August 9, 1969 - Tate End (Kinda)

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It would have been a bright, moon-lit night in Los Angeles if it weren't for all that incessant "coastal haze" blanketing the city. It wasn't like Swartz's Ford didn't know the route. It surely did. And it wasn't like its tank wasn't full of gas. Thank you, Gibby. But I suspect even a hunk of steel can have reservations about returning to a blood-soaked battlefield. If true, that old Galaxie must have dreaded thrumming back up 10050 Cielo Drive.

***
Yes. You read me right. There was a return. To truly know Charlie's mind is to know there had to be a return. Charlie and his "partner" whose identity shall forever remain a mystery, but let me remind you who was "alleged" to be on the Spahn boardwalk that night with Manson when the killers returned — Nancy Pitman, aka Brenda McCann.
***
Manson and partner returned to 10050 Cielo Drive, using the same route the killers had taken. This was a trip out of curiosity, sure, but more so out of concern. Manson knew Sadie had lost her knife in the attack. Manson's mind must have been flooded with questions.

Did these kids make other "mistakes" that could point fingers at Spahn, and more importantly at me? Did they make a good enough Hinman copycat scene? And was it truly Helter Skelter up there like Tex said?

These and many other questions must have gnawed away at Charlie's insides. I mean, what was he thinking, allowing Sadie to be a part of another murder when she couldn't keep her yap shut on the last one? And who picks a drugged-up high school ex-football star to finesse their way through the complexities of mass murder? Riddled with these thoughts, Charlie must have shaken his head in disgust, hopeful his greatest fears didn't await him in Benedict Canyon. 

 Until this moment, Charlie hadn't dwelled on which Beautiful People got caught in Tex's murderous web. Secretly, he might have hoped not the beautiful honey-blond broad he saw at the front door with that insolent foreigner. On March 23rd, Charlie made his way up to Cielo to talk with Rudy Altobelli, but Rudy wasn't there. That's when he came face-to-face with the big-eyed beauty and was treated like trash, being unceremoniously dismissed by Sharon's photographer, Shahrok Hatami. 

Charlie shook that maudlin thought out of his head and focused on why the job needed to be done. Copycat murders were needed to point the finger elsewhere. Cash was needed to bail out Bobby and the girls. And people had to pay for the bad karma that had befallen Manson and the Family. A wiry, 5'2" beatnik, parenting 25 stupid kids, can only take so much. 

Wheeling up the winding canyon roads with only the dashboard lights to illuminate their sober-looking expressions, Charlie and his partner arrived at Cielo Drive. They steeled themselves for whatever they would face when they, too, jumped the Tate property fence.

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L to R: Charles Manson - Charles "Tex" Watson - Bobby Beausoleil - Bruce Davis - Susan Atkins - Patricia Krenwinkel - Leslie van Houten