"I'm going over to Howie's house," she said, surprising me. When she saw my reaction, she added. "No, I'm not going to kill her. I'm just going to talk; woman to woman."
"Betsy . . ." I started to say but she cut me off.
"Don't worry. I had a dream last night, after we talked, and I ran my mouth off. I was sixteen and pregnant and my mother tossed me out of the house and then I was a street smart seventeen year old mother without a pot to piss in and no options to get one then if I screw this guy I can maybe get a million dollars and feed my baby and not listen to gun shots outside my door and I been standing here at the window a long, long time, begging for a ticket to fly out of here and no one has handed me anything but shit and now this guy is holding this first class pass and all I have to do is reach out and grab it but I know I might hate myself for tacking it because this ticket clerk is kind of a jerk sometimes but an okay guy most of the time and he's nice to me and he listens to me, and he loves me and I know if I take it and fly it will kill him."
"So, what did you do . . . in the dream?"
"I had to pee. I woke up."
"Molly will be awake," I cautioned. "I don't know how candid you can be with Julie." She simply shrugged and left.
Two hours later, after too much coffee and too much worrying, and only Bumpus to talk to I telephoned Howie. Betsy hadn't returned.
"Howie," I began, "something has come up." I slowly related my half-truth, half lie tale of Julie being upset and calling me. She harbored suspicions as a result of Howie's dreams and wanted to know if they were true. It was clear she'd overheard a lot of information and as I was fearful she might confide in someone else, I admitted to her that Howie was the person the world was seeking, the so-called psychic tipster."
"So she knows," Howie said. He sounded elated. When I said nothing, he continued. "Now we can move ahead! This is great! She has no problems with what I can do?"
I was dumbfounded. He never questioned if Julie knowledge presented any kind of threat. I stumbled over my answer. "She thought you might be upset."
"Me? Why? I think that's great she came to you. Is she mad at me for not telling her? Look, I really want to see her and explain to her everything we do. Can you go down to Boston and get her on a plane out here?"