We were tired and hungry the next morning. Waking early and not stopping for breakfast,we headed back to the bar. Walter meet us at what was left of the back door. We went in. In the kitchen, Brenda managed to find stuff to make everyone some breakfast. Walt and I sat in the bar talking. A few minutes later Brenda brought in our food. As we ate we discussed our next move. There was a knock at the front of the bar. Both Walt and I drew our guns, and went carefully to see what it was. It turned out to be a street cop checking to make sure the building was secure. Not taking any chances, we noted his name and badge number, and his description. The rest of the day was spent getting plywood and boarding up the front of the bar. Once the bar was secure. There didn’t seem to be any point to hanging around anymore. There was nothing we could do until the insurance agent came and they got the final police report for us. I called and talked to Robert. He had the reports back on the men they’d shot the day before. So we headed over to the police station. There was no point in avoiding being seen with the Robert. If they know bout the bar then more than likely they know Robert and I are friends. So we took both cars and went to see Robert at the police station. Robert’s office was small. Today it was much too small. With Robert behind his desk, All three of us crammed in there sitting on a couple chairs we’d borrowed from other office. It was a tight fit. Four police folders lay on Bob’s desk.
“It turns out they all had records, going back before the war” Bob opened with as he handed each of us a folder. Each folder contained two pictures, mug shots, and autopsy photos of them. Below that was a basic information page, with vital statistics, height, weight, eye color,etc, and last known address, and associates and the like. Below that were the arrest reports, and disposition of each time they were arrested. All of the files were at least a inch thick each. Robert had a master list of known associates , for each of them, cross referenced with each other. Several names showed up on all the list. Which was not surprising However one name did stand out. Cadillac Man. Philip Drossel . Philip Drossel, was a german immigrant from world War I. He had settled in LA, and took up where he left off in Germany. Building a criminal empire that covered most of California. Every law enforcement agency from the FBI down to local police and sheriff were interested in him. He’d been arrested a dozen times. But had managed to avoid being convicted . Usually because witness either disappeared or suddenly refused to talk in court. His attempting to kidnap Robert Clay was his first mistake. He was in the warehouse when I had rescued him. So now, they had federal charges to go after him with. But they wanted to get him on more that. Robert was able to get search warrants based on the kidnapping and the fact that the men they killed in the bar worked for him. This was personal. He had tried to have me killed twice. While I had no direct evidence that he had hired Wanda Reed, that night. It was a pretty good guess. He had definitely tried to kill me at the bar. I was tired of doing the defending and running. It was time to take the fight to him. Walt and Robert agreed. Although legally there was little he could do. But look the other way. I knew better than to let my emotions get the better of me .
The hat. Something I’d forgotten about. replaying the scene in my mind. I remembered. There had been something vaguely familiar about the brown fedora, she had been wearing that night.
“Bob, Can you have Wanda’s personal effects brought up?”
“Sure.” he made a call, and a few minutes later a uniformed desk officer brought up a large cardboard box. On the label were the victim's name and other information, about the victim, and the crime. Along with a inventory list and a sign out sheet. Bob signed the custody sheet.
I opened the box. All of her clothes were there. On the top was her hat, Below that her red leather coat, below that her dress, and other items. along with her shoes, and pocketbook. I took the hat off the top. held it up and looked it over closely. There were no marking in it. The label was barely readable. No store makes, nothing to give an indication of where it had come from. I cast my mind back to that night almost a week ago, when I first saw her, She appeared under the streetlight, in the rain. How I came to be on the streetcorner also came back to me .
I had been in my office doing paperwork earlier that day. The phone rang.
“Hello. Yes this is James St. James. Yes I’m a private investigator. Would I meet you on the corner of at when? Why? I’m not in the habit of meeting people at odd hours of the night on street corners. I see. Ok two am then. How will I know you? Oh you'll know me.”
I remembered the conversation. vividly . I sensed fear in her voice, and the impatience in the tone.I decided to go, be against my better judgement. All of this was in the statement I gave to Robert the night of the shooting. What had possessed me to meet someone I didn’t know on a street corner at two in the morning? I had no idea. I returned to the office in my mind. Holding the hat, I stared at. There was definitely something familiar about it. Everyone wore hats similar to this . I even had several, in different colors, and styles. Robert had one, even the crooked FBI agent, Steve had one. Brenda had at least one. So why was this one different? Then I noticed it. There was a stain on it. A small stain in the outside , I showed it to Bob, and Walt. They couldn’t decided what it was, it could be blood. But neither was sure. I was sure I’d seen that hat before. maybe not on someone, but laying somewhere. I asked Brenda to put it on. With her standing about the same distance from me as Wanda was when I shot her. I couldn’t see the stain. So I had to notice it that night on the gurney as they took her away. I concentrated on that night. It came to me , that that's when the hat looked familiar, as they were hauling her off. I must have recognized the stain, and didn’t realize it right away.
Now I had at least a glimmer of a direction to go. I let Bob send the box back to evidence. Looking over Wanda’s file again. I took a blank paper and made notes from her file. Along with the pictures I had from earlier.
“Okay, here what we’re going to do. We're going to start knocking on doors. and find out where Wanda was, and who she knew in LA. And find what she was doing up till the night I shot her. And, I’m going to try to remember where I saw that hat before. That stain is familiar. I’ve seen it somewhere before. That may be the key to the whole Thing.”
Robert had some more copies of Wanda’s pictures made up, and the three of us headed out.
Once on the street, we sat on the hoods of the two cars, my Ford and Walt’s Mercury. Walt and I discussed various ways to start tracking Wanda’s movements. it was decided that Brenda would stay with me, and Walt would go by himself, we divided up the list of known associates. We were to check in at Roberts office every hour, if for any reason one missed a check in, we would head to the last place they had reported from. Walt fired up his big Mercury. Off the headed to the warehouse district. Brenda and I headed for the theater district, where Manny had said he’d seen her, and Philip Drossel before.
It didn’t take us long to get to our first stop. The service station I been at before. Manny came out to meet me . Visibly afraid of Me. I got out and approached him.
“Tell me more about Philip Drossel, and Wanda, when did you see them and where. Details Manny.” I pressed. loosening my trench coat. By now I had backed him against the wall next to the office. I had quit caring about discretion, or who saw, or what I had to do to get get the information I needed. Brenda sat in the car. She kept an eye out on the area , while I talked to Manny. Manny knew I wouldn’t hesitate to get violent if I didn’t get my answers.
“Where and When did you see them, Manny, and theses guys?” I pulled out pictures of the dead men. Manny shuddered and swallowed hard, and looked at the morgue pictures of the gunman. I’d deliberately showed him the morgue pictures. Hoping that would help scare him. It did.
Manny became a fountain of information. Phillip had brought his cadillac in here for repairs, Wanda had been with him. That was about a week ago. He’d also seen them together at the Vogue Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard . I thanked Manny for his cooperation, and got back into my Ford. Just as I got in, I glanced up. There was the Old Chevy, I’d had been following, I didn’t care. I stopped looked directly at them. and carefully slid my coat away from my shoulder holster, revealing my Colt. The message was clear.I knew they were there, and I was more than ready to tangle with them again if they wanted. Brenda noticed my pausing as I got in.
“Just some old friends, I was letting them know I know they’re there.” With that I started the Ford. With a weary eye,I kept an eye, on the mirror as I pulled out. Sure enough, the Old Chevy pulled into traffic behind me. I debated with myself what to do. Let them follow me around, or lose them. I decided to lose them. I let them catch up with me , and suddenly turned into a empty parking lot. Driving through it I headed for the back of the building. Once out of sight I waited. The old Chevy hadn’t learned anything. They followed me , as I figured they would. Once they pulled into the back lot I pulled up behind them. Blocking their way out.I got out gun in hand. I walked right up to the drives door. before they could react, I Took my pistol and smashed the window in, Glass went all over the driver, and the seat. Some even went as far as the passenger .As quick as I got the glass broke.I pointed the gun at the driver's head.
“I’m only going to say this once. Get off my ass. ! If I so much as think I see you idiots following me again, I’m going to do more then break a window. Oh, and tell, Drossel, I’m coming for him. The next time we meet I’ll be on my terms.” Still keeping the gun carefully on them, I slowly walked towards the front of the car. When I could see the grill of the Chevy. I lowered the .45 and fired. Sending a round into the radiator of the car. Another round went into the hood, about where I figured the carburetor was, smashing the carburetor, and other pieces of the top of the motor. Coming back to the door.
“Your guns, Let's have them, Slowly.” The two men slowly removed their guns from their holsters. One was a .38 special revolver, the other was automatic like mine . With one hand I released the magazine of the auto, Letting it drop to the pavement. Then I tossed it into the weeds. I managed to release the cylinder on the revolver, tipping it barral up.I dropped all six rounds to the pavement, They clattered, and rolled as they hit the hard ground. I then tossed the revolver into the weeds with the automatic. I slowly backed to my car. Brenda reached over and opened the door, so I could slide in. Out of the corner of my eye, I noted that Brenda had her revolver out, and was covering him. I carefully closed my door, and started the car, and backed out of the driveway. Once back in the front parking lot. I quickly turned around and headed back to the street. Once we were heading down the street, I commented to Brenda.
“Thanks for covering me. ‘ I said.
“No problem”, came the reply, as she placed the gun back in her purse.
Still watching for anyone who showed too much interest in me. I headed for the Vogue Theatre, on Hollywood Boulevard. Once there I parked the car down the block from the front of the theatre. There I sat watching for a while. Soon we were rewarded with Philip Drossel’s cadillac pulling up to the front, right across from the door. We watched as the bodyguard got out the front door, and ran to open the back door, for Drossel. The cadillac was new. He was one of the few who could afford a new car. I recognized at least one of the bodyguards with Drossel. They had been low level thugs back before the war. Now they were moving up in their world, to high level thugs. I pondered what to do next.
I decided it was time to rattles his cage. So I got out of the car, Told Brenda to slide over and be ready to drive in a hurry. I went to the back, opened the trunk, I selected the lever action. checked my colt, and the Smith & Wesson .38 that all had extra ammunition, and the Winchester was loaded with .30.30, . I was ready.
Shutting the trunk I looked around. Here I was in the middle of a busy street holding a rifle and no one was paying attention. All the better for me. I glanced at Brenda, in the driver’s seat, waiting. What I couldn’t see was her revolver sitting on her lap.
Walking up to the front door.I opened it, walked into the lobby. Imminently two men approached me.
I stopped a few feet inside the door.
“I’d like to see Philp Drossel please’ I said quietly.
“He ain't here.” one of the men growled.
“Funny I saw him get out of that fancy caddy of his, right out front just a minute ago. Tell him James St. James wants to see him.” I replied slowly and evenly.
The two men looked at each other .
“I can either see him the easy way, or the hard way, it's up to you .”I provoked them. Leveling his Winchester at them. I made a point of dropping the hammer back. The two men decided they didn’t want a belly full of lead, meekly stepped back, and one went to a phone on the counter. he said a few words quietly. mentioning my name. he put the phone down. Nodding to the other man, they lead me to a side door. I kept the rifle cocked, and pointed at the two men all the time. Opening the door, they lead me up some stairs. Two more men waited at the top of the stairs. They apparently had been warned about me and my rifle. Neither made a move. Once quietly knocked on the door behind the desk. Then he opened it and let it swing open. I motioned all the men inside before me.
Once inside, I slammed the door shut behind me. About that time one of the men decided to see how fast he was. he reached for his gun. I didn’t flinch.I simply squeezed the trigger. Seconds later the man lay on the floor with a .30-30 round in his belly. I quickly ran the lever on my rifle, cycling a new round into the chamber, before the sound of the shot even died in the room. No one moved.
One of the men started to go to the fallen man.
“Let him be. Now lets everyone get rid of the guns.” I commanded firmly. The other three man slowly removed their guns from their holsters. “Drop the mags, Pull the slides back and lock them open,” I commanded. Once all the guns were empty and on the floor, I turned my attention to Phipp Drossel.
“You out away from the desk. Over with your goons. “ Dressol slowly moved over with the hired guns.
I carefully pulled the pictures out my pocket. Laying them on the desk I spread them out, On top was Wanda Reed, below were the four men Walt and I had killed in the bar.
“Theses guys yours?” I asked indicating the dead men. From the looks on their faces, I knew they were. No one said anything, but their faces said a lot.
“Drossel, I have some questions for you, Who was Wanda Reed? Why did you hire her to kill me? And why try to kill me,?”
Drossel didn’t say a word, Just looked at me with cold eyes. The kind of eyes that said you will be dead .Soon. I had seen that look in the war. I knew there was no mercy there. The first chance he got they would try to kill me.
“Okay, Forget the questions. Eventually I’m going to get my answers. One way or another. from someone. You can’t scare everyone. All the time. And you don’t scare me. I’m putting you on notice, If I even think I see one of your goons, behind me, or in front of me, I’m going to shoot first and ask questions later. So if they value their hide. they’d better stay clear of me. I picked up the empty guns and tossed them out the window after breaking it with the butt of my rifle. As I opened the door to leave, I cut loose with another shot, This time the phone on the desk went flying into a thousand pieces all over the room. Before the sound of the shot echoed out of the room, I was down the stairs, and out the front in the car. Brenda took off as quickly as possible.
A few minutes later, we stopped at a dinner for some food.
Once inside I sat so he could see the door. We had sandwiches, and coffee.
“What was the point of that?” Brenda asked me over the ham sandwich she was eating.
“I wanted Drossel to know I know about him, and I wasn’t afraid of him. I also wanted him to know I could get to him, anywhere, just like he got to us at the bar. And to know it was personal now. . I killed a man right in front of him, and he couldn’t do anything about it. That’ll make him mad, Hopefully he start making mistakes.” I explained. “I set the rules, It's either him or me.” with that I finished my coffee. I found a pay phone and called Robert I reported on my encounter with Drossel, and set up a meet with Walt and Robert for later in the day. Robert said that there had been calls of shots fired about the time, that I was at the theatre, He had figured it was me and took his own time dispatching officers there.
Back at Walter's place, which was as far as we knew, a unkown. We planned our next move. Walt had had a good day. He found the row house Wanda had been staying at. He said it was a dump. In fact the landlord said she owed him several weeks back rent, and for some long distance phone calls. I wandered who she would be calling long distance. Walt outdid himself this time, and had the numbers she’d called. Walt's phone rang. He answered it. After several minutes of writing and listening, he came back to the kitchen.
“My friends in Army Intelligence came through.” He said as he poured more coffee. We had decided to stay away from beer, until this was over.
“It seems as Steve was in the army. Only he didn’t last. He was discharged dishonorably for a variety of things. Including stealing, and running a black market operation overseas. In germany. He should have been sent to Leavenworth, but because of the war, and a screw up with his papers, he was only discharged, instead of going to jail like he should have. How the FBI didn’t find out about his wartime activities is anyone’s guess.I guess he slipped through the cracks. “ “Or he he knows people high up, either in the Army or the FBI, or both.” I chimed in.
“As for Drossel, I got a whole file on him coming by messenger tomorrow .” Walt added. We decided that the wisest thing to do at the moment was to hole up and rest. So Walt set us up in the spare bedroom, It was also agreed that we would take turns standing guard just in case. Walt volunteered to stand first watch, as he’d had best sleep the night before, was still relatively fresh. So Brenda and I helped Walt secure the house, and then headed to the spare room. Locking it behind us. I slept with his revolver on the bedside table. I usually liked the revolver for bed duty as I called it. As they are far less prone to having a misfire or other problems. About midway through the night, Walt knocked on the door, and I took over watch downstairs, while Walt got some sleep.
“It turns out they all had records, going back before the war” Bob opened with as he handed each of us a folder. Each folder contained two pictures, mug shots, and autopsy photos of them. Below that was a basic information page, with vital statistics, height, weight, eye color,etc, and last known address, and associates and the like. Below that were the arrest reports, and disposition of each time they were arrested. All of the files were at least a inch thick each. Robert had a master list of known associates , for each of them, cross referenced with each other. Several names showed up on all the list. Which was not surprising However one name did stand out. Cadillac Man. Philip Drossel . Philip Drossel, was a german immigrant from world War I. He had settled in LA, and took up where he left off in Germany. Building a criminal empire that covered most of California. Every law enforcement agency from the FBI down to local police and sheriff were interested in him. He’d been arrested a dozen times. But had managed to avoid being convicted . Usually because witness either disappeared or suddenly refused to talk in court. His attempting to kidnap Robert Clay was his first mistake. He was in the warehouse when I had rescued him. So now, they had federal charges to go after him with. But they wanted to get him on more that. Robert was able to get search warrants based on the kidnapping and the fact that the men they killed in the bar worked for him. This was personal. He had tried to have me killed twice. While I had no direct evidence that he had hired Wanda Reed, that night. It was a pretty good guess. He had definitely tried to kill me at the bar. I was tired of doing the defending and running. It was time to take the fight to him. Walt and Robert agreed. Although legally there was little he could do. But look the other way. I knew better than to let my emotions get the better of me .
The hat. Something I’d forgotten about. replaying the scene in my mind. I remembered. There had been something vaguely familiar about the brown fedora, she had been wearing that night.
“Bob, Can you have Wanda’s personal effects brought up?”
“Sure.” he made a call, and a few minutes later a uniformed desk officer brought up a large cardboard box. On the label were the victim's name and other information, about the victim, and the crime. Along with a inventory list and a sign out sheet. Bob signed the custody sheet.
I opened the box. All of her clothes were there. On the top was her hat, Below that her red leather coat, below that her dress, and other items. along with her shoes, and pocketbook. I took the hat off the top. held it up and looked it over closely. There were no marking in it. The label was barely readable. No store makes, nothing to give an indication of where it had come from. I cast my mind back to that night almost a week ago, when I first saw her, She appeared under the streetlight, in the rain. How I came to be on the streetcorner also came back to me .
I had been in my office doing paperwork earlier that day. The phone rang.
“Hello. Yes this is James St. James. Yes I’m a private investigator. Would I meet you on the corner of at when? Why? I’m not in the habit of meeting people at odd hours of the night on street corners. I see. Ok two am then. How will I know you? Oh you'll know me.”
I remembered the conversation. vividly . I sensed fear in her voice, and the impatience in the tone.I decided to go, be against my better judgement. All of this was in the statement I gave to Robert the night of the shooting. What had possessed me to meet someone I didn’t know on a street corner at two in the morning? I had no idea. I returned to the office in my mind. Holding the hat, I stared at. There was definitely something familiar about it. Everyone wore hats similar to this . I even had several, in different colors, and styles. Robert had one, even the crooked FBI agent, Steve had one. Brenda had at least one. So why was this one different? Then I noticed it. There was a stain on it. A small stain in the outside , I showed it to Bob, and Walt. They couldn’t decided what it was, it could be blood. But neither was sure. I was sure I’d seen that hat before. maybe not on someone, but laying somewhere. I asked Brenda to put it on. With her standing about the same distance from me as Wanda was when I shot her. I couldn’t see the stain. So I had to notice it that night on the gurney as they took her away. I concentrated on that night. It came to me , that that's when the hat looked familiar, as they were hauling her off. I must have recognized the stain, and didn’t realize it right away.
Now I had at least a glimmer of a direction to go. I let Bob send the box back to evidence. Looking over Wanda’s file again. I took a blank paper and made notes from her file. Along with the pictures I had from earlier.
“Okay, here what we’re going to do. We're going to start knocking on doors. and find out where Wanda was, and who she knew in LA. And find what she was doing up till the night I shot her. And, I’m going to try to remember where I saw that hat before. That stain is familiar. I’ve seen it somewhere before. That may be the key to the whole Thing.”
Robert had some more copies of Wanda’s pictures made up, and the three of us headed out.
Once on the street, we sat on the hoods of the two cars, my Ford and Walt’s Mercury. Walt and I discussed various ways to start tracking Wanda’s movements. it was decided that Brenda would stay with me, and Walt would go by himself, we divided up the list of known associates. We were to check in at Roberts office every hour, if for any reason one missed a check in, we would head to the last place they had reported from. Walt fired up his big Mercury. Off the headed to the warehouse district. Brenda and I headed for the theater district, where Manny had said he’d seen her, and Philip Drossel before.
It didn’t take us long to get to our first stop. The service station I been at before. Manny came out to meet me . Visibly afraid of Me. I got out and approached him.
“Tell me more about Philip Drossel, and Wanda, when did you see them and where. Details Manny.” I pressed. loosening my trench coat. By now I had backed him against the wall next to the office. I had quit caring about discretion, or who saw, or what I had to do to get get the information I needed. Brenda sat in the car. She kept an eye out on the area , while I talked to Manny. Manny knew I wouldn’t hesitate to get violent if I didn’t get my answers.
“Where and When did you see them, Manny, and theses guys?” I pulled out pictures of the dead men. Manny shuddered and swallowed hard, and looked at the morgue pictures of the gunman. I’d deliberately showed him the morgue pictures. Hoping that would help scare him. It did.
Manny became a fountain of information. Phillip had brought his cadillac in here for repairs, Wanda had been with him. That was about a week ago. He’d also seen them together at the Vogue Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard . I thanked Manny for his cooperation, and got back into my Ford. Just as I got in, I glanced up. There was the Old Chevy, I’d had been following, I didn’t care. I stopped looked directly at them. and carefully slid my coat away from my shoulder holster, revealing my Colt. The message was clear.I knew they were there, and I was more than ready to tangle with them again if they wanted. Brenda noticed my pausing as I got in.
“Just some old friends, I was letting them know I know they’re there.” With that I started the Ford. With a weary eye,I kept an eye, on the mirror as I pulled out. Sure enough, the Old Chevy pulled into traffic behind me. I debated with myself what to do. Let them follow me around, or lose them. I decided to lose them. I let them catch up with me , and suddenly turned into a empty parking lot. Driving through it I headed for the back of the building. Once out of sight I waited. The old Chevy hadn’t learned anything. They followed me , as I figured they would. Once they pulled into the back lot I pulled up behind them. Blocking their way out.I got out gun in hand. I walked right up to the drives door. before they could react, I Took my pistol and smashed the window in, Glass went all over the driver, and the seat. Some even went as far as the passenger .As quick as I got the glass broke.I pointed the gun at the driver's head.
“I’m only going to say this once. Get off my ass. ! If I so much as think I see you idiots following me again, I’m going to do more then break a window. Oh, and tell, Drossel, I’m coming for him. The next time we meet I’ll be on my terms.” Still keeping the gun carefully on them, I slowly walked towards the front of the car. When I could see the grill of the Chevy. I lowered the .45 and fired. Sending a round into the radiator of the car. Another round went into the hood, about where I figured the carburetor was, smashing the carburetor, and other pieces of the top of the motor. Coming back to the door.
“Your guns, Let's have them, Slowly.” The two men slowly removed their guns from their holsters. One was a .38 special revolver, the other was automatic like mine . With one hand I released the magazine of the auto, Letting it drop to the pavement. Then I tossed it into the weeds. I managed to release the cylinder on the revolver, tipping it barral up.I dropped all six rounds to the pavement, They clattered, and rolled as they hit the hard ground. I then tossed the revolver into the weeds with the automatic. I slowly backed to my car. Brenda reached over and opened the door, so I could slide in. Out of the corner of my eye, I noted that Brenda had her revolver out, and was covering him. I carefully closed my door, and started the car, and backed out of the driveway. Once back in the front parking lot. I quickly turned around and headed back to the street. Once we were heading down the street, I commented to Brenda.
“Thanks for covering me. ‘ I said.
“No problem”, came the reply, as she placed the gun back in her purse.
Still watching for anyone who showed too much interest in me. I headed for the Vogue Theatre, on Hollywood Boulevard. Once there I parked the car down the block from the front of the theatre. There I sat watching for a while. Soon we were rewarded with Philip Drossel’s cadillac pulling up to the front, right across from the door. We watched as the bodyguard got out the front door, and ran to open the back door, for Drossel. The cadillac was new. He was one of the few who could afford a new car. I recognized at least one of the bodyguards with Drossel. They had been low level thugs back before the war. Now they were moving up in their world, to high level thugs. I pondered what to do next.
I decided it was time to rattles his cage. So I got out of the car, Told Brenda to slide over and be ready to drive in a hurry. I went to the back, opened the trunk, I selected the lever action. checked my colt, and the Smith & Wesson .38 that all had extra ammunition, and the Winchester was loaded with .30.30, . I was ready.
Shutting the trunk I looked around. Here I was in the middle of a busy street holding a rifle and no one was paying attention. All the better for me. I glanced at Brenda, in the driver’s seat, waiting. What I couldn’t see was her revolver sitting on her lap.
Walking up to the front door.I opened it, walked into the lobby. Imminently two men approached me.
I stopped a few feet inside the door.
“I’d like to see Philp Drossel please’ I said quietly.
“He ain't here.” one of the men growled.
“Funny I saw him get out of that fancy caddy of his, right out front just a minute ago. Tell him James St. James wants to see him.” I replied slowly and evenly.
The two men looked at each other .
“I can either see him the easy way, or the hard way, it's up to you .”I provoked them. Leveling his Winchester at them. I made a point of dropping the hammer back. The two men decided they didn’t want a belly full of lead, meekly stepped back, and one went to a phone on the counter. he said a few words quietly. mentioning my name. he put the phone down. Nodding to the other man, they lead me to a side door. I kept the rifle cocked, and pointed at the two men all the time. Opening the door, they lead me up some stairs. Two more men waited at the top of the stairs. They apparently had been warned about me and my rifle. Neither made a move. Once quietly knocked on the door behind the desk. Then he opened it and let it swing open. I motioned all the men inside before me.
Once inside, I slammed the door shut behind me. About that time one of the men decided to see how fast he was. he reached for his gun. I didn’t flinch.I simply squeezed the trigger. Seconds later the man lay on the floor with a .30-30 round in his belly. I quickly ran the lever on my rifle, cycling a new round into the chamber, before the sound of the shot even died in the room. No one moved.
One of the men started to go to the fallen man.
“Let him be. Now lets everyone get rid of the guns.” I commanded firmly. The other three man slowly removed their guns from their holsters. “Drop the mags, Pull the slides back and lock them open,” I commanded. Once all the guns were empty and on the floor, I turned my attention to Phipp Drossel.
“You out away from the desk. Over with your goons. “ Dressol slowly moved over with the hired guns.
I carefully pulled the pictures out my pocket. Laying them on the desk I spread them out, On top was Wanda Reed, below were the four men Walt and I had killed in the bar.
“Theses guys yours?” I asked indicating the dead men. From the looks on their faces, I knew they were. No one said anything, but their faces said a lot.
“Drossel, I have some questions for you, Who was Wanda Reed? Why did you hire her to kill me? And why try to kill me,?”
Drossel didn’t say a word, Just looked at me with cold eyes. The kind of eyes that said you will be dead .Soon. I had seen that look in the war. I knew there was no mercy there. The first chance he got they would try to kill me.
“Okay, Forget the questions. Eventually I’m going to get my answers. One way or another. from someone. You can’t scare everyone. All the time. And you don’t scare me. I’m putting you on notice, If I even think I see one of your goons, behind me, or in front of me, I’m going to shoot first and ask questions later. So if they value their hide. they’d better stay clear of me. I picked up the empty guns and tossed them out the window after breaking it with the butt of my rifle. As I opened the door to leave, I cut loose with another shot, This time the phone on the desk went flying into a thousand pieces all over the room. Before the sound of the shot echoed out of the room, I was down the stairs, and out the front in the car. Brenda took off as quickly as possible.
A few minutes later, we stopped at a dinner for some food.
Once inside I sat so he could see the door. We had sandwiches, and coffee.
“What was the point of that?” Brenda asked me over the ham sandwich she was eating.
“I wanted Drossel to know I know about him, and I wasn’t afraid of him. I also wanted him to know I could get to him, anywhere, just like he got to us at the bar. And to know it was personal now. . I killed a man right in front of him, and he couldn’t do anything about it. That’ll make him mad, Hopefully he start making mistakes.” I explained. “I set the rules, It's either him or me.” with that I finished my coffee. I found a pay phone and called Robert I reported on my encounter with Drossel, and set up a meet with Walt and Robert for later in the day. Robert said that there had been calls of shots fired about the time, that I was at the theatre, He had figured it was me and took his own time dispatching officers there.
Back at Walter's place, which was as far as we knew, a unkown. We planned our next move. Walt had had a good day. He found the row house Wanda had been staying at. He said it was a dump. In fact the landlord said she owed him several weeks back rent, and for some long distance phone calls. I wandered who she would be calling long distance. Walt outdid himself this time, and had the numbers she’d called. Walt's phone rang. He answered it. After several minutes of writing and listening, he came back to the kitchen.
“My friends in Army Intelligence came through.” He said as he poured more coffee. We had decided to stay away from beer, until this was over.
“It seems as Steve was in the army. Only he didn’t last. He was discharged dishonorably for a variety of things. Including stealing, and running a black market operation overseas. In germany. He should have been sent to Leavenworth, but because of the war, and a screw up with his papers, he was only discharged, instead of going to jail like he should have. How the FBI didn’t find out about his wartime activities is anyone’s guess.I guess he slipped through the cracks. “ “Or he he knows people high up, either in the Army or the FBI, or both.” I chimed in.
“As for Drossel, I got a whole file on him coming by messenger tomorrow .” Walt added. We decided that the wisest thing to do at the moment was to hole up and rest. So Walt set us up in the spare bedroom, It was also agreed that we would take turns standing guard just in case. Walt volunteered to stand first watch, as he’d had best sleep the night before, was still relatively fresh. So Brenda and I helped Walt secure the house, and then headed to the spare room. Locking it behind us. I slept with his revolver on the bedside table. I usually liked the revolver for bed duty as I called it. As they are far less prone to having a misfire or other problems. About midway through the night, Walt knocked on the door, and I took over watch downstairs, while Walt got some sleep.