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

‘So . . . ?’ he said.

‘So, she knows that I am still in the hospital.’

‘Well, it’s not like she’s worried about you.’ He punched his fist into his palm. ‘Honest to God, Hannah. I wish I could wring her neck.’

‘But you wouldn’t,’ Hannah said flatly. ‘You wouldn’t.’

‘Probably not,’ he admitted. ‘Though I almost wish I could. How could she do such a thing? Push you onto the subway tracks? You loved her. You were a wonderful mother to her. OK, I understand that she must hate us for taking Sydney. But she knows why we did it. She brought it on herself. We had to try to protect Sydney from her.’

‘Oh, I’m sure she hates us for that,’ said Hannah.

‘Yes. Because she didn’t think there was anything wrong with her plans to offer her toddler to the biggest pervert she could find. What kind of a monster did we raise, anyway? It makes me feel so . . . helpless, knowing how ruthless she is. Knowing that she just doesn’t care. I keep asking myself, why didn’t I see it? How could I not have known this about her, somewhere along the line? She lived with us all her life, and we didn’t know her at all. Not anything about her. Now I can’t even remember what I used to love about her.’

‘I can,’ said Hannah, with a sigh.

Adam wiped his eyes. ‘I know,’ he said. ‘That’s what’s so crazy about it. I suppose I do too.’

‘We can’t think about that now,’ said Hannah. ‘We have to decide what to do next. I’ve spent the afternoon thinking about it.’

Adam reached up and laid his palm against the bandages wrapped around her head. ‘Are you supposed to be thinking?’ he said, smiling slightly.

‘Probably not,’ she said, ‘but there’s no stopping me.’

‘OK. What have you been scheming?’

‘First of all, I know you’re not going to like this . . .’

Adam frowned at her.

‘Just hear me out. As I said, this is our opportunity. And, in a way, nothing has changed. The only thing that really matters is Sydney. And this is our chance.’

‘To do what?’ he said wearily.

‘You know the bags I packed? And put in the attic? Now they will come in handy. We’ll ask someone to go in and get them. You can’t go in there, or she might see you. And follow you. So we’ll have somebody get the bags and bring them to wherever you are.’

‘Wherever I am?’ he asked skeptically.

‘So then you’ll have what you need,’ she said.

‘For what?’

Hannah looked at him with an unflinching gaze. ‘To start over. You and Sydney have to leave.’

‘Leave? What? Leave Philly?’

‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Leave Philly.’

‘You mean leave you here all alone? Oh, Hannah. Don’t be stupid.’

Hannah leaned forward in her wheelchair so that her face was close to his. ‘Adam, listen to me. She knows you. She knows that you would never leave me alone while I was in the hospital. That’s why this is a golden opportunity. She won’t be expecting it. She’s probably planning her next move for when I get home, when we are all back in the West Philly apartment. So we have to seize this opportunity. You have to take Sydney and get far away from here.’

‘Do you hear yourself?’ he said, shaking his head. ‘She’s already proved that she would do anything to hurt you. You think I’m going to leave you behind?’

Hannah reached out and wrapped her cold fingers around his wrist. ‘I mean it, Adam. I’m not being hysterical. I’ve never felt more certain of what to do. Whatever happens with Lisa, I can face it. But Sydney deserves the best protection we can give her. There’s only one way to ensure that.’

‘What you’re proposing is suicidal,’ he said grimly.

‘Please try and understand,’ she continued. ‘At some level I don’t care anymore. My child, my own flesh and blood, tried to kill me. I don’t know if it’s possible to feel lower than I do today. Depressed doesn’t even begin to describe it.’

‘I know,’ he said. ‘It’s devastating. But you can’t give up like this. We’ll figure out a way to do this together.’

‘Adam, this is the only way. We have this brief window of opportunity, when you two can flee from here and she won’t be expecting it. She won’t be looking for you. I’ll still be in here for several days, and she’ll expect you to stay by my side. She may not have any love or loyalty herself but she knows that you do. That’s exactly why you have to leave now.’

‘It’s out of the question,’ said Adam, shaking his head.

‘Darling,’ Hannah said in a low, urgent voice, ‘this isn’t how we planned our life. But this is the life we have. We created Lisa. We raised her, and somehow . . . she’s amoral. She has no inner . . . conscience. No . . . sense of right and wrong. Nothing anybody says about psychopaths being born and not made will make me feel one bit better about this. She is out there in the world, free to harm anyone she wants to. It’s hard to describe how much I feel like a failure.’

‘That’s not fair,’ he said. ‘We tried everything. We had a happy home. She never wanted for anything. We cheered her on, no matter what she wanted to do. You were the best mother in the world. Always on her side. Always thinking of ways to make her life happy. You can’t blame yourself.’

‘But I do,’ she said. ‘At the end of the day, I do feel responsible.’

‘Well, so do I,’ he said. ‘But we can’t change what’s already done. In spite of all our best efforts, this is the result. And