It was a few weeks after Paul had seen the man and woman around Natalie's apartment building and he was there nearly everyday but always ran out of luck in trying to find out what they were talking about. But he was able to get a picture which he showed to Natalie,

"Wait, those are the Waverly's. They're one of the nicer couples in the complex. Why'd you get their picture?" Natalie asked with concern. Paul sighed,

"They've been acting strange since the murder. Do you know their names?" Natalie nodded,

"Jeremy and Elizabeth." Paul nodded and kissed Natalie's forehead as she smiled and kissed his cheek.

"Be safe." Paul nodded and flicked Natalie's nose as she giggled. Perry walked up to her,

"How are you today, Nat?" Natalie turned to look at her lawyer as she smiled,

"Happy. I'm glad that I'm staying over at Miss Street's apartment." Perry nodded,

"How's school?" Natalie sighed,

"Hard. Really hard Mr. Mason. Once everyone found out about the murder and that you're representing me in court… All that's done is alienated me from even those who I thought were my best friends, Hannah and Lauren. I've tried to tell them the truth but they refuse to believe me. No one is willing to talk to me, even the teachers I grew close to. I don't know what I've done to deserve this." Perry sighed as Natalie began to cry again as he held her close,

"You didn't do anything wrong, Nat. The gravity of your situation is to blame for the alienating you've experienced at school. It hurts me to hear about it. But you're stronger than you know. You will get through this and you will make new, better friends when you go to USC." Natalie hugged Perry tightly,

"Thank you Mr. Mason." Perry smiled as Natalie went to back to working on her homework as Della walked in,

"I take it you had a good talk?" Perry nodded and looked to Natalie with a soft smile that Della hadn't seen before as she smiled,

"I see you've grown attached to your client. I can tell that she looks at you in adoration, fatherly adoration. My mother told me that I would look at my father the way Natalie looks at you." Perry sighed as Della's smile fell,

"What's wrong?" Perry took a deep breath,

"Natalie's been completely alienated at school. Those she thought that she trusted aren't even talking to her anymore. It's been that way since the murder and the entire school found out that I'm representing her in court." Della gasped and looked to Natalie.

Natalie was like her, a natural beauty, and one of the kindest girls she's ever met.

"How could anyone decide to alienate Natalie? She's reminds me of myself. Kind, exceptionally beautiful. It's awful." Perry shook his head,

"I don't understand either Della." They went back to work as Paul pulled up to the apartment building and walked up to the Waverly's apartment and knocked on the door as Elizabeth opened it,

"Elizabeth Waverly? Paul Drake, I'm a private investigator for Perry Mason the man who's defending Natalie. Do you mind if I come in to ask a few questions?" Elizabeth nodded as Paul walked in,

"Is your husband home?" He asked as Elizabeth shook her head,

"He's at work, what do you need to know?" Paul nodded,

"Where were you around 12 pm the day of the murder?" Elizabeth nodded and lied point blank,

"Jeremy and I were out grocery shopping; we tend to do that during the week to avoid the crowds." Paul nodded,

"And what time did you get back here?" Elizabeth nodded,

"We got back around 1:30, we had just gotten back from visiting family back East. We had bought a lot of groceries. It took us a good hour to get them unpacked because around quarter after 2 we heard Nat's scream." Paul nodded, not buying her story but put on a mask to make her believe that he did.

Once he left and made it to a payphone,

"Hey, so I just talked to Elizabeth Waverly. I don't know Perry. Something about her story sounds off." Paul said on the phone as Perry nodded,

"Come back to the office and we can discuss it in more detail, Natalie's gone back to Della's. She wasn't in the right mindset to be at the office." Paul nodded,

"I'm on my way." They hung up as Paul suddenly felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up,

Am I being watched and was someone listening in? As he looked around not seeing anything, he shrugged and went on his way as Jeremy and Elizabeth were watching from their window.

"He bought the going out East story?" Jeremy asked Elizabeth as she nodded with a smile,

"100%. I think we might've driven Natalie away from this apartment building once and for all." Jeremy smiled as they kissed passionately, making their way to the bedroom.

Paul was looking up and noticed that as he made his way to his car and back to the office.

"So, when you went to go back into your car you saw Jeremy? I thought Elizabeth said he was out." Perry asked once Paul finished as he nodded,

"Yeah, Perry. That is what's got me bothered about her story." Perry nodded and they continued their investigation with fervor, they only had two more weeks before their first court date.