Steele In The Know4

Part 1

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Laura Holt-Steele sat back in her seat as the airplane reached cruising altitude. She watched the blonde hostess approach Remington to ask, "Would you care for anything to drink, sir?"

Seeing the other woman's assessing gaze, Laura took her husband's left hand, fingering the still new wedding band as he responded, "Champagne, if you have it." The woman's smile never wavered as she noted the ring, but Laura could sense her disappointment as she continued on her rounds. "You really enjoy doing that, don't you?" Remington asked her.

"Doing what?" Laura asked, pretending innocence. "I don't know WHAT you're talking about."

"Hmm," he murmured. "I suppose the honeymoon's almost over, isn't it?"

"Not by a longshot, Remington," she replied. Two weeks in a remote Swiss ski chalet hadn't done a thing to dampen Laura's need to have her husband close by. Her husband. Remington Steele, she thought.

"Why are you smiling like that?" he questioned, barely glancing at the hostess as she brought their glasses of sparkling wine. "Thank you."

"I was just realizing that I practically invented the man I wound up marrying," she told him.

"Warts and all, eh?" he asked, smiling, his blue eyes filled with the love that Laura had always tried her best to ignore.

"Oh, I don't know," she said, her bare foot rubbing his shin, "I think I'm getting used to the warts."

His smile widened as he lifted his glass. "What shall we drink to?"

"You decide."

"The Earl?" he suggested. "For the loan of his ski chalet?"

"To the Earl," Laura agreed, entwining her arm through his as they drank. "Did you call to let him know we would be stopping by on our way through London?"

"Thought we'd surprise him," Remington told her. "Besides, I intend to ask if we can use the chalet again sometime."

"None too soon," Laura said with a slight grimace. "It's going to take a while for me to recover from THIS visit."

His grin was wicked. "Wore you out, eh?" he asked.

Laura leaned closer, so that only he could hear her. "Not at all, Mr. Steele. In fact, if we weren't on a crowded plane, I'd show you exactly how much energy I have left."

Remington placed a hand on her neck to prevent her pulling away. "Be careful, Mrs. Steele. I might just hold you to that," he said, giving her a long kiss. When their lips parted, he asked, "So what do you have to recover from?"

"Between your gourmet feasts and the chocolate that you kept plying me with-," she said, shifting in her seat, "I think I've gained ten pounds."

His eyes sparkled as they swept over her. "If you have, it's in all the right places," he assured her.

Laura caught her breath, then sighed. "You know, I'm a little sorry that we have to go back to Los Angeles."

"Hmm. These last two weeks have been wonderful," he agreed. "No interruptions, no telephone calls, no one shooting at us."

Laura tilted her head slightly to study him. "Do I detect a wistful gleam in your eyes, Remington?"

"For murder and mayhem? Oh, not in the least," he said. Laura continued to look at him. "Well, perhaps a touch," he admitted at last.

Laura's soft laughter caused several heads to turn in their direction as she lifted her glass in a silent toast. "This IS a turnaround. For once, you can't wait to get your nose back to the old grindstone, and I don't care if we ever get back or not."

"I suppose we COULD spend a few days in London," he said. "There are some places I'd like to show you. Places we didn't have a chance to visit the last time we were here."

"Really?" she asked, resting her chin on her hand. "Such as?"

He thought for a moment. "There's a restaurant that serves a chocolate truffle that's-."

"Oh, no you don't," she said, lifting her chin. "I'm not going anywhere NEAR chocolate for at LEAST six months," she informed him.

Now it was Remington who laughed as the hostess returned to fill their glasses once more. "Then I suppose it's back to Los Angeles and the agency after we pay a call on Kevin and Katherine."

"I suppose it is," Laura said, surprised at how that idea didn't mean as much to her as it once had.

"Come now, love," Remington said. "Things will work out." He gave her a wink. "Besides, we still have a date with that couch in my office, remember?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As the cab pulled to a stop before the Earl's London residence, Remington frowned. "What's wrong?" Laura asked.

"There's a black wreath on the door," he told her, giving the cab driver his fare plus a much larger tip than Laura thought the man deserved.

Laura turned her attention to the house, and found the wreath. "Maybe a cousin died," she suggested.

"Hmm," Remington said, taking her elbow to lead her toward the door with a feeling of dread that he found himself at a loss to understand- or explain. Lifting the brass knocker, he tapped twice, then stepped back until the door was opened by a subdued butler. "Mr. and Mrs. Remington Steele to see the Earl," he announced, wondering about the black armband on the old man's sleeve.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Steele," he began, only to be interrupted by a female voice.

"Who is it, Davis?"

Davis turned away to explain, "Mr and Mrs. Remington Steele, your Ladyship. To see the Earl."

Katherine Gault Landers waved the butler away. "We'll have tea in the main salon, please, Davis."

"Yes, your Ladyship," Davis said, bowing slightly before turning and going toward the kitchen.

Katherine looked as if she had been crying. Even now, her fingers fretted at a linen handkerchief. "Come in, please. You'll have to forgive me. I seem to be having trouble concentrating on things."

"Has something happened, your Ladyship?" Laura asked in a gentle voice as they walked toward the salon with their hostess.

"Kevin-," she paused, then took a deep breath before continuing. "Kevin- died almost a week ago."

"Good Lord," Remington breathed, understanding at last what he had been feeling. He helped the suddenly fragile looking Katherine to a chair, where she lifted the handkerchief to her tear filled eyes.

"What happened?" Laura asked, still in that gentle tone as she placed a hand on Remington's arm. "He was fine the last time we heard."

Katherine nodded. "It was- very sudden," she said. "We were sitting in the study after dinner one evening when he complained of having difficulty breathing. He loosened his tie and sat down while I went to open the window. When I returned he was-" She dabbed at her eyes again. "The doctors said it was a massive heart attack. That he probably didn't suffer, thank goodness. Evidently they'd been warning him for some time that he needed to slow down, take things a bit easier."

"You should have gotten word to us. We could have come-," Remington began, but Katherine shook her head.

"There was really nothing you could have done," she told him as a maid brought a silver tea service into the room and then left. Katherine sat forward, pouring the hot liquid, seeming to take comfort in such a mundane task. "I think Kevin knew something like this might happen. He had everything in order, everything- ready."

Remington accepted his cup from the woman. "You've called Daniel back from Los Angeles, I'm sure."

"Daniel?" Katherine questioned, pausing over her cup. "Why would I call Mr. Chalmers back here?"

Remington glanced at Laura, then at Katherine. "Because he's the Earl's Chief of Security."

"He was," Kathering admitted. "For almost a month. Just long enough to get things set up so that Kevin could hire someone else to come in and run things."

"We were under the impression that Daniel was still working for the Earl," Laura said.

"I don't know why he wasn't. Kevin never explained, he just told me that Daniel had resigned for personal reasons. But he and Kevin kept in touch. I believe they became rather good friends. I did call him in Los Angeles, let him know what had happened, of course, but he was out. By the time he returned the call, the funeral was over. He offered to come back and help out, but as I said, Kevin had things planned out. He was that kind of man. Methodical. Orderly." She reached forward to touch Remington's hand. "He thought the world of you, Mr. Steele. He had quite given up on finding his son, and I think he came to think of you in that place."

"I'm sorry he never found Sean," Remington told her.

Katherine looked at him for a long moment. "So am I. While you're here, I might as well tell you that Kevin left you something in his will."

"Uh, your Ladyship-," Remington began, obviously uncomfortable with the conversation.

She rose gracefully and crossed to a small writing desk, where she took some papers from the drawer. Carrying them with her, she returned to hand them over. "I was going to have Kevin's solicitor start contacting you the first of next week," she told them. "It's not much, really. I told him that he should leave you something else, but he insisted that it was perfect."

"An Irish Castle?" Remington questioned, reading the papers.

"Ashford. It's been in the family for years- hasn't quite paid its own way, I'm afraid. I tried to tell Kevin that he was leaving you a white elephant, but he seemed to think that you would know what to do with it."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They spent another hour with the Earl's widow before leaving for the airport to catch their flight back to Los Angeles. As the cab started out, Laura glanced at Remington's set features. "An Irish Castle," she mused. "Wonder what it would be like making love there?"

"Drafty," he replied in a distracted tone. Seeing her curious expression, he explained. "Those places are usually full of drafts."

Laura settled closer to him, holding his arm. "But think of the fun we could have keeping each other warm, Mr. Steele." He didn't smile, merely returned to his brooding. "I didn't realize that the Earl's death would affect you so deeply," she told him.

"Oh, I"m upset by Kevin's death," he admitted. "But at the moment, I'm more concerned about why Daniel lied to me."

"Maybe he just wanted to keep you from worrying about him," Laura suggested.

"Maybe," he agreed, then shook his head. "No. No, there's more to it than that. Daniel's never lied to me, Laura. He knows how I hate it when people lie to me."

"But it was perfectly okay for you to lie to people," she teased gently.

"All in the line of duty," he reminded her.

"The only way to find out is to ask him when we get home," Laura said.

"Believe me. I intend to do that. That devious old man lied to me, and I'm going to find out why."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They took a cab back to the Rossmore apartment. Dropping her cases on the floor, Laura flopped tiredly onto the sofa. "I hate jet lag," she moaned. "I'm not going to want to do anything except sleep for the next week!"

Remington nodded, loosening his tie and unbuttoning his collar as he headed toward the phone. "Someone's been trying to get in touch with us," he commented, noting the flashing light on the answering machine as he pressed the button.

"Boss, Mrs. Steele," Mildred began, "Let me know as soon as you get home. I really need to talk to you."

Laura looked at her husband. "The Earl?" she wondered.

"Probably. Katherine did say she'd left a message with Mildred, remember."

The next voice deepened Remington's frown. "Harry, give me a call when you and Laura get back. I've just gotten some upsetting news that I think you need to know about. Oh, welcome home."

"Upsetting news," Laura echoed.

"Hmm," Remington said as the next message began.

"Laura, Steele, it's Murphy. I'm on my way to Ireland. Got a lead on what we discussed at the wedding, Steele. A good lead, I think. Good enough that someone broke into my office and stole the papers I got from Dublin before I could read them, anyway. I hope to be back before you, but if not, I'll call."

"Someone broke into his office?" Laura questioned, as Remington picked up the telephone and dialed a number. "Who are you calling?"

"Daniel, first. Arrange a meeting so we can get this straightened out." He waited for the line to be picked up by the hotel operator. "Room 436, please. . . Did he say when he would return? . . .Yes, I would. Remington Steele. He knows the number. And tell him that it's important that I speak to him the moment he returns."

Laura had moved to a sitting position, her earlier tiredness evaporating. "He wasn't there?" she asked as he hung up and began to dial again.

"No. He left a couple of days ago, said he would be out for awhile. Mildred?"

"Mr. Steele? You're home?"

"Yes. We got your message, Mildred-," he began.

"I am so glad you two are back," she told him. "Between Daniel disappearing and reappearing and Murphy calling every few days, and then the Earl- Oh, Mr. Steele. The Earl's wife called-," she started to say, but Remington stopped her.

"We know about it, Mildred."

"You do?"

"Laura and I stopped in London on the way home. Katherine told us about the Earl's death. You said that Daniel's been disappearing and reappearing?"

"Yeah. Right about the time the Earl died, he vanished for a couple of days, then came back, said that something had come up. Then day before yesterday, he took off again."

"And Murphy?"

"Now THAT'S interesting. He said that he had found the information you wanted, and that it was being sent to his office in Denver. It arrived, and Murphy's secretary put it in the safe as he instructed her to do. He was working on another case and wanted to make sure it was secure. When Murphy came in the next day, the package was gone, and he realized that someone had broken in and gotten into the safe. So Murphy went to Dublin to get the information first hand this time."

"I see. Has there been any word from him since then?"

"No. How was Switzerland?" she asked.

"Wonderful. Do you know where Murphy was going to be staying?" Mildred gave him the number of the bed and breakfast. "One more question, Mildred. Exactly WHEN did Daniel leave?"

"Like I said, day before yesterday. I remember, because he was here when Murphy called and told me that he was going to Dublin."

"Thank you, Mildred. See you tomorrow."

"Tell Mrs. Steele I said hello."

"I will." He hung up and dialed the number she'd given him. "Mildred sends her regards," he told Laura as the other end began to ring.

"Would you tell me what's going on?" Laura asked.

"In a moment," he promised. "Hello? I'm trying to reach a Murphy Michaels-I see." He frowned at Laura. "How long ago? . . .Do you expect him back? . . .Thank you." He hung up and dialed once again.

"Remington!" Laura practically yelled. "What's going ON?!"

"Murphy left the bed and breakfast where he was staying last night and hasn't been seen since. I have a bad feeling about this, Laura. Mildred?" he said into the telephone. "Could you make three reservations for Ireland? . . .Yes, that's right. Three. For Ireland."

To Be Continued . . .

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Original content ©1999 by Nancy Eddy