Psychiatrist Haleigh Hugo thinks he’s found the perfect setting for his experimental treatment plan -- an isolated home in the middle of a small lake in the high Sierras. Dr. Hugo’s office mate and life partner, Guy Sanford, is unconvinced that the benefits of the treatment plan outweigh the risks, but soon gives in to the charm and boundless enthusiasm of his lover.<br><br>Dr. Hugo’s subjects are six female patients who have failed to make what he considers significant progress in one-to-one therapy. They all share something in common: grief over the loss of a loved one, a psychological barrier that prevents them from moving on. Hilary Colbert lost her life partner to a serious illness; Jennie Travers no longer trusts her unfaithful husband; Meeda O’Connell’s infant son died in his crib; Vera Field wakes from a coma to learn her father has committed a senseless crime: Sarah/April Preston no longer knows who she is and suffers from a loss of identity; and Emily West has psychic abilities yet longs for a normal human existence.<br><br>The six patients, overseen by Dr. Hugo and Dr. Sanford, descend on Devonshire, a simple mountain home on the lake for a weekend of intense therapy. Yet within the walls of the home lies a terrible and painful secret that haunts anyone who comes near.

Too Long Among the Dead

When he finished updating Sara’s file, he flipped back on the computer to the earlier notes from Jennie’s sessions with Guy and found he was right about the changing details over time.


Jennie had been in complete denial about “the incident” when she first came to Hugo and Sanford some months ago. She was depressed and said she was unable to concentrate on the simplest things like watching a TV program or preparing dinner for her husband.


In a later session with Guy, Jennie focused on the bus and dinghy trip home. She said she’d convinced herself that the entire incident hadn’t happened. That the man only looked like Harold, that she was too far away, maybe all of twenty feet, and she hadn’t been wearing her glasses. She said she never wore glasses when she ventured outside. They had the ability to magnify space and make her agoraphobia almost unbearable. “That’s why we live in a renovated lighthouse for goodness sake. Less room for me to get lost in.”


Chapter 12