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

‘I’m going. I’m so sorry. Sorry I had to tell you.’

Hannah sat back down on the sofa, her heart pounding. She refused to look at him.

‘I’m only telling you this for Sydney’s sake, Mrs Wickes. You have to know this about Lisa, because Sydney needs to be protected.’

She did not answer him or meet his gaze.

In a few minutes, she heard the back door open and then close behind him.

TWENTY

The house was quiet when Adam returned. He came in the back door and called out, ‘Anybody home?’

Hannah sat in the living room, in the exact spot where she had been sitting when Jamie left her. She heard Adam’s call but did not answer. She could hear Sydney crooning quietly in her bedroom. Her nap was long over, and she had played quietly for a while with her toys. Now she was restive and looking for some attention, but Hannah did not attend to her. Adam walked into the living room and saw her. He heard Sydney calling out from her room.

‘What are you doing sitting in here in the dark?’ he asked.

Hannah looked up at him. ‘Will you take care of Sydney? I can’t.’

‘What’s the matter, darling? Are you all right?’

‘Will you?’ she asked.

‘Of course,’ he said. He hesitated a moment, frowning at her, and then he went down the hall, calling out to Sydney. Hannah heard their happy cries of greeting, and then Sydney came barreling into the living room and climbed up on Hannah’s lap while Adam banged around in the kitchen. He came in and offered Sydney a sippy cup. Sydney took it eagerly and began to drink.

Adam sat down beside Hannah and peered at her. ‘What’s going on?’ he asked. ‘I’m sorry if I’m late. But you still have time to get over to the county jail before visitors’ hours are over.’

Hannah shook her head numbly.

‘I’ve got an idea,’ said Adam, switching on the television to a cartoon channel. Sydney was instantly absorbed. ‘You watch for a while. I’m going to talk to Mom-mom in the other room.’

He guided Hannah off the couch and led her into their bedroom. He left the door ajar so that they could see Sydney, and indicated that Hannah should sit on the loveseat in the bedroom alcove. Then he sat down beside her, and slung his arm over the cushion behind her. ‘OK,’ he said. ‘What’s the matter?’

Hannah shook her head. ‘I don’t even want to say it.’

Adam frowned. ‘Honey, what happened between our breakfast and now?’

Hannah was quiet for a minute. He waited patiently, watching her face. ‘I had a visitor,’ she said.

‘OK.’

‘Jamie.’

Adam nodded.

‘He came over because he had followed the trial. He thought we should know something. Something he knew about Lisa that had to do with her testimony.’

‘What would he know about Lisa or her testimony? He and Lisa aren’t even in touch. We’ve hardly seen him in the last three years.’

Hannah looked her husband squarely in the eye. ‘He said that when they were teenagers, Lisa suggested that they . . .’ She couldn’t continue.

‘What?’ Adam asked. ‘You’re scaring me.’

Hannah drew herself up, and looked away from him. ‘He said that Lisa wanted him to molest his two-year-old cousin so she could watch.’

‘He . . . what . . . ?’ Adam shook his head. ‘No. No. That’s ridiculous. What the hell is he talking about?’

‘He followed the testimony. When Lisa said that she had caught Troy getting ready to molest Sydney . . . Well, Jamie came to tell me that it was Lisa who was interested in that sort of . . . activity.’

Adam stared at her.

Hannah turned and faced him. ‘He meant it, Adam. He wasn’t lying. He was mortified to even say such a thing to me.’

‘He comes up with this now? It doesn’t make sense. He never said anything before.’

‘He said that the only reason he was telling me this was because he was worried for Sydney.’

Adam shook his head. ‘No. That’s . . . not possible.’

They both sat in silence, trying to convince themselves that it was not possible.

‘Adam, I’ve been thinking about this obsessively ever since he left. What if it is? We both wondered why she dated a man who was accused of being a child molester. Maybe she sought Troy Petty out for exactly that reason.’

‘No. Do you hear yourself? No.’

‘I don’t want to believe it!’ Hannah cried.

‘No. I’m telling you, no. Listen to me,’ said Adam. ‘Think about it. Where do these pedophiles make all their connections?’

‘I don’t know,’ said Hannah miserably.

‘On the internet,’ he said.

Hannah nodded. ‘Yes, I suppose.’

‘Suppose, nothing,’ he said. ‘That’s how they do it. That’s how they find one another.’

‘Yes,’ she said slowly.

‘So, the other night, when I went through Lisa’s entire search history, there was nothing like that there. No kiddie porn,’ he said, grimacing at actually speaking the words. ‘Nothing like that. If Jamie’s accusations were true, if this were some kind of secret thing that Lisa was . . . doing, she would have been looking at those sites, I would have found it. I work with computers. I don’t want to bore you to death with the details but, believe me, I’ve combed through it and I’m telling you, there is no way.’

In spite of herself, Hannah felt encouraged by his words. ‘I know if anyone could find it, it would be you. It’s just that you were the one who was bothered by the fact that she didn’t search Troy Petty when Wynonna told her about his past . . .’

‘I thought it was strange,’ he admitted. ‘But facts are facts. She didn’t have any of that crap on her computer.’

Hannah tried to take heart, tried to nourish a fragile hope. ‘You’re right. If this was something . . . real, she probably would