Steele a Kiss.
Steele opened the door for Bernice as she came in with the Chinese food she had been sent for. He let her and Murphy deal with the opening and distribution of the food, because their clothes could handle it. He was firmly convinced that Murphy's clothes could go through a nuclear attack and not be any the worse for it.
He went over to the desk, where Laura was standing, frowning with prettily crinkled brow, looking at the photographs of the main suspects, each paper-clipped to a page of notes.
"I suppose we could always tell him we don't know who took a shot at him and suggest some evasion techniques for the next time." he said.
She glared at him. "He's paying us a lot of money to be told to duck." she said.
"Any progress on the motive?" asked Bernice.
"He's a rich man." said Murphy, "Could be the business partner or the wife."
"You're really going for greed?" said Steele, "I thought you said he kissed his assistant."
"People kiss all the time." said Murphy, "It doesn't have to mean anything."
"Well, how did they kiss?" said Steele.
"Lip to lip, nothing extreme." said Murphy.
"Ever thought of writing romance?" said Bernice.
"A kiss is just a kiss." said Murphy.
"Au contraire, Mr Michaels," said Steele, "A kiss speaks volumes."
"Have I wandered into my sister's book club?" said Laura, "Our client was shot at."
"For example," said Steele, ignoring her, "A man who is just showing affection for a friend or valued colleague would kiss her like this." He put his arm around Laura's waist and gave her a brief kiss on the lips.
"Okay, fine. We can stop this now." said Murphy.
"Whereas, if there were something sleazy going on, he might go more for this kind of kiss." said Steele, before taking her fully into his arms and kissing her with a degree of intensity.
"Laura, are you just gonna let him keep kissing you like that?" said Murphy.
Laura looked at Murphy, then at Steele. "If he's making a valid point," she said, "I'll forgive him. If not, he's in big trouble."
Steele smiled at her. "I assure you, I am doing this for an excellent reason." He turned back to Murphy, "Now if it was more like this ... " He held her close, touched his lips to hers and then closed his eyes and kissed her long and tenderly, loving every moment of holding her in his arms and almost forgetting they were not alone. At Murphy's loud cough, he snapped out of it and said, "Then it's not just a fling, not ever just that."
Laura recovered quickly. "Well, Murphy?"
Murphy was looking at Steele with something close to pure hatred. "It was more like the third." he said.
"Then I suggest we look again at the assistant, the wife and the assistant's husband, boyfriend or admirers." said Laura, "It's looking like a crime of passion."
"Any minute." muttered Murphy, loud enough for Steele to hear.
Laura looked at Steele. "Of course, you could be wrong."
"Unlikely, though." he said.
"You make a great case for a love affair, but you've kissed me like that before."
He nodded.
"So maybe it's nothing of the kind."
"You seemed convinced a moment ago." he said.
"You're very convincing." she said.
"I know people." he said, "I know their motivations, their aspirations and I know fifteen thousand different kisses and what they say."
"I wish I could read them so well." she said, "Sometimes, people say things they don't mean."
"In his case, all the time." said Murphy.
Steele ignored Murphy and smiled at Laura. "Miss Holt, don't be so modest. You can read people like a book."
"Not all people." she said.
"Sometimes you need to curl up with a book and dive in." he said.
"And sometimes, you should just burn the book." said Murphy.
"You look hungry, Murphy, old mate." said Steele, "Do feel free to start without us."
The End.