Disclaimer:

Remington Steele and its characters are owned by MTM. No copyright infringement intended. For entertainment purposes only.

Set after Season 4. Season 5 doesn't exist in my universe.

Prologue:

Monday morning at the Remington Steele Investigations Agency was always a pretty expectable day. This Monday morning, however, wasn't going to strike the average. Just when she was getting the coffee maker ready to start, the phone rang.

As Mildred never liked to start the week in a hurry, she got herself used to arrive earlier than business time on Mondays giving herself some spare time to check on unusual matters from unexpectedly busy weekends and to get everything in place, ready to her bosses' arrival. Before having the chance to turn on the brewing machine, the phone rang. She reluctantly left the supply room and walked to the reception area, "Remington Steele Investigations…"

The voice on the other side of the line sounded definitely serious, "Good Morning. I need to talk to Remington Steele."

"Mr. Steele hasn't arrived at the office yet. Who is it? Can I take a message for him?"

She heard some voices in the background, suddenly followed by a silence, "It's okay, Madam. Just tell him to come to the Police Station as soon as possible. We need his signature on some papers. Thank you." The line went dead, and the call was over before Mildred could ask anything.

She returned the receiver to the cradle but remained standing beside her desk, thinking about the unusual call for a while. They were not supposed to be working on any case that would lead them to the Police Station. Miss Holt didn't ask her to do any research, and no cases were pending to be solved at the moment. Today was supposed to be a quiet Monday Morning. And as the police officer asked for Mr. Steele, the call couldn't be related to Laura's family involved in an accident, Mildred deduced. She returned to the supply room. She would have to wait for her bosses' arrival to solve the riddle.

Chapter 1

Laura Holt walked noticeably furious through the Police Station's corridors looking desperate to get out of there; Mr. Steele following her suit.

"I can believe it took you three hours…"

"It didn't take me three hours, Laura. I came as soon as Mildred told me once I arrived at the office."

"Why can't you get up at an early time as any normal people? I've told you a million times you have to be at the office earlier, just in case some serious matter suddenly arises."

"I don't think this matter qualifies as serious as you are implying, Laura. The Police officer wrote you a ticket. Any mature person would have received the ticket, folded it and stored it inside the glove compartment. Mildred would take care of it in due time. What's the big deal?"

She stopped unexpectedly, Mr. Steele almost crashing into her. "What's the big deal? I've never been given a ticket in my life! I wasn't doing anything wrong!" She turned again and followed with her hurried pace.

"Well, we can hardly say raising your voice and threaten a Police Officer could be stated as anything wrong, can we?"

"I admit I could have been out of my usual calmed behavior Mr. Steele, but that doesn't allow him to arrest me! He accused me with no proof of driving at a dangerously fast speed. He didn't show me his badge when I asked him to do it. He ordered me to get out of the car and handcuffed me in the middle of Hollywood Boulevard first thing in the morning. I've never been treated like this in my entire life… It's humiliating! And as if all that wasn't enough, he set a record, Mr. Steele! I have a Police Record on my name because of him!"

At least this time the Police officer was the guilty one, and he was spared the accusation, he thought. He then tried to add some lightness to the matter, "Perhaps you do not appreciate the positive side of the whole situation, Laura. We are lucky it's your name on the Police Record. At least it's not mine, the one that's on the agency's doors…"

She interrupted him, "Would you mind shutting up? I have a headache."

He raised his hands in surrender and ran his right fingers over his mouth assuring her with his gesture that it would remain closed for the time being. He wanted to have the facts set straight, even with Laura not exactly looking at him, still walking a couple of steps ahead.

They were leaving the Police Station when she turned around and asked him, "Where's Fred?"

"Fred drove me here, and I asked him to leave. Weren't you driving the Rabbit?"

"The Rabbit is impounded. The Police found a duffel bag with some suspicious material sleeping inside the trunk. There were some lock picking tools, lanterns, ropes, black masks –all totally innocent things for a plain woman driving a plain white car, don't you think? I guess you didn't take our stakeout material out of the car as I asked you to do on Thursday, didn't you Mr. Steele?"

"I guess I forgot it, Laura. We got home at 4:00 am and were completely exhausted. I was going to do it, eventually…"

"Well Mr. Steele, guess who will be eventually talking with the Judge to put the impound order off?" She started to walk ahead alone looking for a cab, leaving him standing there without a smart response to give her.

It was going to be just an ugly Monday morning…