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

had happened. Lisa had been rash and had spoken inappropriately to the judge. Hannah didn’t actually blame the judge for being angry. He didn’t realize that Lisa’s social skills didn’t match up to her level of education. Thanks to her extreme intelligence, Lisa had skipped grades and been out of sync with people her own age for most of her life. She had missed out on the socialization that happened naturally to most kids. It made Hannah’s heart ache to think of her child, her wonderful, brilliant medical student, locked up in the county jail, wearing some kind of jumpsuit, eating from a chow line with a bunch of drug addicts and prostitutes. A headache formed over her eye at that image.

When she couldn’t stand it any longer, Hannah got up and shuffled into the kitchen, knowing she needed to put something together for supper. She looked out the kitchen window at the Dollards’ house, and felt guilty for not having called Rayanne about Chet. She didn’t want to call because she didn’t want to talk about what had happened to Lisa. But, she reminded herself, when there was an illness in the family, nobody cared all that much about the problems of others. She decided to give Rayanne a quick call before she could learn about Lisa’s revoked bail on the six o’clock news.

As she had suspected, she had no need to explain anything about Lisa.

Rayanne launched into a description of Chet’s condition, and everything the doctor had said about the surgery it was going to require, and every detail of how Chet was feeling. She never even asked about Lisa, and that was simply a relief to Hannah. She murmured encouragement to her friend, and hung up feeling better for at least having checked on her neighbors. She opened her freezer door and wondered what she could thaw out for dinner. It suddenly all seemed too daunting. Maybe we can get pizza delivered, she thought. As she was staring hopelessly into her freezer, she heard a knock at the door.

Go away. She shrank from the sound, and thought about not answering it at all. The knock on the door came again. There was no use in hiding, she thought. Soon enough, the trial would be on, and they would be forced to face the press, the public, the world. With a sigh, she closed the freezer, went to the front door, and opened it.

Alicia Bledsoe looked uneasy, and waggled her fingers at Hannah. ‘Hi, Mrs Wickes,’ she said. ‘Is Lisa here? She hasn’t been answering my texts.’

The girl at the door was overweight, with an ivory complexion, shiny brown hair and large, wary brown eyes. She and Lisa had been friends in high school. Alicia had taken an instant liking to Lisa, and although Lisa was a few years younger, an awkward adolescent, and often isolated, Alicia was the follower in the friendship, and would get involved in whatever scheme she dreamed up. Hannah had been secretly grateful to her for befriending Lisa. She stepped aside and Alicia came into the living room.

These days Alicia lived at home, worked at a fast-food restaurant and was attending community college part time, whereas Lisa had raced through college, had a baby and went on to medical school. Somehow their old high-school friendship still seemed to hold. However, Hannah suspected that it was Alicia who was responsible for the photo of Lisa which had led to this difficult moment. She wanted to be sure that Alicia was aware of her responsibility in all this. There were consequences to that kind of sophomoric stupidity.

‘I’m afraid we got some bad news today,’ said Hannah grimly.

Alicia immediately looked stricken. ‘Oh no. What?’

‘Lisa’s bail was revoked. She has to stay in the county jail until the trial.’

Alicia’s big eyes welled with tears. ‘Oh you’re kidding. Why?’

‘Because of that photograph of Lisa drinking Jack Daniel’s, Alicia. That was taken on your phone, wasn’t it?’

Alicia nodded, her face twisted with guilt.

‘Apparently it got on the internet and it got back to someone in the police department, and from there to the superior court. She was called in from the hospital today and the judge revoked her bail.’

‘That’s so mean,’ Alicia protested.

‘Staying away from bars and alcohol was one of the bail conditions,’ Hannah said.

Alicia shook her head. ‘My mother told me she was going to send it to you. I was so mad at her.’

‘I’m glad she sent it. Your mother was right to warn me. Where else has it gone? To Facebook? To Twitter? For all the world to see?’ Hannah demanded.

Alicia was grimacing, still stricken by the news of her friend’s incarceration.

‘I know you didn’t mean any harm by it,’ said Hannah. ‘Lisa should never have been out drinking in the first place, and you don’t have to tell me that it was her idea, because it probably was. I know my daughter.’

Alicia wiped a tear off her round cheek. ‘Oh, Mrs Wickes. I’m so sorry.’

Hannah sighed. ‘Well, it’s too late for sorry. It was a big mistake to put that photo on the internet. Now Lisa has to pay the price.’

Alicia shook her head. ‘I told her not to.’

Hannah frowned and hesitated. ‘Not to what?’

‘Well, not to take a selfie in the first place.’

Hannah blanched. ‘A selfie? Lisa took the picture?’

‘I tried to warn her. I did. But she grabbed my phone and held it out and took it. And then she just loved it so much that she posted it right away to Twitter. And now this happens. I’m so sorry, Mrs Whitman.’

Hannah stared at the girl in her living room. ‘She did it herself?’

‘She didn’t mean anything by it,’ Alicia protested. ‘I wonder who ratted her out. How did the judge find out about it?’

Alicia was already busy looking for someone to