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

and Alberta, were just toddlers. And my mother asked me to mind them so they could go and visit some great-aunt of theirs near Chattanooga. Well, she gave me my choice of minding them or going to Chattanooga, so the choice was easy. I said I would do it. We had that little kiddy pool set up. And the swings. I figured, how bad could it be?’

Hannah nodded, remembering that time.

‘Well, Lisa came over. You know how we always were. Back and forth through the hedge,’ he said, and there was a catch in his voice. ‘Even then, she was like my best friend.’

‘I know,’ said Hannah, and she heard the note of warning in her own voice.

Jamie heaved a sigh and looked down at his own, interlaced fingers.

‘So,’ Hannah prodded him.

‘So, she came over, and we were playing in that little pool with them, and drinking Cokes. You know, just whiling away the afternoon. And I said I had better take them in and find them some dry clothes. Lisa said she’d help me, and she followed me into the house. I was rummaging around in their suitcases for some dry clothes while Lisa peeled off their little swimsuits.’

‘She wasn’t used to small children,’ said Hannah.

Jamie ignored the interruption. ‘I finally found a pair of shorts and a T-shirt for each of them, and I looked up, saying eureka or something like that, and Lisa had her arms around them. She was kissing them and such . . .’

‘Affectionately,’ said Hannah, supplying the word.

‘And then I realized that she had taken off the top of her suit.’

‘Jamie, look, if you’re about to tell me that you and Lisa . . . I always assumed that maybe you two experimented a little bit. I don’t find that shocking.’

Jamie looked at her darkly and Hannah retreated into silence. ‘This is about the children. Lisa was nuzzling them and she said to me, “They’re so cute.” I was a little . . . surprised, but I agreed with her that they were cute. And then she said, “Take your suit off.”’

Hannah said nothing. The silence in the room was deafening.

Jamie shook his head. ‘I didn’t get it at first. I was so shocked to see Lisa like that. Without her top. I won’t lie to you. I’d often imagined it but I never really held out much hope that anything would happen between us. Anything sexual, I mean. I was a jock, but really, I was too . . . timid. Still, I knew that the kids shouldn’t see her like that. I thought maybe she was trying to say to me that she wanted to, you know, mess around. Obviously I was in favor of it, but not in front of the kids. “Lisa,” I said, “not right now. I mean, later, yes, when we’re alone . . .”

‘She wasn’t even looking at me. Her eyes were glittering and she was staring at them. They were like cherubs. I mean, the picture of innocence. And she said, “Come on, Jamie. Let’s play with them. Let’s take them into the bedroom. I want to watch you do it with Alberta. Wouldn’t you like to do that?”’

‘You just wait a minute,’ said Hannah jumping up from the sofa. ‘Why are you saying this? Take that back. That is just sick. That’s the product of a teenage boy’s sick mind.’

Jamie did not take offense. He scarcely moved. ‘I could hardly believe it myself,’ he said. ‘But there was no mistaking what she said. Her tone of voice.’

‘Tone of voice,’ Hannah scoffed. ‘You’re making this up.’

Jamie refused to be interrupted. ‘When I didn’t respond, she started fondling Shane. I felt like I was frozen, watching it.’

‘You are lying,’ Hannah thundered. ‘That is just shameful. Get out of my house. That’s your own filthy mind. Get out of here.’

Jamie stood up and his chin was trembling. ‘I took him away from her and told her to put on her top and get out of the house. I told her not to come over again while my cousins were visiting. She said I was a prude and a jerk and that she didn’t want anything more to do with me, period. She said she would never come back. And she didn’t.’

‘What is the matter with you?’ said Hannah. ‘I can’t believe you would make up this story about Lisa, after all these years. Are you crazy?’

‘I heard what she said about Troy Petty when she was testifying. She claimed that he was getting ready to assault Sydney. But the things she said? Those were the very same suggestions she made about my cousins years earlier.’

‘That’s not true,’ Hannah protested. ‘Your mother would have said something to me years ago.’

‘I never told her,’ he said.

‘Why wouldn’t you tell her?’ Hannah demanded.

‘I was ashamed!’ he cried. ‘How was I going to say that to my mother? Besides, I didn’t want Lisa to get in trouble. I . . . I cared about her. Despite that, I still cared about her. She stayed away from me after that but I wouldn’t have done anything to hurt her. Now I wonder if I made the right decision.’

‘This is vicious of you. Just vicious, Jamie. Why are you saying these things now, when the trial is over? Are you still so angry that she rebuffed you all those years ago?’

Jamie shook his head wearily. ‘I didn’t want to say this to you. That was the last thing I wanted to do. Believe me. But when I heard her testimony, her acting so . . . indignant, I knew she was lying. I suspect it was the other way around. She suggested it, and Troy was shocked and threw her out. I had to say something to you. Sydney can’t protect herself from Lisa. You have to do it.’

‘Get out of here. I don’t want to hear