AN: This story is a sequel to Mr. Mason Takes a Secretary and tells the story of Perry's first case! I do hope you'll enjoy their first adventure!
Billings and Dawson, Attorneys at Law
That was what was written on the plate-glass window that Perry pushed open bright and early on a Monday morning. He let Della walk in first.
"Mr. Mason and Ms. Street, welcome," greeted the receptionist, Mary Ellen. "Ms. Street, Martha's waiting for you in the secretarial pool. And Mr. Mason, Mr. Billings is ready for you in his office."
Della gave Perry a hopeful smile before following Mary Ellen's gesture down a long hallway. Perry walked into Mr. Billings' open door.
"Ah, Mason, right on time. I'll show you to your office and let you get settled." The man rose from his desk and gave Perry a hearty handshake before leading him down the same hallway that Della had taken moments earlier.
They passed a number of offices and stopped at the last one in the corridor, just before it opened up into a room crammed with secretaries.
"I'm afraid one of the junior partners took the office of your predecessor. It was quite a nice one. You'll have this one, here. A bit loud, sometimes, with all the typing and ringing phones." The man flipped through keys on a ring and Perry looked down at the secretarial pool. Something told him Della was going to hate it-no way she would have her tight ship in a room full of that chaos.
Another man came down the corridor and stopped at the office just across the hall from Perry's.
"This is Mr. Burger, our newest junior partner," Mr. Billings introduced.
Perry smiled as he shook the man's hand.
"Mr. Mason will be assisting you on the Grant case," Billings explained to Burger.
"No disrespect sir, but I've got the Grant case well in hand," Burger exclaimed.
"Later, Burger. I'm helping Mr. Mason get settled." The younger man walked into his office in a huff. "Don't mind him. Awfully competitive, especially now that the DA's announced he's retiring. He's hoping to be considered. Anyway, here's your office."
Perry peeked in. The room was small and cramped, almost dominated by the Brobdingnagian desk that sat in the middle of the floor. A few small chairs were shoved against the wall for his clients, and a single filing cabinet was crammed behind the desk.
"Your secretary will have a desk out here. I'm sure she'll be in soon—Martha's just showing her the supply room and the likes. I'll give you a few hours to settle in, and then we'll get you working with Burger. Oh, you'll find a box of files under your desk. Those are the clients you've inherited from your predecessor. Familiarize yourself with those clients, because they'll come to you if they need something. Good morning, Mr. Mason."
Perry blinked as his new boss left the vestibule. There was, indeed, a box of files under the desk. Perry perused a few, mostly of correspondences between lawyer and client and typed records of their past meetings. Everything looked rather boring, but Perry supposed that was how things started out, especially with repeat clients.
Della poked her head in a few minutes later.
"I've got our first task," he told her, pointing to the box. "Organize them however it makes sense to you, and then I'd like to make appointments with all of the clients over the next few weeks to get to know them."
Della nodded, shoving the box towards the door with her foot.
"What's in the filing cabinet?" she asked.
Perry yanked open a rusty drawer. "More files, it appears. Quite dated. I'll ask someone what we can do with them. In the meantime, we've got a few briefs. Ready to take some dictation?"
00
Della spent much of her time in his office, away from the noise and chaos of the secretarial pool. The women were terrible gossips. Not that Della minded a tidbit here and there, no, but the constant chatter combined with the ringing telephones and clattering typewriters, it was all she could do to hear herself think.
She was certain her absence from the pool made her a topic of the gossip they passed around, not that she had a mind to care. The others rarely spent more than a few minutes at a time away from their desk, and much of the gossip they shared was related to the particular lawyer they aided.
Only one other girl seemed to share Della's desire to actually do her job-a young girl named Gertrude. She worked for Mr. Burger, who was doing everything he could to be noticed by the search committee for the new district attorney. Gertie took feverish notes during Mr. Burger's meetings, always took care to type things perfectly, and spent afternoons in court with him as his cases were tried.
Gertie had confided in Della that she hoped Burger would get the job just so she could resign as his assistant. The late hours were alright while she was living with a few friends, but she hoped to be engaged by the end of the summer. She wanted to keep working, but her beau wouldn't let her if her job continued to demand all her extra time.
Della hoped she wouldn't leave-Gertie was her only friend at the office. Aside from Perry, of course…
Perry was frustrated, too.
"I studied to be a trial lawyer, not a paralegal," he complained.
"One day, the name Perry Mason will be synonymous with justice," Della placated," but for now, we need to finish this affidavit."
00
"My neighbor is bringing me to court. He claims I built a fence on his side of the property line. We brought out a surveyor, and he says I built on my side. Perfectly within the law. And now, he's retained a lawyer and I've got a summons! "
"I've got a friend who's a lawyer. His name's Perry Mason. Give him a call and tell him I sent you. He'll see you. I can't promise he can fix it, but he can advise you on what to do."
00
"So after you had the surveyor come out, Mr. Tinsley contacted a lawyer?"
"Yes, Mr. Mason. I didn't really see the point; the survey office confirmed the fence was on my land. Legally, he couldn't get me to do anything."
"Potentially a scare tactic...what's the name of the lawyer?"
Joe Short rummaged through his pockets and produced a business card.
"Hmm...I'll look into this matter, Mr. Short, and get back to you by the end of the week," Perry assured.
"Thank you, sir. I can see myself out."
"Well, Chief, you asked for a case, and we've got one."
"At least we might get a day in court," Perry shrugged. "Can you get this lawyer on the phone, and then contact Paul and have him dig up what he can about this 'Cecil Tinsley.' It might not be the most exciting thing ever, but we've got a case."
00
Perry knocked on the door of Cecil Tinsley's house. The door wasn't latched and swung open the moment Perry's knuckles rapped on it. He glanced at Della and peeked in.
"Mr. Tinsley? Hello?" He stepped into the foyer and put his hand out to guide Della in with him.
"Anyone home?" Della called. Perry took another step, walking from the foyer into the sitting room.
"Well, Della, looks like we're not going to question Mr. Tinsley," Perry said, putting his hand out to keep her in the foyer.
"What's the matter?" she asked, trying to peek into the room. She saw a pair of wingtip shoes, toes pointed toward the ceiling. She gasped. "Is he-"
Perry nodded. "Go next door and find Mr. Short. Take a cab to the office right away, and wait for me there. I'm going to ring the police."