THE CASE OF THE WEARY WATCHDOG…REVISITED….A MISSING MOMENT AND ATC
Della Street, Confidential Secretary to Perry Mason has tried to help her friend and has become involved in a murder case as a possible accessory to murder. Her boss is defending, Janet Brent, Della's friend and things do not look good. The District Attorney, Hamilton Burger is out for blood and what a perfect candidate, if it can't be Mason himself, then his secretary. As we begin the story the case has gone to the jury. This is a MM from the scene where Della and Perry are in a witness room awaiting the verdict.
CHAPTER ONE
The judge had given the jury their final instructions. The defendant was taken back to her jail cell. Perry Mason walked to a witness room and Della Street followed him silently. He walked over to the window and watched the dusk turn into darkness. City lights blinked on, cars speeded on their way home or to dinner and outside life went on without the knowledge life and death might hang in the balance inside this tiny room.
Della slid on top of the long table and her leg was nervously swinging back and forth. The tension in the air between them was palpable. She wanted to speak but was not sure where to begin or what to say. Della knew he was angry with her. It was anger he had tamped down because the focus had to be on clearing her friend. That he didn't like her friend was too evident especially since she had dragged Della into her problems.
Perry knew Della was a loyal person to a fault. How many times had she been there backing him up when things looked bleak or even impossible. Yet he was angry because he could not understand after all their years of association why she had not been more cautious. He had pointedly asked her if she needed to refresh her memory of what being an accessory meant.
All she really wanted was for him to take her in his arms and tell her everything would turn out alright. How often in the past weeks had she seen him pounding one fist into another in frustration as evidence built up against his client and in the same way against his secretary? There were days when she wished he would just yell at her and break the awful silence. They worked side by side barely speaking. Only the presence of their good friend and detective Paul Drake brought a little normalcy into the office. Unfortunately, the newspapers had played it up big and it had put the whole office staff on edge. Perry had virtually put aside his caseload to concentrate only on this case.
Far too many nights she had cried herself to sleep from the fear of losing Perry and what would happen if Janet was found guilty. She was angry with herself for not insisting Janet see Perry for a consultation. Then there was the $25,000 he had given her with no wish for thanks and no questions asked. If they hadn't been in a public restaurant she would have fallen apart as he handed her the check.
How, she asked herself over and over could she have put this man she loved with all her being in this position? He had trusted her and given her the money with all his love. She had not given him that trust back and done what she asked Janet to do, talk it over with Perry. Della was so ashamed and if she lost his love it would be as if she were sitting in a jail cell.
The trial was a nightmare. She wasn't in her regular place at the table next to defendant. She was relegated to the gallery next to Paul. When she was called to testify, even though the detective squeezed her hand, she wasn't sure her legs would get her to the witness chair. Worst of all Perry would not look at her, as she testified, made one objection that was overruled, and asked her no questions. Burger was jubilant which made her even more upset.
Della looked at him with his back turned to her and she wanted to speak but she wasn't sure how to start. If necessary, she would beg but it didn't seem that would move him. His face was granite-hard, but she noticed he had swallowed hard several times. If only she was a mind reader and could understand what he was feeling. This was not an ordinary case where the main concern was getting his client acquitted. This affected their whole life and future.
She opened her mouth to speak when Paul Drake walked in with bags of food. That was the last thing she wanted to see. Food had been sitting in her stomach like lumps for days. He was trying his best to seem cheerful. He was trying to take their minds off what could be a tragedy. Della tried to defend what Janet did, but Perry never turned around until the detective mentioned that Trixie Tong had not clobbered the murdered man when he turned his unwanted advances on her.
Perry began to question them, asking Paul if there was a romance between Trixie and Franklin? The detective didn't think so. Lt. Anderson interrupted them and announced the District Attorney was pretty confident of the verdict and had asked that a warrant for the arrest for Della Street, as an accessory to murder, be issued. Perry said not a word and Della felt as if she might pass out. When the lawyer walked out of the room without a word of encouragement the bottom seemed to fall out of her world.
What Della didn't know was that Andy's words hit him so hard he was afraid to speak to his secretary. All he could think was he had to do something, anything, to clear his client and therefore the woman he needed so desperately in his life. There had to be an answer and standing in that room afraid to say anything or the wrong thing was not coming up with a solution. He knew he was grasping at straws and he had done it before and come out the winner. This time it wasn't just winning or losing, everything he held dear was on the line. Perry Mason had never prayed so hard in his life.