At the sound of that voice, Laura looked into the rear view mirror. "Tony."
"You're surprised to see me."
"Last I heard you were still in Dublin," Laura replied. "What are you doing in Los Angeles?"
Tony Roselli shrugged. "Just passing through. Thought I'd thank Steele for all his help back in Ireland."
"He saved your life, Tony," Laura reminded him.
"Yeah. And cost me my job," Tony informed her.
Laura noticed that he missed the turn that would take them to the office. "Your job?"
"My bosses decided I was a liability. Let me go."
"Were are we going, Tony?"
"I told you I wasn't going to give up, Laura," he said without answering her question. "Did you think I was lying?"
"Tony, let me out of the car. You aren't going to kidnap me-"
"I'm just going to give you a chance to choose me over him. That's all. A little time together, just the two of us."
"He's my husband, Tony," Laura said.
"It's a fake marriage," Tony said.
"Not anymore. We were legally married right after we got back to Los Angeles."
"You've never heard of divorce? Just sit back and enjoy the ride, Laura."
Laura sighed, sitting back. A glance at the doors told her that he'd removed the handles- so there was no way for her to escape until he opened the door from the outside. And she had no way to let Remington know that she was in trouble.
Remington took the cup of tea that Eileen offered as he said, "I'm sorry. I've never-" he paused, trying to find the right words to express his embarrassment.
Eileen's blue eyes met his as she sat back in her chair. "Cried on your mother's shoulder?" she suggested. "There's no reason to be embarrassed, Remington. It's understandable. I'm just glad that you've forgiven me enough that you were able to do it."
"Forgiven you?" Remington questioned, not understanding her comment.
"For taking Father at his word. For not making absolutely certain that you were really dead."
"I don't blame you for that," Remington said. "You trusted him." He concentrated on his tea for a moment before asking, "You- never had any other children?"
"No," Eileen said with a sad smile. "I wanted a child- wanted a houseful of them. But Edward- my late husband- kept putting the idea off. He didn't like children very much. No patience for them." Her smile became tinged with a deeper sadness. "Harrison loved children. He was so good with them. He would have been a wonderful father."
"He was, in his own way," Remington realized. "Sounds as if he and Edward Mitchell were very different."
"Like night and day," Eileen confirmed.
"Is that why you married him? Because he was so different?"
Eileen looked into her cup before answering. "I said that my father thought he could buy anything, remember? He saw me as- damaged goods after- everything that happened. Everyone knew about my involvement with Harrison, who was, after all, a conman and convicted bank robber- but very few people knew about the rest of it. So Father bought me a husband. He promised Edward that he would take over the business one day- just as Father had done by marrying my mother. Edward had no way of knowing that Father would outlive him." She refilled their cups. "Now. Enough about the distant past for now. I want to hear all about how you became Remington Steele."
Remington grinned. "You're sure you want to hear?"
"It's as good a place to begin as any, don't you think?"
Remington gazed at her for a long moment. "Tell me, do you like the movies?"
"I adore movies," Eileen admitted. "They became my salvation over the years. Why?"
"Just curious. Let's see. Have you ever heard of Royal Lavulite?"…
Mildred glanced at he watch as she carried the coffee pot into
Mr. Steele's office for the third time. "Where is Mrs. Steele,
Miss Krebs?" Mr. Baker demanded, placing a hand over his
still full cup of cold coffee. "You said she would be here
ten minutes ago."
"I'm sure she's just been held up in traffic, Mr. Baker. If you'll just be a patient for a little longer-"
David Baker sighed in angry frustration. "I'm a busy man, Miss Krebs. I allotted an hour for this meeting with Mrs. Steele so that she could give me a final report on my case. I've been here for fifty minutes. Unless she arrives in the next five, I'll have to leave."
Mildred went to her desk and picked up the telephone, dialing the number for Mrs. Mitchell's hotel room again. She frowned when there was no answer. First Mrs. Steele, and now Mr. Steele. What was going on? If they didn't give Mr. Baker the promised report, the agency would probably lose his company's business.
With an air of determination, Mildred when into Mrs. Steele's office and found the file for Mr. Baker. Mrs. Steele was always saying that Mildred needed to take the bull by the horns. This was as good a time as any, she supposed.
Returning to Mr. Steele's office, Mildred gave the client her brightest smile as she sat down behind Mr. Steele's desk. "I just spoke with Mrs. Steele," she lied. "As I suspected, she's having problems with traffic-" Mr. Baker started to stand up. "But she asked me to give you a rundown on the case and answer any questions you might have," she informed him, opening the folder, waiting for Mr. Baker to sit down again.
Ten minutes later, Mildred was shaking a satisfied Mr. Baker's hand as Remington and Eileen entered the reception area. "I hope you realize how valuable an asset you have in Miss Krebs, Steele."
"I'm fully aware that without her the agency would fall apart," Remington assured the man. "Everything concluded to your satisfaction, then?"
"Yes. No thanks to Mrs. Steele," Baker said with a frown of disapproval. But he smiled as he turned to Mildred again. "If you ever decide to change jobs, let me know," he was saying, as he handed her a business card. "I think we could work something out."
Remington frowned as Baker left the office. "Mildred, what did he mean by that? No thanks to Laura?" He looked around. "Where is she?"
"I have no idea, Mr. Steele. Last I heard, she was leaving the hotel to come here."
Eileen looked worried. "That was over an hour ago, Remington. Could something have happened to her?"
"Why didn't you call when she didn't arrive, Mildred?" Remington asked.
"I called about ten minutes ago, Chief," Mildred told him. "You weren't there."
"We'd just left to come here. I thought that we could meet Laura and then go to dinner," Remington mused. They had taken the same route that Laura would have taken in a cab- there hadn't been any signs of an accident. So where was Laura? At last he turned to the two women. "Would you mind staying here with Mildred while I run back to the hotel and ask around? Perhaps someone saw her leave, and can tell me the name of the taxi company- give us some clue."
"Of course, dear," Eileen agreed. "I'm sure Miss Krebs and I will be fine."
Remington glanced at Mildred.. "I'll look after her, Chief," she promised. "You go find Mrs. Steele. She would have been here if something hadn't happened to her. She's in trouble."
"I'll keep in touch," he promised. "Call Fred, have him meet me downstairs with the limo. At least there's a mobile phone. If you hear anything-"
"I'll call. Now go on."
Eileen placed a comforting hand on her son's arm, smiling encouragingly as he covered it before turning away and leaving the office. "He loves her very much, doesn't he?"
"Yes," Mildred confirmed. "I'm not sure what he'd do if he didn't have her in his life."
"Is there anything I can do to help?" Eileen asked as Mildred sat down at the desk. "Make some telephone calls? Some tea, perhaps?"
Mildred looked at the woman with patent disbelief. "You're SURE you're his mother?"
Eileen seemed to understand the reason for the question. "Quite sure. And I'm serious about wanting to help."
"There's some coffee in there," Mildred said, indicating the third door from the room. "Help yourself. I'm going to make a couple of calls, see if anyone's heard from Mrs. Steele."
Remington thanked the parking valet with a twenty dollar tip and then got back into the limo. "Where to now, Mr. Steele?" Fred asked as Remington picked up the mobile telephone.
"I'm not sure yet." He dialed a number and waited.
"Tip Top Taxi Company," a tired sounding woman answered. "Need a cab?"
"No. But I do need to talk to someone in charge about one of your taxis that picked up a fare at the Wilshire Hilton about an hour and a half ago."
The woman sighed deeply. "Got a number?"
"Fourteen, I believe."
"Just a minute." Remington covered the receiver as she called on the radio for the taxi. "Come in, Joe."
"Back to the office, Fred," Remington said.
"Cab fourteen, come in, please." She came back on the telephone. "Sorry. He's not answering the radio. You said he picked up a fare at the Hotel?"
"yes. The Wilshire Hilton."
"Don't have a call in on it- Joe's usually good about calling in fares."
"When you get in contact with him, would you mind giving me a call? It's very important that I find out where he took the woman he picked up."
"Sure. What's the name and number?"
"Remington Steele-"
"The detective?" the woman asked, interrupting him.
"Yes," he said, then gave her the number. "You won't forget to call?"
"This have to do with a case or something?"
"Yes. Can't talk about it. Client confidentiality and all that."
"Gotcha. I'll call you just as soon as I hear from Joe."
"Thank you." Remington hung up the telephone, then dialed the number for the office.
"Remington Steele Investigations."
"Mildred, has she called in?"
"Not a word, Mr. Steele," Mildred said apologetically. "I called her sister, but Mrs. Piper hasn't heard from her for two days. Any luck at the hotel?"
"I got a lead on the taxi. They're apparently having radio problems. The dispatcher is going to call as soon as she gets in touch with the driver."
"Should I start calling the hospitals, Mr. Steele?" Mildred asked in a hesitant voice.
"Might as well, Mildred. But I don't think you'll find her. Call Lt. Jarvis, see if he can tell you if anyone the agency's put behind bars has been recently released."
"You got it. I do know that Major Descoine's still in prison. Mrs. Steele got a report on him last week."
"But his daughter's still out here somewhere- and she's just as dangerous as her father- and just as insane."
"I'll run some checks. Where are you going to be?"
"I should be back in the office momentarily," he informed her. "Where's- Eileen?"
Mildred noticed that he wasn't calling the woman "mother". Not yet, anyway. "She's right here. We were going through some case files- trying to see if any recent cases could be the cause for Mrs. Steele possibly being kidnapped."
"Haven't found anything, I suppose," he said.
"No."
"I'll be right up. We're just pulling into the garage."
Mildred hung up as Eileen held out a folder. "I couldn't' find anything in this one, either, I'm afraid. I hope she's all right."
"Oh, Mrs. Steele can handle herself. You'd be surprised at the things she's done."
"Such as inventing Remington Steele and opening this agency?" Eileen asked, smiling at Mildred's surprise. "He told me all about it."
The rookie police officer stopped behind the taxi and approached it slowly. It wasn't parked illegally, the front window was rolled down, and the keys were in the ignition. But there was no sign of a driver- and the radio was blaring. "Cab fourteen. Come on, Joe. Answer me, you rat-tailed-"
Reaching inside, the policeman picked up the microphone. "Hello?"
"Who is this? You're not Joe."
"No. This is Officer Dunbar, LAPD. I've found your cab down here on Fourth and Levinson. No sign of the driver-" he was distracted by the sound of something banging in the rear of the car. "Hold on." Picking up his own radio, Dunbar called the taxi in to the department as he rounded the back of the vehicle.
The sound was coming from the trunk, and Dunbar bent to listen. "Hello?" he called out.
The banging grew louder, more frantic.
"Okay, okay. I'll get you out! Just hang on." Going back to the front of the car, he grabbed the keys from the ignition and rushed back to put the key into the lock. The man in the trunk was bound and gagged, and took a grateful breath of fresh air when Dunbar removed the gag. "Are you okay?"
"I think so. Man, I'm glad you stopped. I was afraid no one was going to find me."
"What happened?" Dunbar asked, helping the man from the trunk. He saw the dried blood on the back of the man's head. "I'm gonna call an ambulance. You stay right here."
Remington tossed the last folder onto the stack that was sitting on the coffee table in his office. Another dead end. Eileen came in with a fresh cup of tea for him, then sat down as Mildred watched his tired face. "Jarvis didn't have anything at all, Mildred?"
"No. I'm sorry."
"It's been six hours, Mildred. Where the bloody hell is she?" Remington asked, going to the window and looking out over the darkening city. "If she's been kidnapped, why haven't they called? Demanded a ransom? Something? ANYthing!" When the telephone rang, Remington grabbed it before the echo died. "Steele here." Mildred and Eileen approached the desk as he sat down, his eyes moving from one to the other.
"Mr. Steele, its Kate Logan. Tip Top Taxi, remember?"
"Yes. I remember. Did you talk to your driver?"
"I haven't talked to him, no. He's in the hospital with a concussion."
"A concussion? Did he have an accident?"
"No. According to what he told the police, he picked up a fare about half an hour before the fare you're interested in was picked up. The guy hit him over the head and tied him up like a turkey, then stuffed him in the trunk. That's where they found him when they found the car."
Remington ran a hand over his face. "Where did they find the car?"
"Fourth and Levinson. Abandoned. The police are checking it for prints."
"Did Joe mention what the man who stole his cab looked like?" Remington asked, seeing Mildred and Eileen's worried expressions.
"Early thirties, dark brown, curly hair, had a New York accent."
Remington felt his jaw tighten at the description. "Who's the investigating officer?"
"Officer Dunbar found the car."
"Thank you." He hung up the telephone and looked at Mildred. "The driver says that the man who hit him was in his early thirties, dark brown, curly hair and had a New York accent," he confirmed.
"Oh, Mr. Steele. You don't think-"
"I'm beginning to smell a rat, Mildred," Remington confirmed.
"You think that Tony Roselli-?"
"Did you say Tony Roselli?" Eileen interrupted.
Remington and Mildred both turned to look at the woman, with more than a little suspicion. "You've heard the name?"
"Well, Edward's sister was married to a man by the name of Roselli. And her son is named Tony. Antony, actually-"
Remington, having risen after the telephone call, sat down again heavily in his chair. "Good Lord."
"You mean- Mr. Steele and- that-that *rat* are cousins?" Mildred asked.
"Good Lord," Remington said again.
To Be Continued---