Steeling a Dream:
Part 3: House of Steele (R)
Part 3: House of Steele (R)
Steeling a Dream:
Part 3: House of Steele
Part 3: House of Steele
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Steele Holting On
Chapter Twenty-Four: Answers
Wednesday, 7 December 1988 -- 36 weeks, 6 days
Laura nudged Remington out of bed. They took tea in the living room while watching the Janet
Hawkins’ morning news story. All in all, Laura found the story engaging and professional. In the
meantime, Siobhán pried herself out of bed to get ready for school.
The Steeles landed in Detective John Baylor’s office at ten-thirty. They’d worked with him in the past
and enjoyed a good rapport. After exchanging greetings, Remington held Laura’s chair before taking his
own.
“Mrs. Steele, no offense intended, but I haven’t taken my refresher course for childbirth, so don’t drop
this kid on my watch.”
She laughed. “I still have nearly a month to go; I think we’ll be all right.”
“Just making sure. So what brings you two here today? Normally, I get calls from you to come clean up
a mess or arrest someone.”
In a move that had long been second nature to the partners, Laura deferred to Remington to open the
conversation. He had a knack for establishing their position--in this case, the seriousness of the
situation.
“Detective Baylor, three weeks ago, I began receiving photos.” He handed over the first three
envelopes. “No note, no return address, no threatening calls. Just pictures. First of my daughter, then
Laura, then the three of us.”
Baylor slipped the photos out of each envelope in turn while the Steeles waited for him to digest the
information. “All right. Then what happened.”
Laura spoke up. “We set a trap using the media. If you caught Channel 3 this morning, then you'll
know I did a series of interviews with Janet Hawkins. We did it last week for three days while
Remington and another of our associates followed us under cover and took reconnaissance pictures of
the area. On Friday, we received this envelope of pictures.”
John looked over that too, with a frown on his face. “Have you received anything else?”
“No,” answered Laura. Then she gave him a sly grin. “But we know who is taking the pictures.”
Carefully, she laid out the file folders--explaining the deception Remington and Kaleb had played out--
with the series of photos. She placed the revealing ones on top. “Our culprit is a young woman named
Penny Descoine. I--we put her father in jail the first year the agency opened. When he got out, he came
back after us twice. The first time he tried to set up Mr. Steele to take the fall for a homicide. The
second time, he set up a series of traps and tried to kill us. He’s still in prison for that one.”
John listened intently the whole time. “So you think she’s retaliating?”
Remington spoke. “We don’t know. She tripped one of the traps on us the last time, which was four
years ago last February, so it appears she has little compunction about killing us either. There’s more.”
He went on to explain how Penny had come into the agency earlier that year. “Our best guess is that she
was doing a little spying of her own … to what end is up for speculation.”
“So what do you want to do?” the police detective asked.
Laura laced her fingers across her belly. “What do you suggest?”
“We can bring her in for questioning. If we determine she’s a credible threat through her own testimony,
we might be able to file charges for intent. At the very least, we can file a restraining order based on the
evidence you’ve presented. If she violates that, you’ll have grounds to press charges. Obviously, you
understand all this. You know you can’t confront her directly without causing additional problems.”
Laura nodded, and Remington merely assumed a neutral expression while John added, “But I will let you
sit behind the glass while we question her. We owe you that much. Ah, do you have the files from the
original three encounters with her father?”
Laura laid them on his desk. “We do. They should correspond to the ones here at the police station.”
“Will you be available today if we can pick her up for questioning?”
“Certainly,” Remington confirmed. “Unless, of course, Mrs. Steele decides we have more important
things to do.” He eyed her belly comically.
John chuckled as he wrote down Remington’s pager number. “Then let’s get the paperwork started.”
An hour later the judge had signed the orders, and two officers headed to Miss Descoine’s apartment to
deliver them.
In the meantime, Remington took Laura to lunch at a new fusion restaurant headed by one of his favorite
chefs. He took her hand to drop a kiss on her knuckles. “Now, no more talk about the case. Put your
feet up under the table and pretend to relax. I’d rather you not flunk your blood pressure test next week,
or I’ll be saddled with your irritation for another month.” He stroked her cheek with a thumb and
planted another kiss on her lips to show her he wasn’t trying to be hurtful
Consciously taking a deep breath, Laura took his advice and changed topics. “Let’s talk about Kaleb
Carter then.”
“Carter? What’s he done?”
“A better job than either of us could have hoped. He’s been here over two years already. He’ll have his
own license by the end of next summer.”
Remington raised his eyebrows. “I hadn’t realized. What do you have in mind?”
“I’d like to turn him loose to work cases on his own with only minimal supervision. By the time his
internship is up next summer, he’ll be used to taking full responsibility for his work.”
He pursed his lips and nodded. “Are you thinking of expanding again?”
Laura turned her hands up. “How do you feel about Kaleb’s abilities in the security business?”
“He still needs seasoning. He has the basics, but I’m still doing a great deal of fine-tuning. Carter’s best
assets are in the field and doing recovery work. What do you have in mind?”
“I agree. I’d like to find someone to work with you specifically on the security side of our agency.
Someone you can train on those finer aspects. Then I’d like to bring in an apprentice to shadow Sandra
and Kaleb while they do more of the standard investigative work of the agency.”
“Leaving you and me to … ?”
Laura mouth curved up on one side. “Train Interpol’s agents and cherry-pick which cases we take on. I
can’t pretend anymore that we’ll be available all the time to work whatever comes across our desk. The
two children in our house have to be our priority. I don’t see any problem with the security side of the
business, but I don’t think either of us wants to do that exclusively. If we have enough detectives to
cover the routine work, we can get involved in the tougher cases and the ones that need our particular
touch.”
“Isn’t this what you’d planned all along?” he reminded her.
“More or less.”
“No more concerns about not solving interesting cases?”
Laura rested her hand on her chin. “Some. But we’ll take it as it comes. For the next year, I’ll be doing
a great deal of case reviews and legwork from the office.”
He eyed her with suspicion. “What brought about this revelation?”
“I can either fight nature tooth and nail--making both of us miserable--or I can concede gracefully and on
my terms.” She scratched her jaw and gave him a hesitant smile.
“Sometimes, Laura, you do surprise the hell out of me.” He leaned over to touch his lips to her temple.
“Then I must still be doing something right.”
Despite having her current address, the police couldn’t locate Penny Descoine that day. With an uneasy
feeling in his spine, Remington cased her home after midnight.
Kaleb came along. Laura didn’t.
10 November 2009
Chapter Twenty-Five: Deception
Wednesday, 7 December 1988 -- 36 weeks, 6 days
Laura nudged Remington out of bed. They took tea in the living room while watching the Janet
Hawkins’ morning news story. All in all, Laura found the story engaging and professional. In the
meantime, Siobhán pried herself out of bed to get ready for school.
The Steeles landed in Detective John Baylor’s office at ten-thirty. They’d worked with him in the past
and enjoyed a good rapport. After exchanging greetings, Remington held Laura’s chair before taking his
own.
“Mrs. Steele, no offense intended, but I haven’t taken my refresher course for childbirth, so don’t drop
this kid on my watch.”
She laughed. “I still have nearly a month to go; I think we’ll be all right.”
“Just making sure. So what brings you two here today? Normally, I get calls from you to come clean up
a mess or arrest someone.”
In a move that had long been second nature to the partners, Laura deferred to Remington to open the
conversation. He had a knack for establishing their position--in this case, the seriousness of the
situation.
“Detective Baylor, three weeks ago, I began receiving photos.” He handed over the first three
envelopes. “No note, no return address, no threatening calls. Just pictures. First of my daughter, then
Laura, then the three of us.”
Baylor slipped the photos out of each envelope in turn while the Steeles waited for him to digest the
information. “All right. Then what happened.”
Laura spoke up. “We set a trap using the media. If you caught Channel 3 this morning, then you'll
know I did a series of interviews with Janet Hawkins. We did it last week for three days while
Remington and another of our associates followed us under cover and took reconnaissance pictures of
the area. On Friday, we received this envelope of pictures.”
John looked over that too, with a frown on his face. “Have you received anything else?”
“No,” answered Laura. Then she gave him a sly grin. “But we know who is taking the pictures.”
Carefully, she laid out the file folders--explaining the deception Remington and Kaleb had played out--
with the series of photos. She placed the revealing ones on top. “Our culprit is a young woman named
Penny Descoine. I--we put her father in jail the first year the agency opened. When he got out, he came
back after us twice. The first time he tried to set up Mr. Steele to take the fall for a homicide. The
second time, he set up a series of traps and tried to kill us. He’s still in prison for that one.”
John listened intently the whole time. “So you think she’s retaliating?”
Remington spoke. “We don’t know. She tripped one of the traps on us the last time, which was four
years ago last February, so it appears she has little compunction about killing us either. There’s more.”
He went on to explain how Penny had come into the agency earlier that year. “Our best guess is that she
was doing a little spying of her own … to what end is up for speculation.”
“So what do you want to do?” the police detective asked.
Laura laced her fingers across her belly. “What do you suggest?”
“We can bring her in for questioning. If we determine she’s a credible threat through her own testimony,
we might be able to file charges for intent. At the very least, we can file a restraining order based on the
evidence you’ve presented. If she violates that, you’ll have grounds to press charges. Obviously, you
understand all this. You know you can’t confront her directly without causing additional problems.”
Laura nodded, and Remington merely assumed a neutral expression while John added, “But I will let you
sit behind the glass while we question her. We owe you that much. Ah, do you have the files from the
original three encounters with her father?”
Laura laid them on his desk. “We do. They should correspond to the ones here at the police station.”
“Will you be available today if we can pick her up for questioning?”
“Certainly,” Remington confirmed. “Unless, of course, Mrs. Steele decides we have more important
things to do.” He eyed her belly comically.
John chuckled as he wrote down Remington’s pager number. “Then let’s get the paperwork started.”
An hour later the judge had signed the orders, and two officers headed to Miss Descoine’s apartment to
deliver them.
In the meantime, Remington took Laura to lunch at a new fusion restaurant headed by one of his favorite
chefs. He took her hand to drop a kiss on her knuckles. “Now, no more talk about the case. Put your
feet up under the table and pretend to relax. I’d rather you not flunk your blood pressure test next week,
or I’ll be saddled with your irritation for another month.” He stroked her cheek with a thumb and
planted another kiss on her lips to show her he wasn’t trying to be hurtful
Consciously taking a deep breath, Laura took his advice and changed topics. “Let’s talk about Kaleb
Carter then.”
“Carter? What’s he done?”
“A better job than either of us could have hoped. He’s been here over two years already. He’ll have his
own license by the end of next summer.”
Remington raised his eyebrows. “I hadn’t realized. What do you have in mind?”
“I’d like to turn him loose to work cases on his own with only minimal supervision. By the time his
internship is up next summer, he’ll be used to taking full responsibility for his work.”
He pursed his lips and nodded. “Are you thinking of expanding again?”
Laura turned her hands up. “How do you feel about Kaleb’s abilities in the security business?”
“He still needs seasoning. He has the basics, but I’m still doing a great deal of fine-tuning. Carter’s best
assets are in the field and doing recovery work. What do you have in mind?”
“I agree. I’d like to find someone to work with you specifically on the security side of our agency.
Someone you can train on those finer aspects. Then I’d like to bring in an apprentice to shadow Sandra
and Kaleb while they do more of the standard investigative work of the agency.”
“Leaving you and me to … ?”
Laura mouth curved up on one side. “Train Interpol’s agents and cherry-pick which cases we take on. I
can’t pretend anymore that we’ll be available all the time to work whatever comes across our desk. The
two children in our house have to be our priority. I don’t see any problem with the security side of the
business, but I don’t think either of us wants to do that exclusively. If we have enough detectives to
cover the routine work, we can get involved in the tougher cases and the ones that need our particular
touch.”
“Isn’t this what you’d planned all along?” he reminded her.
“More or less.”
“No more concerns about not solving interesting cases?”
Laura rested her hand on her chin. “Some. But we’ll take it as it comes. For the next year, I’ll be doing
a great deal of case reviews and legwork from the office.”
He eyed her with suspicion. “What brought about this revelation?”
“I can either fight nature tooth and nail--making both of us miserable--or I can concede gracefully and on
my terms.” She scratched her jaw and gave him a hesitant smile.
“Sometimes, Laura, you do surprise the hell out of me.” He leaned over to touch his lips to her temple.
“Then I must still be doing something right.”
Despite having her current address, the police couldn’t locate Penny Descoine that day. With an uneasy
feeling in his spine, Remington cased her home after midnight.
Kaleb came along. Laura didn’t.
10 November 2009
Chapter Twenty-Five: Deception