Richard crouched by the soggy body of former cricketer Leon Mendez which had been pulled out of the rooftop pool of the Excelsior Hotel an hour ago after being discovered by a guest. At first appearances it looked like a tragic accident. However, Richard had discovered a small puncture wound at the base of his neck that he suspected came from a hypodermic needle. The coroner's report would probably confirm that the real cause of death was not drowning, but related to that injection.
"So, Leon Mendez moved to Saint-Marie after he retired three years ago," Dwayne explained. "He married a local girl, Julia Ezra, and set up a cricketing school for children. He was found this morning by a guest, a Ben Kennedy."
Richard looked up sharply.
"He's thirty five, a British national here on holiday with his wife and daughter," Dwayne continued, unaware of Richard's increased interest.
"Does he have any connection to the victim?" Camille asked.
"Not as far as we know, but it's worth checking out," Dwayne replied.
"Right, well, um. Camille, take Fidel to speak to My Kennedy," Richard instructed. "Dwayne, you and I will talk to the manager."
He ignored Camille's questioning look, stripped off his latex gloves and headed towards the Excelsior's manager, Clark Hammond, with Dwayne trotting at his heels.
XOXOXOX
Richard stared at the white board of suspects trying not to focus on Ben Kennedy's picture and instead keep his mind on the case. Despite this his eyes kept drifting towards the familiar face in the bottom left corner of the board. Which in turn made his mind drift back to- Stop it, he scolded silently.
"Hey chief, I just checked Ben Kennedy's alibi," Dwayne called. "There were several witnesses who saw him and his wife and daughter at the restaurant at the time of death."
"How reliable are they?" Richard asked.
"Pretty reliable. The commissioner and his wife were there."
"Good," Richard said quietly, trying to tell himself that he wasn't relieved.
"Okay, I just spoke to Leon Mendez's assistant," Camille said, hanging up the phone. "And he told me that Leon suspected his wife was having an affair with someone who worked at the Excelsior."
XOXOXOX
Subtlety was not Camille's strong point especially when she wanted to know something. As Richard sat with Ella on his lap, spooning pureed carrots into her mouth, Camille dropped into a chair and fixed him with a stare.
"Why did you not interview Ben Kennedy?" she asked. Richard froze, spoonful of pureed carrot held in the air much to Ella's displeasure. She reached forward trying to capture the spoon. "Richard? Richard she's going to drop that on your trousers."
"We're related," he replied, snapping back to life. Ella sucked on the spoon happily.
"Is he a cousin or something?" Camille couldn't remember him ever mentioning any relatives called Kennedy. To her knowledge, neither had his mother when they visited last year and she had given Camille a run down of what felt like every pregnancy in the family.
"No." Richard sounded very reluctant to discuss the matter, which just made her ever more curious. "We share a father," he said eventually. Camille frowned.
"I don't understand. He's your brother?"
"Half brother," he corrected quickly.
Richard placed a towel over his shoulder before lifting Ella up to burp her. Camille waited, trying to be patient; she could see he was thinking carefully about his next words.
"My dad left my mother when I was nine."
She stared at him in disbelief, sure she must have misheard.
"I came home from boarding school for Easter and he was just... gone," he continued. "He'd found someone else, she was pregnant and... he'd gone to start a new life. With them. A year later he was back. I don't know why she took him back, I think she was mad. Anyway, I didn't know who Ben was for a long time. He was just this child who turned up on Christmas sometimes. Then I got older... And I realised."
"When was the last time you saw him?"
"When I was fifteen."
"Do you want to see him?" she asked gently.
"I don't know," he sighed, taking Ella down from his shoulder. "It's been so long. I don't know what to say to him. I was so angry. I know it's not his fault but..."
"We could invite them round?" Camille suggested. "Have them for dinner?"
Richard looked unsure.
"Or how about just for a drink?" she continued. "See how it goes?"
XOXOXOX
Richard watched as Dwayne and Fidel led away Clark Hammond for the murder of Leon Mendez. He could feel both Camille and Ben's eyes on him. Since telling Camille about Ben the other night and her suggestion to invite Ben and his family round, he'd thought about it a lot when not thinking about the case. The rest of the suspects drifted away. Ben hesitated then approached Richard.
"Richard?"
"Ben, yes. Hello," he said, clasping his hands behind his back. They stared at each other awkwardly. Richard could picture Camille staring at them and could practically hear her eye roll. "I'm sorry for not, you know, getting in touch before, but you know, with the case, it wouldn't be... You know."
"No, no. I understand," Ben replied. They fell into silence again.
"How long are you on the island?" Richard asked.
"Few more days, then back home. Back to reality, cold, wind rain."
"Stop it, you're making me homesick. Anyway," Richard continued. "I was wondering, we were wondering, if you and... your wife would like to come over for a drink. We could... catch up."
"That sounds nice," Ben smiled.
XOXOXOX
A muted scream came from the kitchen. Richard hesitated in straightening his tie, frowned, then left the bedroom. He found Camille searching through the drawers, destroying the carefully created organisation he'd spent hours on.
"Lost something?" he asked.
"Corkscrew," she replied. "Honestly, I can't find anything! I could've sworn I just saw it."
Since moving into their new house two weeks ago, they'd both spent an inordinate amount of time trying to find things. Ella had created merry hell just that morning when they'd been unable to find her favourite blanket. You could see something one minute, then have it vanish the next. It was ridiculous.
From her high chair, Ella reached out her arms towards her father. Richard picked her up; her hand instantly grasping onto his tie as usual. He brushed a kiss across her forehead. Camille muttered swear words in French as she rummaged through the drawer before exclaiming in triumph as she found the corkscrew hiding at the back of the knife block. The doorbell rang. Richard's stomach jumped.
"Can you get that?" Camille asked. "Wait! No tie!"
Sighing, he pulled off the tie, throwing it into their bedroom on the way to answer the door. He smiled awkwardly as he opened the door, hoping it looked at least semi-natural. It was relieving to see Ben too looked nervous as they exchanged greetings.
"Come in," Richard said, stepping aside.
"Richard, this is my wife Christine, and our daughter Ruby," Ben said.
"Pleased to meet you," Christine Kennedy smiled, shaking Richard's hand. "Who's this?"
"Ella," Richard replied.
"How old?"
"Nine months. Follow me."
He led them through to the veranda where Camille joined them.
"Hello," she smiled, offering Ben her hand. "Good to see you again."
"Sergeant Bordey?" he said in surprise.
"Please, it's Camille." She turned to Christine. "Hello, I'm Camille."
"Christine. And this is Ruby."
They fell into an awkward silence. Camille stared at Richard. They had a silent argument as she tried to get him to make the first move. Realising that Richard's fear and Englishness had taken hold again, she admitted defeat.
"Can I get you all a drink? And please, sit down."
XOXOXOX
"He's just nervous you know," Camille told Ben. After discovering they'd both studied history at Cambridge – albeit a few years apart – Richard and Christine had struck up a conversation about their time there. Which had left Ben and Camille. Although it perhaps wasn't the most ideal situation considering the whole point of the evening had been for Richard and Ben to catch up, but at least Richard had relaxed – as much as Richard ever relaxed with anyone that wasn't Camille or Ella.
"Sorry about earlier," Ben said. "I didn't mean to sound so... You know. I just didn't realise that you and he were, well, you and he. I thought colleagues couldn't be together."
"In London, yes. Here we're a smaller team, it's more relaxed," she explained. "How long have you and Christine been married?"
"Twelve years next month," he smiled. "We were at high school together, then she went off to Cambridge. After finishing my degree, I tracked her down, turned up on her doorstep and whisked off her feet."
"Sounds romantic."
"What about you two?"
"My mother got us very drunk and we ended up spending the night together. We've been together ever since."
"Right, um..." Ben looked very like his brother when flustered. "Well that's..."
"Not romantic. I know. Sometimes he just needs a little push."
XOXOXOX
Richard lay on his back with Camille curled into his side. Despite the late hour he couldn't sleep. He knew from her breathing that Camille wasn't asleep either but neither of them spoke. His thoughts were running wild, trying to come to terms with everything. For so long he'd been angry at Ben despite knowing that he had nothing to be angry with Ben about. After all, he couldn't help who his father was anymore than Richard or even Camille could. Then he's spent so long not thinking about Ben. Now he didn't know how he felt.
"He's a nice guy," Camille whispered, shifting in his embrace. "Give him a chance."
He sighed.
"I'll try."
Camille reached up, kissing his cheek.
"Good night."