Title: Closure

Rating: T

Summary: Sometimes, wounds don't heal

A/N: I've been out of the fanfiction game for a while so have no beta for Death in Paradise fanfictions – and my spelling and grammar is atrocious. Any offers of assistance would be appreciated. This will contain Richard/Camille. I have a lot of ideas for stories exploring more about Richard's past, starting with this one. I started writing this before seeing Season 2 episode 5, so now it doesn't seem to fit so well with cannon, but oh well.

Chapter One: Seeing a Ghost

When the woman walked into the station, Richard lost his composure. Camille noticed immediately, because in doing so he spilled coffee all over her sandaled feet. However this wasn't his "oh my God a hot women just walked in" face, she'd seen that on many an occasion. Not that the woman was unattractive, but she was rather modestly dressed and at least ten years his junior. No, he had more of an "Oh my God I've just seen a ghost" look.

The woman in question had now locked eyes on Richard, and seemed quite concerned by his reaction to her. Before Camille had the chance to break the silence, she spoke, revealing she was English, "Richard, it's me, Mille? You remember me, right?"

All eyes in the room turned to him, and Richard let go of the breath he'd been holding, "Of course, Mille." He then proceeded to stare at the floor.

Millie proceeded to introduce herself, "I'm DC Millie Peterson," She said brightly as she shook hands with Dwayne, Fidel and Camille, who also introduced themselves. "I'm a Family Liaison Officer most of the time but got seconded to Barbados, so came to see you whilst I was in the area. " This was addressed to Richard, but he was still staring at the floor.

Clearly uncomfortable, DC Peterson continued to keep chatting "Richard used to babysit me. Well, actually, he was dating my sister when they were at Cambridge together. She had to look after me a lot of the time, and she'd get Richard over hoping they could dump me and spend some time together. However Richard was terrified of my father and what he would have done to him if something happened to me so he always paid more attention to me than Madeline."

Camille was loving this, she turned playfully to Richard, assuming his reticence was fear this DC Peterson would reveal embarrassing information about his past. "So she dumped you?" she asked, nudging him. But there was no responding glare or eye roll, just an almost silent, "no".

DC Peterson winced and hesitated before continuing, "No, unfortunately Maddie died."

Richard suddenly roused himself, "Well it was good of you to stop by Millie, but I need to go now though." He stumbled out of the station. SC Peterson sighed and sat down heavily on the desk, dropping a plastic bag next to her.

"Oh my God I should go after him," Camille attempted to follow, but Peterson held up her hands to halt her progress.

"Camille," She said, "Trust me when I say you shouldn't. In my experience men deal with these things in one of two ways. He's either going to get drunk, in which case you can pick him up in a couple of hours, or he'll wonder off and maybe punch a wall or two and come back in an hour or so pretending nothing is wrong. Or perhaps he'll do a bit of both…either way he does not want anybody to see him weak. It's…an English thing."

Camille was not convinced, but she also felt she was missing some vital information this woman could provide.

"I shouldn't have come; I thought he'd be okay now." The attention was now turned from the door from which Richard had left to Peterson, and they waited for her to volunteer more information. "My sister Madeline was murdered. I was 10, Richard 21; it was when they were at Cambridge together. They'd been together for 3 years. The police were able to identify the killer, but he disappeared off the face of the earth and was thus never arrested. I became a police family liaison officer to help people in the same situation as me, I'm sure Richard had similar ideas when he joined the service. He got in touch again when I graduated and offered help if I ever needed it. We email, chat on the phone sometimes, he's told me all about you." She looked up and managed a smile for the team. "But he wasn't seen me since I was 12, and everybody says I look just like my sister now."

So Camille's earlier instinct that Richard had seen a ghost seemed to be correct. She sat down next to Millie, who suddenly looked a lot younger, and put a comforting arm around her shoulders, "I'm so sorry."

Millie nodded her thanks, before continuing, "We have a slightly bigger problem than Richard being spooked by me. I wasn't seconded to Barbados; I was there because we finally got a lead on the location of the man who killed my sister. We've found him, and in one week, he'll be on Saint Marie."