Chapter 3
The next morning, the officerituals were the same as usual, they just took a little longer. Without urgent work to be done, and no cases to be dealt with today, Della took her time to rearrange her filecabinet, pulling out the oldest folders and documents to file them in the archive, behind the law library. This literal rearrangement of their work and business, caused the same rearrangement in her mind. It tidied her brain. She needed this clearing every now and then, to feel the pages in her hands, information about the cases, his timelines, his remarks, her typed out notes, lists, memo's. It felt purifying to her to go through the pages of what they had done. It felt like thumbing through a diary, recognizing events and emotions, laughing or frowning about them.
Memories flashed through her head when she put staples through the piles of papers, to file them in alphabetical order. Putting them away like that, knowing that if needed, they could be pulled out any time, made her feel self-confident and in control. Made her feel calm and ready for whatever was next. The room it caused in her filecabinet was an extra benefit. It gave her more room to work, more room to think. More room to have some necessary rest.
She poured fresh coffee for Perry and herself. He was at his desk, reading the newspaper. She tickled the back of his neck playfully above his collar, and handed him his cup.
" Thank you, " He took her hand from his neck and kissed it softly, before letting her go with the part of the paper he had already read.
" You're welcome, honey…" She sat down on the couch with her coffee and started reading.
" Mmm, the smell of your coffee is just what I needed. " Ken entered their silence, very unsuccesfully feigning a good mood." And a cup of it of course. "
Della checked out his appearance. " Oh, my dear Ken, what happened to you? "
" I… eh… I slept in the car. Amy threw me out…"
Perry snorted. " How the hell can you be thrown out of your own house? I'd say you go home now, throw Amy out, shower, shave, change into fresh clothes…"
Ken started to speak, but was cut off by the ringing of the phone. Della answered it.
" Perry Mason's office…" she listened, but there was no answer on the other side. " Hello? " she tried again.
" I … want….you…to tell me something...now... " the muffling voice sounded far away, but the words came to her clearly. " Who is this? " The voice continued, she froze for a moment and then dropped the phone. " Oh, my God…"
Ken stood next to her in an instant, and grasped the phone to put it to his ear, and listened. " Noone…" he shook his head, "...noone there.… who was it Della? "
" I don't know, he didn't say, it was just some lunatic I suppose…" she took the phone from Ken again and put it back in its cradle.
" Are you all right? " Perry asked without watching her.
" Yes, I am. A bit shaky though. I should be used to this kind of phonecalls, but I somehow don't..." She touched the back of her hair softly, which showed she was feeling quite uncomfortable.
Although she couldn't see them, she noticed the sudden silence and the quick look Ken and Perry exchanged between them. Briskly she turned around. " What? "
" Nothing. "
" Nothing…of course…. " She crossed her arms in front of her. " What is it you two are not telling me? "
Another exchange of looks. She sighed. Normally, she would have been angry and have demanded an explanation. Now, because of the awkwardness of the situation, a sudden worry captured her body and mind. It made her freeze for a moment before she turned her questioning eyes to the man she loved. " What? "
Without taking his eyes off of her, Perry adressed Ken. " Leave us alone for a minute, will you? "
" Sure. " Ken hurried to the door.
" Now you're scaring me…" she sat down slowly in the chair in front of his desk. Her eyes were firmly set on his, holding worry and concern.
" No, you shouldn't be scared, Della. I think everything is quite all right actually. We just should have told you before. " He leaned down to his desk in front of her, and took one of her hands in his own. " So, where do I start? " he asked himself out loud. " Do you remember the Travis case? "
She gave him a puzzled look. " Last year in Nevada, yes… You defended Billy Travis because Walter couldn't do it. He just had surgery. We stayed in this hotel close to his practise, and we also celebrated our anniversary there."
" Yes, we did. The fortiest. Some celebration. " A small smile broke through Perry's serious face, and he squeezed her hand. " All right, now do you also remember the lunch you were supposed to have with your old friend Vi Westwood? "
" Yes, I remember. She cancelled it. Later on we went to have dinner together with her and her son. Her daughter went back to Boston, and Paul followed her there. But that was after we won Billy's case. What about it, Perry? What does that have to do with this lunatic that just phoned here? "
" Vi didn't cancel that lunch with you, Della. I did. Just before you were supposed to go to her, Vivian… Vi received a similar phonecall in which someone threatened you. Vi called me about it and we decided that it would be safer to not have you out there with her. That's why we decided to arrange a dinnerdate after the case. " Perry gauged her reaction. She watched him concentrated, and he continued. " At first I thought it had something to do with the Traviscase, and I had Paul investigate it, and keep an extra eye on you. "
He let go of her hand, and stood up. He started pacing. " But then, a couple of months ago, threats of the same nature started to come in by mail. "
" By mail? But I didn't see them… and I see the mail coming in every day? "
" Our mail at home…"
" I see that every day too… " Della said, and then she thought of something and widened her eyes to him. Perry nodded, and she continued, " ...but it's always one or two days late… Is this why? "
" Yes, I want it all checked before we receive it. "
He saw her processing the information he was giving her. She hesitated and then asked " What did the letters say, Perry? What were they about? "
" They had one thing in common. They all said there is something 'he' needs to know from you, and that he comes to fetch you when the time is right. And then he adds something about the clothes you were wearing or your whereabouts at a certain moment...and quite accurate, I must say. He is obviously watching you. He is thorough. "
" My God. "
" Yes. My God too. "
" And what about the phonecalls? "
" The one you just answered was just the third phonecall in a year. The first was the one to Vi, the second was one I answered, of the same nature. In the last letter we received, this third call was announced. No specific date our time, it just said: 'the next message will come by phone' . "
She shook her head, and played with her ring nervously.
" What was the message, Della? What did he say? "
" Well, it was indeed a male voice, and he said: ' I want you to tell me something now...' and then ' ...tell Mason to tell you, and then you can come to me soon…' It's so very weird, Perry. It doesn't make sense to me at all. "
" ' Tell Mason to tell you, and then you can come to me soon...?' " Perry repeated, while he wrote the sentence down on his notepad. He shook his head and read the line over and over.
" Yes. And that was it… Do you get that? It does sound like an idiot to me, doesn't it? " She watched his quizzical look. " You don't have any idea who it is? "
" No, I don't. We have never been able to catch a glimpse of someone around you behaving suspiciously. We never caught someone posting these letters, no fingerprints, no clues at all. That is the thing exactly, in the last year, we've received a dozen letters, and then of course this three phonecalls, but noone has ever been seen. "
" Yet. " she added with a concerned look in her eyes.
" Yet. " Perry rubbed his beard and sighed.
" It's scary…."
" Yes. It is scary. " He took her hands.
" Is this why you didn't want me to take a vacation on my own? You wanted to keep an eye on me, right? " She brought a teasing tone in the question, and smiled a small smile.
" Part of it, yes. " He drew her to him to wrap his arms around her waist, which she answered by putting her arms around his neck. " That, and the Malansky case of course, and… I just didn't want to be without you for two whole weeks…..I'd miss you too much... " He kissed her forehead softly, and looked deeply into her eyes. " I love you, Della Street. "
" Ow, you big bear. I have loved you forever…. But Perry…. " she watched him thoughtfully. "... why didn't you just tell me? Paul must have known, obviously Ken knows…"
" Security downstairs knows, even Ed Brock and half of the policestation know…"
" Really? "
" Yes. Della, but I couldn't tell you. I couldn't have you worrying over something that might be nothing. Maybe it is, as you said , just a lunatic, but maybe it isn't, in either way I just have to be careful with you. "
" Were the letters meant for you too? "
" Some of them, yes. Let's say, the person that wrote them, doesn't really like me. " He grinned. " But I'm used to that. I made a lot of enemies along the way…"
" So, what do we do now? "
" We keep our ears and eyes open, and be careful like we always are. I'll phone Lt. Brock right away to tell him about the call, and maybe we have to get extra security here. " Perry's face smiled again. " And, as far as we are concerned, we'll have a leisuring diner tonight and we may dance a little since it's Friday… And then we sleep late tomorrow and I can spend a whole weekend keeping my eyes on you...and my hands..."
" Sure… so, now that I know….I'll be extra careful. "
" You should. For me too. "
" All right, so I'll get Ken, and we can get started with today's business... "
" Not yet…" Perry pouted playfully. " I have something left from last night…"
" What? " she let out a little chuckle.
He drew her to him and kissed her softly, then parted her lips to fully enjoy her mouth for some moments. He moaned while letting her go. " You shouldn't taste so good…"
" You shouldn't want to taste so much…" she reached into his pocket to get his handkerchief and wipe her lipstick from his mouth.
A knock on the door startled them. " Mail for you to sign downstairs, Miss Street…"
" Fridaymail… now that should be interesting…" she folded the handkerchief, slid it into his breastpocket and patted at it. " Now make sure you don't lose it. It's the lucky one. "
He shrugged. " Who was that? The postman? "
" Mmm-mmm..."
" I thought they always rang twice…" Perry murmured when Della left his office.
" What did you say, dear? "
" No, nothing, just a stupid joke. "
" I'll be right back. "
# $
The Fredericson case wasn't hard, from the beginning it had been very clear that Mr. Fredericson hadn't killed his wife. Lots of the people involved just didn't want to answer questions themselves, only through their counselors. Or they didn't want to be involved, were on a holiday or even pretended to be sick.
Now that the information he needed was very hard to obtain, he ordered Ken to use his young charmes on the ladies, while Mason himself used his booming voice, and massive appearance to get through the men. This approach seemed to work, the hearings could be started next week.
Just as he was about to phone Malansky to ask him where he was, he walked in again.
" My, Ken, where have you been? What took you so long? "
" I went home, like you said, and shaved, changed. "
" And? Did you throw Amy out? "
" Nah. We sort of…made up. "
" Oh, sort of made up … I see. So that's why it took you so long? "
" Don't go there, Perry…." Ken used the exact same lines his boss had used the evening before.
" Fair enough. " Perry grinned at him. " Just make sure I don't see these hours on your invoice… Where do we start today? Do we have any more information on the Fredericson's case, to continue the hearings next week? "
" Yes, we came up with some extra information concerning his wife. It should already be in the files with Della. Where is she by the way? "
" She went downstairs to pick up and sign for mail that was delivered. Should be back any minute. "
Ken froze and watched the big man behind the table in front of him, who was going through his papers without noticing what he had just said.
" But Perry…"
" Yes, Ken? " Mason grunted.
" There is no mail on Fridays', Perry... "
" What ? " Perry watched Ken, while he took of his glasses and stood up. Time stood still. Yet it took him seconds to realise he had stopped breathing.
No.
He exhaled.
" Go and check downstairs, Ken…."
" I don't need to, Perry. There was nothing, no personnel, no lights, no nothing at the reception when I came in. "
Mason hit the table with his fist. " Dammit! Get Tragg on the phone. Now! "
" You mean Brock…"
" Yes, Brock! Now! "
" God damn fool, Mason…! " Perry hurried out of his office to the elevator, to go downstairs to the hallway.
Downstairs, the reception's desk as well as the area behind it were empty and dark.
Mason swore at himself and his knee, that was screaming at him now that he had obviously moved too fast and had turned it too much. He limped to the frontdoors of the officebuilding. One of the securitymen noticed the agitated look on his face, and shouted at him.
" Are you okay, Mr. Mason? "
" No, I am not. Have you seen the mail coming in? "
" No, sir. It's Friday, most of the times there is…"
" … no mail on Fridays. I know. Have you seen Miss Street? "
" No, sir. Not on this side, maybe at the back? Something wrong, sir? "
" Yes. I'd say so. Very wrong... " Mason turned around and brought his hands up to his face to notice they were shaking. He started to sweat. " Damn…! "