Author's Note

This is a story that was hanging around in my head for quite some time. It is very different from the other stories that I wrote, as in it I want to reflect a more human Perry and Della, with all their defects and virtues, capable of making mistakes, but also correcting them. I also want to warn you this story will have a good dose of anguish and suffering, so if this is not your style, I recommend you not read it. But if you decide to join me in this new adventure, I hope you enjoy it.

Veronica.

Disclaimer: The characters in this story don't belong to me, they are owned by Erle Stanley Gardner's pen. I don't receive any economic good for them. I only write for the pleasure of doing it.

I want to thank Tengland2 again for continuing to accompany me and help me in this new adventure.

All the errors are only mine.

Prologue.

Boston, 1985.

It had been a dark and rainy night, the cold was so strong that one could feel how it penetrated the bones. The darkness and silence surrounding the road that led to the exit Boston, was interrupted by sirens and flashing lights of several patrol cars and ambulances. They all had gathered there to answer an emergency call about a car accident.

Apparently, excessive rain and wet road caused the driver to lose control of the car, which caused it began skidding, derailing towards a guard rail to end up embedded into a tree.

The strong impact made driver's side door had opened letting see two passengers. One of them was a young woman in her thirties, while at the passenger seat was a girl, just about eleven or twelve years old. Due to certain similar traits between them it could be presumed that both were family. The two women were still alive, but paramedics could not assure for how much longer that would be.

Although for the little that could be seen the driver was in worse conditions than the passenger. The girl was conscious, while the young woman had not yet woken up. Due to the visible damage of her, the paramedics doubted she would ever do it. The EMT had been working hard to stabilize them and then take them to the ambulance that would transport them to Tufts Medical Center.

One of the traffic police officers approached a detective was to give him the driver purse found into the car. Detective Jackson gone through the driver´s purse and other documents, in search of her identity and any of contact information.

Once found driver´s identification card, Jackson could see that her name was Maria Valdés. Inside the purse he could also find a folded paper where there was a phone number and a name. Jackson was a native of California so he recognized the name of the person written on the piece of paper became, but he could not understand what relationship there was between Maria Valdez and this person.

Calling the police officer who had previously handed him the purse, "Tommy! I need you to contact dispatch and ask them call this number," he handed him the slip of paper, "and to talk to Miss Della Street in Los Angeles to be inform her immediately, about the accident."

In that, they hear the sirens, making them both turn to staying there watching the flashing lights disappear in the rain and darkness.