Never Lie (71)

I have to admit, I became a little obsessed with Ethan after that. First of all, he was gorgeous. And second, something about him reminded me of myself. He went after what he wanted. Even if he had to do something other people would say was unthinkable.

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.

But he never quite came around the way I wanted him to. After we got married, I thought he would confess everything to me. I thought he would love and trust me enough to tell me the truth. But he hasn’t.

That’s why I brought him along on this trip. I could have gone alone, and it would’ve been easier. I could have searched to my heart’s content. But I wanted Ethan here with me. He forgot about this house until he saw the portrait of Dr. Hale on the wall. But now he knows that his secret is out there.

“What are you doing?” I ask him again. He opens his mouth, but before any words can come out, I add, “Don’t lie.”

“I would never lie to you, Tricia,” he sputters.

I give him a look.

His shoulders sag. “You listened to my mother’s tapes, didn’t you?”

“Yes. Some of them.”

“Oh God.” He tugs at the short strands of his golden hair. “I know what she said on those tapes. But I didn’t—”

“Don’t lie.”

He stands there for a moment. The only sounds in the room are the fire crackling and his inhale and exhale.

“Fine,” he says. “I killed her.”





Chapter 54


Now that the truth has left his lips, he seems calmer. He’s not sweating anymore. He’s my confident husband again.

“You don’t know what she was like.” The bitterness seeps through his voice. “She was insane. My father died when I was a kid, and he got off easy as far as I’m concerned. She was always extremely anxious, always accusing people around her of being out to get her. Including me.”

He pauses to look disdainfully at the fire. “She was an alcoholic too. When she drank, she always thought I was stealing her stuff, and she’d corner me and accuse me. She would tell me I was rotten. A rotten kid who would never amount to anything.”

“I’m sorry,” I murmur.

“To be fair, I was stealing her stuff some of the time. I figured if she was going to accuse me either way, I may as well do it.”

This is the other side of my husband. The one he never lets me see. A little thrill goes through me. “So what happened?”

“I needed money.” He looks down at his hands. “She never gave me any money. Never gave me anything because she didn’t trust anyone besides herself. But she had that insurance policy. And you know what? I wouldn’t have even done it, except she was so drunk that night. She was yelling at me about what a terrible son I was, and I couldn’t help myself. I pushed her down the stairs.”

He lifts his eyes slowly. “I had parked around the back. I got the hell out of there and didn’t call the police until a day later. I told them I couldn’t reach her, and I was worried. She was long gone by then.”

Now that he’s told me the whole story, he drops onto the couch and buries his face in his hands. I sit down beside him and lower my hand onto his back. His shoulders are trembling.

“You hate me now,” he murmurs. “I can’t blame you.”

“No,” I say.

He lifts his face from his hands. His eyes are damp. “I love you so much, Tricia. I didn’t know I was capable of it. I spent my entire childhood hating that woman, and I didn’t know I had it in me to love another person. Then I met you, and it was like, you’re my soulmate.”

“Then why didn’t you tell me the truth?”

“I couldn’t tell you! You would have left me if you found out.”

“That’s not true.” I reach out and take his hand in mine. “The truth is…”

“Tricia?”

“I already knew.”

His face fills with confusion. This is the moment to tell him everything. I’ve been scared to, but I don’t have a choice. If there was ever a time to tell him, it is now.

So I start at the beginning. About Cody and Alexis. How I became Dr. Hale’s patient. How she blackmailed me and forced me to do her bidding. The identity of the body under the floorboards. Finally, the true fate of Dr. Adrienne Hale and my goal in coming here this weekend.

Ethan listens to the entire story, his face an emotionless mask. At some point, he pulls his hand away from mine and puts it in his lap. He doesn’t interrupt me once. He lets me tell him everything, and there’s a moment when I’m afraid I’ve gone too far. He killed his mother, yes. But I killed six people and was responsible for the death of one other. One might argue that my sins outweigh his—if they were keeping track.

When I finish talking, Ethan just sits there for a while, staring at the fireplace. I let him mull over what I just told him. He deserves a few minutes to think it over. I quietly cross my fingers and my toes. He will understand. I know he will.

Won’t he?

“Wow,” he finally says. He’s still staring at the fire.

What is he thinking? Is he going to turn me in to the police? I took a massive chance here tonight. But I thought he loved me too much. And now his child is growing inside me. He would never do that to me.