Della sat squirming in her chair, her heart thumping wildly. The man began loafing his gun. Della screamed for all she was worth, still squirming, and accidentally knocked the chair backwards.

"SHUT UP!" he shouted and uprighted her chair with a thud.

He pointed the gun at Della again.

"So long, dear," he said the last word as though it were poison.

A shot rang out, but it did not come from the man's gun. He dropped his gun with a painful scream and four policemen rushed at him. Della's knees began to shake. She nearly collapsed in relief.

"Are you all right, Della?" asked Lt. Tragg as he cut her ropes.

She nodded, not exactly sure what he said because of the pounding in her ears. Paul was suddenly there. He tried not to stare at her, but it was not easy.

"He tried to kill me...," she gasped.

Paul saw her trying to look poised and dignified, but he could see her trembling. He put his arms around her shoulders and, with a nod from Lt. Tragg, led her outside. Perry was pacing in front of the door, trying to see past the policemen. He looked more than relieved to see them.

"Della," he sighed in relief.

"Oh, Perry, I thought I would never see the light of day again," Della looked down, trying to hide the tears that welled up in her eyes.

Perry looked at his secretary, seeing her in a way he had never seen before. Her hair was disheveled; she had bruises on her face from where the man had slapped her. Dried blood was allover her face, blouse, and skirt. And Della was about to cry, something he had never seen her do. Della looked as though she had been through a battle. She was still trembling. Perry's heart went out to her.

"You're safe now," he put his arms around her and let her sob into his shoulder.

The police brought the man out of the building. Perry's face hardened into pure anger. He was more than glad his arms were full of Della, or otherwise he would have belted the man. Paul started after Della's retched kidnapper, but a policeman had to grab hold of him and make him stop. Paul stalked off in the opposite direction. Della refused to look at the man. Perry patted her arm comfortingly and led her towards the waiting cars.

He was glad she was safe. She was glad she was safe too, but I guess that goes without saying. Perry could not wait to hear the explanation behind all of this.

Two days after Della was found:

"Come in, Paul," Perry called when he heard Paul's telltale knock.

"Hi, Perry. Is Della here? This concerns her," he held up a manilla envelope.

"Of course she's here. She wanted to come in yesterday morning after she got out of the doctor's office, but I put my foot down," he then spoke into the intercom, "Della, Paul's here with some news."

She came into the office. Paul noticed that she looked a lot better than she had the previous morning. The only sign that anything had happened was the small bandage on her cheek and a few fading bruises.

"Hi, Beautiful!" Paul smiled at her.

"You bring good news?" she asked, sitting down.

"Sort of, I guess. Your kidnapper's name is Christopher Ghardson, originally from New York City. Ghardson was married to an Elaine Craig about five years ago. She filed for a divorce two years ago, claiming he was not taking care of her and was mentally insane. He never signed the papers though, so the divorce never went through," said Paul.

"What does that have to do with Della?" Perry asked as Paul paused to light a cigaret.

"Wait a minute, he said something about looking for me for two years when he had me tied up in the shack," Della remembered.

"Meet Elaine Craig Ghardson," Paul flipped her the envelope.

Della pulled out a picture and gasped. She handed it to Perry. He looked at it, dumfounded, then looked up at his secretary. The picture of Elaine Ghardson looked shockingly like Della.

"He mistook me for her?" Della asked, looking down at the picture.

"Can you blame him? You two look like you could be twins! Ghardson went all around the country looking for her. He finally came to Los Angeles and saw Elaine coming out of a nightclub with another man. He followed them in a taxi, but lost them in the traffic. He was frantic. He wanted to get back at her for leaving and going out with someone else."

"But he found me instead," Della sighed.

"He found a picture of you in the paper, a shot from a recent case."

"Didn't the name Della Street clue him in?" Perry asked.

"He thought that it was an alias and that you - well, he thought that you were another boyfriend," Paul pulled a picture cut out of a newspaper of Perry, Della, and Hamilton Burger out of his pocket.

Perry shifted in his chair. Della gave Perry an amused look as Paul continued.

"He looked up the name Della Street and found that she was working for you, Perry. He jealously decided to get rid of Elaine - or Della. He was the one who poisoned the chocolates left on your desk, Della. When that didn't work, he tried to shoot you in the hospital, but missed. He sent you a threat with the knife in the rose. He sent the telegram, posing as an old school friend. He was at the nightclub that night, but he knew the detective wasn't you. His last resort was to kidnap you and make sure he finished the job. You know the rest."

"What about Elaine? Where is she?"

"Down at police headquarters. She wants to meet you, Della."

"I've always wanted to meet my twin."

"I'd like to meet her too," Perry stood, "I'll drive."

~~~~P+D~~~~

"Elaine Ghardson is in there," Lt. Tragg nodded towards his office.

Elaine rose as they entered the room. At first glance, one could very easily mistake her for Della. After you looked at both of them, however, you would realize that they were very different. For one thing, Elaine's hair was very close cut and unattractive. She was also much more sullen than Della. Elaine was twoinches shorter and had freckles across her nose.

"You're the woman I saw coming out of the beauty parlor," Perry finally put two and two together, wondering how he ever could have mistaken Elaine for Della in the first place.

"Yeah," Elaine nodded towards Della, "You're Miss Street?"

"That's right," Della shook hands with the woman.

"I guess we do look a lot alike. I'm sorry for what my husband tried to do to you. He isn't right in the head," Elaine apologized.

"He made a mistake."

"A mistake he never would have made if I hadn't left him. I'm sorry. He didn't hurt you, did he?"

"Just a bloody nose and a scratch on the cheek," Della forced a smile.

Perry and Della talked with Elaine Ghardson for a while, then took their leave.

"You won't have to worry about her husband anymore," Perry said as they walked through the halls of the police station.

"Did you really think she was me coming out of the beauty parlor?" Della gave him a teasing look.

"Maybe at first glance," Perry shrugged, "But you can't blame me. Her own husband did the same thing to you."

"I guess."

"Della, can you promise me one thing?"

"What?"

"Promise me you will never cut your hair like Elaine Ghardson's?"

Della laughed, "It's a deal, as long as you promise never to try and kill your wife, someday. You could end up with the wrong girl."

"You've got my word on that."

The End.

Thank you all so very much for reading and reviewing! I appreciate it more than you know. I love that people still enjoy Perry Mason so much that they come back to read all of the crazy fanfics people write!

I am going to take a little break from posting stories so I can work on some drafts I have started. I plan to post again before the end of the year, so stay tuned!

Also, I have new poll I would like you guys to answer. I am trying to figure out what you guys are interested in reading. Go to my profile and the poll is at the very top of the page.

Thank you, again!

3 Anne