A New Day

Jane jolted up at the sound of her alarm. 6 o'clock sharp, ready to wake up to the sunny shores of Saint Marie. As per her usual routine, she started to change into her uniform, this time sporting a new look. Her new shirt was a light blue with the Saint Marie police logo on the front pocket and shoulder. Jane liked the look of the logo, it was simple, yet highly recognised and respected by everyone on the island. She had the choice between wearing a skirt or trousers, but decided to go with the latter since it made her more comfortable in the long run. Her trousers were a very dark blue with a white stripe down along the leg, which was not ideal for the scorching heat, but at least looked quite fashionable. Jane's choice of shoes was thankfully quite lenient, so she decided to go with some plain old black trainers - she didn't want to go too bold!

After making sure she was at least half-decent, she finally opened the door to her room, letting in the gentle wind from outside. Jane took a big breath of fresh air, noticing how peaceful it was outside. Waking up to sand was not usual for Jane, and neither was hearing the soft waves of the ocean. It made her smile to know that she had finally gone out of London for once, even if it was only temporary.

The next part of her routine was to put her earplugs in and put on her favourite playlist. She pressed shuffle and placed it in her shirt pocket, Let's Do Rock Steady by Dandy played. "Oh, yes! I love this song." Jane tried to whisper to herself but, it came out a little louder than she wanted.

As she let the song play, Jane got carried away and started singing along. "People get ready... ba ba ba... let's do rock steady... ba ba ba" then continued to add a bit of dance along with it as she entered her own world.

Meanwhile, Detective Inspector Neville Parker was getting ready himself, putting on his usual shirt and tie. Neville felt good about today, knowing that he and Jane had bonded unexpectedly the night before. She had more in common with him than he thought, it felt relieving to know that someone could possibly understand his struggles with his own anxiety. Thinking of that, he wanted to check up on Jane, to make sure she was okay after the ordeal of yesterday, but first, he knew he had to feed his pet lizard, Harry - or his lodger, as he put it.

"Harry?" He shouted, to try to get the green creature's attention. "Where are you?" He added, as if the lizard could reply. Neville stepped out onto the veranda to try to call out to Harry a few more times, but no luck. He decided to try around the corner, maybe Harry had decided to scare the life out of Jane again, he thought.

As he got closer, he heard slight mumbles from Jane's room. Neville's curiosity took over him as he popped his head into the invitingly open door. There stood Jane, still shuffling along to her song without a care in the world, trying to put her belt on. An "Oh my god!" escaped Neville's mouth as he was trying not to laugh at Jane's dancing.

Jane snapped her head around while her leg was still up from her current dance. She paused for a second, coming back into reality and realising she was - in fact - not alone in her London flat. She gasped at the sight of her new boss and ripped her earbuds out of her ears, dropping her belt on the floor at the same time. "I... um... hello!" She said, while awkwardly waving, trying to pretend nothing had happened. "I forgot that I don't live alone anymore." She finally confessed while looking down.

Although the exchange was awkward as hell, Neville admired Jane's energy in the morning. "It's okay, everyone should have a good dance in the morning, that's my motto." He teased, "I was looking for Harry, actually... have you seen him?" He said while looking around the walls.

"Ah, no, not yet, but I'm sure he'll be back to haunt me again." She laughed, recalling the night before.

Neville nodded with a smile and started walking back to the living room. "Well, give me a shout if you do!"

Jane hadn't quite recovered from the embarrassing moment that had just happened, but she was glad that Neville could just laugh it off. She had a lot of respect for him for what he did yesterday and appreciated how understanding he was. It was incredible, she didn't think that she could relate to someone as high rank as Neville. Normally she was very intimidated by authority, but she had been very lucky with how kind her two bosses were.

About to go out of her room, Jane realised she had forgotten to put her belt and hat back on. It was quite a cool belt, she thought. It was white and had a golden clasp which complimented well against her dark trousers, liking that she could actually be stylish at her job for once. Flipping the hat onto her freshly pony-tailed hair, she finally emerged from her room, noticing Neville was crouched down on the floor.

"Sir? Are you alright?" She said, wondering if he had fallen onto the floor.

"Yes! Just feeding Harry here, he likes crushed up mangos and mozzies." He replied.

Jane tried not to make a face at that 'wonderful' concoction. "Oh right, what about you, sir? What do you have for breakfast? Anything Caribbean related?"

"I'm going to be honest, the food out here doesn't really... agree with me. I prefer just the bog-standard buttered toast." He said while pointing at the already made food on the table. "I made one for you too." He smiled.

"Oh, thank you, sir!" She happily said, appreciating the gesture.

Neville and Jane both sat at the table, enjoying their toast. "So, what do you think of it all in the morning?" Neville said while admiring the ocean.

"It's beautiful, I just can't believe I'm here, to be honest, it feels like a dream." She chuckled.

"You know, there's so much more on the island the rest of the team and I can't wait to show you. There's a bar that we all go to at the end of a long day, actually, you should come!" He excitedly said, wanting Jane to experience the island as much as she can during her stay.

"Would that bar happen to be called Catherine's?" She replied with a smirk.

"Oh, yes... how did you know that?" He said, surprised.

"It's DI Mooney, he talks about this place a lot back in London. Catherine's bar has made an appearance multiple times in his various stories, he talks highly of the women herself too, of course!" She grinned, excited to finally meet her.

"I see, he's really hyped the place up, hasn't he? It's not surprising, this place can change you for the better." He grinned, thinking of his current time on the island. Like his predecessors, Neville understood how different Saint Marie was compared to London and enjoyed it for the most part. Although occasionally, he wishes to be back in the weather of England, sitting in the pub with his mates and participating in his quiz team, he has really grown to like the Caribbean, even if the Caribbean isn't too kind to him sometimes.

Jane smiled while continuing to finish her toast. A loud beep from around the corner shook the sand around the shack, giving Jane a startle.

"What was that?" She said, holding her hand to her heart.

"It's the jeep." He chuckled. "DS Thomas is ready to take us to the police station, be prepared to hear that beep every morning."

Neville and Jane made their way to the jeep, with Neville sitting next to Naomi and Jane sitting in the back. Off they went to the police station, hoping to progress with the case. Jane was nervous but excited to finally have her full professional day at the station, especially working with her newfound team.