Uncertainty.
"Do you ever hear him thinking?" said Murphy.
Laura put down her newspaper. "Him who?"
He nodded towards the door into Steele's office. "Him he, Ben Pearson who isn't Ben Pearson."
"You mean Mr Steele?" she said.
"I hear him all the time. It makes a kind of a scratching noise, and not a good kind of scratching noise - a troubling one, like rats."
She showed him the paper. "That face is making us money."
"And what's he getting out of it? You think he just likes seeing his picture in the paper?"
She smiled. She thought there probably was an element of that. "He does seem fond of adulation." she said.
"He crossed continents to find those gems and then he just lets them go? Don't you ever ask yourself why?"
She did, all the time, in so many different ways with so many different hopes and fears dangling from the question. "Maybe he got tired." she said, "And this is a good place to get some rest. You can't deny, he's getting lots of rest."
"And the day he's all rested up and suddenly doesn't want to be Remington Steele anymore?" said Murphy.
"If there's one thing he's an expert in, it's moving on without repercussions." she said.
"To him, maybe. I don't think he cares about the agency."
"He's made a gentleman's agreement." she said, wondering as she did why she was defending him quite so strongly.
"That would reassure me if either of the parties were a gentleman." he said.
"Right now, it's working, isn't it?" said Laura, "For now, the agreement holds and he's doing a very good job of pretending to be Remington Steele. He's suave, he's good-looking, he charms the clients ... "
"Just the clients?" said Murphy frowning.
She laughed, a little too fast, she thought. "You're forgetting, I know what he is."
"I don't think I'm the only one who forgets that." he said.
She looked at the door. Behind it, they had temporarily housed a wild creature, whose nature was not to remain as a pet, nor to work for a master. She didn't know how much of her interest in him was curiosity for his hidden past and how much was desire to be part of his future, but she told herself daily that there was no future with him. He was Steele until he decided not to be and he would not miss her when he left. The acknowledgement of that felt like it was turning into a daily mantra, but he was fascinating and he was rare and he was different to every other man she knew and he was dangerous and he could snatch her breath away with a glance and yet she knew that she could not depend on him.
"Laura, he's married."
She felt like she had dropped from a great height. She closed her eyes for a moment, then regained her composure and opened them. "What?" she said, "You found out who he is?"
He shook his head. "Sorry, Partner. I just needed to know. I needed to see how you'd react to that."
"How did you expect me to react? I've been trying everything to find out who he is."
"Just burning curiosity?" he said, "Because for a moment you looked ... "
"Yes?" she said.
"Confused, a little lost."
"My boss is a figment of my imagination." she said. She opened the drawer of her desk. "And he keeps stealing my cookies. That's enough to confuse anyone."
Murphy grinned, "You fed the stray and now we're stuck with him."
The End.