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everything was going to be all right. They made me go with them, even when I kicked and screamed and begged for them not to go. Not to take me. After they buckled me into my seat, I still fought them. Once we were on our way, I undid my seat belt and got down on the floorboard, and huddled up into a little ball.” She stopped to take a shaky breath.
    “J, if you don’t want—” Kiel began.
    “No. It’s okay.” She took another deep breath. “It was a cement mixer. It ran a red light and struck Mommy’s side of the car, where Mommy and Douggie were sitting. All of my family died that day. I got banged up pretty badly, but I survived because I’d hidden on the floorboard behind Daddy’s seat.”
    “How old were you?” Sam asked.
    “Six. Grandmama was in her late sixties, but she was my only living relative. She took me in to raise me.” A soft snort. “Of course, the last ten years of her life I took care of her more than she did me.”
    “Is that old house your grandmother’s?”
    “Yeah. It’s mine now. Between the settlement I got from the cement company, which she put in a trust for me until I turned twenty-one, and both inheritances, I’ve been very lucky not to have to find work to support myself. I’m not rich, by any means. I still have to watch every penny. But I don’t need a lot of frivolous extras like big-screen televisions or designer clothes.” She gave them a small smile at the joke.
    “When did your grandmother die?” It was Sam again. Kiel was being unusually quiet, unless that was normal for him.
    “Five years ago. Taking care of her in her last years was like a full-time job.”
    “And this gift of yours?”
    She gave a half-hearted shrug. “It grew. It got stronger and clearer. Either that, or I learned how to interpret it better. Anyway, after Grandmama died, I grew more aware of things. Of the world. I listen to the news almost constantly. Every now and then Miss Cassie brings me a movie to listen to.”
    “You listen to movies?” It was Kiel, finally breaking his long silence.
    She flashed him a smile. “Yeah. The school for the blind has a library where I can check out books and tapes. They have a special selection of movies that the studios put out especially for the blind. There’s a narration in the soundtrack that tells you what’s going on on the screen, to keep you posted.”
    “Who’s Miss Cassie?”
    “She’s the lady I hired when Grandmama got sick. She comes by the house every day and does a little cleaning. Sometimes she’ll cook me lunch. Do a bit of straightening. Some laundry. She reads me my mail. Helps me pay the bills.”
    “Geez, and you trust her not to rob you blind?” Sam exclaimed.
    J gave him a hard stare. “Yes, I trust her,” she told him coolly. “But I also call the bank on occasion to check my accounts. Everything she tells me is the truth. When you’re in my position, Detective, sometimes you can’t help but trust, and pray it works out.”
    “What got you started working with the authorities?” Kiel softly asked.
    She picked up a french fry to nibble. “Sometimes I’d hear something on the news about a killing, and I’d get a flash on it. Grandmama wouldn’t let me call anyone about it. She told me a lot of people would ridicule me, if not downright disbelieve me. But after she died, I kept wanting to go to the phone and call the police. I felt like I had to, like I was obligated to, but I held back.” J took a sip of water. “I finally broke down and called the tip line after the news told about that little boy who was found over in Ammiston.”
    “You mean the Tillot case?” Sam asked.
    “Yeah. That one.”
    “It was you who gave the police what they were needing to convict Maguire?”
    “Yeah. I told them where they could find the gloves and stuff he’d hidden after he’d dumped that child’s body.” A cold shudder ran through her. She’d thought she’d purged herself of that mess. She was wrong. But at