Linked Steele Part 1

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Linked Steele
Part One
"You KNOW that Mother was disappointed that you weren't there," Laura Holt said. "Every time I turned around this weekend, she was asking me why you hadn't come with me." "And what did you tell her?" Remington Steele asked. "Oh, that you were FAR too busy with a case," she assured him. "It was the only thing she would believe." "And she believed that you would leave me here, alone, over the weekend, to work on a case?" "Well, you have to remember that my mother thinks you really ARE Remington Steele." He sat back in his chair. "Sometimes I think I am, Laura." He waited, fully expecting her to explode into a tirade at that confession. But instead, she sat back herself, sipping her coffee. "You're certainly more like the man I envisioned when I created my fictional boss than you were when you entered this office for the first time," she admitted. "So. What did you do with your weekend while I was off in Boston seeing my younger cousin married and suffering through my mother's endless tirades?" Remington grinned at her frustrated sigh and shrugged. "Nothing much. Enjoyed a couple of nice, quiet evenings, watched some movies- read a book." He looked at her over the rim of his cup. "Waiting for you to call."

She frowned. "I did try to call. Saturday night. Late. Around ten here, I think. After the party ended and the happy couple left."

Now it was Remington's turn to frown. "Ten? I must have been in the shower. I don't remember hearing the telephone ring."

**********

Mildred heard the glass door to the offices of Remington Steele Investigations open, and glanced up, only to frown as she saw the tall, attractive, bleached blonde who stood before her desk. "Can I help you?"

"You must be Mildred," the woman said, and Mildred caught sight of the expensive set of wedding rings on her left hand as she patted her hair.

Mildred was on her guard. "Yeah?"

"Is Remy busy?"

*REMY?* Mildred repeated silently to herself. "MR. STEELE is in conference," Mildred explained. "I'll be glad to take a message -"

"Oh, I'm SURE he'll see me, Mildred."

"MISS KREBBS," Mildred corrected, disliking the woman's air of informality. "And Mr. Steele is a very busy man. Unless you have an appointment -"

The woman sighed deeply. "Remy isn't going to be very happy that you treated me like this, MISS Krebbs," she pouted prettily.

Something was wrong here, Mildred decided, and picked up the telephone to press the button for Mr. Steele's office. "Yes, Mildred?" Laura responded.

"I'm sorry to bother you, Miss Holt, but there's a woman out here who INSISTS on seeing Mr. Steele."

"A client?" Laura asked, looked at Remington, who lifted his shoulders.

"I don't think so, Miss Holt."

"We'll be right out, Mildred," Laura assured her.

The moment that they entered the reception area, Laura found herself staring as the woman threw herself into Remington's arms and gave him a long, extremely passionate kiss. "Remy, darling," she said when he managed to push her away. "I was getting so lonely at the apartment and decided to come and see if we could have an early lunch- " She pressed herself against him. "I DO hope you're not angry with me."

"I-"

"Excuse me," Laura said, getting the woman's attention. "But- who ARE you?"

She smiled, holding out her left hand to show off the rings. "Why, Mrs. Remington Steele, of course. We were married Saturday night-" Seeing Laura and Mildred's obvious surprise, she turned to Remington, who was just as surprised. "You naughty boy, Remy. I thought you were going to tell them." She looked back at Laura. "He didn't, did he?"

"NO," Laura said. "He didn't." Glaring at Remington, she said, "Read a book, huh?" before turning on her heel and entering her office, slamming the door behind her.

"Laura!" Remington called out, trying to follow her, but he was held fast by the blonde's arms locked around his neck. He pried them lose, stepping back. "Excuse me."

"Remy!" she said, pouting again as she watched him open the door that Laura had disappeared through.

He found her standing at the window, furious. When he tried to touch her arm, she shrugged him off. "Laura- Laura, I SWEAR to you. I've never SEEN that woman before in my life-"

"Then how do you explain her saying that she's your- WIFE?" Laura asked, handing him a tissue from her desk to wipe the woman's lipstick from his lips.

"I can't explain it. But it's not true. I spent the entire weekend from the time I dropped you at the airport until this morning alone. Didn't leave the apartment once."

"Then why weren't you home when I tried to call?"

"I TOLD you - I was in the shower."

"Alone?" Laura asked. Before he could respond, she turned again and went back out to confront the woman. She was certainly Remington's usual "type", Laura noticed. Tall, blonde, an air of sophistication - "Excuse me - Mrs.-" She REFUSED to finish that greeting. "What EXACTLY is your name?" she asked.

"Rachel," she said. "Rachel -Steele." Rachel moved upon seeing Remington to slide her arm through his. "I'm sorry, Remy. I didn't mean to create all of this trouble. I really thought you were going to tell your employees about your marriage."

Remington removed her long, well manicured nails from his arm. "We are NOT married," he told her. "Now what kind of little game are you playing? Who put you up to this?"

Rachel shrank from him. "Of COURSE we're married," she insisted, her green eyes filling with tears as she dug for a handkerchief in her purse. "How can you have forgotten that little chapel in Las Vegas?" She sobbed, and, not finding anything in her bag, she reached up and flicked Remington's hanky from his jacket, then dabbed at her eyes.

"Las Vegas?" Laura asked. "You and Mr. Steele were married in Las Vegas?" Laura asked.

"That's where we met. Saturday afternoon. I worked in the casino- and well, his luck wasn't very good to start with- he- he said that he'd been about to leave when he bought that cigar from me."

"A CIGAR girl?" Mildred questioned.

"After that, he started winning-"

"Laura, I wasn't in Las Vegas. I was at home," Remington insisted.

"He started winning?" Laura prompted Rachel to continue.

She nodded. "He wouldn't let me leave. Said I was his good luck charm. When I told him I had to go or I'd lose my job, he told me to quit the job and he'd take care of me." Rachel giggled. "He was SO cute," she said.

"CUTE?" Mildred asked archly. CUTE was NOT one of the words she associated with Remington Steele.

Rachel nodded. "He kept telling the dealer to let it ride. He nearly broke the bank before he cashed in his chips." She rested her head against his arm. "Then he asked me to dinner- and the next thing I knew, he was asking me to marry him." She looked at Laura, her eye wide. "Honestly, could you have said no to him if he'd asked?"

Laura folded her arms across her chest, giving Remington a dangerous look. "Give me a minute to think about that," she muttered darkly.

"Well, *I* didn't have to think about it," Rachel said. "I mean, it's not every day a girl gets a proposal from someone like Remington Steele. A marriage proposal, that is," she amended, causing both Laura and Mildred to give each other a knowing look.

"And so you- got married," Laura said. "You wouldn't happen to have PROOF of that, would you?"

"Well, as a matter of fact," Rachel said, pulling something from her purse, "I brought the marriage license with me. I thought maybe Remy could put it in a safe place-" she said, holding it toward Remington.

Laura grabbed it first, opening it as Mildred stood at her shoulder. Remington grabbed it away from them. "Laura, this ISN'T my signature," he insisted. "A good forgery, perhaps, but-"

"Don't be silly, Remy," Rachel chastised gently, her hand on his arm. "Of COURSE it's your signature. I saw you sign it." She frowned as if a thought had just occurred. "Why are YOU asking all these questions?" she asked Laura. "It's almost like you're in charge here instead of Remy." She looked up at him again. "You DID say she was your assistant- or something like that - didn't you?"

Remington saw Laura's eyes flash with temper and said quickly, "Miss Holt is more of an equal partner in the firm," he said, trying to once again extricate himself from Rachel's clutches.

"Then you ARE Laura Holt," Rachel said. "I thought you were. Remy was telling me last night on the way back to Los Angeles that he hoped we could be friends- since I don't know anyone here."

Laura's saccharine smile was edged with something that made Remington VERY afraid. "Of COURSE we're going to be friends," she assured the woman. "After all, we have so MUCH in common, don't we?"

"We do?" Rachel asked.

Laura grabbed the woman's arm and pulled her away from Remington, steering her toward his office. Opening the door, she said, "In fact, why don't you go in here and sit down, and I'll be right in so we can have a nice, cozy little chat."

Rachel looked back at Remington, who had gone quite pale beneath his tan. "Remy?"

"Mr. Steele is VERY busy," Laura informed Rachel, almost pushing her into the office. "Make yourself comfortable, and I'll be right there." She closed the door behind the woman, then turned back toward the reception area.

"Laura-" Remington began, but she held up her hand and moved toward Mildred.

"Mildred, I want you to do a check on any charges to Mr. Steele's credit cards since Friday afternoon. And on the better hotels and casinos in Las Vegas. See if you can find anyone who saw him there." She picked up the license. "And see what you can find out about this "Chapel of Perpetual Happiness". If you find ANYTHING, tell ME, first."

"Check," Mildred acknowledged, moving toward her desk.

"I must say, Laura, you're taking this much better than I expected,-" Remington began, only to have Laura turn on him.

"It's either this or kill you, Mr. Steele," she told him. "And at the moment, killing you wouldn't solve my problems. With the community property laws like they are, killing YOU would only make HER my BOSS! So I think it's best if we prove this woman is a fraud instead."

"Anything that leaves out the part about your killing me, I'm for."

She glared at him. "It's STILL an option, Mr. Steele," she informed him. "I'm going to go see what information I can get out of - Mrs. Steele under the guise of a little girl to girl chat."

As she turned, Remington asked, "And what am I supposed to do while you're having a little tete a tete with- that woman?"

She gave him a long look. "Think about everything you did this weekend. Everyone you talked to. We need SOMEONE who can verify that you were in Los Angeles all weekend- or at least here Saturday night when SHE says you were in Las Vegas, gambling and getting married. Because if you can't, I'd suggest that you get used to calling her MRS. Steele." She turned on her heel and went to the door to his office.

Remington stood there, looking at the closed door before turning to Mildred's desk. She was giving him a look that revealed her disappointment in him. "Benedict Arnold," she said.

"Excuse me, Mildred?"

"You heard me," she said, typing on the computer before her as she spoke. "After all you and Miss Holt have gone through-"

"Mildred, that is EXACTLY why I would NEVER have done something like this. Do you honestly think that I care so little about Laura that I would surprise her with another woman as my wife? It's a scam, Mildred. We just have to find out WHO's running it."

Mildred stared at her screen. "You'd better find out soon, Chief," she said.

"Why?"

"Because according to this, you used the Agency credit card to rent a car here in Los Angeles, then paid for a room at the Eldorado Hotel in Las Vegas on Friday night- "

"That's impossible!" he insisted. "I was here."

"Not according to this," Mildred insisted. "You're in BIG trouble, Mr. Steele."

To be continued---
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