"That's very good, Brenda. You're being a good little girl."
" I just . . ."
"You just, what, Brenda?"
"If I tell you, will you let me go? That's all; it really is."
The fat bitch was trying to negotiate with me! "Yes, Brenda. Come outside. If you tell me every little thing you know or even suspect, I'll just drive away and let you walk down the lane to one of those farm houses we passed."
"Promise?" the slut begged.
I pulled her to her feet and walked her out into the night. "All I want is the truth. Is that so difficult?" I sat her on a fallen log by side of the dirt track.
She chocked back her tears. "I don't really know, but I think I answered one of the first calls they made. That was before they got all organized and everything. Before secure phones and dropped numbers and scrambled voices."
"Yes," I prompted.
"It was from Massachusetts. I remember because the tip was different from most; so detailed."
"Was it about a missing child?" I could see her nod her head in the moonlight. "When was that?"
"Back in September, last year. Before there was any mention of a Psychic Tipster."
"Do you remember the area code?"
"Yes," She answered with a whisper.
"Please tell me, Brenda."
"Three-three-nine." She slumped to a near-fetal position. Just like my sweet little friends often do.
"Very good, Brenda. You have an excellent memory. I'll bet you remembered the entire number, didn't you?"
"No! We're not supposed to do that! If we write them down, we could get fired." In spite of her words, I sensed she was holding back.
"But you remember some more of the number, don't you?" She looked at me as if I was the psychic!
"Only the first two numbers, 'cause it was my age."
"How old are you, Brenda?"
"Forty-four," she murmured.
Now, what else was out of the ordinary? At least one more thing before I release you."
She hesitated, but saw I still held the knife by my side. "Promise?" I nodded my ascent. "One day, not long ago, I heard something strange."
"What was it, Brenda?"
"In the background . . . I heard an infant baby crying," Brenda moaned as she too, began to cry. "Then a woman in the background said something about them all moving to this keen town and the woman on the phone laughed, like it was a joke. She didn't know the call had gone through because I was waiting for her to stop talking."