I don't own Death in Paradise; I am sad that Richard Poole played by Ben Miller didn't want to stay on for a little longer. But it has become a good series despite its ups and downs.

Please let me know what you think.

Loosening Up.

As he brought up the bottle of Etensil beer - chilled thoroughly, thank you very much - to his lips and took a generous gulp of the sweet alcohol, Richard sighed in contentment; his time in London had forced him to sample the British ales, rums and beers available, but he had quickly found the beer sold on Saint Marie was perhaps the best.

He had been looking forwards to drinking a proper beer for a week now, and when he had returned to the island after dealing the last case with the failed Lindman Investments which had collapsed and everyone had lost a great deal of money. Richard hadn't had many problems believing, any more than the Commissioner had when he had approached the team at Catherine's shortly after discovering the secretary, Vicky and two cohorts were behind the murder of Malcolm Powell, the businessman behind the Lindman Investments firm in the first place, that Vicky had known more about the breakdown of the business.

Richard had seen the same suspicion in the eyes of the Commissioner, both of them felt Vicky had only murdered Powell because she had decided it was time for her to get out. At the same time, Richard asked himself if Powell had suspicions about Vicky, but since the unlucky and crooked businessman was dead it was impossible to be sure.

The Commissioner had been in contact with London following the report of Vicky and her two associates' arrest, the way they had stolen $2000 from Powell, and their connection to Lindman Investments. New Scotland Yard had many questions about the firm, and much of the lost money had never been recovered. They naturally felt Vicky could help them answer a few questions, and help reduce the mystery.

When the Commissioner had approached him about the matter after Dwayne - rather foolishly, if Richard had to add, although realistically no real harm was done although he did question the other man's common sense - gave Fidel the notification letter which held the results of the sergeant's exams, Richard wasn't completely surprised when he heard London had several questions waiting for Vicky; he would have taken a good hard look at the original case notes if he was in London still, and he would have contacted the other officers who had been responsible for investigating the original case to see if they had questions.

The return to London was something Richard had been looking forwards to for the last year. When he had arrived on Saint Marie, he hadn't been particularly happy. He had been selected to look into the murder of DI Charlie Hume, who had been investigating - in secret - trafficking and he had come to believe there were people in important positions of authority who were behind the whole thing, and he also suspected a police officer or two was also involved, and this was before his own sergeant revealed to him her true colours, and he didn't know why although he had come to suspect his superiors and fellow officers simply wanted to get rid of him.

But being on Saint Marie was like being thrown back into the past. The police station was like something you would expect to find in a farmer's market, and the technology was at least a few years out of date and there wasn't even a dedicated forensics laboratory on the island for quick analyses. And, contrary to popular beliefs, Richard had quickly discovered he didn't have a problem with the French population on the island despite his banter with Catherine and Camille; in any case, Richard had started taking a few lessons in understanding the French language so he could gain a better insight into what made the islanders tick.

But one of his biggest grievances towards the people of Saint Marie was - and it wasn't the fact there were dozens of murder cases, it wasn't because of the French on the island, and it wasn't even because the island had no season except hot, hot, hot, and even more hot with the added storm or hurricane thrown in for good measure - the airport had lost his luggage twice. When he had first come out to the island, did everyone really think he was stupid enough to bring only a suit with him? Richard had come to the island with shorts and t-shirts and a few light jackets, practical stuff like that, and light shoes and sandals. And the airport had lost it, so all he was left with were suits; he had only brought them to present an orderly, professional front. But when he learnt that he was stuck on the island, Richard hadn't known which clothing stores sold what he would need at first before he bought a few things. Sure, it was a bit short-sighted not to dress as Charlie had, but dressing professionally was something he'd had drummed into his nature from an early age.

Still, things were going to change.

He had been buying shorts, shirts and sandals for the last month, but in London, Richard had hoped to bring some of the more casual clothes he'd owned back in Britain. But now his luggage was lost. Again.

Still, he would change.

Starting tomorrow.

X

"Good morning, everyone," Richard's voice boomed through the police station, and Fidel and Camille, the only ones inside the police station at the time, looked up and did a double-take when they caught sight of the Detective Inspector. They were both used to the sight of Richard in his usual immaculate suits. Today was going to be different and it was almost like they had fallen into the Twilight Zone.

Richard was dressed in a casual t-shirt underneath a casual looking jacket and shorts.

"Sir, are you okay?" Camille asked hesitantly.

"Er, I think so, yes. Why? Oh, it's the clothes, isn't it?" Richard answered his own question with a question of his own, and he glanced down at himself. "Well, I wanted a change."

"Did you bring those clothes with you from London?" Fidel asked.

"No. I've had the shirt and the shorts for a while, but aside from walking in them along the beach a few times I haven't really worn them around the island."

"Why not?" Camille asked in confusion, thinking Richard looked good so his desire to keep walking around in those dratted suits of his made little sense to her.

"Formality was drummed into my nature a long time ago, Camille. It's hard for me to shake off, and besides when I got to the Caribbean last year I only had a few suits, but I had started buying a few things since but I wasn't comfortable wearing it to work."

"Until now," Fidel commented.

"True. The last week has made me take a good, hard look at myself and I want to try to change things a little bit," Richard confessed, thinking of all the times he had ignored people like Catherine and Camille. "There's an old saying, that's it's never too late."

Camille grinned at him.