Perry looked around his office. At the age of seventy he had decided to take a break from his law practice and retire to his home In Catalina. He had a beautiful home with many rooms and a view of the ocean from nearly every room.
He looked over the room with all the boxes ready for the movers, and started to reminisce. He had started his forty plus years as a lawyer with just a set of law books, a small ten by twelve office located on the third floor of an old building and lots and lots of enthusiasm. He had worked to the point that he was the most sought after attorney in California, perhaps the United States.
He had given generous checks to all of his employees when he had announced his retirement and to his special private secretary, he had given a million dollars. He was worth many millions and wanted her to have a good retirement. After all she had a life to lead outside of the office and she would need to go to work for another company if he had not left her the money. She
had been with him since the beginning and had been his right hand for all this time. He would dearly miss her.
His good friend Paul Drake had purchased a home near him on Catalina many years ago, so Perry knew that they would still stay in contact. He was tired, and had a minor heart attack two years ago. He had not felt good since that and now he was having trouble with his knees. It was time to take a break.
Della came into the office with tears in her eyes. This was the day that she had been dreading for the past two years. She knew that Perry was having health issues and that now he was seventy it was getting time to retire, but still. A million dollars and several good investments had left her a wealthy lady. She would have no need for money so now what was she to do? She had never married and had few friends because of the job with Perry. Paul and Perry were her best friends. She did have a sister who lived in San Fransico so she had decided that would be the place to start. They had been close when they were young and since her sister Sara was recently widowed, she felt it was time for a visit.
The good-byes were long but not long enough. There were hugs and tears and laughter, but as Della locked the door to the office for one last time she knew that her life would never be the same again. There would be the visits but not the daily talks, how sad.
Always a sensible lady, even with over a million dollars in the bank, Della had bought her a nice honda civic. It was mostly loaded with all of the new computerized gadgets but she did not need a large car. She needed a dependable car that would give her enough room for friends and small enough to be economical.
The next morning Della headed to San Fransisco. It was a long drive, so she had reserved a hotel in Monterey California. She had stayed at this hotel many times. It had a gorgeous view of the sea and it was very close to the wharf. She could walk to the park and wharf and enjoy the warm weather.
She took route one and took her time going up through the state. The view was delightful and the warm breeze made it so that it wasn't necessary for her to turn on the air conditioner. She let the breeze go right through her hair and before she knew it she was arriving at her hotel.
Della spent the day enjoying the markets and the sea and the delicious food. She bought Sara a nice gift, a dolphin statue that Sara could add to her growing collection. The last time she had seen her sister Sara must have had thirty dolphin statues in her living room.
The next morning she headed to her sisters home and arrived around noon time. She had been in contact with Sara for most of the ride with her cell phone so her sister met her at the door.
It was a great time with Sara they went everywhere shopped laughed watched tv even got in a game of canasta, but the time had come for Della to go back home. "Oh Sara I wish that you would come and live with me. It is so boring without you and Perry left me all of this money." Della asked her.
"I know and it is tempting but not yet. We will talk more and I will come to Los Angeles and visit in a couple of months." I promise. The both hugged and Della headed home.
Perry had been working on his garden. He loved to work on his roses and was very proud of them. As a matter of fact he was well known for his gardens and many times people stopped to look at them, sometimes asking permission to take pictures. But being out in the middle of the ocean was starting to get boring. He missed the excitement of the courtroom and missed his best friends Della and Paul. Even though Paul had a house own the island, he was there rarely because of his work. Paul was five years his junior and had no plans on retiring early. He also had a wife kids and grandchildren.
Months went by and it was now springtime once again. Finally Perry could go out to his garden and do some work. There was a lot of work to do with the opening of everything and the clearing of his land. It was going to take him at least two weeks to get most of the work done that had to be done on the house and he was excited.
Sara had finally agreed to move in with Della and their life had been one adventure after another. They had made many trips to see Perry and had gone on many cruises. They had been to Hawaii and Alaska also. Della was happy to see that spring had finally arrived and was looking forward to her trip to see Perry in two weeks.
Della was surprised by the knock on the door. It was early in the morning and she wasn't expecting any company that day. There in the doorway stood Matt, a man that she had met at the ymca. He had told her that he was going to come over and check out her patio. The flagstone needed to be redone and Matt was a contractor with a good reputation in town. He was in his early sixties tall and with blonde hair. He was good looking.
Della had met Matt at a home improvement convention and had asked him to come over and check out her patio. Matt went right to her patio and checked each of her flagstones. "This patio should be completely redone. I could just replace the stones, however, the cement has several cracks and needs to be replaced also." he told her.
Della knew that he was probably right, however, she also knew that it would be a good idea to have a couple of estimates. "How much will this cost Matt?" she asked him.
"With the material and the labor this will cost you around thirty five hundred dollars.' he told her.
"I thank you the price seems reasonable, let me think about it" Della told him with a smile.
After having a couple of contractors look at the work Della soon found out that Matt's price was more than reasonable and she had called to ok the work. Because of the reasonable price that Matt had quoted she asked him to do a couple of other small jobs around her house. and was happy when all the work had been completed.
"The work you have done is wonderful Matt. Thank you so much." Della told him as she gave him the check for the work.
"Della I was wondering if I could interest you in joining me for dinner tonight? I know of a lovely place right near here and it could be a celebration of your newly decorated home." Matt asked her.
She found herself surprised, 'a date?' she hadn't been asked out by any man in years, she had always been too busy to even think about dating, how interesting. "I would be glad to keep you company at dinner." Della told him with a smile.
As the weeks had gone by Della and Matt had gone out several times together they were becoming quite the couple. They now had their regular spots and were known at many of the local restaurants.
It was on the twenty-second date that Matt popped the question. He had gotten down on his knees and presented her with a beautiful ring. Della had been taken by surprise, she had never been asked to be married and at almost sixty years of age, she didn't think getting married was a possibility. She really loved him, though, and said yes.
Sara was so excited, a wedding her sister Della deserved to be happy. Matt was a wonderful man and would make a good husband. He had his own business and like Della had never been married.
It was decided that they would have a June wedding. It was to be a small wedding and her ever lasting friend Perry Mason was to give her away. Her father had died over ten years before and she could think of no one else that she would rather have walk her down the aisle. Paul was to be an usher, Matt had insisted.
Della had been proud to ask her sister Sara to be her maid of honor. She could think of no one else that she would rather have by her side on her big day. She would wear a white bridal gown and her bridesmaids would be wearing a light blue chiffon.
It had been so busy around the house, that it had seemed as though Della and Matt had not been having much time together, and Matt had been worried about something. He had promised her that it was nothing to worry about it was just before marriage jitters, however , Della couldn't help but worry.
That night just as Della was going to bed her phone rang. It was a strange lady on the phone, who told her in a menacing tone, that she didn't know what she was getting into marrying Matt and that she had better check him out a little closer. She couldn't sleep that night and hated to bother her old friend Paul, but perhaps that would be the best thing.
The next morning Della called her friend Paul and asked him to do a quick background check on her fiancee. She needed to make sure that everything was ok, she knew that he and Perry had already checked him out it was just their way and both of her friends had been impressed with Matt and his reputation around town. What was going on?
As Della walked out to her car she noticed that her garage door was open. This was strange as she knew that she had closed the door when she had come home. She walked cautiously to her car and went around to the side of her car when she noticed that there had been some damage done to her car. Her car had been scratched down the side, it was a long deep gash. How on earth could that had happened?
She was walking to her front door when two police cruisers pulled up. They were two detectives from the LA police department and they approached her. "Miss Street?"
Della looked at the two officers and told them "Yes I am Miss Street. How may I help you?" she asked them.
"I am sorry to have to tell you this, but Matt Brown has been found murdered in his home this morning. A caller gave us your license number as the car seen driving away from the scene. The car also should have a long scratch on it as the car hit a fence as it left the scene." one of the officers told her.
Matt murdered? "How when? Omg we were to be married in two weeks." Della told them with tears welling up in her eyes.
It was then that the second officer stepped out of the garage and shook his head. "I am afraid that we will have to bring you to the station for questioning mam." he told her.
"Am I under arrest?" Della asked.
"No, we are just taking you down for questioning and of course we are going to have to take your car to the station for an examination." the second officer told her.
As soon as Della arrived at the station she called Perry. Perry said that he would be taking the next ferry onto the mainland and would be there within two hours. The police told her that they would be more than happy to wait until her attorney arrived.
The questions that the police had for Della the finger printing the dna testing it was all so humiliating and her Matt who would have killed him? She knew something had been wrong, that is why she had called Paul the evening before.
By the end of the afternoon Della was again at home. Sara was beside herself with worry, what on earth could have happened to her sister's fiancee? Who would have had a reason to kill him?
Tom, Matt's brother was the first person to come to Della's house . He had been very fond of his brother's fiance and knew that Matt had loved her very much. He had no idea who on earth would have wanted to kill his brother, but was aware that Matt had been worried about something for the last couple of weeks.
As for Paul Drake he was busy looking up any information on Matt Brown that he could find. So far he had been unable to find out any information that would help his friend Della. He seemed as though he was a very good man with a strong financial background. Perry and he had looked over Matt's life very intricately and had found nothing in his background that was anything but good. But, he knew that something was wrong, after all someone killed him.
Perry went to Della's house to stay and looked at his best friend with deep concern. The police already had her car and she had been seen leaving the garage. When the police had gotten to the house the car was still very warm, just like a car that had been just driven. Della was getting ready to marry this man and she had hired a private investigator the night before. It just made her sound guilty. He knew that at no time would Della hurt anyone never mind murder them, so he now needed to find out who had it in for Matt.
Matt had several employees and he had just let one of them go. The man's name was Dwayne Sawyer. Dwayne had worked for Matt for over five years and had been caught not doing his job correctly. He had shouted some threatening words as he had left the work site just two weeks ago. That would be a good place to start.
Just as Perry pulled up to the Sawyer residence he saw a man coming out of the house and headed toward his garage. "Excuse me my name is Perry Mason. May I speak to you for a moment please?"
"What would you like? Aren't you the famous attorney? What would you want with me?" he asked.
His demeanor was friendly so Perry asked "Did you hear about the murder of Matt Brown? He was murdered this morning."
Dwayne couldn't believe it. Someone murdered Matt. Oh they had an argument the other day that had cost him his job, but he still considered Matt a friend. "Omg no. I have been busy doing my yard work all day and hadn't heard anything on the tv."
"Do you have any idea who would have been interested in seeing Matt dead?" Perry asked him
"No. He has worried about something though." He didn't let me in on what was going on." Dwayne told him.
Perry left the home and mentally noted that Dwayne who had been gardening all day was not wearing any gloves and there was no dirt under his fingernails.
Paul met Perry at Matt's office. It was there that they ran into a girl named MIndy who was the secretary for the firm. It was quite obvious that she had been crying and she welcomed the two men in. "Anything to find out who murdered Matt. He was the best employer that I have ever had."
"Is it all right if we go into his office? We want to look it over and see if we can find anything. How has the business been going? Has there been any recent problems here at the company?"
"Oh no Matt was so happy, he was getting married to a wonderful lady named Della in a couple of weeks. They were both so happy and were both looking forward to a happy marriage. It is funny, but I always thought that Matt would stay a single man, but you never know." Mindy told them.
As they looked through the room, they found nothing to be out of order. The room was well organized and it appeared as though Matt had been planning on coming back on the next morning. Mindy had been more than helpful giving them the password to the computer. Paul downloaded the emails and copied the notes that Matt had been working on in the last few weeks. With technology the way it was everything was sent to his personal computer so that he could give a good go through in the privacy of his office. Just as they completed copying the important information, they heard the office door open and in walked Lt Trask.
"Perry, I thought that you were retired. What brings you to this office? I am sorry about Miss Street, but as they say she has access to one of the best." he said with a snear. "Hello Paul."
With that the two friends left and headed back to Paul's office. They were both anxious to see what Matt had been working on and who he had been in contact with in his private emails.
In the meantime poor Della was busy instead of planning her wedding and honeymoon was now planning the funeral of her fiancee. It was a terrible day and week for her. She used the guest list from the wedding invitations to contact people with the terrible news.
Matt had another brother Brian who had just arrived in town to help his brother prepare for the wedding. From what she knew of Brian Matt and him had never been very close as Brian was twelve years younger than him. He had been in some minor trouble, but had managed to get his life together recently.
Matt's sister was devastated . She just walked around Della's house and wrung her hands and cried. Her husband Will tried to comfort her but with little success.
Meanwhile Perry and Paul were busy at Paul's office looking over each and every email that Matt had received within the last few weeks. There were hundreds, with many being answered by Matt and several not.
Just as they were getting ready to give up the phone rang. It was Della she was being arrested for the murder of her fiancee. Perry and Paul knew that the time was coming but they had both hoped that they would be able to find something in the files that would show that she was innocent. Perry and Paul arrived at the police station promising Della that they would be able to get her out of jail and that the bail could be posted as soon as they went to court.
As planned the courtroom was filled with family and friend's of Della and Matt's most supporting Della, some not. Bail was set at five hundred thousand dollars and after it was posted once again Della went home.
Paul decided to try to find out who had taken Della's car that morning. It had been used by someone and someone had scratched it too.
This time Paul went down the street where Matt had lived. It was a nice residential street and as he came around the corner he saw a man outside mending his fence. He walked over to the man and introduced himself.
" Hello my name is Mark Whitaker. As you can see unfortunately, someone ran down my fence when poor Matt was murdered." he told him.
"Did you see the accident?" Paul asked him.
" No, but my son Rick did. Rick can you come here for a moment please?"
"What do you want dad?" he asked.
Paul looked down at the boy who could not be more than ten years of age and smiled. "I was told that you saw the lady knock down the fence the other morning. Did you happen to see the lady?" he asked.
"By the time I went around the bush to grab the plate number, all I could see was the back of the driver. I never saw her face." Rick told them.
"And you are sure that is the right plate number?" Paul asked.
"Yes and I took the time to write down the plate number. The fence is causing my dad lots of money." Rick said with a smile.
"Did you see anyone else go to Mr. Brown's house that morning?" Paul asked him.
"I did see a man . He was about my dad's age tall with blonde hair and as he left the two men were yelling at each other." Rick told them.
"I have some pictures here son. Do you think that you might be able to identify who the man was if he is in these pictures?" Paul asked him.
"I can try . Just show me the pictures. "
Paul handed him the pictures and Rick looked at each one carefully. As he came upon the picture of Snyder he smiled and said "That's him."
Paul left and called Perry and told him what he had found out. Perry was not surprised by what he was told but thought to himself that things were being handed him too quickly, and he suspected that at least one other person as involved.
Perry went over to his friend Della to try to comfort her. She had the funeral the next day. it was to be held just three days before her wedding date. When he came in the house she was sitting on the couch trying to keep herself composure but he could tell that she had been crying. He had to protect his friend and confident no matter what happened.
"Della did Matt mention what he was having a problem with?" Perry asked her kindly.
"He just kept telling me it was pre marital jitters. I knew that something was wrong but he was not yet ready to let me know what was going on." Della told him.
Paul had been busy reading all the emails when he came across one from his brother. His brother was begging Matt to loan him some money. He was asking for ten thousand dollars. Nowhere did Paul find any mention of the loan ever being given.
Also, there were several emails from Dwayne Sawyer that were very threatening in nature . He wanted his job back, and was threatening to tell the town commissioners of several questionable practices that Matt's company had done. He also had threatened Matt that if he didn't give him his job back he was going to see that Matt would never be able to work in any township in the state of California.
Hour after hour Paul checked on the different suspects. He was sure that he had spoken to the real murderer he just needed to find out who they were. Della's trial was just three weeks away and he had not been able to come up with any person who could have committed the murder, in fact he was now just as confused as he was when Della had called him and asked him to do an investigation.
Sara could not stand to have Della suffering the way she was. She was so sad and was not herself. Sara thought and thought and decided to ask neighbors had they seen anything. She knew that Paul and Perry had already asked around but sometimes women were more willing to talk to another woman and she felt as though she had nothing to hide. Someone had driven Della's car.
With that thought in mind Sara started walking around the neighborhood and after almost two hours she ran into two boys riding their bikes. They were both willing to talk and they told Sara that they had seen a lady coming out of her garage that morning. She was about thirty with blonde hair. She was tall, and no they had never seen her before.
Sara couldn't believe her good luck, but how had the lady gotten Della's key? No one had an extra key and the only other key to the car was in their home. This didn't make any sense. But she called Paul Drake with the information anyways.
Perry and Paul were baffled at who the lady could have been and they again went over the suspects. Court was tomorrow and although, they had several suspects they were no closer to finding out who or why Matt had been murdered.
The lights burned brightly that night at the Street evening. It was during that time that Perry finally found among the hundreds of photos that they had a picture of a lady fitting the description of the lady who had been seen going out of Della's garage that morning. But how did she get hold of Della's keys?
Perry promised Della that everything would work out and that they would find out what had happened that morning.
Paul left that morning to find out more information about the lady who had been seen in her garage and Perry went to get a subpoena for the two boys to id the lady and a subpoena for the lady herself. They had already sent her husband one.
The courthouse was busy with many reporters. After all Perry Mason had been out of circulation for nearly two years and the trial was about the murder involving Della Street Mr. Mason's long time private secretary. It was a media circus.
The first witness called was Mark Whitaker. He testified that he did not see the person driving the car, but that he had seen his fence hit. He had managed to get the license plate number down and the color and make of car. He had immediately called 911. He had seen the car leaving Matt Brown's house and had gone over to check with Matt. He had found no answer at the door and had waited for the police.
It was then that the police came and had found his neighbor and friend Matt Brown lying on the study floor in a pool of blood having been stabbed several times.
Perry cross examined Lt Tragg and all of the witnesses but could find no information from them that was helpful for the case. He had asked Tragg if he believed a woman was capable of doing the murder. After all Matt was a tall and strong contractor who could have easily over taken any assailant. He stated that since the first wound had been to Matt's back he thought it was quite possible. The first wound had been the fatal wound and Matt would have been very weak at that point.
Just as lunch was being called Paul walked into the courtroom. He had the information that Perry needed and Perry asked for a moment from the court. Behind him was Mrs. Sawyer. She appeared very nervous and took a seat near the back. Her husband was not there as of yet, as he was not ordered to appear in court until that afternoon.
Perry needed to speak to Mrs. Sawyer before her husband had found out that she was appearing and court and asked that he speak to her next. It was unusual to do this but Mr. Mason was known for his theatrics.
Perry then called Mrs. Sawyer to the stand . "Mrs. Sawyer, do you work at McIntosh motors?"
For a moment she seemed surprised to be asked that question. "Yes I do."
"Could you please tell the court what your job position consists of?" Perry asked her.
"I answer the phone and make appointments for cars to be worked on. I also take down the information and sometimes take the money for the work." she answered.
"So, you write the orders for most of the work done on the cars at your dealership?" Perry asked her.
"Yes I do." Mrs. Sawyer acknowledged.
"Do you remember Mrs. Street bringing her car in for an oil change?" Mr. Mason asked her.
She thought for a moment and said "Yes I remember."
"Did you have an extra key made for her car?" Mr Mason asked her.
"If it was on the order, yes." Mrs. Sawyer told him but she fidgeted in her chair.
"What if I told you that Mike one of the mechanics remembers you asking him to make a key for her car and that when he had reminded you to put it on her order you told her you would." Perry told her.
"Like I said if she asked I could have put it on the order." Mrs. Sawyer answered.
Your honor I would like to put into evidence an invoice for Miss Street's oil change. No where on this order is an order made to make a key. Why did you order a key made?" Perry inquired.
"I don't know it was just an error. I am human you know." she answered nervously.
"I think that you made a key so that you could take Miss Street's car during the night and commit the murder of her fiancee." Perry accused her.
"Your honor please." Hamilton Burger the prosecuting attorney asked.
"Your honor I have two young boys here in the court house that are willing to come in and identify a lady that they saw leaving Miss Street's garage on the morning in question. They are here with their parents, and because of their age, I would like to have them identify whether or not the lady that they saw that morning is Mrs. Sawyer or not." Perry inquired to the judge.
"Are there any objections from the prosecution?" the judge asked.
"No objection." Burger told the court.
With that the two boys were allowed into the room one at a time. They both quickly identified Mrs. Sawyer as the lady that they had seen leaving Della's garage that morning.
With their testimony she told them that she had no idea who had been to Matt's house that morning. "I was going to take her car that day and let it be reported stolen. I was mad that Matt was getting married and that my husband had been fired but I didn't murder Matt. I had gone to his house to ask him to give Dwayne his job back, but when I went into the house he was already dead. I did not kill him." she cried. "I didn't know what to do and so I left in such a hurry that I hit the fence across the street and then I returned the car back to Miss Streetss house.
"Did you make a call to Miss Street the evening before telling her not to trust Matt?
Mrs. Sawyer appeared to be surprised by the question "Why no I did not."
"So you want this court to believe that you had gone to all the trouble to get Miss Street in trouble with Matt, and you set her up for a murder charge yet you did not kill him?" Perry nearly shouted at her.
"Yes, I do because it is the truth." she nearly shouted back.
"That is all." Perry told her "But I reserve the right to recall this witness."
It was time for a needed lunch break and Perry needed Paul to look into something new. He no longer thought that it was the Sawyers that had committed the murder, he thought that he knew who the murderer was but he needed Paul to make a quick check.
Paul would need to go in person to San Diego and check out some information. He was going to be gone most of the day , but by tomorrow they would have their answer.
With that Mr. Drake headed out to San Diego, with any luck Della would be a free woman and have her answers by tomorrow.
The next morning when Perry appeared in court he was worried. He still hadn't heard from Paul and he was running out of questions. He had Mr. Sawyer set for cross examination, but he truly felt that he was innocent.
The forensics were done and the time of death had been close to the same time that Mrs. Sawyer had arrived at the home. There had been no dna on the instruments or anywhere in the house that matched any of the suspects dna.
Just as Perry was getting ready to stall once again Paul walked into the room. Perry asked for the courts time and he and Paul had a short conference.
"Your honor I would like to recall a witness Mark Whitaker." Mr. Mason requested.
Mr. Whitaker looked surpri "What happened to your compased and took the stand. "Mr. Whitaker, how long have you lived at your current residence?" Perry asked.
"I have lived here for about two years." Mr. Whitaker told the court.
"Where did you live prior to that?" Perry asked him.
"I used to live in San Diego." he answered.
"When you were in San Diego what kind of business were you in?" Mr. Mason inquired.
With that question he knew that Perry had figured out what had happened. He looked Mr. Mason straight in the eye and said " I had a contracting company."
"Three years ago we went out of business and I took a job here in Los Angeles as an accountant. I have made a good life for my wife and family here." he told Mr. Mason.
'What happened to cause your business to close down?" Perry asked him.
"I was accused of giving bribes to some city officials wrongfully, but I lost my license and was fined a hefty sum." he answered.
"Do you know who made the accusations?" Mr. Mason asked him.
"It was Matt Brown. But I had forgiven him and we had become good friends." Mr. Whiitaker insisted.
"I think that you were still involved in politics and again you were making it your business to help with government corruption." Perry accused him.
"That is not true. I have been an honest accountant for the past two years and have worked hard to bring my business around." Mr. Whitaker insisted.
"Is it not true that Matt Brown had discovered your identity and had been doing his own investigation on your accounting firm? Didn't he discover that there was a one hundred thousand dollar deficit in your books? Isn't that what he was worried about?" Perry inquired.
"I had nothing to do with any money missing and Matt and I had become good friends. You can't prove a thing." Mr. Whitaker replied.
"Oh but I can, when checking the compter of Matt Brown's I had come across an article on you and your charges. He had taken a good look at the photos of the time and had recognized you. Everything was ok until Matt was hired to do some contracting at your place of employment. It was there that he saw your work on your desk. He knew that you were pilfering money and had planned to go to the police. That couldn't happen to you again, so you went to his home and confronted him. You had an argument with him and stabbed Matt in the back. It was just too good a coincidence that Mrs. Sawyer had come to Matt's minutes after you had murdered your neighbor. You thought that it would be an open and shut case but you were wrong. You had killed Matt Brown in cold blood. You are a cold blooded murderer." Perry shouted at him.
"None of that is true, and you cannot prove a thing." Mr. Whitaker shouted.
"But I can you see there was dna on the doorknob that turns out it was yours and I have all of the information about your charges in San Diego, and how you changed your name and looks. You looked quite different then, but he recognized you and was getting ready to expose the truth." Mr. Mason yelled at the client.
"All right, all right I did it. He wouldn't listen to reason. I begged him to forget what he had seen and he laughed at me. He laughed, I just lost my head and grabbed the pen knife on the desk. I stabbed and killed him. When Mrs. Sawyer came over I thought for sure that she would be charged. She was the wife of the man that Matt had just fired. I thought that I was home safe." he told the court with his head bowed.
"Your honor I move that all charges against my client be dropped." Mr. Mason asked.
With that Hamilton Burger stood up and said "No objections."
" Bailiff take Mr. Whitaker into custody." the judge called
Della was so relieved and she gave her partner and best friend a big hug. "How can I thank you. "
"By just being my friend and confident. Perhaps I am not as ready for retirement as I thought I was" With that Paul Perry and Della walked out of the courtroom with their arms around each other..
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