The Black Stiletto: Stars & Stripes (35 page)

“Martin, my God, of course. It all makes sense now. Her scars. The gunshot wounds. Oh my God, Martin. Oh my
God!
”

“No one else knows. Well, there's an old FBI guy in New York who knows, but he's not telling. There could be others who might know, but I'm not aware of them. My mom has certainly kept it a closely guarded secret for fifty years. I mean to keep it that way while she's alive.”

“How long have you known?”

“Just a few months.” I explained how I acquired the diaries, her costume, and other stuff. “When the bank opens day after tomorrow, I'll take you there and show you what's in the safety deposit box. Hell, I'll let you read the diaries. They're fascinating.”

A buzzer went off in the kitchen. “That's the turkey,” she said.

“So you believe me?”

Maggie tilted her head, made a face, and then nodded. “Yeah. I do.” She didn't move for a moment.

“Shouldn't we get the turkey?”

“Jesus, who can
eat
after hearing something like that?”

“I can. I'm starving.” And I was now. The relief I felt was palpable. Telling Maggie about my mom made it the best Christmas in a long, long time.

D
ECEMBER 31, 1960

It's that time of year again, dear diary. Once again, Freddie and I are throwing the annual New Year's Eve party downstairs. It's become a routine to always make a run to my room for a few minutes to jot down some final thoughts on the past year before I get too drunk, ha ha. I can't stay long, so I'm going to make this quick. The usual crowd is here—Lucy and Peter, Clark, Louis, Corky, Paul, Wayne— plus Louise and Betty from HQ, along with their dates, and good old Chip who's here with his wisecracks. Jimmy came with Violet. I'm not as mad at him as I was. Even though he's a grown man, he's like a child when it comes to handling life. It's hard to stay mad at Jimmy because basically he's a really nice guy. When Violet was out of earshot, I asked him why he never brought her to other New Year's parties or ever mentioned her. He said she was too shy, especially around white people, but he's been trying to fix that. Like me, she's become interested in civil rights and is following Dr. King. That poor Dr. King sure has his share of troubles. In the midst of the presidential campaign a couple of months ago, he was arrested in Georgia and put in
jail
for a stupid traffic violation. Kennedy and his brother helped get him released. Anyway, Jimmy apologized to me once again, and I told him to forget it, even though it was really my fault. I'm the one who initiated it, and it didn't matter if he was married
or not. “We'll just pretend it never happened,” I said. And that's what I'm going to do. I hope he can manage that as well.

Lucy had some news—she and Peter are going to Los Angeles for a week in January or February. Peter has some business out there and she's tagging along for fun. She asked me if I wanted to join her! She said we could go to Disneyland together since Peter will be busy. Wow, I'd love to see Disneyland. I told her I needed to check with Freddie to get the time off, but I'm pretty sure it won't be a problem. California! Oh boy, that sounds like so much fun. Can you imagine the Black Stiletto socializing with Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck? Maybe I'd get discovered at Hollywood and Vine!

There's no question this year was an eventful one for me. I didn't have much in the way of romance, but maybe that stuff's overrated. My expeditions into the world of Chinatown were eye opening and scary. I didn't like the underbelly I found there, but I'm happy I was able to develop some new fighting skills and help a nice family. Billy is such a good kid and I'm glad I was part of his life for a little while. Working on the presidential campaign was wonderful. I loved being a Kennedy Girl. I learned a lot and made new friends, and the Black Stiletto saved the senator's life—and he doesn't even know it!

I think we're going to see a lot of changes in this country. John F. Kennedy will be a great president, probably serving two terms in office. I'm looking forward to next year with curiosity and excitement. I don't know what 1961 will bring, but you can bet there will be more trouble with the Communists, more conflict on civil rights, more crimes to stop, and more Elvis records!

Happy New Year!

Raymond Benson is the author of twenty-seven books and previously penned
The Black Stiletto
(2011) and
The Black Stiletto: Black & White
(2012).

Between 1996 and 2002, he was commissioned by the James Bond literary copyright holders to take over writing the 007 novels. In total he penned and published worldwide six original 007 novels, three film novelizations, and three short stories. An anthology of his 007 work,
The Union Trilogy
, was published in the fall of 2008, and a second anthology,
Choice of Weapons
, appeared summer 2010. His book
The James Bond Bedside Companion
, an encyclopedic work on the 007 phenomenon, was first published in 1984 and was nominated for an Edgar Allan Poe Award by Mystery Writers of America for Best Biographical/Critical Work.

Using the pseudonym “David Michaels,” Raymond is also the author of the
New York Times
best-selling books
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell
and its sequel
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Operation Barracuda
. Raymond's original suspense novels include
Evil Hours, Face Blind, Sweetie's Diamonds
(which won the Readers' Choice Award for Best Thriller of 2006 at the Love is Murder Conference for Authors, Readers and Publishers),
Torment
, and
Artifact of Evil. A Hard Day's Death
, the first in a series of “rock ‘n' roll thrillers,” was published in 2008, and its sequel, the Shamus Award-nominated
Dark Side of the Morgue
, published in 2009. Other recent works include novelizations of the popular videogames,
Metal Gear Solid,
its sequel,
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty, Homefront: The Voice Of Freedom
, co-written with John Milius, and
Hitman: Damnation
.

Raymond has taught courses in film genres and history at New York's New School for Social Research, Harper College in Palatine,
Illinois, College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, and currently presents Film Studies lectures with
Daily Herald
movie critic Dann Gire. Raymond has been honored in Naoshima, Japan, with the erection of a permanent museum dedicated to one of his novels, and he is also an ambassador for Japan's Kagawa Prefecture. Raymond is an active member of International Thriller Writers, Inc., Mystery Writers of America, the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers, a full member of ASCAP, and served on the Board of Directors of The Ian Fleming Foundation for sixteen years. He is based in the Chicago area.

www.raymondbenson.com

Look for the next installment in
The Black Stiletto
Series.