The pace at the Mason office was fast and as Craig Field finished one pile of papers either Della or Perry would give her more to read. There were so many laws to learn, but he was determined to find all the information that Mr. Mason wanted. This was an opportunity of a lifetime for him and he was not going to do anything to mess up this chance.
The date of the trial was coming up. It was going to be starting on Monday and Perry still had no idea who the killer was. There was no lack of suspects, but he had nothing that he could prove as of yet.
Perry and Della were in the office working on the case once again when Paul Drake knocked on the door. He had a knock set up with Perry and Della so that they knew it was him. Della opened the door and smiled "Hello Paul"
"Hi beautiful." Paul told her and then took a seat in his favorite chair once more. He looked over at his two best friends and smiled. Marriage had done them both good. They were full of life and very happy. He could see that they were deeply in love. He also knew that they made a formidable team on the courtroom floor also. Sue had worked for him, but once they had married she had decided to stay home and take care of the house and kids. It had been hard for them to work together but Della and Perry had found a system and had been very successful at keeping their personal and business lives separate.
"So, have you any information on Bill Johnston?" Perry asked Paul.
"I have been tailing the man for the last two days . He is trouble Perry. He is always getting into little scuffles with people and is always looking for a fight. He owes everyone in town also. He has been causing some problems at the home front also. This afternoon just two hours ago, he confronted his mother and Carl Brice. They had a terrible falling out and he threatened to tell his father what was going on if they didn't co sign for a loan on a new car he wanted. It seems that he smashed his car up a couple of weeks ago and he wants a new one." Paul told them.
Perry was thinking hard. He knew that he was a suspect, but there was still nothing that could tie him to the murder. He had been out driving in San Diego at the time and had the gas receipt to prove it. "What about Carl Brice?" he asked.
"Carl Brice is a sort of wimp. He is only interested in Peggy's mother to get to Peggy I think. Whenever Peggy is around Carl caters to her. He seems to always have some sort of reason to see her. I have been showing his picture around town and trying to get more information on him. I think that he is hiding something. My men and I have not been able to find anything as of yet, but we are working on it.
"Have you looked into Harrriet's friend Makayla?" Perry asked.
"That was the one thing that I found very interesting. It seems that Makayla has been seeing Harriet's longtime boyfriend on the side. She has been over there several times in the past week. I have not been able to find them doing anything questionable, but I have a man keeping a sharp eye on her to see what turns up." Paul told him.
Della had heard everything ever since she had gone to work for Perry. Now, to find out that perhaps even Harriet's boyfriend wasn't trustworthy was kind of sad . She said "Well, find out Paul. They might be just trying to help Harriet out, you know." she told him.
"Yes, I know that. But sometimes when people do get too involved and they don't know what they are doing, they get hurt. That is another reason why I have been keeping an extra eye on them both." Paul reassured her.
Makayla looked out her living room widow. She thought that there had been a man on the corner a minute ago. 'Stop worrying, it's all your imagination no one is watching you. ' she thought to herself.
Stan Phelps had been keeping an eye on that no good brother of Dean Brice's. He knew that he was always in trouble and probably had been in on the insurance scam with his mother. 'But was he capable of murder?' he thought to himself. This night he had followed him into a local bar. He sat near him, but not next to him. He did not want to bring any attention to himself. As the night had gotten later Carl Brice had gotten mouthier and was bragging about how he was getting a new car. "I found a couple of lovers that don't want to be found and they are giving me the money." he bragged.
But, Harriet was starting to wonder where her boyfriend Stan was? He was not coming over as often, and when she had confronted him he had been very evasive. 'I hope that he doesn't think that I am the murderer' she worried to herself. It seemed as though Makayla was making herself scarce too. 'I need to stop thinking like this.' she thought to herself.
Harriet was now getting ready for court. Her case was going to be coming up on Monday. She called Makayla and the two of them went to the mall to pick up some appropriate attire for the courtroom. Mrs. Mason had been wonderful, giving her suggestions on what to wear and how to do her hair. Harriet had never been to a courthouse before and needed some advice. It was a good day for shopping and Harriet needed something to keep her mind of the case.
Nicki Brown was not able to get the murder out of her head. She had been so in love with Dean and he had been using her. As mad as she was at him for what he had done, she had not wanted him dead. 'But who would kill him? She knew that Dean probably had other girlfriends and perhaps one of them had done the murder. Maybe that lady Harriet was not the murderer, she thought.
Paul had been looking into the possibility that there was another woman involved with Dean. He seemed to move from location to location and didn't appear to be the type of man who would have only one girl friend. He found that there was indeed another girlfriend and he decided to go to her house and talk to her.
As Paul pulled up to the house, he saw a young woman looking out the window. As he walked up the front steps, she answered the door. Nicki wasn't surprised that someone had reported her being Dean's girlfriend. She had never had any reason to hide it from anyone. The man that came to the door was a handsome man in his late 30's to early 40's and she welcomed him in. He introduced himself as Paul Drake and they both took a seat.
Paul listened with interest to this lady. She had not known anything about Dean having another girlfriend and had been devastated when she had found out the truth. She had planned to marry the man and showed him a ring. "He was everything to me sir. I don't know why someone killed him. He didn't deserve to die." Nicki cried as she told Paul her story.
As Paul left the house, he felt that Nicki was not a murderer. Something about the way that she spoke about Dean and her body actions told him that she was more than likely innocent. He had been fooled before, though, and he was going to have to check her out totally.