There was a moment’s delay while she fiddled with the videotape machine, then an electronic interference bar scarred the television picture. A second later Simon Winter saw Sophie Millstein on the screen. He leaned forward in his chair, listening carefully. The young woman sat down next to him. Sophie Millstein wore an expression that mingled a small amount of anxiety with discomfort. Winter noted she was wearing one of her finer, go-to-services dresses and realized that she had fixed her hair carefully. She wore white gloves on her hands and she clutched a matching pocketbook. For an instant he wondered how he had failed to take notice of her appearance on a day when she had left the Sunshine Arms dressed up, as if ready for a wedding. ‘Do I look okay?’ she asked nervously. A voice off camera replied: ‘You look fine.’ ‘I was worried,’ Sophie Millstein said. ‘I’ve never been on television, and I wanted to look nice. This dress …’ Her voice trailed off, its tone a question mark.
