"Good for them," I offered.
"By the way, someone tried to break into my apartment last night. My dog scared them away. It saved the guy from having his head blown off." I had to catch my breath before I requested her address. "Are you hitting on me?" she asked.
I smiled. "I have a friend I'd like to have peek at the break in, that's all." Another chore for Howie, I thought.
"God, that's creepy," she replied, but surrendered the information.
After a stroll up town for coffee and a doughnut, I felt it was late enough to try Quinn in California. I woke him up but he listened intently while I explained what I wanted he and Howie to do. I used the break in at Ethel Reagan's place as an excuse to have Howie visit both Boston burglaries.
"Granted, they are probably random occurrences, but the coincidence bothers me. See if you can get Howie back there."
"Finding a place to do our song and dance is the problem. This motel is a disaster in that regard. Maybe I'll get a room in a high rise hotel, away from street noise. I expect my equipment here in the next hour or two and we'll get going." Then he added, "Howie want's Julie to sit in. What do you think?"
"Like it or not, she's part of the show. She can take Martha's place, trying to calm Howie down enough so he can nod off but keep beating on her the importance of keeping her mouth shut."
"Amen," he said, then added, "I spoke to Martha. She didn't sound too good."
"She had a tough night. We're all under a lot of pressure." Quinn agreed and said he'd get back to me."
Betsy, Martha and Molly came by with Claire just before lunch. Martha looked awful but apologized for her actions. Her prior night's transgressions were apparently forgotten as she and Betsy acted as compatible as guppies in a fish bowl. Both went to work immediately. Molly remained enthralled with the baby and paid no attention to what the rest of us were doing. With her attention locked on Claire, I had time to fill in both women with what I'd learned. Both were as anxious as I to hear the results of Howie's attempt to visit the Vermont bike-riding peeping Tom.
While Martha was on the phone trying to get our air conditioning system checked, I had a few moments alone with my wife.
"What are your thoughts on my trying to see what happened to the entries in the million dollar contest? If we found they were destroyed, it would take a big weight off our minds."