Brothers in Arms
Chapter 07
Sgt. Ed Brown checked the fax machine for the fourth time since asking for the photo of Tony Castle. Once again, no photo was to be found on the machine. Ed had been hoping the photo would arrive before it got too late. He wanted Dunlap's man to identify the man who had tried to purchase Otto. Ed had been a cop for several years now and he always trusted his hunches. Right now, his hunch told him that Otto's disappearance and the inability to contact his boss were related.
Ed had come up the ranks in the San Francisco Police Department rather fast. The personal interest Chief Ironside had taken in him from the beginning certainly did not hurt. In fact, it served to be catapult for his career. He had not been in the department that long when he became a detective under Chief of Detectives, Robert T. Ironside. He learned quickly Chief Ironside could be a difficult man to work for. He was demanding, did not seem to be able to tell time and everything he wanted done….he wanted done yesterday. Yet working for the him had been rewarding as Ed soon learned Ironside was loyal to his detectives. Ed learned more from him than all the rest of the department put together. Over the years, Robert Ironside had become more than a boss. He had been become Ed's closest friend. There was nothing he would not do for his boss and friend.
The sergeant was worried about the wheel chair bound detective. Oh, he certainly knew Robert Ironside could take care of himself. He was pretty self-efficient. He further knew Perry Mason was with him. Perry had already shown a brotherly desire to watch over Ironside. Yet Ed had a nagging sense of obligation to protect the chief. What bothered him more than anything was the chief's failure to communicate with him, Mark and Eve. Chief Ironside always called his office at least once a day to check on his city. Even if he and Perry had vehicle problems, the chief would have found a way to call them. Ironside would have known his silence would stir action on the part of his staff. Eve and Mark cared about the chief every bit as much as Ed did. They were just as anxious to find out what was going on at that cabin.
The door to Ironside's office opened. Eve walked in and came down the ramp. She look at Ed and said, "Look, I know you told me to go home for the night and I got about half way there when my car just turned around and came back. I am not going to be able to sleep until I know the chief is all right. So what do you want me to do?"
The door opened and Mark came in. "I can't concentrate on school when the chief is out of communication with us. What are we going to do about it?"
Ed smiled. More than once the chief had sent him home only for Ed to return to the office. He could not fault his friends for doing the same. Besides, maybe between the three of them they might be able to find out more than they already knew. "Sit down. Mark, put on some coffee please."
Mark headed for the kitchen to start some coffee. Eve sat down at the worktable. "You were about to tell me what you and Dunlap found out before we were interrupted."
"Nothing yet. Donaldson was not available. Dunlap is going to try to talk to him yet tonight," Ed replied.
The door opened and Dunlap walked into Ironsides office with another man. They came down the ramp and approached Ed and Eve. "Sergeant, this is Donald Donaldson. He worked with war dogs and was a member of Special Forces. I think you might find what he has to say very interesting."
Mark returned to the table with a pot of coffee and several coffee mugs. After pouring coffee for everyone, he sat down and waited for Dunlap and Donaldson to continue.
Donaldson addressed the group. "When I was in the service I worked with war dogs until I moved into the Special Forces. There, I worked with a man by the name of Tony Castle who was part of the same Special Forces team I was. He was brilliant. We were assigned to clean up every messy job the military had. Unfortunately, he disagreed with a decision from command and went rogue. He was court martialed for his actions. The individual that investigated him and helped build the case against him was a former police officer who entered the service. From that time on Castle developed an extreme hatred for law enforcement. About two years after he had been discharged from the service, the ex-police officer who investigated the case was found murdered. My understanding is that case is still unsolved to this day."
"Then they were never able to tie the murder to Castle?" Eve asked.
"No. They were never able to locate Castle. He had a few brushes with the law but disappeared and no one seemed to know where he went."
The fax machine whistled in the other room. Ed turned his head in the direction of the machine and said, "Eve, get that will you?" Eve left the room to get the fax from the machine.
Mark asked, "Do you believe this is the man that took Otto?"
"We have reason to believe it is a possibility. Don was informed that Castle's girlfriend contacted a Los Angeles attorney….an attorney I am sure you are familiar with. The man's name is Perry Mason.
Ed and Mark exchanged a glance. "Perry Mason is the Chief's brother. In fact, he is with him on vacation. We have not heard from him since he left here and Perry Mason's people have not heard from him either."
Eve returned to the table and handed Ed a photo. "This arrived from Lt. Tragg in Los Angeles."
Ed took the photo and then handed it to Dunlap and Donaldson. "Is this the man you are talking about?"
Both man looked at the photo and nodded their heads in the affirmative. "That's him," Donaldson said.
Mark looked at the photo. "Castle took Otto alright."
Everyone looked at Mark. "What are you talking about Mark?" Ed asked.
Mark walked over to the chief's desk and brought back two police sketches. "These arrived while you were out, Ed. They are the sketches done by our police sketch artist from the description given by Mr. Dunlap's man and the woman who saw him leaving from the direction of the kennel. I was going to tell you about them when I got in." He handed the sketches to Ed.
Ed looked at them and compared them to the photo sent over from Lt. Tragg. He handed all three to Dunlap.
"Ok, so now we know Castle took Otto but for what purpose?" Dunlap wondered aloud. "If it has anything to do with your boss or his brother, they are both in serious trouble.
xxxxx
Lt. Arthur Tragg sat in his office. He had just hung up the phone. He had spent the evening calling in every favor with every New York cop he knew. He could not believe there was so little information out there about Tony Castle. Something was bothering him about this man. He decided to make one more phone call. Picking up the receiver, he called Della Street's apartment. He waited for an answer.
"Hello," Della answered.
"Della, its Arthur. I need to talk to Paul."
"Is it about Perry and Robert?" she asked him.
"Yes. Can you put him on?" Tragg said.
Moments later Tragg heard the familiar voice of Perry Mason's favorite private detective. "This is Drake, Lieutenant."
"Paul, I know you are bound by a confidence with Perry but I need to talk to his client. Perry and Bob Ironside's lives could depend on it. I have a hunch that Chief Ironside is indeed the cop that Castle is after. I have picked up a bit more information. An ex-cop that investigated Castle was murdered and the case was never solved. Apparently Castle hates cops."
Drake asked, "Is there any concrete proof that Ironside is the cop that Castle is after?"
Tragg hesitated. "Paul, I don't have anything concrete yet except a cop's intuition that Ironside is that cop and if he is, he is in grave danger and by extension so is Perry. Tell me, are you willing to take a chance with their lives? If I am right they need help fast."
"Ok, I am just as worried about them as you are. I am going to give you the name of Perry's client. But if we are wrong, Perry is going to have my hide for betraying his client's confidence. His client's name is Rose Dove. She is Tony Castle's girlfriend. She came to Perry just before he left for San Francisco. She told him Castle is going to kill a cop. Perry asked me to find him and keep an eye on him. I put seven of my men on it. None of them has been able to locate him so far. There is no record of him leaving Los Angeles by plane, train or bus. He could have of course driven to San Francisco."
"Do you have an address where this woman can be found?" Tragg asked.
Paul gave him the address. "If you are going to talk to her, you better let me come along."
"I will pick you up in about fifteen minutes." Tragg hung up the phone and headed out of the office. He almost knocked Hamilton Burger down when he opened the door. "Hamilton, what are you doing back here?"
"Arthur, I think we need to go back and talk to Paul Drake. We need to know who Perry's client is and we need to talk to her tonight."
"What makes you think his client is a woman?" Tragg asked.
"Perry is a sucker for a damsel in distress," Hamilton answered.
Lt. Tragg chuckled. "That he is. I already have the name of the client…..a woman name Rose Dove. I was just on my way out to meet Drake and Della at her home. Do you want to come along?"
"Just try and stop me," was Burger's response.
xxxxx
Perry Mason watched Robert Ironside. He did not interrupt his brother as the man sat in his wheel chair scratching his German Shepherd's ear. He knew the chief was deep in thought.
Ironside looked up and stopped scratching Otto's ear. "The knockout gas in the crawl space? We need to figure out a way to use it against our opponent. Perry, bring it up here and let me take a look at it?"
Perry went back to the table that was positioned across the door of the crawl space. He pushed it out of the way and opened the door. Carefully he again lowered his body into the crawl space. Ironside wheeled his chair over to the opening. The tank of knockout gas appeared above the door of the crawl space. Ironside grabbed it and dragged it away from the opening. Perry Mason pulled his large frame back into the room.
"Bob, how are we going to use it without affecting ourselves?"
"I don't know yet. We'll think of something," Ironside said with a frown on his face.
Perry looked toward the bathroom. "Bob, does the commissioner have any of that wiring our opponent used in the bathroom?"
"We are thinking along the same lines. Let's take a look in the utility room." Ironside turned his chair around and wheeled toward the utility room.
Perry followed him behind his wheel chair. Both men began searching the room. Perry checked the cubboards above while Ironside checked the lower ones. After coming up empty handed Perry attempted to manuvere his way around his brother. He tripped as he stubbed his foot on the wheel of Ironside's chair. To break his fall Perry put his hand straight out in front of him and rammed it into the wall. A portion of the wall opened. It became apparant it was a cubboard with no handles. Perry closed the door. He and Ironside starred at it.
"You would never know there was a door here. It fits so perfectly," Perry said. "Did you know this was here?"
"No. Dennis never mentioned it. Opened it back up and see what is in there," Ironside ordered.
Perry pushed against the door and it popped open. Sitting on the shelf was a box of bullets. Perry read the side of the box. He tossed it to his brother. "Those should come in handy." He contined looking through the cubboard. He grabbed a roll of fishing line. He showed it to Ironside.
"Toss it here." Ironside put a hand up in the air to catch the fish line Perry tossed to him.
Perry went back to searching the cubboard. He turned and looked at his brother with a grin. The lawyer pulled out a roll of electrial wiring and tossed it into the air to the San Francisco detective. Unable to find anything else of use Perry closed the cubboard door.
"There must be more then one of those cubboards back there," Ironside suggested.
Perry pushed his right hand against the wood and another door opened. Inside on the middle shelf sat two hunting knives. Perry pulled them off off the shelf.
"Don't toss those...hand them to me," Ironside warned him.
"What's the matter, Bob, don't you trust me?" Perry asked with a twinkle in his eye.
Ironside ignored Mason and looked up at the top shelf. "Perry, pull those down," he instructed as he pointed.
Mason grabbed a stool, stepped up on it and grabbed what he thought were two hunting vests. He stepped down from the stool with a grin on his face and handed the bulletproof vests to Ironside.
Ironside threw one of them back at Mason. "Put that on."
Perry did as Ironside told him. When he was finished, he helped Ironside out of his jacket and into the other vest. He then helped him back into his jacket.
Ironside placed one of the knives just behind him to his left in a pocket in the wheel chair. He handed the other to Perry. "Find a way to conceal it so it will not be found if you are searched."
"Do you think he will search us?" Perry asked.
Ironside shook his head. "No. This man thinks he is far superior to us. He thinks he has left us defenseless. That is his weakness. And we are going to take advantage of it. But we are not going to take any chances. Conceal it." Ironside looked over at Otto who laid on the floor with his injured front paw crossed over the other.
Perry saw the concern on his brother's face. "It is too bad there was not a vest for him but then we could not put it on him if we had one."
Ironside smiled. Perry's power of observation and deductive abilities were much more acute then many police detectives.
"Putting a vest on Otto would tip him off that we have them on as well and point out the dog is more than just a stray we allowed into the house. He must think he has control over the dog. He cannot know Otto will obey me or we will not be able to use the dog to our advantage. No, we have to allow him to believe he succeeded in rendering us defenseless. It is our only chance. Perry, I want that dog to survive this as well." Ironside's voice softens. "I don't have to tell you; even then the odds are in his favor."
Perry knew what his brother was saying was true. "I suggest we do whatever possible to move those odds in our direction."
"Let's get started then." Ironside said gruffly.
xxxxx
Della Street walked to her front door to answer the ringing of her doorbell. Standing on the other side of the door was Lt Tragg and Hamilton Burger. As soon as she opened the door both men entered before Della had the opportumity to invite them in, a habit that normally iritated her. On this occasion, however it did not even cross her mind to be upset with them.
"Where is Drake?" Tragg asked.
"After you hung up, Paul called Rose Dove. She agreed to come here. He should be back shortly." Della closed the door. "Would either of you like something to drink?" Both men politely declined. "Have a seat. Paul should be back as soon as he can," Della said to them.
Della looked into the faces of two men she had come to respect over the years. In the beginning, she considered them Perry's enemies. Watching Perry's reaction to them and the men themselves changed her mind. She realized Hamilton and Arthur felt as strongly about Perry's clients' guilt as Perry did about their innocence. Perry butted heads with them all right, both in and out of the courtroom. Tensions were especially high when Perry came close to crossing that legal line in order to protect his clients. Yet he never quite went over it. At times, Hamilton lost his temper with him but Perry was always in control around both Hamilton and Lt. Tragg. Ever the gentleman, he never gloated over beating them in court, which was every time he stepped into court against them. They began to respect Mason and on occasion even helped him trap the real killer thus clearing his client. The courtroom rivalry continued to this day but gone were the days when Hamilton and Tragg wished to catch Mason over that line. They came to recognize his genius as an attorney, allowing a friendship to form between them. That friendship was what had brought them together in a common cause to protect Perry from harm.
Della could read the worry etched in both their faces. She was sure they could do the same with hers. The doorbell rang bringing Della out of her thoughts. She once again made the trip to the door. Upon opening it, Paul Drake walked in with Rose Dove beside him.
"Rose, this is Lt. Tragg of the Los Angeles Police Department and District Attorney, Hamilton Burger. You have met Della Street, Perry Mason's secretary. We need to ask you some questions about Tony Castle"
"I am not sure I should be talking to the police without Mr. Mason," the nervous woman voiced her objections.
Hamilton Burger spoke up. "Miss Dove, we have reason to believe Perry Mason is in danger from Tony Castle."
"That is ridiculous. Tony is after a cop not Mr. Mason," she said with skepticism.
Lt. Tragg tried to keep the impatience out of his voice as he spoke up. He hated treading around someone's sensitive feelings when lives were at stake but he knew losing his cool would be counter productive. "We have reason to believe Chief Robert T. Ironside of the San Francisco police department is Castle's intended target."
"So, see to it that he is protected. What could he possibily have to do with Mr. Mason being in danger?" Rose asked raising her voice.
Della could see the patience of the men was begining to wear thin. She decided this needed a woman's touch. "You care for Tony, don't you?"
Hamilton was about to say something when he felt Paul Drake's elbow in his side.
"Very much," she said as tears began forming in her eyes.
"Rose, I care very much for Perry Mason. I am very worried for his safety. You see Perry is not Tony's inended target," Della began with her explanation.
"Then why is Mr. Mason in any danger at all?" She demanded defiantly.
"Mr. Mason and Chief Robert Ironside are brothers. They are at a cabin together on vacation. Neither I nor Chief Ironside's staff have been able to reach either one of them." Della was hoping she was getting through to the young lady.
Rose Dove gasped. "Is Chief Ironside the famous detective in a wheel chair?"
"Yes Rose. If he is in danger then so is Perry." Della watched as the girl began to panick.
"Oh my god...oh my god." She kept repeating over and over again.
Della took her arm and said softly, "What is it? Tell me."
"Something Tony said at the time that made no sense to me." She look up at everyone and said, "Tony said the Ironman was about to be melted down for good."
Everyone watched as the girl began crying freely. It took a moment before Rose's mention of Ironside's nickname sunk in. Lt. Tragg looked at Paul Drake. "Get Ed Brown on the phone now."
xxxxx