"Well?" Hamilton Burger asked impatiently as soon as the medical examiner removed his stethoscope from above Della's heart and straightened up.

The physician shook his head.

"It is the oddest thing," he said slowly. "If it were not for the story which you told me before we came in here, I would have thought that I was imagining things."

"What is it?" Lieutenant Tragg breathlessly demanded.

"It is not a normal-sounding heartbeat, for sure. But there is a strange, barely audible, intermittent 'whooshing' sound in her chest at times. Indeed, I can well imagine that if the heart muscle was contracting sporadically and weakly against extremely leaky valves, like the suspect described, it would produce a noise very similar to the one I am hearing." He took a deep breath and continued. "In addition, she is two degrees warmer than the ambient air and every other corpse here. The temperature in the morgue has not been increased all weekend. I cannot explain why her body should be warmer, unless it has started to produce its own heat."

"So, in effect, you are saying that she is alive!" Hamilton Burger cried out, a definite note of joy in his voice.

"I am saying that I would be uncomfortable pronouncing her dead under the circumstances, in light of the new facts which you presented me with," the doctor rebutted. "But I would caution you against being too optimistic. Other than the word of your prisoner, there is no proof that the effects of the drugs administered to her are fully reversible."

"But there is a chance, and that is more than we thought this morning," Lieutenant Tragg said, looking tenderly at the beautiful woman lying in front of them.

"In that case, we need to call for an ambulance post-haste and get her to a hospital as soon as possible," the District Attorney said. He was already turning towards the telephone on the wall when he saw worry suddenly cloud the medical examiner's face. "What is it?"

"Unless you have a very competent and understanding physician picked out and can guarantee that they would be the one admitting her to the hospital, I would be wary of simply sending her to the emergency room. If the doctor on duty happens to be the least bit cynical or slightly busy, he will quickly feel her pulse, find it absent, pronounce her dead and then you will be right back where you started." This wise counsel made the other two men pause. Indeed, the tale was so fantastic that they, themselves, had very nearly rejected it as fiction. If they attempted to tell it to a doctor who had never met them before, he would probably look at them as if they had five heads. In the worst-case scenario, after brushing their concerns aside, the physician might send Della to the hospital's morgue, and force them to go through a relatively lengthy process of re-claiming her. The medical examiner continued, "Or, you could happen upon one of my colleagues who, somehow, does believe you and will feel that it is the best course of action to try to resuscitate her and will start pouring intravenous medications into her for all he is worth. There is no telling how those drugs will interact with the exotic ones that are already in her system. In a nutshell, he might easily do more harm than good."

"In your opinion, then, it would be wiser to simply wait, do nothing, and see what happens with time?"

"Yes. It is ultimately your decision, but I personally do not believe that a physician will be of any use to you in this situation, except to examine her if and when she wakes up, to see if there is any neurological, cardiac, or other damage."

"Then, could you-"

"No, Mr. Burger, I am sorry. I may be a good medical examiner, but it has been almost three decades since I practiced medicine on living persons. I do not believe I possess the necessary experience or skills to oversee her recovery, especially as it may be very complicated. It would be like asking a law professor to be a trial lawyer for the first time in thirty years, for the most publicized case of the year."

The District Attorney nodded.

"I understand." He looked around at the room, which reeked of formaldehyde and was filled with the bodies of other unfortunate descendants, and then back at Della. "In any case, we cannot allow her to wake up here!"

Lieutenant Tragg nodded in agreement. Awakening in a morgue would surely give the poor girl a lifetime of nightmares.

"I suppose, we should take her home, if we are not taking her to the hospital," Hamilton Burger said thoughtfully.

But the police officer shook his head.

"Her apartment is still curtained off as part of the crime scene, and if she does not make it, I want to be able to go over it again to search for additional clues. If we try to care for her there, we will disturb all the evidence."

"Then what about a hotel or motel?"

"There are none in a five-block radius. We would have to somehow get her into a car, and then carry her into the hotel, which would hardly be inconspicuous. I can already see the headlines if the press gets wind of it: District Attorney Carries Body of Perry Mason's Secretary Through Los Angeles."

Despite the strain they were both under, the two found themselves chuckling at the image the Lieutenant painted. After a moment, however, they grew serious again, and Hamilton Burger remarked,

"Speaking of Perry, I think it would be best if we said nothing about this to him or Paul Drake until Della's prognosis is more certain. It would be the height of cruelty to raise his hopes, if she is destined to never awaken."

"I second the motion, Mr. Burger," the Lieutenant quickly replied. "But you have just given me an idea. The Brent Building is on the same block as this one, and there is an alleyway which goes from the back door of this building to the Brent Building; Mason sometimes takes it when he wants to visit the morgue or medical examiner without being detected by the press. We could carry Della through there, and the newspaper folks would be none the wiser. Perry has a sofa in his office, and Della could rest there in perfect comfort. It being Memorial Day and him being so indisposed, the place will be deserted."

"But then we would have to tell Perry about it, and get his consent. Otherwise it would be a case of breaking and entering."

"Not necessarily," the Lieutenant said with a sly smile, reaching into his pocket. "This morning, I got a search warrant to go through Perry's office for any evidence connected with his secretary's poisoning. I can pick the lock of his office anytime I want to; and it is well within my rights to bring a couple of people connected with the case into the office with me."

"Tragg, you are certainly a very clever man, but you are starting to sound far too much like Perry Mason!"

After they had finished smiling at the last comment, the District Attorney thanked the medical examiner for his time, approached the metal table, picked Della up and carried her out of the room, the Lieutenant leading the way and opening doors in front of him.

They are heading straight for Perry's office with Della...but WILL it be deserted?

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