Return To LA

Chapter 11

    For most of the country anything before the war was ancient history. The country was starting over again with a clean slate. The sins of the past, before the war were largely forgotten. But not for James. He now knew his past was the key to the events unfolding around him this last week. Now he had a handle on it he was determined to end it once and for all. James and Brenda headed back to the newspapers. Deep in the morgue they found the papers for 1938.

After finding eh articles in the paper describing the shooting he sat back in the chair reading it. The headline read; "Youth Involved in Shooting Cleared". The story went on to say how he had been cleared of any criminal charges in the shooting death of one Edward Lane. There was a lot that the article didn't say.

It was the summer of 1938. He was barely 17 at the time. He had been seeing Brenda for a while. Edward Lane was a local bully who had taken a shine to Brenda. Lane had make a number of crude passes to her. Several times he had be physically removed from the situation. James had stood up to him and fought with him a couple of times. It widely known that lane had been involved in petty theft. Including selling stolen goods. Over the last several weeks leading up to the shooting Lane had become more aggressive towards James and Brenda. He had his gang of thugs had harassed them on numerous occasions. James had found a revolver in an alley. A Smith & Wesson .38 special with a four inch barrel. He had debated about what to do with it. In the end he kept it. He had been carrying it the day that Lane and his gang attacked him.

Edward Lane had become more brazen. He was no longer content to confine his harassment to alley and empty streets. This time he had spotted James and Brenda downtown near the theatre . They were on their way to see a movie. They never made it. There were four of them. Edward Lane and three cronies who assisted in his bullying people.

James and Brenda ducked between parked cars, and finely thinking they had eluded Lane and his gang, they were just outside the theatre. When Lane approached them. He had a gun. James wasn't sure what kind it was, Just that is wasn't like any american gun he'd seen. James wasn't prepared to find out how it worked firsthand. With a crowd gathering around. Lane pointed the gun at James and Brenda, and swore he'd kill James if he didn't leave Brenda to him.

It happened fast. James instinctively reached for the revolver he had in his waistband. In one fluid motion he drew it and fired . The sound of the .38 going off up against the brick wall of the old theater, echoed it back to the crowd. He fired three times. Lane registered shock and pain as the first round hit him. He fell back as the last rounds tore into him. Within seconds it was over. James and Brenda stood up against the wall. The crowd stood staring in shock at the body on the sidewalk. He had fallen against a parked car. His fedora hat sliding down his face. Landing on his chest, which was covered in blood. The three thugs that were behind Lane were quick to disappear into the crowd. But not before their presence had been noted, and witness, had good descriptions of them.

The police came. Newly minted Detective Robert Clay was in charge. They secured the scene. Uniformed officers, started taking statements. And gathering evidence and generally regain control of the situation.

James and Brenda spend the day and night at the police station. Both gave their accounts of the incident separately and then together. James explained how he had found the gun in an alley several days before. And had pretty much decided to turn it in. But hadn't had a chance to, with is work, and when Lane had started harassing them again, he decided to keep it after all. Yes he knew it was illegal for a minor to have a gun, much less carry one. But he decided that it was better to be illegally armed, then legally unable to defend himself. They further detailed the past experience they had with Lane, and his cohorts. They're following and harassing, and threats to hurt him and do very bad things to Brenda. He had simply put become obsessed with her. It was also well known that his father was Philip Dorssel, a german immigrant from World War 1. It was also widely suspected but never proved that he was building the same type of mob that he had run before the war. It was long suspected that his son Edward Lane was running numbers,and had been involved in the bootlegging of the twenties. There had been rumors during the second war, that Drossel had been involved with spying for the Germans. It was never proved and no charges were ever brought against him. But there was no question that he had run the largest black market operation in california.

All of this and more was known to Robert Clay as he interviewed James and Brenda, after the shooting. When the witness statements were taken into account,and the remaining three thugs that had been with Lane at the shooting were found, It didn't take long for Robert Clay to decided not to press charges. It more then clear, illegal as his having the gun was, it was clearly a case of self defense. He decided the gun charge was nothing compared to what the boy had been through. So he recommended that no charges be brought against James St.James. To his surprise the DA agreed there was no way the shooting could be anything but legal self defense. And there was nothing to be gained by pressing carrying of the gun charge.

James and Brenda married not long after that. Then Pearl Harbor happened. The next day, James was among the long line of young men volunteering for the service. He joined the marines. For much of the war he served under Walter Jackson. While both were promoted, James only made it to Lieutenant, Jackson had made it up to Colonial before the war was over, and they were both released from the service. Walter Jackson had came back to LA to his wife and kids, and retire as he had medically discharged with scrap metal wounds . Injuries he had sustained while protecting his company from a German offensive late in the war.

Late in the war James was reported MIA, missing in action. Walter had no idea what had happened to to him. He was not found for several months, and by then he had been reported MIA. So Brenda, in a effort to move on with her life at home, had divorced him, and remarried a friend of family. It was not a good union. He drank constantly, and when he was drunk he was abusive, and physical. So she divorced him, after several months. Meanwhile her father died. Leaving her his bar. So In an effort to recover from losing James and the bad second marriage she started running the bar. She was good at it. While her father ran it, it had barely made any money, Now she was actually turning a decent profit. Meanwhile James had left his old Ford Coupe in her garage. She had pretty much forgotten about it, and when she did think of it, she decided to keep it as a reminder of James.

Then it happened soon after the war was over. James appeared on her doorstep one morning. He had spent the last several months at the end of the war, being declared alive again, and undergoing physical test, and being briefed, on his ordeal in Germany. He was lucky to have survived at all. He was finally released and shipped home to LA in June of 1945. James took his GI Bill and used it to restart his fledgling PI business, That had just begun to take off before the war. Getting his license and carry permit reinstated had been much more of a challenge than he had figured on. Meanwhile he and Brenda spent a lot of time getting to know each other again. They had just decided to get married again, before the Wanda Reed case started.

James sat back in the old wooden office chair. Thinking. It had been months since the had thought about the events leading up to his present situation. In the span of a few minutes he had relived his life since that fateful day when he had shot Edward Lane. While he did not regret shooting him, It was necessary at the time. He knew now it had started the events of this last week. Having the connection helped him cope with what was next. But what is next?

James and brenda finely left the newspaper and headed back to Walt's place for the day.