Description

Nine year-old Greta and her ten year-old cousin Derek were constant companions. They played all kinds of games. One day, they drifted out into the orchard without realizing it, and found a deep old well with a rotten wood cover. After they pried off the cover, Derek went and got his Dad’s fishing rod. Soon he had hooked a beautiful gold ring with a red stone setting, followed by a piece of clothing. It seemed that there was a body in the bottom of the well, and the police would need to be involved. Greta took possession of the ring, and slowly became haunted by strange new feelings—that someone was following her, someone like a shadow that whispered in her ear and urged her to kill. When murders happened, Greta was present each time and had the feeling that somehow she was responsible, even though she was saying No, No, No to the whispers! Since Detective Conrad Donnelly lived in the neighborhood, he was assigned to follow up on the body found in the well, and the more recent murders. Neighbor Milton Crossover was an odd fellow who kept to himself and seemed very fearful of others. His mother had been beaten to death and robbed thirty-three years earlier. Might there be a tie-in between the old murders and the recent ones?