The characters created by Erle Stanley Gardner are borrowed again for another adventure of Perry Mason, Della Street, and their associates. This story is based on the characters from the television series that began in the late 1950's. Any other characters named in this story are meant to be purely fictional.

CHAPTER ONE

Los Angeles District Attorney Hamilton Burger quickly stood up in the Courtroom. "Your Honor, I object again! Defense Counsel is badgering the witness with facts not in evidence..."

Renowned defense attorney Perry Mason quickly turned away from the witness stand to glare at Burger, then turned back towards the Bench interrupting Burger's objection. "Your Honor, I'm merely trying to get the witness to clarify his earlier testimony about his business relationship with Mr. Burger's other so-called witnesses..."

This preliminary hearing for a man charged with first degree murder had become a battle of wits with petty objections by both the defense and prosecution. This was the third day of testimony.

The Judge cut Perry off right away. "That's it, Counselors! I've had enough of your bickering. Objection sustained! Court will take a recess until ten o'clock tomorrow morning. Witness will please step down. Mr. Mason? Mr. Burger? I want both of you in Chambers... now!"

With a big frown on his face, Burger gathered a few documents from the prosecution's table in front of him and headed for the Judge's Chambers. Perry slapped down a file folder onto the defense table in front of his secretary, Della Street, and walked away towards the Judge's Chambers with an angry look on his face.

Looking very concerned, Della was left at the defense table with their client, Lance Kopki. Before the jailer led Kopki away from the courtroom, Della managed to show a smile and gently touched his arm. "Don't let all of this courtroom drama get you down, Mr. Kopki. Mr. Mason knows what he's doing. I'm certain he'll be by to see you before court tomorrow." Kopki walked away with a worried look on his face. Della gathered up the files on the table and wondered if her sympathetic words gave the defendant any relief.

Perry's best friend and private investigator, Paul Drake, walked into the empty courtroom gallery and found Della sitting alone at the defense table. "Hiya Della. Where's Perry? I expected the hearing to continue for at least another two hours."

Della looked up from her notepad. "They're in Chambers right now. Things have not been going well at all today. In the ten years I've worked for him, I don't recall him ever being so frustrated on a case before. We've had so many other difficult cases before, but this one's putting him over the edge and I don't know why."

Paul sat down next to Della. "Wasn't this the case that you told him to pass up? I better get out of here before he comes out. He's not gonna like what I found out about Kopki's alibi."

Before Paul could explain any further to Della, they saw Perry walking fast out of the Judge's Chambers with Burger right on his heels. "Perry! Will you just wait up for a second?"

Perry was fuming mad and continued walking away from Burger. "I have nothing more to say, Mr. Burger! I'll see you tomorrow morning!" Perry only slowed down by the defense table before continuing towards the courtroom exit door. "Let's get out of here, Miss Street! And I wanna see you in my office right away Mister Drake!"

Paul stood up, looked to Della, and rolled his eyes. "Mister Drake? Miss Street? I think he's serious!"

Della quickly stood up to gather her notebook and briefcase to follow Perry who was already in the hallway. Burger made it to the defense table and with a pleading look on his face, he put his arm out to stop Della. "He needs to calm down, Della. He just ticked off the Judge so bad, he'll only hurt his client more if he continues to defend the case this way."

Della gave Burger a sympathetic smile. "I'll see what I can do, Hamilton, but there are no guarantees..." Paul reached out for Della's arm and guided her from the courtroom. They both quickly walked out to catch up to Perry.

The elevator door closed before Della and Paul could catch up to Perry inside. Paul sighed and pressed the elevator call button to wait for the elevator to return while Della just shook her head. "If he drives back to the office without me Paul, would you mind giving me a lift in your car?"

"If he drives away without you, why don't we stop at Clay's for a drink before we meet him in the office?"

Chuckling, Della stared straight ahead at the elevator door and smiled. "That's not a bad idea, Paul, but I think I better get back there right away. I still haven't been able to gather all of those phone call records that he wanted yesterday and I was hoping that I could finish that before he blows his top. What bad news do you have for him - or should I even ask?"

The elevator door opened and they stepped in. "At this point Della, the less you know, the better. I'll stop by my office before I get to his office. Maybe my new information won't be so bad if I can make a phone call before I see him."

When Paul and Della exited the Hall of Justice building, they saw Perry waiting at the curb behind the wheel of his new 1959 Ford Fairlane convertible. Perry was staring straight ahead impatiently drumming his fingers on the steering wheel. Della broke away from Paul on the sidewalk. "See you in a bit, Paul." In a quieter voice she added, "And good luck to both of us!"

Della got in Perry's car unassisted and barely got her door closed before Perry sped away from the curb. Della reached out to hold onto the dashboard and calmly tried to get him to slow down. "If we get hurt or killed in an automobile accident Perry, we won't be doing any of our clients any good."

Perry jammed on the brakes and pulled over to the curb at the next corner. "If you don't like the way I'm driving Miss Street, maybe you want to safely walk back to the office."

Della's half-smile faded quickly as she stared back at him for a long moment before moving to reach for the car door handle. As she lifted her briefcase and turned towards the door, Perry reached over to her arm with his right hand. "Oh knock it off, Della! I don't need this opposition from you, too." After Della slowly removed her hand from the door handle, Perry pulled the car back into traffic and they drove the rest of the way to their office in silence.

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Thirty-eight year-old Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Dan McGill walked into his office in Salt Lake City, Utah around 2pm. The office secretary called out to him as he walked past her desk. "Dan, Harry wants you in his office right away. We tried to reach you earlier."

Dan thanked the secretary and put his briefcase on his desk while he sorted through a few phone messages he took out of his mailbox on the way in to his office. He was certain that his supervisor, Special Agent-in-charge Harry Schild, would want a status report on the major money laundering case he was currently working on. The case was not coming together as fast as he'd like, but he was making progress. Dan read his phone messages as he rubbed his forehead, then ran his fingers through his wavy, short brown hair. He tossed the messages on to his desk and made his way over to Harry's office.

Dan knocked on Harry's half-opened door and peeked into the office when he heard Harry's voice. Harry was seated at his desk talking on the phone, but looked up and motioned for Dan to enter. "Yeah, I know all about that. It's one of my top priorities right now... Look, let me get back to you tomorrow. Agent McGill is here now and I'll brief him on this new assignment... Right... Bye." Harry hung up the phone and looked up to Dan gesturing for him to sit down in the chair in front of the desk. "Have a seat, Dan."

Dan McGill sat his six-foot two inch muscular frame down in the chair and reached in his suit coat pocket for a cigarette. "I'm not sure I like the sound of that, Harry. 'New assignment'? I've only been here four months. How's a guy supposed to find any stability in his life when he gets moved around all over the Country every few months?" After he lit his cigarette he snapped the lighter lid shut with a loud 'click'.

"Relax, Dan. You'll still be operating out of Salt Lake City. We'll just be sending you down to Las Vegas for a bit."

Dan took a long drag on the cigarette and slowly exhaled the smoke. "With all the crap going on down in Vegas, you'd think the Bureau would open a permanent field office there instead of sending us down there from here. Or better yet, why can't the LA office help out in Vegas?"

"I'm just as frustrated as you, Dan, but that's the way the Bureau has our Districts set up. Besides, the mob's influence in Vegas is so out-of-control, I think the Bureau wants to distance itself from all the local law enforcement corruption we're finding there right now."

"You're probably right. So what's this new assignment?"

"It's a bit of a stretch, but I think this is related to your money laundering case with the Chicago mob. How familiar are you with the 'Kansas City Crime Family'?"

Dan thought it over for a moment before answering. "That's a Civella family-run operation if I remember it right. Wasn't the old man indicted on some sort of tax evasion?"

"Not indicted yet, just summoned before a grand jury so far. Anyway, they've branched out even more in Vegas and Hoover wants more of a crackdown on organized crime there. We're spread thin with Commies on the east coast, civil rights in the south and midwest, and the mob in the west. Looks like job security to me."

"So what am I looking for in Vegas?"

"Jimmy Hoffa and his Teamsters are set up all over Vegas running casinos with the mob. Obviously we're not big enough to take down all of that yet, but a member of Civella's operation is causing us more grief with his Chicago connections." Harry pulled a thick file from his desk drawer and tossed it across the desk to Dan. "Vinny 'The Shark' Sharpelli needs to be taken out. Putting him out of business will help disrupt the leadership in Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City, and part of L.A. You'll be working with an Agent out of Kansas City on this."

Dan started paging through the Sharpelli file. "I have a lot of reading to do on this. When am I leaving for Las Vegas?"

"As soon as you can get home and pack your bags."

Dan crushed out his cigarette. "I don't have a lot to pack. I guess I'll just see you later." Dan walked back to his office, grabbed his bag for the gym and made his way down to the Bureau's basement exercise area. He wanted a vigorous workout to think about what his assignment in Las Vegas might entail.

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Tony Sharpelli walked through the gaming floor of the Tropicana Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. The cocky twenty-six year old son of Vinny Sharpelli was making his way towards the dressing room for the show girls hoping to catch Angela Totman before she gets into her costume for the early evening dance revue. The show's director, Saul Feldman, saw Tony near the dressing room door and didn't want Tony to disrupt any part of the show like he had done the night before.

"Whaddaya want here, Tony? Leave the girls alone or I'll have you tossed out of here! And I don't care who your father is!"

"Mind your own business, Feldman. I just wanna talk to Angela before the show. There's no harm in that is there?"

"She wants nothin' to do with you. So why don't you go back to K.C. and stop causing trouble here?"

Tony walked away from the dressing room door when he spotted Angela walking down the hallway towards him holding onto her boyfriend's arm.

"Angela, we need to talk!"

The petit twenty-four year old Angela Totman stopped walking and held onto Marty Cameron's arm a little tighter. "I have nothing to say to you, Tony. Just leave me alone."

Tony sized up Marty and started to grab onto Angela's arm to pull her away from the big guy. Marty quickly grabbed onto the front of Tony's shirt and pinned him against the wall. "The lady said to leave her alone, so why don't you beat it before you get hurt, punk?"

When Marty relaxed his grip on Tony, Tony tried to take a swing at him. Marty caught Tony's fist, spun him around and twisted his arm behind his back. Tony was again pinned against the wall but tried to elbow Marty with his other arm. Marty had enough of Tony's attitude and knocked him out with a punch to his face. The Casino security personnel arrived quickly, picked Tony up off the floor, and began walking the dazed trouble-maker from the premises.

Trying to wipe spots of blood from his face with a handkerchief, Tony turned back towards Marty and Angela. "You'll pay for this! Just wait and see! You'll regret this! And I'm not afraid of you - or your family!"

Marty gave Angela a hug before she made her way through the dressing room door. "One more show, sweetheart. Tomorrow we'll be in L.A. and with my family's connections, you'll be a movie star real soon!"

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When they got out of the elevator on the ninth floor of the Brent building, Perry's long strides walking towards their office door were too much for Della to keep up with in her high-heels. Perry walked in the office door without waiting for Della to catch up. Their office receptionist, Gertie, was at her desk hanging up the phone.

"Hi Mr. Mason. I didn't expect you back so soon..."

Perry slowed down by Gertie's desk and grabbed onto his stack of phone messages on the desk. "No calls, Gertie. I'll be in my office."

Della made it into the office in time to hear the door to Perry's office slam shut. Della saw the confused look on Gertie's face. "It wasn't such a good day in Court today, Gertie. I'll fill you in later. Has my packet from the phone company arrived by courier yet?"

"No, but there's a phone message for you from the phone company."

"Thanks, Gertie. I'll be in my office. Let's send all of Perry's calls to the answering service."

Forty-five minutes later Perry called for Della on her intercom. "Do you have those phone call records yet?"

Della hesitated for a moment before replying. "No, I'm sorry I don't..."

"I thought I told Paul to meet me here. Get a hold of him and tell him I need him here right away... And those phone records are your priority."

"Right, Chief."

Before Della could get on the phone and dial Paul's phone number, he was walking in the front door cheerfully greeting Gertie. "Hiya Gertie! I see the office walls are still standing. Are they in?"

Gertie nodded and Paul walked into Della's office. Seeing that the door to Perry's office was closed, Paul thought he could speak to Della with his voice at a normal volume. "Any change in his mood yet?"

Della had a smirk on her face and raised an eyebrow before answering. "Not yet. Just say the word after you get in there and I'll bring in some ice for the bourbon if you need it."

"Thanks, Beautiful!" Paul winked at Della and walked into Perry's office.

Perry didn't even look up from the papers strewn on his desktop. "Where've you been? I've been waiting for your update all day!"

"I had to make a phone call before I could get you better news. Things are looking up now. Lieutenant Tragg is part of the prosecution's investigative team as of this morning. I think their original theory in the case is falling apart. And I think I know why."

Perry impatiently looked up at Paul. "Well? Are you gonna tell me why?"

Paul finished lighting a cigarette. "They might have arrested and charged the wrong man. I think your client will be a free man before court tomorrow morning."

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Paul's news to Perry didn't change his foul mood at all. Della kept busy in her office and between tasks she thought back on the past year. The office had been busier than usual and their vacation plans had to be placed on hold time after time. Perry and Della managed to get out of town for a few long, romantic weekends, but they really needed a long vacation and Perry's short-tempered ways were proof of that. Their getaway plans for the past weekend were put on hold when Perry kept Della and Paul busy in the office working on Kopki's defense.

Around 8pm Della got tired of feeling hungry and left the office to find something to eat. She brought back a steak sandwich from Clay's for Perry, but soon discovered that she was too tired to eat dinner herself. Della entered his office, walked across the room and set up the takeout box on a table near the balcony doors. "I thought you could use some dinner since you skipped lunch today. How about a steak sandwich from Clay's?" She placed some silverware and a napkin next to the sandwich and waited for a reply.

Perry never looked up from the reports and books scattered on his desk. Della walked over and removed the ashtray from his desktop then walked to the kitchen to empty it. She walked back to his desk. "I have some fresh coffee brewing. Why don't you try and eat before it gets cold?"

Perry reached for a cigarette. "I'm not hungry. Did you finish the notes from court today?"

Della sighed and walked back to her office. She retrieved the notes from court that she had typed and walked back into his office standing in front of his desk with one hand on her hip. "I spoke with the courier company and the phone records will be here first thing in the morning. If you don't need me for anything else, I think I'm gonna call it a day." She placed the notes on his desk. Perry did not reply.

Perry's private phone line rang and Della reached for the phone but Perry grabbed it first. "Mason."

While Perry talked on the phone, Della went to the kitchen and brought out the fresh coffee in a carafe. She poured him a cup of coffee and left the carafe on his desk. Perry was practically shouting on the phone. "That's not what I asked for! And I needed that other information yesterday... Send that other report over by courier tonight. I'll be waiting! And one more thing before I let you go..."

Della left Perry's office, gathered her purse at her desk, and went home to her apartment. After a light snack for dinner, Della changed into her nightgown and wrapped herself up in her silk robe. She poured a glass of red wine and curled up on her couch with a book. At 10:30pm she looked up from her book when she heard the soft knock on her apartment door. She started to put the book down and get up, but paused when she heard a key turning open the lock. Perry walked in and gently closed the door behind him. He wearily leaned back against the door when he saw Della sitting on her couch.

"I've acted like such a fool, Della... I'm so sorry! What can I say or do to make this up to you?"

Della put the book down on the table, got up, and walked over to him. Perry wrapped her up in his arms right away and buried his face in her soft curly brown hair. Della held on to the open collar of his shirt and laid her head against his chest.

They swayed in each others arms for several moments before Perry broke the silence with his low, deep voice speaking softly in her ear. "I ate the steak sandwich. Thanks for taking care of me, baby. Why do you put up with me?"

Della released her hold on him and reached for his hands to hold on to. "I've been asking myself that question a lot lately." She raised an eyebrow looking up into his big blue eyes and once again her heart melted. She smiled at him and led him over to the couch. "Why don't you sit down and I'll get you a glass of wine?"

Perry walked along with her feeling like a scolded puppy dog and sat down on the couch. He picked up Della's book to read the cover while Della walked to the kitchen to get him the wine. Perry called after her. "I'm hoping that things will go a little better tomorrow. Paul thinks that the LAPD is working on leads to arrest another suspect in our case. Kopki might be a free man tomorrow."

Della handed Perry the wine and cozied up next to him on the couch. "That's good news. I can't wait for this one to be over."

Perry put his arm around her and pulled her in close to kiss her cheek. "If we really do finish up this case tomorrow, let's plan to go away for the weekend. We can leave on Friday morning..."

"I won't be here on Friday. I'm giving that lecture series at the Legal Secretary's conference in San Diego on Thursday and Friday." Della searched Perry's face for a reaction.

"No chance that you can give that up, huh?" Perry was frowning.

Della just sighed and shook her head. "I can't believe you just asked that..." She took her hand off Perry's leg and reached for her wine to swallow a large gulp. "If you don't want me lecturing or advancing my knowledge in my profession, just say so..."

"I didn't mean it that way, Della. You caught me off guard again. I just forgot all about it."

"You were planning to go fishing with Paul on Saturday. Did you forget about that, too?" Della was a little annoyed.

Perry leaned forward looking down into his glass gently swirling around the tasty wine. "I haven't been myself lately..."

"You can say that again." Della put her hand on Perry's shoulder and gently moved her hand around massaging his lower neck muscles. "On Monday why don't I work on clearing out our schedule so we can take a long vacation soon? You really need to get away for a while."

"I have an idea. Why don't I tell Paul that we'll reschedule our fishing trip and I'll drive down to San Diego to meet you late on Friday afternoon? We can drive down to the Vista Del Mar and have Philomena set us up in our usual suite for the weekend. If you'll ride down to the conference with one of the other girls, I'll just pick you up at your conference hotel on the way to the Vista Del Mar."

While Perry pulled Della closer to him and nestled his cheek into her soft hair Della thought over the proposal. "Another long weekend? When are you taking a long vacation? Some real time away?"

"We'll plan for a long vacation on the weekend. I'll find a nice hideaway for us and we'll go away soon."

"Ha! How many times have I heard you say that this year?"

Perry swallowed the rest of his wine, put his glass down on the table and laid Della down on the couch. "We're going away this time and I really mean it." He began kissing her neck while Della giggled.

"Perry... Umm... That tickles..." Della was still laughing.

Perry was whispering in her ear with his breath warm against her skin. "I can't help myself. You taste so good..."

"Don't start something you can't finish tonight, Mr. Mason!"

Perry moved his gentle kisses to Della's lips and brought her back up to a sitting position on the couch. "Spoil-sport! Who made up that stupid 'no overnight hanky-panky during a major case' rule anyway?"

Della just chuckled. "You did. Now you better get out of here. It's late and we have work to do tomorrow!"

TBC

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