'She just left you without a word?'
'No, she was very honest and upfront with me about her decision to leave San Francisco. She said she couldn't stay and watch her mother drink herself to death. As much as she loved me, she said she needed a new life in another place.'
'And this new life didn't include you,' added Summers.
'Exactly, so she decided to kill our relationship and bury it along with her past.'
Summers raised an eyebrow. 'Kill? That's an odd way to describe the end of your relationship with Julie.'
'Odd or not. It's how I feel about it. Felt about it,' James said decisively.
Gathering her notes and photos, Summers placed them back into the case file. She could tell James was still bitter about not being given the chance to share a life with Julie Jackson. 'It may be none of my business Inspector James, but for what it's worth I can tell you she regretted letting you go. She regretted it for the rest of her life.'
The comment hung stale in the air, catching James off guard.
'How can you know that?' he asked with a tone of pain in his voice.
'I'm a woman, and a woman just knows. But if you want a more defined answer, then the obvious should be apparent to you. She kept diaries about you, followed your career. I think it's safe to say Tom, she never stopped being in love with you, and you with her,' said Summers as she attempted to show him she was sympathetic to the situation. 'At least that's my two cents worth.'
James nodded in agreement.
'You're right,' he said wiping a tear from his eye. He pulled his wallet from his inside jacket pocket and removed a worn out faded photograph of Julie and himself taken shortly after they began dating. Warming to her sympathy, James shared the photo with her.
'This was us back in December 1969. Our first Christmas as a couple.' Summers took the photo and looked at their stolen moment, frozen in time.
'Thank God for Polaroid's, huh?' she said trying to lighten the mood. She handed it back to James and watched him look deep into his past.
'I want to get whoever did this to her. Can you help me catch them?' asked James not looking up.
'Yes, I can. And I will,' assured Summers.
'What do you need from me?'
'I need you to go to Hollywood with me and visit Julie's home.'
'There is no way I can go. In case you haven't noticed, Ashton, I'm in the middle of a series of murders that belong in a Stephen King novel.'
'I won't disagree with you there. But I'm FBI and our cases are linked, I'll get my director to speak with your captain to get you cleared for a couple of days.'
'This whole thing is insane, but maybe you're right. Maybe the key to all of this begins with Julie,' said James. Then he remembered a hitch in the plan—Summers wasn't supposed to inform him about why she was there.
'None of that matters now. The writing on Kirkland's wall makes it clear that the two cases are connected. Listen Tom, I'm going to contact my director now and tell her I'm taking charge of your case so our office can secure Kirkland's home for evidence.'
James readily agreed as he turned and looked back at the home of his best friend. Summers stepped away to call her director. James once again looked at the evidence files Summers had on Mabel Normand, Taylor and Julie. He couldn't bring himself to look at the Black Dahlia photos. The thought of someone doing such horrendous things to Julie turned his stomach and tore at his emotions. Instead he tried to focus on the book that was found by the store manager. As he looked at the spine of the book he noticed the author's name for the first time—Aleister Crowley. He felt as if he knew the name, but wasn't sure why.
James' attention was broken by the arrival of a plain looking sedan pulling into the driveway. Two men dressed in business attire stepped from the car. Summers completed her phone call and met with the men. She spoke briefly to them and they nodded in agreement at whatever instructions she had given them.
'Okay, Tom, let's go. I've got you complete clearance by the Bureau. We are taking over the case all the way back to Amanda Carlyle. We need to get back to your department and my director will meet us there. She'll smooth over any bumps you might have with your captain and inform her we need you in Hollywood for the next several days.'
James and Summers climbed into his car and began to drive back to the station.
'Under normal circumstances, I would have fought this every step of the way. But actually I'm relieved to let someone else take the lead. So you said you need me to go to Julie's home, haven't the police already searched it?'
'When your name came up and I discovered you were a detective I knew I was going to have to interview you. So I had the place secured and no one else has been allowed to do a search without me present. Getting you to search it with me was imperative,' said Summers as she rolled down the window letting the cool breeze billow through her hair.
'Why?' asked James.
'If I miss anything, any detail, I'm sure you will catch it. No one knows Julie better than you do, Tom.'
'Don't be so sure, I haven't seen her in over 13 years and we were only together for five.'
'But you were in love with her. And that never goes away.'
James sighed as he stopped at the red light. His face was showing a slight agitation at the agent's confidence in his dedication to a faded love.
'You act as if by my going there with you I'm going to find some secret message she left for me to help solve her murder.'
'I'm counting on it,' said Summers when suddenly her face was sprayed with hundreds of beads of broken glass. The small diamond-shaped shards flew across from the driver's side window pelting her chest, arms and face. James gripped the steering wheel tightly as he tried to control the car while it spun in a half circle. The passenger side slammed into a parked car on the side of the road. Dazed, Summers, looked across at James who was shaking the bits of glass from his hair when she saw the grill of Hummer H2 coming directly at his side of the car.
'Tom LOOK OUT!' she screamed as the grill smashed into his door, sending more glass her way. The chrome grill looked like the teeth of a giant sized predator. The driver's side door began to buckle from its hinge. The heat from the roaring engine felt like a blast of angry, hot breath. James tried to gather his wits as he heard Summers screaming, but it sounded foreign to him. It was then he realized it wasn't Summers at all but the driver of H2. Looking to his left James saw two women glaring down at him with sinister smiles. Both girls were spattered with blood, cuts and bruises. The driver was wearing a black tank top. A wisp of brunette hair covered her right eye. For a moment he could have swore she winked at him as she gritted her teeth and gripped her own steering wheel. The passenger was dressed in a white shirt that that was sprayed with blood and exposed a bare left shoulder. Looking at the two of them, James would have believed he was suffering from double vision. Had it not been for the different colored shirts and hairstyles the two girls were wearing, he would not be able to tell them apart.
The driver screamed at him and then turned to the passenger and screamed at her. James couldn't understand what was being said, but whatever it was he knew he was in serious trouble as the girl in white raised an automatic weapon from her lap and pointed it directly at him. The girl in black revved the engine of the H2 and it lurched forward pushing his car into the parked car again, locking it into place.
'GET DOWN TOM!' screamed Summers as she fired a series of shots from her gun. The gunfire was earsplitting as James moved out of the way. The shots passed through the now non-existent drivers side window and cracked the windshield of the H2.
'GO!' commanded Summers. James didn't wait. He slammed his foot on the accelerator. White smoke and shrieks of metal screamed as he tried to free his car. A sudden barrage of loud pops echoed as a succession of holes began to appear in the hood of his car. Summers raised herself through her window and took aim at the females opposite of her in the H2. She fired another several shots, which caused the H2 to back up enough for James to get free. Summers locked eyes with the two girls.
'Oh Jesus, Devonia and Tarista Baranova,' she said as she recognized the sisters.
