Page 159 of Hunting Pretty

Who took her? And why?

But I couldn’t tell Dr. Vale that. He’d refuse to help me. He’d call Ebony, perhaps even the chief of police, and tell them that I was interfering in an investigation.

I pushed the hair back from my face that’d fallen forward in a mess. “Dr. Vale, I want you to use deep memory revival therapy on me.”

At the name of the therapy Aisling had said Liath had tried, I saw a flash of surprise in his eyes, in the way his brows pinched together and his shoulders hitched up to his ears.

But the next moment, he was straightening his pressed pants and brushing invisible lint off the lapels of his two-piece tweed suit.

“That’s an unusual request. Where did you hear about DMRT?”

“You’ve used it before, haven’t you? Liath said you did.”

Dr. Vale froze, just for a split second—long enough forme to catch the flicker of something in his eyes. Was that… fear?

My pulse quickened. Heknew. He knew something about Liath’s abuse, something he wasn’t willing to admit.

I had to get it out of him. Tease it out, piece by piece.

Dr. Vale cleared his throat before he reached for his glass of water, gulping it down as if his throat was parched. “I used itonceon Liath at her insistence.”

“Then I insist on it, too.”

“Deep memory revival therapy is an experimental treatment, Ava.” Dr. Vale set his glass aside and once again he seemed back in control. “I don’t recommend it.”

“Liath started to remember though, didn’t she?” I pushed, clutching my bag so hard that my nails dug into the leather.

Dr. Vale tilted his head and gave me what I could only describe as a pitying look. “DMRT gave Liath false memories. It made her so confused.”

“But what about her bruises? Her missing time? They weren’t fake.”

Dr. Vale pursed his lips, tapping the tips of his fingers together. “Ava, you and I both know that Liath developed… unhealthy ways of coping with her problems in the last few months. Drugs. Alcohol. Parties.”

“That doesn’t mean—”

“Liath’s missing time and her bruises can all be explained by her late nights on illicit substances. Her so-called memories were mere figments of her imagination.”

I shook my head, gripping my bag in my fists to stop myself from physically throwing myself at Dr. Vale and punching his face in.

Liath was a typical fucking college student. Yeah, she liked to party, but we all did. It didn’t mean she was crazy or delusional the way Dr. Vale was suggesting.

My phone buzzed again, the noise muffled by my bag. But I ignored it.

“I know you don’t want to accept this about your friend, Ava. But Liath was a troubled girl. She’d convinced herself that someone was stalking her, convinced herself that there was something nefarious going on in her life.”

“But—”

“Thatis what happened with Liath.” Dr. Vale’s voice hardened. “And that’s what might happen to you if you insist on being put through a DMRT session.

“Liath was convinced the images she saw during DMRT werereal. It set her therapy back months. It sent her spiraling to a point where I could not help her and eventually, she ran away.”

Dr. Vale inhaled sharply. He straightened and brushed his vest down with his hands, fixing his collar.

He cleared his throat, his eyes fixed on me with such concern that it made me pause.

“I cannot in good conscience put you through a DMRT session, Ava. I made a mistake with Liath. I indulged her too much. I gave in to her whims. I let her imagination run wild without checking it.

“I torture myself every day with what might have happened if I didn’t let her spiral. If I said something or did something differently. That she might still be here with us. This is something I must live with.”

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