End of the case, but probably not the end of the fic.
"Now Mr. Mackey," Perry Mason began as he approached the stand. "We've all heard a previous witness testify that she saw and heard you become angry upon seeing the district attorney, Hamilton Burger arrive to visit Ms. Mullen just as you and Ms. Avery were finishing a session. Is that true?"
The sandy blonde haired, green eyed young man nodded almost hesitantly. "Yes," he said meekly.
"Why Mr. Mackey?" Mason insisted.
Mackey exhaled in frustration. "He was the prosecutor in the case that sent my brother, Johnny to prison for life. You'll forgive me if he's not on my list of favorite people."
"Oh, that's quite understandable," Mason smirked slightly and turned away from the young man for a moment. "Perhaps you'd like to tell the court why my detective saw you snooping around the outside of the building the murder took place in a few days after the crime?"
Mackey's light green eyes widened. He hadn't realized he'd been seen and was starting to worry slightly as to what exactly this Perry Mason knew.
Mason simply continued to stare the young man down, hoping to intimidate him into confessing what he knew. The raven haired attorney was certain he knew how the murder happened or at least close enough to get the result he wanted.
"He must have been mistaken," Mackey suggested weakly. "It wasn't me."
"Then who was it?!" Mason said sternly.
"How should I know?!" Mackey exclaimed, almost panicked.
Retreating to the table in front of the judge's bench, Mason retrieved the little black address book that Drake had found by Alexandra's office window.
"Is this what you were looking for? I remind you you're under oath, Mr. Mackey."
"Yes! Alright! I was looking for that, but I didn't kill Ms. Avery."
Mason held up the address again. "And why were you looking for this. It doesn't belong to you. It belongs to the defendant. How did it come to be in your possession?"
Mackey sighed and looked down at the hands he was wringing miserably in his lap. "I stole it out of Alexandra's office the night of the murder."
Mason stared at Mackey, his blue eyes bore holes into the young man's soul. "You saw that the secretary hadn't locked the door behind her so you'd have easy access to the inside of the building. But you weren't counting on Ms. Avery to get up and check to see what the noise was in Ms. Mullen's office, did you?"
Mackey shook his head. "No, I didn't. I figured whoever was still in the office would just assume one of her colleagues had returned and wouldn't bother getting up."
"So when Ms. Avery caught you, you knew you'd be in big trouble, especially since you'd told her her earlier how much you despised Hamilton Burger and stealing escalated to murder. And even though murdering your counselor hadn't been part of the plan initially, the situation played out even better for you, didn't it?"
Mason returned the address book to the little table and turned back to Bobby Mackey. "What better way to get revenge on the district attorney than to frame his girlfriend for murder and have her sent to prison for life just like your older brother was?"
Mackey hung his head, but they all looked up when there was a shout from the back of the courtroom. The judge indicated for the bailiff to bring the young man forward.
Bobby's older brother, Tim approached the bench and Mr. Mason. "Mr. Mason is correct, but I'm the one who killed Ms. Avery, not Bobby. Bobby told me he'd seen Mr. Burger with Ms. Mullen, but he wasn't involved in any of this other than looking for the address book. Things weren't supposed to get this out of hand. I just wanted to make a little trouble for the district attorney; nothing on this scale though."
The judge nodded to Lt. Tragg who approached Tim. "I'm afraid you'll have to come with me, young man.
Tim nodded weakly and went with Tragg as the judge called for the charges against the defendant to be dismissed.
W^^^W^^^W
The victory celebration gathered later that evening at Marchand's. Mason arrived with Della and Drake in tow; and he tossed the envelope that Burger had given him a few days prior back at the district attorney. Burger picked it up curiously and opened the little white envelope.
"Perry?!" He exclaimed incredulously. "I don't want this back. You earned every penny of it."
Smirking, Perry took out a cigarette and fired it up. "You, Hamilton, have someone more important to be saving your money for. That said, you're not getting out of buying dinner tonight."
"I wouldn't dream of it," Burger said sincerely. "Thank you, Perry. I owe you everything this time."
Alexandra had been quietly enjoying the company, having exhausted her inventory of enthusiastic thank yous after the judge had dismissed the charges. She was snuggled up against Burger with his arm around her and her head pillowed against his shoulder. She still looked exhausted, but with a content smile on her full, pink lips. Every so often, Burger would look down at her and plant a soft kiss on her forehead. Happy, content Burger was a very different man than irascible, all business Burger. Even Tragg looked like he couldn't believe it was the same man he'd worked with for the last several years.
Mason caught Della glancing at the couple with a surprised, but wistful look in her hazel eyes and he gave her hand a gentle squeeze under the table. Perhaps sometime soon they would find themselves in a similar place in their relationship. If Burger could lighten up like this then certainly Mason could.