Steele Curious
Episode 3
by Nancy Eddy
 
After a pleasant dinner, during which Daniel regaled Laura with stories of his various travels, the telephone rang, and a moment later Mary appeared in the doorway. "It's for you, Harry." Her tone darkened with disapproval. "It's that Felicia creature."
 
Laura's eyes flew to Harry's face, saw his surprised grin. "Felicia? How did she know I was back, I wonder?" he asked Daniel, as he put his napkin on the table and rose.
 
"You know how word travels, Harry," Daniel told him. "You'd better talk to her before Mary hangs up the telephone, however."
 
Harry nodded and left the room. Laura's eyes followed him until the door closed. "Who's Felicia?" she asked Daniel.
 
Mitchell cleared his throat as Daniel smiled. "An old- friend of Harry's, Laura dear." He stood. "Why don't we retire to the parlour so that Mary can clear the table?"
 
As they passed the study, Laura heard Harry's voice. "Well, I suppose I could, Felicia.. . What?" he laughed softly, sending shivers down Laura's spine - and flooding her cheeks with color. That one laugh had been as suggestive as anything Laura had ever heard in her entire life.
 
Daniel glanced down at the girl. "Are you cold, Laura?"
 
"What?" she asked absently.
 
"I asked if you were cold. You were shivering -"
 
"No, I'm fine," she told him, letting him show her to a chair before he went to pour himself and Mitchell some brandy.
 
"Would you like something, Laura?" Daniel asked, noting that her eyes were on the door. When she didn't answer, he poured her a glass of sparkling water, then too it to her.
 
"Thank you, Mr. Chalmers."
 
"I haven't told you how utterly charming you look this evening, Laura," he said. "You know, Mitchell, if I had seen your daughter like this first, I would never have believed she was only sixteen."
 
"Almost seventeen," Laura added automatically. "Next Saturday."
 
"Saturday? Then we'll have to do something special to celebrate," Daniel declared.
 
"Laura and I are planning to go to Bern, Daniel," Mitchell informed his friend. "Just as soon as I finish this job."
 
"Oh, but surely the system we discussed will take longer than five days to properly install and test, Mitchell." He smiled at Laura. "And I'm sure Laura would prefer spending her birthday with people she knows - wouldn't you, my dear?"
 
Laura's eyes lit up, but Daniel knew it wasn't from anything he had said. Harry entered the room, hands in pockets, his expression thoughtful. "Daniel, I'm going out for awhile-"
 
"Oh?"
 
"Felicia wants to go to the club for awhile this evening- Apparently someone mentioned that they had seen me in town-"
 
"We do have guests," Daniel reminded him.
 
Mitchell spoke up, almost regretting his words as Laura's face closed. "Don't let Laura and me being here keep you from your social life."
 
Harry had avoided looking at Laura. He'd been surprised when she had come downstairs with her father before dinner. She looked so much older - and she had an air of sophistication that he thought that even Felicia would no doubt envy. This was the young woman who had caught his attention in that restaurant on the French Riviera. All evening he had been reminding himself that she was too young, only sixteen - Felicia's call had been an opportunity to escape before he made a fool of himself and wound up being dressed down- or worse - by Mitchell and Daniel. "Later, then. See you tomorrow, Laura? For that ride?"
 
"Yeah," Laura acknowledged, her tone dispirited. "Tomorrow." Then her chin lifted defiantly. "If I have to, I can ride alone. I wouldn't want to be a bother."
 
"No bother. I promised to go with you, and I'll be there." Seeing her doubtful look, Harry almost changed his mind, but a glance at Mitchell caused him to think better of that idea. "Night, Daniel, Mitchell."
 
"Good luck," Daniel called out as they heard the front door close behind him. "As if he needs it. Harry is one of the luckiest young men I've ever known."
 
"Why would he need luck just to go see - Felicia?" Laura asked, injecting the woman's name with a touch of feminine cattiness.
 
"It's not Felicia he needs luck with," Mitchell clarified. "They're going to a private gaming club, honey."
 
"Gambling?" She frowned. "Does Harry gamble a lot?"
 
"Depends on your definition of 'a lot'," Daniel told her. "But the point is, he's very good at it."
 
"Luck has nothing to do with gambling," Laura informed him. "It's mathematics."
 
Daniel glanced at her father with an amused grin. "So speaks one with a lot of experience, no doubt."
 
"Well, no, but- "
 
"Laura's a math wiz, Daniel. It's one reason why I want to get her into a good school this fall -"
 
"Daddy-"
 
"Have you checked out the ones in London? There are several excellent -"
 
Mitchell shook his head. "I had considered putting her in a Swiss boarding school."
 
"And I said I wouldn't go," Laura reminded him. "I'm not going to let you leave me behind in Switzerland while you go running all over Europe." She stood up. "May I go for a walk outside?"
she asked Daniel.
 
Daniel's eyes flickered to Mitchell's. "Be my guest. Consider my home yours during your stay, Laura."
 
She smiled again, then went to give her father a quick hug, then headed toward the door. "Don't stay out too late, Laura," Mitchell reminded her.
 
"Just a few minutes," she told him, then was gone.
 
Daniel lifted his glass. "She certainly has spirit, Mitchell -"
 
"But she tends to act before she thinks things through. I hope she learns to control that before she becomes what she wants to be."
 
"And what is that?" Daniel asked, refilling his glass.
 
"A private detective."
 
Daniel paused, one dark brow raised in surprise. "I beg your pardon?"
 
***********
 
After exploring the grounds around the stable, Laura walked down the tree lined drive toward the gate, hearing the faint sounds of familiar music. Certain things were the same all over the world, she mused, walking along the stone work wall until the sounds were closer. Looking up, she realized that the top of the wall was only a foot over her head, and she regretted having decided to wear her nice dress. There was no way she could climb the wall wearing it.
 
But as she glanced around, she located a rock outcropping against the fence a short way down. Kicking off her high heeled shoes, she carefully found her way to the top, where she found it easy to use her arms to pull herself to sit on the top of the wall. She still couldn't see anything, just some lights over the trees, and wondered if she could see more if she stood up.


So she slowly levered herself to her feet, and found that if she stood on tiptoe, she would JUST make out the top of a tent. A carnival!
 
"What are you doing up there?" Harry asked, having approached quietly.
 
Laura was startled and lost her balance. As much as she tried to stop herself, Laura realized she was falling - and found herself caught safely in a pair of strong arms. Harry's blue eyes were close, and Laura wondered if her difficulty in breathing was because of the fall - or being so close to Harry. "You shouldn't have startled me," she said.
 
"It was a bit of a surprise to me as well," he said, lowering her to her feet at last, and stepping back to put some distance between them.
 
"I thought you went into London to see your friend," Laura said a she scanned the ground for her shoes. He was so tall - at least with heels she didn't feel so much like a little girl. Harry saw them first and retrieved them for her, lending an arm while she put them on.
 
He shook his head. "Car had a flat tire, and then the battery was dead - I took it as a sign that I shouldn't go. Now are you going to tell me why you were on that wall?"
 
"I was trying to see the carnival," Laura told him.
 
Harry turned toward the wall. "A carnival? You risked a broken neck trying to see a -"
 
"I LIKE carnivals," she explained. "And circuses." She nodded in the direction of the music. "Have you been to that one?"
 
"No."
 
Laura looked up at him. "You don't like carnivals?"
 
Harry shrugged. "I suppose they're all right - but I wouldn't go out of my way to visit one."
 
"I would. Daddy and I went to carnivals and circuses all the time before we left home. I wonder if Daddy knows this one is here?"
 
*********

Daniel shook his head. "Your Laura is certainly full of dreams, isn't she, Mitchell."
 
"Being a PI isn't a dream to her, Daniel. It's the only thing she's ever really wanted to be. Either that or a circus performer," he said with a grin, laughing as the doors opened and Laura returned- followed by Harry.
 
"Laura," Mitchell said, "What happened to you?" Her once white dress was streaked with dust, her hair was escaping from the pins she had so carefully placed, and there was a streak of dirt on her cheek.
 
"I fell off the wall-" she explained, her brown eyes filled with excitement. "There's a carnival down the road, Daddy -" she told him, taking his arm as if to drag him from the house.
 
"You fell off the wall?" Daniel asked. Glancing at Harry, he gave the young man a questioning look. "I thought you would be at Felicia's by now -"
 
"The car had a flat and when that was repaired, the battery was dead. The garage towed it in to repair it -"
 
"I see."
 
Laura tugged at Mitchell's sleeve. "Daddy, can we please go to the carnival?"
 
"Not tonight, honey. It's late-"
 
"It's not that late," she insisted. "Please?"
 
Mitchell put his hands on her shoulders. "We'll go tomorrow afternoon - after I get some work done, okay?"
 
"But-"
 
"I said no, Laura," Mitchell repeated in a firmer tone. "Why don't you go upstairs and get ready for bed?" he said, wiping the dirt from her cheek. "Are you sure you're all right?"
 
"I'm fine," she assured him. "Harry caught me when I fell - of course, if he hadn't scared me, I wouldn't have fallen at all." She sighed. "I still want to go -"
 
"Tomorrow, Laura."
 
She nodded, then wished Daniel and Harry good night before turning back to Mitchell. "Night, Daddy."
 
"I'll be in to say good night later."
 
"That's okay," she told him. "I'll probably go right to sleep." She gave him a kiss on the cheek, then turned and left the room, leaving three very bemused men behind.
 
Once he was certain that his daughter was safely upstairs, Mitchell turned to Harry, who was pouring himself a drink. "Would you care to tell me exactly what happened out there, Harry?"
 
"You heard Laura, Mitchell. She climbed the wall in order to see the carnival, and I startled her when I arrived. She lost her balance and fell -"
 
"Right into your arms."
 
"It was either that or let her fall to the ground. Would you have preferred I let that happen?"
 
Mitchell ran his hand through his brown hair. "No, of course not. I just - I'm sorry, Harry. You know, I wouldn't trade that little girl up there for anything, but there are times when I find myself wishing she were a boy. Less worry."
 
"Well, she's not a boy. And she's not a little girl anymore, either," Harry pointed out. When Mitchell turned those brown eyes on him again, he shrugged. "Just stating a fact."
 
"I really think that I'm going to find a nice, safe girls' school in Switzerland to put her in -"
 
"Boarding school?" Harry questioned, shaking his head. "She'll hate it."
Mitchell frowned. "I thought you went to a boarding school-"
 
Daniel's eyes twinkled as Harry answered. "I did. For all of a week, I think."
 
"But- you were gone for almost six months-"
 
"He ran away," Daniel explained.
 
"You - for six months?" Mitchell questioned. "You never mentioned that, Daniel."
 
Daniel's smile was tinged with a hint of the worry he'd gone through during that time. "It all turned out right. And I didn't try to suggest it again, either. Why don't you let me make some calls," he said. "I know the headmistress of an excellent school near here that I'm sure would be willing to take Laura on a daily basis -"
 
"And where would she live?" Mitchell asked. "My work takes me all over the place, Daniel. You know that. This week I'm here, in two weeks I might be in Capetown -"
 
"There are ways she could go with you, Mitchell. Would you mind my making some inquiries, at least?"
 
His expression thoughtful, Mitchell finally shook his head. "I suppose it couldn't hurt." He finished his brandy. "Well, as I told Laura, it's late. And I have to get up early to start work so I can finish up early enough to take Laura to the carnival. Good night, Daniel. And Harry-"
 
"Yes?"
 
"Sorry I jumped you like that. When it comes to Laura, I tend to get a little -"
 
"Perfectly understandable," Harry told him. "Consider it forgotten."
 
"G'night."
 
Daniel sat back, watching Harry prowl around the room like a caged panther. "What's troubling you, Harry?"
 
"Troubling me?" He looked at his mentor and shook his head. "Nothing, really." He finished his drink and placed the glass beside Mitchell's. "Good night."
 
Daniel rose and refilled his own glass, watching thoughtfully as Harry climbed the stairs.
 
**********
 
Mitchell tapped lightly on Laura's bedroom door before opening it. "Laura? Are you asleep?" In the dim light coming in through the open window, he could see her laying in the bed. She didn't move. Either she was asleep, he decided, or, more likely, she was still angry with him about the carnival. He considered just leaving her to pout, but it wasn't the way he liked to handle things. Entering the room, he moved toward the bed and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Laura, honey - " The shoulder was too soft, he realized, pulling back the cover to reveal pillows arranged to make it appear that she was in the bed.
She hadn't gone out the front door, he reasoned, moving toward the open window. There was an old oak tree a few feet from the sill. Easy enough for someone like Laura to jump onto a limb and climb down - Through the trees, he could hear the sounds of the carnival, even see the bright lights. "Damn!"
 
Laura had snuck out to go to the carnival -alone.
 
To Be Continued . . .
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