Perry Mason meets Della Street and Paul Drake and solves first murder

by susan cousineau

This is the story of how the trio became friends and how they learned to solve murder mysteries together.

Perry Mason was just thirty one when he was discharged from the army. He had attained the rank of Major and had worked as a lawyer in some of the more high end cases. He had been a legal consultant for the Nuremburgg trials. He had stood and watched as one by one some of the worst criminals the world had ever seen were brought to justice.
Perry had managed to save some money to start his own business. He had turned down many offers from some of the best law firms in the country, but wanted to be his own boss. When he entered his office Perry did not want to have to explain any of his actions to anyone but himself.
He had found a suitable office in one of the better parts of town and had gone head long into getting the office ready. It was not long before he found that he was going to need an assistant. His mother had been helping him with the set up but his mother had no interest in working for her son on a full time basis. He needed to find someone that could be of a major help to him.
That week Perry Mason put an advertisement in the paper. Because of the war just ending there was only one job for every ten applicants. The economy was a little slow at this time, but he had great hopes that things would pick up soon.
The first twelve applicants who had come to his office had all been good prospects, but they were missing something. He wasn't sure what kind of person he needed but he knew that when he met her they would have to click right away. This was a brand new law office and if he was going to make the business soluble he was going to have to have the best help that he could afford. Unfortunately he did not have a large budget and things would be tight for a while, but he saw that one day he would be one of the best criminal justice attorneys in the world.
He heard the familiar sound of a knock on the door and he knew that applicant thirteen was coming into the office. Immediately, this lady impressed Mr. Mason. She was young pretty and very well dressed. She had an air about her that let you know that she could take care and run any office efficiently. Five minutes into the conversation Perry knew that this lady Della Street was just the person that he needed and wanted to come to work for him.
Mr. Mason found out quickly how right he had been to hire her. Della had the office all set up and ready for a client in the first week. She had bought all of the items that she thought the office would need and had everything ready.
Three days and one call a wrong number. This was a very disturbing thing to Perry who thought he was going to change the world. He needed to get a client first, that was what he needed more than anything.
Meanwhile another member of the community that Della and Perry would get to know and honor was Lt. Tragg. He had been on the police force for over twenty years and the last five had been working homicide. That afternoon he had gotten a call saying that a more sterling member of the community had been murdered.
When Lt Tragg arrived at the home, he couldn't believe his eyes. The body had been moved by the father and the maid was in the middle of cleaning up all of the blood and picking up what had been thrown around in the room. There was still evidence that there had been a big fight between Larry and his murderer.
By cleaning the room and rearranging things the crime scene was not one that could be of much help to him or his men. To top it off some of the rags that had been used to clean the room had been thrown into the fireplace and were too burned for the police to use.
Lt Tragg was forced to ask the maid and the father where things were when they had arrived in the room to the best of their knowledge.
George Wilcox was convinced that he had caught this boy Les White red handed and that there was no way that anyone else could have gotten into the house. He had been standing over Les with a the murder weapon in his hand threatening to kill the boy if he moved. Lt Tragg had to pull him away from the lad for his own safety.
Lt Tragg had taken the shirt that Les was wearing and it had tested positive for blood and there was a fresh bruise on the young mans arm. Les had insisted that it was George Wilcox that had left the bruise when he had grabbed him. But it was Les who was in the room, and it was Les that had the dead mans blood on his shirt and pants.
It was after Lt Tragg had looked into this young man Les that he found that Les was dating behind both his parents and the Wilcox parents back. This had caused a rift between different family members and Darleyne the daughter had said that her brother was going to stop them from seeing each other that day. Still something did not seem right to the seasoned detective, but Hamilton Burger, the new young district attorney was ready to bring the charges.

That Friday, another day of no action there was a knock on the door. A tall and handsome man with white hair entered the office. He introduced himself as Paul Drake. Della had seen his office as she had gone down the hall to her office.
Della and Paul shook hands and then Della went to the office door where Perry had been sitting reading his law books. Della introduced the man to her boss and it was clear that they were to become friends.
"I have something to talk to you about. I have a client who needs your help. She is the housekeeper for our building, she has no money for a defense, but she needs a good attorney.
Her son has been charged with first degree murder. You may have heard about it. It's been in the newspaper all week He is the young man Les White who has been charged with the murder of Lawrence Wilcox, the son of a very famous architect. The Wilcox family is very well known and is using their political pull to make sure that their sons murderer does not get away free.
Les White had been the gardener for the Wilcox family. He had worked for the family for the past two years and had become friends with Larry. The Wilcox's did not approve of their friendship and had threatened to fire Les if he didn't stay away from their family. There were also rumors that Les and Darleyne Wilcox had been more than just friends also.
The three of them had gone to school together Larry being the same age as Les and Darleyne being just a year younger.
Perry wasn't sure that he wanted to take a case where he wasn't to get paid, after all he had bills himself, and he was down to less than two thousand dollars in his bank account. However, this was a way to get known about town. If he could solve the mystery of the murder of Larry Wilcox he would become a known attorney.
"I will be glad to look into the case, and will take it without pay if I feel that he is innocent of the charges." Perry told him.
Paul thanked the two people who he had just spoken to and hoped that they could help this young man. He had known the boys mother for years and had watched Les grow up. He and the victim were just twenty-two years old.
Perry went to the county jail to speak to his client. The young man was well kept and seemed to have a good nature. He did not look like a murderer, but the men that he had seen at the Nuremberg trials looked quite pleasant too. Looks could be very deceiving.
Perry took a seat at a table in the conference room and told Les to take a seat. "I want to hear everything that you know. Do not leave anything out, tell me everything. Something that you think may be trivial might be the key to the solving of the case and me finding out who the real killer is." he told the young man.
"It was about three oclock when I get a call from Larry. He said that he needed to talk to me about a fishing trip that we were supposed to be going on that weekend. I arrived at Larrys house about three thirty and rang the bell. There was no answer but I noted that Larrys car was in the driveway. Sometimes he is outside by the pool so went around the back. But no one was out back either. When I walked by the sliding doors I found them to be ajar so I opened them the rest of the way and called out for Larry." Les told him and then took a deep breath.
Perry then asked him "Did you see any other cars in the yard or garage?"
"No, but the garage door was closed and I didn't go anywhere near there." Les told him.
"Go on tell me what happened next. Don't forget not to leave anything out no matter how small." Perry told him.
"As I was saying the sliding door was open and I walked into the kitchen. I was calling out Larrys name trying to figure out where he was when I saw a shadow go by the door to the den. Again I called out and attempted to figure out what was going on. I thought maybe Larry was playing a trick on me or something. So, I went into the den and as I reached for the light switch I nearly tripped over his body" Les told him.
"When you saw the body what did you do?" Perry asked him.
"i reached down and tried to find if he had a pulse or anything, but there was blood everywhere. I got some blood on my clothes and at some point the police say that I touched the fireplace poker because they found my fingerprints on it. I was getting ready to place a call to the police when Larrys father walked into the room. He went crazy said that I had killed his son and that he was going to kill me. That is when he also picked up the fireplace poker and swung it at me. He called the police and blocked me from leaving the room at that point." Larry told him.
"I don't want you to worry, Les. I will do all I can to prove that you are innocent." Perry promised the young man and he then left the jail.
It was true the Wilcox family did have a lot of money and they were busy playing the game with the press. George and Marcia Wilcox were on all of the television stations telling their heartbreaking story. They had the media eating out of their hands and had the public convinced that the horrible young man Les had killed him over his sister.
Perry had never done well with the news media and was not in the mood to speak to anyone about the crime. He needed to find out who had committed the crime and fast. The Wilcox family was using their pull to get Les to trial quickly. They wanted him in prison for the rest of his life and wanted him to start his sentence right away.
That afternoon Paul knocked on Perrys back door. That would soon be his signature knock as he would use the back door frequently for the next forty years. After general hellos Paul opened his notebook and began to read his notes. "I have been talking to the neighbors to see if anyone saw anything out of the ordinary that day. The problem is that the driveway is almost a quarter of a mile long and people don't notice things that far away usually. There were four people on the property at the time of the murder Larry Les George Larrys father and the housekeeper Jenna. The housekeeper had been with the family for many years and was a trusted employee who was more like family to them than employee." Paul told Perry.
"I talked to Les this afternoon and he seemed to be up front and honest with me. He was nervous and worried which is understandable. But I think that he was telling the truth." Perry told his friend Paul.
"Well tomorrow I plan on doing some more looking into the accusation that Les and Darleyne Wilcox were more than friends. She might know something of what was going on." Paul told Perry.
The next day Paul Drake found himself at the Wilcox home. It was a beautiful mansion with manicured lawns and a woman named Jenna answered the door. It was quite obvious to Paul that Jenna had been crying and had put it off to the shock of Larry being murdered.
"Do you mind if I ask you a couple of questions Jenna?" Paul asked her.
" No. I don't mind but I don't know what else I can tell you that I haven't told the police already.I was in the library dusting when I heard a noise. It sounded as if someone had moved the sliding doors onto the deck. It was not a surprising noise, it was a noise that she had heard many times. I went back to my dusting and only ran out of the library when I heard Mr. Wilco yell." Jenna told him.
"Did you see any cars or did anyone come to the home that day?" Paul asked.
" I did not. However, the noise and the timing bothers me. You see Les says that he found the sliding doors open and walked into the kitchen. The noise that I had heard had happened at least twenty minutes before Les found the body. That doesn't make any sense to me because Les would not have been in the home for twenty minutes, he would have been in the house for less than five minutes.
Once again Paul walked around the house looking for anything that might give him a hint of what had happened that day. The family driver was in the garage polishing one of the many cars that the Wilcox family had. Paul introduced himself. The mans name was Cliff Howard. He had driven for the family for the past three years. He had been at a dance recital for Darleyne that day and had seen nothing. When he had come home he had been up front and honest with the police.
Perry and Della had been reading everything they could find in any police reports autopsy reports newspaper reports, anything that might give them a hint of what had happened to that young man. The trial was to be coming up in just two weeks and Perry was worried. He had nothing to show that his client was innocent. Because you are innocent until proven guilty in the United States Les did have a good chance but unfortunately for Les there were many things that lead to the possibility that he was the murderer.
Paul had now begun to work on a different angle. What if this had nothing to do with his sister and Les's relationship? After all Les and Larry were supposed to be going fishing together that weekend. Larry had said nothing to Les to indicate that he was angry, according to Les.
What if the murder had something to do with something else that Larry had been working on? Perhaps it had something to do with the business that Larry had just founded. Larry had started a small realty company and had been working with some of the less than honorable members of the community. As a matter of fact Larry was working with some people that were referred to as cut throats in the realty world. Perhaps he had made an enemy among them.
Paul did have a couple of contacts through the police that he could speak to and was not surprised to find that Larry had been involved in some questionable realty deals. He might not have realized in his young life that he was playing with people who played very hard. Perhaps that was the answer to who did the murdering of him.
It was the opinion of his friends at the police department that this was not the case. The murder was too non professional. If he had been killed by the criminal world, he would not have been hit over the head with a poker, while there were other people in the house. No hit man would be that sloppy. If they were they wouldn't get away with the murders.
Perry was going through his law books one by one and Della was taking notes. There were many problems with the scene. He could have every piece of evidence that was in the room,someone had cleaned the room prior to the police arrival. Rags with blood on them had been burned and the arrest of Les had been because of the political pull of the Wilcox family. If the family had been an average everyday family, the parents would have been the primary suspects. The police had barely even spoken to the mother Marcia. She was under a doctors care and had been kept from the arm of the law.
Perry understood that what Marcia Wilcox was going through was horrible, and he genuinely felt sorry for her. But she would need to go to court and testify. Perhaps she had seen or heard something that day. He looked over at the lady that had become his right hand and admired her. She was very efficient and a gem of a find. She was busy working on the phone arranging for the court date that was coming up too quickly. She had been able to obtain several subpoenas. It would be the first time that she had ever been in a court room and was glad that her boss and friend Perry Mason would be sitting in the chair next to her.
It was with sheer luck that Paul Drake met with a girl named Mary Stowe.. Mary had been seeing Larry on and off for the last few months. Paul asked about what had been going on with the two of them, and when was the last time that she had seen him. She let Paul know that she had seen him that morning at the ice cream shop down the street. She didn't think that anyone had seen the two together, but there had been a large group of people hanging around.
Perry and Della had been busy getting prepared for their day in court. Perry had been watching the news every night and had learned some things that he didn't know from what the reporter had. There was one reporter who seemed to be the most knowledgeable and so that is when he decided to give that person a phone call.
Marty Dean was a no nonsense reporter who worked hard at her job and always checked her contacts twice. She made sure that anything that she stated was to the best of her knowledge true. She had spent many hours going over the evidence and had taken many pictures.
When she arrived at Mr. Masons office she was a little nervous. He was a large man with pitch black hair and a nice smile. He was truly interested in finding out what had happened to Larry Wilcox. She could tell by his demeanor that he was being honest and forthright with her, so she then decided to make her turn around and be forthright with him.
"Mr. Mason, I have been watching this crime and have been keeping a very close eye on the house and the family. For the most part I have found that things appear to be normal within the household, but there has been some questionable things also. Larry was involved with the shady part of the realty world for one thing, and I don't think that his girl friend was fond of the idea that he was seeing another girl You see when I tried to talk to Lori Matson she became very nasty and her brother Donnie just about threw me out of their home. She insisted that she had been shopping all day" Marty told him.
"So have you looked into why Donnie and his sister got so protective? The way that they responded to your interview seems a little out of line" Mr. Mason told her.
"I agree. That is why for the last few days I have spent most of my time following the two of them. For the most part they have just gone about their normal every day rules but yesterday after Paul Drake your private investigator left they took off a few moments later. I followed them and they went right over to the Wilcox home. They both went inside and about fifteen minutes later they came out. George Wilcox was yelling at them and shaking his fist. Here is the picture that I took" Marty told him as she handed him the photo.
It was then that Mr. Mason noticed something. In the back behind Mr. Wilcox standing with a drink in her hand was Marcia Wilcox. so she is up and around' he thought to himself. She certainly could not be on any kind of prescription, because she was drinking in the picture. She was holding a drink with alcohol in it he was sure.
Time no longer was on their side. Court was tomorrow and Perry still did not know who the murderer was. There were many suspects Perry needed to talk to Marcia Wilcox. For this interview he wanted to bring Della. As a woman perhaps Mrs. Wilcox would speak more openly to him.
To his surprise he found Mrs. Wilcox in the den and willing to speak to him. "This is such a hard place for me to go to. They found my sons body here in this room. It has been cleaned several times but we just cannot seem to get rid of the smell of death." she said with a tear in her eye.
Della took her by the hand and said "perhaps it would be better if we talk in another room."
"No this is the best room. This is where it happened and this is where the mystery should be solved." she told them.
"So you don't think that Les did the murder? Do you have any idea of who might have wanted your son dead?" Perry asked her.
"I know that my husband did not approve of Les and Larry hanging out, and certainly not of Les dating our daughter Darleyne, but I know that he knows as I know that Les is not a murderer. You see when you lose a child you tend to lose all of your senses. You just want revenge, you want someone to pay for the death of your child, no matter what." Marcia offered.
"When you went in the room that afternoon did you notice anything odd at all about what you saw? Anything would help." Della told her.
"I did find something different. When I went into the den I noticed a smell that appeared to have come from a cigarette. No one in my home smokes. We don't even allow people to smoke in the house. That is why I noticed the smell right away When I asked about it the police just shrugged their shoulders. The only thing I noticed was that none of them were smoking outside of the house either." Marcia offered.
Perry thought about it for a second and then thanked Mrs. Wilcox. He and Della then headed out for a long needed supper. He took her to one of the nicer restaurants in town and they enjoyed the time together. When he walked her home that night the thought of kissing her crossed his mind, but not now, it was too early.
The next day Della got up early. She chose her grey tweed suit for court. She wanted to look good but not too dressy. She wore a minimum amount of make up also. She had never sat in a court room before and was more than a little nervous.
Perry on the other hand was nervous too. This was to be his first civilian case and the media was going to be watching him and the court house very carefully. He chose a black suit with a white shirt and tie. His shoes were polished until you could see his face on them and he had gone to get a haircut also.
Paul had been in the private investigation business for over five years now and had been to court many times. He had told Della and Perry to try to appear relaxed because if they didn't Hamilton Burger the district attorney would take advantage of them right from the start.
Hamilton Burger, had been a member of the legal staff for the American Army Air Corps and was a very capable young man. He had been involved in many murder cases and had the advantage over Perry Mason in this . But, he was too sure of himself, he was so sure that Les White was guilty he hadn't even looked into other possibilities. That was going to be his weak spot and Perry was to after him tooth and nail.
:Lt Tragg did not look forward to the cross examination that he knew he had to face. The police had dropped the ball on this one and because of that a guilty man could be found innocent.
Perry Mason, as expected went after Lt Tragg like a dog to meat. It was under cross examination that he learned something. There was a cigarette found in a trash can inside the den. There was no such thing as dna at that time, however, they were able to check it for fingerprints. The fingerprints did not match anyone in the home or any of the known suspects. He thought that it might have been left by a visitor.
With each of the witnesses being called up to testify Perry got more anxious. He was still no closer to finding out who was the guilty party as he was in the beginning. He had found out that neither Larry Les Darleyne smoked, and neither did Marcia or George Wilcox. He thought that if he could find the person that smoked that kind of cigarettes he would find the murderer.
Paul was hence given the job of finding out who of the suspects smoked kent cigarettes. This was the early fifties and nearly everyone smoked, and kent was a very popular cigarette. So, Paul found that he had his hands full.
Sometimes a simple action that someone would take everyday makes a murder mystery come together. The day after the murder just three blocks from where the murder occurred a car had been towed. It was a car belonging to Donnie Matson. The car was in police impound, so it was easy for Paul to take a look inside of the car. In the ashtray was many kent cigarettes. He headed to court to let Perry know what he had found.
When it was time for Donnie Matson to testify Perry Mason was ready for him. When he asked him about the cigarettes Donnie readily admitted that he smoked. He didn't want to admit it but after a tough interrogation he admitted that he had been in the den with Larry earlier that morning. Larry had yelled at him about smoking, but when he had left Larry was still alive.
Perry thought about his testimony and said that he could stand down, but he held on to the right to recall him if necessary. He thought about it and didn't think that this man was the murderer. Something that Lori had said caught his attention. She had testified that she had been home that day and yet when he and Della had spoken to her, she had said that she had been shopping all day. Also, that is what she had told Marty Dean.
But there appeared to have been a fight in the den the day of the murder. That would indicate that it was a male, probably. Lori Matson was less than one hundred and ten pounds and Larry Wilcox had been a member of the wrestling team. She would not have been a match for Larry and she would have had to caught him by surprise.
When the coroner got on the stand Perry asked him if it could have been a woman that committed the murder.
The coroner said "Yes, you see once he had been hit in the back of the head, Larry was just going through the death procedure. He had massive brain bleeding and had but moments to live. Once he was hit he may not have been alert at all."
It was then that Perry knew who the murderer was it was not Lori or her brother he knew that the only person that had the ability to be there and to go unnoticed was Larrys father George Wilcox. When he called George Wilcox to the witness stand he was sure that he had the whole thing figured out. No matter how hard Perry Mason pressed though he would not break and denied having anything to do with the murder. He was not guilty of anything. He had gone and gotten Jenna from the library and that was all.
It was then that Perry remembered the library. For a library that had just been dusted, he remembered looking at a couple of the books on the shelves and had noticed the large amount of dust. He had overlooked something so simple.
When he called Jenna Lorne to the witness stand, he could see that she was very nervous. She held her chin up when Mr. Mason began questioning her. "Mrs. Lorne I remember the day after the murder and I noticed that there was a large amount of dust all around. Can you tell me why this is the way I found it? You testified that you were dusting when the murder happened" Perry questioned her.
"I was in the middle of dusting when I heard the yell." she answered.
"Is it true that there is a back door to the den that goes directly to the library?" Perry asked her.
"Yes there is." Mrs. Lorne answered.
"I say that you went into the den from the library without being seen. You had an argument with Larry and struck him over the head with the fireplace poker." Perry Mason demanded.
'That is ridiculous. Why would I kill :Larry ? I had nothing to gain by killing him. I have taken care of him for a long time." she told the court.
"That is what had me stumped madam. Until I got the information that he was involved in some shady real estate deals I had no idea. But you had entrusted him with your life savings didn't you? He lost all of your money leaving you penniless." Perry told her.
With this she became very fidgety and after a few moments she spoke: "All right I went to the den to explain to Larry that I had no money if he didn't pay me back for the money I had invested. He laughed at me, told me that there was no money for him to give me. He said he had lost money too. But I knew that he was not being truthful. He had just bought a brand new car and he had his father's money. It just wasn't fair. I admit it I hit him. I would do it again to someone as mean and uncaring as he was.
The court charges were dismissed against Les and he now was a free man. As Perry put his papers into his briefcase he smiled at Della. It was going to be a good life, with her as his partner and Paul as his friend, they were going to help many people.