"Who was Blanche's best friend?"

"Me, of course," Leah answered simply.

"Then why would Blanche listen to you?"

"Because if she doesn't I imagine our father would have a few things to say about it."

"YOU'RE HER SISTER?"

"Sorry," Eddie chimed in, "Russ speaks in all caps sometimes."

"I am," Leah answered. "We act nothing alike. Wouldn't you agree?"

((I love when I post multiple times on the page, cause it looks like I have a bunch of clones I can command into a giant Fletcher army. Awesome.))

"I would."

((Nice.))

"Blanche flaunts her wealth; she always has. I saw what that behavior did to a person and I decided that wouldn't happen with me so unless I'm completely desperate I rely myself for money."

"What are you, a hooker?" Eddie asked. Russell elbowed him.

"No, I am not, but I do give piano lessons at my house. It gives me enough to afford going to Charley's, the theater, and to go out for the occasional drink."

"Ah. That's interesting." Russell said. "But why are you allowing your sister to treat people like this?"

"I am not my sister's keeper. Besides, it was never this bad until more people started talking about Lilly, which cut down on the time they spent discussing Blanche. I thought maybe she would be able to rise above it, but I was wrong. Then one of the rich boys started paying a decent amount of attention to Lilly and Blanche lost it. She always wants to be the center of attention."

"Well, we're planning on making her just that." Russ replied.

Leah sighed. "You do realize that the more you punish Blanche, the more she'll punish Lilly? Do you even care about what happens to her?"

"Who?"

"Well, if you're going to act like this I'll just tell Lillian that you aren't worth the trouble."

"Forgive him." Eddie said. "He's a little slow witted. It's the plate."

"That is no excuse to being rude to my best friend," Leah replied.

"Blanche is."

"It is completely different for a girl like Blanche to act like that." Leah looked at Eddie. "For whatever reason, Lillian likes your friend. She tells me everything and the past couple of days it seems that all she talks about is him. Trust me when I say that she has never done that before. And how he is treating her hurts so much more than anything Blanche could say."

Russ could say nothing to that.

"Figure out where you stand and let that be the end of this. Either you are going to go after her and treat her like she deserves or you are going to walk away. If you try and choose the middle ground and your rudeness hurts her...again...then I will make my sister's treatment seem like child's play." Leah did not even wait for a response. She turned and walked back into Charley's Diner.

Russ watched Leah enter the diner. He turned back to Eddie with a stony expression.

"We've got a flame to start." Russ said.

"But, Russ-" Eddie said.

"You with me?"

"I'm always with you, Russ, but this just isn't a good idea."

"Eddie, trust me. It's going to work out. Do you believe me?"

"No."

"So what?" Russ replied. "I've got my mind made up. We're doing this. And it's going to be big."

((From Whalen Detective Agency))

Joe held the door open for Alice. He waited for her to sit down at a booth, then sat himself.

Alice sat down and tried to relax so she could enjoy her dinner with Joe.

Joe ordered his food and asked Alice what she wanted.

"A salad, please." After seeing that claw earlier she did not feel like eating meat.

"Alice." Joe said. "I know that I'll never forgive myself for dragging you into this mess. Everything bad that's happened to you since I first met you at the club has been my fault."

"And I told you before that I would have been involved in this mess even if I hadn't met you. You shouldn't blame yourself."

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