[ What's L.A. like? She wants to paint him a realistic picture, to tell him how seedy it is, how dangerous. How there are monsters and secrets around every corner. And yet... ]

It's... It's busy. I've never been in a city always so full of people. No one sleeps; they're out at all hours, drinking, clubbing, having fun. You have your weird people, of course, but there's businessmen and students and artists all around. You can sit in Griffith Park or go to the observatory. There's a million and one things to do in Los Angeles. [ There's something wistful about the way she speaks of it. ] I had this...great view from my apartment. A little patio deck - not much to look at or anything - that I'd go out and stand on, look at the sunrise with my coffee. Or have a drink in the afternoon with a friend.

[ And it's all gone. She'll never see it again, won't be able to do the things she wants to do. She can't go back to school or hang out with the same people. They all think she's dead. ]

There's a beach down at Santa Monica. Beautiful, always crowded. Used to have awful food before they cleaned it up a bit. You could go anywhere from Los Angeles, like it was your ticket to something great.