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-Five: Deception
Thursday, 8 December 1988 -- 37 weeks, 0 days
“What do you mean you didn’t go in?” Laura’s jaw dropped. She’d never known Rei not to be
perfectly at ease slipping inside any building.
“Bad feeling, instinct--call it whatever you prefer.” He gestured in frustration as he paced in their
bedroom while he stripped off his black clothing. “You said it yourself: she’s probably booby-trapped
her whole bloody house.”
Laura made herself think about what he wasn’t saying. “If she’s been spying on us, she might know
about our penchant for midnight surveillance,” she mused.
He nodded. “I think she’s waiting for us.”
“She couldn’t have known we’d identified her last week.”
“Descoine couldn’t have known we would escape from all of his traps, but he still had the poison waiting
on the envelope in the end. As far as she knows, we might have identified her via the case Sandra took
on,” Remington reminded her.
Laura paced the bedroom while her husband took a three-minute shower.
When he returned wearing only his black silk dressing gown, she commented, “Tomorrow morning, I’ll
find out how much contact she’s had with her dad. The prison will have records; if I can’t see them,
Detective Baylor can. I’ll have Mildred do another search for any other properties she or the Major
might own.”
Remington nodded. “Aye. That’s a place to start anyway.” He dropped his robe to the foot of the bed
and tugged Laura down with him as he sat. “Put the case away, love.”
She wanted to argue but masterfully suppressed the urge. She dropped her own robe on top of his and
crawled under the covers as Remington slid in behind her.
The baby, waking now that she’d stopped walking, began a gymnastics series that served to annoy her
rather than fill her with delight. As frustrated as she was by the lack of clues, even Remington’s arms
couldn’t bring Laura comfort.
She woke to the alarm in the same foul mood she’d had as she fell asleep. The baby had awakened her
periodically throughout the night. Pressing the snooze button, she lay motionless for a moment before
ponderously shoving against the bed to sit. Remington had his head buried under a pillow, snoring lightly.
Lumbering into the shower, Laura winced as the baby rolled around, alternately poking out feet and
hands. Afterward, she found Siobhán in the kitchen, cramming her books into her backpack as she
readied for school.
Siobhán must have noticed her mom’s taciturn mood. “You okay?”
Laura nodded. “Didn’t sleep well. Baby was up most of the night.”
The teen wrinkled her nose and gave her a quick hug. “Not too much longer, anyway.”
“I hope not,” Laura sighed. “Are you ready?”
“Sure.”
Narrowing her eyes thoughtfully in the elevator, she gave her daughter a questioning look. “What’s
wrong, Shiv?”
The girl wrinkled her nose. “My recital. I want to be ready. I missed a lot of practice time while Da and
I were gone.”
“You’ll do beautifully. What you played last night sounded very good. You have tonight to run through
it again.”
“I do.” With a nervous glance, she asked, “Will you sit with me while I practice?”
“Of course.” Laura caught Siobhán around the shoulders in a hug as they walked to the car.
By the time she made it to the office, Laura's mood had deteriorated significantly. She dropped her
briefcase on her desk and yanked out the files. For a solid hour, she scrutinized every photo, every note
she had made, and any clue she might glean from the old Major Descoine cases.
At nine, she called John Baylor. “Detective? Can you pull the visitor’s records for Percy Descoine? … I
want to see if Penny’s been visiting her dad.” Laura idly noted the arrival of most of the agency staff
during the conversation. Absurdly annoyed at Remington’s absence, she tapped her pen in irritation
while she waited for the police detective to come back on the line.
“Mrs. Steele, Penny’s been a regular since June. Hmm. I wonder why she didn’t visit him before that?”
“I don’t know. But I think we’ll pay the Major a visit soon.”
“Mrs. Steele, please be careful. I can’t tell you not to go, but I advise against it.”
“I understand, Detective.” Thinking rapidly, she asked, “Why don’t you go with me? We’ll be able to
get in and see Descoine within a day or two that way.”
“What do you expect to get out of this, Mrs. Steele?”
“If he cares for his daughter, he might be interested in seeing she doesn’t end up incarcerated as well.
He’s had a few years to cool off.”
“Didn’t seem to help last time.”
“True, but at the moment, we don’t have many other leads.”
“All right. I’ll set up the arrangements and call you back.”
Laura filled in Mildred on her conversation with the police detective and posed his question to her. “Why
has Penny suddenly started visiting since June, Mildred. Why didn’t she visit him before that?”
“I can answer that now,” Mildred replied. “Penny Key's been under state supervision until she graduated
from high school in 1986. She was prohibited from seeing her father until she turned twenty-one.”
“Supervision? How old is she?”
“She turned twenty-one in June.”
“Good heavens. That meant she was only sixteen when we saw her last. She looked older.”
“It’s an impressionable age,” Mildred commented.
Laura drew her brows together. “How did you get information out of CFSD?” she asked, referring to the
Children and Family Services Division governing the foster care program in California.
“I have a friend who owes me a favor or two. She wouldn’t give me much, just that Miss Descoine
participated in the program and the tidbit about her not being allowed to see the Major. She wouldn’t
give me the names of her guardians.”
“They might have been a good source of information. So, she’s on her own now. Perhaps at loose ends
and sees us as a handy target.” She tapped her pencil again. “Do you think she’s enrolled at any of the
local colleges? She might be living nearby or on campus.”
“Now that I know how to look for her, I’ll know before the day is out.”
With a handful of leads, Laura’s mood improved. John called her back to say an appointment had been
made for Friday at eleven.
Rising from her desk, Laura waddled into Mildred’s office, sitting heavily in the visitor’s chair. “May I
ask a favor?”
“Ask away.”
“Detective Baylor has an appointment for us to see Descoine tomorrow at eleven. We’ll have to leave
Los Angeles around five-thirty in the morning to get to Lompac with morning traffic. Would you take
Siobhán to school? I know Fred could take her, but I’m not comfortable with that just now.”
“Spoken like a true parent. Of course, I’ll take her. I’ll pick her up too if you don’t get back in time.
Doesn’t she have her piano recital tomorrow night? I’m not missing that.”
“Yes--at seven. We need to be back tomorrow afternoon. She’s already nervous. I’m sure she won’t
be hungry before the performance; do you want to join us for dinner afterward?”
“I’d like that. Did you know the Dragon Ladies are coming to see her play too?”
Laura’s face lit up. “Siobhán’s going to love that. They can join us afterward if they’d like.”
“Sounds like fun, Mrs. Steele. Now--” Mildred cocked her head, eyeing Laura as the younger woman
hesitated to rise. “What else is on your mind?”
Changing positions to find a comfortable one, Laura idly scratched her cheek. “Oh, just some ideas
about staffing in the coming year.”
Mildred’s eyebrows rose substantially. “Shoot, boss. Don’t keep me in suspense.”
Laura gave her the outline of ideas about bringing on two new interns along with the Interpol trainee.
“I like that, Mrs. Steele.”
“What about you, Mildred? You, Sandra and Ian seem to have things under control.”
“We do at the moment, but we’re still gaining business. I’m spending half my week crunching numbers
and the other half testifying in court. It’s all good, but I occasionally get a backlog of clients. So far,
nobody’s had a problem, but--” She shrugged.
“Then perhaps we should see about bringing in another CPA as well to assist you.”
“Careful, Mrs. Steele, you’ll inflate my ego. Any bigger and it might rival Mr. Steele’s.” Mildred’s face
reddened in delight.
Laura rested her arm on the chair and put her cheek on her knuckles. “You won’t be thanking me when
we have to expand this office again. We have only one more empty room. I don’t know how to
shoehorn four more people in here.”
In answer, Mildred buzzed Ian, Sandra and Kaleb. “We have a suggestion for you,” she told Laura.
Sandra wore her usual hot pink and sat gracefully on Mildred’s other extra chair while the two men
crowded the doorway. “We’re talking expansion ideas, kids.” She gave a quick rundown of Laura’s
thoughts, then added, “Sandra, tell Mrs. Steele your thoughts.”
Laura leaned back, eager to hear what her employee had to say. “I didn’t realize you had been discussing
it.”
Sandra crossed her legs, draping her arms on top. “It’s inevitable with all the business we’re getting these
days. The way I see it, a good detective is only in the office when business is slow or for a couple of
hours during the day. Frankly, our offices are big enough to double up. Either Kaleb and I can share or
we can each take one of the newbies. I think it’s best if we split them up. We can stick the Interpol kid
in the reception area with Ian.”
“Which leaves the CPA with his or her own office since he or she will be here most of the time,” Laura
mused. “What if you have to meet with a client?”
Sandra turned up a hand. “Mrs. Steele, you or Mildred generally meet with the clients. Kaleb and I
usually use the seating area in Mr. Steele’s office if we don’t go to the client’s home or business. Like
the rest of us, he’s not here most of the time anyway, and it gives us more legitimacy to be in his office
since his name is on the door.”
Laura chuckled at that. “True. I’ve done that since the agency opened.” Tickled by the turn of events,
she commented, “If necessary, Mr. Steele can work out of my office. For the foreseeable future, I
imagine one of us will be occupied at any given time.” Mildred chuckled as her employer continued, “If
all of you don’t mind sharing, I think we have a working plan. We’ll keep things as they are until I get
back from leave; then we’ll work on hiring interns.”
Shifting her attention to Kaleb, she said with pride, “As of now, I want you to work as if you have a full-
fledged license. Feel free to pursue leads on your own without Sandra or one of us. I’ll be asking a great
many questions on a daily basis, but you’ve more than proven yourself. Just don’t forget I still have to
sign off on everything you do, and I don’t sign anything I don’t understand.”
The young man flashed a triumphant smile. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Good Lord,” Remington said from behind the two men. “One would think it’s time for tea around
here.” Ian and Kaleb eased into Mildred’s office so he could poke his head in.
Laura glanced at her watch. “Lunchtime, anyway. Since we’ve determined the direction of the agency
in your absence, Mr. Steele, why don’t we take the staff to lunch since they’ll be covering for us in a few
weeks?”
“Ah, who’s paying the check on this one, Mrs. Steele?”
“You are, Mr. Steele.”
“Ah, excellent then. We’ll take everyone for tacos at the vendor downstairs.”
By the time the agency reopened after lunch, Laura’s energy had flagged visibly, and she disappeared
into her office with a weary sigh. After sorting through messages while bringing Ian up to date on the
status of the museum case, Remington found her lying on her divan with the office lights off, eyes closed
and her shoes carelessly dropped onto the floor.
He leaned against the doorframe leading to his own office with his hands in his pockets as he watched her
sleep. Thinking the feeling should have passed by now, Remington still experienced a little sizzle every
time he thought of Laura as “his wife.” Now, even his casual acquaintances found it necessary to
comment on his ridiculous grin every time the subject of her pregnancy came up.
They had certainly come a long way. Only a year ago, he couldn’t imagine Laura stopping her work long
enough to take care of herself. Finding ways to make her relax provided a constant source of amusement
for him.
His smile fell away. They’d had precious few moments this year to play. With all that had occurred in
April and Siobhán’s subsequent arrival, Remington found himself dealing with emotions, responsibilities
and family connections in a way he’d never anticipated.
Despite Laura’s independent spirit, he’d discovered how much she needed him. Dozens of times in the
past few months, she’d faltered as she dealt with pregnancy, trauma and now their stalker. But she’d
reached out to him in subtle ways, leaning on him so lightly that if he hadn’t been utterly attuned to every
nuance of her personality, he would have missed it.
He'd been shocked to discover, after all these years, that Laura didn't merely enjoy his company but
depended on it when push came to shove. The revelation shouldn’t have been one--after all, that
reliance formed the foundation of a good partnership. Professionally, he hadn't questioned it. But, given
his precious little experience with relationships, Remington hadn’t known it could translate to their
personal lives.
The discovery sat uncomfortably on his shoulders. The price of failure wasn’t merely a lost gem or
unsolved case. No, it was much, much higher.
“Mr. Steele?” Ian called from his open door. He slipped out of Laura’s office, closing her door quietly
behind him.
“Aye, what is it?”
The secretary looked abashed as he held up a large envelope. “Mail just came. We got another one.”
11 November 2009
Chapter Twenty-Six: Command Performance
Thursday, 8 December 1988 -- 37 weeks, 0 days
“What do you mean you didn’t go in?” Laura’s jaw dropped. She’d never known Rei not to be
perfectly at ease slipping inside any building.
“Bad feeling, instinct--call it whatever you prefer.” He gestured in frustration as he paced in their
bedroom while he stripped off his black clothing. “You said it yourself: she’s probably booby-trapped
her whole bloody house.”
Laura made herself think about what he wasn’t saying. “If she’s been spying on us, she might know
about our penchant for midnight surveillance,” she mused.
He nodded. “I think she’s waiting for us.”
“She couldn’t have known we’d identified her last week.”
“Descoine couldn’t have known we would escape from all of his traps, but he still had the poison waiting
on the envelope in the end. As far as she knows, we might have identified her via the case Sandra took
on,” Remington reminded her.
Laura paced the bedroom while her husband took a three-minute shower.
When he returned wearing only his black silk dressing gown, she commented, “Tomorrow morning, I’ll
find out how much contact she’s had with her dad. The prison will have records; if I can’t see them,
Detective Baylor can. I’ll have Mildred do another search for any other properties she or the Major
might own.”
Remington nodded. “Aye. That’s a place to start anyway.” He dropped his robe to the foot of the bed
and tugged Laura down with him as he sat. “Put the case away, love.”
She wanted to argue but masterfully suppressed the urge. She dropped her own robe on top of his and
crawled under the covers as Remington slid in behind her.
The baby, waking now that she’d stopped walking, began a gymnastics series that served to annoy her
rather than fill her with delight. As frustrated as she was by the lack of clues, even Remington’s arms
couldn’t bring Laura comfort.
She woke to the alarm in the same foul mood she’d had as she fell asleep. The baby had awakened her
periodically throughout the night. Pressing the snooze button, she lay motionless for a moment before
ponderously shoving against the bed to sit. Remington had his head buried under a pillow, snoring lightly.
Lumbering into the shower, Laura winced as the baby rolled around, alternately poking out feet and
hands. Afterward, she found Siobhán in the kitchen, cramming her books into her backpack as she
readied for school.
Siobhán must have noticed her mom’s taciturn mood. “You okay?”
Laura nodded. “Didn’t sleep well. Baby was up most of the night.”
The teen wrinkled her nose and gave her a quick hug. “Not too much longer, anyway.”
“I hope not,” Laura sighed. “Are you ready?”
“Sure.”
Narrowing her eyes thoughtfully in the elevator, she gave her daughter a questioning look. “What’s
wrong, Shiv?”
The girl wrinkled her nose. “My recital. I want to be ready. I missed a lot of practice time while Da and
I were gone.”
“You’ll do beautifully. What you played last night sounded very good. You have tonight to run through
it again.”
“I do.” With a nervous glance, she asked, “Will you sit with me while I practice?”
“Of course.” Laura caught Siobhán around the shoulders in a hug as they walked to the car.
By the time she made it to the office, Laura's mood had deteriorated significantly. She dropped her
briefcase on her desk and yanked out the files. For a solid hour, she scrutinized every photo, every note
she had made, and any clue she might glean from the old Major Descoine cases.
At nine, she called John Baylor. “Detective? Can you pull the visitor’s records for Percy Descoine? … I
want to see if Penny’s been visiting her dad.” Laura idly noted the arrival of most of the agency staff
during the conversation. Absurdly annoyed at Remington’s absence, she tapped her pen in irritation
while she waited for the police detective to come back on the line.
“Mrs. Steele, Penny’s been a regular since June. Hmm. I wonder why she didn’t visit him before that?”
“I don’t know. But I think we’ll pay the Major a visit soon.”
“Mrs. Steele, please be careful. I can’t tell you not to go, but I advise against it.”
“I understand, Detective.” Thinking rapidly, she asked, “Why don’t you go with me? We’ll be able to
get in and see Descoine within a day or two that way.”
“What do you expect to get out of this, Mrs. Steele?”
“If he cares for his daughter, he might be interested in seeing she doesn’t end up incarcerated as well.
He’s had a few years to cool off.”
“Didn’t seem to help last time.”
“True, but at the moment, we don’t have many other leads.”
“All right. I’ll set up the arrangements and call you back.”
Laura filled in Mildred on her conversation with the police detective and posed his question to her. “Why
has Penny suddenly started visiting since June, Mildred. Why didn’t she visit him before that?”
“I can answer that now,” Mildred replied. “Penny Key's been under state supervision until she graduated
from high school in 1986. She was prohibited from seeing her father until she turned twenty-one.”
“Supervision? How old is she?”
“She turned twenty-one in June.”
“Good heavens. That meant she was only sixteen when we saw her last. She looked older.”
“It’s an impressionable age,” Mildred commented.
Laura drew her brows together. “How did you get information out of CFSD?” she asked, referring to the
Children and Family Services Division governing the foster care program in California.
“I have a friend who owes me a favor or two. She wouldn’t give me much, just that Miss Descoine
participated in the program and the tidbit about her not being allowed to see the Major. She wouldn’t
give me the names of her guardians.”
“They might have been a good source of information. So, she’s on her own now. Perhaps at loose ends
and sees us as a handy target.” She tapped her pencil again. “Do you think she’s enrolled at any of the
local colleges? She might be living nearby or on campus.”
“Now that I know how to look for her, I’ll know before the day is out.”
With a handful of leads, Laura’s mood improved. John called her back to say an appointment had been
made for Friday at eleven.
Rising from her desk, Laura waddled into Mildred’s office, sitting heavily in the visitor’s chair. “May I
ask a favor?”
“Ask away.”
“Detective Baylor has an appointment for us to see Descoine tomorrow at eleven. We’ll have to leave
Los Angeles around five-thirty in the morning to get to Lompac with morning traffic. Would you take
Siobhán to school? I know Fred could take her, but I’m not comfortable with that just now.”
“Spoken like a true parent. Of course, I’ll take her. I’ll pick her up too if you don’t get back in time.
Doesn’t she have her piano recital tomorrow night? I’m not missing that.”
“Yes--at seven. We need to be back tomorrow afternoon. She’s already nervous. I’m sure she won’t
be hungry before the performance; do you want to join us for dinner afterward?”
“I’d like that. Did you know the Dragon Ladies are coming to see her play too?”
Laura’s face lit up. “Siobhán’s going to love that. They can join us afterward if they’d like.”
“Sounds like fun, Mrs. Steele. Now--” Mildred cocked her head, eyeing Laura as the younger woman
hesitated to rise. “What else is on your mind?”
Changing positions to find a comfortable one, Laura idly scratched her cheek. “Oh, just some ideas
about staffing in the coming year.”
Mildred’s eyebrows rose substantially. “Shoot, boss. Don’t keep me in suspense.”
Laura gave her the outline of ideas about bringing on two new interns along with the Interpol trainee.
“I like that, Mrs. Steele.”
“What about you, Mildred? You, Sandra and Ian seem to have things under control.”
“We do at the moment, but we’re still gaining business. I’m spending half my week crunching numbers
and the other half testifying in court. It’s all good, but I occasionally get a backlog of clients. So far,
nobody’s had a problem, but--” She shrugged.
“Then perhaps we should see about bringing in another CPA as well to assist you.”
“Careful, Mrs. Steele, you’ll inflate my ego. Any bigger and it might rival Mr. Steele’s.” Mildred’s face
reddened in delight.
Laura rested her arm on the chair and put her cheek on her knuckles. “You won’t be thanking me when
we have to expand this office again. We have only one more empty room. I don’t know how to
shoehorn four more people in here.”
In answer, Mildred buzzed Ian, Sandra and Kaleb. “We have a suggestion for you,” she told Laura.
Sandra wore her usual hot pink and sat gracefully on Mildred’s other extra chair while the two men
crowded the doorway. “We’re talking expansion ideas, kids.” She gave a quick rundown of Laura’s
thoughts, then added, “Sandra, tell Mrs. Steele your thoughts.”
Laura leaned back, eager to hear what her employee had to say. “I didn’t realize you had been discussing
it.”
Sandra crossed her legs, draping her arms on top. “It’s inevitable with all the business we’re getting these
days. The way I see it, a good detective is only in the office when business is slow or for a couple of
hours during the day. Frankly, our offices are big enough to double up. Either Kaleb and I can share or
we can each take one of the newbies. I think it’s best if we split them up. We can stick the Interpol kid
in the reception area with Ian.”
“Which leaves the CPA with his or her own office since he or she will be here most of the time,” Laura
mused. “What if you have to meet with a client?”
Sandra turned up a hand. “Mrs. Steele, you or Mildred generally meet with the clients. Kaleb and I
usually use the seating area in Mr. Steele’s office if we don’t go to the client’s home or business. Like
the rest of us, he’s not here most of the time anyway, and it gives us more legitimacy to be in his office
since his name is on the door.”
Laura chuckled at that. “True. I’ve done that since the agency opened.” Tickled by the turn of events,
she commented, “If necessary, Mr. Steele can work out of my office. For the foreseeable future, I
imagine one of us will be occupied at any given time.” Mildred chuckled as her employer continued, “If
all of you don’t mind sharing, I think we have a working plan. We’ll keep things as they are until I get
back from leave; then we’ll work on hiring interns.”
Shifting her attention to Kaleb, she said with pride, “As of now, I want you to work as if you have a full-
fledged license. Feel free to pursue leads on your own without Sandra or one of us. I’ll be asking a great
many questions on a daily basis, but you’ve more than proven yourself. Just don’t forget I still have to
sign off on everything you do, and I don’t sign anything I don’t understand.”
The young man flashed a triumphant smile. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Good Lord,” Remington said from behind the two men. “One would think it’s time for tea around
here.” Ian and Kaleb eased into Mildred’s office so he could poke his head in.
Laura glanced at her watch. “Lunchtime, anyway. Since we’ve determined the direction of the agency
in your absence, Mr. Steele, why don’t we take the staff to lunch since they’ll be covering for us in a few
weeks?”
“Ah, who’s paying the check on this one, Mrs. Steele?”
“You are, Mr. Steele.”
“Ah, excellent then. We’ll take everyone for tacos at the vendor downstairs.”
By the time the agency reopened after lunch, Laura’s energy had flagged visibly, and she disappeared
into her office with a weary sigh. After sorting through messages while bringing Ian up to date on the
status of the museum case, Remington found her lying on her divan with the office lights off, eyes closed
and her shoes carelessly dropped onto the floor.
He leaned against the doorframe leading to his own office with his hands in his pockets as he watched her
sleep. Thinking the feeling should have passed by now, Remington still experienced a little sizzle every
time he thought of Laura as “his wife.” Now, even his casual acquaintances found it necessary to
comment on his ridiculous grin every time the subject of her pregnancy came up.
They had certainly come a long way. Only a year ago, he couldn’t imagine Laura stopping her work long
enough to take care of herself. Finding ways to make her relax provided a constant source of amusement
for him.
His smile fell away. They’d had precious few moments this year to play. With all that had occurred in
April and Siobhán’s subsequent arrival, Remington found himself dealing with emotions, responsibilities
and family connections in a way he’d never anticipated.
Despite Laura’s independent spirit, he’d discovered how much she needed him. Dozens of times in the
past few months, she’d faltered as she dealt with pregnancy, trauma and now their stalker. But she’d
reached out to him in subtle ways, leaning on him so lightly that if he hadn’t been utterly attuned to every
nuance of her personality, he would have missed it.
He'd been shocked to discover, after all these years, that Laura didn't merely enjoy his company but
depended on it when push came to shove. The revelation shouldn’t have been one--after all, that
reliance formed the foundation of a good partnership. Professionally, he hadn't questioned it. But, given
his precious little experience with relationships, Remington hadn’t known it could translate to their
personal lives.
The discovery sat uncomfortably on his shoulders. The price of failure wasn’t merely a lost gem or
unsolved case. No, it was much, much higher.
“Mr. Steele?” Ian called from his open door. He slipped out of Laura’s office, closing her door quietly
behind him.
“Aye, what is it?”
The secretary looked abashed as he held up a large envelope. “Mail just came. We got another one.”
11 November 2009
Chapter Twenty-Six: Command Performance