Monday Sept 4 - Delores

[Gaffer]

You wake in good spirits and with a strange sense that you dreamed last night and Jerry Manton was involved. There’s oatmeal and soft-boiled eggs for breakfast. Outside, it’s chilly and foggy.

As you walk past Lester Pierce’s office, he shouts out “Brown! How’s that missing brother thing coming?” Does the man know how to just talk to a person?

On your desk are two assignments. Interview Mrs. Ernestine DeVanter in Brooklyn who hits 100 tomorrow and still lives in the house she was born in. Attend a lecture on social improvement by Lillian Wald (whom you admire) on Thursday evening, six o’clock at the Henry Street Settlement on the Lower East Side – within walking distance of your rooming house.

There’s also an envelope brought by a delivery service Saturday night. Inside is a brief note.

My agency got the following on Marlene Hirt.

Manhattan phone directory - APpleton 5102 - 1288 Lexington Ave
Palatine Hirt left small fortune to her & brother Alphonse 1918
Robert Stanton executor & guardian
graduated Upper Darby Girls’ Academy 1923
English Literature degree from Bennington 1927

More when we get it.

Dex

And something else -- a message taken by the night editor at twelve-thirty Sunday afternoon: Dex Ford says he’s meeting with the others at Flannigan’s Steak House in Manhattan at eight o’clock. Come if you can.

You’re looking up Mrs. DeVanter’s address when the phone rings.

“Miss Brown, it’s Dex Ford. Vilas and I turned up some stuff last night and Esposito says he’s got something too. How about we all go down to the Hudson Street Stationhouse to talk things over before we go see Miss Hirt at her brother’s place? Get there around eleven."

[Reply to this so I know you've seen it, then go to Monday Sept 4 - Hudson Street Station when it's posted.]

[Delores Brown]

Delores popped out her compact and checked the state of her eyes. Her late night reading had left her looking a little tired so she added a bit more powder to cover the dark circles and clicked her compact shut.

She noted the assignments in her desk diary, making a mental note to stop by the library and check out what had happened in the year that Mrs DeVanter was born, it could be useful background information for the story. She was just flicking through the phone book to find the old lady's address when the phone rang on her desk. Greeting Dex, she said she'd meet them at the steakhouse stationhouse (ed.) and bring anything she'd found.

She found Mrs DeVanter's number, made an appointment to see her the following afternoon and left a note on Sparky's desk with the address and time. Picking up her bag and coat, she stuck her head around Lester's door, told him she was making progress and had to go and left before he could ask too many questions.