It was dawn. I walked out to the porch and picked up the morning _Herald_. The headline was “Hunt Boyfriends in Torture Killing,” a portrait photo of Elizabeth Short centered directly below it. It was captioned, “The Black Dahlia,” followed by, “Authorities today were searching into the love life of 22-year-old Elizabeth Short, victim of the ‘Werewolf Murder,’ whose romances had changed her, according to friends, from an innocent girl to a black-clad, man-crazy delinquent known as the Black Dahlia.”
I felt Kay beside me. She grabbed the paper, skimming the front page, giving a slight shudder. Handing it back, she asked, “Will all this be over soon?”
I flipped through the front section. Elizabeth Short took up six whole pages, most of the ink portraying her as a slinky femme fatale in a tight black dress. “No,” I said.
CHAPTER NINE
Reporters were surrounding University Station. The parking lot was packed and the curb was lined with radio trucks, so I double-parked, stuck “Official Police Vehicle” signs under my wiper blades and pushed through the cordon of newshounds, ducking my head to avoid being recognized. It didn’t work; I heard “Buck-kee!” and “Blei-chert,” then hands grabbed at me. My jacket pocket was ripped loose, and I shoved myself the rest of the way inside. The entrance hall was filled with daywatch blues going on duty; a connecting door opened up into a bustling squadroom. Cots lined the walls; I saw Lee passed out on one of them, sheets of newspaper covering his legs. Phones were ringing at desks all around me, and my headache came back, the pounding twice as bad. Ellis Loew was tacking slips of paper to a bulletin board; I tapped him hard on the shoulder.
He turned around. I said, “I want out of this circus. I’m a Warrants officer, not a Homicide dick, and I’ve got priority fugitives. I want to get un-detached. _Now_.”
Loew hissed, “No. You work for me, and I want you on the Short case. That’s final, absolute and irrevocable. And I’ll brook no prima donna demands from you, Officer. Do you understand?”
“Ellis, goddamnit!”
“You get stripes on your sleeve before you call me that, Bleichert. Until then it’s Mr. Loew. Now go read Millard’s summary report.”
I stormed over to the rear of the squadroom. Russ Millard was asleep in a chair, his legs propped up on the desk in front of him. Four typed sheets of paper were tacked to the corkboard wall a few feet away. I read:
First Summary Report
187 P.C., Vict: Short, Elizabeth Ann, W.F.
D.O.B. 7/29/24. Filed 1/17/47 0600 Hrs.
Gentlemen–
Here’s the 1st summary on E. Short, D.O.D. 1/15/47, 39th and Norton, Leimert Park.
1. 33 phony or probable phony confessions so far. Obviously innocent confessors have been released, incoherent and seriously imbalanced being held at City Jail awaiting alibi checks and sanity hearings. Known deviates being questioned by Dr. De River, consulting psychiatrist, with Det. Div. backup. Nothing solid yet.
2. Results of prlim. post mort. and follow-up: vict. choked to death on ear to ear knife slash thru mouth. No alcohol or narcotics in blood at time of death. (For det. see case file 14-187-47)
3. Boston P.D. doing background check on E. Short, family and old boyfriends and their whereabouts at time of murder. Father (C. Short) has valid alibi–he is eliminated as suspect.
4. Camp Cooke C.I.D. is checking out reports of beating E. Short received from soldier when she worked at P.X. in 9/43. E. Short arrested for underaged drinking in 9/43, C.I.D. says soldiers she was arrested with are all overseas, thus eliminated as suspects.
5. Sewers being dragged citywide for E. Short’s clothing. All women’s clothing found will be analyzed at Central Crime Lab. (See crime lab sum. rpts. for det.)
6. Citywide field interrogation rpts. 1/12/47–1/15/47 collated and read. One follow-up: Hollywood woman called in complaint about shouts of “weird sounding gibberish” in H.W. Hills nights of 1/13 and 1/14. Result of follow-up: put off as party revelers making noise. Field officers: disregard this occurrence.
7. From verified phone tips: E. Short lived most of 12/46 in San Diego, at home of Mrs. Elvera French. Vict. met Mrs. French’s daughter, Dorothy, at movie theater where Dorothy worked, told (unverified) story about being abandoned by husband. Frenches took her in, and E. Short told them conflicting stories: she was widow of air corps major; pregnant by navy pilot; engaged to army flyer. Vict. had many dates with different men during her stay at French house. (See 14-187-47 interviews for det.)