I SEE YOU an unputdownable psychological thriller with a breathtaking twist by PATRICIA MACDONALD (bookstand for reading txt) 📗

Adam closed the front door and came back into the room. He sat down in a chair opposite Lisa and rubbed his hands together.

Lisa sighed. ‘Go ahead, Dad. Say whatever’s on your mind.’

‘All right, I will,’ said Adam. ‘Why in the world did you cash Troy’s paycheck?’

Lisa laughed. ‘Really? Is that all you want to know? I expected you to start accusing me of murder.’

‘Lisa, don’t even say that word. We would never think that. And your father is moving heaven and earth to try to help you,’ said Hannah sharply.

Lisa nodded. ‘Sorry.’

‘The paycheck?’ Adam demanded.

‘He owed me money. It was that simple. He signed the check and handed it to me before I left. I went to the store near the hospital where they cashed our paychecks. I wanted to get the money before he changed his mind.’

‘You don’t have any money to lend,’ said Adam. ‘You can barely make ends meet as it is.’

Lisa sighed and closed her eyes.

‘Can you answer me?’ Adam said impatiently.

‘Look, I gave it to him because he seemed desperate for the money. I think I wasn’t the only one he owed money to. But I wanted to be paid back. I took the check and I cashed it. Like you said, I can’t afford to lend people money. I got angry, OK, and I insisted on getting what was owed me.’

‘And that was it?’

‘That was it.’

‘Did you tell the police that?’

‘I did,’ said Lisa. ‘They didn’t seem to care.’

‘And you have no idea how the explosion happened?’

‘Are you kidding?’ Lisa cried. ‘How would I know? Thanks a lot, Dad.’

‘I want to believe you, Lisa. More than you know. But the police don’t just arrest people for no reason.’

‘Well, in this case they did. OK, Dad?’ Lisa shook her head in disgust. ‘I should have known you wouldn’t believe me. I hear you going around bragging about me being in medical school. When you’re talking about that, I’m your precious little girl. But let one thing go wrong, and you turn on me . . .’

‘One thing go wrong?’ Adam cried. ‘This is a little more than one thing going wrong.’

‘Sorry I didn’t say what you wanted me to,’ Lisa yelled at him. ‘This is exactly what I would have expected from you.’

Hannah shook her head. The peace between Adam and Lisa was always tenuous. Since she had become a teenager, Lisa had resisted her father’s every effort at discipline. There was some struggle between them that just could not be resolved.

‘Mommy . . .’ Even though the sound was muffled, Hannah could hear Sydney’s cries coming from her bedroom down the hall. Lisa heard them too.

‘I’ll go,’ she said more quietly. ‘I’m exhausted anyway. I think I’ll go to bed.’

Adam took a deep breath, and when he spoke his voice was shaky. In fact, his whole body seemed to shake. Hannah felt immediately protective of him. It was true that he held Lisa to a high standard but no higher than he expected from himself. ‘Look, Lisa, I’m sorry. I’m upset. Maybe I’m not being fair.’

‘You’re not being fair,’ said Lisa. ‘Nothing unusual there. But I don’t have to defend myself to you. Goodnight, Mom.’

‘Goodnight, darling. Try to get some sleep,’ said Hannah, reaching up to her.

Lisa bent down and placed an awkward kiss in the vicinity of Hannah’s eyebrow. ‘I’ll see you in the morning,’ said Lisa, avoiding her father’s gaze.

After she was gone, Hannah turned to her husband. ‘Adam, what are you doing? We have to be on her side. She needs us now. We have to support her through this. You know that, don’t you?’

‘Yes, of course. I know it.’

‘So why are you acting this way?’

Adam held his head in his hands. ‘I don’t know.’

‘Can’t you do that? Can’t you be on her side?’

‘I’m scared, Hannah,’ he groaned. ‘I’m just so scared. Our daughter arrested? Charged with murder?’

Hannah shook her head. ‘It’s a mistake. It’s all going to be resolved. Meanwhile, we have to be strong. For Lisa and for Sydney.’

‘You’re right,’ he said. ‘And I will. I’ll do my best. I promise.’

Hannah looked over at him, the man she had fallen in love with at eighteen. He was good through and through. He always tried to do his best for them. Lisa knew how to push his buttons but all he had ever wanted for her was the sun and the moon and the stars. Hannah got up from the sofa and went over to where he sat. She was frightened herself but, right at that moment, Adam needed consolation more than she did. She perched on the arm of the chair and rubbed his back. ‘I know you will,’ she said reassuringly. ‘You always do.’

FIVE

A fragile peace held in the house as they edged closer to the date of Lisa’s trial. Lisa went to class and did her rounds and pretended not to hear the whispers in the hospital. She had frequent meetings with Marjorie Fox, though she reported very little about their conversations to her parents. The news coverage was continuous. Every day some article appeared with a photo of Lisa glowering and looking stressed, and an inset photo of Troy, his soft blond hair falling across his forehead, his biceps bulging under his nurse’s scrubs. The deceased. New information was scant but there was no shortage of photos. Photographers trailed in Lisa’s wake.

Adam sat up late going over their accounts, to see where they could borrow enough money to pay the high-powered attorney. After three nights in a row of watching him struggle, Hannah sat down beside him. ‘Tomorrow,’ she said, ‘I’m going to take Sydney and go visit my mother.’

Adam shook his head. ‘No,’ he said. ‘I know what you’re thinking but I don’t want you