[MaC] Interviewing Esme

[Pruehs, Ree M.]

> >>>>>Perhaps Vangie was beginning to sense that the sort of 
> help Esme's
> >>>>>sister gave to young women in the East End was not 
> delivered in the 
> >>>>>form of soup kitchens.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>"And she wrote to me," Esme went on, "and said that the 
> rozzers ... 
> >>>>>the
> >>>>>police, I mean ... have been asking questions.  About 
> ... well, her 
> >>>>>customers."
> >>>>>
> >>>>>Esme dabbed at her eyes again.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>Vangie got up, went in her bedroom -- saw the mess 
> Sweetie had made 
> >>>>>of
> >>>>>her jewelry box and said several very bad words under 
> her breath -- 
> >>>>>opened her top dresser drawer and got out some 
> handkerchiefs, and 
> >>>>>offered them to Esme. "There now. Cry it out. It's all 
> right." There 
> >>>>>were things that could be done about Marty Fitzroy, she 
> thought grimly. 
> >>>>>But not yet.
> >>>>
> >>>>"Thank you," said Esme.  Then she lifted her head, blinking.
> >>>>
> >>>>"There seems to be a lot of noise going on upstairs," she said 
> >>>>slowly.
> >>>
> >>>"Indeed," Vangie said. "But I don't want to leave you alone right 
> >>>now.
> >>>Are you feeling up to going there?"
> >>
> >>Esme nodded - although Vangie could sense some reluctance in her
> >>agreement.
> >>
> >>"If you'll come with me," she added with slightly more firmness.
> >
> > "Yes," Vangie said. "Of course." Out of habit she looked around the 
> > flat
> > for Sweetie.
> 
> Sweetie for once was being kittenisghly playful.  He seemed 
> to be batting a 
> white paper bag about the narrow hall ... the sort that one 
> obtained from 
> high class grocers, greengrocers and pharmicists.  It was 
> empty, which 
> seemed to present an interesting challenge to Sweetie. 

The sight of the bag triggered a faint nagging worry in Vangie's mind.
Where had she seen it before...or last? And why was she thinking that
Sweetie couldn't possibly have it...?

But the immediate need to look after Esme took precedence as she
escorted the other woman from her flat.

There were footsteps resounding in the stairway. Vangie glanced at Esme,
then headed in that direction. "Hallooo?" she called.

<tag Florence, Lucinda, Esme.>