TCOT Unexpected Corpse Chapter 10

Perry picked up an overwhelmed Della in his arms and carried her to a shabby couch that had been pushed against the far wall of the small living room. After gently settling her on the worn cushion, he sat down next to her and took hold of her hand. Della leaned back against the cushion and closed her eyes. Sensing that the attorney and his secretary needed some time alone, Abby quietly excused herself and went into the bedroom, closing the door behind her.

Perry brought Della's hand up to his lips and tenderly kissed the inside of her palm, then each finger and brushed errant curls away from her face. His lightly traced the few cuts and bruises on her face and bent forward slightly to leave a soft kiss on her lips. Perry thought she looked a little pale, but was relieved that her external injuries appeared to be superficial. Not wanting to stop touching her, he continued to caress her arms, her face, her neck, and again ran his fingers through her hair.

She opened her mouth to speak and her voice was so low, he could barely hear her. "Perry?"

"Yes darling, I'm right here."

She heaved a tremendous sigh. "I'm sorry to cause you so much worry."

"Della, what are you talking about? You have nothing to be sorry for. We're going to sit here for a little while and then I'll take you back to the lodge." As a matter of fact, I think we should just pack and go back home. There's more to this then we bargained for and I don't want to stick around and wait for the other shoe to drop."

Della opened beautiful hazel eyes…warm, glistening love-filled eyes that locked onto to Perry's deep blue ones. She sat up and leaned into Perry, her head pillowed on his chest, one arm sliding up around his neck. "No Perry, that's not how we're going to do it."

"Sweetheart, please listen to me." His arm crept around her back as he cradled her against him.

"No Counselor, I want you to listen to me first." Della's voice was soft but firm. "It's true, we came up here for a vacation and walked straight into chaos. First, we found Joanne's body, then you promised to defend Doug Frazier – you even called Paul to come up here to help us, and then today, my accident…I admit it was scary as hell, but the minute I saw you walk through the door and you held me I felt better."

"And then you collapsed," he reminded her.

Della's hand dropped from around his neck to take hold of Perry's hand and tuck it between them. "You'd collapse too, if someone told you they would die if you were dead." She nuzzled her head into the crook of his shoulder and tightened her hold on his hand. "I'm sorry the blood in the car scared you. I should have left a clue that I was okay, but Abby showed up and I felt we needed to get away from there as quickly as possible. When you whispered those words in my ear I guess I had a delayed reaction to everything. I feel much better now."

Perry felt her heart beating strongly beneath his hand and all the anxiety of the past few hours drained from his body. "We're still going to get you checked out by a doctor. I'm not taking any chances where you're concerned. I never have and I never will. That's one thing that I won't back down on."

"I know darling, and I love you for it, but this time how about one teeny tiny compromise, please?"

"Della…"

"Look, Mr. Mason, if you need a doctor to tell you I'm all right then fine, I'll get checked out, but here's the deal…and there will be no objections, understand?"

"Why do I suddenly get the feeling that I'm not going to like this?"

"It's not that bad. I'll get checked out by a doctor, but we are not leaving until we get to the bottom of this nonsense and Doug Frazier is a free man. So, my handsome attorney, do we or do we not have a deal?"

For the first time in hours Perry smiled genuinely. That spark of independence he loved so much in Della was back. Perry knew it would do no good to argue when she dug her heels in. He would let her have her way…he happily gave in to her most of the time anyway. He reached out and gently tugged her to him.

"All right, Miss Street. You win. Let's say our goodbyes to Abby. I want to thank her for taking care of you and then we're going to the hospital to have you examined."

Della sat forward and put her arm down to push herself up from the couch, wincing with the effort. Perry noticed it and his smile faded. "What is it baby, what hurts?"

"It's my arm. I must have wrenched it when I braced myself against the impact."

"Well, that will be the first thing we'll have the doctor look at. Come on, let's go. The sooner we get to the hospital, the better I'll feel." Perry stood and offered his hand to help her up from the couch.

Della reached up with her uninjured hand, then pulled it back. "Perry wait, we can't leave. There's something troubling Abby, something major I think. She wants to talk to you. At first she was wary and afraid, but I talked to her and I said you wouldn't mind. I have a feeling she's involved in something she can't get out of."

Mason looked at his secretary and shook his head in wonder.

"What?" Della stood back and regarded him inquiringly.

Perry put his hand on Della's cheek, rubbing it gently in small circles. "It's you, that's all, just you. Here you are, just hours after having survived a horrible accident and yet you're more worried about someone you hardly know. True, she helped you and I'll be forever in her debt, but you my dear are something else. Not only are you beautiful and brave, but you are the kindest person I know."

"Thank you, but I think you just might be a little prejudiced. If you will knock on the bedroom door and let Abby know you're ready to talk to her, I'll grab some paper and a pencil from the desk to take notes."

Perry shook his head firmly. "Nothing doing, Miss Street. That's where I draw the line. I'll be glad to speak with Abby because you asked me to, but I don't want you using your hand. At least until after we see what the doctor has to say."

"Perrrry..." Della rolled her eyes and blew out an exasperated breath. "I'll be fine. I am fine, really."

"I've compromised already today, now it's your turn. We're going to do it my way." Perry winked at Della then turned and started for the bedroom door. A thought came to him and he turned back and again sat down next to Della. Taking hold of her hand, he looked searchingly into her eyes. "Della, I don't want to upset you, but this is important. Did you by any chance see who hit you?"

Della didn't respond immediately but put her hand up to her forehead and rubbed it as if it would help her remember. She thought for a minute then shook her head. "I'm sorry Perry. I can't remember right now. It all happened so fast and the sun was so bright…there was some kind of reflection. I do remember wearing my sun glasses but I didn't have them when I got here. I…I must have misplaced them."

"You didn't lose them, honey. They were in the car but they were broken. Given the injuries you have, I'm guessing that you hit your face against the steering wheel. I also found your scarf."

"Oh Perry, I loved those glasses," Della exclaimed in dismay. "Those were the ones that you bought me for my birthday, the ones with the turquoise and coral stones on them."

"Not to worry, darling, not to worry. They can be replaced very easily. I'll get you another pair. I'll get you a pair in every color if you want. I'll get you another scarf, too. The most important thing, the only thing that matters, is that you are all right. And don't worry about not remembering who hit you. I'm sure it will come to you. Now, let me get Abby and we'll talk."

Perry got up and walked toward the door in the corner of the room. He knocked lightly. "Abby, it's Mr. Mason. Della said you wanted to talk to me."

The door opened immediately and Abby stood there, her head lowered, her eyes glued to the floor. "Mr. Mason, I…I know I'm not…not your client but…but you see I'm in…well I'm in sort of a jam and…and I don't know what to do about it." Her voice was barely a whisper, halting and unsure.

The lawyer put his arm around the young woman and spoke quietly. "Why don't you sit down with Della and me and tell us what's troubling you. Then we'll see what we can do to help you."

Abby raised her head and looked at Perry with wide unbelieving eyes. "You…you mean you'll do it? You'll help me?"

"Yes Abby, Della and I will do whatever we can. I'm just going to ask one thing of you."

"What do you want me to do?"

"I want you to tell me everything. Don't leave anything out. And Abby, I want you to be completely honest with me no matter how bad it is. It's the only way I can help you."

Abby looked at the man who stood before her and knew she could trust him. She took a deep breath and smiled tremulously. "All right Mr. Mason I'll tell you everything."

When everyone was finally settled on the couch or in chairs, Abby began to tell Perry and Della her story.

"Mr. Mason, I had a wonderful childhood. My parents worked hard to give me whatever I needed. My Dad had his own construction company and my Mom was the bookkeeper. She made sure she was home after school and both of them spent a lot of time with me. I had friends and activities that kept me busy and everything was great. I told my parents that the only thing I wanted was a little brother or sister and they would laugh and say that I was their special girl and I was all they wanted." Abby smiled at the memory then continued. "It was a perfect life…until the year I turned sixteen. That's the year my father had his accident. He fell from a scaffold and injured himself so badly the doctors said he couldn't do construction any more. He tried to keep the business going, but even with him there every day to oversee projects, it failed. He finally gave up and Mom went to work at the lodge. After that, things were never the same. My Dad wasn't satisfied with anything and he and Mom argued a lot. He finally went to work for Doug Frazier but money was tight. I finished high school and wanted to go away but they wouldn't let me." Abby stopped talking and both Perry and Della could see she was upset. Perry leaned over and covered her hand with his own.

"It's all right Abby. Take your time. We're listening." Della's said, her voice warm and caring.

"Where did you want to go"? Perry asked quietly.

"I wanted to go to Nursing School in San Francisco but my parents said it was too far away and it cost too much. There aren't any schools around here so I wound up working at the lodge as a secretary and being their general manager. I took some business courses the high school was offering at night and that helped." Abby looked at Perry and Della and realized her explanation might have sounded as though she was trivializing her job. "Della, I'm sorry…I didn't mean…that is…I just meant to say…"

"It's okay Abby, I understand. There's no reason to apologize. I could tell you like to take care of people. Look how you took care of me." The stunning brunette smiled her thanks at the younger woman.

"Della's right, Abby, and before we go on, let me extend my thanks also. We're very lucky you were there. Come to think of it, how were you able to get to Della so quickly?"

"I was ahead of her on the road but not so far that I didn't hear the crash. I had just driven past where it happened and rounded the bend. I heard the crash and then the squeal of tires. I slowed down but no car came around the bend so I turned around and drove back a mile or so and that's when I saw your rental car in the ditch smack up against a tree. I didn't know who was in the car or how badly they were injured. I just wanted to help. There are lots of little turnoffs on this road so the car that hit Della could have driven down one of those roads. I wasn't about to look for it. It was more important to get to the car that was hit."

"You can be very proud of yourself Abby. We're very grateful, aren't we, darling?"

"Yes we are," Della agreed. "You know, Perry, we really have to tell Frank and Millie how wonderful Abby was."

Abby jumped up from where she was sitting with such force she almost knocked over the tea cups on the coffee table in front of the couch. There was panic on her face and a wild fearful look in her eyes. "NO! You can't! You just can't! Please, Mr. Mason, no one can know I was here, ESPECIALLY not my parents!"

Perry and Della exchanged knowing, concerned looks. The lawyer stood and put his arm around the girl, offering comfort and understanding.

"All right Abby, we won't say anything. We give you our word. Let's sit back down and you can finish telling us your story."

Abby took a deep, calming breath, sat back down next to Della on the couch and went on with her explanation. "As I was saying, I worked at the lodge with Mom and for a while things were fine. I met a lot of nice people and it seemed like my parents weren't fighting as much. Then about three years ago, Joanne Frazier moved here. There was talk. I'm not sure of the details, but Doug's sister-in-law Betsy introduced Joanne to him and they were married not long after that. Then things got funny."

"What do you mean?"

Abby puckered her brow in thought. "Some man came around asking a lot of questions about Joanne, but he would make sure she never saw him. He would call my parents a lot and talk to them about Joanne and Doug. He would talk to them about other things but I was never allowed to know what he said and they swore me to secrecy about Joanne. About that time my Dad started carrying a gun and spending more and more time at Doug's shop. Then a few months later, Mike…Sheriff Davis…moved here. He stayed at the lodge until he could find a place to live and…well, we started to date. At first my parents didn't seem to mind, but then they said I had to break up with him. But by then it was too late. I was already in love with him and…and…"

"He was in love with you." Della's voice was very soft.

"Yes, but how did you?…Oh, is that what happened with you and Mr. Mason?" Abby's eyes were wide and innocently curious.

Della blushed and merely nodded but Perry spoke up. "That's exactly what happened, Abby." He smiled tenderly at his secretary. "Now, go on tell us the rest of your story. Did you ever see the man who asked about Joanne? Did you ever talk to him on the phone?"

Abby shook her head. "Neither. My parents were very clear about that. They made sure I didn't see him and if he called and I answered he always sounded muffled."

Perry rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Tell us more about you and Mike and why you think you're in trouble."

"My parents tried to break Mike and me up but we wouldn't let them. Mike talked to them and tried to explain how we felt but it didn't do any good so….so we started to sneak around. Mike found this house and he bought it….I mean he made it look like his friend Kevin from Arizona bought it. Everyone thinks Kevin bought it as a vacation home. I was on my way here when Della had her accident. It's the only place we can go where no one will look for us." Abby looked down at the ring and then back up at Della. "This ring…it's from him. It's my engagement ring. Mike thought that if he bought a ring that was my birthstone no one would know that it was an engagement ring, and that eventually he would give me a diamond ring and we'd get married, but I'm…I'm afraid that will never happen."

"Abby," Della's voice was gentle. "I can't believe your parents won't come around eventually. I'm sure it's not as bleak as it seems."

The girl shook her head and tears began to stream down her face. "You…you don't understand Della, my parents will NEVER come around. They…they're mixed up in awful stuff…it's as bad as it could be. They're making me do things I really don't want to do. I…I'm afraid they know who killed Joanne and that they might even have helped to kill her. Just last week I noticed that my Dad's gun was missing along with some rope and other things from his workshop. They're afraid that….that Mike will figure everything out…and if he stays around me he'll figure it out faster…and…and if he does or if I tell him what I think or what I know…then…then…"

Abby couldn't go on. She put her face in her hands and cried so hard her whole body shook. Della moved closer to the younger woman who just a few hours before had gone out of her way to help her. Wanting to give her some measure of comfort, she gently hugged her. As she did so, her eyes caught Perry's and the look he gave her sent a shiver through her. She didn't have to ask what that look meant…she already knew.