The conversation with Randolph Meyers went smoothly, though the man couldn't seem to keep his eyes off Laura for a moment. Laura, on the other hand, had no problem keeping her eyes on Remington, allowing him to ask the majority of questions. He kept his attention on the task before him, and noted that she seemed to be holding her own in the conversation, even if she was letting him lead the way in terms of questions.
"She is a child that I had when…" He paused. "When I was previously married." Mr. Meyers spoke softly, keeping his focus on Laura. He was obviously having problems speaking to her about this, but she held a stern stare between him and her partner, and she didn't let on for a moment that her insides were twisting into themselves. "I…" He paused for a moment as if he was going to explain further, but decided instead to press on. He didn't notice the slight crinkle in Laura's forehead when he spoke, though Remington was acutely aware of her struggle. "She was accepted to UCLA on a Mathematics scholarship."
Laura didn't miss the quick glance from Remington, brief but full of meaning as he listened to the worried father's reiteration of the last time he had spoken with his daughter. "We knew that she had gotten to the city alright, heard that she was heading toward her apartment, but we haven't heard anything since. Her roommates haven't seen her, she hasn't checked in for any of her classes. I'm afraid that something has happened to her."
"Have you spoken to the police?"
"Yes, of course." He nodded. "But they're of little or no help at all. They keep saying that she'll turn up, that she probably ran away. There is no way that Lily ran away."
"How can you be so sure?" Laura asked suddenly. "People run off for a vast number of reasons. Sometimes they have very, very good explanations for such a departure." Her voice held a bit of a snap, and Remington picked up on it immediately.
"What my associate is saying, Mr. Meyers, is that there are often things about those that we care about that we don't know about. These things often lead to erratic behavior, or undesirable decisions without any prior indication that something may be wrong. Have you heard anything from anyone about her? Ransom demand? Collect call?"
Mr. Meyers shook his head.
"She doesn't know anyone in town that she might be staying with, a friend, a family member?" Remington asked, nearly jumping when he felt Laura's heel digging into the toe of his shoe. He moved his foot away and leaned forward slightly.
There was a light knock on the door, and Mildred appeared in the doorway, peeking inside. "Sorry to interrupt you, Boss. Miss Holt, you have a phone call." She said, giving the new client a glare.
"Can you take a message, Mildred?" Laura asked, though she was already starting to stand from where she was leaning against the desk.
"I'm afraid not, Miss Holt. It's your … gynecologist. She said it is an emergency." She said, twisting her face as if she wasn't sure why she had said it.
"If you'll excuse me." Laura said, getting up quickly, she pushed her way into the reception area quickly, closing the door behind her. "Mildred? My gynecologist?"
"I couldn't think of anything else." Mildred said, handing her the phone. "It's your sister."
"Frances?" She asked, her question rhetorical.
"Unless you have another sister that I don't know about." Mildred shrugged, raising her eyebrow at the glare that Laura threw her way.
She pressed the receiver to her ear and turned from Mildred. "Frances?"
"Laura?" Frances said, her voice trembling slightly, though Laura couldn't tell if it was from fear, excitement, or simply the fact that she had caught Laura at the office when she called. "Laura, I think we might have a little issue on our hands."
"An issue?" Laura asked. "Frances, what are you talking about?" Laura asked, glancing to the door of Remington's office, she looked back down at the desk and sighed.
"There is a young woman here that claims to be our sister." Frances said in a loud whisper. "What do I do?"
"What do you mean, what do you do? Did you talk to her?"
"Yes." Frances said. "I mean… I invited her in, and then I called you. What do I do?"
Laura rubbed her hand over her forehead. "Just… stall her." Laura said with deep sigh.
"Stall her? How do I stall her? Laura, what do I…?"
"Bake her cookies, serve her coffee… I don't know, Frances. Show her slides from your trip to the Grand Canyon last year. That should keep her busy for a while." Laura said quickly. "Just stall her. I will be right over."
In the office, Remington continued talking to Mr. Meyers, until after a moment the silence seemed to permeate the room. "I shouldn't have come here." He swallowed hard.
Remington's eyebrow lifted slowly. "You knew that Laura worked here." It wasn't a question, but a simple statement, that received a nervous nod from the man across from him. "You knew that she worked here, and you thought that it would be a good idea to make your new life known to her?"
"I… I wanted to see her, and needed to…"
"So this daughter…?"
"No." He said clearly. "My daughter is missing, Mr. Steele." He said, sliding a picture of a girl who was the spitting image of his partner. Same brown hair, same dark eyes, and those dimples that could get him talked into just about anything. "It just… this provided me with an opportunity to see Laura again. I… needed to do this for…"
"For yourself." Remington said as he stood up, smoothing his tie, he glanced to the door just as Laura stepped opened it and caught his gaze.
"We have an appointment, Mr. Steele." She said, her brown eyes widening for a moment, he quickly caught the hint.
"Mr. Meyers, it was a pleasure to meet you. We will start right away on the case." He said, taking the other man's hand, he shook it with authority. "Just leave your contact information with Miss Krebs, and she'll give you the forms you need to fill out." He said quickly as he headed toward the door.
Randolph stood up and watched Laura walk back into the reception area, and before he could make it into the room himself, she was through the glass doors, with Remington Steele at her heels.