"We're on top of the world, aren't we?" I asked.
Iowa. I crossed the mighty Missouri River, leaving agrarian Nebraska in my rear view window. A frightened woman is trussed up like a turkey, under my back bed. But now it is dark and we've reached a deliciously remote and wooded area. It's time for an evening of conversation. I parked my home on wheels under a tree and unbound my reluctant guest.
"Please, Mister! I told you everything I know!" she wailed, sounding like a slobbering baby. "Don't hurt me!"
"I won't, if you mind daddy and tell me the truth. But do you know what happens to girls who are untruthful?" I asked as I stroked my knife against her cheek. "Now tell me where the calls come from. Don't shake your head. Just tell me everything you know."
"The numbers are blocked, honest to God! We don't even see them! The system drops the last two digits of the number so it's never even received at the call center."
"What about the area code?"
"My boss says the phones they use are secure. He doesn't even know where they come from. Some federal guys came and asked him and he couldn't even tell them anything."
"But you know something, don't you? I can tell you're a smart girl, Brenda."
"No, I told you all I know! Please, let me go!"
I nicked the side of her neck, just enough to bleed. "Oh, I'm sorry. The knife slipped."
The tramp screamed and touched her finger to the oozing blood. "Please, I don't really know anything!"
"But you've heard from them lots of times. Tell me what makes their calls different from other tips."
She continued to blubber but when she saw me draw the knife closer, she blurted out, "Their tips aren't just after something happened; they're a day or two later. I thought maybe they had to think about it before they called, but then they practically beg me to pass on the information immediately."
"And what else, Brenda?"
"None of the tips concern a crime more than a day or two old. But I read about other horrible crimes and abductions where we never receive a tip. I wonder why. . .how do they pick and choose certain ones."
"Tell me more."
"The tip covers only a few minutes, like she has to leave quickly, even though there must be more to be learned if she stayed."
"Do you believe this person is truly a psychic or possess unnatural abilities?"
"Yes," she mumbled.
"What makes you believe that?"
"I hear all the tip. There are details no one could know unless they were right there when it was happening and that can't be. The police sometimes don't even hear the entire tip . . . just enough to lead them in the right direction, and find the person."