Set a little more than a month after the end of Series 2. AU, series 3 ff. don't exist.

Includes references to

'A Meditation on Murder'

(No. 1 of the 'Death in Paradise' novels)

Chapter 1 – The Heat Is On

It was yet another hot day in paradise. Or rather, on the Caribbean island of Saint Marie… The four people sitting in the station of the Saint Marie Police Force were sweating quietly. The ceiling fan that had whisked the air and helped to make things a little more bearable until recently had given up its ghost two days ago.

Detective Inspector Richard Poole sighed and mopped his brow with his already soaked handkerchief. Detective Sergeant Camille Bordey, dressed in a strappy red top and tan capris said sardonically "It would be easier for you if you took off your jacket, sir."

Her two colleagues, Police Officer Dwayne Myers and Sergeant Fidel Best, exchanged a knowing glance. She just couldn't leave him alone, could she? She had suggested the same thing already twice before today (not to mention the countless times she had said it since his arrival over two years ago) – and he hadn't given in. What made her think that he'd do so this time?

But this time, they were in for a surprise: Richard really couldn't take it any more. He sighed again, got up and said "You may be right after all…" He took off his jacket, placed it over the backrest of his wheelie chair and trotted to the fridge to take out a bottle of cold water.

With another sigh, he pressed the bottle to the nape of his neck and closed his eyes. Why, oh why had he agreed to stay on this godforsaken island for another year recently? What on earth had come over him? He was uncomfortable, his shirt was glued to his torso, his hair was messy and damp, and sweat ran in rivulets down his back. He longed for a shower. Not that this would help for more than exactly two minutes, though – the heat was relentless in the Caribbean.

He rolled the bottle up and down a little and enjoyed the feeling for a moment. Without thinking, he lifted his other hand, minimally loosened his tie and opened the top button of his shirt, running his index finger between his neck and the collar. Oh, the relief was beyond words…

He heard a snigger, and when he opened his eyes, his gaze met Camille's – she seemed amused, but there also was something else in her eyes that he couldn't quite pinpoint. He felt the colour rising high in his cheeks, and with a flush of embarrassment he was reminded of one of his main – albeit 'top-secret' and entirely inofficial - reasons for staying on Saint Marie.

The truth was that his DS played a major role in his decision – although he would never have admitted it if anybody had asked him. He was hardly ready admit it to himself, but he had clearly fallen for her – whatever that meant. She fascinated him, and the prospect of leaving and never seeing her again had horrified him.

So, although he hadn't got the faintest idea of where this all was going – if it was going anywhere at all! -, he had decided to stay – following a completely unreasonable 'instinct' – a notion that he hated almost as much as the notion 'gut feeling', but still… he had been unable to ignore it. He had chided himself for being so irrational, but he couldn't help it… And well, he had survived for over two years here – he'd survive another one… and if he ever got his act together and asked her out, maybe there even was a future for him on this island. If not… well, he'd find somewhere else to go and move on with his life.

There were other (more valid) reasons for him to stay, of course – and those were the official rationales he was ready to admit to himself, though not to others. Much to his surprise, he had never before felt so appreciated and valued in his career – well, if you wanted to call it a career.

He enjoyed working with this team – Dwayne, Fidel and even Camille gave him a feeling of acknowledgement he had never known before. The lack of ballistics and forensics still annoyed him, but he could work around that if necessary, and never before had he been so satisfied with his work. Despite the fact that nothing worked the way he had been used to when he first arrived here, he truly enjoyed his job. It was definitely better being No. 1 here on Saint Marie than being No. 1042 (or something like that) in London. He could work independently, with a team that fully backed him up – that was like winning the lottery.

The team – despite all their little deficits - was very supportive, and after a slightly confusing time of adjustment, they all had got used to one another, and they accepted him without further questions. Sure, they found his quirks a little strange, but they didn't make any mean jokes at his expense, and although Camille liked to wind him up, she never was malicious or spiteful. Initially, they had found it somewhat difficult to work with each other, but since they had been thrown together by the Commissioner, they hadn't had any choice but make the best of the situation.

Over the past years, they had got it together somehow, and he had learnt to trust her instincts. They compensated for their respective shortcomings – he was pedantic and accurate, and she was resourceful and intuitive. Together with Dwayne and Fidel, they had solved many difficult cases, and he knew very well that it was the team as a whole that was responsible for the crime solving rate - not just him.

Another thing was that absolutely nobody was waiting for him back in the UK. He didn't have a bad relationship with his parents, but they had never been very close, either, so he had not even asked them for their opinion when he had been offered an extension of the assignment a little more than a month ago.

HR had asked him when he had been back to London. For a moment he had been tempted to decline the offer and ask for a re-transfer to the UK, but then a memory had overcome him… the memory of Camille's eyes – big, dark and shiny with mysterious, unspoken emotions - and her deliberately neutral voice as she was saying matter-of-factly "You're not coming back, are you" – as if she was stating an obvious, plain fact. For a moment, he had been speechless – why would she care?

Still, she had appeared unsettled, and in an attempt to reassure her, he had tried to play things down by saying that he'd come back for sure – only to take it all back by coming up with the "but then again, you never know" scenario… - out of fear that his words might have betrayed his irritatingly intense feelings for her.

During his stay in the UK he had tried to forget it, but the memory had kept haunting him, and so, despite all his nagging and complaining about the island, he had agreed to staying on Saint Marie.

He still wasn't sure that he had done the right thing, but it was too late now to entertain regrets and question his reasons… He was stuck here for another year, and he just had to deal with it, for better or for worse.

His parents had simply acknowledged and accepted his decision when he had told them. He had claimed that it was easiest to stay on Saint Marie at this point and that the Commissioner had asked him to stay (which was true… but Richard wouldn't have paid much heed to that if he really, truly had wanted to leave). His house in Croydon was sold, and he would have to look for a new place if he returned to the UK, anyway. He didn't have any friends who might miss him, either.

He hated the humidity and the heat on Saint Marie – not to mention the sand, the lizards and snakes, the stray cats everywhere, the croaking frogs near his house, the free range chickens in and around his house… but all that – as unlikely as it sounded - got outweighed by the positive sides of this assignment. When he had first come here, he hadn't believed he'd ever see anything remotely positive in this place… but despite all the obvious drawbacks, he had somehow come to like this island and its population.

Particularly one member of its population…

She was still looking at him, a provocative little smile curved her lips.

Embarrassed, he looked away and asked Fidel "Any luck in getting hold of the electrician, Fidel?"

"Well, sir, I have called him earlier today, and I have called him yesterday and the day before. I can call him again, if you wish, but I doubt it would speed him up…" Fidel offered.

Richard returned to his desk and sat down again. "Does it have to be Andrew? I mean, isn't there anybody else on this benighted island who could fix that bloody thing?" he asked exasperatedly while he was rolling up the sleeves of his shirt.

Dwayne shook his head and said regretfully "There are two other shops on the island but they are extremely busy, too – and they are both further away than Andrew. Plus they don't have a history with the police as a customer - so, realistically, I don't think there's an alternative, Chief… unless you want someone from Guadeloupe, and you know how the Commissioner feels about that sort of thing…"

Richard let out another sigh and said with a resigned voice "Well, if you don't know anybody, I'm pretty sure it's a hopeless case…"

With that, he opened his bottle and took a swig of the cold water.

Camille still watched him from under her lashes. She had no idea why he fascinated her like that – but he did. She had never met anybody like him. While she had initially thought she could never work with him, she now loved working with him – not that she would outright admit it to him, but she suspected that he knew. And although he still complained about her being impulsive and jumping to conclusions, she knew exactly that he trusted her and appreciated her approach to things. And she had learnt from him that little details could indeed count and make a huge difference. So, they complemented each other nicely.

She didn't quite know why, but - he was more to her than just the Inspector, and she wanted to get to know him better – his personality, his soft spots, his personal history, his hopes, fears and dreams… Slowly, but surely, she had fallen for him, and she had tried to make him understand that she was interested in something deeper than just a work relationship.

Since he was so different from all other men she knew, though, her usual repertoire of female tricks, hints and clues to show her interest and make her potential prey understand that she'd like to be flattered, courted and eventually conquered had failed completely so far.

He didn't seem to notice.

She wasn't sure, though, if he didn't notice – or if he just wasn't interested. She had seen him looking at other women from time to time, so she knew he wasn't immune to female assets, but his gaze had never rested on her longer than necessary. Two or three times she had thought she had seen an appreciative gleam in his eyes, and yes, he had said once that she looked stunning – but that compliment had been a mayfly – he had never said anything like that again.

Against all odds, he had come back from the UK – she had been surprised and thrilled to see him again after what had seemed like an eternity – and in fact, it had only been a week. It had been such a relief to have him around again – she had feared he would abandon the team – abandon her, actually. She had even cried over him! She had been careful not to show her emotions too openly, but she suspected that Fidel and Dwayne knew, anyway – and her mother might have an inkling, too. But since nobody ever said anything, she figured she was perhaps better at hiding her feelings than she gave herself credit for.

She had thought he had noticed that she cared… During the night of the hurricane, when he had confessed that he liked doing puzzles because he could do them on his own, she had responded that he didn't have to do things on his own any more because… well, he had her now. She had thought he might figure it out then. Even he couldn't possibly be that daft… When she had stretched out on the makeshift bed in the lab, she had half hoped that he would join her and maybe they'd get closer – she hadn't expected him to pull off a romantic scene, but he could have held her, couldn't he, particularly after the meaningful conversation they had just had…

And after all, they were only two humans, and they had been all alone in a small building in the hurricane… the rain had been pelting on the roof, the wind had been gushing… it would have been the most normal thing in the world to comfort and reassure one another in this scary situation by holding on to each other.

But that hadn't happened. He had indeed come to lie next to her eventually, but only after she had fallen asleep and he had been too tired to continue reading. She had woken up when he had called her in the morning, and she thought she had felt him touching her for a moment, but that had been all.

Their relationship had changed a little after that, but still… it hadn't been what she had had in mind when she had made that remark.

As unlikely as it had seemed, she had hoped that since he hadn't figured it out then, something might happen between them after his return. But no… nothing. Much to her disappointment, he hadn't given her any reason to believe that she had played a role in his decision to return. There hadn't been any hint that he saw more in her than a member of his team. How utterly frustrating he was… Admittedly, it hadn't been more than a few weeks since his return, and considering that he was generally a very reserved man, it was surely silly to expect him to change his behaviour towards her within such a relatively short time span, but still…

She was getting irritated with him – it couldn't be so difficult to figure this out, could it… On some days, she felt extremely annoyed with him – how could he be so dense? On other days, she realised she was over-reacting. It was hard to be in limbo like that – she hated this. Even when she had fallen in love for the first time as a teen, it had been easier – mostly because she had known pretty much right from the start that the feeling was mutual. With Richard, she was clueless. It bothered her that he seemed so unruffled and unimpressed with her. If she hadn't cared for him, it wouldn't have bothered her so much, obviously…

Had she perhaps become 'rusty' in her flirting skills? No, that couldn't be the case. Other men reacted to her. It was only him who resisted her. She didn't dare to show her feelings too openly, though – there was a certain danger in behaving too affectionately towards one's boss… It could easily be misunderstood! It was not that she wanted to push her career – as many people would perhaps assume – it was different.

No, it was about real feelings, and it had to be him who'd make the first move, so she didn't look ridiculous… she had been burnt before by showing her emotions too openly, and she didn't want to repeat that experience. No, it had to be him to take the first step and show his interest….

She really, really wanted something to happen…

She stretched out her long legs, took up a pen and began to doodle aimlessly on the paper napkin that was left over from her lunch break. Shifting a little on her chair, she realised that her top was clinging to her body, and sweat was running down her back.

The heat was killing her. Something had to happen about that, too.