You trying to threaten me?Kay charged straight for him.
You gotta be kidding.The man backed up against the well, still chuckling.Can’t take a joke?
Who are you? What’s your name?
James Shoemaker. Why? Got your panties in a twist? What about that little girl’s? I hear her name’s Courtney! She’s damn cute—
Don’t you dare! Get her name out of your mouth!
Oh yeah? What are you gonna do about it, you n—”
Kay pushed him. Shoemaker laughed, dropping the cigarette and beer, then suddenly hauled off and punched her hard in the chest. The blow sent Kay reeling backward, knocking the wind out of her. She gasped for air, doubling over. The pain brought tears to her eyes.
Shoemaker cocked his arm to punch her again, laughing now. His eyes glittered with glee. He waited for her to straighten up. He would enjoy hitting her again, hurting her, maybe beating her to death. Kay found her footing, summoned all her strength, and shoved him back with everything she had, catching him by surprise.
Shoemaker staggered backward, his arms pinwheeling. He slipped on the mud. His feet slid out from under him. He lost his balance against the well.
Kay screamed as Shoemaker fell in, striking his forehead on the well. His head bent back at the neck with a sickeningcrack. His tophalf vanished as he flipped over, tumbling upside-down into the well. He hit the bottom with a splash and a disgustingthud.
No, no!Kay rushed to the edge of the well. A clump of Shoemaker’s hair and skin stuck to the rim. Blood glistened darkly on the brick, dripping down the side.
Kay peered down the well. It was too dark to see inside. Shoemaker didn’t make any sound, not even a moan. No sound at all came from the bottom. The water didn’t move. There wasn’t much there.
Kay shouted into the well. Her anguished voice echoed inside. She didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t get him out. She waited to hear something from the well, but there was nothing. She realized with horror that Shoemaker was dead. She had killed him. She had committed murder.
Kay cried out and backed away, in disbelief. She hadn’t meant to kill him. She only wanted to tell him to stay away from Courtney.
Kay turned around, ran to the car, then took off. She drove home, crying so hard she could barely see, terrified that she had broken the First Commandment, done the worst thing one human being could do to another. She could never face God in church or pray to him for forgiveness for her eternal soul.
Kay reached home in tears and flew from the car. She took the doll off the stick and hid it because she could never look at it again. She’d have to make up a story to tell Courtney. She could never tell anyone what she had done, and at the end of her life she would have to confess her sin and would accept whatever punishment God gave her. And only then would her spirit be free.
The harrowing vision began to ebb away, and Julia felt herself leaving the dark, horrible scene behind. Tears filled her eyes, and she knewthey were Kay’s tears even as she returned to her own time and place, coming back to herself, sitting stunned on the bedroom floor across from Courtney.
“Julia, what just happened? Are you okay? I was calling you, but you didn’t answer!”
“I’m fine.” Julia heard her own voice in her ears. Her headache vanished. Her thinking clarified.
“Did you just have a vision?” Tears filled Courtney’s eyes. “Was it Grandma Kay? Did you see her?”
“No, Iwasher, I saw what she saw,” Julia answered, full of wonder. She’d justchanneledKay. She’d become a medium, in full. “She wants me to tell you something.”
“My God, she told you that?”
“No, she showed it to me.”
Courtney gasped. “What happened?”
Julia hesitated. She didn’t know if she should tell Courtney the truth, but then she realized it was Kay’s choice, not hers. “I have to tell you something, but it’s not easy to hear. I think it’s something she couldn’t be free of, unless you knew. It’s like a confession.”
“What?” Courtney asked, astonished. “What couldshehave to confess?”
Julia braced herself, then told her.
71
Julia finished telling Courtney the vision, and she looked completely drained.
“I can’t believe this,” Courtney said, her tone hushed. “We thought McKenna killed Shoemaker, but it was really Grandma Kay?Shekilled him?”