KLOPMAN CASE… (¿A SOFA FOR LAURA?)
When Laura arrived at the agency, Mildred announced that a potential client was waiting for her at the office. She told her that Mr. Steele had gone to visit Mrs. Coleman of the Museum of Fine Arts to verify the details of the security contract for the exhibition of paintings that would arrive from Europe to settle for two weeks in the place next month
She went into her office and saw on her back sitting on one of the chairs a man dressed in very thin clothes, who turned around and sat up to greet her. She looked at him appreciatively, he was an extremely elegant and attractive man, with perfectly shiny shoes, a dress suit and very neat hair combed back almost perfectly. The smile he gave Laura was captivating. He exuded confidence.
-Hello, Laura or should I say Madam Steele- he smiled
-We know each other?
-Well, at least I remember you very well, honey ... we were boyfriends just a few months in high school ...
-You are…?
-I've changed so much? I'm Marty ... Marty Klopman.-
Laura tried to disguise the enormous surprise of seeing many years later the little boy, very thin and quite feucho -but good kissing- who he barely remembered but who could not find him in that big guy in front of him. He was an ugly duckling turned swan ... Really looking for that man so good-looking to old Marty was difficult.
Still surely the wall of an old building in the city looked (as she remembered) a heart spray with the initials LH and MK where the kisses had taken place.
But as much as I wanted I could not see in this Marty the Klopman of those years shy, withdrawn, with a lot of acne and carrot hair. He was a distinguished man, very elegant and with these qualities he would surely be married or about to be coveted by many women.
Tr ying to hide the slight surprise of seeing him so absolutely changed he said:
And to what do I owe your visit?
Oh, I'm in trouble. I have a great business of visual arts, photography, documentary films and technology requires security. Someone has been hacking my computers and I have stolen some of my best designs.
-Oh, I do not know how useful I can be, M ... Marty ... these things you have to try to protect them with safeguards that you should have yourself ...
Yes, but I want you to find the one who has stolen me and is negotiating my most important designs and my most valuable data, Laura. I want it behind bars! Can I explain better with a lunch?
Oh, I'm afraid my husband and I have something already planned for today's lunch ...
Cancel it, he will understand ...
Well I ...
Laura watched him. He still did not come out of amazement. THAT man was ... that Marty Klopman ... incredible.
He called Mildred on the intercom and asked her to locate her husband and tell him that he was going to have lunch outside on a business matter.
Mildred, although reluctant, did it.
SECOND PART
Wow, Mildred, my wife, if she is playing with my patience ... she leaves the house early and does not wake me up like ... well, as we wake up every day, she lets me sleep without me ... (she stops talking and blushes, remembering that a share of morning love, they get tangled up in bed and start the day and it's practically a ritual since they share the same floor) Well, today she did it, she went to the Rabbit without telling me and now you tell me We are not going to have lunch together ... Where is she?
He went out to lunch with a client
What customer? Where did you go to eat?
Mildred said she knew neither one thing nor the other and she would not even describe to him that charming and handsome guy that Laura took from the arm of his office with the air of knowing him very well.
When his wife appeared smiling happily and sighing every two seconds, apparently very pleased with herself, he greeted her in the office with the face of few friends.
CAN YOU KNOW WHERE YOU HAVE BEEN DEMON TO UNTIL THIS TIME? He rebuked her
Laura looked at him resolutely and still smiling.
With a client. You'll love knowing we'll work for an old friend of mine.
I do not think there is anything that I love less .- he replied very sharp
Oh, you'll see it's a high security case, we're going to put our entire team to work and safeguard a company with a very good economic level that will surely pay us for it very well.
What is it about?
She explained to him in a few words what it was about and assured that the check for 25 thousand dollars would be the next morning in the account of the agency. He still cautiously reserved the client's name because he had the idea that even if he had mentioned it to him once when Descoine was not yet revealed as the person who was tormenting him for a case of the agency when he was not still Remington Steele, surely with his character so drastic and possessive he had taken due note of that name and that Klopman was part of Laura's past that he said did not interest him but that he cared a lot. Several times the professor of Calculus, or the first boyfriend with whom he had lived, or the muscular men who had kissed her like Butch Beamis and Tony Roselli appeared, not counting the lawyer Creigton Phillips for whom he had to resign himself to never having gave cotton candy but her mouth was watering them in the parks when they went for a walk.
And he had put that face. The same face that he put when he was jealous. Eyebrows together, frowning with that sensual wrinkle that melted her defenses and gave her a crazy desire to kiss him.
She slipped the customer's name as she passed.
So, Marty Klopman expects us to ...
What does that Marty Klopman sound like?
She saw in the expression on his face THAT interrogation, yes, the one that told him that he had put all his senses in memory. The one that told her that he had a radar, not a brain to search and detect. That he was rummaging through the memory files and he would have it in seconds ...
Ahhhh ... your professional kisser ...
Mr. Stee ... Remington!
You agreed to have lunch with that guy ...
WE USE TO have lunch with customers .- she said firmly
But Klopman is part of your past ...
I still remember the dinner you ruined with Anna Simpson in the restaurant when she appeared out of nowhere in YOUR PAST, she remarked.
ARE YOU REMEMBERING YOU SO MANY YEARS AGO TO TRY IN MY THINGS?
And I still remember your ... "little sister" in your bed in your apartment ... Shannon ...
My accounts still give less and in red with the annoying memories ... - protested
LET'S FIGHT?
No. But I'd love to know what's wrong with Klopman now, why it came back to your life, why there are thousands of places to knock on the door of Remington Steele Investigations ...
He was finely chopping the lettuce for the salad he had decided to prepare, so thin that each stroke of the knife on the splint was as if he were making mincemeat to Marty Klopman. She was flattered that he still demonstrated those "one or two" pangs of jealousy that he once used to admit when a gallant appeared in his life.
Are not you killing the lettuce with so much cut? .- He asked trying to look casual
I do not know. Maybe. There are other things I would like to cut though ... - As soon as he murmured and for the first time he raised his eyes to look at his own with enough anger, as his eyes flashed, she felt between fear and fun but Remington Steele was no longer being amused when it was about her. Laura felt belligerent he could not, from the point of view of her behaving as if a simple innocent lunch with Klopman was a mortal sin ...
What are you implying?
He grabbed a tomato and squeezed it harder than necessary with tight lips in a gesture of total anger. The knife crashed! In the skin of the tomato and left it in pieces in less than five seconds. Laura felt at each gesture of him that she herself was that tomato now crushed.
Who ... you want to leave the kitchen for a moment? There was nothing wrong with my lunch with the client and I stress: CLIENT MARTY KLOPMAN !
Laura's tone of anger did not frighten him. He did not leave the salad or the utensils.
I'll let you know when dinner is ready, "he grunted.
Concluding the talk was like a crude invitation to leave the kitchen free of it.
Laura breathed heavily.
The ringing phone interrupted some other speech she had to give him.
When she attended in view of the fact that being her house he would not attend her, she said hello dryly but softened her voice right away.
Marty, what a pleasure to hear you ... ah yes? How did you think? Ah ... I see, yes, yes of course ... of course ... ah ... very well ... yes ... I agree ... YOU ARE A REAL ANGEL, Marty purred warning Steele senses with that little voice that she never used for her unless they were intimately frolicking playfully in bed. "You're right ... of course ... it's very successful ... we'll talk to you tomorrow ... ah ... yes, Marty dear, Mildred is very efficient ... really ... I'm glad you could thank her for knowing I was here at Mr. Steele's house and you called me to bring me those valuable details ... ah ... how sweet you are, Marty ... yes, I will, I'll say hello on your part ... of course, Marty, oh ... ah ... what great gentleman you are, another one for you ... oh ... oh ... yes, Marty ... for the memories ... oh ... of course ... I also have an efficient memory ... goodbye, see you tomorrow ...
The dinner went on in complete silence. Laura barely nibbled two bits of the excellent steak that Remington, despite his anger, had finished, deliciously cooked. The salad was frankly a disaster but with very good flavor. His eyes did not rise for a moment to look at her throughout the process of eating quiet and distant.
The biggest surprise was that they had coffee and the last drink of the day, far from the usual intimacy of lying on the carpet hugging and chatting with intimacy that later ensured the passage to the bedroom in a more ardent way. He sitting on a kitchen stool and she alone on the gray sofa.
Remington was devoted to washing stridently the little tableware used and went to shower leaving the bathroom clean and smelling wonderfully musky thing that she exalted her senses in such a way ... She closed her eyes as if wanting to erase images of his head that made Explode other parts of your anatomy. She saw him go through the room furiously again to turn off the main lights and there was only one lamp with little lighting.
Ten seconds later he appeared in his pajamas, she had not arrived there in her car as if to go mad to sleep in the loft that she still did not sell and she did not leave at night because they were married. She was HIS wife. When she saw him show up with some blankets, sheets and a pillow she stood up thinking that he had just decided that he would stay on the sofa to avoid lying down together. But it was his surprise when, with his jaw clenched, he murmured:
Have a good night! And he threw the bedclothes on the sofa closing the bedroom door.
She, in an attitude even more belligerent than his, approved:
Of course yes…! Goodnight…! He shouted, throwing the blankets violently.
It had not been half an hour. She could feel him stir in the bed and she herself, unable to even close her eyes, had given more than punching rage to the pillow for a period of time that had seemed to her much greater than that sad half hour.
She got up from the couch and went to the bedroom. He opened the door decisively to find that he was coming to his disjointed encounter.
We could ... that is ...
I….
They spoke one on top of the other at the same time.
It's late and I can not sleep if I'm not in ...
The bed ... "he finished.
No ... not just the bed ... I need you ... I need to hug you ... I do not know how this has been but I can not be ... I can not really ... if you and I ...
He looked at her appreciatively.
She was cornered.
Serious and circumspect he asked:
Can not you be without me?
No. "She sighed looking for a hug from him in which to get lost.
He wanted to seem reluctant yet but could not resist.
It happens that ... I can not sleep without you ... without your heat ... Laura ...
They kissed warmly and deeply.
He lifted her chin and in the light of the lamp he could see that spark of love in her eyes that he loved so much. He saw her vulnerable. He did not like seeing her like that, but she ... she had stung him with jealousy very deeply. He was giving her his due.
Marty Klopam is a memory, love, he kissed very well in those times ... and all because I had not yet tried the way he kissed someone else ... you ... - stroked the hairs on the back of his neck and pulled him towards her. - Now I would not change your kisses for anyone else's ... -he kissed him again and noticed that he did not respond immediately to the kiss. She insisted so special that he could no longer resist the offer of those lips that asked, that begged, that demanded something more ...
He opened his mouth and completely possessed her with his kisses, heating Laura's blood in her veins, igniting her senses as always when he touched her with that sweetness and softness. In an entanglement of arms, hands and torsos, they ended up in bed, stripped away by the clothes and everything that prevented their entire bodies from touching.
He raised the head that was buried in her neck kissing and nibbling ...
Lau-Laura ... will you let me and Mildred take care of Klopman tomorrow?
Let's do it together, Mr. Steele, you just have to say yes so that I can show you how little Klopman and the past mean to me.
I dont know…
25 thousand dollars, love, maintenance of the high prestige of your agency, Mr. Steele ...
Mildred and I ... could not an urgent trip of yours arise? I'll keep you updated and you'll decide what to do and we do it ...
He purred on her skin and was taking her to wish him too quickly ...
You say an urgent trip? Hummm ... let me consider it ...
Consider ...
She grabbed him from her most intimate parts with absolute disinhibition and desire, drowning a sigh from him with her lips already swollen with passion and the responses of Remington who now played with the lobe of his left ear exciting her the most. She felt him pant and writhe again with pure pleasure.
I've already considered it ... For Klopman I'm on an urgent trip in Connecticut and from there ... To Timboktú she gasped ... I need you ... I need you right now ...
Shopping my kisses, Laura?
With everything I am and everything I have, Mr. Steele ... with everything and more ...
What was that absurd flirtation with the guy a while ago?
Well ... from time to time a peck of jealousy is necessary for ... you know ... to rekindle the passion ... I love it when you are jealous ... you are like a child whose toy has been taken away ...
I look like a child?
Hummmm ... for how you feel now I doubt you are, love ... I doubt very much that you are ... - she murmured continuing with the direct caresses on the silky and warm skin of her husband's virile member.
I've always been jealous of you, ever since I met you ... since I saw you in the office for the first time, jealous of the glass of champagne you were kissing, jealous of Murphy, jealous of Butch, of Clay ... of that Bill Smith with whom you went out one night, of Wilson ... of Norman Maxwell, of Tony ... especially of Tony ... even of that professor of calculation that I never knew and I hope never to know ...
The last thing he managed to say heavily in a sigh because the excitement prevented him from talking. I imagine that I will have nothing to fear when I see that Klopman, the gangly acne-ridden man, at your sixteen ...
Laura smiled. It rather trembled. He hoped that some last-minute accident would disfigure the handsome, winning face of Klopman before Remington interviewed him. He interpreted the tremor as desire and hastened to please her.
It was not five minutes past ten o'clock the next morning that she, still drowsy and fatigued from the intense night of love with her husband, listened to the telephone ringing insistently.
Laura Elizabeth Holt Steele. I think you and I are going to have to have a good conversation as soon as I get home. "She heard him saw the words in his ear and he finished waking her up.
I'm in Timboktú, do not you remember? - she joked. God! They had already seen each other. But trying to sound sensual and bold as he liked so much purred ... Remember that it has been a long time, Mr. Steele and that ... you have left your wife well supplied, satisfied ... full of you until you come back ... I can not think of anything else ...
Steele, on the other side of the line, smiled caressing his tie satisfied.
Oh yeah? I hope that on my return home you put in papers what you are saying ...
I love you. I suppose your presence left Marty devastated.
You guess well. So much so that she has taken a very special interest that Mildred is in charge of everything. He has the problem, all right, but the computers are her thing and he has taken it ... he has left here running away from the plague and left to send his employees
You sound very proud of yourself.
As much as I'm sure Klopman will not be interested in saying goodbye to you or thanking you. Oh, and the 25 thousand are already in the account ... but ... there is something else ... we will talk about it tonight ...
Laura Holt Steele, the dynamic, intelligent and detective list never believed that the city would be grateful for the liters of white paint donated by the agency to paint a certain old building of immaculate color that would erase any vestige of a sprayed heart that was once red where the letters MK and LH could be seen for so many years. His angry face was sweaty and his painter's paper hat was untidy on his hair. The blue fabric jumpsuit he was wearing was spotted with endless patches of paint. His left hand went again and again with the roller. To one side Steele smiled pleased. When the task was finished, he approached by
behind to hug her. She ran the roller over his nose, staining his face. He then rubbed that nose on his face enjoying.
Several months later, one night when everything had been forgotten, Klopman helped and solved her case and they did not even remember the incident, Laura waited for Remington to take a shower and left the house surreptitiously. An idea had been around for a long time and he just had to have the space to carry it out. All conspired so that she left without being seen did the diligence that had foreseen and returned to the peace of his home to dine with her husband.
At dessert time she told him that she would like to take a walk in the moonlight. They were walking to that place. The blessed place of memories already erased by painting.
Remington was reluctant to create a memory there with her, as Laura's intention seemed and when she took his hand he was not sure to follow her. I did not want to.
But encouraged by a playful nudge from her, what she saw made him smile and hug her. He had been stunned for a moment contemplating the huge red heart that now entangled the L and the H with the R and the S.
You know you can be fined for this, Laura ... the city ...
I'll pay the price, Mr. Steele ... I'll pay the price ...
Smiling cradled in his arms to kiss.