THE FLORIDA DIVORCÉE'S GUIDE TO MURDER

Published in 1983, Hit Man: A Technical Manual for Independent Contractors inspired a triple murder and led to a major First Amendment test case. Still, the book is just one chapter in the bizarre story of its until-now anonymous author, "Rex Feral," now a 77-year-old great-grandmother wrestling with decades of guilt

- By ABBOTT KAHLER

I. GHOSTS

For nearly 30 years, Gayle McCool has had a recurring dream about three people she's never met. She is in a quiet cul-de-sac, outside a grand brick house with a picket fence encircling the yard. Yellow police tape winds through the white wooden spikes. Two grown women and a young boy stand on the sidewalk, facing her. The boy calls out her name.

McCool forces herself to look at him and says, “But I thought you couldn’t talk. You were killed by someone who read my book.”

“I can talk now,” the boy says, “and even walk.” He stands and pushes his wheelchair, smiling as it tumbles down the street.

“It’s a miracle,” McCool says, and as she approaches she sees that both women have been shot directly through the eye. They join hands with the boy and vanish before McCool has a chance to recite the apology she's memorized, so worn and familiar in her mind.