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

be determined, for a weekend to remember. I am enclosing a photo of myself, as you requested. I also have the paperwork from the lab which will prove to you that I am disease-free, and will give you a copy when we meet. In answer to your other question, I go about seven to eight inches, fully erect. I know it’s a lot for a little girl to handle but with you to guide me, all will be well.

‘In closing, let me say, Thank Heaven for Little Girls forever!

‘Yours sincerely . . .’

Hannah let out a cry, fainted, and slid off the couch, gashing her head on the coffee table as she fell.

TWENTY-THREE

Hannah came to, cradled in her husband’s arms. He was shaking her. His face loomed over hers, his gaze frantic.

‘Hannah, are you all right?’ he demanded. ‘Talk to me.’

Hannah nodded and swallowed hard. ‘Let me go,’ she whispered.

He released his hold on her except his steadying grip under one of her arms. Awkwardly, she scrambled up from the floor and sat down on the sofa. She didn’t dare try to stand up. She felt as if she would topple over if she did so. There was a spatter of dark red droplets across the rug beneath the corner of the table.

Adam pushed himself up and sat down beside her. He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and dabbed at the blood which had run down Hannah’s face from her scalp wound.

‘Ow,’ she exclaimed.

‘Does that hurt?’

‘A little,’ Hannah admitted.

‘Maybe I should take you to the ER.’

‘Forget the ER. I won’t go.’

‘You were out cold for a few seconds.’

‘From shock,’ she said, probing her cut scalp gingerly with her fingers. ‘Not from this.’

‘Are you sure?’ he asked.

‘Absolutely. I was trying to obliterate everything that happened in the last hour.’

‘It didn’t work,’ he said.

Hannah glanced at the innocuous-looking pile of letters scattered on the coffee table in front of them. ‘How could it?’ she said. Then she raised her hands and covered her eyes and her face.

Adam closed his eyes too, and they sat that way for a few minutes, knees touching, their breathing loud in the quiet room.

When Hannah removed her hands from her face, there were tears running down her cheeks. Some of the tears mixed with the blood and formed a spidery red pattern along her chin. She looked hopelessly at her husband.

‘Do we need to open the others?’ she asked.

‘I already know everything I need to know,’ he said.

‘So do I,’ said Hannah, and she let out a sob.

Adam massaged her bent spine absently with his open palm. Hannah rubbed her eyes with her fists, as if she could somehow grind away the sight she had seen. It was no use. The words were now in her brain, frozen there forever.

‘Lisa cannot be allowed to be around Sydney. Never again,’ he said, and his voice was shaking.

Hannah nodded. ‘No. Obviously not.’ Of all the heartbreaking things she had faced in recent months, this was the worst. ‘I . . . I can’t comprehend it.’

‘Truly,’ he said.

Hannah shook her head and kneaded her forehead which was beginning to throb. ‘I just cannot believe this. Adam, what should we do?’

‘I don’t know. I feel like I don’t ever want to set eyes on her again.’

‘We can’t tell anyone about this.’

‘Why would we want to?’ he cried.

‘We can’t, that’s all.’

‘Because we’re ashamed?’

‘Well, I am ashamed. Aren’t you?’ she countered.

‘That’s the least of my concerns.’

‘But do we want this all over the papers? All over the news?’

Adam looked at her in disbelief. ‘Are you worried about Lisa’s reputation? Isn’t it a little late for that?’

Hannah shook her head miserably. ‘I can’t deny that I dread facing that. Every reporter saying that about Lisa. Even if it’s true. But that’s not it. I’m worried about Sydney finding out. I don’t want her to ever know that her mother was willing to . . .’

‘Pimp her out. A toddler,’ said Adam bitterly. ‘That’s what it is, isn’t it? It would serve Lisa right if we marched down to the police station and handed them these letters. Let them take over. I’m not sure if she’s actually committed a crime but she certainly intended to.’

‘I know. I know. I just . . .’ said Hannah. ‘I just keep wondering what is wrong with her? How could we not have known this? Could we have prevented it? Was it our fault somehow?’

‘Our fault?’ he demanded. ‘She certainly didn’t learn that depraved behavior around here. I don’t know what’s wrong with her. Maybe she is a mental case — a psychopath — just like your friend said.’

‘I don’t know,’ said Hannah miserably. ‘I would never have believed . . . in my wildest dreams . . . that our own daughter could ever think of such a thing. It’s just . . . it’s too terrible to take in.’

‘Well, we have to take it in,’ said Adam, ‘because in less than two months she will be free and on her way home to take her daughter from us. And she’ll be free to carry out her disgusting plan.’

‘Can we stop her, short of calling the police?’

For a few minutes they sat in silence, each one contemplating their miserable options. Adam broke the silence.

‘Hannah,’ he said, ‘we have to seek custody.’

For one brief, despairing moment, Hannah thought about starting the process that lay ahead of them. Wresting custody of her grandchild away from her daughter. It was not what she would have chosen. But Sydney was innocent and, as unthinkable as it was, she had to be protected from her own mother. ‘I know,’ she said.

‘We will have to seek legal custody of Sydney. Lisa can’t be allowed to visit her unsupervised. We have no choice. And we have to