to be so angry when you found out.” He raises an eyebrow. “When do I ever get angry with you?” He has a point. He’s never angry with me.

“No, I took it down last night. Remember? We were sitting together on the couch and it was freaking you out, so I took it down.”

“No.” My good mood is evaporating. “You said that you put it back up last night. Like, when you went down for water?”

“I never put it back up. Why woul...

“Because you said you did!” Beads of sweat are sprouting on my palms. “At three in the morning, I asked you if you put the pain...

“No. You asked me if I moved it last night. And I said I did. I moved it when we were sitting on the couch. I took i...

“I’m just saying…” He folds his muscular arms across his chest. “It was three in the morning. The house is really dark. You were kind of sleepy and out of it. Is it possible you could be mistaken?” “No. It’s not possible.” “Are you sure?”

I cringe at the idea of a bunch of strangers on my property, installing cameras and equipment so that they can spy on me. I don’t want this equipment so that they can watch me. I want to be the one watching.

She acts like it’s no big deal, but what she does for them is amazing. They love her.” “So you wanted to help her because she helps others?” “Yes… I mean, that’s part of it, but…” “But?” “She’s interesting and complex and caring and intelligent. But she’s also…” “What?” “She’s beautiful.”

“Until today, I would have said she doesn’t like me much. But now I’m not so sure. She’s very hard to read.” “Is that so?” “Yeah. I mean, I’ve been at her house for two hours, then she gets me on her sofa and does this crazy pretend interview, asking me all these questions. And the whole time, I keep thinking, what if I just got up off the sofa and kissed her? How would she react?” “Why don’t you do it then?” “What if she doesn’t want me to? What if she slaps me?” “I don’t think she will.” “No?” “You never know unless you try.”

I climb the rest of the way into the attic, satisfied that there isn’t anyone waiting to pounce on me in here.

“Just because there’s a sleeping bag up there, it doesn’t mean somebody is sleeping in the attic. People keep sleeping bags in the attic.”

“But it’s clean!” I’m desperate to make him understand. “Everything in this house is so dusty, but the sleeping bag has been recently used. It’s not dusty.”

I believe that any human being is capable of terrible things if you push them hard enough.

“So that’s it. You’re going to let this man destroy my entire life when you have a chance to stop him.”

“Adrienne…”

“You don’t trust me. Even after all this time.”

“I trust you…”

“Then why won’t you ...

“Okay. I’ll do my best. But no promises.”

“You, uh…” I scratch my neck. “You got everything off the computer?” “I said I did, didn’t I?” There’s an edge to his voice that’s unfamiliar. He’s always so kind and even-tempered, it’s hard to hear him talk to me this way. “But like I told you, I can’t be sure there aren’t other copies somewhere else in his house.” “Did you look around?” “No.” He glares at me. “I didn’t.” “Oh.” I cough. “And, um, you didn’t… watch the video, right?” “No, I watched it.” My face burns. “Luke, you promised you wouldn’t!”

Ethan grimaces. “I’m so sorry you had to see that. I never should have opened the compartment.” “I’ve never seen a dead body before.” I glance over at him. “Have you?” He hesitates a second too long. “No.” “Have you?” “Well…” He shoves his hands into his coat pockets. “At funerals, obviously sometimes there’s an open casket. So…”

As I allow Luke to kiss me right in the middle of aisle six at the grocery store, I realize that this is the happiest I have ever been. I have a wonderful man in my life, my book is coming out soon, and I have defused the EJ situation. And I have this feeling that more good things are soon to come.

“I have to tell you, Adrienne. After Darcy died, I honestly couldn’t imagine ever falling for anyone else ever again. And then I met you, and… I just knew right away.” He squeezes my hand. “Like I said, if you want to take it slower, that’s fine. I’ll wait as long as I have to.”

“He has a recording of you entering his house and breaking into his laptop.” The words come out in a rush. I want to get this over with. “It even shows you breaking into his desk with a letter opener.”

“I’m so sorry, Luke.”

“Sorry?” The color that had left his face now appears in two spots on his cheeks. “I told you I didn’t want to do this. I told you it was the wrong thing to do. I said we could get in a lot of trouble. Didn’t I say that?”

“As long as he’s alive, he’s going to hold this over us,” I say. “You don’t want that, do you? There’s only one way to make sure he can’t destroy us.” “No. No way.” “Think about it. What else can we do?” Luke looks ill. “Please stop.” “It’s our only choice.”

“We’ve got to get out of here,” he says. “Like, tonight. I don’t want to wait until the morning. I don’t want to sleep under the same roof as that guy.”

“Me neither.” The thought of a man bound against his will in the room below us is very unsettling. I’ll never be able to sleep. “But what can we do?”

“And you’d just leave me here?” A lump rises in my throat. “With him?” “He’s contained. For now.” I shake my head, but I can already see in Ethan’s eyes how determined he is. There’s no way I can talk him out of this. “I’ll be back in an hour—two, tops,” he says. “I promise.”

There’s so much I still don’t know about him, even though I’ve pledged to spend my life with him and I’ve got his child growing inside me. He doesn’t want to share his past with me, and whenever I bring it up, he shuts down.

“Scraps of it anyway… I assume most of the material disintegrated. And you could tell they were wearing a pair of blue jeans. But Adrienne never wore blue jeans. She hated them. She wouldn’t have been caught… well, you know. So I don’t see how that could be her.”

I played the part so well. Honestly, I deserve an Academy Award for that performance.

Even though she blackmailed me and threatened me, I feel guilty about it. I feel guilty about sleeping in her bed. If anyone is capable of coming back as an angry spirit, it’s Dr. Hale.

Okay, I was more than a little obsessed with Ethan. Let’s just say that our coincidental meeting wasn’t such a coincidence. More like it was carefully engineered by yours truly.