Just three months had passed since the horrific night that changed the Mason and Drake families forever. From the walk to the lodge to the capture of the assailants had taken all of six hours. The six hours had been the longest six hours of their lives.

Sue Drake was now four and a half months pregnant with Paul's child and everyday she wondered if Paul was watching her from up above. She truly believed in heaven and god and was sure that Paul was with him right now.

Paul senior had taken over the Paul Drake Detective Agency once again. He found that although, he was a little rusty, he was still very good at his job and had adjusted well as far as that was concerned. Jen had been staying at Sue's house for the first few weeks trying to help her adjust. Sue had told them that she was pregnant and they had wanted to protect that unborn child at any cost.

Della was adjusting to life without Paul and had to learn to live with the fact that she had murdered a man. Oh, yes there had been no charges he had his gun and had already killed at the very least Mark Washington. But, she had to learn to live with the expression on the man's face as he went down after she had shot him. He had been less than ten feet from her and he had died immediately.

But, the trial of the century was about to begin and she was finding herself on the other side of the table. She was going to be a witness as was her husband in a multiple murder trial. Never in her life had she been at such odds with her thoughts within.

Perry had dedicated his life to finding out what the truth was and he was not going to allow his best friend to die in vain. He was determined to find out why these two men had committed such a crime and who was involved, who was the ringleader. These two men were the shooters, but he knew that someone was pulling the strings and he was going to find out who.

The investigation had begun immediately and had never ceased . Perry had found Paul's father a dependable smart man who knew the ins and outs of private investigation. He might be a little emotionally involved as Perry was, but he had kept a level head during the entire ordeal.

When Perry had come home to find Della and his family and friends in his little pool house hiding from the murderer, something had snapped. For the first and last time he was going to allow this to happen. He had done his best to get Della to stay home and retire from the dangerous business, but she had refused. She had gone with him the very next morning. His partner, wife and love, was next to him ready to find out the who and why's. He had hugged her and off they had gone to the lodge.

The police were there still and Della walked through the hall very carefully. She was fresh and had not been in before. Her experience in doing so many investigations was now kicking in. She combed each and every corner of the room. She found that the police had done a very thorough investigation on the inside. So, she decided to go to the outside where two police officers had been killed.

Perry watched as his wife walked around the room, but he had another angle in mind. He headed to the office. In the office he found the club secretary Terry Wallace. Terry was a woman of around forty, with a strong kind manner. She had been the secretary for five years. She was sitting at the desk going over the paperwork that the police had It was obvious that she had been crying and Perry felt very sorry for the friend who had been destroyed as he had just the night before.

Terry Wallace was trying to get her desk together when she heard the steps of another person. Everyone had been demanding this and that of her and she hadn't had the answers. She was destroyed. The night before all the friends that she had socialized all her adult life with, had either been permanently emotionally scarred or were dead. She had looked up to find her friend Perry Mason.

Immediately Terry smiled. She knew that Perry was who she really needed at that moment. He was an attorney and a good one. He would know what papers the police could demand and give her some needed legal advice. "Perry, I am just lost. I am so sorry about Paul. The police want all the records of the lodge and I just don't know."

Perry smiled down at his friend and said "What they need is anything that might lead to the ringleader. Someone planned the entire thing. I don't and neither do the police think that it was them or Mark Washington. Someone contacted the newspapers, the demonstrators and someone paid these men to do the shooting. My job is to find out who it was and make sure that they face a court of law. Give them anything that you have. Do you mind if I look?"

Immediately, Terry felt a speck of relief. She had been overwhelmed by the task. She had been up on the stage when the shooting had started. Fortunately for her she had been at the podium when it had started. The podium had provided a shelter for her. But, through a pinhole in the woodwork she had seen the whole thing. She would never get over it. If she hadn't been reading the minutes, she could have been seated in plain view. Everyone on the stage had been shot but her that evening. She smiled and pushed her chair back. "Please help yourself."

As Perry took a seat at her desk he opened the folder. There were hundreds of papers, but Terry was very proficient and he saw that everything, but the information from the night of the shooting was on the hard drive of the lodge computer. All he would need was the password and he would have all the information that he needed, Quickly he wrote down every singe piece of information that had been written the night of the shooting and anything from that day. He would investigate everything piece by piece.

Della had been around the dumpster in the back once more, when she had seen Terry go out the back door. She had watched as the lady put something in her car. In the car, she was putting a folder. Della watched her, careful to make sure that she wasn't seen.

After a few moments Terry had gone back into the lodge and Della walked around the front. She approached the lodge office and saw her husband and Terry. She walked in the room and smiled as she greeted the two. "I thought that I might find you here at the lodge."

Perry knew that this meant his wife had something she wanted to tell him and he smiled. As he gave his wife a hug she gave him the look that told him she wanted to keep him busy until she came back. He couldn't help but wonder what his wife was up to. But he said "Why don't you go and call Karen and let her know that you'll be gone for more than a short while. Terry is showing me the minutes and I will be a while."

Della read the signal and headed out of the lodge. She took out her camera and quick lock release for the car door and headed out to Terry's car. If luck was with her Terry would have no idea that she had seen anything.