Time to move on with Mr. Grant... thanks to Molly for betaing this. Enjoy and let me know what you think... will she or will she not?

TCOT Seductive Defendant

Chapter 9 - Los Angeles, 1990

After his visit to Grant's apartment, Perry returned to Della's house. After his conversation with Thomas Grant he felt the urgent need to see Della. The dive into her past had left him aching for her, because he suddenly knew how he needed to understand her. She had always been a very private person who hardly talked about herself and since he had thought he knew her, questioning her had never been essential for him. But on his way to her house, he kept asking himself if it was necessary now.

He disliked Grant, didn't trust him and had no idea how to read him.

What did Della see in him? What had she seen in him to.. to what? Fall in love with him? Had she been in love with Grant? That was something he still didn't know, because he hadn't asked her directly.

He declined her offer to make something for him for dinner and just asked her to sit down with him.

"I paid Grant a visit this afternoon," he told her, awaiting her reaction.

She paused, surprised, and asked: "What did you want there?"

"I wanted to talk to him..."

"Asking him if he wanted to confess to killing his wife?"

He didn't answer immediately. The problem was complex and aside from in addition to pushing aside his personal feelings, he needed to collect his thoughts.

"The problem is another one," he sighed. "Della, the reason why Eileen Grant was able to push charges against Grant is, she found a diary in which a neighbor of the Grants described how she saw Grant and an unfamiliar woman visiting his house only a few days after the trial had ended. She saw Grant and the woman kissing." Holding his breath he waited for her reaction only to find his biggest fear confirmed. Della swallowed and her face lost its color, but she said nothing.

"Was that you?" Perry asked.

"Could be... we did visit the house."

Her vague answer angered him, "You had gone with him to the house where Edna had been killed only a few days after the trial had ended? Strange place for a date!" He didn't make the attempt to hide his sarcasm.

"I can't remember why we went there... I guess he asked me, because I know we were talking about the evening she died... how he found her..." she broke off, uneasy and annoyed at the same time.

"You kissed him?"

"Yes, we kissed there... and before you ask, no, nothing else happened that night or in the house."

Of course the thought had been nagging at him for the last few hours, but her explanation didn't make him feel any better. There were still too many unanswered questions. Too many things he couldn't explain. He felt left hanging and he hated it.

"So when did it start?"

When did it start? In her opinion it had started the moment she had called Thomas Grant after he had sent her the flowers, because she knew back then she wasn't calling him to exchange cooking recipes with him. But Perry meant something else and again she couldn't offer him an exact date.

"We went out for dinner a few times," she told him lowly. "And one evening he took me home... and stayed." He just stayed. No fanfares, no overtures. Perry sighed grumpily, but preferred not to comment her story. Instead he cleared his throat and said: "Eileen's lawyer wants to prove Grant's mistress – the phantom we never found – really existed. With the diary of Grant's neighbor they found something to build on. I guess these days they're busy trying to find who the woman in the house was."

"You think they could come after me?" Della asked doubtfully.

"Only if they find someone who could identify you... did anyone know about your relationship?"

Della shook her head, "No. We never told anyone."

"No hotel rooms? No rented apartment?" He felt sick asking those questions, but he needed to know, since her past with Grant could come to haunt her. Again she shook her head. She had been a newcomer in town, a greenhorn, and her closest friends at that time had been Perry and Paul – and Thomas Grant. She had started socializing with other people after she had left Grant and had realized she needed some people in her life that weren't connected to crime.

"What about your neighbors? Did they ever see him when he visited you or brought you home?"

"I don't know... maybe they did... It was a long time ago."

Silence fell. For a few minutes only the sound of the wall clock filled the room with life, then Della broke the silence.

"I don't like what is happening with us."

"Me neither," he admitted.

"So?"

"I can't understand you... how could you fall for someone like him? Why did you hide it from me?"

"I didn't hide it... I just didn't mention it. We only saw each other for a couple of months..."

"But he asked you to marry him..." he said, still unable to understand.

"He didn't know what he was suggesting," she objected.

"How's that?"

"We hardly knew each other... and... I guess he was more in love with me than I was with him. It took me some time to realize I was fooling myself, because I felt lonely and he was so..." she broke off, exhaled and added: "Let's say he swept me off my feet for a few weeks."

"And what happened then?"

She gave him a look. "What happened? A certain someone asked me to go with him to an international law conference in London..." she didn't have to add much more. He remembered vividly how well they had gotten along in London. He also remembered how jealous his girlfriend Laura had been, when he had taken Della with him than instead of asking her to join him.

"We grew quickly apart after I came home. Any questions left, Counselor?"

"I only want to know what you feel for him these days."

She leaned back, taking her time to answer him, "He's rich, successful, very attractive and charming, but he's also someone who can be quite mysterious and challenging." She paused, thinking how to explain herself. "Back then, I liked this... electricity and this sizzling that surrounds him, but today..." she bent over to Perry and placed her hands on his shoulder. "Today I'm not so stupid to lose the love of my life for a fling... you heard right, Counselor. That's what it was. A short affair. Can you live with that?"

It took him only a few heartbeats to nod, "I guess I can."

She gave him a smile and kissed him, first tenderly and, when she felt he didn't object,with growing passion.

"I love you, Counselor. Don't you ever forget that."

A few hours later, when Perry was sound asleep, Della sneaked out her bedroom and made a call. Hoping Thomas Grant was asleep as well, she waited until his answering machine started spilling its usual orders and said: "I doubt meeting you is a good idea. I'm sorry, but there's nothing left to talk. Goodbye, Tom."

The next morning, Ken arrived promptly at 8 a.m. for breakfast and a briefing. They had settled around the table in Della's dining room and between eggs, toast, and coffee Perry started dividing the work that needed to be done.

"Ken, you and I will pay Miss Turner a visit this morning. It could be interesting to know, why she's so eager to bring Grant down after these years."

"And what about the investigator who found the diary? Maybe it's a fake... I can imagine Eileen was willing to pay a lot of money for any kind of evidence that suddenly justified a new trial."

Della bit her lips, but didn't say a thing while she took some notes. She wondered how long it would take Ken to find out about her and Grant.

"That's a good idea. We should talk to him before the trial continues tomorrow. Della?"

She looked up.

"Yes?"

"Could you make some calls and try to find out what Grant has been doing the last 40 years? Could be interesting to know if Eileen's and his paths have crossed. Maybe there's more between them than just old hate, caused of her late sister."

She wasn't happy with her task, but she agreed. She knew why he wanted her to dig into Grant's past. The method was called disenchanting.

"I'll do my best, Boss."

Two hours and some calls later, Della had gained just the kind of information Perry probably had hoped she would find.

Thomas Grant had moved to Chicago a few months after Della's separation from him and in 1971 he had remarried. His bride had been a woman half his age, named Lola Bergstein. According to Della's source in Chicago, the woman had been a charming, beautiful woman with brown eyes and long brown hair. Not exactly the type people had expected from the millionaire known as a ladies' man, but still interesting enough to attract the attention of Chicago's upper class and the tabloids. Her tragic death in a car accident in 1975 caused a wave of sympathy for the grieving widower until it became public knowledge the accident wasn't an accident.

The police discovered that the brakes of the car had been manipulated so that Lola had no chance when she lost control over her car in a curve outside the city. Of course, Thomas Grant himself had been a suspect since he had been charged with murder before, but in the end nobody could find enough evidence for a murder charge for the death of Lola Bergstein Grant. After living in Europe for several years, Grant had finally returned to L.A. in 1987. He had never married again, nor had he been seen with a woman who could have been considered as the third Mrs. Grant.

Della swallowed and abandoned her pencil, lost in her thoughts. She desperately wanted to trust Thomas Grant and her instincts about him, but she couldn't help but feel insecure after hearing about the fate of Lola. But Lola hadn't been rich nor had the marriage been a disaster, as the one with Edna. Thomas had had no obvious reason to kill his second wife. Had someone been using his past against him? Or was he the type of a black widower?

She rose from her chair to get herself a fresh cup of coffee, but changed direction as the doorbell rang.

Before she opened, she checked through the window next to front door to see who her

visitor was and wasn't happy when she saw a large limousine parked right behind her car. Being subtle had never been a strength of Mr. Grant.

Contemplating not ignoring him, she stepped back and waited, but he rang again and she knew he wouldn't leave until he got what he wanted.

"To run and hide doesn't suit you, Della," he said, when she opened the door.

"We shouldn't be seen together," she told him nervously while checking the area around the house.

"I know... the park was a bad idea," he agreed, a bit crestfallen. "You have this effect on me. I sometimes lose my ability to think straight."

"Tom..." she started, but he raised his hand, silencing her.

"Wait, Della... I don't know about your neighborhood, but mine proved to be kind of noisy. Why don't you join me for a ride, while we talk?" He pointed at his car. "The windows are tinted, the driver won't hear a word... please, Della... I promise you'll be back in less than one hour."

~tbc~