Is she curing him of his multiple personality disorder—or is he setting her up as his next victim?
When Morgan moves her psychotherapy practice from Berkeley to the Lost Coast, she is challenged by wrenching ethical dilemmas the anonymity of city life never prepared her for. She knows too many secrets, and secrets are hard to keep in a small town.
Morgan’s challenges take a dangerous turn when her neighbor, Rosy, takes in her cousin, a young woman recovering from chemotherapy. Morgan doesn’t know it, but she’s not the only one keeping secrets.
“Carlisle” isn’t Rosy’s cousin. She’s hiding from a man who tried to murder her. A man who now comes into Morgan’s office, seeking help.
As Morgan struggles with confidentiality conflicts, her own self-deceptions, and the deceptions of her small town neighbors, Jerry’s madness forces her to make a dangerous choice that could cost Morgan her life.
Background of this book
When I first moved up to Briceland from Berkeley in 1996, a young woman was reported missing off the cliffs at the Lost Coast, during a hike with her boyfriend. The local Earth First climbers and other neighbors searched the cliffs on foot and in sea kayaks, incidentally leaving sand on my deck (Morgan's deck in the story.) The boyfriend seemed unusually laid back during the search, even handing out his girlfriend's Godiva chocolates. Some folks found this so creepy they didn't eat them, but put them on their altars. It seemed to them he knew she wasn't coming back.
Godiva chocolates do not constitute probable cause in charging foul play, so the fellow was not detained and continued upon his way into the world.
I was haunted by this unfinished real-life story, so I made up an entirely fictional one to fit the broken pieces together.