Chapter 8

They arrived at the airport sooner as it was expected, with Laura behind the steering wheel again, although she didn't have any ID available yet. She assured him they would not get so unlucky twice; or with the same police issue, at least. Mr. Steele felt it was a miracle the car had made it in one piece to the Rental after Laura's raid. Once they arrived to the airport, they booked themselves to a flight scheduled to take off two hours later. Knowing the meal on the plane wouldn't be up to Mr. Steele's culinary expectations; they decided to have dinner at a nice bar near their terminal in the meantime.

"I hope your stomach feels satisfied between this food and the one that will be served at the flight, Mr. Steele. We are out of time. Once we land in LA, we are going straight to see Detective Jarvis. "

"Come on, Laura; don't be so practical for once. Don't tell me you are not enjoying this meal as I am. Just the two of us; a glass of wine; a lovely place under the circumstances... I know we are going to be tied to duty through a lot of the following night hours once in LA. We can indulge ourselves with some pleasures before that. I know duty is always a pleasure for you, but… don't you think sometimes we deserve a little more something mixed with it? Even if it means just having a simple dinner, we can enjoy a few moments together." He took her hand in his and kissed her ring.

"You are right. I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry, Laura. Be happy."

She smiled, "I am, Mr. Steele. I am."

They finished their meal just in time to check into their flight. Taking advantage of the comfortable first class seats, they decided to have some rest, thinking about the hard working night waiting for them in LA.

Detective Jarvis was at the Police Station waiting for them, just like they had agreed earlier.

He had the Patterson case folder on his desk. "I'm very sorry to hear about your issue with the INS, Mr. Steele. If there is anything I can do to help you, just ask."

Laura took the reins in her hands, as always when handling a case with Jarvis. "We are suspecting someone at the Police Department could be trying to have Mr. Steele deported."

Jarvis opened his eyes in surprise. "Hey! That's a dangerous accusation!"

"The fact is that it seems the Patterson file went to the INS because someone here decided the detour was necessary. We are not saying that the INS is not acting correctly by following Mr. Steele's case, but maybe the instigator's intention is just looking for revenge against him over an old solved case. We've experienced those sorts of situations once or twice in the past. Remember Descoine's daughter case; or Dancer when he got out of jail on bail?"

"I remember Miss Holt; but, what makes you suspect there is someone particularly interested in Mr. Steele's deportation? Everyone runs under the same rules when the INS is involved."

"We are getting into the interesting part, Jarvis. Let her explain…" said Mr. Steele, waiting anxiously to Laura's retort to his Miss Holt reference.

"The fact is Detective Jarvis, that we got married last night…"

"Oh! Congratulations Miss Holt! Oh, sorry. I guess it's not Miss Holt anymore. Am I right?" asked the detective.

"You are right. Thank you," answered Laura in the kindest way possible.

Mr. Steele gave a look to Laura wondering why Detective Jarvis was rewarded with a kind answer after calling her Miss Holt, while he was cornered against an abyss. There they have a topic to work on. He folded the thought in a convenient place in his mind.

"We got married last night, and as you'd guess, we had to send a copy of our Marriage License to the INS agent. But just when we returned to our hotel in Las Vegas, a bottle of champagne was waiting in our room, a supposed attention from the hotel. We drank some, made some toasts, you know…and after that we woke up in an unknown room, both of us handcuffed to the bed's headboard…"

"Ok Mrs. Steele. I got the picture. No need to go for details. I can figure the rest of it." said Detective Jarvis giving a suspicious and embarrassed look to Mr. Steele.

"Allow me to follow, Detective. This is the most interesting part," she told him.

Jarvis looked to Mr. Steele, still a bit embarrassed, asking him in silence if he was sure to have Mrs. Steele following the explanation.

"Once we got our wrists free from the handcuffs, we finally returned to our room. Was then that we found the envelope with our Marriage License gone along with Mr. Steele's jacket. Someone stole them. We decided to go back to the chapel to ask for a copy of the document to send to the INS agent, but they had been robbed that same night, and the book with the marriage certificates was gone too. "

"And I am in the middle of this because… "Asked Jarvis showing them his uncertainty.

Mr. Steele decided it was a wise moment to intervene. Laura was in the right direction to strangle Jarvis if the man decided to ask one more of his exasperating questions. "You are not in the middle of this, Jarvis. We are. And we need your collaboration. We are supposed to collaborate with each other, don't we? We have been eager to help you in the past, and we are sure you are eager to collaborate with us now. Don't you agree? Splendid!"

Jarvis was beginning to understand. They wanted access to find the guilty one inside the Police Department. "So, are you suggesting someone here is pulling something against you, Mr. Steele?"

"We are not suggesting, Detective Jarvis…" Laura acknowledged him by making a gesture with her head.

"Let me put it in this way, Miss Holt," said Jarvis.

"Mrs. Steele!" stated Laura.

"Whatever," said Jarvis. "You can't have access to the Police files. Maybe I can run a search for you, but that will be on Monday when the Archive File Department opens. I can't have the file without a superior order asking for it over a weekend. And since your case is happening in Las Vegas, the order must come from there. We have some rules to follow. I'll do the best I can, as fast as possible. Do you understand?"

"We understand, Jarvis. Let's go, Laura. He can't help us right now." Mr. Steele grabbed Laura's arm.

"Just allow me the last question," The Lieutenant asked, "Why didn't you try to get married again, you know…with a new license, all the mess would be over." Asked Jarvis

"Our ID's and Mr. Steele's wallet were gone with our Marriage License."

"Of course. You told me you rescheduled your flight to be back earlier. How did you do that without your wallet?"

"I think we learned that from a previous case, Jarvis. Always carry a back up in cash. You'd never know when it would be useful." answered Mr. Steele, while Laura tried to hide a smile from him.

They stood up and got out of Jarvis office.