I became friends with Stewart McMillan and his wife Sally in 1971, when I sold them a house shortly after he was appointed Police Commissioner.

I could get Carl a lawyer later. Right then, I thought Mac could do him more good.

"Mac" - that's what everyone, including Sally, calls him. Except his subordinates, who call him "Commissioner."

When I knocked on their door, Mildred [their maid], opened it. And she said, "Good evening, Mrs. Kru - Oh my God! What happened to you?!"

She screamed those last seven words.

"Mildred?!" That was Sally's voice. It wasn't a full bore scream like Mildred's, but it was loud. Wherever she was in the house, she heard Mildred and wondered what was going on. She came running into the living room.

"Faye! Oh my God! Who did this to you?"

"Did what to me?" And then it dawned on me that maybe I didn't look my best right at that moment. I looked down and saw my ripped top, ripped almost all the way down to my navel. I also saw that the necklace that had been outside of my top was now laying across the crucifix. The crucifix was barely visible behind it.

Would a barely visible crucifix have any effect on a vampire? And the necklace would have been in the way had I needed to grab the crucifix and shove it into the vampire's face. It was a good thing Carl had not needed my help.

"Oh, that," I said. "I did that myself. I had to get to my crucifix." I pulled it out from under the necklace and then took a tight grip on it. "I have to talk to Mac. May I come in?"

"Yes, of course. Come in, come in."

Sally took one arm and Mildred took the other, and they helped me into the nearest chair.

Sally said, "Mac is at the office. They called and he had to go in. Some maniac hammered a wooden stake into a woman's chest."

"His name is Carl Kolchak and he is not a maniac."

"What do you mean he's not ... "

And then I saw it, saw it in her widening eyes.
I saw Sally putting two and two together:
Carl drove a stake into a woman's chest.
I ripped my top open to reach my crucifix.

And now I wanted to talk to Mac.

Sally said very slowly, "Faye, please tell me what happened."

"I only want to tell it once. I don't think I have the ... the courage? The strength? Whatever it is, I don't have enough to tell it twice."

And then, finally, I started to cry.

Sally drove me to Parker Center, headquarters of the LAPD. Before we left, she tried to lend me a blouse to replace my torn top. I refused. I said I wanted Mac to see what I had done. But I did accept a jacket to keep myself covered until we were in Mac's office.

And I asked her to remove my necklace, to get it out of my way. I tried to do it myself, but my hands were trembling again. She took it off and put it in my purse for me.

When we arrived at Parker Center, the desk sergeant said, "Good evening, Mrs. McMillan."

Sally replied, "Good evening, Sergeant. I think my husband is in Robbery-Homicide. Please call him and tell him that Faye Kru ... No! Tell him I'm on my way to his office with a witness in the Kolchak case."

By the time a cop makes Sergeant, he has a pretty good poker face. I learned that the hard way, by playing poker with them around my parents' dining room table, on the nights my Dad hosted the game. Thank God it was penny ante. But I saw the look on this one's face before he suppressed it. So the Kolchak case was all over the building, and it was enough to impress even a Sergeant. But he kept his reaction out of his voice when he replied, "Yes, Ma'am."

(My father is a cop. So he taught his three daughters as well as his two sons how to shoot and how to play poker.)

In the elevator, Sally told me, "That will get Mac to his office, and right now."

Sally was right: Mac got to his office before we did. Another man was with him, a dark haired man in glasses and a suit. I assumed he was a cop, probably from Robbery-Homicide.

Sally is Mac's wife. But when we entered his office and he saw the look on my face, he spoke to me first. "My God, Faye! What happened to you? " Then he remembered the message from Sally that brought him to his office, and he added, "Kolchak! Did he attack you too? If he did, you're lucky to be alive."

I decided on the shock treatment. I took off Sally's jacket to reveal my torn top and my crucifix. Also my bra and quite a bit of skin.

Mac and the other man reacted exactly the way you would expect two men to react to such a sight, even though the wife of one of them was present. Part of me was pleased I could still inspire such a reaction at the age of 41.

My words snapped them out of their trance.

"I was there, Mac. I ripped open my top to expose my crucifix, to help Carl fight the vampire." I pulled the necklace from my purse and said, "I didn't realize this covered most of the crucifix. So it's a good thing Carl did not need my help."

"Faye, that's not funny."

Sally said, "She's not kidding, Mac. If you had seen her when she arrived at our house, you would know that."

Mac stared at Sally for a while, and then at me. Then he finally made a delayed introduction. Maybe he didn't know what else to do at that point.

"Faye, this is Lieutenant Jack Matteo of Robbery-Homicide. He's the officer who arrested Kolchak for murder. Jack, Mrs. Faye Kruger. She sold Sally and me our house.

"Sally, I think you've met Jack before."

Sally replied, "Yes, I have. Good evening, Lieutenant."

Lieutenant Matteo said, "Good evening, Mrs. McMillan." Then he looked at me and said simply, "Mrs. Kruger." Maybe he was content to let Mac deal with Carl's fellow lunatic.

I said a bit more. "Lieutenant Matteo, if you were one of the policemen who came over the hill at Matheson's Cross, then I'm sorry I don't recognize you. The fire was between us and I fled when I saw the police coming. I thought I could do Carl more good at Mac and Sally's house than talking to the police at the scene."

That got their attention. If I knew that many details, then I really was there.

"Faye, please tell me exactly what happened."

"Please get a stenographer in here, Mac. I don't have the strength to do this more than once."

Mac made a phone call. His secretary and all of the civilian staff who work at Parker Center had gone home long ago. So it was a pretty, black haired, young policewoman who arrived a few minutes later. She came to attention in front of Mac's desk, saluted, and said, "Officer Dorothy Miller reporting as ordered, Sir."

"At ease, Officer Miller." Mac introduced Officer Miller to everyone. Then she sat down, opened her Steno book and took my statement.

I started from the beginning, how I met Carl at Amurta Mira's house. And I told it all, including my motives for following him to Catherine Rawlins' house: my curiosity, my anger at Carl for using me, and my fear that he meant to harm Rawlins.

There came a point when I could no longer sit. For one thing, I was too nervous. And for another, all those hours sitting in my office. Then sitting in my car and Sally's car. So I got up and paced the floor while talking. And I thanked God it was a stenographer, not a tape recorder, that was taking my statement. With a tape recorder, my pacing would have been limited by the length of the microphone cord.

All four of them visibly reacted when I said Catherine Rawlins was a vampire, but none of them said anything. Not right then anyway. The cross examination started when I was finished.

Mac did all the questioning. Lieutenant Matteo said nothing. Maybe because Mac outranked him and I was a friend of Mac's. Or maybe because one crackpot who believed in vampires was enough for him.

Sally, for once in her life, said nothing too. Maybe because I was holding my own with Mac. Or maybe she was waiting to get Mac alone before giving him hell for treating me this way.

It went on and on until the phone rang. Lieutenant Matteo said, "I'll get it, Sir."

"Thank you, Jack."

Lieutenant Matteo went to the outer office and closed the door so he could speak without disturbing the cross examination. But he did disturb it by screaming, "WHAT!?" so loudly we could clearly hear him through the closed door.

All four of us - Mac, Sally, Officer Miller and I - were staring at the door when Lieutenant Matteo came back in and said, "Commissioner, we're needed back in Robbery-Homicide. Right now, Sir."

He said those last three words in a tone one would never expect a Lieutenant to use on a Commissioner. The fact that he did use such a tone told Mac they had to go, and right f***ing now.

Mac said, "Officer Miller, you're dismissed. Type up Mrs. Kruger's statement."

"Excuse me, Commissioner," said Lieutenant Matteo. "That ahhh ... That might be premature, Sir."

Mac looked as puzzled as I felt. But he said, "Officer Miller, leave your book here. And don't talk about this, not to anyone. Dismissed."

She replied, "Yes, Sir." She laid her Steno book on Mac's desk, and then all three cops left.

"I wonder what the hell that was all about," Sally said when they were gone.

"Sally, would I be breaking the law if I borrowed Mac's secretary's typewriter?"

"Hmmm ... No, go right ahead."

"Thank you ... Oh, wait a minute. This is not official business, not more of my statement. But I have to do it. And I would need some plain typing paper, not LAPD stationery."

Sally found the plain typing paper in a cabinet near the secretary's desk. I saw various envelopes in there too. I cried, "Oh, I need one of those six by nine envelopes too." I didn't know I needed such an envelope until I saw them.

Sally put the paper and the envelope on the secretary's desk. Then she put her hands on my shoulders and guided me into the secretary's chair.

"Type to your heart's content," she said. She looked at her watch. "Do you want a midnight snack?"

Dinner had been a pizza delivered to my office. I looked at my watch for the first time since ... When? I couldn't remember. Anyway, I looked and saw how long it had been since dinner. My stomach growled as if it could see my watch.

"Yes, Sally. But I hate vending machine food."

"This place is manned twenty-four hours a day, so the cafeteria operates twenty-four hours a day too. I recommend the chicken salad sandwich."

"The chicken salad sandwich it is. And two cups of coffee, please. I don't want to sleep." I reached for my purse.

Sally held up her hand in a STOP signal. "It's on me, Faye. You're sort of my guest here."

"Thank you, Sally."

I typed while Sally was gone. I took a break to eat when Sally returned. And the chicken salad sandwich was good. When Sally was finished, she stood up and said, "I'll be in Mac's office if you need me."

"OK, Sally. And thank you again, for everything."

"You're welcome."

I suspected she went to Mac's office to pace the floor where it wouldn't get on my nerves. She was worried about me and impatient for Mac to finish whatever he was doing and return to his office.

I typed. I did not type nearly enough to fill the whole night, but for as long as it lasted it felt good to be doing something. When I was finished typing, I folded the pages once, slipped them into the envelope, and put the envelope in my purse.

I went into Mac's office to ask Sally if she wanted to get another cup of coffee. I found her sound asleep on the sofa. I envied Sally for her ability to sleep in peace, even after hearing my statement. I never wanted to sleep again. As Hamlet put it, "To sleep, perchance to Dream; aye, there's the rub, ... "

I closed the door as softly as I could, and then paced the outer office waiting for Mac to return. I wanted more coffee, but I didn't want to leave Sally alone, not even in a police building. And I didn't want to dig through her purse for her keys so I could lock the door behind me and still get back in without waking her. So I paced and waited for Mac.

I paced and waited for hours. When Mac returned, he was alone and he looked like ... He looked like I felt when I realized that Catherine Rawlins really was a vampire.

"Mac?"

He looked at me. Then he looked around the outer office and asked, "Where's Sally?"

"Asleep on your sofa. Mac, what's going on?"

"Let's go inside. Sally needs to hear this too."

Mac gently shook Sally awake. She looked at her watch and said, "Jeez, where have you been all this time?"

Mac looked at me and said, "Faye, please sit down."

I sat down next to Sally. I braced myself for what I thought was coming: some dumbass had shot and killed Carl.

Mac got right to the point, at least to start with. "Dr. Quincy did the autopsy on Catherine Rawlins."

"Thank God! Why didn't I think of suggesting that?! If anyone can prove she was a vampire, it's Quince!"

Dr. Quincy, "Quince" to his friends, is the best Medical Examiner in the LA County Coroner's Office. I first met him at Mac and Sally's 1971 Christmas party, their first Christmas party in the house I sold them. Quince called me a few days later and asked me to have dinner with him. Things developed from there. He was my escort to Mac and Sally's '72 and '73 Christmas parties. Which means he zipped up my evening gown when he arrived to pick me up ... and he unzipped it when he took me home.

And then I noticed how Mac was looking at me. And that he had said "Dr. Quincy" instead of "Quince." And he had said it very formally.

I said slowly, "Mac, does that look mean he didn't prove it ... or that he did prove it?"

"Dr. Quincy has found that Catherine Rawlins, assuming Mr. Kolchak is right about the woman's name, we're still waiting for Rawlins' fingerprints from Las Vegas ... "

Mac was beating around the bush, which wasn't like him. "Mac, please get to the point." I said this even though I was afraid of what the point might be.

"Dr. Quincy has found that Catherine Rawlins died at least three years ago. In the words of Dr. Quincy's report, Quote. This is a medical conundrum for which I have no explanation. Unquote."

I stared at him in frozen shock for a long time. I don't know why I was so surprised, she could have been living dead for any number of years before Carl staked her. Finally I said, "Three ... three years?"

"Three years. He also has no explanation for the fact that her body is perfectly preserved, even though it was never embalmed or frozen."

Sally asked, "What about mummification?"

"Mr. Burger asked that same question. Dr. Quincy said, Quote. Mummification is not perfect preservation, as anyone who has seen a natural mummy or an unwrapped Egyptian mummy will attest. Unquote."

"Mr. Burger?" I asked.

Sally replied, "Hamilton Burger. He's the District Attorney of Los Angeles County."

"Oh, right. I've met him at your parties." I did not mention that I had more reason to remember Dr. Quincy than Mr. Burger.

Mac continued. "The good news for your friend Mr. Kolchak is, he can not be prosecuted for killing a woman last night when the woman has been dead for three years. Arson and abuse of a corpse are the only charges that can be brought against him under these circumstances. The better news for Mr. Kolchak is Mr. Burger will not prosecute on those charges.

"In Mr. Burger's words, Quote. In the year of Saints Woodward and Bernstein, I can not prosecute a reporter for abuse of a corpse. Not when the reporter is a ... crackpot who claims the 'victim' was a vampire and the abuse consisted of driving a stake into her heart. That circus, I do not need. Unquote.

"I deleted an expletive before the word 'crackpot.' "

Mr. Burger is a Republican, and a staunch Nixonian.

"So you have released Carl," I said.

"As we speak, Mr. Kolchak is on his way to the airport in his rented car. To make sure he gets there safely, Lieutenant Matteo is riding along with him. He is also being escorted by two black and whites, one ahead and one behind. The one ahead has its red lights and siren on."

"No! I have to talk to him!"

"Faye, I advise you to stay far away from Mr. Kolchak. A man who pounds a stake into a woman's corpse ... "

"Is the man who saved this city from that woman! She was a vampire! If Carl is crazy, then so am I!"

"Faye ... "

"Save it. I'm going to the airport."

"His plane will be gone by the time you get there."

I took a deep breath. "Mac, am I under arrest?"

"No, of course not."

"Are you holding me as a material witness, or moving to have me committed?"

"Same answer."

"Then I'm going to Chicago."

"Faye ... "

Sally, God bless her, interrupted him. "Mac, call our travel agent. Tell him to get Faye a seat on the next plane to Chicago. And when I say the next plane, I mean the first plane after I drive her home to pack and then drive her to the airport."

Sally looked at me and asked, "Faye, when do you want to come home?"

"Tomorrow."

She turned back to Mac. "Tell him to get her a plane home tomorrow. And tell him to get her a room at the Lakeview Hotel, where we stayed when we went to Chicago. I'll call you from Faye's house to get the details from you."

She kissed him. Then she picked up her purse and handed me mine and said, "Let's go, Faye."

"Thank you, Sally." I turned to Mac. "And thank you, Mac."

"Sure, Faye."

I followed Sally out of the office. I was in the doorway when I heard a whirring sound behind me. I looked back and saw Mac feeding the pages of Officer Miller's Steno book into the shredder.