95 deadtime

. . she was not happy with the caller . when she rejoined us , we all introduced ourselves - she said her name was dewster . if she said her first name , i missed it . she stared intently at each of us we said our names . i thought she was reflexively finding a way to attach our names to our appearances in her memory so she could pick us out of a crowd , or a lineup , later on .
i'd seen my friend , sam purdy . do something similar . it was a cop thing .
she turned to stevie ." got a licence " she asked .
" what ?" stevie said . stevie hadn't been confused by dewster's question . she was offended by it .
merideth turned her head away from stevie 's view and smiled /. merideth has her issues , but thin skin is not among them .
in a weary voice the detective said ," i need confirmation that the family is reasonably concerned about her before i can go in and do this . the welfare check ? ther's rules . guidelines ."
stevie's lips were parted in disbelief at the inferred insult .
the detective was losing patience . she looked at her watch ." i can't just barge in ....you know ? got to be a public - safety concern . the consttution ?"
stevie sighed and dug in her purse for her wallet . she opened it and held the wallet out so that her license was visible .the detective glnced at it .
jersey ?" she said ." and you're worried about your sister ?"
stecie rolled her eyes . at the " jersey " part or the " worried about your sister  " part , i couldn't tell .
" let's do this ." detective dewster said . she looked at her watch ." i got to be across town for dinner . have to pick up mu kids and get over to some soccer meeting near jefferson park . always something ."
the home away from home that eric and merideth were providing for lisa had none of the charm of my murray hill sublet . although her interim flat was about the same size as my  midtown apartment , my reflectived the character and quirkiness of another time  , as well as design sensibilities of my italilian landlord ,