Ties That Bind Chapter 14 – Somewhere Between Morbid and Merry

Dinner with David and Kathy Spencer was meant to be something of a celebration, but neither they nor Perry and Della could muster many smiles. Oh, each couple was relieved that Ed Farley had chosen not to pursue the unlikely outcome of an innocent verdict and thrilled in their own different ways that he had signed his children over to the Spencers. Still, the sad fact remained that the reason David and Kathy were about to become parents was that a gentle, loving soul had likely perished at the hands of the person who had sworn to love and honor her and therefore any celebration should be in her honor. More than a few tears were shed by Kathy and Della as the final documents regarding Ed's plea and the petition for adoption were perused one last time and the course of action for the next steps in each process were verbally outlined and taken down by Della to be typed up later. Regina Farley's funeral was scheduled for the next day, and despite the inevitable sensation their presence would create after the Pine Cone retracted its special edition and the news of Ed Farley's plea bargain became common knowledge, all four decided they needed to attend the funeral in order for there to be closure in regard to this particularly stressful period of their lives.

Business was dispatched during cocktails and crudités in the living room, and once Della had gathered all the papers and placed them neatly in file folders, everyone seemed to take a deep breath and the atmosphere instantly became more relaxed. Perry stood and announced another round of drinks was in order, and as he was mixing a second batch of martinis in the dining room at the sideboard, Paul Drake's sports car roared up the driveway and the P.I. bounded into the house, apparently completely recovered from what ailed him that morning.

"Greetings guys and gals." He flopped on the couch next to Della and reached up to loosen his tie. "Little bit stale and stodgy in here, isn't it?"

"Paul," Della began a tiny bit sharply, "we just finished going over Ed Farley's plea and the adoption documents prepared by one of David's former associates."

"Finished you say? Then why such long faces? Look, I know the whole thing has been a strain and as tragic as the circumstances are surrounding the kids, we can't be morbid about it forever. That won't do anyone, especially the kids, any good."

Perry returned with a fresh pitcher of martinis and a glass for Paul, which he set down on the coffee table in front of him. "And we really shouldn't be making merry about it, either."

"I didn't say we should wear lampshades on our heads and dance on tables. But somewhere between morbid and merry would be okay." Paul picked up the empty glass and thrust it toward Perry. "Hit me."

Perry obliged, and refilled everyone else's glasses as well. "Well, the toast for our first pitcher was in honor of Regina Farley. What shall our toast be for this pitcher?"

"How about toasting overworked and underpaid private detectives?"

Perry took a seat in one of the side chairs since Paul had taken his next to Della on the couch. "I would if I knew any," he returned glibly.

"Ha ha. I have half a mind not to tell you what I found out about the Editor-in-Chief of the Pine Cone and a certain legal secretary named Debra Jo Carney." Paul sat back with a smug expression.

David Spencer blinked in surprise. "D.J.? What does my secretary have to do with Brad Selkow?"

"Well, it's like this. Last night I was out on the town, and I saw your secretary at a few night clubs. She was with a women and two men, and if I hadn't been having such a good time," he paused to grimace, "I would have realized that she was following me. I told Perry and Della this morning that I got the impression she wanted me to see her, and by golly, I was right. Can we please decide on a toast?"

"So you saw D.J. at a couple of night clubs," David said unconcernedly. "She's attractive and of age. I imagine she has drinks with men on occasion."

Paul remained silent, his glass held aloft anticipating a toast.

"Jeez-o-Pete," Della exclaimed, "here's to irritating private detectives who better watch what they try to sneak through on their next expense report."

Paul looked crestfallen but took a healthy sip from his martini anyway. "What the hell does Jeez-o-Pete mean?"

Kathy actually laughed. "That's what I've always wanted to know."

"It means you'd better tell us what you know before she says something less ladylike than Jeez-o-Pete. You'll really be in trouble then," Perry drawled.

Paul drained his drink and set the glass down on the table. "So like I said, I see Miss Carnation at one bar, then two – "

"Excuse me, Miss Carnation?"

Della blushed and ducked her head. "Just having a little fun, David," she mumbled apologetically.

David drummed his fingers on the arm of the love seat where he sat with his wife. "Something tells me you all have formed an unflattering opinion of my secretary."

"I'm afraid Perry and Della may have picked up on my attitude toward Debra Jo," Kathy said contritely.

"I think everyone is about to pick up an attitude about Debra Jo, if they haven't already," Paul predicted. "I'm sorry to tell you this David, but it appears it was your secretary who cooked up that special edition of the Pine Cone with Bradley Selkow."

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Dinner conversation centered on Paul's discoveries about Debra Jo Carney and Bradley Selkow, who as it turned out, did not print a retraction of the special edition centering on Ed Farley, and who now had egg on his face since the District Attorney had held a press conference at five minutes past five to announce the plea bargain agreement. It was a well-known fact that the Editor-in-Chief of the Pine Cone held District Attorney Lemuel Harris in high contempt and the newspaper man looked for every opportunity to disparage the D.A. Debra Jo Carney's 'insider' information and staunch support of her employer's initial belief that Ed Farley was innocent, combined with the fact the great Perry Mason would be acting as co-counsel had been just the thing Brad Selkow could use to embarrass the man he so thoroughly disliked.

Della picked listlessly at the steak Perry had grilled to perfection while listening to Paul relate what he had discovered. She wanted to eat, but steak, which she normally couldn't get enough of, held very little appeal to her. She managed to down a few American fried potatoes and a fair sized helping of sautéed mushrooms, which she could tell satisfied Perry as his sharp, sidelong glances became less obvious. While he thought nothing of skipping meals himself because he felt he could afford to, ever since her bout with pneumonia he had become positively hawkish about when and how much she ate. The drastic amount of weight she had lost so quickly during her illness last winter had frightened him, and he never wanted to see her that thin again.

Kathy watched Perry watching Della, knowing exactly why he did so, and hoped that no one noticed that she was eating even less than her good friend. While there was certainly no love lost between her and her husband's secretary, to see David so devastated by his employee's role in the atrocious special edition of the Pine Cone was quite upsetting. She had been suspicious of Debra Jo from the beginning, when she gave up a secure position in an established law firm to follow David into private practice and the uncertainty of steady paychecks, but whenever she tried to talk to David about it, he brushed her concerns aside as much ado about nothing. He and D.J. were a team, he'd said, and she looked forward to the challenge of building a business from literally the ground up. And she had done a fairly good job, up until this catastrophic breach of confidentiality. Obviously she hadn't taken Della's advice about the dictionary, or had seriously misunderstood the meaning of the word 'confidential' when she had looked it up, under the letter 'c'.

While the men discussed the ramifications of Debra Jo's serious infraction might have on the veracity of the plea agreement as well as the adoption of the Farley children, Kathy grew more and more despondent. She had looked forward to telling Della about what she and David would do to ready their house for the children, and how she had arranged to take a three-week leave of absence from the hospital in order to get Blake and Betsy settled in their new home and establish a schedule. Her parents were thrilled they were to become first-time grandparents, and had excitedly volunteered to stay with the children whenever David and Kathy had to work the same hours. Kathy had even begun to seriously consider taking over the practice of an established general physician in town, a scary thing indeed that she longed to talk over with her best friend.

And she wanted to get a dog for the children, but what kind? Della would know, or would know someone who could give her sound advice. But she couldn't talk about swing sets and dogs and toddler beds and shopping for little dresses and overalls when everything they thought had been settled was suddenly so unsettled. Why couldn't one thing, just one thing, go as planned?

Kathy pushed her plate away from her just as Della did the same. They smiled briefly at each other across the table and Della tilted her head toward the kitchen. Kathy nodded, and the two women stood in a choreographed motion and began gathering plates. The men barely paused in their conversation as the two women scurried into the kitchen with promises of coffee and dessert.

Della stacked the dishes she carried in the sink, and Kathy followed suit. As soon as her hands were empty, Della grabbed her friend and hugged her hard. "I'm so sorry, Kath."

Kathy Spencer sniffled. "It's not fair," she said in a trembling voice. "We were so close to getting the children, and now this. What that little witch did could ruin everything."

"Yes, it could," Della agreed, disappointment making her words emerge on almost a sigh. "Some opportunistic lawyer without the morals of a slug could jump in and claim that Perry and David acted with prejudice and coerced Ed Farley to accept the D.A.'s deal. Ed might retract his plea and there could be a trial after all. If that's the case, I'm sure the adoption petition would be vacated until the conclusion of the trial. It could turn into quite a mess."

Kathy sat down at the kitchen table and put her head in her hands. "I want those babies," she wept. "I want to be their mommy so badly. "

Della sat down next to Kathy and placed her hand on the distraught doctor's arm. "I know, Kath," she whispered, close to tears herself. She had been looking forward to being 'Aunt Della' to Blake and Betsy and having little guests nap in the crib upstairs. "We need to have faith that Perry and Paul and David can find a way to overcome what Debra Jo did. If she did it." She wasn't going to let the situation with Debra Jo devolve into anything similar to that of Ed Farley.

"I told David she was up to no good," Kathy said bitterly, swiping savagely at the tears streaming down her cheeks. "I should have told him she had designs on him, but I didn't want to seem like a jealous wife. That's what this is really all about. She wanted him to see that she was on his side while I gave him nothing but grief about taking Ed Farley's case."

"That's probably true, but what she did in regard to his practice was unforgivable. You can tell David no longer has any respect for her, so what she did seriously backfired on her. She'll lose her job and the scandal will follow her wherever she goes. Something like this will be hard to overcome, and getting a job in the legal field will be almost impossible." Della wasn't usually a vindictive person, but she would use Perry's connections in the state of California to see to it personally.

"Serves the little tramp right. The only good thing about this is that I won't have to put up with her trying to wedge herself between me and David any longer. It was bad enough dealing with not being able to get pregnant, but when you add to it how hard David was working in his new practice and Debra Jo lurking in the background, the past couple of years haven't exactly been easy. Taking on a ready-made family wasn't going to be any easier, but we both wanted it so much."

Della squeezed Kathy's arm reassuringly. "Our legal eagles will figure a way out of this, you'll see. Perry's been backed into smaller corners than this one lots of times. And in case Paul hasn't mentioned it in the past hour, he is the best investigator in the world. Let's put on our happy faces, go out there, and show them how much faith we have in them."

Kathy gave her a weak smile. "I don't know what I would have done without you, Del. I know I said some awful things to you and Perry, and you have every right to be sore at me. I want those babies more than anything I've ever wanted and I know David and I can give them everything they deserve. I lost my head a bit. I'm sorry."

Della got up, moved to the counter and lifted a cake stand that held a frosted layer cake beneath a glass dome. "No apology necessary, Kath. As I think back on it, it might have seemed like I didn't believe in you. That was never the case. Grab the coffee pot, will you?"

Kathy pushed back the chair and did as bidden. "I'm going to apologize to Perry again anyway. I can't have him thinking I'm some unreasonable harridan."

"He thinks nothing of the sort. He's actually rather fond of you."

"It's a bit difficult sometimes to pinpoint what he's thinking. His expression can be so blank."

Della paused at the doorway. "That's part of the reason he's so successful. That, and he's a maddeningly brilliant student of the law."

"I'll tell you a secret. David worships Perry. When Perry came to Carmel for that deposition last year instead of sending his clerk or some attorney fresh out of law school, David was beside himself with excitement."

Della grinned. "Perry would be so embarrassed about that! Flattered, but embarrassed. He doesn't think what he does is anything special. His philosophy is very simply that an attorney should believe in his clients and make sure justice is served." Her grin faded. "That's why I was so upset with him in regard to Ed Farley. He couldn't tell me he believed Ed was innocent, yet he insisted on pursuing a defense."

Kathy could tell Della was dangerously close to revisiting conversations better left alone. "It's all water under the bridge. We have other problems to deal with now."

Della opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, the telephone rang. She rolled her eyes when Perry shouted he'd answer it, and prodded Kathy to precede her into the dining room.

"Kathy!" Perry called from the den. "It's for you."