The Case of the Defenseless Prosecutor

Chapter 23

Epilogue…..

Perry Mason and Bob Ironside entered the home of William Mason. Mason shook hands with his eldest son. "Come in boys, your mother has dinner on the table." Perry pushed his brother's wheelchair into the living room of his parent's house. Della and Barbara followed the men into the room.

William Mason greeted both women with a kiss on cheek. He poured drinks for them and then said, "Sit down. I'll check on dinner." He disappeared into the kitchen.

Perry waited until Della sat down on the couch and then took his place beside her. She had been to Perry's parent's home on many occasions and had always been made to feel comfortable. This was first time Bob had been there. Barbara sat on the other end of the couch next to where Ironside had settled his wheelchair. They sipped their drinks and made small talk.

Ironside thought of all that had happened since that life changing time Perry Mason came to San Francisco to defend Scott Whitmore. When he provided Perry with the evidence that the two of them were half-brothers, he had never expected a dinner of this sort to take place. If fact, he had never expected to meet his father. They had agreed to keep the information to themselves so as not to hurt any of the people involved. Then the district attorney, John Richards had revealed to the public that they were brothers.

If either one of one them thought they got a lot of publicity before, they were inundated with even more now. Whenever they got together, the press followed them around and a picture of the two of them always ended up in the paper and gossip columns. It didn't help their privacy that they had been drawn together three times now, working together on the same cases.

Neither man would actually give it a second thought except that because of even more attention from the press the rumors and speculation of Perry and Della's relationship become front and center once again. Ironside still did not understand why a couple so much in love did not just get married. He was brought out of his thoughts when William Mason re-entered the living room.

"Dinner will be ready in just a few minutes." Mason looked at both of his famous sons. He could not be more proud of both of them. His only regret was that he had not known Bob all of his life. He felt cheated out of a major portion of Robert Ironside's life. Well it didn't matter now. He was slowly getting to know his eldest son. "What are your plans Robert, now that this case is wrapped up?"

Ironside looked at the older man, whom he certainly could not deny was his father. The resemblance between this man, Perry and himself could not be denied. Both he had Perry had their father's size, eyes, voice and trademark jawline dimples. Ironside noted though, that Perry's temperament was much closer to their father's than was his. "Mark is being released from the hospital tomorrow. We all will be flying back to San Francisco the day after tomorrow. We have a heavy work load waiting for us and Commissioner Randall is getting rather impatient that we return home."

"Don't you think you should take a vacation? A little time off might do you some good." the elder Mason asked.

Ironside shook his head. "I just took one with Perry a while back. I can't take off as often as he can."

"You should have been a lawyer, Bob. You would have made more money and you could take more vacations," Perry needled him.

Menerva Mason came into the living room. "Dinner is ready. Please come to the table."

Ironside noticed that his stepmother had left one place, which was missing a chair. He wheeled his chair into that spot. When his mother brought a large pot and set it down on the table, Ironside grinned from ear to ear. The pot was full of chili.

Perry looked into the pot and the look of disappointment was clearly on his face. "Chili?"

"Yes," his mother said. "I thought we would celebrate Robert solving the case with his favorite meal."

Perry looked indignant. "He didn't solve it alone. He wasn't in the courtroom!"

"Well actually I was," Ironside said with a smirk. "And it was my dog that broke the case for you."

"And whose idea was it to bring Otto into the courtroom in the first place?" Perry countered.

Barbara and Della watched the two men with amusement. Della decided to interrupt the brothers. "You both solved it."

"Then why does he get chili?" Perry asked.

"Because," Ironside said.

Everyone laughed at them. "Two grown men….you sound like school boys," William Mason said. "Can you image what it would have been like raising them under the same roof?"

"It would have been a pleasure beating him at everything," Ironside said.

"Bob, you have not beaten me at anything since we met," Perry countered.

"Really?" Who won the poker hand the first time we met?"

"You cheated!"

"I did not. I simply raised the stakes. You folded."

"But I had the better hand."

"You folded!"

"Gentlemen, that is enough," Barbara said with a laugh. "Let's just enjoy the chili."

Menerva and William Mason smiled as both of their sons dished out chili from the pot.

"Poker! After dinner," Perry said. "Be prepared to get beaten, chief."

"So it's chief now, is it?" Ironside said. "Alright counselor, but you are a glutton for punishment. Eat your chili and then I will teach you a lesson in humility," he said with a grin.

23.2

Lt. Tragg headed for the interrogation room. He opened the door and walked in. Sitting around the table were all the police and lawyers who had worked the case.

"Hamilton, you are going to honor the deal I made with Daniel Moorey?" Wayland Grant asked.

"Yes of course, even though it is better than he deserves. He did do as the chief asked him to do," Burger answered.

"What about the companies? Have they been informed of what their CEO's were up to?" Sgt. Brown asked.

"Chief Ironside and Lt. Tragg met with all of them. Every board voted to have them arrested for embezzlement," Lt. Anderson answered.

"Lt. Tragg and I have rounded them all up. They will be arraigned in court tomorrow," Ironside added.

"It will be up to you to prosecute them Wayland," Burger said. "I am going to recuse myself under the circumstance."

"Thanks, Hamilton. I appreciate you allowing me to handle it….under the circumstances," Grant said with a nod.

"What I don't understand is why all of them could have been so easily duped by Moorey and Wolff," Eve said.

"Greed, Eve," Perry said. "All of them were so obsessed with being the one credited for the new processing chip that none of them checked to see if it was really what it was represented to be. As a result, those two were able to take advantage of it. Once they had made sure all of them were fighting for the credit, they turned them all against each other and the blackmailing began."

"Who set the bomb in Chief Ironside's vehicle?" Wayland Grant asked.

"That was Moorey. He was the one paid by Bradford to do the dirty work. If it had not been for Otto, things would have turned out much different. Chances are several of us in this room would not be here," Perry said.

"And the attack on Sgt. Brown?" Hamilton inquired.

"That had not be planned," Ironside said. "Ed was getting too close and they had to do something about it. They found him outside the security room door. They could not take a chance on how much he had heard."

"Their greed brought them down. If they had just killed Ed and dumped his body, we could have proved they took him because Hamilton saw it. However, they did not know that. They decided to try and ransom Ed to Chief Ironside," Lt. Tragg said. "Again, greed."

"And the recordings will tie Bret Bradford to ordering the killing of the chief and prove he was involved in the killing of Connor Wolff," Perry said.

"What about Richard Littleton, Wolff's attorney," Hamilton asked.

"He has confessed to withholding the video of Conner Wolff murdering the five employees including Hamilton god-daughter. Disbarment proceedings have already begun. He will go to prison for a very long time." Perry said.

"When you think about it," Della said, "a lot of people are going to jail and all for a computer chip that was useless."

"But they did not know that Della," Ironside said. "They all wanted to be the company that got credit for the computer chip. In their minds, it would have meant millions for their board of directors. Greed, Della. That is what it was all about."

Hamilton Burger stood up. "I am at a loss for words to express the gratitude I feel to all of you for what you have done to clear me of this charge. Especially to you Perry for not doubting my innocence and stepping in to defend me. You and Arthur were really responsible for bringing in Chief Ironside. Chief, thank you for all you and your people have done. And you, Arthur. You arrested me and then did everything in your power to clear me of the very charge you arrested me for. I can't thank all of you enough."

"When an injustice is about take place, it is all of our jobs to see that it doesn't happen," Ironside said. "That is what we did. As much as I enjoy working with all of you, it might be nice if you people would refrain from getting yourselves into trouble."

A few chuckles sounded around the room. "By the way Hamilton, you left out one important participant," Perry said. "Our star witness."

"Believe me I will always be grateful to Otto. That is a hell of a dog you have there, chief." Hamilton smiled as he looked at Ironside.

"He's not just a dog, Hamilton. He's a cop and he did his job," Ironside replied.

"You all did," Hamilton said with grateful smile.

23.3

The airport was noisy and busy. Ironside and Mark had just completed checking Otto in. Mark wheeled the boss back to their friends. Should you be pushing him, Mark? You just got out of the hospital," Perry asked with concern for the young man.

"I'm fine and it is my job," Mark replied.

Perry and Della smiled. Bob's people were certainly dedicated. "Well Bob, one more case has been solved by the brilliance of California's most celebrated lawyer and detective." Perry grinned.

Ironside grunted. "You mean solved by the brilliance of California's most celebrated detective, don't you?" The smirk was apparent on his face.

"Now just a minute Bob….."

Barbara grabbed the handles on Ironside's wheelchair and began to turn him. "Let's not start that again," she laughed. "They are calling for our flight."

Ironside looked at his younger brother. He put out his hand. "Until the next time, Mr. Mason."

Perry Mason took his brother's hand and shook it. "Thanks for dropping everything and helping out, Chief Ironside."

"You did the same for me," Ironside said. "Take good care of Della."

Mason smiled. "I will. Goodbye Bob."

Barbara turned his chair and began wheeling him away. Perry shook hands with the rest of them and watched until they were out of sight. "I am going to miss him. It's too bad we don't live in the same city."

"I don't think Los Angeles or San Francisco is big enough for both of you," Della said with a smile.

Perry looked down at Della and returned the smile. "Tell me, have you named this case yet?"

"Yep…..The Case of the Defenseless Prosecutor."

"Defenseless? How do you figure that? Bob and I provided him with more defense than anyone gets."

"Oh I don't know, I just like the sound of it," Della said.

Perry chuckled. "Alone at last. How about dinner and then an evening at my place? We can figure out a way to….enjoy each other."

"Aren't you forgetting something, chief?"

"Such as?"

Paul Drake was headed in their direction, suitcase in hand. He spotted Perry and Della and continued in their direction. When he arrived, he set his suitcase down and took the newspaper out from under his arm. "I leave town for a month and you two are up to necks in another murder case…and you solved it without me," he sulked. "Perry, please tell me you let Burger sweat just a bit?"

Perry laughed. "Hamilton will appreciate your concern."

"Was Ironside as grumpy as usual?"

"Yep," Perry answered.

"At least some things never change," Drake replied.

Della looked around. "I thought you took a companion with you. I was looking forward to meeting her. Where is she?"

"Don't ask." Paul said.

"No way are you going to leave it at that," Perry pushed. "What gives?"

"Well, she spent the month with me alright but she met a Frenchman who lives here in the United States…"

"And…" Perry encouraged him to continue.

"She came back with him," Drake despaired

Perry threw his head back and laughed. Paul give him a dirty look and then could not resist, he began laughing with him. Della joined in.

"So what do you say we all go to dinner and catch the fights on television," Paul asked excitedly.

Perry looked at Della and sighed. Della began laughing again.

"Am I missing something?" Drake asked.

"A girlfriend," Perry replied.

"Don't remind me. Now how about dinner?" Drake grinned at his friends. "I'm starving."

"So am I," Perry said giving Della a look only she understood. She elbowed him as if to say, he's our friend and he needs us tonight. "Oh what the hell, dinner's on me," the lawyer said.

Drake picked up his suitcase and the three friends left the airport.

The End.

I again remind you that I am not an attorney so please look past any legal mistakes and take it for what it was intended…..pure entertainment.

Next up in the Mason/Ironside adventures The Case of the Politician's Wife.