Chapter Fourteen
Los Angeles, CA Jake's Steak House 6pm Tuesday, 7 June 1983
After being seated in a booth by the restaurant hostess, Della was making herself comfortable when her server approached right away and placed a glass of ice water in front of her.
"I understand that you're waiting on another guest right now, but may I get you something from the bar while you're waiting?"
Della quickly grabbed the drink menu in front of her and chose a glass of the house Merlot. When her server left, she put the drink menu down with the dinner menu and anxiously looked towards the door waiting on her dinner companion. With a creased brow, she glanced at her watch and was sipping her water when the server returned with her wine. Before the server could leave, Paul Drake Junior walked up behind the server.
"I'm right on time I see – sort of. If you're taking orders for a drink, I'll have what she's having..."
"Right away sir. She's having the house Merlot..."
"That's great, thank you..."
The server left and Paul held his dangling necktie to his chest while leaning over Della to give her a kiss on her cheek. He then sat down in the booth across the table from her.
"Sorry I'm a little late. Damn this LA traffic! Long time, no see Della. You look wonderful!"
Her sad eyes turned brighter when Paul's cheerful presence lifted her spirits.
"Thank you, Paul. It's good to see you. I'm glad that you could meet for dinner on such short notice..."
"Well, you sounded so serious setting up this meeting on the phone! Then when you wouldn't give me a clue about what this occasion is, even though I was so busy, I dropped everything just to be here."
With a smile on her face, Della shot him an arched brow across the table.
"Dropped everything, huh? I called you at your office and home all day yesterday and you never answered the phone until this morning. That leads me to believe that you were either out carousing around all night with your latest girlfriend, or busy hanging out with the boys in the band."
The server returned with Paul's glass of wine and he told the server that they would need a few minutes before ordering dinner. Paul got back to their conversation.
"What if I told you that I was working on an important case?"
Della slowly shook her head and tilted it away in disbelief.
"Damn! I've been busted again! Just like when I was a sophomore in high school and you and Perry met me at the door one morning after I snuck out overnight… I tried explaining that the boys and I were just out trying to spook a girls' slumber party."
Paul looked up and away for a moment recalling that particular night.
"At the time, I thought it was a harmless night out. But boy oh boy was that a stern lecture by Perry about sneaking out and staying out all night! Speaking of Perry, how is our favorite Appeals Court Justice?" Paul sipped his wine waiting for Della's answer.
Della could feel her pulse rate elevating and her cheeks turning red. She reached for her wine and took a sip before answering.
"Perry is the reason that I've asked you to meet me here tonight, Paul..." With both of her hands, she lightly grasped her wine glass on the table in front of her as she continued.
Paul turned and looked around inside of the restaurant.
"Oh? Will he be joining us here shortly?"
"No, he won't be here... I've uh, asked him for a separation..." She deliberately looked down at her wine glass to avoid seeing the reaction in Paul's face.
Paul's eyes widened as he was completely stunned. He reached across the table to gently cover her hands with his.
"Why? What happened? Talk to me Della..."
Della finally looked over at him.
"There's so much that you don't know, and eventually I can give you all of the reasons for this, but not right now. I'll just say this – our long distance marriage is not working out right now…"
Paul's detective mind was running wild but he immediately figured out that it had something to do with their meeting in Carmel. He sat back in his seat and folded his arms across his chest.
"Something happened in Carmel, didn't it?"
Looking back down at her wine glass, Della slowly nodded.
"Yes something happened in Carmel, but I don't want to talk about it right now..." Once again the vision of a naked woman climbing out of a hot tub came to her mind.
Paul shook his head and lightly slapped a hand down on the table.
"I should have known something happened in Carmel! That was right around the time that Perry actually called me at home one day – it was his birthday and like an idiot I forgot all about it until after we hung up! I thought that was the reason he was calling me. He threw me for a loop when he actually asked me if I'd heard from you at all – said that you two were playing phone tag."
He looked up towards the ceiling. "Why didn't I catch all those clues that something was up?" Paul quickly looked back to Della. "I'm sorry that I didn't check this out further..."
"It's okay, Paul. Neither of us wants to bring you into this situation..."
"But how are you doing? You really do look wonderful as always, but are you feeling okay – deep down inside?"
"I'm getting by, Paul. No one else knows about this, but I've been seeing a relationship therapist. She's been very helpful."
The server returned to their table and asked if they were ready to order. Paul politely told him that they were not ready yet but would look at the menu shortly. He turned back to Della.
"That's a good idea – getting professional help. But if you need anything from me – to talk or help you in any way, will you please call me?"
Reaching into her purse, Della removed a small notebook and pen.
"I have a new phone number." She began writing the phone number on the note paper. "And in case you were wondering, I've moved out of the condo in Sherman Oaks." She added her address to the paper. "Here's where I'm living now. I'm renting this house from a colleague at work. He's out of the country until at least December..."
Paul took the paper from Della and read it over.
"You're just down the road a bit in Calabasas. Nice area! Does Perry know about any of this?"
"That's another story – but yes, he knows that I've moved. But I didn't give him my phone number so you'll have to keep that just between you and me..."
After tucking away the note in his shirt pocket, Paul replied.
"You can confide in me, Della. I don't know what I'd even be able to say to Perry, but maybe if we all get together – when you're ready of course – we can work this out as a family. I really mean it..."
Della softly chuckled.
"I think that's a long way off right now, Paul..." She changed the subject. "I'm sure you're just as hungry as I am. Let's order dinner… There are a few other things I want to talk to you about that we can't discuss on an empty stomach."
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Los Angeles, CA Paul Drake's Home 9am Saturday, 11 June 1983
Waking from a sound sleep, Paul Drake rolled over in his bed and reached for his ringing phone.
"Hello?"
"Good morning, Paul. Did I wake you up?"
Paul immediately sat up in bed when he recognized Perry's voice on the line. Trying to sound more alert than he really was, he cheerfully answered.
"Hey! Hi Perry! I was, uh, just starting my day! How are you?"
"I'll let you know that later… Do you have plans for today? I'm in LA until tomorrow and I'd like to meet with you sometime."
Paul ran his fingers through his wavy blond hair and tried to sort through any plans he had for the weekend. Thinking of nothing significant, he finally replied.
"I can't think of anything important that I have to do today. Where are you?"
"I'm at the condo in Sherman Oaks. I'm here to dig through some important papers and such. Do you want to come over later – or maybe meet somewhere for lunch? It's very important that I see you..."
"Uh, sure, Perry. I can meet whenever and wherever you want today. Name it..."
"Why don't we start by meeting here, at the condo? How about around eleven o'clock? After we talk we can go out for a bite to eat..."
"Okay! Sounds great, Perry! I'll see you then!"
After hanging up the phone, Paul threw off his bed covers and sat on the edge of the bed. Before standing up, he rubbed his face with his hands thinking to himself, "Well, here we go..."
Not wanting to be late for meeting Perry, Paul arrived at the condo five minutes early. He knocked on the door and waited a few seconds before he heard Perry's gruff voice inside.
"Come in, Paul… The door's unlocked..."
Paul walked in to find Perry at the kitchen counter sitting on a stool with small piles of paperwork laid out in front of him.
Walking over to greet Perry, Paul held out one hand to shake hands with Perry while placing his other hand on Perry's shoulder. Paul noted how somber and downhearted Perry looked.
"Good to see you, Perry." Paul nodded towards the stack of utility bills and property tax papers on the counter and tried to sound upbeat. "Isn't it a little late to be looking at tax papers?"
Perry gestured for Paul to sit down next to him.
"Have a seat, Paul. I'm simply sorting out which bills have been paid and when the next ones might be due. And that includes looking for a property tax statement that's due in November." His serious tone turned softer as he swept the papers aside.
"I'll get right to the point of why I wanted to see you in person, Paul… I assume that you've already talked to Della?"
A very nervous Paul cleared his throat before answering.
"Yes I have talked to Della. We met for dinner Tuesday night." He paused only for a moment before continuing. "I'm sorry about what's happening between you two, Perry. Della didn't give me a lot of details, but all I know is that something happened with you two in Carmel. I just hope that I didn't cause any trouble – you know – since I couldn't come through with good tickets to my show that weekend. I feel awful..."
Perry reached over and grasped Paul's shoulder.
"You have nothing to feel bad about, Paul. This is all a matter between Della and me. This is something that I caused and some day I hope to see Della in person to start working this out. This is not easy on Della or me. She wants time to sort out this situation and I understand that. And I won't put you in this middle of this, either. I'm just glad that you could come over today… You've already probably heard that Della has moved out of this place..."
"Yes. She said that she's in Calabasas now..."
"Right. So now I need to figure out what to do with this place. I don't want to sell it. I don't want the hassle of renting it to someone I don't know very well. So how would you like to stay here – just pay the utilities for now and you won't be charged any rent?"
Not expecting Perry to offer the condo to him, Paul was surprised.
"Wow… I didn't see that offer coming… This place is huge! Two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a den… I don't know what to say, Perry."
"Just say okay and that you'll move in when your lease is up on your apartment at the end of the month…"
Paul looked up to think over the offer.
"Let's see… Today is what – the eleventh? I need to give thirty days notice to my landlord… I wonder if he'll let me out of the thirty day notice if I just give up my damage deposit? I think he can easily find another renter to take my apartment..."
"You don't have to decide this right this minute, Paul. I know this is unexpected and if you need more time to work this out, that's fine. I just thought that I'd make the offer to you. Right now I don't want to do anything too drastic with this property. I only ask that you leave the master bedroom for me in case I return here occasionally."
"Well thanks for the offer, Perry. I won't change a thing in this place if I do decide to move in. How about if I let you know by Monday?"
"Monday is fine, Paul. And just so you know, I'm taking a temporary transfer with the Appeals Court to Portland Oregon starting Monday. I don't have all of the details yet, but I hope we can stay in touch."
"Of course we'll stay in touch, Perry. And just so you know, I'll do anything to help you – and Della, too." Paul's eyes narrowed and the worried look on his face was evident. "We're family… I just know we can work this out somehow." Paul lowered his head.
Perry reassured Paul by patting him on the shoulder and consoled him with a softer tone to his voice.
"I'm hoping for the best too, Paul. I love Della more than anyone in the world. If you'll do something for me – I'll appreciate it… Look after her – keep her safe and happy. She loves you very much and I'll feel better knowing that you're around to protect her until we can work this out..."
Paul looked up.
"You can count on me, Perry. I love you both and I want to see both of you back together again – and soon."
That brought a smile to Perry's face. He stacked up the papers on the counter and put them aside.
"You probably haven't even had breakfast yet. How about if we head out for lunch right now? I can come back here later and finish this."
Paul nodded his approval.
"Good idea! I'm starving!"
Perry stood up and grabbed the house keys. "Let's go – you're driving. So what are you hungry for? And don't say that you're craving one of those double-doubles at In & Out Burger right now. I need to find a place that serves a good cocktail!"
Paul stood up and patted Perry on the back as they walked to the door.
"A double-double would be great, but I know of a better place just down the road… And if our timing is right, I think there's a certain good-looking waitress working there right now..." Paul stopped walking and paused to scratch his head. "Now if I can only remember her name… Is it Rachel? Roxanne?"
Shaking his head and rolling his eyes, Perry gently pushed Paul towards the door.
"Let's go, Romeo..."
Walking down the hallway, Paul continued.
"Could it be Rosemary? Or maybe just Rose? Rebecca? That's it! I think it's Rebecca!"
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San Francisco International Airport 9am Sunday, 12 June 1983
Still wearing oversized sunglasses inside the airport terminal and clutching an airline carry-on bag, Velma Thomas took a seat near the gate where she waited to board her flight to Tokyo Japan. Nervously glancing around at other passengers waiting in the area, she looked at her watch.
"I've still got about twenty-five minutes before they begin boarding. I better check and see where I put my passport," she thought to herself. Digging into her purse, she located the passport and opened it up. "Velma Katherine Richmond," she read her identity listed on the passport. She quickly closed the passport and put it back in her purse. "That will be enough to get me into Japan. They're looking for Velma Thomas, not Velma Richmond," she thought.
"What else am I forgetting," she wondered to herself. "Oh! My boarding pass!" She quickly located the boarding pass in the airline ticket pamphlet in her purse and began to relax. Removing a magazine from the outer pocket of her carry-on bag, Velma opened up the magazine to casually glance at the pages while keeping a watchful eye out for any cops or Federal Agents that might be following her.
On the run from the FBI and other law enforcement agencies since the raid on her Nob Hill home on the twenty-fifth of May, Velma had been staying in different hotels using different identities trying to come up with a plan to get out of the country. She was finally able to purchase a one-way airline ticket to Tokyo where she knew that she could start all over again. Her plan was to use funds that, over the years, she had tucked away in two different bank accounts in Tokyo. Hoping to start again with a new identity and being smart enough to continue her scheming ways, she knew that once she'd arrive safely in Tokyo, life would be good again.
Velma also planned ahead for drastic measures if she would ever be caught by authorities. While pretending to read her magazine, she thought about that plan and put her magazine aside to dig into her purse again. Feeling around in the purse, her hand grasped onto a pill bottle and she brought it out of the purse.
"I'm so glad I could get this anti-depressant prescription refilled," she thought. "If any cop tries to detain me, I just pop a few of these into my mouth and it's off to the hospital as an overdose victim instead of a jail! After they pump my stomach and soak up anything remaining with the usual charcoal treatment, I can easily escape from a hospital emergency room! They're not taking me to any Federal Prison for the rest of my life!"
An announcement over the loudspeaker at her gate got Velma's attention.
"Ladies and gentlemen. We'll begin boarding this non-stop flight to Tokyo in a few minutes. We'll be boarding all first class passengers and those that need assistance getting onto the aircraft first. Please have your boarding pass ready when we begin the boarding process. Thank you for flying United Airlines..."
The announcement was repeated in Japanese while Velma readied herself to board the aircraft and take her seat in first class. After taking her boarding pass out of her purse, Velma looked up and around the gate area. Suddenly noticing two men dressed in dark business suits wearing fedora hats near the gate area, she saw that they were carefully scanning over the passengers mingling in the area.
"Oh no," she thought. "Feds!" She quickly adjusted her sunglasses and looked down and away hoping they had not seen her. "Better get those pills ready... She reached back into her purse and turned away from the men in the fedoras.
"Ladies and gentleman, we're now ready for boarding beginning with first class passengers..."
A line had already formed by the gate ticket agent so Velma made her way towards the entry gate with the boarding pass in one hand and the pill bottle in the other hand. There were just seven other passengers in front of her and Velma took one more glance towards the men in the fedoras. She began to panic even more when she noticed that they were walking in her direction.
"This is it! They won't take me without a fight," Velma swore to herself. Popping the cap off the pill bottle, Velma put several pills in her mouth and quickly tried to swallow them down. With just one person in front of her now, and having successfully swallowed most of the pills in the bottle, Velma continued moving towards the gate agent wondering why the Feds hadn't grabbed onto her yet.
As Velma handed the gate agent her boarding pass, she quickly glanced over her shoulder to look for the men. They had actually walked over to another couple of passengers seated near the gate entrance. Out of earshot from Velma, they were all laughing and just saying their goodbyes to each other.
"Ha! They didn't even see me… I wonder what they wanted with those other passengers," Velma thought to herself as she continued onto the entrance ramp to the aircraft.
Once on board the aircraft, Velma forgot all about having ingested several anti-depressant pills and made herself comfortable in her seat. Still hoping that the aircraft would quickly be filled with passengers and push away from the gate, Velma nervously looked out her window avoiding eye contact with any of the flight crew or other passengers.
Within thirty minutes, the airplane was rushing down the runway and lifting up into the sky. Velma removed her sunglasses and finally relaxed in her seat thinking that she would be home free upon landing in Tokyo. But within an hour of the flight leaving the airport, her heart rate increased and she began to perspire. Velma then realized that the overdose of pills that she had taken was making her very ill.
"I've got to get into the lavatory right away and throw up," was her immediate thought. She unfastened her seatbelt and asked the passenger next to her to let her get by. As Velma stood up in the aisle and tried to start walking to the lavatory, her weakened knees began to buckle and she collapsed. By the time a flight attendant got to her to assist, Velma was incoherent and unable to move or speak. She eventually began convulsing as the flight attendant tried to hold her down.
A second flight attendant arrived to assist and asked other onlooking passengers if there was a doctor on-board.
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San Francisco International Airport 7am Monday, 13 June 1983
Arriving in plenty of time to catch his flight to Portland Oregon, Perry sat down in the waiting area of his departure gate. He yawned due to the early start that he had to make to get to the airport for the early flight. With another twenty minutes left before the aircraft was due to board passengers, he unfolded the newspaper that he picked up at the newsstand on the way to the gate and began reading.
A short article about a flight bound for Tokyo the day before that had to return to San Francisco over an hour into the flight caught his eye. The vague account of the reason the flight had to return mentioned that a passenger on board became critically ill making it necessary to return. The loudspeaker announcement was made about boarding his flight and Perry folded up the newspaper and made his way to the ticket agent at the gate.
Within two hours, Perry arrived in Portland and after picking up his luggage at the baggage claim area, he met an escort from his Appeals Court office assigned to bring him to his office. Perry's day was filled with an orientation to his new office area and getting to know his office staff. His meeting with the Court's Chief Justice was very casual but lengthy. Perry was already acquainted with several of the other Justices working in Portland so he was feeling very comfortable in this temporary assignment. He was informed that this assignment would only last for approximately four months.
By four o'clock that afternoon Perry was settling in to his new digs in an apartment located within walking distance of his office. The fully furnished one-bedroom apartment was leased by the government for use by dignitaries and others doing short-term business with the Appeals Court.
After unpacking his suitcases, Perry went into the kitchen area to size-up the cooking utensils and tableware. Planning to eat most of his meals at home, he wanted to make sure that he had the proper tools to prepare a decent meal. He wrote up a shopping list and ventured out to the nearby Safeway grocery market.
Knowing that he would have several opportunities to return to his apartment in San Francisco over the length of this assignment, Perry only purchased the basic cooking essentials. He also stocked up on a variety of meats to be able to prepare simple meals for dinners for the week.
Back in the apartment by five-thirty, Perry unloaded his groceries and started to gather the ingredients to prepare his dinner. While his chicken cacciatore was cooking on the stove, he opened a bottle of Pinot Noir from a local Oregon vineyard. After pouring a glass of wine, Perry made his way into the living room to catch the six o'clock news on the television. He'd have time to watch most of the news in his leather easy chair while his dinner was still simmering.
Most of the local headlines were of the usual topics: crime and politics. After the weather report, Perry was about to return to his dinner when the anchorman began reading the business news. Perry stopped dead in his tracks as a photograph of Velma Thomas flashed on the screen. Grabbing the television remote control Perry turned up the volume to hear the news story.
"In business news today, a federal fugitive from the San Francisco area died Sunday morning of an apparent overdose of anti-depressant medicine. Velma Thomas, age fifty-nine, was a passenger on board a United Airlines flight to Tokyo when she became critically ill. The flight returned to San Francisco and she was transported to a local hospital where efforts to revive her failed. Miss Thomas was an heiress to a real estate conglomerate founded by her grandfather, Harold Richmond of RKT Partners. At the time of her death she was wanted by Federal authorities for several fraudulent business dealings. Her death is still under investigation… In other news, the stock market remained steady today..."
Perry turned the television volume down and rubbed his chin with his hand. After a moment, he shook his head and continued walking back into the kitchen thinking to himself, "This is just unbelievable..."
TBC
Kudos to "skysea" and "SuzyQ" for their guesses on Barbara Hale's version of "Put the Blame on Mame" in "The Houston Story" movie mentioned in Chapter Thirteen. Thanks for reading and reviewing. There's still more to come.