Note: I know I am not rushing to post this story. It's still in progress, so you will still have time to enjoy it and have more info about George Mason and the lost child.

At the office, Della was taking one last phone call before taking a lunch break. Paul was just coming back from his.

"I'll take over, Della. You go and have lunch."

"Thank you, Paul. I'll be back soon."

"Take your time. Maybe you can go check on Perry. We haven't heard from him today," Paul told her.

"I know. I will have to let him know about showing up."

The phone rang.

"Hi, Perry."

Paul knew it was him after picking up the phone.

"Hi, Paul. Is Della around?"

"She is, but about to leave for lunch. Do you want to speak with her?"

"Yes, and then she can go to lunch."

"Della, Perry's on the phone and wants to talk," Paul called before she could walk out of the office.

"Good timing, Paul. I'll take it from here."

He left so she could have some privacy with Perry.

"Hi, Perry."

"Della, my mother's going to her house for more of the files. Do you want to help her out for a while? She said she wouldn't mind doing it herself, but I'd feel better if you went over."

"I can do it, Perry. Is she there now?"

"On her way."

"What's the address?"

He gave it to her so she would know how to get to the house.

"Thank you, Della."

"I'll call you when we're finished."

"Don't bother, Della. You can just help her and then go back to the office. Wish I could be there today."

"So do we. Do you need to speak with Paul or are you done?"

"I'd like to speak with him. Thank you, Della. I'm sure my mother will tell me about it when she comes back."

"I can just take her with me."

"You'll have to ask her that yourself. It would be a good chance to know each other more than just waiting in the car when I was with that Adam Smith and my doctor's office."

"You're right. I would like to do that."

"I'll talk with you later."

Paul took the phone from Della as she left the office.

"Perry, Della said you wanted to talk with me."

"Yes, I do, Paul. It's about Dad's cases."

"Ask away. What do you need to know?"

"Have you heard back from the other investigators who worked with him?"

"I think I did with one of them."

"What's the name, Paul?"

"I can't remember now, but it was a woman. She sounded like she remembered him a bit."

"A woman investigator?"

"Yes. I told her I was one myself and work for his son."

"Anything you caught on that?"

"I'll share it in person, Perry. Just like the others who called us until now aren't surprised George Mason's son is taking over one of the cases."

"I wanted to know if there were children involved in any of his cases."

"Why children?" Paul asked.

"Because of the second child the Johnsons left behind to go home from vacation time."

"I forgot about them. Do you know where the child is now?"

"Yes. The child is with a couple who are foster parents and thinking about adopting."

"How do you know all of this information, Perry?"

"I've met them in person a couple times, and we decided to stay in touch until somebody comes back to pick up the child. I'm still trying to remember what else happened in traffic before we had Webber take care of me."

"What sex was the child?"

"A girl."

"See, that's something you remember."

"Yes."

"Do we need Hamilton anytime soon?" Paul asked.

"I don't know, Paul."

"I think I heard it from you or him earlier. Has your mother said anything about recognizing the name Adam Smith?" Paul asked.

"She sounds like she didn't, but asked about the people who took in the lost child."

"Like what questions did your mother ask you? I think she seemed to like me when I was at your house before you and Della showed up from doing something. I can't remember what it was."

"How old the foster parents are, and stuff like that. They kept asking for the child's name and records the Johnsons have at their house. I said I didn't know anything about those, but was able to get the name of the child," Perry told Paul.

"What's the name of the foster parents?"

"Barry and Bella Patterson," Perry answered.

"Do they know anything about your father and his cases before he stepped down?"

"I doubt it. The thing I learned about the Pattersons when we had a few first meetings they're missionary by looking after foster children and have a few of their own."

"That means they're religious."

"Yes, Paul. They did invite me to church once, but I turned it down."

"That was nice of them. I understand why you turned their invitation down. Do you want to give me their number and I can talk with them myself?"

"I'll have to ask them that first and see what they think before I have a private detective wanting to talk with them."

"That makes sense. When are you going to get another update?"

"I don't know. I told Mrs. Patterson to pass it over to him if he needs to ask more questions at the office."

"I don't think we had any calls from that name today, Perry. We just mostly looked through more of your father's case files and writing stuff down to see what you could have missed. Do you have any idea of the name who was in the courtroom before the Johnsons' attorney and the doctor were taken away?"

"No. I still need to figure that one out, but the person did look familiar and I guessed the person was probably connected to Dad."

"How would Mr. Mason react if you took over one of his longshot cases from a long time ago?"

"My mother asked me the same thing. I told her this, and now I'm telling you too, Paul. I bet you there will be a court date, no matter how long this longshot case will take."

"You sound so sure about this. I'm guessing there are a lot of other names in the several files your mother is going through now might not be alive anymore. You'll have to talk with Adam Smith again."

"I plan to. I'll check in with Della and see if she could set up anything with him. She did say something about setting up another meeting with the counselor."

Paul didn't respond about that right away, but remembered Della made appointments with the recommendation from Dr. Webber before being taken away.

"You might want to meet with this guy I talked with. He wants to talk with you too, is what he told me."

"Adam Smith said the same thing. What Mexican restaurant did you go to?"

Paul told him.

"We've been there a few times, remember?" Paul asked.

"Yes, I do. I'll go call Mom's house and see if they both made it there yet."

"I wouldn't bother, Perry. All I can do is take you back to your place."

"Thanks for all the information, Paul. I'll keep in in mind and check with the Pattersons again soon. I don't know what their reaction will be if I sent any private detective over without saying anything to them first."

"That makes sense. Just happy you were able to survive the car accident."

"Let's stop talking about the accident and concentrate on Dad's longshot cases. That's why I was over. Do you have any duplicate copies from the ones Mom bought over that day?"

"I don't remember where they are, but Della has made another copy since she couldn't find her own. We both agreed it was a good idea that there could be a copy here and another one at home in case we had to look something up."

"That's not a bad idea. I have the originals, so I'll go through them again soon."

"We shouldn't have taken you here, but you talked us into it, Perry."

"I know. My mother says she feels safer at my house since there wasn't any murder here and has somebody to talk with. I understand that."

"Neither one of my parents are still alive anymore, so you're lucky you have one left. I don't know how they would react about this case, Perry. I'm sure they would have followed these cases you had since the first day you came from law school. I have no clue if they know anything about the cases your father had when he was still alive."

"Even my mother wants to put this car accident case behind her."

"I'm sure she does."

"Paul, when we were in court, the judge says he's now behind us because of the accident and knew they were recommendations for me. I prefer sooner rather than later for the recovery, Paul. This is probably why Della made the call to her friend since it was one of the recommendations I had from Webber."

"What other recommendations did he give you?" Paul asked.

"I can't remember what they were, Paul. I still have to try and remember what else happened during traffic. This could also help the long way to recovery."

"It looks that way," Paul agreed.

"It's too bad neither Della or myself were in the car with you when it happened."

"I know, but I didn't have a choice."

"If you have anymore calls about my father, just let me know. I can do this myself, but I believe some of you are already ahead of me on the case."

"This time, you better be careful, Perry. Maybe that client of your father's might remember something about the day he was shot in the store."

"Do you know the investigator's name you talked with? You said it was a woman."

"I did say that. I have the name written down, but you can look at it when you come in again."

They didn't say much after that.

Long phone conversation for sure.

"If the Pattersons call before tomorrow, Paul, just tell them I will be in and I can talk with them."

"I will, Perry. Who are they again?"

"Foster parents of the child."

"Thanks for the reminder. I hope Della is at your mother's."

"Probably. Thank you, Paul. Either one of you can pick me up tomorrow morning."

"That's the plan. See you then, Perry."

"You too, Paul."