Chapter 12:
Monday morning found the Remington Steele Agency staff working in overdrive. Mildred was finishing the order in the place, while Laura and Mr. Steele were busy at an early reunion with a possible new client. They'd arrived at the office at 8 o'clock, and one hour later they were ready to leave to their dentist appointment.
They met Dr. Williams at his office.
"Since when is Mr. Stanhope your patient, Dr. Williams?" asked Mr. Steele.
"Let me see his file…I think I'm his dentist since 1971," answered the dentist.
"Did he receive a treatment recently?" asked Mr. Steele.
Dr. Williams looked through the file, and answered, "He is under treatment since May this year. We are in the middle of a long-term procedure."
Laura decided a more accurate question then, "Did he have an appointment on July 13th?"
The dentist checked his files and answer, "Yes, he did. He had a root canal procedure made that day. He had appointments on July 6th and on July 20th as well."
"Have you made any changes in your staff recently?" asked Mr. Steele.
"The only change is a temporary replacement for my assistant. She'd had a baby and will be back by February. Margot is replacing her for that period." answered the doctor.
"Do you mind if we check her file?" asked Laura.
"I don't mind at all, Miss Holt." He went to the cabinet and returned with the file. Laura took it from his hands.
"About Mr. Stanhope's treatment that day, did he receive anesthesia?" asked Mr. Steele.
"Of course he did. Every patient receives anesthesia while having a root canal treatment."
"Was the new nurse assisting you that day?" asked Laura.
"I think she was. I have only one nurse working with me, and Margot should have been helping me that day," said the dentist.
Laura took note of the relevant information in the file and returned it to Dr. Williams. "Thank you, Doctor. I think your information will be helpful."
They shook hands and left.
Once at the limo, Mr. Steele asked Miss Holt, "What did you find in those files, Laura? You seemed pretty focused on the information there."
"I found a name that popped up in our previous interrogations, Mr. Steele." She looked at him, "Collière, Mr. Steele. Margot's last name is the same that the sôus chef at the mansion."
"Let's go to the agency and put Mildred under pressure for a while. Now that Pedro is out of the picture, and our mysterious love life has been revealed, I think our Miss Krebs would appreciate some mystery adding some speed to her day," said Mr. Steele.
Mildred ran her search efficiently, as always. Mr. Steele and Miss Holt were in his office, exchanging opinions about different approaches to solve the case when the secretary arrived with her results. She gave Laura the papers, and then poured her bosses another round of coffee.
"Just as I thought," said Laura to Mr. Steele, giving him one of her particular triumphant gazes. "Our sôus chef, Paul Collière, is Margot's uncle. We have our start clue to follow, Mr. Steele. Now we have to discover the motive and how did they steal the volumes."
"I told you, Laura. It wasn't real to have everyone at the mansion happily working. The only thing that makes me uncomfortable is the sôus chef involved."
Laura looked at him.
"Remember the last time I had an issue with a cook, I had to run away through a window."
"We won't let that happen again, Mr. Steele. I like your lovely persona whole, not sliced. Besides, the girl you were dating that stressful evening didn't like to protect you as I do."
He stood up from his chair, and approached her, "The girl I was dating that night didn't do anything like you, Miss Holt…"
"You really mean that, do you?"
"Let me have the chance to refresh my memory…" he tasted her lips softly.
"Mmm, I can barely remember. Let me have another try…"
Noticing that they were slipping into new territories, different than work, she said, "Ok, let's try to focus again in our case, Mr. Steele. How would you follow our current investigation avoiding a repetition of your running away scene?"
He let her go and answered, "Not giving anybody the chance to be near a knife while making the questions, Miss Holt."
"I guess we can do that." She answered. "We'll follow your advice, Mr. Steele. We'll try our next move far from the kitchen."