This is a short chapter, but a very important one:

Promptly, at seen o' clock on the dot, Perry knocked on Della's door. She hurried to answer it.

"Shh, Linda's still asleep!" she said quietly, grabbing her purse.

"Ready to go to work?" Perry asked.

"Oh, yes!" she locked her door.

"It'll be nice to have you back. Gertie is a wonderful receptionist, but she is terrible at taking down dictation. I have never met a slower writer in my whole life," Perry shook his head.

Della laughed. With a friendly nod to the detective on duty, Perry took Della's arm and guided her towards the elevator.

~~~~~~P+D~~~~~

It was nice to have Della back in the office - no, it was wonderful to have her back. Perry had not realized how much he had missed her.

The first thing she did was start the coffee and reach for the stack of mail. She kept very busy all day, typing away in her office. Perry had the door from his office to hers propped open. He found himself occasionally watching her at work. He had given her the excuse for the open door,

"I promised Paul I'd keep an eye on you."

She had given him a strange look, but he pretended to be busy and not to notice it.

Truth be told, he did not want to take his eyes off of her for a minute - not in a romantic way, he told himself (well, maybe a teeny bit) but he was very concerned. The last time she had been in the office, she had walked into the room and collapsed to the ground, poisoned. Poisoned, in his office, no less! It had happened while he was there, in his office and to his secretary.

A lot of work had piled up in her absence, and Perry was sorry he had so many dictations she needed to take down. It was getting late - nearly midnight - when Perry was giving her his last letter to write:

" 'And in conclusion, th-' "

Suddenly the power went out, leaving them in total darkness. Perry heard Della gasp.

"Stay still, Della, I'll find a flashlight."

Perry stumbled around in the dark, bashing his leg on the corner of his desk, until he found a flashlight on the shelf in the law library. He made a decision then and there to one in his desk from then on.

"There, how's that?" he went back into his office, but did not see his secretary, "Della? Della! Della, answer me!" he flashed his light into the adjoining rooms.

She was gone!

:-D