I SEE YOU an unputdownable psychological thriller with a breathtaking twist by PATRICIA MACDONALD (fb2 epub reader .TXT) 📕

Hannah clutched Adam’s hand as the jury filed in and took their seats across the courtroom from Lisa. Hannah studied their faces, trying to read their expressions. You hold my daughter’s fate in your hands, she thought. Please, please, don’t take her away from us. Or from her child. Please.

The judge turned and faced the jury. He asked the foreman to stand, and then asked if they had reached their verdict. The foreman announced that they had.

Hannah felt as if her heart were being squeezed in her chest. She glanced at Adam and saw his strong features, rigid with anxiety. With excruciating slowness, the judge explained the charges again, and finally turned to the foreman.

‘On the first count, murder in the first degree, how do you find?’ asked the judge.

The foreman hesitated and glanced over at Lisa.

‘Not guilty,’ said the foreman.

A loud gasp and cries erupted in the courtroom, and the judge slammed down his gavel. The crowd lapsed into quiet. Lisa turned and looked at her parents, her eyebrows raised, her face wreathed in a smile. Hannah felt as if she could rise from her seat on wings of happiness. She looked into Adam’s eyes through grateful tears. He was squeezing her in his arms.

‘She’s free,’ Hannah whispered. ‘Oh my God. It’s over.’

‘Order in the court,’ the judge intoned, banging the gavel. The spectators quieted down to a hopeful murmur.

‘On the second count, larceny in the second degree,’ said the judge.

The jury foreman did not hesitate. ‘Guilty,’ he said.

The spectators were quiet. Hannah looked in bewilderment at Adam. ‘What does this mean?’

‘I’m not sure,’ said Adam, his gaze trained on Lisa. ‘I don’t understand. I guess they think she stole the check from Troy.’

The judge offered to poll the jury individually but Marjorie graciously declined.

‘In that case,’ said the judge, ‘I’m ready to pass sentence on the defendant.’

Lisa obediently lowered her head.

‘Lisa Wickes,’ said the judge. ‘You have been convicted of the crime of larceny in the second degree. I hereby sentence you to two months in the county jail in addition to time served.’

Lisa nodded humbly.

‘Bailiff will take the defendant back into custody.’

As the bailiff came toward Lisa, she turned and looked at her parents. Hannah reached for her daughter and managed to encircle her in an awkward embrace. ‘It’s all over, darling,’ she said. ‘You’ll be home in no time.’

‘It’s so unfair,’ said Lisa. ‘I didn’t steal the stupid check.’

The bailiff gruffly told Lisa to raise her hands to be cuffed. Hannah let her go reluctantly. Adam was shaking hands with Marjorie, thanking her profusely. He turned to Lisa, who looked pleadingly at her father. ‘Two more months?’ she cried.

Adam, who had put a consoling hand on her arm, pulled it away. ‘It will be over before you know it,’ he said. ‘We were lucky.’

‘Why?’ Lisa complained. ‘I didn’t do anything.’

‘Lisa, quiet,’ Marjorie hissed. ‘The judge is speaking.’

The judge thanked the jury for their service and dismissed them. He asked the two attorneys to his chambers for a conference, and then court was dismissed.

Lisa looked back at her parents, both relief and resentment in her gaze, as she was led away. Adam shook his head. ‘Doesn’t she realize how lucky she is?’

‘I guess it’s hard to feel lucky when you’re going back to jail,’ said Hannah.

Buoyed along the crowd, Hannah and Adam clung to one another, and made their way out of the courtroom. Reporters besieged them for comments, and they responded to everyone in the same way.

‘We’re very relieved,’ said Hannah. ‘Thank goodness the jury understood that my daughter was innocent.’

‘Not exactly innocent,’ said a bearded young reporter for the Tennessean. ‘She was convicted of larceny.’

Adam turned and looked at him. Hannah could see that he was forcing himself to respond calmly. ‘We believe that it was a misunderstanding about the check but we accept the jury’s verdict. The important thing is that they realized our daughter did not kill Mr Petty, and that she will be coming home in a few weeks. We are very grateful.’

Hannah clung to Adam’s hand, almost blissfully unaware of the cameras, the flashing lights, the shouted questions. Thank you, Lord, she thought.

‘How are you feeling, Mrs Wickes?’ asked Chanel Ali Jackson, putting a microphone in front of Hannah’s face.

‘Happy,’ said Hannah. ‘Relieved. This nightmare is finally over.’

No sooner were the words out of her mouth than her gaze fell on Troy Petty’s sister, Nadine Melton. She was standing, largely ignored by the press, with an assistant prosecutor, and she was gazing at Hannah and Adam, wiping away angry tears that would not stop flowing. As Hannah met her gaze Nadine shook her head, almost as if in warning. In spite of her relief, Hannah felt an unwelcome stab of anxiety. No, she thought. It is over, and she forced herself to look away.

NINETEEN

Rayanne and Chet were waiting for them with a bottle of champagne. Hannah and Adam exchanged hugs with their friends, and with Jamie and Greta.

Sydney was giddy with excitement, even though she didn’t really understand what was going on. They all toasted the verdict, and Hannah felt as if the bubbles were going directly to her head.

‘So when will she be home?’ asked Rayanne.

‘Two months,’ said Hannah, embarrassed in spite of herself. ‘I don’t believe she stole that check but we weren’t going to argue. Not after that verdict.’

‘Of course not,’ said Rayanne.

Adam, who had scooped up Sydney and was holding her on his lap, shook his head as he sipped the champagne. ‘Lisa was upset that they had convicted her of taking the check. I don’t think she understood how close she came to spending the rest of her life in prison.’

‘For