Chapter 11:

Laura did never believe that a day was going to arrive, having Mr. Steele working on a case outside the office with some of her relatives, and she stacked at the agency besides Mildred. But there's always a first for everything, she told herself. She had thought for the first time in her life about sharing chocolate two nights ago after all.

Mr. Steele went to work with Patrick the next morning. They followed the routines, and at 9:30 were out of the factory, ready to start the chocolate delivery.

Mr. Steele's decision to keep Laura out of this part of the case was on purpose. He had hidden but true motives. The last case they had worked on with chocolate popping up into it; was the one at Donald's Dentist Convention. They were in the middle of the case, walking through a room with the professional Laura ready to get into action; when they crashed into another kind of convention, a chocolate one. She went in a flash from the confident detective in the middle of a case, to the chocoholic Laura, in the middle of a crisis. They didn't need to revisit that situation again. It could be extremely dangerous. That's why he wanted to be there but wanted her at the office, far from the brown elixir.

On the other hand, the chocolate word didn't land in Laura's mind the night before. She was thinking about them; about how they were working lately as a team. It had been a long road since their beginning, until to where they were standing in the present. They had learned a lot in the meantime, and one of the most important words that they had attached to their work, and lately to their life were: together. She couldn't understand why he was pushing her aside this time. They had worked in several cases in the last few months, sometimes already knowing they would be immersed in different cases at the same time, but always trying to be communicative at the end of the day. It was an honest need at this point. But finding that, instead of that they were working on the same case he wanted her far from him, was at last…baffling.

Laura was sitting at her desk, with all these thoughts in her mind, when the phone rang.

"Remington Steele Investigations," she answered as quickly as she could. Going over Mildred's speed was a considerable challenge she was ready to achieve.

"We are out, Laura. We are going to start the delivery, and after every stop, I'll call you to tell you about our next destination. We are heading to Valentino, 3115 Pico Blvd. I'll call you later."

"Take care…" was everything that came from her mouth.

The next phone call took almost an hour.

"Nothing to report, Laura. Next stop, Spago; 176 N Cañon. Call you from there."

"I'll be waiting for your call."

In the meantime, as Miss Holt and Mildred had settled the priorities early in the morning, Mildred was running a search about the restaurants Mr. Steele and Patrick were visiting. She hadn't found anything useful yet.

The third call arrived almost an hour later. "We are at Spago, Laura. Someone is tailing us. The plate is …." Then the line was dead.

Laura put the headphone in the hanger, waiting for a next call. But after five minutes she knew it wasn't going to arrive.

"They were caught at Spago," Laura told Mildred on her way out to the garage. "I'm going there. Keep going with the search Mildred. And wait here for Mr. Steele's call."

"Don't worry honey. I'll be here." answered the secretary.

Laura drove through Santa Monica Blvd to Wilshire Blvd and turned to the right. She found the restaurant front door and got off the car in a rush. As the place was already open but still without customers yet; Laura found the maitre giving some instructions to the personal. She asked him about the Chef. The man showed her the way to the back door, where she would find the man. She stormed out from the place, and when she was arriving at the back door, the Chef was already outside waiting for her.

"Thank you for coming out to talk with me. I'm Laura Holt, Private Investigator; I'm looking for the Premium chocolate delivery man. "She told him showing him her badge.

"Patrick left around half an hour ago; he was with a new driver. They left the chocolate and left."

"Did they tell you their next destination, by any chance?"

"Well, Patrick mentioned something about Blue."

"Thank you very much." With that Miss Holt went to the Rabbit, and drove to the chocolate store. It was one of the most luxurious of the city, if not the most. If you wanted to send chocolates to a big screen star, Blue was the right place to go since the 40's.

Laura parked the car one block ahead of her destination. She decided to act like a customer, asking about the place and the chocolate. She got inside, and the aroma just overwhelmed her. It was heaven. The shop had several stylish showcases, every display showing a different chocolate color, and a variety of shapes, each one more beautiful than the other one. Her eyes were glued to the first shelf when she heard a female voice.

"Good afternoon young lady, how can I help you? What are you looking for?"

Laura lifted up her eyes from the chocolates with a significant effort, finding an old but very distinguished lady, Daisy, as she was able to read on her tag; smiling at her, dressed all in blue but wearing white gloves in her hands.

"Sorry, I got distracted." She answered chuckling shyly.

"It's perfectly reasonable, go on. They are worthy to look at. They are masterpieces, indeed. Our chocolate artisans work with them in the same way since Blue opened its doors, 40 years ago. Tell me if you find anyone you'd like to taste."

"I don't think that would be smart, but thank you anyway. I want to send a box to my sister." She told the lady. It was the first idea that crossed her mind.

"Perfect. Choose the box, and we will fill it with your selection," said the lady.

Laura followed the lady's gesturing hands and decided on the packaging. The woman looked for an empty box, and after grabbing a chocolate caliper, she stood in front of Laura, ready to fill it.

"I can't tell you which ones I want. Every one looks delicious. I think I'll trust in your taste."

The old lady started her job, and then Laura couldn't resist her intrigue and asked her, "Why are you wearing white gloves?"

"Oh, that. It's an old way to check if the temperature at the showcases is the correct one. If the gloves remain white until the end of the day, it means that it's ok. If the glove ends the day with chocolate spots, it means something is wrong with it."

She continued with her task, and looking at Laura's eyes still fixed in the box; the lady offered her a piece.

"Oh no, thank you. I should not…" Laura answered.

"It's fine. Taste this one." said the lady.

Laura was in the middle of a storm, trying to focus on the case that was hidden behind the chocolate, but she was losing the battle. Noticing a hand that seemed to be hers, she saw it was moving towards the chocolate, and once it had grabbed it, everything was lost. After putting it into her mouth, she closed her eyes and the masterpiece softly melted, making her exhale a sigh in satisfaction.

"It tastes like heaven…." It was the last thing she could think before her heaven turned into black.