In the hills just outside of Los Angeles, a twenty-something woman with shoulder length brown hair is jogging alone. She appears to be taking her training seriously as she is dressed in jogging clothes and breathing quite hard. Her hair is pulled back from her face. She stops and looks around, like someone is following her. She sees no one. "Hello?" She pauses, listening. "Who's there?" She continues running. Almost in a panic she stops again. She looks around, behind her. Believing someone may be following her, she leaves the trail entering a more forested area, running faster and breathing harder. She trips and falls. She looks around her and sees no one.
***
Mildred Krebs is busily watering the plants in the lobby of Remington
Steele, Investigations when Laura Holt enters. They exchange greetings,
"Morning," Mildred said to the younger woman.
"Morning." Laura returns her greeting breathlessly.
"HE wants to see you, pronto," Mildred adds in a truly bad Italian accent.
"That's a switch," states Laura very matter of factly. Laura enters Mr. Steele's office and closes the door behind her. "You wanted to see me?" she asks innocently. He looks up, raising one eyebrow, but only briefly before returning to the paperwork he is so absorbed in. "Sir?" Laura remains standing there, respectfully, waiting for a response.
He is sitting behind his desk, totally covered with papers, shirtsleeves rolled up, and tie askew. Mr. Steele looks at his watch, which has been placed conspicuously on his desk. "A bit early for you, isn't it, Miss Holt? It's only 10:30."
"Come on, Ebenezer, give a working girl a break." Laura perches herself on his desk, crossing her legs. She snatches papers from his hands.
"You're reviewing the O'Donnell contract?"
Mr. Steele takes the papers back from her. "Someone has to. O'Donnell's expected at noon, I don't suppose you'd care to be here."
Still shuffling through the paperwork, Laura, astonished said "The Hoffsteadler case, the Davis investing... Mr. Steele, if I didn't know you better I would swear you were immersed in paperwork," said a delighted Laura Holt.
"Hmmm, swamped is a more accurate appraisal."
"Well, then I'll let you get on with it." She hops down from his desk.
"What's going on, Laura?" closing the file folder
he's been working on. "Hmm? I mean for two weeks now you
come in late, taken two hours for lunch, and left at four. I can't
reach you when I need you. I've had to make excuses for you. Juggled
the clients, handled the paperwork. I can't reach you when I need
to . . ."
"The shoe seems to be on the other foot," comes her
quick reply.
"Yes it has and it's an excruciatingly tight fit. I mean, you're acting more like me, dammit, and there's only room for one of me in this office!"
"In any office!" Laura's temper begins to surface.
"I…I…I wasn't born for desk work, Laura. I mean, my fingers are shredded with paper cuts. My skin is turning a florescent green." He rubs his bare arms to emphasize his point. "Maitre'ds are beginning to forget my face. Whatever you're doing, Laura, it's destroying me!" Mildred enters from the outer office and hands him some more paper work. "Thank you very much, Mildred," he tells her in a frustrated voice.
"You better tell him, Hon."
"What?" he rolls down his cuff and fastens it. "You're in on this, Mildred? You know what Miss Holt's up to, and you haven't told me?" asks a very hurt Mr. Steele of Mildred.
"Sisterhood is powerful, Chief," she confesses.
"I suppose I have been a little unfair, but I didn't think you would understand," adds Laura, apologetically.
"Understand? Understand what?" buttoning the other cuff. An idea dawns on him, "Look, ah, look, Laura, if - if there's another man…"
Mildred and Laura look at each other and giggle.
"I'm competing in a triathlon tomorrow," Laura admits.
He forces a laugh, "Oh," relieved, "a triathlon?"
"It's a three event race. The lengths can vary. In this one, you swim two kilometers in the ocean, you ride a bike for 40 kilometers and then you run a 10 K race."
"Voluntarily?" Steele asks, putting on his jacket.
"It's a challenge. You need to train seriously. So in the morning, I've been biking. At lunch, I've been swimming and at night I've been running."
"I see, this has got something to do with a case?"
"No," said Laura shaking her head.
"It's a charity event?"
"No, I just wanted to see if I could do it. If I were a man would you question it if I told you I was going to enter the Boston Marathon?"
"I would question why anyone would want to run 26 miles without being chased."
Mildred chuckles aloud.
"I'm doing it for me."
"Oh."
"It's a whole new world, Boss. Women are doing things because they want to," adds Mildred.
"Thank you, Mildred, I'm all for women's rights - - - especially their right to work," looking a tad hurt.
"The office will return to normal next week, I promise." Laura raises her hand in a promise gesture.
"Well, in that case, I'll pick you up in the morning," he tells her, pulling his tie up and straightening it. "What time is this folly of yours?"
"Registration begins at seven," Laura tells him. "So if you come at six, that should leave plenty of margin."
Steele's aghast. "Six?" he questions. "In the morning?"
"What a sport," Mildred says, fully aware that he's not at all happy with the situation.
Steele sighs heavily.
The next morning, the limo pulls up before Laura's building, where Laura and Mildred are waiting. Laura's dressed for the race, leaning on a bike. "Right on time," Mildred tells her.
Laura frowns in shocked surprise. "He brought the limo?" She pushes the bike to the back of the car as Fred gets out. There's a bicycle rack on the back of the car. "Thanks, Fred," she tells him, going on around the car. Mildred has gotten into the other side. When she opens the door, she sees a blanket laying across the seat and lifts a corner. She pulls the blanket aside, revealing a sleeping Steele.
He wakes, realizing that she and Mildred are there. "Oh. Morning," he says, sitting up. "Morning, morning, morning, morning."
"Morning," Mildred replies as Laura gets into the limo with them.
"Morning, Mildred."
"I thought *you* were going to pick us up," Laura says. "Fred gets triple golden time for this."
"What's a few dollars more, Laura?" Steele asks, trying to wake up. "The man has a family to support." He's looking through the open passenger side back door. "Children to put through college." He takes a tray containing a silver coffee service and pastries. "Thank you," he tells Fred.
"Fred's not married," Mildred reminds him.
"Shh," Steele admonishes, looking at the tray. "Now, what have we here?" he asks as a stunned Laura looks on. "Jelly doughnuts, chocolate éclairs, cinnamon toast- ah," he says, picking up an éclair as Mildred picks up a powdered doughnut.
"Thanks," Laura says, watching him. "But it's not on *my* training diet."
"Hmm," Steele says, his mouth full of food. "Pity."
The limo pulls away from the curb.
***
Near the triathlon site, Laura tells Fred, "Pull over, Fred!" Steele is finishing his coffee from a china cup. "I'll get out here," Laura tells him. "I really don't want to be seen getting out of chauffeured limo." She gets out and heads down toward the registration area.
Steele shrugs and tells Mildred, "If you've got it, flaunt it."
The triathlon participants are preparing themselves for the big event by checking in with the race officials at the table. Spectators are arriving as well. Laura makes her way to the check in table, as does the woman who was running in the hills. Two men get out of a white van, both with binoculars, obviously there to watch the race very closely. The jogger from the hills sees them and continues towards the check in desk.
Laura with her hair in a French braid and dressed in sweats approaches the check in for her race packet.
The two men scan the crowd, as if they were looking for someone.
The woman, with medium brown hair, also pulled back in a braid, approaches Laura. "Hi" she said.
"Hi" returns Laura.
"Sure a lot of people here."
"Yeah," answers Laura.
"Wonder how many will finish."
"Well I don't know, but I intend to be one of them."
"Well good for you." She extends her hand. "Joan Grey."
Laura takes it, "Laura Holt."
"Is this your first triathlon?" asks Joan.
"Yeah, you?"
"I've done a few," she answers. "Just stick to your own pace and you'll do fine."
"Well, thanks, you too."
"Well, good luck."
"Thanks." Laura responds confidently.
The two men with the binoculars are still scanning the crowd.
Joan makes her way to the front of the line where she finds the all ready prepared race packets filed in alphabetical order. Finding her own packet, labeled "Joan Grey", she then finds the "H's" and pulls Laura's packet. She quickly removes the contents, including their numbers, from each packet and switches them, assuring that Laura will be wearing her number, 47. She re-files Laura's packet in the H's and takes her packet with her.
Laura reaches the desk, "Laura Holt," she announces.
"Where are the H's?" the race official asks no one in particular as she continues to search through the packets. "Out of order, of course. Ah, Holt, here we are!" She hands Laura her race information with Joan Grey's number inside. "Have a good race."
"Thanks."
Laura approaches Mr. Steele and Mildred who are waiting for her, "Just checked out your bike and everything is A-OK," Mildred tells her.
"Great."
"Feel all right?" inquires Mr. Steele.
Laura takes a deep breathe, "Ah, ready," she proclaims.
"Good," answers "a not too sure about all this" Mr. Steele.
The contestants are lined up on the shore ready to begin the race. Over the loud speaker, "Swimmers, on your mark…Get set." A gun goes off and the swimmers race for the water.
Mildred and a less than enthusiastic Mr. Steele watch as the race begins.
The two men from the van are scanning the water with the binoculars.
The first wave of swimmers is rounding the buoy.
"Yes, Miss Holt, come on," calls out a skeptical Mr. Steele. He claps his hands in a less than enthusiastic manner but he adds a whistle for good measure.
"Come on, Laura," yells a much more supportive Mildred.
The next group of swimmers reaches the halfway point, Laura is among them.
"Exciting, uh?" Mildred asks.
"Ah, yes, like watching grass grow," seeing Mildred's reaction, he quickly continues, "A joke, Mildred, a joke. I'm fraught with anticipation, really, really." She gives him a look and takes a little swing at him.
Laura finishes the first leg of the race and runs up the beach with the other swimmers. Over the cheers of the crowd, Mr. Steele is heard saying, "Yes, yes" and Mildred's encouragement, "Come on!"
The men focus in on her with the binoculars, "That's her, number 47."
Laura enters the changing area to ready herself for the bike leg of the race, passing Mildred and Mr. Steele she high fives them both. She emerges from one of the changing rooms, now in her biking clothes and helmet, retrieves her bike. Laura mounts her bike and takes off for the 40K bike leg. "Let's go!" "Come on, Honey - go get them," shouts of encouragement can be heard from Mildred.
"All the best," said Mr. Steele, clearly not understanding why anyone would want to participate in this activity, let alone watch it!
"Come on, Chief, there's a better vantage point up the road," Mildred informs Mr. Steele.
"Can't we just see it from here, eh, Mildred?"
"Come on." He follows.
Laura is well into the bike segment of the race when the two men who had been stalking her wait up ahead off to the side of the road posing as contestants. They ride up behind Laura on their bikes. With one on each side of her, they bump in to her. Continuing to ride dangerously close, Laura shouts at them, "Well, go ahead and pass!"
They lean into her, trying to push her off balance. Laura pushes back and reaches down to retrieves the attached bicycle pump mounted on the frame. She sticks it into one of the biker's spokes causing him to fall. She then steers her bike in the direction of the other biker causing him to run into the curb and fall as well. She quickly races off.
Laura crosses the finish line and puts her bike into a rack, then removes her helmet and gloves as she's greeted by Mildred and Mr. Steele. Very haltingly she tells them, "Two men…came out of no where." She hands Mildred her helmet and one racing glove.
"What?" Steele asks.
"Tried to run me off the road. I never saw them before," she informs her "crew", breathing very hard after the long race.
"Two men what?" asks Mr. Steele.
"In a minute." Laura hands Mildred the second glove and goes into change from her biking clothes to her racing clothes.
"Need some help?" asks Mr. Steele
"No."
"You OK?" Mr. Steele shows his concern. "Yes?" he and Mildred follow her toward the changing tents, obviously a bit concerned.
Laura, now changed from her biking clothes in to her running shorts, returns to begin the running portion of the race. Mildred and Mr. Steele run along side of her, attempting to keep up. "Laura, what about the two men?"
"Tried to run me off the road."
"Why? Laura, could we slow down?"
"Can't, lose my time. You'll have to keep up." Mr. Steele grimaces but continues to run, removing his jacket and tossing it to Mildred who has quit even attempting to keep up with the two of them.
"What did they want with you?"
"I don't know. Maybe you could shadow me for while, hmm?"
"Yeah."
Laura is still running at a pretty good pace while Mr. Steele, looking totally unkempt, huffing and puffing, is running along side her like he is developing blisters on his feet. The top buttons of his shirt are undone and he is sweating heavily and breathing hard. "Oh, Laura, I'm ruining my shoes…not to mention my feet…my lungs…my heart."
"Can't slow down. Catch up with me later, uh?" are Laura's departing words as she continues down the road.
Mr. Steele stops, his hair all over the place, "Ahhh, sh . . . " He pulls off a boot and waves self-consciously at another participant.
Laura keeps running.
As Laura passes a parked white van, it slowly pulls away from the curb. It pulls up along aside her. Someone grabs her from the moving van, and throws her to the floor in the back. The two men from earlier are there, one driving. Another man, calmly sitting in the van takes one look at Laura and simply states, "It's not her."
"But, Kendall, you said she-."
Interrupting, "I said, it's not her, now get her out of here." And they throw Laura back out of the van leaving her sitting on the side of the road when Mr. Steele, now with his shirt totally unbuttoned and flying behind him, comes running down the road. He reaches the spot where Laura is sitting. "Oh come now, Laura. No time to rest. We've got a race to finish. Come on." He speeds by her.
Laura just watches in wonderment.
Back in the office of Remington Steele on Monday morning, Mr. Steele is talking on the phone, "OK…thanks, bye, bye." He hangs up and turns to Laura, "The police haven't found the van."
"Why would someone enter a public event if she knew she was in trouble?" she asks as she paces back and forth across the office. "Obviously she didn't know she was in trouble until she got there."
Mildred Krebs enters the office carrying a note pad. "Here's the dope on that girl that switched numbers with you. Her name is Joan Grey, address is a Venice Beach apartment, occupation, an exercise instructor and that's all the race committee had."
"Okay. I'll take the apartment, Mr. Steele, you take the health club. Mildred, you continue to dig for data on Joan Grey," directs Laura.
"Okay," Mildred agrees, and both women turn toward the door.
Steele speaks, following them. "Laura, I don't suppose it would matter to point out we didn't have a client here."
"A woman is on the run, two goons tried to kidnap me and you worry about getting paid."
"Brilliant observation," Mr. Steele follows Laura out of the office.
The Rabbit pulls up in front of an apartment in an older part of town. A middle-aged woman watches from a second-story window as Laura gets out of the car and approaches the apartment building. The woman "greets" her at the door, "Looking for someone, honey?"
"Yes," answers Laura, "my sister, Joan, Joan Grey. She's in 23."
"She ain't here," looking through some very big glasses.
"You're the manager?" She nods. "Perhaps you could let me in and I could wait for her."
"Maybe she ain't coming back. She didn't come home last night and she owes me rent," states the manager.
"Perhaps, I could pay it for her, do you think I could get in then?" asks Laura politely.
"Maybe."
"How much?"
"Two hundred."
Laura eyes the place very skeptically. "That's her rent?"
"You're her sister?"
"Let's say this building is rent controlled and make it fifty." Laura begins counting out some money.
"Let's say I repaired her apartment which makes it seventy-five."
"Let's say you only put in new carpeting and make it sixty."
The manager quickly takes the money from Laura's hand. "You can owe me the rest."
Together, Laura and the manager enter Joan Grey's very neat, but not very luxurious, one room apartment.
Laura waits by the door with folded arms, "May I have a little privacy?" asks Laura as the manager continues to stand by the door.
Laughing, "No, no, no…I got first claims to her stuff if she don't come back. I got to protect my investment." Laura begins to look around. "Funny thing about your sister, she comes to this dive but she's got designer clothes, Gucci bags, silk blouses."
She finds a credit card receipt in the wastebasket. She pulls it out and reads the signature… "Joan Kendall."
"So, ah, what kind of trouble was your sister in?"
"Who said anything about trouble?" responds Laura.
"Get off it, Honey, I knew she was bad news when she first came here."
"Oh, and when was that?"
"You know…ah, the new drapes haven't been paid for yet."
"Then maybe you better return them," states Laura a bit fed up with this woman and her money games as she turns and leaves.
As she gets into her car, the two men from the race are sitting across the street and watch her. They look at each other, and then pull out to follow the Rabbit.
Mr. Steele enters a fitness club to the blaring music of an aerobics class being taught. Many, many, fit young women all appropriately dressed in colorful leotards are dancercising to the music. When the music stops everyone claps their hands and leaves the exercise room.
"Sandra Jenkins?" he approaches the instructor, a tall red head, as she too leaves the big exercise room.
"Yes?"
"Remington Steele."
"Hi," giving him the once over.
"It's a wonderful establishment you have here."
"Oh, thank you," answers Sandra, breathing a little fast after the workout. "What can I do for you, Mr. Steele?"
"Oh, I just breezed in from New Zealand - Auckland triathlon, outstanding. I'm looking for a friend of mine, Joan Grey. I though I might work out with her."
"Joan has a lot of friends all of a sudden."
"Ah, I don't, mmm, understand."
"You see that gentleman sitting over there," she points to a black man, dressed in a suit and tie, sitting in the waiting area reading a magazine. "He's been waiting for her all morning. He said he's on the Olympic Advisory Committee. Pretty funny, huh? And like I told him I really don't know where Joan is. Sorry." She starts to walk away, then turns to look at him again. "And, uh, Mr. Steele, there is no Auckland Triathlon," Sandra says, smiling as she moves away again.
"Um hmm. So much for that brilliant deception," he muses. "Miss Jenkins," he calls after her, "Permit me to start over."
"Why?" she asks.
"Perhaps you're concerned about Joan. The girl at the desk said you were friends."
"Yeah, so?"
"Joan disappeared at the Westside Triathlon."
"I was there."
"Then you must be wondering what happened to her. She's being followed. At the race she exchanged numbers with Laura Holt who was subsequently battered around by two gentlemen, who obviously thought she was Joan. Laura Holt is a private investigator and she tends to get curious about things like this," he pauses, "So do I."
"She's your girlfriend?"
"She works for Remington Steele Investigations."
"I see, and you're her boss?"
"Something like that. The point is we would like to know exactly what's going on."
"Well, so would I, now who is he?"
"Don't know, but only one of us is telling the truth and Joan's in trouble. And we'd better find her before they do."
After some deliberate thought, "OK, why don't you come into my office?"
Mr. Steele follows smiling his lopsided smile and looking very pleased with himself, "Hmmm," unsure what she has in mind.
Mr. Steele leaves The Body Factory. Out in the bright LA sun, he puts on his sunglasses. The black man who was also looking for Joan follows him out and down the street. Mr. Steele hurriedly crosses the street in the middle of the traffic. The man pauses to buy a paper from a paper dispenser, but continues watching closely where Mr. Steele goes. Steele pauses outside a men's clothing store like he is window-shopping and then enters the store, making sure the man following him sees where he goes. The man crosses the street and watches through the window as Mr. Steele is looking at a suit coat. Mr. Steele taking the jacket from the store clerk heads in the direction of what appears to be a dressing room. The man continues to wait and watch outside the shop.
Coming up from behind, Mr. Steele says, "What did you think of the jacket? Let's talk, shall we, eh?"
The man takes off running with Mr. Steele in pursuit. He runs down an alley, and stops, having nowhere to go. "You should be more careful, mate. Now, what do you want with me or should I say Joan Grey, eh?" A Latino man has followed Mr. Steele into the alley and a car follows him in. The Latino man comes up behind Mr. Steele and encircles his arms around him, pinning Mr. Steele's arms to his side. A fight ensues. The man waiting at The Body Factory picks up a garbage can lid and hits Mr. Steele with it, causing him to fall, stunned.
The driver of the car gets out and yells, "Can it, Ivory. Let's get out of here."
The men get into the car and drive off leaving Mr. Steele sprawled on the street by the over-turned garbage cans, trying to regain his balance.
Back at the office Laura is playing doctor with Mr. Steele's head. She has an ice pack on the back of his head hoping to relieve some of the damage done in the earlier run in with the two men in he alley.
"What did you hope to accomplish by confronting two men, alone, in an alley?" scolds Laura.
"You're a remarkable source of comfort at times like these, Laura."
"Just being honest. We're obviously dealing with desperate people here."
"What was I supposed to do, invite the man to dinner?"
"No need to get testy," she admonishes.
"Laura, how is it that whenever you lose your temper, it's being honest and when I lose my temper, it's being testy." She sets the ice pack on his shoulder and sits down on the edge of the end table.
Mildred enters the office, "OK, I got some bad news, some good news and some bad news."
"Lay it on us, Mildred."
"The bad news is that Joan Grey is an alias. The good news is that she is really Joan Black who came here six weeks ago from San Diego. The bad news is Joan Black is also an alias and that's when the trail goes cold."
"It appears our mystery woman has been on the run for quite some time," deducts Mr. Steele.
"I started to check on anyone with the name of Ivory fitting the description you gave me Chief."
"What about the name on the credit card receipt I found, Joan Kendall?" Laura asks.
"Still trying, but my contact at the credit bureau needs a little- sweetening, if you get by drift. He's a Raiders' fan," hints Mildred.
"Well, offer him Mr. Steele's seats for the San Francisco game," suggests Laura.
"You got it," said Mildred as she goes off to do this task.
"Laura, this case is getting very costly. Don't you think?" He looks at her in a less than pleasant way.
Taking the ice pack back from him and placing it behind his head, "Oh, come on Mr. Steele, you still don't know the difference between a double reverse and a double scotch."
"Nevertheless, I mean…"
"Now, where are we? Sandra at the health club told you that Joan came to work there about six weeks ago. That checks with Mildred's description."
"Um hmm, apparently Joan has got marital problems, well, at least that's Sandra impression. They're good friends but Joan doesn't talk about herself very much."
"And Sandra hasn't seen Joan since the race." Laura sits up leaving Mr. Steele to hold his own ice pack.
"The fellow who looked you over in the van, his name was 'Kendall'?"
"Right, my guess is that Joan Grey is really Mrs. Kendall and the man chasing her is her husband."
"What about Ivory and his two cohorts?"
"I've made my breakthrough for the day, Mr. Steele, I'm waiting for you to make a brilliant suggestion."
"How about lunch? Hmm?" raising an eyebrow in her direction, tossing the ice pack to the side.
"Not exactly what I had in mind."
The three men from the alley, including Ivory, are in a hotel room. Ivory has hold of the lapels of the man who was driving the car. "This isn't working out like you said Gullickson."
"Let go of me Ivory. Let go." Ivory releases him and steps back. "I'm just as frustrated as you are," straightening his clothes. "Obviously Kendall lied to me about his wife being away a on vacation. But the fact remains, Kendall adores her. I've worked with the guy long enough to know that. No, she's still the key."
"So, how are we going to find her?" Ivory asks.
"Same as before, hard work."
"How long is this going to take? I've got a team to coach," said the Latino.
"That's right! We're athletes, not bloodhounds," adds Ivory.
"WERE, you were athletes. Now you're just businessmen like everyone else. You guys make me sick. You should've been set for life. But you blew it and now you're crying, cause you might actually have to do some work to earn your money. You came to me - remember? It's a little late for second thoughts."
Ivory, looking dejected, "All right, how do we find the girl?"
Laura and Mr. Steele are unaware they are being closely followed by another car as they head for Joan's apartment in the Rabbit. "So, what does the Remington Steele Agency have to do with my wife?" asks Kendall to the driver of the car, who is wearing a NY Yankees baseball cap.
"Beats me."
"I'm not surprised. At least I can understand how you and your partner screwed up - from a distance she does look a little bit like my wife."
"Look, pal, we've been working from a few lousy photographs. If you weren't so afraid to show your face we'd probably could have grabbed her at the race."
"Just drive," demands Kendall.
With the manager listening outside Joan's apartment door, Laura, Mr. Steele and Sandra are inside the apartment gathered around a man who has been knocked out cold. "It's one of the men who chased me in the race," observes Laura.
Pulling out his ID out of the wallet, Sandra hands it to Mr. Steele, "Oh, check this out."
"Uh oh, New York City Police," said Mr. Steele with a hint of concern in his voice.
"I hope you know more about this than I do."
The manager continues to listen through the closed door.
"Fill us in again on what happened," asks Laura of Sandra.
"Joan called me an hour ago. She sounded really frightened. I have a key to her apartment so she asked me to come over here and collect a few things and then meet her at Union Station. Then I called you and asked you to meet me here and then I came over."
"Where he was waiting for you."
"What did you use on him? Karate?" inquires Mr. Steele.
"No," she admits with a sheepish grin. "A well-placed knee and a cast iron frying pan."
"Also effective," Steele notes.
"Did you tell Joan we were trying to help her?"
"No, she hung up too fast. Look, you guys, I'm a little freaked out by all this and I don't want to go to Union Station by myself."
"You can ride with us," offers Laura.
"Ah, great."
They depart the apartment for Union Station. Using her key, the apartment manager now enters the apartment knowing they have left. "Ahh!" she cries as she sees the man knocked out on the floor. She turns to leave only to run into Gullickson. "Out of the way. I need the police," she screams at him
"I am the police," Gullickson tells her.
"What?"
"We've been tracking a known felon calling herself Joan Grey."
"I knew it, I knew it!."
"Right now I need to find Joan Gray."
"They are all going to Union Station." She says with a certain amount of satisfaction.
"Thank you."
Over the shock and fully recovered, she yells after him, "Hey, hey, she's behind in her rent. How am I going to get paid?"
The Rabbit with Laura, Mr. Steele and Sandra head for Union Station followed closely by Kendall and the other man he has hired to find his wife. "I'm telling you, Ernie should have been back there at that apartment building. I'm turning around to find out what happened."
"You'll do nothing of the kind. What happened to him is that he probably got a sudden urge to get something to eat."
"We don't work that way."
"Look for him on your own time. Right now I'm paying you to follow them." Kendall points at the Rabbit just ahead of them.
Union Station is very busy with activity. It's the middle of the day and people are trying to get to their destination. Joan, still dressing in her blue warm-ups from the race, is standing in the middle of Union Station, surrounded by all the activity and looking a little uneasy. Laura, Steele and Sandra Jenkins enter Union Station and scan the lobby for Joan. Mr. Kendall's hired cop enters. Ivory, Gullickson and the Latino pull up in front of Union Station and get out. They enter the station. Joan is pretty jumpy. The rent a cop spots her and starts toward her.
"There she is!" exclaims Sandra. "Joan!"
Joan spooks when she sees the rent-a-cop and begins running away. Mr. Steele chases her through the lobby and out of the station.
"That's her and look, that's the guy from the health club," states Ivory as he and the other two men enter Union Station.
"That's the other guy who was chasing me," Laura says, spotting the rent-a-cop.
"Come on, let's slow him down," Sandra calls out. Together, they push a cart full of luggage in his path and he is stopped.
"Wait," yells Mr. Steele to Joan, "I'm trying to help." He tries to reassure her.
Laura trips up Kendall's rent a cop. He goes for his gun. She grabs his gun and points it at him. "Get up, you've got a lot of explaining to do," demands Laura. "Come on." He gets up.
Still chasing Joan, Mr. Steele is beginning to feel the lack of exercise and sheds his jacket. "Ohh, this is becoming an expensive habit. Oh." He follows her into the railroad yard seeing her go one way. Breathing very hard now, Mr. Steele pauses for a moment to think. He turns the other way and enters a tunnel arriving at the top before Joan does. He drops down behind a barrier. Joan comes running from the other direction and he grabs her around the waist. "Wait, I'm only trying to help you." She struggles free and begins to run off.
Totally out of breath, Steele has stopped running, "Go on, run…take off, that's it. I mean what difference does it make to you that you almost got someone killed at the triathlon. Eh?"
She stops and looks back. "Oh no, don't stop. I mean it's clear you don't care about anyone else but yourself, go."
"You're talking about the girl I switched numbers with. Is she OK? I couldn't think of anything …I didn't mean for her to get hurt." Joan, too, is breathing hard,
"Ah, yes, well, why don't you tell her yourself?"
"Who are you?"
Very slowly, in between breaths, "Ah, my name is Remington Steele. I'm a private investigator and the woman you jeopardized is my associate, Laura Holt." He weaves slowly closer to her, but she steps away, wary. "Look, look, look, I know you are frightened. A lot of strange things have been happening, but I'm only here to help you and to sort out what's going on, that's all."
"I don't know if I believe you. I don't know if I believe anybody anymore."
"All right, all right. Then we'll just - We'll just stay here until you get comfortable. You're safe. No one's going to harm you - and besides I don't think I could run another step," he honestly admits to her.
She laughs softening. "Are you really a detective?"
"How long have you and your wife been separated?" asks Laura back at Union Station of Kendall.
"Two months. She said I was too possessive. Maybe she was right. That's why I promised her I wouldn't try to contact her while she was away," Kendall confesses.
"Oh, so you sent two off duty cops instead," states Sandra.
"No. I kept up my end It wasn't until she called me that I did that."
Breathing very hard after the chase, Joan tells Mr. Steele. "We love each other, but, ah, it wasn't working for me, so he promised - ah - that I could get away for awhile without him interfering."
"So you left New York to go to San Diego?"
"I love athletics and it's a great town for it. I just wanted to train and try to forget about things for awhile…but, uh, but then my friend told me two men had come looking for me."
"A black and a Latino?"
"Right."
"She called me out of the blue, crying and calling me all sorts of names. I tried to calm her down. But all she could say was how would I send people after her. It didn't make any sense, I mean, who would be after my wife? I decided to hire some people to find her. And try and find out what was going on."
"So why the James Bond routine at the triathlon?"
"That was their idea. They were supposed to just contact
her and bring her to me.
You see, I thought she would run away if she saw me first. Not
that it made any difference."
"I don't agree with what you did, but at least now I understand why you did it."
"Can I have my gun back now?" asks the off-duty cop. Laura hands him his gun. "I'm going to go and find my partner." To Kendall, "I'll send you a bill."
"I'm sure you will," replies Kendall. "I can't believe how badly I've screwed things up."
"You're not the one who set all this is motion…when Mr. Steele returns with your wife perhaps we can finally solve the mystery here."
"So you don't think Allen had anything to do with those two men in San Diego?"
"No."
"I have been so unfair," Joan frets.
"Come on, we'll go back together. Get in touch with your husband and the two of you can talk it all out. Come on." They both get up, him a little bit stiff from all the running he's does in the past few days. They begin retracing their steps back to Union Station. They enter the tunnel where they find themselves confronted with Gullickson and the Latino. They turn only to find Ivory standing behind them. Steele tackles Ivory only to have Gullickson and friend attack him from behind. A fight ensues.
"Forget him," says Gullickson, "We want the girl. She's getting away." They throw Mr. Steele to the ground. "Move it!" Mr. Steele is knocked out cold and left by the tracks as the three men take off after Joan.
Back in the offices of Remington Steele, Investigations, Laura sits at Steele's desk, hands to her mouth, anxious. Sandra is perched on the edge of the desk as Allen Kendall paces the room. The phone rings and Laura quickly answers it. "Remington Steele Investigations . . . no, I'm sorry, he's not here . . . no . . . yes . . . yes, I'll tell him as soon as I see him," trying to be polite. She hangs up a bit frustrated. "Mr. Steele's tailor," she explains, "his suit is ready." Laura sits down again, putting her head on the desk.
"Four hours," Allen points out, pacing again.
Mildred comes rushing in holding all sorts of papers. "I think I got something. Several references to an athlete named 'Thomas Ivory', a former world-class sprinter. Now, he did pretty well for a while, and then he got involved in a blood doping scandal about five years ago."
"Blood doping?" Laura questions.
"Yeah, that's when they super charge the blood to get a better performance," Sandra explains. "Some athletes will do anything to get that extra edge especially at that level."
"Whoa . . . fantastic work, Mildred, anything else?"
"A couple of articles, don't add to much."
Allen spots something in one of the pictures. "That picture- that guy there next to Ivory, that's- Joe Gullickson, our company's public relations director." The picture was taken at a "Drug Abuse Conference".
"The man on the other side -" Laura points out, reading the caption beneath the photo, " -Caesar Arguello, Argentinean soccer captain. Well, maybe that's the man that Mr. Steele encountered earlier."
"So what does that mean?"
"I think I know," shares Kendall. "I'm a chemical engineer researching steroids. You've probably heard about steroids because a lot of athletes have been using them to bulk up. It's very controversial right now because of the side effects. Anyway, a few months ago I inadvertently developed formula for a steroid that cannot be detected by blood tests. I even joked about it with Gullickson because it has no bearing on my research. But it would be worth a fortune on the black market for athletes."
"Well, it looks as if your wife is just an innocent dupe in all this. Apparently Gullickson and his friends want to ransom her for your formula."
"Where is she?" asks Kendall
"Speaking about missing persons, where's the Boss?" wonders Mildred.
*****
Steele, in total disarray, walks down a back street. Going to a phone booth, he digs into his pocket for change. He drops some coins into the phone and dials. "Bet you thought I'd run off with another woman, eh?" he asks.
"Thank God you're all right," replies Laura on the other end. "Where are you? What happened?"
"I caught up with Joan Kendall, everything was fine until those two lovely chaps I met before appeared. We played Red Rover. I lost."
"Did they get Joan?"
"I don't think so. Looked like she had a pretty good lead before the lights went out. You better come down here and help me try and find her. I'm on the corner of 17th and Sheraton- oh, and bring a jacket will you?"
"We're on our way," Laura assures him. "And don't do anything reckless in the mean time."
He grins. "I might, just to annoy you."
Laura hangs up the telephone.
*****
Ivory and his co-horts are searching the area. Joan, hiding in a cage of some sort, watches them pass, then hi-tails it the other direction.
Mildred is opening some mail at her desk when the phone rings. "Remington Steele Investigations," she answers. "Whoa. Slow down, honey," she says.
Joan is on the other end of the line. "Where is Mr. Steele? I need to talk to him. This is Joan Kendall."
"He's out there looking for you," Mildred tells her. "Listen honey, where are you? Gimme your address." When there's no answer, Mildred frowns. "Hello? Joan?" She hits the switch hook, trying to get the connection back.
But Joan has dropped the receiver and taken off, having seen Ivory. Ivory notices the receiver off the hook and moves toward the phone booth.
***
Laura- now wearing a blue sweat suit similar to Joan's-, Kendall and Sandra get out of the Rabbit to greet Steele. Handing him a black leather jacket, Laura says, "Best I could do on short notice." She looks him over, seeing that he has been beaten up again, "Ah...what am I going to do with you?" she sighs.
"Allen Kendall, I presume."
"Mr. Steele, look, I'm really sorry," begins Allen, shaking Steele's hand.
"We'll exchange regrets later. Right now I suggest we fan out and look for your wife."
"What we should do is flush out Ivory and the others before they can get to Joan," states Laura.
"And how are we going to do that?"
Laura snaps a sweat ban around her forehead. "By giving them another Joan to follow," she declares.
"You're going out as a decoy?" questions Steele of her intentions.
"It's a good idea. It worked once. We can do it again," Laura says.
Mr. Steele takes Laura's arm and removes her several steps from the others, "Laura, how is it when I do something dangerous it's reckless, but when you do something suicidal, it's a good idea?"
"Mr. Steele, this is no time to argue semantics." She turns away from him and takes off at a slow jog.
Steele fastens his cuffs as Allen says, "Strong woman."
"Head-strong is what comes to mind," Steele corrects him. "Head-strong."
*****
Night has come. It is dark and quiet down at the train yard. Joan is wandering, looking quite lost and unsure of where she is or where she is going. She's tired and frightened.
The three men, Gullickson, Ivory and Arguello, are searching the area for Joan, so far without any luck.
Laura begins walking, slowly, cautiously down the back streets of the train yard. Mr. Steele is following closely behind, watching her and zigzagging back and forth across the street staying in the shadows, watching for any sign of the others. Allen and Sandra also follow, slowly and cautiously.
Everyone continues to walk in the direction they hope Joan is.
Joan is walking, trying to avoid being seen. She accidentally kicks a tool on the ground and it makes a clanging noise. Gullickson and friends hear it and turn in the direction of the noise. They approach where Joan is crouching behind some large equipment. They get closer and closer. She closes her eyes, maybe hoping that if she doesn't see them, they won't see her. She is clearly very frightened.
Then, Arguello spots Laura, "There she is," he says, grabbing Gullickson's arm.
"Let's not blow it this time," Gullickson tells them as all three head in the direction of where Laura was seen.
Laura backtracks, leading them right to where Steele and Kendall and Sandra are waiting. Steele, hiding behind some of the railroad equipment trips Arguello and pulls him from the loading dock and hits him.
Kendall, hidden by a box, jumps out of a garbage bin. "Kendall," said Gullickson right before Kendall hits him over the head with a two by four.
Sandra, in her attempt to block Ivory finds herself face to face with him. He backhands her across the face, knocking her to the ground, and then takes off after Laura, still thinking she is Joan.
Steele hits Arguello one more time for good measure as he sees Laura's speed increase and Ivory right behind her. "Damn!" he says, pushing Arguello to the ground as he takes out after them.
"Are you OK?" Kendall asks Sandra, helping her up.
"Oh, yeah, yeah. That guy packs a mean wallop," answers Sandra holding her cheek.
*****
Laura runs across the tracks, trying to escape from Ivory and to allow Mr. Steele time to catch up with them. She climbs up onto an observation catwalk. Ivory is delayed by a train, which is pulling out of the station. Once the train has passed Ivory climbs up on a train. Steele follows. He looks around trying to access the situation and listen for sounds. Laura has come down off the catwalk, and is walking slowly between two parked trains. Steele is on the other side of the train walking slowly. Neither one is real sure where the others are.
Laura sees Ivory stick his head out of a car, and takes off running in the opposite direction. He doesn't chase but slowly goes around to the other side to head her off.
Realizing that he hasn't followed her, Laura stops to get her bearings. Ivory spots Laura through an opening in the train. He ducks and approaches Laura from another direction. She sees him and ducks back through the train to begin running down the tracks. Ivory follows. A moving train forces them off the tracks and under the parked train.
Steele catches up with them and finishes off Ivory, then pulls Laura to her feet. "What took you so long?" inquires Laura of Mr. Steele.
"Missed my train," he answers smiling and putting his arm around her.
Laura and Steele enter the offices of Remington Steele Investigations, looking more like themselves.
"Oh," Mildred says, looking up. "How'd it go?"
Laura approaches Mildred's desk, "Fine, there are enough charges against Gullickson, Ivory and Arguello to keep them behind bars for a long time."
"You of the happy ending school, Mildred, will be pleased to know that Joan and Allen have been reconciled," adds Steele, as he looks over his messages and Laura examines the mail.
"Ah, good for them. Oh, Miss Holt, there's a package for you in your office."
"Follow me Mr. Steele," orders Laura as she heads for her office.
"Mildred, why do I get the sinking feeling that I'm in for an unpleasant surprise?" asks Mr. Steele skeptically.
"Relax, Chief," she assures him, "You'll get a lot of mileage out of it."
He fakes a laugh as he enters Laura's office and closes the door behind him. She hands him a present, wrapped in blue and white paper, tied up with a white ribbon. "You earned it," she states.
He grins.
He takes off the paper and ribbon, revealing a shoebox. He drops the lid to the floor, "Running shoes?" He looks doubtful as he lifts the shoes out of the box.
"With a set routine and a some self discipline you should be able to run in the next triathlon with me."
"Thanks," he says, pulling Laura closer to him, "but pursuing you is all the exercise I need." He tosses the shoes over his shoulder and bends towards her. We freeze frame on the running shoes still in the air.
THE END