Disclaimer: The characters aren't mine.
A/N: I'm so sorry! Now that it's summer (finally) my days get all mixed up. I swear, I thought yesterday was Saturday. Then, when I remembered it was Friday, it was late and I was tired! At least you don't have to wait weeks like the last time though, right? Enjoy!
Perry and Paul had been sitting in the car in silence. As soon as they saw Tragg drive up, Perry turned to Paul. "There has to be something in here."
Paul looked at his friend sympathetically. He didn't know what to say. Even thought Perry wasn't really looking for an answer, Paul couldn't reassure him, because it was incredibly unlikely for a police officer, especially a rookie trained under Tragg, to miss anything. He also wasn't going to voice his doubt either. Paul didn't know what Perry was going to do if the judge and jury found Della guilty. Paul only hoped the jury knew enough about Perry Mason to know that someone who worked with him wouldn't kill anyone.
As soon as Tragg pulled up, Perry and Paul jumped out of the car. Tragg, while getting out of his own car, looked at them both assessingly. He walked toward the storage space, pulled out the key and while unlocking it reminded them, "Burger does not hear about this!"
Perry looked at the Lieutenant solemnly. "I promise, Arthur."
Tragg nodded, matching Perry's solemn tone, and let them into the space. He mentally crossed his fingers. Though Perry was technically a competitor, Perry cared about justice, just like Tragg. Tragg also knew Della didn't murder Miriam Lyle no matter what the evidence may say, and Perry just had to prove it!
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Perry and Paul were both sifting through the things in Miriam's storage space. Tragg had been right. Mostly, the space was filled with old clothes, old furniture, old things in general, CD's and a computer, just as Tragg had said.
Perry took a deep breath as he searched under the couch cushions. He wasn't exactly sure what he was looking for, but he knew he'd know when he found it. In the logical part of his brain, he knew he needed Paul here helping him. At the same time though, he wished he could search the space by himself. He knew Paul wouldn't miss something on purpose, but with Perry not even knowing what they needed, how would Paul know?
Paul felt his heart start beating a bit faster looking through the CD's. They weren't finding anything here either and though he said nothing in the car, he had hoped Tragg's rookies had missed something too!
Flipping through the CD's, Paul almost laughed at Miriam's obvious variety in music tastes. Some of the CD's had rap songs, others had country and others were oldies. She even had a few classical songs. Paul smiled. Miriam was anything if not organized. She had all her rap groups on one CD, rap solo artists on another and so on.
Suddenly Paul noticed something strange. The song Picture with Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow was the first song on what was supposed to be a classical CD. This may be nothing, but with Miriam's apparent organizational skills, he didn't think she would put this song, of all songs, with classical music.
Paul decided not to say anything until he finished going through all the CD's, maybe the organization started later in Miriam's life. When Paul found all the CD's followed the same pattern after the suspicious one and found another CD with the song Picture on it—laying flat under all the rest of the CD's—this time hidden in between some oldie songs, he had to say something,
"Perry," Paul said. At his name, Perry's head shot up. Tragg's did as well. Was this the break they had all been hoping for?
Perry tried not to run over to Paul. He stayed where he was, with monumental self-control. "Did you find something?"
"Possibly," Paul said. He didn't want to give Perry too much hope, but the more he stared at the CD's the more he was convinced this wasn't just a coincidence.
Paul showed Perry what he found and explained why this particular CD seemed fishy to him. "Maybe this is why there weren't very many pictures on Miriam's memory card. She might have kept all her blackmail pictures on this CD? Or both of them? From what I've seen with the rest of the CD's, that method of organization would have been just like her. She also probably wanted lots of room on her memory card to take new pictures. Still though, Miriam couldn't have gotten rid of all her blackmail material."
Perry was nodding, trying not to get too excited. Everything he had gotten excited about in the past few days had turned out to be a dead end. This seemed incredibly promising though! "You just may have something there, Paul."
"We're going to your office, aren't we?" Paul asked. It was a rhetorical question because there was no way Perry was going to sit on this information all night. Quite frankly, Paul didn't want to either.
Tragg looked at both of the men. He could tell they were trying to smother their excitement and Tragg couldn't blame them. "I'm not going to wait for you to invite me. I'm coming with you. If you say no…" Tragg's voice softened then. "I really don't want to charge you with obstruction of justice."
Perry walked over to Tragg and clasped his hand for a handshake. He wasn't going to object because, just as he told Burger that afternoon, the law was the law. Perry looked into the Lieutenant's eyes. "Thank you."
Tragg read the emotion in Perry's eyes and knew the appreciation wasn't just for opening the storage space. Tragg nodded. "Anything for justice."
Getting in the car and watching Tragg lock up the storage space once again Paul smiled. He had to joke about Tragg's crush on Della, Paul couldn't let a chance like this pass by. "He said anything for justice but what he really meant was anything for Della."
"Everything for Della," Perry corrected in a whisper.
Paul felt his chest tighten. He didn't want to imagine what would happen to both his friends if these CD's didn't contain what he hoped they did.
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In the Brent Building, in Perry's private office, Perry looked toward Paul and Tragg. "Cross your fingers."
"I thought we didn't believe in luck," Paul slightly joked. Tragg automatically crossed his fingers.
Perry's eyes connected with Paul's, a very serious look in them. "Right now…we do."
Paul held up both of his hands. Then he crossed his first and middle finger together. "Good luck."
Perry nodded his agreement and took a deep breath. He put the first CD in his computer and held his breath.
Oh, I'm so mean! I would hate myself right now if I were you! Again, this would've been up earlier, but there were some things I had to change in the chapter. Tragg probably would've impounded the CD's right away, but he's going to give them some leeway since it's Della. He's also letting Perry and Paul go to their own office (even though he's tagging along) because it's his fault they didn't find the CD's first. Please leave me a review and thanks for reading!
