The characters created by Erle Stanley Gardner are brought together again for another adventure of Perry Mason. I'm borrowing Perry Mason, Della Street, Paul Drake, and a few others from the television series that ran for nine seasons from 1957 to 1966. Some of this story takes up where TCOT Betrayed Bride ends - (Season #8 Episode #5, overall episode #216 – story written by John Elliotte). Don't fret if you haven't seen that episode – I'll include bits and pieces of it in this story – interjecting some of my own fiction to make this work. Even though this episode aired in October 1964, I've changed the year that this story takes place to 1960. This story is really not considered a "sequel" to my other stories, but there may be subtle references to them. My stories are all intermingled somehow in my Perry & Della world. Enjoy!
Chapter One
The swanky law office of Perry Mason in downtown Los Angeles was always busy after closing out another major legal battle. On this beautiful April day in 1960, the office receptionist, the perky Gertie Lade, was busy on the telephone taking messages in the outer office. Perry Mason's confidential secretary, the beautiful and highly efficient Della Street, was in her office adjacent to Perry's inner domain sorting paperwork from the latest murder trial. There were always two office doors to get through before anyone could get in to see Perry Mason, the renowned defense attorney. His reputation for a fair and satisfactory outcome in a Court of Law brought him clients from all walks of life.
There were the impoverished, down-on-their-luck clients who turned up in the wrong place at the wrong time only to be charged with crimes up to and including murder. Perry Mason enjoyed the challenge to defend just about anyone – especially if his gut instinct told him the client was innocent of the charges. He had an unofficial sliding-fee scale for his services, so even clients that could not normally afford to hire him made promises to pay him back somehow if he would take the case.
There were also the rich and famous whose lives took twists and turns as they tried to protect their fortunes and family reputations, but invariably got caught up in schemes that led to mayhem. Perry Mason would take care of their quandary – and like all of his cases he would work hard to bring out the truth of the matter.
So there were just two layers of office personnel screening would-be clients to get in to see the great Perry Mason. Only two layers – if you enter his kingdom through the main entrance to the office. But if you are a close friend and associate of Mr. Mason, like the Private Detective extraordinaire Paul Drake, you can sneak in the back door – a private entrance through a back hallway. And most often, a secret rhythmic knock on the door will get the attention of Della Street, or the great Perry Mason himself – but only if you're Paul Drake.
As Della walked into Perry's unoccupied office with the morning mail and a stack of legal documents, Paul rapped his knuckles on the private entry door. Della grinned at the "Shave and a Haircut" melody knock and detoured from Perry's desk to unlock the door to let Paul inside. "Hello Paul. What brings you in here so early?"
Paul quickly glanced at the time on his wristwatch then gave Della his usual flirty reply. "Well aside from wanting to see your beautiful face today, I thought I'd catch Perry here before I head out of town. Is he in?" From the first day that he met Della, Paul would always be a good, protective friend to her. He could tease her like a big brother would tease his little sister, and he knew her heart belonged to Perry Mason. He made his way over to the conference table to help himself to a cup of coffee and a pastry from a pile that Della had set out earlier.
"He's not here yet, but I expect him any time now." She saw him helping himself to the coffee and pastries.
"Gee, help yourself, Paul," she told him sarcastically.
Paul just grinned knowing that she was teasing him. "Don't mind if I do!"
Della was busy sorting the paperwork and laying it out on Perry's desk. She read over a billing invoice from the stack of paperwork and began to chuckle.
With a cup of coffee in one hand and a raspberry danish roll in the other, Paul made his way over to Perry's desk to look over her shoulder and find out what Della found so amusing. "What's so funny?"
Della showed Paul the invoice. "It's the repair bill for Perry's car – the one that Marie Claudet crashed into the utility pole in that alley in Glendale..." With her right hand on her hip, she paused looking away from the document and thought about how difficult it was for her and Paul to talk Perry into defending Marie when she was charged with murder. "He was so angry when she stole his car but then he tried to stay so nonchalant when talking about the entire situation."
Paul read over the bill and whistled. "Wow! Repairs don't come cheap! I thought he was selling it after it was fixed."
Della nodded. "He did. He traded it in on a new one. That's probably why he's a little late getting in here today. He was returning the rental car and picking up his new car."
Licking his fingers after stuffing the last bite of his pastry in his mouth, Paul reached into his suit coat pocket to pull out his three-page expense report. "Oh! That reminds me. Here you go, Beautiful. My expense report... This time all of the I's are dotted and the T's are crossed. Do you think I can get a check today?"
The report was handed to Della and she began looking it over right away. Scanning it quickly then flipping the top page over to the second page, Della raised an eyebrow and looked at Paul who was helping himself to another pastry. "What in the world is this line, Paul? 'Steak au poivre and coq au vin'? How can you justify a forty-five dollar meal at Allard?"
Paul stopped chewing what was left of the pastry and swallowed hard. "I can easily explain that. It was either meet my contact at Benoit or Allard. I was closer to Allard that night. While waiting for my contact, I just happened to strike up a conversation with a lovely Mademoiselle at the bar. Eventually I met with my contact, and after he left, I couldn't just let that beautiful doll dine there all by herself... It was Paris, Della!"
Della furrowed her brow. "But forty-five dollars for just one meal? That's normally a whole week's worth of breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Perry will flip when he sees this whole report..."
"What whole report will I flip over?" Perry briskly walked into his office and placed his briefcase down on his desk.
Della gleefully handed Perry the report and moved away from his desk chair so he could sit down and read the report. "It's Paul's latest expense report for Marie Claudet's case... I'll get you a cup of coffee..."
Paul immediately defended his report. "I was very careful to separate the expenses I incurred from the trip to Paris that Jimmy Meacham made me take, and the trip that you asked me to take. And this time I kept receipts with dates, times, and places on them..."
Perry interrupted Paul right away. "A twelve-dollar long distance phone call to me? Wasn't that the call you made to me asking me to stop by Jimmy's place on my way home one night because you couldn't make contact with him? That twelve-dollar long distance call was just the start of a messy night leading to a perplexing court case." Perry tossed the report aside on his desk and gratefully accepted the cup of coffee from Della.
Paul shrugged his shoulders and sat down at the conference table. "Okay... So there's one minor twelve-dollar error. Just write me a check for half of the expense report total today. I'll just let your adept secretary edit the report and you can pay me the rest when I get back in town..."
Perry sipped from the coffee cup placed in front of him. "Get back in town? Where are you off to now?"
As Paul reached for another pastry, Della quickly stepped over to the conference table in time to playfully slap Paul's hand.
"Ouch!" Paul grinned at Della but turned back to Perry with another pastry in his hand. "I'm hoping to be over the border in Mexico with Barbara by this evening. And it would be nice to have a little extra spending money on this trip..."
Della just rolled her eyes at Paul and walked back to Perry's desk with a pastry on a plate for him. "Isn't Barbara the girl that only agreed to go out on a date with you when she thought that you were an airline pilot?"
"Oh, what difference does that make? That was several months ago. And now she's going to Mexico with me this afternoon – but only if I can afford to be away from this rat race for a couple of days..." Paul devoured the pastry and impatiently tapped his fingers on the table waiting for a check.
Perry just grinned and wiped his fingers on a napkin when Della placed the office check register in front of him. He began writing a check but then quickly glanced at the expense report again. "Forty-five dollars for one meal at Allard? From now on I'll have to find another private detective agency that can get by with meals from a hotdog vendor on the street..."
Paul continued to anxiously tap his fingers on the table. "Just write the check, please. Barbara is waiting..."
Wanting to torment Paul just a little longer, Perry delayed writing the check. He was really curious now and needed to learn a little more about Barbara. "You've been seeing Barbara pretty exclusively these past few months... This sounds serious, Paul... Do you think she's the one?"
Della found the conversation amusing and enjoyed the teasing that Paul was receiving. She pried in with Perry's inquiry. "Has our wandering boy suddenly decided to settle down with one special girl?"
Perry put his pen down and leaned back in his chair folding his arms across his chest. "I'm not sure, Della. Our wandering boy has had other long-term relationships – one that I know of that lasted nearly two months..." Della sat down in her chair next to Perry with a big smile on her face.
"Very funny, my loyal friends. They're looking for comedians at the Improv if you're looking for better things to do at night aside from chasing down leads for all of your court cases. Do I need to come over there and write the check myself?" Paul patted down his pockets to find a lighter for the cigarette he'd dug out from the pack in his shirt pocket.
Perry relented and resumed writing Paul's check. "I suppose you've earned every penny – especially flying back and forth to Paris leaving your girl Barbara back here to spend her evenings all alone... I wonder if your friend Jimmy Meacham was available to entertain Barbara while you were away working for him?"
Paul scowled at Perry. "My friend Jimmy has the hots for Marie Claudet, so I'm not worried about him." He took a long drag on his cigarette and slowly exhaled the smoke. "Will you just sign the check already? Please?"
Perry grinned as he finished writing the check. "Here you go, Paul. Have fun in Mexico."
Paul stood up to leave as he watched Perry tear the check from the register and hand it to him. "Thanks! It's been my pleasure serving you." He smiled and nodded to both of them. "Now don't call me, I'll call you! I'm out of here!"
Della stood up to follow Paul to the back door. "Goodbye, Paul. Have a nice time!"
Paul smiled back at Della but before he could walk out the door, Perry had one quick sarcastic reminder for him. "Go easy on the hot sauce down there, Paul."
The door closed after Paul shook his head and muttered, "Oh brother," while walking out.
Della walked back to Perry at his desk and placed the stack of mail in front of him. "We shouldn't tease Paul so much about Barbara. She sounds like a very nice lady."
Perry grinned and shook his head. "He knows we're just giving him a hard time."
"I hope so..." Della got right back to business. "If you'll look through the mail right away, after that's done, we can start clearing out the pile to your left so I can close out the Claudet case." She picked up the check register to put it away.
Perry was slowly sipping his coffee while thumbing through the stack of mail. He looked up to Della and put his coffee cup down. "By the way, I placed the new car invoice on your desk to be filed. But can we look at this stuff later? Right now I'd rather look at our schedule for the next few weeks."
With her free hand moving to her hip, Della held the papers in her other hand across her chest. "Well for the rest of this week, we'll close out the Claudet case and catch up on the CorPac lawsuit. What am I missing? You rarely plan anything three weeks out."
A sly grin came across Perry's face which he tried to hide by sipping from his coffee cup again. "CorPac is nearly a done deal with an out-of-court settlement that I proposed over the phone with their legal team late yesterday. And we can close out Miss Claudet's file today. If there's nothing else important on the schedule, I think a trip to Paris would be just what we need..."
With a puzzled look on her face, Della sat down in her chair next to Perry. "A trip to Paris? Now?"
"Why not now? April in Paris? I think it's the perfect time of year to visit Paris." Perry was doing his best to sell Della on the idea since he had big plans for them in Paris. He just wanted to keep those plans secret for the time being. "Marie Claudet's parents are still concerned about Marie's court trial for murder. They still don't understand everything that was involved in the trial. Marie is flying back to Paris the day after tomorrow. I think we should escort her back to Paris and meet with her parents to explain what she's been through."
Della still wasn't sold on the idea. "Well have a nice trip, Counselor. I don't mind holding down the fort here while you spend most of April in Paris..."
Perry wasn't about to give up that easily. "Nonsense, Della. We need a vacation and I won't take no for an answer. I've already begun making some of the arrangements – I just need to clear up our calendar. Now let's get through this stack of mail - and anything else you need for me to look over, then we'll make plans to be in Paris for the next three weeks."
Della continued to protest. "Perry, I can't possibly go away right now. And especially for three weeks! I've been so looking forward to next week's start of the Community-Ed art class that I signed up for... Why don't we just stick to our vacation plans that we made for June?"
Perry spun his desk chair around to face Della and put his hands firmly on her shoulders. "All right – I'll come clean. I know all about your Community-Ed art class... But what you don't know is that I decided to enroll you in a better art class... At the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris - compliments of our one-time client, the famous financier Pierre David-Weill."
An astonished Della slouched back in her chair. "Are you serious?" She shook her head. "No, you can't be serious... You're teasing me again aren't you?"
Perry slowly shook his head. "I'd never kid you about your birthday present." He pulled her towards him and gently kissed her lips. "Happy birthday a little early, baby!"
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It was nearly seven o'clock the next evening when Perry walked another client out of his office into Della's office. Della was sitting at her desk using a paperclip to fasten some papers together and looked up to Perry and the client.
"Della, would you please give Mr. Arnault a power-of-attorney form to sign?"
"Right away, Mr. Mason." Della put aside the file that she was working on, stood up to open her filing cabinet and brought out the form. She placed the form on the edge of her desk and handed the client a pen. "I'll fill in all of your pertinent information later. You just need to sign right here, Mr. Arnault." She pointed to a line near the bottom of the document and made eye contact with Perry while Arnault signed his name.
Perry winked at Della, then watched from over Arnault's shoulder as he signed the form. He gathered the form in his hand when Arnault returned the pen to Della. "That's all that I need from you right now, Mr. Arnault. I'll have the necessary paperwork signed on your behalf while I'm in Paris and meet with you when I return."
Arnault turned to shake Perry's hand. "Very well, Mr. Mason. Thank you for your time on such short notice. Good night!" Arnault nodded to Della. "Good night Miss Street."
Della smiled at him as Arnault turned to leave the office. "Good night."
When he heard the entry door to the main office close, Perry walked through Gertie's vacant office and locked the entry door. He returned to Della's office. "Finally! We're closed for the day. I'll bet you're starving! Where may I take you to dinner?"
Sitting in her chair at her desk, Della straightened a stack of papers and tapped them on their edge so she could fasten them together. "Before we talk about dinner plans, do you want to tell me what important legal matter you'll be taking care of in Paris for Mr. Arnault?"
Perry sat on the edge of Della's desk. "We'll simply be settling the tax dispute of his deceased father's estate. It will require a ten minute visit to an attorney's office in Paris and save Mr. Arnault a long trip to Paris which he thinks will cause him great anguish. Now where am I taking you to dinner?"
After a quick glance at her watch, Della sighed. "I still have a few minor things to take care of here. And I never made it over to the travel agency to pick up the travel documents yet... They're probably closed by now."
After reaching into his inner suit coat pocket, Perry brought out a long, thick envelope. "I have our plane tickets right here. Marie Claudet's flight leaves before ours and she has all of her documents. And while you ran those briefs over to the Callahan Law office earlier, I dug out our passports from your file cabinet so we, my dear girl, are ready to leave for Paris tomorrow." He got up and walked around her desk to remove her sweater from the back of her chair. "Now put your sweater on, lock your desk drawer, and tell me where I'm taking you to dinner."
Della stood up while Perry helped her to put her sweater on. "Maybe we should eat something light for dinner. When we're in Paris eating all of that heavy, rich food I'll probably gain ten pounds!" She picked up her purse and locked her desk drawer.
Perry smiled and gently patted her behind. "That will be fine with me! Just more of you to love. Let's go and find a petit filet mignon steak for you!"
Della protested slightly as they walked out of the office. "Even a petit filet mignon might be too much..."
Perry locked the office door behind them and took Della's arm to walk to the elevator. "Nonsense. I want your stomach full tonight. I don't want to lay in bed with you and listen to your stomach growling all night."
Della chuckled and leaned into him with her head tilted on his shoulder while they walked. "The sounds from my tummy can't be that loud! Now stop teasing me and tell me if we're staying at your place or mine tonight..."
TBC
All comment and reviews are welcome. Thanks for reading!
