Mildred looked up from the computer
when she heard someone come through the doors. "Mr. Steele.
How did your meeting with Lt. Jarvis go?"
"Quite well, Mildred," he told her, looking over he
shoulder at the computer screen. He hated the things as a rule,
but he had to admit that Mildred's expertise had been invaluable
in this case. "Anything new?"
"Not really. The Savoy's records don't indicate a Lily Martin
being in their employ, just like Jarvis said. And the officers
who spoke to her can't seem to agree on a description. She could
be anywhere from twenty to fifty, with green or blue eyes, dirty
blonde hair-"
"That's not Minor Descoine," Remington told her. "How
was Laura when you left her?"
"Bored. She's not taking well to enforced bed rest."
"I know. And Dr. Phillips told me this morning that he would
prefer she spend at least a week out of the office- if not longer."
"She's REALLY not going to like that." Mildred tapped
the computer monitor with a pencil. "I have an idea-I know
you're not going to like it, but -"
"Right now, I'm willing to consider almost anything that
will make Laura happy and well. What is it, Mildred?"
Lt. Jarvis was about to leave for lunch when Betty called his
name. "Jimmy-"
He turned around. "Yes?"
"Rogers is on the phone. He got a hit on that phone tap at
the state prison."
Jarvis grabbed the nearest telephone. "What have you got,
Rogers?" He wrote down telephone number. Thanks. Yeah, keep
listening." He hung up and looked at Betty. "I need
a phone number traced, Betty." He gave the sargent the number,
then dialed the telephone number for Remington Steele Investigations.
"Mildred. It's Lt. Jarvis. Is Mr. Steele around?"
Mildred reminded herself that Jarvis had only been doing his job
by accusing Mr. Steele of murder. "He went out to the house
to pick up a few things for Mrs. Steele. Is something wrong?"
"What's the number out there?" Jarvis asked. He wrote
it down. "Thanks. Gotta go."
Betty came over and put a paper before him. "You asked, you
got. It's a motel."
Jarvis smiled. "I want every unit in the area alerted,"
he said, dialing the number that Mildred had given him. "Come
on, Steele, answer-" The telephone was picked up by a voice
Jarvis hadn't heard.
"Steele residence."
"Is Mr. Steele in?"
"He just left," the woman said. Must be the housekeeper,
Jarvis decided. "I could take a message-"
"No- Yes. If he happens to call, tell him to get in touch
with Lt. Jarvis immediately."
"Lt. Jarvis. I will."
Grabbing his jacket, Jarvis left the station, heading for the
address that Betty had found. If he was lucky-
But he wasn't. When he stopped his car before the motel, the officers
on the scene informed him that Minor had been gone when they arrived.
That the manager had been questioned, and the room had been registered
to a Lily Martin. Jarvis entered the room and looked around. There
was precious little in the room, only a bottle of perioxide in
the bathroom, and a store reciept. "She's cleared out,"
he told the officer with him. "Dust the room for prints.
I'm going to check this receipt."
Laura Holt Steele sighed heavily, feeling very put upon. She glanced
at where Katherine and Robert were sitting. "You two don't
have to spend the entire day with me," she told them.
"We don't mind, Laura, dear," Katherine assured her.
"Of course not. I know how boring it can be, having to remain
in bed all the time-"
"Boring isn't the word for it," Laura told him. "It's
worse. If I don't do something other than lay here turning into
a vegetable-" she bit her lip. "I'm sorry, Robert."
"Don't apologize," he told her. "I understand,
as I said. Remington called and said he was on his way- why don't
Katherine and I go downstairs and wait for him? At least then
you'll have a few minutes to yourself."
Laura wanted to scream that it wasn't privacy she wanted. It was
ACTION. She was going absolutely stir crazy sitting in this bed
while Tony, Mildred, and Remington were trying to track down Minor
Descoine. She felt she ought to be DOING something to help them.
But she knew that neither of them would understand, so she smiled.
"Thank you."
They closed the door softly behind them, and Laura laid back,
trying to think of an arguement that both Remington and Dr. Phillips
would accept for letting her out of this place. She closed her
eyes. It really was nice to be alone for a few minutes. It seemed
that since she had been admitted, she hadn't had a moment to herself.
Robert, Katherine, even Jessica seemed determined to stay with
her, make sure she was alright. I suppose it's only natural, she
thought to herself, putting a hand on her stomach. After all,
you're part of the their family, she told her babies. I suppose
I can forgive them for being underfoot. "For a little while
longer," she murmured.
"Yeah, she came in here, bought a uniform and left,"
the clerk at the costume shop told Jarvis as he saw Tony Roselli
enter the store and cross to him.
"What kind of uniform?" Jarvis asked.
"Police. Said she was going to a costume party tonight, and
her boyfriend was going as a convict."
"Thanks." He turned to Tony. "What are you doing
here?"
"I got back to the office just after you called Mildred earlier.
Took me some time to track you down. What's up?"
Sweeney shook his head. He'd been on duty for too long. But Lt.
Jarvis had insisted that he stay here, keep a watch on Laura Steele's
room. If Jarvis didn't remember to send some relief soon, he'd
have call and ask him about it. He watched as Mrs. Morgan and
Mr. Brandon left the room to go to the elevator, then sat down.
"You look beat," a voice said.
He glanced up and smiled. "I am."
"Go get some rest. I'll take over. The Lieutenant just called-"
He frowned as he looked at the petite blonde. "I've never
seen you at the station before-"
"Malone. Just transferred in today from the 90th. Jarvis
said he wanted you to get some sleep."
"Okay. She's alone right now, and Mr. Steele's due any minute."
he said. "Just keep an eye out."
"I'll take very good care of Mrs. Steele, Sweeney. Now hit
the road." She watched him until the elevator doors closed,
then started toward Laura Holt Steele's room.
Remington entered the hospital and was surprised to find Robert
and Katherine sitting in the lobby. "Why aren't you with
Laura?" he asked.
"She said she needed to be alone for awhile," Katherine
told her nephew. "She doesn't take too well to not working,
does she?"
"No, she doesn't." He saw Officer Sweeney get off of
the elevator and start for the doors. "Sweeney!"
The man turned, sighing. "Mr. Steele."
"Where are you going?"
"To get some rest. Lt. Jarvis finally sent someone to relieve
me." He frowned as he saw who was entering the hospital.
"Lieutenant. I was about to go home-"
Jarvis' eyes narrowed. "Who's watching Mrs. Steele's room?"
"Malone. She said you sent her to relieve me-" Sweeney
said, stepping back as Jarvis and Tony pushed him aside.
"What's going on, Jarvis?" Remington asked, following.
"Minor Descoine bought a police officer's uniform just a
couple of hours ago," he said. "You're a hard man to
get ahold of at times, Steele."
"I was tending to some personal matters-" he began,
turning toward the stairs when the elevator appeared to be taking
too long.
Laura heard the door open and decided to keep her eyes closed.
Perhaps whoever it was would leave, thinking she was asleep-A
hand was clasped over her mouth, and her eyes opened. "Time
to wake up, Mrs. Steele. You'd hate to miss the last time you'll
be able to see your husband, now wouldn't you?" The hand
moved down to Laura's throat, and Laura knew that the woman would
be able to snap her neck with one hand if she wanted to. She could
also see the gun in the other hand, a gun that was pointed toward
the door, ready for Remington to enter.
"You can't hope to get away with this," she said, then
choked as the hold on her neck tightened slightly.
"It will be worth it if I can finish what Father should have
finished."
"Does he know what you're doing, Minor?"
"He started it," she told Laura, making Laura realize
that Remington wasn't the only one she was planning to kill. "But
he didn't have the nerve to do what had to be done. That prison
has destroyed him," she said. "And it's your fault he's
there. Yours and Mr. Steele's."
"Your father embezzled money- he tried to frame Remington-
and tried to kill both of us."
"Be quiet, Mrs. Steele."
"I'd like to know how you did it," Laura said, trying
to keep her talking. "How did you recruit Felicia?"
"That was easy. She was desparate to get her hands on that
stupid painting. But she said she couldn't bring herself to steal
it from Mr. Steele- old friends and all that."
"So you stole it."
"I thought I did rather well. I gave it to Felicia, and she
put it in the hotel safe- but then she tried to back out- she
was going to tell Mr. Steele who her partner was."
"So you shot her. That wasn't part of the original plan,
was it?"
"No. She was supposed to pretend to be dead until after I
hit him on the head and put the gun into his hand. He'd only remember
seeing her dead body, and then wonder if he'd killed her."
"What about the pawn broker?" Laura wanted to know.
"He got greedy. He found out that Felicia was murdered, threatened
to tell the police about me if I didn't give him more money."
"And Harwood?"
"He went to see Father, told him about Felicia, said he wanted
out. Father called me, told me to go convince him to keep quiet.
When I got there, he was on the telephone, arranging to talk to
the Lt. Jarvis. I knew he wasn't going to listen to me-"
"So you killed him. Does your father know that you've killed
three people, Minor?"
"He's lost it. He can't handle things anymore. So it's up
to me to clear the slate."
"By killing Remington and me," Laura said.
"You're very smart, Mrs. Steele. Too smart, maybe."
There was no sign of a police officer when they reached the fourth
floor, and Remington paused, out of breath, his head pounding.
"She must be in Laura's room," he said between breaths.
Jarvis put a hand on his service revolver. "I'll go in first,"
he said.
"No, I'll go in," Remington told him. "I'm not
going to risk Laura's life. If I don't walk through that door,
she's just as likely to harm Laura. Just back me up, okay?"
Tony gave Remington a long look. "You're looking a little
pale. Are you alright?"
"I'll be fine once Laura's out of danger," he said.
There seemed to be blue uniforms everywhere, but Remington took
little comfort in the thought that Minor Descoine couldn't possibly
escape from the hospital once she'd accomplished what she'd planned.
He stood beside the door, his back to the wall, and turned the
handle, pushing the door open. A shot rang out, followed by the
sound of a quick struggle, then a grunt as someone hit the floor,
and Jarvis rolled into the doorway, gun drawn. "Well I'll
be." He grinned, reholstering his weapon as Remington peered
into the room.
Minor Descoine was on the floor beside the bed, and Laura had
the gun. "What took you so long?" she asked, as Remington
came around to take the gun from her.
"Trying to find some way to keep you from being hurt. Are
you all right?"
Jarvis went to the young woman. "Minor Descoine, I assume?"
When she didn't answer he called "Mitchell! Dawson! Get in
here and take this young lady downtown. And keep a close eye on
her. She's very good at escaping."
They put the handcuffs on her a little tighter than usual. She
turned to look at Laura and Remington. "This isn't finished,"
she told them. "I'll be back."
"Get her out of here," Jarvis told them. "I wouldn't
worry about that threat. After what she's done, I don't think
she'll be going anywhere for a long time."
Tony sighed, finally putting his own gun away. "You didn't
answer, Laura. Are you all right?"
She smiled up at them. "I've never felt better."
"She certainly looks okay, right, Steele?" Tony asked.
"Steele?"
Remington slid to the floor as everything went dark.