Working for the Enemy 15

Della looked between Tom Leopold and the two men standing close by the exit door to the corridor.

'Please don't stall any longer Miss Street.' Leopold stepped towards his office door. 'These gentlemen are on a schedule and so am I.'

'And if I have no wish to go with these men?' Della lifted her chin in defiance.

'That I'm afraid is not an option in this scenario. Now please.'

'No.'

'What?'

'I said no.' Della crossed her arms. At that moment she certainly looked braver than she felt inside as Leopold's voice dripped with ice.

'Miss Street, do not try and delay the inevitable with your silly games. No one is coming to rescue you and even if your beloved Mason does, I can assure you he won't be walking away from this in one piece either, although dear Laura would like him re-trained and under her thumb.'

'No one retrains Perry Mason.' Della's voice dropped ominously at the instant thought Laura could bend Perry to her will and have him follow obediently like a trained puppy the rest of his life. 'He'll come for me or we'll both die trying to get away.'

'Good! I like the fact you'll die trying to escape. Makes my story of how you both met your end more plausible.'

'And what is the story you've concocted?'

'Why don't you get it? A lovers quarrel of course.'

Della's eyes furrowed in question. 'I have no lover Mr Leopold. I'm not sure how that would hold water with the investigators.'

Leopold stepped back towards Della and grabbed her by the arm and roughly pulled her to her feet until she was almost nose to chin with him. 'Mason will be cast as your lover in this little play. When you are both discovered in your apartment dead it will be that Laura will tell the police he was seeing you whilst engaged to her. That you refused to be his mistress after he was married and in a fit of possessive jealousy, he will strangle you to death. In a pique of self pity and with realisation his career and life are in ruins, poor Mr Mason will take his own life by shooting himself in the head. Now what do you think of that? Shakespeare couldn't have written a better plot line.'

'Well that's some twisted Romero and Juliet yarn if ever I heard one.'

'I think it's rather romantic even if I say so myself.' Leopold half dragged Della across the office to the two men waiting at the door. 'You know what to do,' he snapped. Each of the men took Della by the elbow each and walked her to the elevators. When anyone passed they lightened their grip and gave the impression they were with the secretary by making light conversation. To add credence to the performance, they carried folders and made Della carry a briefcase. They exchanged idle pleasantries about the courts and discussed the various judges on the L.A circuit who were sitting on which case in which court. To anyone passing they were a trio off to a courtroom for a hearing.

They rode the elevator to the garage and made their way to a dark corner where a large Buick sat idling. Another man in the drivers seat.

'Get in lady, don't make this harder than it has to be.' The man in the grey suit nodded towards the rear doors with his head. Della pushed against the door frame and turned her head back to look him in the face.

'Hard for who?' she demanded sarcastically. 'I'm fairly certain mister this is harder on me than it is for you!' As Grey suit lent forward he placed his hands along the door frame. Seizing her opportunity, and seeing Brown suit had gone about to sit in the front passenger side prematurely, Della stepped to the side and slammed the door on the hands of Grey suit who gave an almighty howl of pain.

'You Bitch!' he screamed. 'You've broken my hand!'

Della wasted no time in turning to run back towards the staircase but she hadn't counted on the speed and agility of Brown suit who was out of the car in a flash and before she had a chance to cover a third of the distance back to the exit, he had grabbed her by the arms in a vice like grip. Della brought her three inch heels down on Brown suits instep, managing to rake down his shin at the same time. He also cried out in pain but kept a firm grip on her and whirled her to face Grey suit who had extricated himself from the door but was now clearly nursing a badly swelling hand. That however didn't stop him from his next move. His face purple with rage, Grey suit left fly with the clenched fist of his good hand and the last thing Della felt was the slamming of something hard into her jaw followed immediately by blackness.

PDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPPDPPDPD

In his office Perry waited by pacing restless tracks back and forth across the office floor. It was taking too damn long for his liking, where the hell was Drake and the reports from his men following Della. He raked his hand through his already mussed up hair for what seemed the millionth time when the door to the private entrance flew open and Paul stalked into the room, his face grim.

Perry ceased his pacing and glared at him. 'Well?' he demanded. Paul came to a halt several paces away from the lawyer and just stared at him stony faced. The silence was crushing. 'Well what have you got so far?' The lawyer demanded again. This time Paul lowered his eyes and took a deep breath seemingly searching for the right words to use. Raising his eyes to Perry, his worried expression spoke before the detective did. 'Your men lost her?' Perry dropped his voice.

'Yes, they managed to follow them out of the building garage but they got snagged up in traffic shortly after when a car ran a light and hit a water truck. Car got clean away.'

'Damn it!' Perry cursed and began balling his fist and both smacking it and alternately rubbing it with his other hand part in frustration, part in nervous gesture.

'Perry, there's more.' Paul sighed. 'One of the guys saw them take Della to a Buick parked in the shadows, but he did see Della try and get away. She slammed one guys hand in the door and stabbed the others foot with those heels she wears.'

Perry was about to grin but the furrowed brow of Paul stopped the smile taking form. Paul continued, 'One of the guys knocked her out cold with one punch to her jaw.' A thunderous look crossed the lawyers features. 'This was a bad idea from the start. Any number of things could have gone wrong. We could only anticipate and cover so many bases. And now she's at least hurt and god knows what else.'

'Paul, I want every man and contact you have on this. I don't care what it costs, we have to find her and fast.'

'I agree. I've already set everyone I know on it. I'm calling in a few favours too. I'm also warning you, you may have to do a few pro bono cases in the future because I'm also using your name where needs be.'

'Fine, I'll work legal aid for the rest of my life if I have to!' Perry stopped his pacing and lit a cigarette, before walking towards the door, his granite features tightening in dark, clouded rage.

'Where are you going?' Paul's harsh tone halted Perry by the door.

'I'm going to squeeze every last ounce life out of that bastard Leopold until he gives up what he's done with her.'

'Wait!' Paul cautioned as he leapt across the room and grabbed Perry by the arm. 'Please, you go there now and whatever he had planned he might move the timescale up. You can't risk that. I have two of my best operatives keeping tabs on him, we'll know if he makes a move. Perhaps he'll give something away as to her location.'

Perry looked at his best friend blankly, his mind in turmoil, his thoughts clouded by anger and a bloodlust he hadn't known in years. Della was missing, their great, adventurous and successful work together now lay in pieces thanks to the inadvertent discovery of one piece of paper and the manipulations of a previous girlfriend. The sudden thought he might never see Della again, never get to tell her again that he loved her overwhelmed his senses and he wanted to hit something or someone, but the small voice in his head broke through and he understood that charging around the city like a rampaging bull would do neither himself or Della any good. This particular enemy was clever and powerful and had to be dealt with by stealth, equal cleverness and patience. The only problem was that patience had never been Perry Mason's strong suit.

TBC