Della had started noticing the warning signs about a month before.
It had begun as a subtle shift in Perry's behavior. On multiple occasions, in the middle of the workday, his eyes would suddenly start following her around the office. Try as she would, she could not decipher the reason for the expression in them. It was serious, and…calculating?
She had, of course, asked Perry on each such occasion whether everything was alright or whether he needed anything, but he instantly broke off his gaze each time and assured her that everything was well.
Around the same time, he had started to make her leave work each day promptly at five o'clock. More and more often, she was told 'never mind that now, you can type those notes up tomorrow; go home and enjoy the rest of the day'. The first few such instances had been welcome respites, until the tasks had started to pile up. Despite this, Perry kept dismissing her promptly at five o'clock, firmly vetoing her attempts to stay late and catch up, until she almost felt like he was shooing her away.
The next blow came when she realized that her employer was no longer taking her into his full confidence. He began to disappear for a couple of hours at a time, and unlike in the past, he did not keep in touch by phone or tell her where he was going. On occasion, he would appear exhausted in the office in the mornings, and mention that he had been interviewing witnesses all night, since an unexpected break had occurred in the case. When she inquired as to why he had not called her to accompany him, he only lightly replied that he had not wished to disturb her sleep.
And then he had failed to explain their bizarre visit to that Beverly Hills mansion.
In the middle of an important case, right after they had concluded a less-than-pleasant visit to the home of a reluctant witness and were heading back to the office, Perry had taken an unexpected detour. Merely stating that there was something he needed to do, he drove to one of the prettiest areas of Beverly Hills and pulled up in front of a lovely sandstone mansion. Waiting on the steps was a real estate agent who had been expecting them, and who opened the door and let them in.
"Now, Della," Perry had said, seriously, as he walked to the living window and looked out. "Think like a woman, will you?"
"I'll try," she responded with a smile, as she always did whenever he made such a request of her.
"Look around this house. Does it have any pitfalls for entertaining in, for living in?"
"You think this mansion has something to do with Franker's murder?" she asked, surprised.
"Never mind that. Just tell me what you think of the house. Is this living room too big to be practical? Is the Victorian mantelpiece a charming antique or an eyesore in your opinion?"
"The room is rather large, but it is currently bare. It would appear much smaller and cozier if it was properly furnished," the secretary said slowly. "And in my opinion, the mantelpiece is lovely."
"Exactly as I thought," Perry murmured, nodding his approbation. He proceeded to walk her through the twenty rooms of the house, and asked similar questions in each and every one.
"And what about this room? Would it suffice for a nursery? Or would it be too hard to hear an infant crying in here from the master bedroom?"
"Not if the door between the rooms was left open at night," Della responded, racking her memory for any open case that Perry had which involved babies, in vain.
"Alright," Perry said at last. "That is all I needed to know. Thank you." With that, he started to escort her out of the building.
"Perry, would you please tell me what this is all about?" Della almost pleaded as they walked back to his car.
"You'll find out soon enough," the attorney had said, grinning slyly.
For the rest of the Franker trial, Della kept waiting, waiting, waiting for that Beverley Hills mansion to be mentioned in the testimony. But that moment never came. Perry Mason managed to get his client acquitted without breathing a word about it.
That evening, during their celebratory dinner with Paul and their newly-released client, Della had asked Perry, point-blank, how their visit to the house had figured into the case. Instead of explaining, as he had every single other time when she had asked such a question over the last three years, Perry's face had taken on a look of displeasure. In a short, uncomfortable tone, he had said,
"I told you that the house had nothing to do with it." There was an annoyed edge in his voice that warned Della not to ask anything further on the topic, and she looked down at the tablecloth as Perry swiftly changed the subject.
The very next morning, she had walked into his office and found Perry shaking hands with a wiry young man.
"Della," her employer said, "this is Carl Jackson. I have just hired him to be my law clerk. I have every hope that with his help, the workload of this office will become more manageable." Ms. Street barely managed to suppress her shocked facial expression. She had been pulling legal references and helping draft papers for Perry for years, without complaint. Why should he now decide that he needed another person to do that for him? Then Perry added, "Jackson also has experience in secretarial work, so he can fill in for you whenever the necessity arises."
"A pleasure to meet you, Ms. Street," Carl Jackson said politely.
"Mr. Jackson," she murmured.
"Please orient him to the office, and then take him to the law library. I have set up a desk for him there, until we figure out a more permanent arrangement."
"As you wish, sir," Della said. "Please just allow me a minute to hang up my coat and put my purse away." What she really needed, however, was a moment away from the two of them, to collect her thoughts.
"Of course," Perry answered.
She retreated to her office, making sure to close the door tightly behind her, and caught her breath. If any of her girlfriends had told her that their employer was cutting back on their working hours, appearing to lose trust in them, and bringing in other staff capable of doing their jobs, she would have immediately advised them that they were surely about to be fired.
But Perry could not have that in mind, could he? She had always gone above and beyond her job description, and until recently, he seemed to have appreciated it greatly. She had not asked for a raise once during her employment, but as recently as six months ago he had kindly bestowed an increase to her salary of his own accord.
What had changed?
So what IS going on with Perry? Why doesn't he seem to want Della around as much? Or is Della just overthinking this?
Stay tuned, Della will uncover some shocking information in the next chapter…
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