Steele Investments
Part 8
by Melinda
 
Laura returned to the office, cringing as she passed the pile of mail and unsorted paperwork on the reception desk. She hurried past, making a mental note to call the temp agency in the morning to see if they could send out a qualified secretary.
 
It seemed like a simple enough request--except that the last three girls had been appalling. The first had refused to file, the second had talked endlessly on personal calls, and the last had gone after Mr. Steele with her claws unsheathed. Laura had actually caught the little minx chasing the boss around his own desk.
 
Think of the devil--the sound of voices coming out of his office stopped Laura before she reached her own. She stopped for a second and cocked her head, then adjusted her course to take her to his closed door which she gave a single solid knock before entering.
 
She found him inside with one of the last people she had been expecting to find--Alfred Hollis, the banker. Former banker. The last she had heard, Alfred had been fired because of the $50,000 that he'd "borrowed" and had found work as an accountant.
 
"Laura!" Her Mr. Steele certainly seemed chipper enough, greeting her with a wide smile, bouncing out of his seat.
 
"Miss Holt, hello, it's nice to see you again." Alfred also smiled, turning his head toward her. He remained seated, and she saw that he had one of the general ledgers from the office of Steele Investments open in front of him.
 
"Hi, Alfred, it's good to see you again," she greeted him and then transferred her puzzled gaze to her partner, eyebrows lifted in inquiry.
 
"Alfred has been helping me decipher the books. You'll never guess what we've discovered," he said, rolling back on his heels, clearly pleased.
 
"I have some remarkable information to share also." Laura cast a nervous glance at Alfred. It was not that she did not trust the young man--but she was not going to bring up the more sensitive aspects of the case in front of him.
 
"Mr. Steele, a word--" She took his elbow and escorted him to her office; he followed where she led. She closed the adjoining door behind them.
 
"Not a single one of our clients I spoke to has been approached for money by Steele Investments," he blurted out at the exact same moment she spoke.
 
"I've seen the victim's autopsy report--the man from last night," Laura said.
 
"Murphy disclosed his secrets to you, did he?" Her Mr. Steele seemed distinctly amused. Laura might have teased him if she did not possess such important news.
 
"You didn't shoot that man in the alley," Laura announced.
 
They stared at one another.
 
"I didn't?" He wore a faintly disbelieving but hopeful expression. He had carried tension in his lean frame since the episode in the alley, and she observed a visible transformation in his demeanor as the good news penetrated.
 
Laura shook her head. "No, you didn't. The gun that killed that man was of the same make and manufacture as the one that you fired, but the ballistics report indicated that the slug bore the distinct barrel markings from a different weapon."
 
"This must mean that there was a second shooter!" he exclaimed.
 
"And not a grassy knoll in sight," Laura added wryly, drawing a puzzled look from her partner. "Never mind," she told him, patting his arm. There was no reason for a citizen of the UK to be literate in American conspiracy theory trivia. "When we find that gun, we'll have the real killer."
 
"Laura, you're a genius!" Hands swift, he caught her face and pulled her into an unexpected kiss. Laura blinked and then closed her eyes, succumbing all too easily to the melting warmth that spread through her middle. His lips were smiling against hers, and loving hands stroked her hair away from her face. Her disappointment was vast when he ended the kiss as suddenly as it had begun.
 
"The victim's name was Arthur Bellenworth--and you'll never guess what he did for a living," she continued, desperately trying to hide her discomfort from him. If the man ever figured out the effect his mere touch had on her--he would become even more unmanageable.
 
"Accountant, insurance salesman, bus driver?" he guessed without any serious thought to it, spreading his hands in a careless Gaelic shrug.
 
She shook her head. "He was a custodial engineer--a janitor."
 
"Why ever would anyone wish to kill a janitor?" he asked.
 
"I wondered the exact same thing," she said. "The body looked--familiar. So I did some checking. Arthur Bellenworth worked in our building."
 
Ever quick, he slapped his fingers to his palm and pointed, instantly grasping the implications. "He had access to our offices after hours--"
 
"He could have gone through our files, and we'd never have known," Laura concluded. "It explains how he acquired our client information."
 
"Maybe next time you won't be so quick to assume it was me," he said. There was no accusation in his blue gaze, only certain tiredness.
 
A blush sprang up in Laura's cheeks that had nothing to do with the kiss he had stolen moments before. "What did you and Alfred learn?" she asked to cover her embarrassment.
 
He let it go with an inclination toward kindness that she attributed to the good news she had delivered--clearing him of having murdered Arther Bellenworth.
 
"According to Alfred, Steele Investments has been the recipient of several large deposits from various clients--ours allegedly--but our former clients know nothing about the money."
 
"Where is the money coming from?" Laura asked.
 
"That's the beauty of it." To build suspense, he drew out his delivery, waiting until she was hooked. "Insurance payouts collected on the life insurance policies taken out in the names of our clients--with Steele Investments as the named beneficiary."
 
"The deaths were faked?" Laura surmised and he nodded. "A victimless crime," Laura said. All of the pieces were fitting except for a few loose threads. There was still the question of the man with the gun who had assaulted her that morning.
 
"Well, until Arthur Bellenworth, that is," he was quick to point out.
 
"Until Arthur Bellenworth," Laura agreed. She went on to fill in the blanks, bringing her partner up to speed on the events of her morning, including the failed abduction.
 
"Probably trying to recover their ledgers full of incriminating evidence, Miss Holt," he said with that proper British affectation that made her toes curl. She had to resist the impulse to pull him down into another kiss.
 
"I do believe it's time we paid a visit to Mrs. Bellenworth," Laura said, resolutely committed to pursuing the case to its end.
 
"And what of the safety deposit box?" he asked, holding up the key they'd found in the office safe. Laura had almost forgotten about it entirely. "We'll check that too, of course," she agreed.
 
"Ahem."
 
Surprised, Laura and her partner both turned to find a pale Alfred peering at them around the partially open office door. "Excuse me," he squeaked.
 
"What is it, Alfred?" Laura asked in concern.
 
"It's just--there's a man in Mr. Steele's office with a gun demanding to see you," Alfred explained with a nervous smile shaped like a squiggle.
 
To Part 9
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