Steele With A Twist
Part 8
Murphy stared at the closed door in concern as Laura asked, "THAT'S Mr. Steele's father?"
"Yeah." He exhanged a look with Bernice. "Let me know when he leaves, okay?"
"If it's anything like last time, I won't have to. You'll KNOW."
"Yeah, well -" He turned Laura toward the far office door again, leading her inside,but left the door open.
 
Steele didn't offer Daniel a place to sit. He wasn't going to be here that long. "Why are you here, Daniel? We have an agreement. I send you money, you stay the bloody hell away from Los Angeles and me."
Daniel looked at his son closely. "I saw you getting onto a flight for Acapulco when I was arriving in town. I really hadn't planned to contact you at all - just take care of my business and leave again. But I had heard that Philip Trent was in Acapulco, and I became concerned -"
"Concerned? Concerned, Daniel? Where was your concern when I was born? When I was passed from cousin to cousin, never knowing who I was, even what my real name was? When I was on the streets, barely surviving? Where was your concern then? You can keep your concern. I don't need it. I don't need anything from you."
Daniel took a deep breath. "Harry -" he paused only momentarily as Steele sent him a steady look. "When I saw you get on that flight, knowing that Philip Trent was in Acapulco- I was worried that you might have heard the news as well and decided to go and do something foolish -"
"The only foolish thing I've done, Daniel, is to agree to talk to you. Now, if there's nothing else-" he indicated the door.
But Daniel didn't budge. "I read in the paper that Trent is facing a charge of attempted murder along with having the gems, and that you were somehow instrumental in his arrest."
Steele shook his head. "You don't give up, do you? You just keep on - Keep your nose out of my business, Daniel. It's none of your concern."
Daniel stood there, his dark eyes filled with something that Steele recognized from the days before they had fallen out- before Daniel had told him the truth about their relationship. But he refused to acknowledge it, and Daniel sighed. "I only wanted to be certain that you were safe. Nothing more. If you had returned my telephone calls, then I wouldn't have been forced to come here and be an embarrassment to you. I'll go now."
"Good. Your two minutes are up."
Daniel paused in the doorway, not looking at his son. "I hope you'll realize one day, Harry, that I never meant to cause you any pain. That's the last thing I ever wanted to do."
"Good bye, Daniel," Steele said, his tone indicating that his temper was reaching its limit.
Daniel's shoulders fell for a moment, then straightened again as he left the main office. He smiled tightly at Bernice. "Good day, Miss Fox."
"Mr. Chalmers," she said in return, picking up the telephone to buzz Murphy. "He just left," she said quickly.
 
Murphy and Laura were moving between offices, and she was still in the middle one, gathering the last of his things when the telephone buzzed and he picked it up. "Okay. Thanks, Bernice." He looked at the door that connected the office to Steele's. "Take those into my office," he told Laura. "I'll be back in a minute to move the computer in there. I'll have to talk to Steele about getting another one for in here, I guess."
"Okay." She saw him move toward the connecting door. "Where are you going?"
"To talk to Steele." He knocked once, then waited for Steele to tell him to enter.
Laura started toward Murphy's office, then moved quietly to the connecting door to listen.
Steele was standing at the window behind his desk, his hands in his pockets. "You okay?" Murphy asked.
"I'll be even better once I know he's left Los Angeles," Steele said.
"You know, if you need someone to talk to -"
Steele turned then, a look of gratitude on his handsome face. "Thank you, Murphy. I appreciate the offer. But this is something I have work out on my own."
"Just wanted you to know that I'm here."
Steele forced himself to shake off the depression that had settled over him with Daniel's arrival. "How is the move going?"
"Not too bad. We're lucky that it was only a month ago that you redid this office. Means a lot less work moving me back into the other one. We're going to need another computer terminal -"
"I'll have Bernice see to it," Steele told him.

Laura heard their voices moving closer, and hurried into the other office with the items that Murphy had instructed her to put there. When the connecting door opened, she was just returning to her office, and said, "I really hate to put you out this way, Murphy."
"I like the other office better anyway," he told her. "The only reason I used this one was because it was closer to Steele's office. He didn't like having to walk the extra distance to talk to me," he said with a grin at the other man.
"Really, Murphy. You're going to give Miss Holt the impression that I'm lazy," he said, watching, arms folded, leaning against the desk, as Murphy unhooked the computer to move it.
"You said it, I didn't," Murphy shot back, a teasing light in his eyes. This was an old arguement, born of Steele's dislike of doing legwork on a case. He much preferred to send Murphy out to get the information rather than have to do it himself. "Of course, I can't quite see you blending in - or being on a stakeout in the limo."
Laura laughed softly as Steele sighed heavily. "Good help is so hard to find these days, Miss Holt. Which means one has to put up with what one can get." He watched Murphy pick up the monitor and start toward the other office, then straightened, crossing to take the computer itself in. "Where do you want it?"
Murphy shot him a laughing glance, then indicated a spot near the desk. "There." He put down the monitor. "I'll set it back up later. I think that's everything," he said, leading them back into the other room. "Yeah." He turned to Laura, and pulled out the chair behind the desk. "It's all yours, Laura."
She sat down, placing her hands on the neat desk top. "When do I get to work on a case?" she asked.
Murphy lifted his brows at Steele in silent question. "First thing we have to do is go over agency procedure - make certain you understand the way we do things - and why."
Laura rolled her eyes. "I need some action, not book work," she sighed.
"And this afternoon, we'll fill you in on the cases we're currently working on, decide which ones you'll help with- under mine or Murphy's supervision, of course." He was rewarded with a smile.
"That's better."
"Laura LOVES to do legwork, Steele," Murphy told him. "Even more than I do. And she's a whiz with a computer -"
"Indeed? Can't stand the things myself," Steele commented as Bernice came to the doorway.
"If you don't leave now, you're going to be late for that luncheon," she reminded him.
Checking his watch, Steele nodded. "Thank you, Bernice. I should be back around one, Murphy. We'll go over cases then. I think I can leave it to you to fill Miss Holt in on proper procedure -?
"Be glad to," Murphy assured him. "But I have to meet Mr. Arnold at one -"
"Take Miss Holt with you. As an observer -" he said carefully.
"Mr. Steele -" Bernice said again. "Fred's waiting downstairs."
When he was gone, Murphy turned to Bernice. "At least they didn't nearly come to blows this time," he said.
"But he was too quiet. He worries me when he gets like that, Murphy," she told him. "He needs to talk about whatever's causing him to shut Mr. Chalmers out."
"Not Steele's style," Murphy reminded her. He turned to Laura. "You ready to start?"
"If I have to," she told him.
 
Over lunch at a local diner, Laura stole one of Murphy's french fries and asked, "So what's the story with Mr. Steele and his father? Why don't they get along?"
Murphy shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine. Steele's never talked about it. We didn't even know that he HAD a father until one day about a year ago when Chalmers came into the office looking for Steele. Steele was out seeing a client, and I asked Chalmers if it was in regards to a case. That's when he dropped the bombshell."
"And Mr. Steele wasn't happy to see him then, either?"
"I practically had to hold Steele back by the time Chalmers finally left the office. I'd never seen him like that, totally out of control."
"I wonder why he's so angry?"
"Like I said, he doesn' t talk much. Not about his personal life - or his life before he opened the agency."
"You haven't tried to find out anything?"
Murphy shook his head. "No."
"Murphy, you're a detective, for god's sake. You have a mystery here involving someone you consider to be a friend-"
"I'd no more dig into Steele's background than I would yours or Bernice's, Laura. It's none of my business. If he wanted me to know about it, he would tell me. Until he does, I'll respect the man's right to privacy. And I suggest that you do the same."
"You're right, Murphy," she said. But her mind was busy pondering the questions she was forming about the man who had made such an impression on her in Acapulco.
"You ready to go meet with Mr. Arnold?" he asked.
"More than ready," she told him, smiling widely.
 
Steele was just coming from his office, a file in his hands, when he heard Murphy and Laura returning. "Dinner tonight?" Murphy was asking.
"I'll be ready," she said. She glanced up and her brown eyes met blue. "Mr. Steele."
Steele closed the folder and gave it to Bernice. "How did the meeting with Mr. Arnold go?" he asked Murphy.
"Not too bad. He would have preferred you to be there, but he admitted that the vase that was stolen was a fake - thanks to Laura, here."
"A fake? The man hires us to find a stolen Ming vase, and it ws a fake?" He looked at Laura. "And I thought you were only there to observe Murphy," he pointed out.
"I noticed immediately that Mr. Arnold was nervous about something. He kept moving around the room, keeping Murphy's attention focused on him instead of his collection. Murphy asked again for a photograph of the vase, and Mr. Arnold finally told him that there wasn't one- that the vase was new to the collection and he hadn't had a chance to have one taken."
"What about the insurance company?" Steele asked.
"That's what I asked," she informed him. "He said that he wasn't going to file a claim on the vase - and that's when the light went on. Why wouldn't he file a claim on a vase that's worth over a million dollars? Unless it wasn't really worth that much. He told us that he'd been conned by the dealer he'd bought the vase from - and had only discovered it after bragging to all of Los Angeles that he had that vase in his collection. When a reporter from a magazine insisted on seeing the vase, he told them it had been stolen to keep from looking foolish."
"And the reporter insisted that he file a police report, and suggested that he bring us in on the case."
"Because the Remington Steele Agency has such an excellent record of recovering items just like that," Laura pointed out.
Murphy smiled at Steele. "He's going to send a check anyway, for services to date. We said we would let you decide how to handle it."
Steele looked thoughtful before he said, "The vase was taken out of the country before we came on the case, and we simply lost track of its whereabouts," Steele said. "Excellent work, Miss Holt. I told you that you had good instincts, remember?"
Murphy dropped an arm around Laura's shoulders, grinning. "I knew she would be good at this," he said.
Steele's expression suddenly became closed, and he looked at Bernice. "Bernice, would you get Rachel Morgan on the telephone?"
"Sure," she said, looking up the number for Steele's current lady friend.
"Let's go into my office and we can discuss the other cases we're working on," Steele suggested, turning to Bernice. "Put Rachel through to me when you get her."
She nodded, frowning.
Laura and Murphy sat down on the sofa as Steele seated himself in the chair. Picking up a file, he glanced at it as the intercom buzzed. "Excuse me. You and Laura go ahead and start, Murphy," he said, moving to the desk to pick up the telephone. Sitting down, he turned his chair toward the window. "Rachel. Yes, I did, but I've been getting back into things after my trip - yes, of course. Next time, I'll take you along- No, it was business. What time shall I be there?"
Murphy frowned as he saw the look that crossed Laura's face. She was pretending to concentrate on the folder in Murphy's hands, but he knew she was listening to every word that Steele said. He felt a flare of anger that Steele would do this. He tapped the folder to draw Laura's attention back to him, and he smiled, winking, as if to say that Steele's conversation was nothing out of the ordinary.
Steele laughed softly. "I see. And should I bring anything -?" he asked suggestively. Another soft laugh. "Really, Rachel. I'll be there at seven. Good bye." He turned around, hanging up the telephone, just in time to see Laura lower her eyes to the file that she and Murphy were holding. Murphy didn't bother to lower his eyes. They were full of disapproval - and full knowledge of what Steele had been up to. Steele rose to cross the room. "Now, where were we?"
"Laura and I were going over the Brownley case," Murphy said pointedly.
"An interesting case," Steele said, ignoring his associate's jibe. "I think you'll find it more than slightly interesting, Miss Holt."
Once they finished, Murphy asked Laura to take the files back out to Bernice, that he would join her in a moment, then watched as Steele rose to go to his desk. "What the hell was that all about earlier, Steele?"
Steele frowned, looking for a pen. "What do you mean?"
"That telephone call to Rachel. There was no reason for you to do that in front of Laura-"
"I was merely confirming a dinner engagement, Murphy -"
"And making certain that she heard every word. Exactly what went on down there in Acapulco, Steele?" Murphy asked.
"Nothing. I"m sure Miss Holt told you that she and I joined forces to retrieve -"
Murphy shook his head. "I'm not buying it. You've been acting strange since you got back."
"Strange? In what way?"
"It's nothing I can put my finger on - but it's there. The way you look at Laura- "
"The way I look at her?" Steele questioned. "You're like a lovesick schoolboy -"
"Don't forget, Steele, I knew her long before you met her-"
"And that gives you some kind of prior claim, I suppose?"

Laura glanced at the closed door, hearing the slightly raised voices within, and made a move in that direction. "I wouldn't if I were you," Bernice warned.
"What?" She turned to look at the brunette, saw the ghost of a smile in those dark eyes.
"You know, I've always wondered what would happen if those two found themselves attracted to the same woman. Of course, I never thought it WOULD happen. They go for such different types. Murphy usually goes out with lawyers, doctors, - even an assistant M.E. a few times. Nothing flashy or anything. Girls who like to go to a ball game or such -While Mr. Steele leans more toward -"
"Air headed bimbos?" Laura suggested.
Bernice smiled. "Exactly. Usually wealthy, sophisticated - and not a real thought in their head. You don't really fit either one, though. Or maybe you fit both. I don't know you that well."
"I can't let them fight over me," Laura told Bernice. "They're friends-"
"And their friendship will probably survive this. You're new around here, Laura," Bernice said, her tone softening. "And it's going to take some time for things to shake themselves out. Just let them work this part out between them."
Laura looked back at the door.
 
"Okay, what do you suggest we do about this, Steele?" Murphy asked. "Draw lots? Take her out on alternate evenings? That won't work -"
"We'll let her decide," Steele told him. "Give her some time- after all, she's just broken up with her fiancee - someone she's been with for the last four years. I think she should have some time to readjust to her freedom."
"Fair enough."
Steele stood up. "And may the best man win," he grinned, offering his hand to his friend.
"Then that will be me," Murphy said, returning that grin.
"I have to be going or I'll be late to Rachel's," he said.

When the two men came from the office, Laura saw no sign of their earlier disagreement. "I'll see you in the morning, Miss Holt. Bernice."
Murphy turned to Laura. "I'll pick you up at seven," he told her. "You need a lift home?"
"I have my car," she told him. "Is everything all right, Murphy?" she asked.
"Everything's fine," he assured her. "I need to make a phone call before I leave," he told Bernice. "See you later, Laura."
She went into her office to retrieve her purse, then said good night to Bernice before leaving the office. Bernice watched her go with a smile on her face. This could get interesting, she thought. Who would have ever thought that someone like Laura Holt could attract both down to earth Murphy Michaels and suave, sophisticated Remington Steele? "It's going to VERY interesting," she murmured as Murphy's door opened and he came out, putting on his jacket.
"What's going to be interesting?" he asked.
"Watching you and Mr. Steele," she said, smiling. "But you know what? I think you've already lost the game, Mr. All-American."
"How do you figure that, Bernice?"
"The way he looks at her. You might not have noticed it, but I have. I've never seen him look at any woman the way he looks at Laura Holt. And you know what? She looks at him the same way."
"She's just a little awed by him," Murphy insisted. "I mean, being taken into the agency, his reputation -"
"Yeah. His reputation. Keep telling yourself that, friend. And watch your back. I have the feeling that our Mr. Steele won't play by the rules on this one."
Murphy shook his head. "I'll see you tomorrow, Bernice."
"Have fun," she said. Glancing at the clock, she quickly gathered her things and left. She had a date of her own that evening. And this one showed a lot of promise.
Murphy and Laura were leaving the restaurant when she suggested they go see a movie. He looked at her. "A movie? Sure. Which one?"
She pointed at a marquee across the street. "That one."
He groaned. A "Thin Man" retrospective. "Laura- those movies are at least - fifty years old- Why don't we find something more recent-"
"You don't like old movies, Murphy?"
"Not you too," he said, shaking his head sadly. "Steele's forever quoting those things. You ought to see his apartment. Classic movie posters all over the place." Really bright, Michaels, he thought to himself. Bring up the competition. Point out that she has something in common with Steele. "Come on. I guess it won't kill me. And maybe I'll enjoy the company, anyway." They crossed the street and went to the ticket window. "Two, please."
"I loved Myrna Loy as Nora Charles," Laura said as they entered the theatre. "She was so sophisticated."
"Sophistication's not everything," he pointed out.
 
Steele entered his apartment and removed his jacket, loosened his tie, then sat down heavily. He could scratch Rachel out of the little black book, he supposed. She hadn't been too happy with his lack of attention to her - or his complaints about the catered meal - he'd forgotten, in trying to make Laura jealous, that Rachel couldn't cook. And dinner at her apartment meant catered food that tasted like cardboard.
So here he was, back home, and it wasn't even nine o'clock. He picked up the newspaper and began leafing through it, his eyes finally coming to rest on an advertisement for a "Thin Man" retrospective. Checking his watch, he decided that he had just enough time to catch the second feature, and quickly called Fred to meet him back downstairs with the limo.
 
He entered the theatre just moments before Nora Charles exclaimed, "Nicky! He might have killed you!" Steele sat in the back row in a corner, laughing at Nick's response to her concern, even though he'd seen the picture countless times before.
The lights came up, and the other patrons rose to stretch their legs before watching the next movie. Steele found himself pulling deeper into the corner as he noticed Murphy and Laura coming down the aisle, talking. "We already paid for the tickets, Murphy," she was saying. "We might as well stay for the rest of the movies-"
Murphy looked bored and frustrated, Steele thought, smiling. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Guess I can catch up on some sleep, anyway."
Laura shook her head as they passed the spot where Steele was hiding, her eyes catching something as she did so. At the back of the theatre, Murphy went through to the lobby, but Laura paused and glanced back toward the corner. She easily recognized that dark hair and build, even if he wouldn't turn around. Smiling, she turned to follow Murphy as he called her name.
The lights were going down as Laura and Murphy returned, and Steele saw Laura turn only slightly as they passed, her hand moving in a vague salute. He watched them sit down again, saw Murphy make himself comfortable. Laura glanced around, and her eyes met Steele's.
He smiled back at her as the movie started. "Got ya," he murmured to himself. The way to Miss Laura Holt's heart was going to incredibly easy, he thought, turning his attention to the screen and the further adventures of Nick and Nora Charles.
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