The next day, after depositing Hank Summers' check I took the earliest available flight to Los Angeles. Two hours after arriving, I was sitting in front of the desk of Lt. Mark Samuelson of the LAPD. Samuelson looked the same as when I saw him last, walrus mustache combined with an otherwise hairless head. His jacket was draped over the back of his chair but his shirt was white and starched, and his tie was unloosened. He still wore tinted aviator glasses.

"Spoke with a man named Hank Summers about his daughter Buffy," I said.

"Not surprising, since I gave Summers your name. He offices out of LA but moves around a lot."

"And he was in New York when he called you for references. Thanks for the business."

"No problem. I told him you were a smart mouth who wasn't half as funny as he thought he was, but that you might be able to help."

"I understand you worked Hemery."

"Well, since kids died and even more disappeared, it was thought that homicide ought to take a look. We don't always sit around eating donuts."

As he spoke, Samuelson pushed a box of donuts towards me. I took one gratefully. Samuelson didn't look like he spent much time sitting around eating donuts.

"Tell me about Buffy Summers." I tried not to blush as I said the name.

"According to witnesses, including Miss Summers, the students at the dance were attacked. Miss Summers, according to many of these witnesses, but not herself, led the students against the attackers." Samuelson gave no indication that he noticed me trying to suppress a blush, but then I noticed he avoided actually saying Buffy Summers.

"Some of the attackers were identified as students themselves?"

"Yeah, but here's the weird thing. Actually just one of the weird things. None of the students identified as the attackers were ever found, alive or dead."

"What else was weird?"

"Well, first there's Miss Summers herself. Five foot two, maybe five foot three at the outside, and probably no more than 110 pounds soaking wet. But, according to several of the surviving witnesses, she was the second coming of Xena."

"OK, weird. What else?"

"The leader of the attackers supposedly had a sword. Buffy was said to have fought him with a flag pole. She supposedly broke the flag pole in half and stabbed the guy to death with it. But there was no body, and no sword."

"I didn't hear that in the news."

"I was at the crime scene that night. That's when the witnesses reported the exploits of Xena Summers. By the next morning, none of the witnesses were willing to repeat the story."

"You just don't want to say 'Buffy Summers' do you?"

"Would you? I got a girl that age at home. Giving a girl a name like that is child abuse."

"Anyway, what happened when your witnesses changed the story?"

"Ultimately nothing. There was no physical evidence for a guy with a sword, much less a dead guy with a sword. The fire was pretty destructive."

"But you should have found something."

"Hell yeah."

"So what was the final disposition of the case?"

"You sure talk fancy for a gumshoe," Samuelson said.

"I date a woman with a Ph.D."

"Good for you. The case was given to a task force."

"Were you on the task force?"

"Nope, and neither was anyone else I knew."

"That's weird too," I said.

"Yeah," said Samuelson. "It is."

"And did the task force resolve the case?"

"The official task force report said that gang fighting had moved out to the suburbs."

"And did the task force resolve the case?"

"Nope."