(urth) Laundress and Star (AEG spoilers)

[Dave Tallman]

You may be onto something about Margaret Briggs.

1) She is described as a small gray woman (p. 54) with a colorless face 
(p.57).
2) She doesn't think to get a straw to preserve Cassie's lipstick (p. 
57), so she may not use it herself. Insensitivity to color is a sign of 
a werewolf. (p. 206).
3) She bobs as she walks (p. 59). This could be the "swift loping walk, 
even in women." (p. 206).
4) She finds out very quickly at the party that Jimmy Warshawsky is dead 
(p. 65), when she has almost no time to do it and few would gossip with 
her. Did she already know?
5) Jimmy almost bumped into Margaret at the theater (p.56). Did she pick 
up the scent of near-death then?

I'm almost convinced the strange changes in Cassie's address mean 
something. Early on, she's:

1) On West Arbor (p. 81).
2) Next to apartment 3B (p. 52), which implies it's a small building or 
a low floor. It's only a step from the elevator to her door (p. 52).
3) Eighteen blocks from the successful Sharon Bench, probably on the 
poor side of town (p. 24).
4) Within a short walk of a Baskin-Robbins (p. 43). It's not a big, 
upscale store since only a single surly teenager is on duty there.

Later:
1) She has a doorman who calls to screen her visitors (p. 116).
2) She's on the fifth floor (p. 111).
3) The address is 181 East Arbor Boulevard, apartment 301 (p. 249).

She didn't just move to a fancier place with her success. She had the 
same upstairs neighbor, Brian Pickins (p. 250).

I think reality is being warped to make her surroundings fit with being 
a star. People start think she is famous and ask for autographs before 
they even know her name.  She's referred to on TV by Sharon as a "famous 
actress" after giving only one outstanding performance (p. 89).

This may be part of the magic Chase worked to make her a star. Probably 
Reis would have been suspicious of an actress out of nowhere who 
suddenly became talented overnight. He might suspect the change was a 
temporary glamor. But if her circumstances and people's memories were 
altered to fit, then she might be better bait.