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

When Castor was done, Marjorie Fox was allowed to give her summation. Marjorie glanced at Lisa, who was watching her with large, hopeful gray eyes.

Marjorie stood up, smoothed down her skirt and walked purposefully over to the jury box.

‘In a homicide,’ she began, ‘the police are trained to look for three things. Means, motive and opportunity. In the death of Troy Petty, the only means and opportunity which tie Lisa Wickes to this crime are purely circumstantial. She had been at his house but left the premises several hours before his faulty propane heater leaked enough gas to combust with some burned-down candles and blow the place sky high. Troy Petty may have been knocked unconscious before the explosion, or he may have had so much to drink that he didn’t notice the gas build-up, and he was battered in the head, and everywhere else, by the explosion.

‘In other words, it may have been simple carelessness, an accident. But the district attorney insists on blaming Lisa Wickes, because she cashed Troy Petty’s check. We do know that Lisa left with Mr Petty’s paycheck in her possession several hours before the explosion occurred. But did she steal it, or did he owe it to her? What we know from Lisa’s testimony is that Troy Petty had run out of credit with her. She had found him in a situation with her baby daughter which was so reprehensible that she immediately wanted out of the relationship. Was she upset about that? Sure. Was she distraught about losing Troy? I don’t think so. The fact was that all she wanted from Troy Petty was the money which she loaned him. Hence, she left his house with the check.

‘No, when you really look at it, this case boils down to one question — motive. The state would have you believe that my client, Lisa Wickes, a young woman with a near-genius IQ, a young woman doing brilliantly in medical school, decided to attack and murder Troy Petty because she wanted to get her hands on his four hundred and fifty dollars. Or, if you can’t quite buy into that scenario, perhaps it was because he was going to break up with her,’ said Marjorie sarcastically.

‘All right. Take a good look at this woman. We all understand how difficult it is to become a doctor. The years of study and dedication which it requires. Lisa is committed to seeing it through. A career stretches before her — long, lucrative and respected. Why in the world would she toss that all away?

‘A crime of passion, perhaps? Ladies and gentlemen, we have all heard about crimes of passion. They defy logic. A person becomes so obsessed, so consumed by the object of their desire, that they will commit unspeakable crimes in the name of that so-called “love”.

‘Yet you heard Lisa’s supervisor maintain that Lisa was not distracted from her studies or her work. Her best friend, Alicia Bledsoe, testified that Lisa was just not that enamored of Troy Petty. And who would know better than her best friend? Her mother, who lives with her, saw no evidence of obsessive love. Quite the contrary. We have only the most perfunctory of emails between Troy and Lisa, and no testimony that even suggests they were “crazy in love”.

‘Could the passion have been anger? Fury at finding him attempting to assault her child? Well, anyone would be furious about that. Of course. But take a good look at Lisa Wickes. Her recollections are calm, a little sad, and, most of all, disgusted. She seems to regard her relationship with the . . . deceased from the kind of objective distance which one expects from a doctor. The doctor she is in the process of becoming. Fury, anger, despair — do you see any of that in Lisa Wickes?

‘So, if it wasn’t a crime of passion then — that’s right, she did it for the $450. This is a young woman on track to make hundreds of thousands of dollars, possibly millions over the course of her chosen career. Does it seem likely to you that she would throw it all away for $450?

‘We know for a fact that Lisa had Troy’s check. And that she cashed it. But what seems more likely? That Lisa would steal this check and cash it in plain view of security cameras? Or is it more likely that Troy Petty did, indeed, owe this money to Lisa because he was paying off his brother’s drug debts? He owed it to her. Maybe she had been sympathetic to his plight, but then, when she’d found him trying to assault her child, she’d lost every ounce of sympathy. She’d become disgusted by him and never wanted to see him again. She just wanted her money back.

‘Ladies and gentleman, this case, in the end, comes down to common sense. We all know that there is a balance of power in every relationship. Who had more power in this one? Lisa — young, talented and embarking on her brilliant, respected career? Or Troy Petty, with his shady history of preying on children and the burdensome debts in his family.

‘People don’t kill for vague reasons. In my experience, they kill for very specific reasons, or because they are in the grip of powerful emotions. Killing another human being is a reprehensible act. The polar opposite of the physician’s credo — first, do no harm. Killing another human being is also a really great way to derail your own life. Even the most mild-mannered people can get angry and lash out — I grant you that.

‘But absent a compelling motive, you are left with that all-important issue of reasonable doubt. Ask yourself why she would do it, and you will soon arrive at the decision that I have. Lisa Wickes had no compelling reason