Since Della was still at Ada's house, she decided it was time for a break and check in with Paul and Perry.
"Thank you for letting me help, Mrs. Mason."
"You're welcome, dear. Is there anything you want?"
"I'm good, thank you. When do you plan to leave this house?" Della asked.
"I don't know. Perry said that's something we need to talk about at some point. How did you know that counselor from?" Ada asked.
Della seemed to like Ada, but wasn't so sure what she thought of her. Maybe Ada will tell Perry tonight, she guessed.
"We went to high school together and stayed in touch. We met in our sophomore year. I guess this was her dream to be in the dream she always wanted."
"What did you want to do before you met Perry?"
"A teacher, but I ended up as his secretary instead."
"He told me you've been there since he graduated from law school," Ada told her.
"Yes, that's true. How did you meet Perry's father?"
"Gosh, that was a long time ago, Della. Now I can see why Perry wants to go through these files."
"Speaking of Perry, do you mind if I use your phone and check on him?"
"Go right ahead."
She left the office to call Perry's house.
"Hi, Della. Are you having any luck?"
"It's hard to tell, Perry. How are you doing?"
"Okay, I guess. Paul just dropped me off not very long ago, so you called in at the right time. If you see any files that are interesting, Della, you can take them to the office tomorrow if she lets you."
"She's very nice, Perry. Just like you said. Have you and Paul talked more about this case?"
"Just a little bit about the car accident, but I still am trying to remember everything that happened before passing out, but I can't do that."
"We don't expect you to, Perry. You should've had somebody in the car with you at the time."
"Della, don't feel bad. I'm just trying to put it behind me like my mother is. Maybe you might end up spending the night there. Do me a favor and set up a lunch date with Adam Smith."
Della told him she would do that once she returned to the office.
"I don't think so. I think there might be some files that have something to do with children, but it's hard to say. Some of the files are falling apart from that time."
"That's all right. Don't worry about how old the files are, but thank you for saying something about that. I only asked about children because of what happened during court."
"Have you decided on remembering who was in the courtroom that day when you passed out and they called for 24 hour recess?"
"I am still working on it, but I'm not getting anywhere, Della. Only the face looked familiar. I guess it was somebody that he knew that followed me around the cases I worked on."
While Della was on the phone with Perry, Ada decided it was a good time for a break herself. She still hasn't made up her mind if she liked her or not, but it will come. They both get along, which was a good sign.
Ada found the files that Perry might be interested in but would bring them over tonight when she's ready to go back.
While going through the files Ada and Della found, she only took what could interest her son, whether it was children or not. Ada couldn't remember how far George was on his case when they met, and it didn't matter to her. When he solved one of his cases, he invited her to court, which she turned down.
Ada still felt bad that their anniversary was coming up, she didn't have him to celebrate it with.
She'll have to try it with Perry, but let's wait and see what happens.
Once Perry graduated from law school, she and George decided to frame his degree and hang it on the wall. It's still there today.
Once getting off the phone with Perry, Della looked around the house. She saw a frame on one of the walls in the living room. Della walked closer to see what the frame was about. It had Perry's name on it, and she guessed it had something to do with graduation.
Ada found her at the wall where Perry's frame was.
"What are you looking at, Della?" Ada asked.
"The frame. It's nice."
"Yes, it is. We put it there the day Perry graduated from law school and haven't taken it down since. I might have to once we put the house on the market and when I pack up. I would hate to do that."
Della understood.
"Do you still have the newspapers from a long time ago when Perry solved his first case when he started his job?" Della asked.
"I don't think so. George thought it wasn't necessary when his first case was finished. I decided to throw this latest case away because of that accident. Somebody should have been in the car with him when he was taken into the hospital."
"I feel the same way, Mrs. Mason. I found out about him through a friend who thought I would be interested working with an attorney, so he hired me within a few days."
"And you've been there since."
"Yes. There's always something to do at the office. Maybe he could give you a job there."
Ada shook her head.
"That would never work, Della. He wouldn't let that happen either."
Ada knew that was true, and Della saw it.
"What did you do when you met your husband?"
"I was looking for a job when I ran into him one day. I didn't know who he was at the time we met."
"How long did you wait to get married?" Della asked.
"About a couple years. When I learned I was pregnant with Perry, he stepped down when the baby was born and hadn't done anything since."
"Do you remember what case he was working on when you got married and had Perry?"
"No, I don't, but maybe it could be in the file cabinet somewhere. I'll take them with me when I go back to Perry's tonight. I might stop by the library as well."
"What do you like?"
"I used to like murder mysteries until George died a couple months ago, and I haven't read one since."
Della couldn't blame Ada for saying that. She looked at her watch.
"I'd better get going. Thank you for letting me help you go through these files," Della told her.
She thought of the office and let Paul do some stuff.
"You're welcome. I'm sure Perry would want us to spend more time together."
"Probably. See you again soon."
Ada walked Della to the front door and watched from the window to make sure Della left safely.
When Della drove away, Ada thought she saw one of the neighbors leave as well. She didn't care who the neighbor was or what their plans were.
Ada walked through the garage and toss the files George had kept and put some of them in the backseat of the car. When she finished doing that, Ada locked the doors in the house and drove to the library.
She let Della take some of the files to the office, but Della promised she would return them.
So Ada drove to the library after leaving the house. She didn't bother calling her son since Della had already taken care of it. She still liked to think Della was his girlfriend instead of just a secretary, but were perfect for each other.
Once Ada made it to the library and found a parking spot, she decided to browse around until she was able to find something that interested her. It's not very often she reads nonfiction. Her family wasn't religious, but she only gets those unless a friend or two might think she would be interested in it. Her neighbor had been a believer in God for almost thirty years, so she knows about the Bible, but not into reading it anytime soon.
Ada wondered if these people Perry talks with about the Johnsons' second child left behind were religious since he didn't bother mentioning it if they had.
When Perry gave her their names, they didn't sound familiar to her when she thought they could have known George and his cases.
Ada spent some time at the library until she found something that sounded interesting. She hadn't been to the library in a long time, so it was a good idea to come back today. Ada decided she was going to check out two since it's going to be her only time to catch up with reading. Ada decided to reread some of the classics she had grown up to enjoy when in middle school. She got the interest of reading from her mother since she liked it too.
Ada decided to go to the grocery store as well on the way to Perry's house after leaving the library. She saw the library was almost a full house since there were some college students there as well.
On the way to the grocery store, Ada thought about what Della said about Perry giving her a job to do at the office. She will mention it to him tonight and see what his reaction was, but she didn't feel like having a job, even though he did point it would keep her distracted with George's murder that happened recently.
She also thought of that question Perry kept asking her about, and didn't see any reason to answer it about being a witness to something with the case of George, but she would never get involved. Not sure how to when to answer this question he kept asking.
Ada was nowhere that close to what happened, but she kept telling Perry the truth that she was out to lunch with a friend at the time of George's murder when she came home from running errands and lunch. He seemed to believe her on this, but now he's going through one of George's cases that didn't get finished and he was representing her.
She made it to Perry's house within half an hour later. There was no telling what Perry was doing while she was out.
She didn't see anything in the driveway, so Ada decided to bring the food in first, and then the files and library books. She decided only three files were enough so Perry could start there, whether he wants to work on those cases, but Ada didn't really see any reason to look for him. The first thing she did was head to the kitchen to bring the food she brought from the store.
He came downstairs as soon as Ada was bringing the files from the office at her house.
"Hi, Mom. Did you and Della do with the files?" Perry asked her, seeing a few of the files.
"Okay, I guess. I let her take a few of them to the office so you can go through them tomorrow."
"All right. Did either of you find anything that could had children mentioned in the files?"
"Hard to say, but only you can find the answer yourself. These are old files too, Perry, so just be careful when you go through them."
"How come?"
"Because they're turning yellow."
"Thank you for the warning."
"I have something to share with you, Perry."
"What?"
"Della said something about giving me a job at the office."
"I like the idea, but Della and Paul are enough. Maybe volunteer, but not hired."
"What is there to do as a volunteer?"
Ada wasn't so sure about the volunteer idea.
"We'll talk more about it, Mom. That's why I sent you to the office that one day to bring Della and Paul the paperwork Dad left behind. That was why you had the chance to meet them."
Ada remembered that day, but it didn't go well because she was in tears and both of them were trying to help her out.
Now she's been around them a bit longer than the office, Ada seemed to do okay. She did like Paul, but she and Della will work out something.
"We really didn't read anything from those files, Perry. Not paying attention to the names who worked with George at that time."
"That's all right. This is why I have Della and Paul. He was the one who called up that Adam Smith when I went in the day of the counseling appointment."
"That makes sense. Maybe some of the people aren't alive either, even the clients and private investigators who worked with him. Now you see why those people you talked with didn't remember your father very well."
"Yes, I do see that."
"I have one more trip from the car, but there's no need to help out."
"What is that trip?"
"Library books."
"You can do that, Mom. When was the last time you read a book?"
"Forever. I just haven't read much since I was busy with your father's murder case and staying at the house since. This is why I never left because you never know if the murderer would come back and find me there."
"That never did happen, Mom. I'm sure Dad probably kept in contact with some of the people he went to law school with. Maybe that person was in the courtroom."
"I never thought of that, but it's a good guess. He didn't really talk much about his classmates. Only you have to answer that for yourself. I never went to school enough to know who George was friends with."
Perry didn't respond.
It could turn out Perry would be right. The phone rang.
"I'll get it."
"Hi, Perry. I made that appointment with Adam Smith."
"Thanks, Della. When is it?"
"Tomorrow afternoon at 12:30. I said it would work out."
He accepted that.
"See you and Paul tomorrow."
"Then you can catch up what you missed at the office."
"You mean the files you helped Mom with."
"Exactly, Perry. I'm going through one of them now."
"What kind of case was it?"
"You'll have to go through it yourself. I can't explain it. Paul said he would drop by tomorrow morning and pick you up."
"Thanks. I might end up taking my mother with me. I still would hate to leave her behind all alone."
Della understood.
"I'll call the counselor tomorrow. I'm sure she's thinking of leaving work for the day," Della said, thinking of her friend.
"All right. I'll pass this over to her."
"Thanks, Perry. See you tomorrow."
"Same with you, Della."