"Now this is living!" He raised his beer to the heavens. "A cold beer, a hot guitar and the slut whose father sent me to jail dying at my feet." He smiled wryly at the other two boys.

"You think she's dead yet big bro?" The shorter of the boys asked.

"Not yet." The Strangler told him. "But she's close. Less than an hour."

"Then we'll be killers too." The other boy grinned in delight. "We're gonna be famous."

"When she's done I'll show you how to sign them…" He smiled down at the refrigerator at the bottom of the pool. "I love cramming them in so that they have to bow to me the whole time…"

Then he threw back his head and whooped loudly before adding "Rock-and-roll man! ROCK ON!"

"There's more." Curly said. "And you wont like it Mac. I'm sorry."

And the world spun beneath them yet again, this time leaving them standing on the bottom of an in-ground pool.

Water glistened over their heads and a refrigerator sat in the bottom of the deep end. It was laying on it's back and had multiple pad-locks and hasps holding it closed.

"Look inside." Curly said. "Go ahead. You'll pass right through."

Mac shivered. "What is it?"

"You mean who is it." Curly told her. "Go on, look."

Mac lowered her head through the door and gasped.

"It's the E-String Strangler." Curly told her. "He broke out of jail with the help of his little brother and a family friend. Just greasy little punks really… Trying to be 'big men'."

"And this has been going on all this time? While you were talking to me?" Mac swallowed.

"All this time and before. She's been in there since last night."

"Oh my god… No…" She whirled on Curly. "Why Veronica?"

"Keith and Leo caught him. She was special to both of them." Curly shook his head. "It's such a shame."

"What are you telling me?" Mac asked. "That she's going to die?"

"Is it all that bad for Veronica to die?" Curly asked. "After all… You were saving those pills up for a suicide instead of taking them as prescribed… If the world could do without you by your choice why cant it do without her by their choice?"

"It's not right!" Mac insisted.

"Veronica has suffered as much as you have, right?" Curly asked. "Been equally violated and persecuted?"

"Yes." Mac said quietly. "But she's stronger than me…"

"Only because she had to be." Curly told her. "Just like you have to be now."

Curly raised his hand and they began to rise out of the water until they were standing just on the surface of the pool.

The would be killers were sitting on lawn furniture on the foundation of an unfinished house. The pool itself was built but unfinished.

"Watch." Curly commanded, pointing in to the pool. "See, there at the corner?"

"Air bubbles." Mac said. "But why would it be…" And it hit her. The refrigerator wasn't leaking. Veronica was trying to dig her way out.

"NO!" Mac screamed. "Veronica! Don't!"

"She can't hear you." Curly said sadly. "Just me and the animals."

"Hey Bro! Come look!" The brother pointed in to the pool. "It's flooding."

They rushed to the edge of the pool.

"What now?" The little brother asked.

The Strangler began to laugh. "Now that bitch is gonna drown!" The other two laughed too.

"See, if she wasn't in the pool she'd be getting air right now." He continued.

They stared down for a moment. By now water seemed to flowing pretty steadily through the small hole in the fridge.

The Strangler's brother looked at his older brother and smiled. "You sure do think of everything bro."

His brother struck an Elvis-Judo pose before replying. "You know it."

"Why are you showing this to me if we cant fix it?" Mac demanded.

Curly almost smiled. "Are you trying to tell me that you want the right thing to happen here? That you'd like a chance to do good where you can see it needs doing?"

"Yes!" Mac cried out. "You have to let me help! You have to let me save her!"

"That's a tall order for a ghost." Curly told her.

"But I'm not a ghost! I'm still alive!" She screamed.

"Yes, but not so much at the moment." Curly shrugged. "So… What do you think you can do?" He asked this last question with an accompanying eye gesture toward the parking lot below.

Mac didn't miss the clue and she looked down to follow his gaze. It took only a moment for her to see what he intended her to see and a moment longer to realize what it meant.

And for the first time since she arrived here… In fact, for the first time in over a year, she suddenly felt empowered.