Crime Time

"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?"