The Haunted — Alice Brennan

Jennifer Stone had to learn her sister-in-law's unutterable secret -- but in the answer lay a threat to her life!

HOUSE OF LIES

Something was terribly wrong. Jennifer Stone's brother, in Vietnam, hadn't heard from his wife Marcy for six months, and Jennifer had to find out why. But she had hardly arrived at the Barnsted farm, where Marcy was staying, when Uncle Horace Barnsted tried to drive her away. Even Aunt Elna Barnsted, who welcomed Jennifer's presence, hardly seemed trustworthy, and handsome young Lyman Parks, friendly enough at first, suddenly turned hostile. As for Marcy, she had changed shockingly -- a mental breakdown had turned the once-beautiful girl into a frightened child, incapable of speaking her secret.

There were explanations, of course -- Elna had explanations for everything -- but somehow they just didn't ring true. Jennifer had never before known such an atmosphere of falsehood and deceit, of lives with secrets desperately concealed. And slowly it dawned on her that the Barnsteds no longer wanted her to leave the farm. In fact, if they had their way, she would never leave. Not alive, that is...