Thank you so much for your patience…since the last time I posted a chapter, I've finished packing an apartment and moved across state lines…so I hope you forgive me for the long hiatus on this story!

For an instant, Perry felt all the air being squeezed out of his lungs.

In the next second, he caught his breath, and his mind, for the first time in days, began to operate like that of an expert in criminology.

If his theory was correct, then it would follow that Della would have had to ingest something about an hour before she had collapsed in court. But how could she have possibly done that? Eating and drinking was prohibited in the courtroom, and as they had skipped lunch that day –

That phone call to Paul! She had left the courtroom to make it, and she could have consumed a snack or a beverage in the hallway of the courthouse! Come to think of it, she had been gone for quite a long time – much longer than it generally took her to walk to the phone booth and call the detective and walk back. She had been gone for enough time to go downstairs and buy something at the small café in the courthouse lobby. Of course, that would mean that one of the employees there would have had to be able to single Della out and sell her tainted vitals – but if his suspicions were right and Janice was involved, then whoever had managed to bribe the nurse into poisoning her patient would likely have also managed to infiltrate the café of the courthouse where Della was known to eat frequently.

He stood up and went to the corner of the room where his secretary's purse lay on a chair. It had been there, forgotten, since the hospital staff had fished Della's identification out of it for the purpose of registering her in the hospital. Perchance, if he were lucky, he could find a receipt in her pocketbook for an order from the courthouse café from the day of her collapse. Usually he would never dream of going through her purse without her permission, but desperate times called for desperate measures, and if there was the slightest chance his prying could help Della, he would pursue the lead!

There was no receipt among her belongings. But at the bottom of her purse, he found something even better: a thermos bottle.

Unscrewing it, he found the stench of several-day-old coffee mixed with milk burning his nose.

His girl could have definitely sipped this concoction in the hallway before returning to the courtroom.

Glancing at the hallway to ascertain that no one was coming, Perry walked to the telephone which was stationed on Della's nightstand, and picking up the receiver, dialed the number for the Drake Detective Agency.

"Paul?" he asked in a very low tone, "Listen to me. I need you to do something very important, and I need it done very quickly."

"What is it, Perry?"

"I need you to get an inconspicuous briefcase, and fill it with an empty glass bottle with a tight lid, a brown paper bag, a white plastic drinking straw, and an eight-ounce carton of milk from the Freshest of Fresh brand. The latter you will purchase from a random grocery store which you have never frequented before. Then bring me the briefcase as quickly as you can."

"Perry, what on earth-"

"I don't have time to explain it to you right now. Just make sure that no one sees you bringing those items into Della's room."

"Alright, Perry, I'll be there in twenty minutes."

As he waited, the lawyer returned to Della's purse and dug her key-chain out of it.

….

Paul Drake arrived two minutes before the appointed time.

"Shut the door, Paul," the defense attorney commanded. The private detective closed the hospital door as he cast a worried glance at the sleeping Della.

"Would you care to explain why I am smuggling brown bags and cartons of milk into a hospital?"

"Yes," Perry said. He reached for the carton of milk that Janice had opened for Della and proceeded to pour it into the glass bottle which Paul had procured. "I believe that something is being mixed into Della's food that causes her heart to fail. Her pulse dropped several points after she drank a mouthful of this milk. And look at this carton – there is a little bit of clue on the top, just as if it had been resealed. Therefore, you are going to take the milk to Aaron Cera, the chemist, and have him analyze it as quickly as he can. You will also do the same with the coffee in Della's thermos bottle. There are only two places she could have made that coffee that morning – in the office, or at home. If any of the tests show anything unusual, you will go to both locations and get any bottles of milk you find there and have them analyzed as well. To that end, take these keys to Della's apartment. While Aaron works, you will find out everything you can about Janice Hoffman, Della's daytime nurse. See if there is anything questionable in her past, or whether she recently came into large sums of money. In the meantime," Perry opened up the carton of milk which Paul had brought and dropped a fresh plastic straw into it, "I am going to see to it that Della gets some nourishment."

Paul fingered the now-empty container which the lawyer had thrust at him, barely able to make out the glue which Perry had spoken of. Looking up, he regarded his friend with deep concern. The words 'Perry, you are out of your ever-loving mind' rose to his lips, but he choked them back. It was not the prudent or kind thing to say at that moment, as it was obvious that the attorney was indeed clean out of his wits. His clothes were rumpled as a result of sleeping in chairs for two nights in a row, his tie was loose and askew, and the dark circles under his eyes were so prominent that it looked like someone had punched both sides of his face with a savage force. And now he wanted to investigate a trustworthy, concerned nurse who had probably worked at the hospital longer than Della had worked for him? He thought that his secretary was being poisoned, by her own medical team, no less? Clearly, Perry was unable to cope with the idea of losing Della, and was grasping at straws to prevent it from happening. Paul was no expert at mental breakdowns, but he knew that it would probably be better to try to redirect his friend in a gentler manner than by telling him directly that he was begin absurd.

"Perry," he said softly, "you do realize – this little, tiny, bit of glue could well have been caused by a slight equipment malfunction at the factory where the milk was packaged. I'm sure that an extra drop of glue sometimes finds its way to the outside of the carton and smears -"

"If so, then it would be the same kind of glue which is holding the rest of the carton together. See if Aaron can tell whether they are the same or different types."

"And may I remind you – according to what you previously told me, Dr. Hawley said that Della's toxicology screen had come back negative."

"It came back negative for all known and common drugs. Toxicology screens do not test for exotic drugs."

Paul silently surrendered. There was no getting through to Perry. He, Paul Drake, would complete his preposterous instructions – not for Della's sake, but for Perry's. When she died, it would be a comfort to his friend that every stone had been overturned and examined carefully. It would stop a lifetime of 'what ifs'. If Paul could help Perry through his grief by keeping a chemist up for one night and having a few operatives trail a nurse for one evening, then he would do it.

"Alright, Perry, as you wish."

The two of them put the empty carton into the brown paper bag to prevent any stray drops of white liquid from soiling the inside of the briefcase, and then placed those items as well as the bottle of milk, used plastic straw, and thermos bottle into the leather briefcase as well. Paul Drake tucked the whole ensemble under his arm, and casually strolled out of the hospital room. As soon as he was out of earshot and alone in the hall, he sighed and let his shoulders sag.

Unless something changed, it was very possible that he would be losing two friends within the week – Della to the grave, and Perry to the psychiatric ward.

Paul Drake sometimes did doubt the wisdom of Perry's suspicions but still investigated when Perry told him to, so I don't think that his reaction was too far-fetched.

Will his investigation reveal anything? Or will the mob strike again before they get any answers?

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