CHAPTER TEN-a
The next morning was busy and Perry was anxious to hear what Paul's friend had learned at Arizona State. He was hoping that Rada had just given up on the idea of whatever she was seeking from him. Maybe Della had scared her away.
His confidential secretary came through the door to his office carrying several files and began arranging them on his desk. "well you are just chocked full of energy today," he asserted.
She reminded him, "have you forgotten today is Gertie's birthday and the girls and I are taking her to The Bungalow for lunch?"
"What did we get her?" he asked.
Getting her coat and purse Della informed him, "a spa day and her latest boyfriend sent flowers and candy. You know you can come along if you want."
He shook his head, "I am still waiting for Paul and his report. You girls go ahead and take your time. Just make sure the phone is plugged in here."
Before Della left she came stand by his side with her hand on his shoulder. "Thanks Boss," she said cheekily.
Looking up from his papers he wanted to know, "no goodbye kiss."
"Do you want to smear my lipstick?" She wanted to know.
Getting up to walk her to the door he said, "Yes."
Laughing she kissed him lightly on the lips and headed out the door. "Don't worry," he called out, "I 'll catch you the next time around.
Perry was busy when he heard high heels in the outer office. He got up to see who had come in and there stood a woman that looked familiar. "Don't you remember me Perry?" she cooed.
"Rada?" he questioned.
"Of course, darling. I came to talk to you while that secretary of yours is out of the office. She's in love with you of course, but I let her know you are not available. She is very pretty, but then you always were a devil with the ladies."
Walking her into his private office and closing the door he led her to the client chair. Keeping his distance from her he sat in his office chair. "Perhaps you better tell me what this is all about?"
As she spoke he looked at her carefully. Her hair was dark brown and curly, her eyes were green, skin pink and rosy, and nails were short and clear. She wore a green cashmere dress and coat, white peep toe shoes, and a strand of pearls around her neck. "Perry, we need to get some things straight about our daughter and her future."
He took a deep breath, "we have no daughter. I saw the phony marriage license you threw at my secretary. You and I are not married. What do you want Rada?"
"Not you, obviously, after all this time, but I made my demands clear to the LOVELY Miss Street. I also want you to acknowledge your daughter, Jana."
He took a notebook from his desk and said, "I want it in writing and I want it now."
She took out a pen and began writing. The phone rang and when he answered Paul's voice said, "I want to come down I have some more information."
"I'm very sorry Mr. Davidson, but I am in conference right now. My office staff is out at the present, but if you will call back in about ten to fifteen minutes they should be back and can make an appointment for you." He was happy to know his detective picked up on his directions immediately.
Shoving the paper at him Rada questioned him. "Is this good enough counselor?"
Mason looked it over and asked, stalling for time, "Who is your attorney? How old is this so-called child? Where can I contact you? Where have you been living?"
She looked at him suspiciously. "Why all the questions? I have proof of everything I am saying. It is evident you don't remember our romantic week-end in Vegas where you begged me to marry you. Of course, you were quite inebriated. You have done very well for yourself Mr. Perry Mason, I want my fair share."
The lawyer got up from his chair. His eyes showed his disdain. "Just what is your game? I never spent any time with you in Las Vegas."
She got up from her chair and rushed toward him. Before he could react, she slapped him in the face. He grabbed for her arm, but just then they could hear the office staff returning. Rada headed for the door, "you have 48 hours counselor." She rushed into the corridor and was gone in seconds. All he hoped was that Paul had gotten his instructions and they would be able to follow her.
Trying to regain his composure Mason tried to act calm as Della and Gertie invaded his office in high spirits. "It seems you ladies had a relaxing lunch."
"Oh Mr. Mason," their receptionist enthused, "thank you so much for my lunch and the gift. It made my birthday so special."
He came over and patted her shoulder. "You are always there for us Gertie, and I wanted to show my appreciation."
The phone rang, and she hurried toward the front office, "thanks again Boss, I better get back to work."
Della grabbed the phone and he heard her say, "Just a moment I'll transfer you to the receptionist and she will make an appointment for you." She gave her boss a big smile.
"How much did you girls have to drink?" He wanted to know.
Putting her coat and hat away she confided, "Not too much, but too much for this time of the day. I'm afraid we will be getting sleepy this afternoon. I'll have to check that no one falls asleep, we have a full afternoon."
Perry turned away and picked up some papers pretending to read. Della walked over and closed the office door. Then she proceeded to take the papers from him. "Alright what is wrong?"
"Why do you think something is wrong?" he wanted to know.
She was slightly exasperated, "when someone knows a person as well as I know you they can tell when something is wrong."
"You are a very astute young woman, Miss Street," he commented.
Della squinted her eyes at him. "Now I know it is bad when you start calling me Miss Street. Stop avoiding the subject."
The lawyer, dropped into his chair, lit a cigarette, stalling for time to explain just what had happened. Finally, he began. "I had a visitor while you were gone."
"Sometimes you are the most exasperating man. Who was it?" she wanted to know.
Mason ran his hand through his wavy hair. "It was Rada," he admitted. "She wrote out this paper and she is going to give me 48 hours to give in to her demands."
Looking over the paper his secretary exclaimed, "Well she has a lot of nerve! It says here she has proof of all her claims!"
"She seems very confident of her claims. I watched her carefully and she never backed down for a moment and looked me right in the eye," he told her.
"Then she must be a pretty good actress." Della was indignant.
Perry walked over to her and put his arm around her waist. "You don't have any doubts about the credibility of her claims?"
She turned in his arms and placed her hands on his chest. "In all the time I have known you I have seen you in every kind of situation. I have seen you down in the depths looking for a solution to a case, elated when you solve something that baffles you, disillusioned when someone betrays you, and euphoric when we are together. At no time have I ever seen you blind drunk and not knowing what you were doing."
He captured her hands and kissed her fingers. "What about before you knew me maybe I was wild and crazy."
Running a finger across his lips she said softly, "even before we met you were gaining a reputation. There has not been one hint of scandal especially with women."
The lawyer smiled down at her pulled her close and kissed her chestnut curls. "Only concerning you, my love."
She pulled back. "It is only conjecture, counselor. No one knows for sure about our relationship. Now we need to get some work done before your next appointment gets here."
With a sigh he told her to get the mail. Just then Paul Drake tapped his code on the door. "Let him in Della, maybe he has good news."
He entered with his usual, "Hello Beautiful", and greeted Mason. "Well, I have good news and bad news."
"Let's go with the good news for change." Perry told him.
Taking out his dependable notebook Paul began, "Well we followed your lady friend to the Madison Hotel. I was lucky and had two operatives in the office at the time I talked to you, a man and a woman. One is in the front and one in the back of the hotel. It was a good thing too. She walked in the front and out the back. If she suspected she was followed my woman operative went into the hotel, sat down, and watched her leave. Rada then walked down across the alley and went into The Embassy Hotel. She didn't stop at the desk but went up to the sixth floor."
"That seems like good work Paul." Perry said.
That's what we thought too. My operative went over to the front desk clerk and with a little incentive found out she was registered as a Mrs. Robert Jamieson, of Detroit, Michigan, and that she was up on the eighth floor. My man called in for instructions. I told him to instruct my woman, who had come in by then, to register on the eighth floor also."
"So, what happened next Paul?" Della wanted to know.
Sighing the investigator shrugged his shoulders. "she disappeared."
Mason sat straight up in his chair. "WHAT!" he exclaimed. "How could that happen?"
"Well my girl was registering, when the original operative saw your girl come out of the elevator with a bag in her hand, and head for the front door. He couldn't very well signal anyone, but he followed her out and she got into a Cadillac just like yours, top up and tinted windows. He tried to get the license, but it was covered with mud. They called me just before I came down here. Of course, they were caught flat footed their car was in the Madison's parking lot."
"What now?" Della wanted to know. "Are you sure she didn't know she was being followed, Paul?"
"I'd stake my life on it," he responded. "There's more. I talked to my female operative and my contact in Phoenix and it gets more bizarre."
Perry looked at Della, "I could use a drink about now."
Paul looked at him quizzically, "What's up.
The brunette explained, "This Rada claims Perry got so drunk he married her in Vegas and threw a marriage license at me."
The detective grinned, "I've known Perry a good many years, and I've seen him feeling pretty happy, but never, never, so intoxicated he didn't know where he was or what he was doing."
"That's what I told him too," she explained.
"Go on Paul," Mason said impatiently.
Checking the notebook again he launched into his story. "Janice, my operative told me when she called for instructions that the woman they followed did not look anything like the description I gave them for this Rada Preston. It didn't match Della's description at all."
Della looked puzzled. "How did they know who to follow?" she wanted to know.
Their friend sighed, "she was hurrying out of this office and yelling at Perry."
"This doesn't make sense," the secretary was visibly upset.
"It's okay Della," Perry reassured her. "I was going to tell you the same thing and we got sidetracked."
Crossing her arms Della asked, "how did she look different?"
"Well she had dark brown curly hair for one thing. Her complexion was healthy looking and pink, and her face had only a few lines. She did have on designer clothes, her nails were short and had clear polish, and she didn't look much over 30.
His secretary did not look happy. "It could have been a wig," she suggested.
"It could have been," Perry acknowledged but the rest didn't match.
"Perry's right, it didn't match the description I got either." Paul agreed.
Della mumbled, "It doesn't make sense. I know what I saw."
"Well, let it go for now, Della. Paul what else have you found out?" The lawyer wanted to know.
Scooting around in the chair and getting comfortable the detective informed them, "I spoke to the registrar and records offices at ASU. It seems like your lady friend worked in both places as a student worker. Interestingly, the woman who is now the chief registrar was Rada's roommate, and they worked at this place together."
"Did she remember much about her?" Mason wanted to know.
"As a matter of fact, she did, even though Rada only stayed about three semesters at the school and suddenly disappeared. When they first met Rada used the name Bauman and a few months later she had records change it to Preston. This lady, a Sharyn Grayson, thought maybe she had a bad love affair because she didn't have good things to say about men."
Drumming his fingers on the edge of his desk Perry Mason asked, "Did she give any reason for the name change?"
"Checking his ever present notebook again Paul explained, "it seems that Rada was evasive when it came to personal information. She didn't have many female friends. There were two other significant facts. The first concerned their boss in Records, a Mr. Stark. There were rumors that Rada was having an affair with him. Nothing came of it though. The other thing Sharyn remembered is while the girl majored in History she was also quite active in the theater department. I have an operative in Phoenix checking on that."
Perry got out of his chair and walked over to Paul to pat him on the shoulder. "This is good work Paul."
Paul got up and started for the door as the phone rang. He began, "I'll be back….."
Della interrupted, "It's for you Paul, Fred from Phoenix."
Paul took the phone and said, "hi, Fred…who did you talk to?...okay….what else did you find out? That's interesting…..give me the lowdown. Well, thanks bye."
Mason looked at him expectantly. "Well…what did you find out?"
"A friendly secretary went through some files from that time. It seems your girl took speech classes, was on the debate team, and served in various roles for the theater department. In fact, there was a notation on the folder that she might become a theater major.
Perry gave it some thought. "It isn't really so strange for someone planning on being a trail lawyer to take speech classes. I can't get a bead on what is going on here. We have a variety of facts but nothing to stick together. Well, just see if she comes back to the hotel and keep us informed."
Drake, just as he left, told them he would call if anything more happened.
Della came to Perry's desk and walked behind his chair and began massaging his shoulders. He sighed deeply and took one of her hands as he said, "Oh that feels good."
"Perry," she said softly, "you need to relax, there is nothing more we can do until we hear from her or Paul."
Allowing her to press deeply into his muscles he confessed, "I just feel so impotent not being able to get a handle on this situation. Why now after all these years. There something at work here I can't put my finger on and its driving me crazy."
As Della leaned down and kissed his wavy hair she told him, "We're in this together. There have been other times things have looked bleak and you've fought your way out."
He kissed he hand and murmured, "I hope you're right, I just hope you're right."