"Uh-oh," Bernice Fox muttered
as she watched the well dressed man enter the offices of Remington
Steele Investigations. She pasted a welcoming smile on her attractive
face. "Mr. Chalmers. This is a- surprise."
"A pleasant one, I hope," Daniel Chalmers said with
a smile of his own that Bernice thought didn't quite reach his
eyes. "But I suppose my visits here are never very pleasant
for you, are they?"
Bernice wasn't sure how to respond to his question, so she remained silent.
Daniel glanced toward the open door
across the reception area. "Is he in?"
"No- he's- out," Bernice explained. "On a case."
"Oh. I- don't suppose I could simply- wait in his office
until he returns?"
"I'm sorry, but-"
Daniel shook his head, sighing deeply. "No need to explain,
my dear. I understand. Tell him I'm in town, if you would, and
that I'll be in touch."
"Yes, sir," Bernice agreed, finding herself wondering
once more what terrible thing this man could have done to so alienate
his son. "I'll give him the message."
***
Laura Holt parked the Rabbit in her assigned space in the tiny
outside lot, wondering why she couldn't get a space in the underground
garage like Murphy and Bernice had. Another month, and she'd have
her PI license, and THEN she was going insist on some other place
to park the Rabbit than out in the open like this.
She entered the building and pressed the button for the elevator,
using the time while she waited to refresh her memory about the
information she'd gotten from Mr. Harris. The doors opened, and
she almost ran into an older, very well dressed man with greying
hair. "Excuse me," he said.
"No, I'm-" she looked at him. "Sorry." She'd
seen that face before, she decided as he moved toward the front
door. Entering the elevator, she pressed the button for the eleventh
floor, then grabbed the edge of the door to keep it from closing
as recognition set in. "Daniel Chalmers?"
He went still, as if he'd hoped to escape before being recognized,
then turned to look at her as she came from the elevator. "Miss
Holt, isn't it? Lisa- Linda?"
"Laura," she corrected. "I didn't know you were
in town. Harry never mentioned it-"
At the sound of Laura using Daniel's name for his son, Daniel's
brows rose considerably, then modified into a speculative look.
"He doesn't know yet. I came directly here from the airport-
he's not in."
Laura glanced at her watch. "He and Murphy had to meet with
a client," she confirmed. Her thoughts were awhirl. Here
was her opportunity to "repay" Harry for his assistance
with her own mother. Besides, Laura told herself, she had a feeling
that the key to unlocking Mr. Steele's "fun" side was
hidden somewhere in his feelings about his father. "Mr. Chalmers-
Daniel- is there some way we could meet? To- talk? About Harry?"
"Is there something wrong with him?" Daniel asked, worry
overtaking all other concerns.
"No,- well, maybe. Maybe I could smooth the way for your
visit," she suggested. As she glanced through the glass doors,
her eyes widened in alarm upon seeing the limo pull up to the
curb. "Damn." Grabbing Daniel's arm, she dragged him
around the corner, behind a potted plant. Taking a card from her
purse, she scribbled an address on the back of it. "Meet
me at this address," she told him, "I'll be there as
soon as I can."
Daniel looked at the card. "This address?"
"My house. Unless you want to create a scene down here, I'd
go out the back way," she told him, nodding toward the restricted
view of the lobby where Harry and Murphy were entering the building.
"You're certain-" Daniel began, but Laura placed a hand
over his.
"Trust me. Now go on. Let me handle Harry."
"Somehow, my dear, I have the feeling that you handle Harry
quite well," Daniel commented, lifting her hand to his lips
before taking her advice and heading down the hall to another
exit.
Laura waited a moment, then glanced around the corner to see her
employer and Murphy standing before the elevator, waiting. She
moved quietly to the front door, then opened it and let it close
as if she'd just entered. "Well. Hello there," she said
to the two men.
"Laura. Thought you would have been back from Mr. Harris'
before now," Remington Steele said pointedly, glancing at
his expensive wristwatch.
"I had some trouble tracking him down," Laura claimed,
lifting the note pad she carried as the elevator doors slid open.
"But I got the information. Enough that I think we can clear
up his problem before the weekend." With that, she entered
the car, smiling at the expressions on Murphy and Steele's faces.
"Come on, guys. Don't tell me that you didn't think I could
do it?"
"Nonsense," Remington hastened to say.
"Never had a doubt," Murphy added.
"But aren't you forgetting that little incident last month
when you claimed to have solved a case and wound up spending another
week on it?" Steele reminded her.
"Was it MY fault that the perp I chose had died two hours
before the theft?" Laura questioned defensively. "No
problems like that here. C & D."
"Cut and dried, eh?" Steele questioned, stepping aside
for her to precede himself and Murphy into the corridor. "I'm
looking forward to hearing this, I think. Care to join us, Murphy?"
he asked, pushing open the door for them both.
"Wouldn't' miss it," Murphy said with a grin.
"Any messages, Bernice?" Steele asked.
The receptionist handed him a stack of slips. "And there's
another one that's not there," she informed him.
Steele surveyed the message slips. "Oh? Who?"
"Daniel Chalmers."
It was as if the entire office was frozen in time for the space
of at least five seconds. "Daniel?" Steele repeated.
"When did he call?" Laura easily saw the storm clouds
gathering, and knew she had been right to send Daniel away. Temporarily,
any way.
Bernice winced. "He- didn't. He came by."
Laura heard Murphy's deep sigh from across the room. "Daniel's
in Los Angeles," Steele said. "Great. JUST great. Did
he happen to say where he might be staying?"
"No. Just that he'd be in touch."
"Thank you." Laura saw the tensing of Mr. Steele's jaw
as he stood there for a moment before giving himself a mental
shake. "Shall we hear what you learned, Miss Holt?"
he asked, once again his charming, smiling self.
Laura glanced at Murphy, who lifted his shoulders to follow her
into Steele's office.
***
Once Laura finished her report, Steele and Murphy were both forced
to admit that she was definitely onto something. "I'll check
out Miss Harrod tomorrow morning," she told them. "And
should be able to report back to Mr. Harris by this time tomorrow
afternoon."
"Excellent work, Laura," Steele praised. "Excellent.
You've come a long way in the last few months." Alan Grievey's
memory had been a touch faulty. Instead of needing only three
months to gain her license, Laura was in need of six. It had been
five months since Steele had gone to Mexico to find her at the
behest of her former fiancé. Five months since she had
joined the Agency's staff as an apprentice. Five months since
she had become such an important part of his life- he pulled his
thoughts away from that precipice as the telephone rang.
Laura and Murphy both saw him tense at the sound, fully expecting
Bernice to come in and inform him that Daniel was on the line.
But when she came in, it was to look at Murphy. "Bev down
at the coroner's office is on line two for you, Murphy."
"Thanks," he said, standing up. "I'll take it in
my office."
"I wasn't aware that we had any cases which required the
coroner's office to be involved," Steele commented.
"This is personal," Murphy said with a grin. "See
you two later."
Steele shook his head as he moved toward his desk. "Are you
okay?" Laura asked him.
As he glanced at the calendar on the desk, he paused to look at
her. "I'm fine," he said.
"Don't lie to me, Harry," she said. "You're upset
because your father's in town-"
He sighed and turned to the window. "Laura-"
"I know. I know. I just think you should at least TALK to
the man. Find out his reasons for abandoning you."
"And I've told you that it's none of your concern,"
he replied in a tight voice, not looking from the window.
Laura backed off. "fine. You won't mind if I leave a little
early, will you, MR. Steele?"
"I'm sorry, Laura," he said quietly. "It's just-
I don't think very clearly when it concerns Daniel sometimes.
You're sure you understand about this evening?"
"Understand? Of course. Like it? No, I don't. But I've got
some reports I have to finish, guess I'll take care of that in
lieu of anything more- interesting. Enjoy your dinner."
He nodded, watching her enter her office via the connecting door,
closing it firmly behind her. At least she understood how important
it was for her not to be linked to him so much on a social basis.
Her future in this business wasn't going to be easy- being the
recipient of various rumors about HOW she'd climbed to the top
wouldn't' help. They'd seen each other several times in public,
attended one or two awards ceremonies together- and then last
week a small item had been in the paper, similar to the first
one: "Frequent Steele- Another sighting of LA's premier PI
and his associate Laura Holt. Seen dining and dancing at the Film
Society's annual meeting last night. For a man who, until just
a few months ago, was with a different woman every night, he seems
positively domesticated. Could his "associate" have
possibly succeeded in taming the tiger?"
Upon reading the story, Steele had informed Laura that he was
going to attend this evening's Police Association Award Dinner
alone. Laura, had, predictably, insisted that it was garbage and
she didn't care what anyone thought. That SHE knew she wasn't
sleeping with him to get her license, and that was all that mattered.
But he had explained once more that it DID matter- if she ever
expected people to take her seriously in this field of endeavor.
That it didn't look good for the Agency, either, for people to
think he was taking advantage of an employee.
So she had reluctantly agreed not to see him in public- at least
for the time being. But the trouble was, Steele didn't feel it
was fair to Laura for them to sneak around, either. So, as a result,
the two of them had been spending their evenings- and nights-
alone for the last week. Steele had even gone out with an old
girlfriend- for the life of him he couldn't recall her name now.
Of course, the evening had ended badly, and he was beginning to
wonder if the writer of the gossip column might not be right.
This last week, he had been cross and ill tempered. He looked
thoughtfully at Laura's closed door, then made a decision before
crossing to open it.
She was stuffing some papers into a briefcase and looked up. "Yes?"
"I was thinking- this award ceremony tonight is really an-
Agency function- I suppose you could come along for that reason-"
Laura closed her briefcase, thinking quickly. "Love to- but
you're right."
"I am?" he questioned, totally confused.
"If I'm going to be taken seriously, I have to make sure
there's NOTHING that anyone can use against me. That includes
spending too much time with the Boss." She straightened his
tie. "Not that I wouldn't LOVE to spend time with you, Harry,
but I DO have my future to think about, after all." She picked
up her case and found the fedora that she'd taken to wearing after
they'd gone to see a Bogart retrospective. "Have fun,"
she told him, opening the door and leaving him standing there.
Steele shook his head in total confusion. Her about face was surprising-
considering her earlier comment about not liking the way things
were.
The opposite door opened and Murphy appeared. "Where's Laura?"
he asked.
"Gone home," Steele told his friend. "Has Laura
seemed- different to you, Murphy?"
"Different? Not that I've noticed," Murphy said with
a shake of his head. He put a folder on her desk. "I guess
she can look at this tomorrow. You okay, Steele?"
"Yes," he said absently. "I'm fine. I think I'll
call it a day myself," he decided.
"Sure. Bernice and I can lock up," Murphy agreed. "See
you tomorrow."
***
Laura looked around as she parked the car, frowning as she realized
that Daniel Chalmers wasn't waiting for her as she'd asked him
to do. Unlocking the door, she entered the house and pulled off
her shoes. As she straightened, she heard a noise in the kitchen.
Picking up a heavy statue from a nearby table, Laura cautiously approached the door. She heard what sounded like water running- and turned the corner, makeshift weapon held over her head at the ready.
"Okay, what do you think you're doing?" she demanded, then shrieked as Daniel turned from the sink, carrying water for the coffee maker. Startled, he jerked away, soaking them both.
Daniel stood there for a moment, eyeing
her warily, then smiled. "I was beginning to think you'd
never get here, my dear."
To Be Continued---