Page 94 of The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe

Bobby Kennedy arrives in San Francisco with Ethel and four of their children on Friday, August 3, the same day that Marilyn’s story inLifehits newsstands. They have weekend plans at Bates Ranch before the attorney general is scheduled to speak at the American Bar Association on Monday.

Marilyn tries several times to contact Bobby at his hotel, the St. Francis, but he’s not answering or returning her calls.

She calls Bob Slatzer again, fuming.

“I’m going to blow the lid off this whole damn thing! I’mgoing to tell everything!” Marilyn tells him. “That the Kennedys got what they wanted out of me and then moved on!”

Slatzer attempts to calm her down and talk her out of holding a press conference.

Try to be a little more discreet,he cautions.

“Well, I’ve told a couple of people already,” she admits.

Everyone is worried about Marilyn’s state of mind. No one wants her talking to the press in her current state. Who knowswhatshe’ll say?

Dr. Greenson has been coming over once, even twice, a day. Peter Lawford invites her to near-daily gatherings. Pat Newcomb finds pretexts to sleep over at Marilyn’s house.

Newcomb takes her out to La Scala. Marilyn drinks too much, then swallows sleeping pills in an attempt to get some rest.

But sleep is elusive. Throughout Friday night and into Saturday morning, Marilyn is repeatedly woken by the shrill ringing of the white telephone by her bed, her personal line.

“Leave Bobby alone, you tramp. Leave Bobby alone,” an unknown woman repeatedly curses at her.

“Ethel?” asks Marilyn.

The line goes dead.

Was that Bobby’s wife on the telephone? Did she imagine it?

It’s a hot night, the baking heat is blowing off the Mojave Desert, and her little dog, Maf, is barking into the darkness, as Marilyn tries, once more, to sleep.

CHAPTER 68

MARILYN AND SID Skolsky have been friends for decades, ever since the days at Schwab’s.

She’s never been a political person. Until lately, when she’s gotten involved with America’s leading political family.

It’s one thing to attend parties at the beach house of Peter and Pat Kennedy Lawford. They’re Hollywood types.

But her association with, as she calls them, “extremely important men in government … at the highest level” is another matter entirely.

It’s Saturday, August 4, and Skolsky calls to check on Marilyn.

She starts in on her problems with the Kennedys. She’s seeing one of them, she insists. Tonight.

Skolsky’s journalistic instincts kick in.

He motions to his daughter Steffi, asks her to pick up a telephone extension. Steffi is hit with the same shock and disbelief her father is experiencing.

Marilyn is adamant about her plans. And she seems to be telling the truth.

Marilyn calls Dr. Greenson to come over for an emergency afternoon session.

“Here I am, the most beautiful woman in the world, and I do not have a date for Saturday night.”

Investigator Fred Otash is reviewing his surveillance notes. The tape recordings from the “grain of rice” microphone run about forty minutes.

Seems like Marilyn was right about seeing a Kennedy tonight. Only, not in the way she had planned.