Steele Targets Part 1

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Steele Targets
Part One
Agatha Brierly pushed the two seat stroller down the path, her eyes constantly scanning the area. This visit to the park had been an impulse, something the experienced nanny seldom gave into. But it had been such a lovely day that she had decided that her charges needed the fresh air and sunshine, so here they were.

She paused to make certain that the safety straps were in place as young Daniel lifted a chubby hand. "Bud-dy," he said.

Agatha glanced at the Irish setter puppy that had gained his attention. Smiling into his blue eyes, she shook her head. "It's not Buddy, dear."

"Buddy!" his twin sister Megan insisted loudly.

"Your Buddy is at home," the nanny reminded them in a firm voice as the dog's owner approached, lifting the puppy into his arms as he yipped and jumped at the two giggling and squirming children.

"Apparently they have a dog like this one," the man said.

Agatha looked him over. He certainly APPEARED harmless enough, she thought. "Yes," she confirmed, watching closely as he knelt before the stroller.

"Well, this one's name is Bridgette," he told the children, holding the animal out for them to pet.

"We really have to be going," Agatha began. "The children's parents are expecting us -"

The man put the dog into Daniel's arms, then rose to his feet, one hand on the stroller, the other now in his jacket pocket. From inside, he pulled out a lethal looking handgun. "I'm afraid their parents are going to be disappointed, Mrs. Brierly." Agatha allowed her oversized purse to slide down her arm and the man turned the barrell of the weapon toward the children. "Uh, uh, Mrs. Brierly. No sudden moves. I'd hate to see one of these lovely children hurt, wouldn't you?"

Agatha's face revealled nothing. "Me? I'm an old woman. What could I POSSIBLY do to stop you?" she asked, glancing down at the children. Daniel's blue eyes were wide as they looked up at her. His arms were around the puppy, holding it tightly as Megan petted it. "Don't hold the puppy so tight, Daniel," Agatha admonished gently. "You might hurt it." As she expected, Daniel let the animal go. It jumped out of the stroller to dash across the grass as Megan began to howl in disappointment.

"Bud-dy!!!!!!!!!!"

The man was distracted, glancing around to see if they had attracted any undue attention, and Agatha took what she felt might be her only chance. She swung her heavy purse in a wide arch, knocking the would be kidnapper to the ground, sending his gun several feet away. As he lay there, stunned, Agatha grasped the stroller, and carefully retrieved the gun, holding it was a handkerchief. When she turned around, the man was running away down the path. After unloading the gun of its bullets, and dropping all of them into her purse, Agatha turned the stroller back toward where Fred was waiting with the limo to take them home.

**********

"I think we need to discuss these," Laura Holt-Steele said to her husband as she placed several reciepts for large expenditures on his desk.

Remington Steele picked up the papers, glancing through them. "What about them?"

"I thought we had an agreement about company funds not being used for personal items," she reminded him.

"And they haven't been." He looked closer. "Laura, I didn't sign these."

She looked uncertain. "It's your signature-"

"It APPEARS to be my signature," he said. "A good forger -"

"But why would anyone want to forge your signature to sales receipts for a Monet? Or an option on a private jet? Or a ski lodge in Aspen?"

"Laura, the last Monet I bought was just after the twins were born," he reminded her. "And it certainly wasn't THIS particular canvas," he said, looking at the name on the paper. "And we agreed to discuss the private jet issue, if you'll recall, but we never resolved it. As for the ski lodge- you know that I prefer to ski in the Swiss Alps. If I bought a lodge anywhere, it would be there. Certainly not in Aspen."

She frowned, knowing he was right. "I'm going to call this gallery, see if they can give me a description of the man who bought this painting," she decided. "Obviously, there's someone running around town pretending to be Remington Steele."

He grinned. "You mean, other than myself?" he asked.

**********

"Agatha," Mildred Krebs said as the Englishwoman entered the offices of Remington Steele Investigations pushing the stroller. Mildred bent to the children. "Hello, little chiefs," she told them as Tony's door opened.

"Mildred, where's the file on the Mitchell case?" he asked. "Oh, Agatha. I didn't know you were here." He grinned at the children, and Megan grinned back.

"I need to see Mr and Mrs. Steele," Agatha said. "Are they in?"

"In Mr. Steele's office," Mildred told her. "What's wrong?"

"Someone just tried to kidnap the twins," she informed them.

"What?" Tony questioned.

"Where? What happened?" Mildred wanted to know.

"In the park just now. Could you keep an eye on them, Mildred while I talk to their parents? I'd prefer they not be privy to anymore of this than necessary."

"Sure. You know I always like spending time with my second favorite twosome," Mildred assured her.

Agatha knocked once, then opened the door. "Second favorite twosome?" Tony asked.

"Mr. and Mrs. Steele are first," Mildred explained.

**********

"Agatha," Laura said, her eyes widening as she saw the woman. "Is something wrong with the children?"

"No, Mrs. Steele. They're fine. But something ALMOST was."

Remington frowned. "I beg your pardon?"

Agatha told them about the puppy and the man who had tried to kidnap the children. "I took a chance going to the park, I know, Mr. Steele, but-"

"Nonsense, Agatha," he insisted. "Everything turned out right. Where are the children now?"

"With Mildred and Antony. I thought it best that they not see me give you this," she said, pulling the gun from her purse, the handkerchief still around the grip. "Perhaps you can get some fingerprints from this," she suggested. "It's unloaded," she told them, placing it on Remington's desk.

"What did the man look like?" Laura wanted to know as Remington verified that the gun was indeed empty of bullets.

"He looked harmless enough. Boyish features, dark blonde hair, green eyes. He was medium height, I'd say."

Laura looked thoughtful. "Doesn't sound familiar," she mused. As Remington picked up the phone, she frowned. "What are you doing?"

"Calling the police," he told her. Laura took the reciever and hung it up. "Laura-"

"We don't know that there's anything TO report yet," she reminded him. "I think we can handle this without involving the police-"

Remington's blue eyes flashed with anger. "Laura, I won't allow you to risk the lives of our children simply to prove that the agency can handle this. My children are more important to me than some bloody image-"

"They're MY children too," Laura reminded him. "And I'm not suggesting we put them at risk. Tony can stay with Agatha and the twins during the day as back up -"

Remington sighed. During the first few months after the twins' birth, Laura had been a typical new mother, fretting about every moment away from her babies. But now, almost two years later, her maternal instincts had apparently gone back into hiding. There were times when Remington felt that being Laura Holt-Steele, Private Investigator was more important to her than being Laura Steele, mother of Daniel and Megan. It was Remington who remembered the little milestones, who kept a scrapbook full of notes about new things the children learned, pictures, momentos. "And what if that's not enough?" Remington asked her. "Are you willing to take the chance that someone might get around Antony? Whoever this is, he's done his homework. He knew about the dog, knows about Agatha's training. He probably knows Antony's background as well -"

"Mr. Steele, Mrs. Steele," Agatha said, reminding them that she was still in the room. When they turned to look at her, she spoke in that gentle tone that she used for the twins. "Why not call Lt. Jarvis? Have him make a few discreet inquiries regarding people that the agency has put away? At least then he'll be alerted to a possible problem without any real involvement."

"I'll accept that," Laura agreed. As Remington picked up the telephone, she smiled at Agatha. "You're priceless, you know that, don't you?"

"I try, Mrs. Steele. I certainly try."

"Well, you succeed admirably. Do you think you'd recognize the man if you saw him again?"

"I'm certain of it, Mrs. Steele."

Remington hung up. "Jimmy will be over later this afternoon," he told them. "He's in a meeting at the moment.

Laura picked up the telephone and pushed the button to summon Mildred. It took a moment for the line to be answered, and when it was, Laura could hear the children laughing in the background. "Mildred, could you please bring the "Rogue's Gallery" into Mr. Steele's office?"

"Rogue's Gallery?" Agatha questioned.

"It's the result of a scrapbook that Mildred started about the agency's cases," Laura said. "She has a photograph of everyone we've ever put into jail in a book," she said as the door opened and Mildred came in, followed by Daniel and Megan, who, seeing their father, ran to climb into his lap.

"Daddy!" Daniel said.

"Hello there," Remington said, giving them each a hug and kiss. "Why don't you go tell Mommy hello?" he suggested. The children scrambled back down to run to Laura, who swept them up into a hug as well.

"Come on, you two," Mildred said, holding out her hands after handing the book to Remington. "Mommy and Daddy have work to do."

"Wanna stay," Daniel said, clinging to his mother's neck. "Wanna tell Mommy 'bout dog."

Megan nodded. "Bud-dy," she said.

"It couldn't have been Buddy," Laura told them. "Buddy is at home, waiting for the two of you to come back."

"Bad man scared us," Megan said, looking at her father.

"Come here, darling," he said softly. When she did, he pulled her back into his lap to give her a hug. "Mommy and Daddy are going to keep the bad man away from you. I promise." He kissed her light brown hair. "Now go with Auntie Mildred for a few more minutes, and you can have a second helping of dessert after dinner tonight." Megan gave him another hug, then joined Daniel and Mildred before the door closed behind them.

"You're bribing them," Laura accused.

"They've had a harrowing experience. A little extra dessert won't hurt, right Agatha?"

"We'll see, Mr. Steele," Agatha hedged, already looking through the book. "I don't normally like them to have too many sweets before bedtime."

"Then we'll think of another treat," Remington said. "Perhaps a movie -"

"That might be a better idea," Agatha agreed. She hesitated over a photo.

"Is he familiar?" Laura asked.

"There are similarities," Agatha admitted. "But he's not the man. The man who accosted us was younger -. This man has to be at least- forty five."

Laura nodded. "He was forty seven."

"Was?" Agatha asked.

Remington looked at the photo. "He killed himself when he discovered that we had the evidence that would convict him of having killed his wife and her lover."

"Wasn't there a son?" Laura recalled. "In Europe, somewhere I believe?"

"London. In school. He was -" Remington's eyes narrowed as he tried to recall the details of the case. He and Laura had solved it soon after Mildred had joined the agency. "Seventeen, wasn't he?"

Laura went to the open door that connected their offices and opened a file cabinet, digging until she came up with a folder. "Here it is. The Leonard case." Opening the file, she said, "You're right. Henry Leonard was seventeen when his father died- That would make him twenty four or five now." She looked at Agatha. "Would that be around the right age as the man you saw?"

"I think so, Mrs. Steele."

"We'll have to check and see if young Mr. Leonard has returned from England," Remington pointed out.

"That should be easy enough to do," Laura told him. When he looked at her, she said, "The Leonard house has been empty since Mr. Leonard's death. If Henry's home, that's where he'll be." She got up. "Agatha, you and Tony take the children home and keep an eye on them."

Remington frowned at her. "And where are you going?"

"To check out the Leonard house," Laura told him. "Care to join me?"

"Jarvis is supposed to come by, Laura," Remington reminded her. "Why don't we wait for him?"

"We don't need him," Laura insisted.

"You think it's better to just walk into the sights of a man who very likely wants to see us dead?" Remington asked. "Or at the very least wants some kind of vengeance for his father's death?" She went into her office and picked up her coat without a word. "Laura- wait up." He looked at Agatha. "Keep a close eye on the children, Agatha."

"I will, Mr. Steele. He'll not get near them again, I can promise you that." She smiled. "You and Mrs. Steele be careful."

"We will." And to be on the safe side, Steele pulled open his desk drawer and took out a small revolver, checking to make sure it was loaded before tucking it into the back of his trousers. "Later," he said, following Laura into her office and out to the reception area, where they quickly said goodbye to the children and asked Tony to accompany Agatha and the children home.

"What's up, Steele?" Tony asked.

"Agatha will explain everything, Antony," Remington told him as he and Laura left to go in search of Henry Leonard.

Tony and Mildred turned to look expectantly at Agatha.

To Be Continued - - -