Chapter Text
David practically fell into the office from the library entrance. Their last case drained them all, and even now, days later, they were struggling to recuperate.
Hamilton blowing a gasket in court due to every point of his being stripped apart thread by thread. Sudden confessions to embezzlement by one witness and the reveal of a previous murder committed by a prosecution witness, which sparked another investigation in the middle of the trial.
Lengthy testimonies, examinations of new evidence, since the aforementioned murder was connected to the current case, and, surprise, surprise, the killer physically lashing out at Perry when they were caught.
It disturbed David how nonchalant Perry and the others were about people threatening him…
It happens quite a few times, David.
All of this happened in a two-week period.
For David, it was his most trying case as a student-to-be-lawyer yet.
It was also his most terrifying.
Sure, there was screaming, grabbing of suit lapels, flailing arms, occasional punches, as Perry would say in previous cases, but this—
The killer had to be restrained by the bailiff and the corrections officer as he spat threats at not only Perry, but Paul and Della too. He landed a few harsh blows to Perry’s face before he was pulled away, screaming about how he’d make them all pay, make them know what ‘real’ suffering is.
Novel villain cliché, really, but it shook David to his core, because for once, Perry seemed caught off guard by the outburst, and he was actually hurt. Most notable was his bloody nose, split lip, and forming black eye.
After that whole ordeal, David just needed his friends—kind of difficult when everyone was too tired to get out of bed though.
He looked around the unusually empty office. Today was the day they were supposed to go back to work.
He shook his head and shrugged it off. They could afford to be late; the world wouldn’t fall apart if they weren’t around for a few hours.
That being said… he was still shaking from what he had seen and heard. He needed to talk to them.
It wasn’t his job, but David found it helped him calm down when his nerves were fizzled out, so he set to finding something he could clean.
It wasn’t easy—Perry wasn’t a normally messy person after all. Except…
David opened a drawer in Perry’s desk. Pads of paper, pencils, pens, erasers, all thrown haphazardly inside. Of course. He smiled fondly and rearranged them into neat stacks.
He did the same to another drawer, this one full of papers that had information on past trials. It made David flinch. Perry really should find a safer place for these.
He opened another drawer and his mind stopped working. … coffee mugs. Empty, used coffee mugs and spoons.
“Well that explains where our cups went…”
David sighed and pulled the dishes from the drawer. Dish duty it is. He brought them to the bathroom and set them on the small counter next to the sink and turned the faucet on.
His mind wandered while the water warmed up.
Paul and Della had just gone home for the night after unsuccessfully trying to convince Perry to wrap up.
David urged them to go home, promising them he’d stay with Perry to make sure he didn’t overdo anything and try to talk him down into at least taking a break for a while.
Now he sat on the couch, rereading one of his favourite crime novels while Perry sat at his desk, signing paperwork, and finishing his final statement. But David was having a hard time focusing on his book, a disturbing pattern about his mentor forming in his mind.
Finally, he shut his book, sucking in a shuddering breath. “Mr. Mason?”
The shake to his voice, along with the hollow lift had Perry snapping to attention.
“Come sit with me, please?” David asked. “Take a break—just fifteen minutes.”
“I don’t think this is about me taking a break.” Perry walked over to him and sat down. “What’s wrong, David?”
David buried his nose in his book again, suddenly regretting his decision.
Perry raised an eyebrow and smiled softly. Leaning back, he laid his elbow over the back of the couch, casually looking at David’s book.
“The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, hm?”
David nodded.
“I haven’t read it yet. Is it any good?”
“It’s great.” David mumbled. “Phenomenal ending… I’ve read it many times.”
“I don’t suppose you’ll tell me what happens?”
“You’ll have to find that out on your own.”
Perry chuckled and shook his head, retreating into his thoughts, letting David gather his own. He wanted to say something, Perry knew he did, so he would wait until he was ready.
“I just don’t get it, Mr. Mason…” David finally said after a moment.
He looked at David patiently.
David put his book down and looked down at his hands. “Sometimes—many times actually, from what I’ve seen, the killers yell at you or go after you when they’re caught and… you let them. Why do you let them?”
“If they go after me, I let them because it proves the type of person they are.” Perry answered as if he’d known this a long time. Perhaps he did. “How they act afterwards, remorseful, quiet, angry; it proves the person they can be.”
“But how aren’t you scared?” David looked up at him, voice wavering again. “They could kill you.”
“I was scared the first few times it happened. But after a while, I grew used to it.”
“That isn’t something you should ever be used to.”
“No, but it’s what happens—at least for me. You shouldn’t worry too much.” Perry assured David, after seeing the uneasy look on his face. “They don’t really mean to hurt me most of the time. They don’t even plan to kill most times, either.”
“It won’t always be like that.” David reminded him.
“It won’t,” Perry agreed, “but it’s necessary to see who they are.”
“That doesn’t make me feel any better.”
“The truth doesn’t always make you feel better.”
David looked down again, tears building in his eyes.
Perry stood up and pulled him into a hug.
David hugged back, trying desperately to control his breathing. “I don’t know how you’re ok with this.”
“It’s my job.” Perry said simply, rubbing soothing circles on his back. “It could be yours too. But I’ll be here to help you, like I always am. You can count on that. And I’ll do everything I can to make sure you have at least one safe place to go to no matter what.”
They stood there in silence for a while, neither pulling away from the hug. David liked it. He swore, he could feel a hole in his chest healing over the longer he stayed in the embrace.
He liked having someone he could really depend on, other than his grandad.
“I lied, by the way.”
“Hm?”
“The book. I have read it.”
“Mr. Mason!”
Perry just laughed.
David blinked out of the memory. He had just finished putting the dishes away in the cupboard behind Perry’s desk and looked around.
No one was here.
He looked at the clock. 11:00am. They were supposed to be here a while ago.
“Mr. Mason?” David called out, heading back to the law library. Maybe they had come in and he just didn’t hear them.
He peeked into the library, but no one was there.
“Paul?” He went and opened the back door, looking out into the hallway.
No one.
David went back into the office, a tight coil forming in his stomach and chest.
Don’t panic, don’t panic, they were adults, they were all adults.
But the threats from days before wouldn’t stop repeating in his head.
“You bastard! Why does it always have to be you?!”
David left the office, going through Della’s, dread in his stomach increasing as this room was empty too. He steeled himself as he opened the door to the last office.
Gertie looked up from whatever paperwork she was signing, her wide eyes widening even further when she saw him. “David?”
“Oh hi, Gertie,” Relief washed over him. At least she was here, “I, don’t suppose you’ve seen Mr. Mason and…?”
“No,” Gertie shook her head, “I figured you all decided to take another day off.”
David’s nerves worsened. “No… they were supposed to be here over an hour ago.”
Gertie straightened up—David could see the wheels turning in her head. She stood up.
“Here, I’ll go look around in the building.” She said after a minute. “Maybe they got caught up talking to people. Our last case was rather memorable after all. You go call them.” She placed her hand gently on the side of his face. “It’ll be ok.” She promised before leaving.
“You should have just minded your own business.” The man’s voice became harsher with each word. “I had everything planned. Someone would have been arrested! But no, no that isn’t enough for you!”
“Justice means the right people go to jail, not that just someone pays for the crime.” David countered to himself bitterly. Honestly, the thought process of some people…
David jogged back into the office and picked up the phone, dialling Perry’s number. He expected ringing after a few seconds, but, almost immediately, he got a busy signal instead…
He hung up and took a deep breath. Maybe he was on a call with someone else. He waited five more minutes before picking up the phone and trying Perry’s number again.
He got the same busy signal.
The coils tightened…
He hung up again and rolled his fist against his stomach and chest to ease the growing pain there.
David tried both Paul’s agency number and his private number—he had to redial the agency number he was shaking so bad.
Both times, he got a busy signal.
The same thing happened with Della’s number. None of them were answering. That never happened.
Something was wrong, something was very wrong.
Perry was struggling, fighting to keep the man off him as the courtroom erupted into chaos.
“It’s about time someone put you in your place!” Hit after hit after hit, each straight to Perry’s face.
“Get off him!” Paul yelled as the bailiff and corrections officer fought to pull the man off the lawyer.
David could only watch in fear.
He flinched back as the memory stabbed through him like a freight train. He gagged a bit from the cry that was stuck in his throat. He put down the phone, the busy signal having reminded him enough that no one was on the other end.
“Did you have any luck?”
David turned around, seeing Gertie standing by the doorway. “No… all their numbers went to the busy signal.”
“I stopped by Mr. Drake’s office to be safe.” Gertie said, walking to him. “Margo said he hadn’t shown up there either.”
“Did you ask her about any calls?” David asked, a little frantic. “I called Paul’s agency too.”
“No, I didn’t, but she pointed out that no calls had come in at all this morning.”
It felt like heat was radiating from him, but instead of making David hot, it was making the panic skyrocket. He wanted to ram himself into a wall.
The reality was there, trying to pierce into him, but something wouldn’t let it.
“You hear me?! You’ll pay for this! You and that pretty secretary of yours! Count on it!” He struggled against the holds he was in, feet dragging against the ground as he was pulled out of the courtroom.
“I’ll get that cocky private eye too! None of you will get away with this!”
David felt weak. His mind was running a mile a minute, yet he stood motionless, unable to grasp a single thought.
“David, what’s wrong?”
And panic took over his senses.
They weren’t here. They weren’t here!
He couldn’t breathe—he was thrown between hyperventilating and crying.
His legs gave out and he fell to the floor, tears blurring his eyes. He vaguely felt someone grab his arm and call his name, but he couldn’t tell who it was anymore.
There was too much noise. The busy signal he heard over three times was ringing in his ears, yet it felt like silence was crushing him, pushing him further into the ground.
Everything around him spun and he gagged, wanting to throw up, but he couldn’t move.
He was dying, he had to be dying, there was no other explanation—
“David, David, please! You need to breathe!”
Hands that weren’t his own yanked his away from his hair and neck as the world around him went dark.
“Breathe, David, please breathe…”
He knows what happened now.
If I ever get my hands on you, you’ll know the meaning of real suffering.