Chapter 36
What seemed like an eternity to Laura was actually only a few seconds, but much to her relief, a hand finally reached out of the closet holding out a sleek aluminum briefcase attaché for her to take. "Oh!" Laura exclaimed, taking it from him and calling out, "This looks like just what we were looking for!"
Remington was not far behind, wiggling his body back out of the closet, the flashlight key fob still between his teeth. When he sat up, he quickly removed it, spluttering, "You know, this really is an ingenious idea for a keychain." he said, admiring it as he held it up. Laura, holding the briefcase with one hand, helped Remington up with the other.
When he had stood up and brushed as much of the dust off his clothes as possible, he followed Laura back to the settee, where they sat once again, the briefcase laying on the coffee table ahead of them.
Remington immediately set about examining the case carefully. Laura looked back and forth between Remington and the case expectantly, "Well, go ahead. Open it!" she said. He raised an eyebrow at her in response, and replied incredulously, "Laura! A man could meet with some unpleasant consequences in cases such as these!"
"Cases or...cases?" Laura said, pointing first at the briefcase and then rolling her wrist to indicate the circumstances in which they found themselves practically on a daily basis. "Might I remind you, Laura, of a case very much like this one that I, myself, rigged to deliver a thousand volts of DC current should it have been tampered with?!" He glared at her, his eyebrows arched, "Where do you think I got the idea?"
Laura stood up, her hands on her hips, "Do you mean to tell me that a consummate thief such as yourself has met his match by his own methodology?"
"Patience, Laura,..." Laura threw her hands in the air, circling irritably, and returned to stand next to him again. "...that's all I've ever asked!" Remington continued. Laura pouted, crossing her arms in front of her. Remington dismissed her petulance and, with a slight toss of his head, added, "That, and a new suit every now and again."
Laura looked, noticing amusement pulling at his eyes and mouth, and checked herself. She released her arms and placed a hand on his shoulder, saying, "I'm sorry, Mr. Steele. I just want to see you get some answers."
Remington placed his hand over hers and, taking it in both of his, he kissed it and replied, "Ah Laura, I do so love your passionate temper..." and, as a thought occurred to him he added, his eyes raised from her hands, "...mostly because I know where else that passion can be put to good use." And with a wink and a grin, he returned his attention to the case, his eyebrows furrowing.
Dismissing his comment with a bashful shake of her head, Laura sat down and asked, "So what's your plan, Mr. Steele?".
"Well, I'm not sure what Daniel had in mind with this. There are an infinite number of combinations we could try to open this…." he said slowly.
"And I have faith in you, Mr. Steele, that you'll be able to figure it out," Laura said, rubbing his shoulder. "There must be some clue… something you've done with Daniel, that would solve this puzzle."
Combing his hands through his hair, his elbows resting on his knees, he tried to think of anything of significance that would give him a clue to the combination lock of the case, but he was coming up blank. "I'm sorry, Laura, I just can't think of anything significant that would fit into 3 or 6 digits."
"Is there anything on the case maybe?" Laura asked. Lifting it up, she turned it over in her hands looking closely. Seeing what appeared to be scratches on the bottom, she looked closer. "Here… what is that? It looks like… letters… hidden in the scratches."
Taking the case from her, Remington took the flashlight and focused the light on the scratches, trying to see what she saw. Examining them carefully, he pushed the case away in disgust. "It reads Daniel. Not helpful in any way! We need numbers, not letters."
Laura frowned, deflated, but brightened anew, "That's it!" Laura exclaimed. "Well done, Mr. Steele." She picked up the telephone and was staring at the buttons, a very confused Remington watching her.
"Um, Laura, what exactly did I do?" he asked.
"You said you need numbers...Daniel… six letters… it makes sense doesn't it? Worth a try, wouldn't you say?" she suggested.
Remington sat up straight, saying, "So you're suggesting we take the six letters from Daniel's name….and, using the telephone, we convert the letters to numbers and test those?"
"Precisely, Mr. Steele. So try this….3-2-6... 4-3-5," Laura stated, glancing at the phone then back at him as he rotated the dials. Repeating the numbers again, she hung the phone up as he finished lining up the digits.
"Here goes nothing," Remington said as he closed his eyes and pushed outward on the locks, emitting a gasp of satisfaction when he was rewarded with a click as the locks disengaged and the latches popped open. The initial elation of success fading all too quickly, he looked furtively at Laura and back at the case, placing it back down on the table, as if it had indeed shocked him, feeling more than a little hesitant to open it.
"Aren't you going to do the honors, Mr. Steele?" Laura asked, surprised at his hesitation.
Swiping his mouth with one hand, Remington turned to face Laura, saying, "Laura, whatever is in that case…. I don't want it to come between us. If Daniel wants me to finish something for him… well, I'm telling you now… My past may have included Daniel but my future is with you."
Laura's eyes warmed and she leaned forward and kissed his cheek lightly before replying, "I know, now open the case, Rem."
Remington lifted the lid slowly, peering at the contents. The first items that caught his attention were two white envelopes, with "Harry" and "Laura" scrawled across the front in Daniel's sweeping handwriting. Lifting the envelopes out, he handed them to Laura as he began to examine the rest of the contents. He found several more large brown envelopes, of varying thicknesses.
"Well, Laura, where would you like to begin?" he asked hesitantly.
"Might as well start with the ones addressed to us," she replied, handing him the one with Harry labeled on it. Together, they opened the envelopes, Remington tearing into his and pulling out the his letter in no time flat, Laura began carefully easing hers open along the glued seam. Placing the torn envelope on the table, Remington scanned the first page, flipping to the second and third quickly.
"Daniel, Daniel, Daniel," Laura looked up from her meticulous efforts to look at Remington as he muttered, shaking his head. He covered his mouth with one hand as he stared at the letter in his other hand. "Laura, would you…." he implored as he shoved the papers in her direction. She looked at him apprehensively, hesitantly taking the folded pages from him, and Remington immediately dropped his head, his hands buried in his hair.
Reading aloud, Laura began, "Dear Harry, or should I say Remington? Welcome to my humble abode. This all belongs to you now. I know it's not much from all outward appearances but as you know, my boy, looks can be deceiving. With your presence here, I know you've spoken with Joseph Taylor, my attorney. He doesn't know the half of things, Harry, but he knows enough."
Laura stopped to look over at Remington, his chin now resting on his folded hands, his blue eyes watching her intently.
Looking down at the paper, she continued, "I know I wasn't completely honest with you all these years but you deserve the truth. You, Harry, are my son. Your mother was an exquisite lady, tall, dark hair much like your own and the bluest eyes I had ever seen - until I saw yours."
"They say youth is wasted on the young, and that couldn't have been more true in my case. I was caught red-handed trying to pull off an exceptionally perilous heist and, while serving time in prison for that infraction, I learned that Siobhan, the woman who carried you and bore you, the woman I loved above any other before and after her, had given birth at her cousin's home. Upon my release, I wasted no time in finding my way there in search of the two of you. I may have even had intentions to give up the life at the time, but that is a distant memory now."
Laura stopped, glancing up to see Remington staring at her, his blue eyes piercing. Taking a breath, she continued.
"Alas, as fate would have it, I only arrived in time to find Siobhan had died and you were gone to parts unknown. The only proof of your existence was the paper Mara had, shall we say, presented to me with a few choice words, least of which were to get out and never return."
"Ah yes, Mara!" Remington said, throwing his head back, a sardonic grin contorting his face as Laura looked up from the letter at him, her expression a mixture of compassion and puzzlement. Betraying the acute pain he was feeling, Remington angled his fierce gaze toward Laura in response to her questioning one, "The cousin that didn't care enough to keep me in her home? Who simply discarded me like the trash?" Laura nodded slowly, remembering what Paddy had told them the previous Monday when he had joined them for breakfast.
Remington slumped back against the settee, his head thrown back, eyes shut tight, pinching the bridge of his nose, as he struggled to process the avalanche of emotions engulfing him.
Finally he dropped his hand with an exasperated "Aaah!" and swiped at the air in front of him, as if to banish the invisible but palpable storm clouds swirling around him. He looked at Laura, trying to curb his agitation lest he should deflect it onto her. "What paper could she possibly have given Daniel that had any kind of meaning?" Remington questioned, suppressed anger infusing his tone.
Laura looked down at the letter again and continued to read silently. She did not answer him, but instead, hastily reached for one of the large envelopes, gasping inadvertently. Remington sat up and reached for the envelope, which Laura now offered to him. Gently, he pulled the paper from the envelope with two fingers and turned it over to read it, his head dropping as soon as he saw what it was. Laura felt helpless as she watched him, reaching out to touch his hand.
He raised his head, casting his eyes upward as he said, "All along. He had this all along and he never told me. Damn you! Damn you, Daniel!" He abruptly stood up and began to pace as he spoke. "How many times? How many times, Laura, have I said I was a man without a name? And that blasted… Daniel had it all along!" Remington thrust his hand in the air with each question, emphasizing his distress.
"Rem, calm down." Laura pleaded with him, "Maybe Daniel…"
"Maybe Daniel what, Laura?" Remington flung back, shoving one hand in his pocket. He continued to wave the other around. "He knew all along who I was and yet he never said a word. Let me languish in the belief that my roots were lost to me , that I would forever be a lost boy of Ireland." He bellowed, his voice booming in the cavernous room.
"Daniel had your best interests in mind, I'm sure," Laura stood placing her hand on his chest.
Running his hand through his hair, clenching his jaw, Remington looked at her with narrowed eyes. "The only interest Daniel had in me was the skill set I had for a particular line of work. Most of which he drilled into me during his 'lessons'. Never once did I think that he was... " his voice trailed off.
"That he was what?" Laura asked softly.
Dropping his chin down once again, "I don't know, Laura, I guess… I just thought… I knew Daniel better than this . I always thought of him as my...father..." this last word he said with considerable difficulty, his whole head twisting as he did so, then dropping it again, "...but to find out that, in fact, he is just that..." he waved the paper in his hand, "and now seeing it in writing, is just...Had I known!..."
"No matter what you knew or thought you knew, you finally have an answer." Laura waved her hand at the paper that flapped unheeded in his hand, " Go ahead and read it," she urged him.
With a heavy sigh, he ran his fingers through his hair before holding the paper with two hands. "Okay, okay…. So it appears this is not an actual birth certificate. It is an Affidavit of Birth, most likely because from everything we've now learned, I was born in Mara's home, not a hospital." He took another deep breath and continued, "There is a record number, then date of birth, May sixteenth, 1953….Well, at least I'm not older than we thought, eh?" he managed a tepid stab at humour, to which Laura responded with a weak smile. Turning back to the paper, he continued, "Name…. Baby Boy….hmphf, baby boy!…. Even then I didn't have a bloody name! Father, Daniel Chalmers residence unknown, mother Siobhan O'Brien, deceased…", with that the fragile paper of the document began to flutter as Remington's hands trembled, "Laura.. I can't…" he choked, handing the paper back to her. Seeing the very words notarized before him shattered any restraint he had left.
After placing the paper back on the table, she picked up Daniel's letter and continued to read silently. She glanced at Remington and, biting her bottom lip, she took another large envelope from the pile and extracted the paper inside, calling to him, "Rem, you need to see this."
"Laura, if this is another twenty years belated revelation of Daniel's I don't know how much more I can take," he groaned.
"No, it's more recent then that. For all intents and purposes, it's Daniel's final admission that you are his son. It's a revised birth certificate, dated six weeks ago, notarized by Mr. Taylor…" Laura levelled a steady gaze at Remington, and said softly, "Rem, Daniel has named you, as a father names a son… He has given you a name you can call your own."
"And what's that, Laura? A name befitting a man who will carry on the Chalmers Legacy of Chicanery, I'm sure," Remington barked at her.
"Remington Chalmers Steele," she stated slowly, turning the document to show him.
Remington couldn't believe his eyes as he took the paper Laura held up. "Remingt…" he began but his own name trailed off on his lips.
Laura picked up the letter from Daniel, scanning the handwritten pages again. "Daniel says he knew you finally found where you belonged so you deserved the name you chose as well," she said quietly. Looking up, she watched his blue eyes continuously shifting across the words before him.
Reading further, she couldn't believe the words before her. "Rem, there's more. This entire building… Daniel bought it, you now own it… no mortgage, no leans."
"What?" Remington broke from his silence. "Why? I don't understand. What could he possibly have had in mind?."
Laura's eyes darted back and forth over the letter and she replied, "You, apparently… or the you you were when he found you. Lost, homeless, needing guidance. It appears he wants you to use this building to help others. He does not go into any detail on that here, but states that there's an envelope containing a set of keys and all the necessary documentation you will need to carry out his ideas and plans." Laura finished.
Laura looked at Remington. He had perched on the arm of the settee, his shoulders drooping, his eyes hollow, looking utterly drained from all the emotional upheaval of the last two hours.
With a bewildered smile, he let out a defeated breath of disbelief, but was clearly not ready to process that new development. Instead, he gave his head a little shake and asked, "What does your letter from Daniel say?"
Laura had forgotten all about the letter Daniel addressed to her. Picking up the envelope, she walked over and perched next to Remington. He looked on, exhaustion lurking, as Laura resumed her meticulous extraction of the letter.
After about 10 seconds of that, Remington, finding his second wind, swiped it from her and ripped open the envelope, tossed it on the floor, and handed her the letter.
Glaring at him as she swiped the letter back, Laura unfolded it and read the two simple sentences he had written aloud. "Harry will forever more be your Remington Steele. Make him happy." Smiling, she gazed up into this blue eyes and , sweeping some of the dust from his shoulder, and making a mime show of sizing him up, replied, "THAT will be my distinct pleasure!" and flashed him a brilliant dimpled smile.