Joey hears another crash, this time he's able to tell it's coming from the kitchen. He hurries towards the kitchen to help Mommy. Voices are talking more calmly now. He hears Mommy's among them. Everything's all right now, he thinks.
"I don't need your help!" A woman's voice screams. Mommy's in trouble! He rushes to the doorway to find Mommy tangled up with another woman. A third woman stands over them with something in her hand.
"Mommy?" he says.
"Joey, no!" Mommy throws herself towards the standing woman. He's paralyzed for one sickening moment as moonlight falls on the blade of a knife in the standing woman's hand. In the next instant, the knife plunges into Mommy's chest. She stands in the center of the kitchen for a moment, the blade sticking out of her chest, and then she crumples to the floor.
"Now I've hurt someone," Veronica said.
"You did it," Joey said. "You killed her."
"Of course I did. I've been waiting to do that for three years now. That snotty little bitch got what she deserved."
At this, Phyllis rushed forward with a scream. Veronica laughed, easily turning aside the charge and sunk the knife into Phyllis's throat with the precision of a matador. Phyllis collapsed to the ground next to Helena, their hands touching in death. Veronica bent down to remove the bloody weapon.
"You killed Mommy," Joey said. "It was you."
"I'm sorry about that, Joseph," Veronica said. "She was an unfortunate victim of circumstance. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time." She took a step towards him. "I really came there to kill your father, but he was on one of his little fishing trips. It took twelve years to catch up with him."
Joey put his hands to his face. He saw the body of his father lying in the kitchen with the knife wound in the same location as his mother. Veronica and David were there and then-
He held out his tiny hands. "You did this to me. And Samantha and Prudence and Wendell and everyone else here. You poisoned us with that water and somehow wiped our memories."
"You get a gold star," Veronica said. "And I couldn't have done it without your help. If you hadn't found those Indian potions I never could have erased all your memories." She took another step towards him. "Now that you remember, it's time we get to work on getting rid of that algae."
"I'll never help you!" Joey said.
"Very well," Veronica said. She took another step towards him, but reached without looking to yank Molly to her by the hair. She put the knife to Molly's throat. "If you won't do it then cute little Molly is going to die."