Hi everyone, thanks so much for your reviews! And Sweepeaspatch for being my beta!

This chapter will tell you a bit more...

Chapter 38

Richard looked up from his tea. He had finished his sandwich with Camille in silence just as Nick had come in again. Nick had given them lots of time to talk things through. And Richard was thankful for that. The man in question was sitting behind Dwayne's desk again, looking at a spot on the wall as he tried to reminiscence important things about Kris. Relief spread through Richard once again when he reminded himself that Nick hadn't touched Camille. He found himself smiling which apparently was totally inappropriote in this situation. So he quickly covered it up behind his tea mug. His eyes went shortly to Camille who was focused on her notes and Nick. She'd said that she found him attractive. Him! Not Nick. Him! He smiled again. Hid it again. Something fluttered in his stomach. He tasted his tea and then focused on Nick too. Nick was just telling them about the day he'd come to Saint Marie and Kris had thrown the tea on top of him. After that Kris had dragged Nick outside, out of earshot of the rest;

La Kaz, Flasback

Kris grabbed Nick by his arm and dragged him outside La Kaz. She pushed him to the side of the building, in a calm spot. "What are you doing here?" She asked with a trembling voice.

"You left without a trace. No goodbye, no messages, you didn't even take my phone calls." Nick explained. It was good to see her again. Even though she was fuming with anger. He was glad that she was still in one piece. He had been so worried.

"Maybe you should have taken the hint." Kris bit coldly.

Nick swallowed. That hurt. "What hint?" He studied her quickly. "The hint of you sticking your nose where it doesn't belong?" He had promised himself to stay calm, but that was getting increasingly difficult right now. Especially when she was insulting him and he was tired from his long plain flight.

Kris clenched her teeth as she stared at him with venom in her eyes. "What are you doing here?" She asked again, in a calm tone. But the tremble of anger in her voice was imminent and seeped through every word now.

Nick grinned lazily. He could play her game too. Dimples appeared in his cheeks. "Well, what shall I say?" He asked as he stretched lazily and looked around before he eyed her. "I'm on... What do you call it? Holiday?"

"You're not on holiday!" She spat as she put her hands in her sides.

"O yes, I am on holiday. You do know how I just LOVE to follow you on one of your wild goose chases." He didn't radiate calmness anymore. It started to look threatening now.

"You're not on holiday. And I am NOT on a wild goose chase!" Kris countered heatedly.

"But you are on holiday? O , no... Wait, you're 'just visiting' aren't you?" Nick asked with sarcasm in his voice.

Kris just stared at him. Her eyes big and defiant.

Nick shook his head. This was getting tiresome. When she was in this state, no one could reach her, it seemed. "Commissioner Patterson wants to talk to you. Commissioner Ryan has put us on this case to assist with Detective Sergeant Bordey and Inspector Poole. Don't shoot the messenger." Nick said innocently as he straightened himself.

"This is because of you, isn't it?! Meddling in my business again!" Kris barked as she planted her finger into his chest. "How dare you?! Why can't you just leave me be?! I'm not going." She said defiantly as she crossed her arms in front of her chest stubbornly.

Police Station, now

"That's right. I remember her resistance in helping us. Now I understand. I was eager to work with her again. She wasn't, because she was already working her own case." Camille thought out loud.

"Was she? Or was she just pretending to not want to work with us?" Richard questioned.

"But why would she do that? We didn't suspect anything, even if she'd said yes to working together immediately. I would have never thought she would go and steal. Never." Nick asked.

"Maybe, if something changed in her, that wasn't the moment yet." Richard pondered as he looked at Photo-Kris again. "Let's put that on the timeline." He'd made a long vertical list on his desk with a line as timeline on it. He took some tape and put it on the white board, below the photos. "Maybe there was one moment that she changed in. Or maybe she already came with her whole plan in mind straight from England. Let's keep all options open. I don't want to miss anything."

La Kaz, flashback

"We used to tell each other everything, what changed? My patience was wearing very thin, weeks ago," Nick stepped towards Kris. "Tell me that you haven't been doing what I think you have been doing." He asked in a low dark voice.

Kris looked up at him. She huffed. "Leave me alone please." She passed him.

Nick grabbed her upper arm and twisted her back towards him easily. She gasped in shock when he pulled her close and she almost collided with his chest. Nick's breathing hitched surprised. This wasn't his meaning... It was his meaning to stop her, because he was angry and she was making no sense. Why did it feel like the air between them was crackling? And why did his body react like that? He had touched her before, many times. Why was this one time different? They both stared at each other for a moment. Something hung in the air, all around them. He could see her swallow as she stared at him with wide eyes. It was like they were caught in the moment. Frozen in time. Not able to move.

"Kris...Stop fighting me. I'm here to help you, nothing more..." Nick reminded her in a soft tone when he managed to break the silence. He wanted to know what was behind her anger. He wanted to understand.

Something softened in her eyes. But too soon a barrier came up. Like a curtain that pulled down easily, shutting him out.

"Let go of me," she instructed neatly as she looked pointedly at his hand on her upper arm.

Nick sighed defeated as his hand left her arm. He knew that tone. If he wouldn't let go immediately she'd make him let go and that would make her anger even worse. He put up his hands beaten. "You've been avoiding me in England these last weeks. I don't know what to do anymore to reach you. But I know one thing," he took a step towards her again. "I gave you space and I'm finished with that now," his otherwise friendly blue gaze had turned cold and hard as he stared at her.

"I don't know why you are doing this, but I'm asking you to let this go. Let me go," her dark eyes swooped over his face. Reading him.

Nick nodded as he took in her every feature too. "I might consider that, if you give me a good reason and the truth," he shook his head when he saw her mimic.

Kris looked at him, with big puppy dog eyes, but she didn't answer. Her eyes left his face. She was looking out over the sea. A soft wind blew through her hair.

Nick took a step towards her. "I will trace every step you took here since you put one foot out of that plain and..." Nick breathed in deeply as he walked in on her. "If I find out that you've been doing anything other then surfing, if you have been following-"

"-You what?" Kris uttered as she swallowed and stepped back until her back collided with the wood wall of Catherine's cafe. She straightened herself and stepped towards him angrily. They were standing so close to each other now. Like two peacocks facing off. Almost touching noses. "You'll act like a dominant, arrogant pig? Newsflash: you're already getting there pretty fast! You'll tell Ryan? Big deal! You didn't believe me then, why would I ever think you'd listen to me now?" Kris snapped.

"I'll have your ass on the plain back to England so fast that you won't even know what hit you." Nick threatened as his eyes spat fire at her. He could feel her warm breath against his face. It sent tingles all over his spine. But the anger towards her was bigger, the need to have her safe, to have her listen. To talk some sense into her!

"If you even so much as touch my ass I'll break all your fingers! With pleasure!" Kris threatened as she put her finger in his chest at the last words. "Who do you think you are?! Threatening me-"

"-I'm not threatening you Milano. I'm keeping you from ending up in a body bag. And you know it," he snapped.

She took a step away from him. "O! How chivalrous! The knight in shining armor comes swooping in because the lady is so dumb and stupid that she can't take care of herself?"

"I wouldn't call you a lady." He countered dryly.

"This is exactly why I didn't tell you," Kris shook her head sadly. "You followed me all this way and you come to control me and patronize me."

Nick looked away with an impatient, frustrated smile on his face. "I forgot how you can't take help from anyone. This is so classically you. And you're the psychologist here! How ironic."

Kris stepped to the side, away from him and began to walk away.

"You have two options; The first is you work this case with me and stay away from him. If you don't do this I promise again that I will follow you everywhere like a shadow and I'll strip every man who'll even dare to look at you and I'll start with that Logan guy right now!" Nick said as he pointed the way Logan had gone. He was talking to her back, but she'd stopped the moment he mentioned Logan's name. He knew that would trigger her. "You know how annoying I can be. I can make sure that no other man will ever take one step towards you without me interfering, if I want to," he grinned evily at her. If he loved one thing, it was chasing off any man that even dared to come close to her. "Don't tempt me."

"Don't you dare!" Kris warned as she hurried back to him.

"O? You want to test me?! I'm in a bad mood already. Jet leg and all that," Nick spat at her as he turned his back to her and began walking towards the way Logan had gone.

"Nick! No!" Kris uttered shocked as she grabbed his arm and turned him around, back towards her. "Stop ordering me around!" She barked. "And you even pulled commissioner Ryan into this?! And Patterson?"

"Maybe because one of his cops was acting on impulse and left her brain in England!" Nick sneered. "The case has gone to your head. You're taking it too personal."

"Don't you dare decide that for me!" She shrieked in anger. "That's why I need a holiday!"

"That Logan guy won't be that difficult to find. Surf instructor is he? Or have you two been doing something else?" Nick began to walk but got stopped by her hand on his bicep again.

"Nick! Don't be stupid!" She uttered annoyed. She urged him to stop with her hand and then avoided making eye contact. He could see the muscles in her jaw work. When she finally looked at him he almost took a step back because of the emotional vulnerability he saw in her eyes. They gleamed with unshed tears and a deep pain.

"You think I'm crazy." She sounded so vulnerable. Her voice was small, like a little childs voice and hoarse with emotion.

She was opening up to him. Finally! "I don't think you're crazy at all." Nick answered softly and confused as he frowned at her.

"Yes, you do." Her eyes stood so serious. She finally looked up at him to meet his gaze. "I saw it in the way you looked at me the last time we spoke." She bit her lower lip as she looked away and shook her head. Her brows frowned in a painful look. "You think I need time, you didn't believe me. You didn't believe that there was something more going on with Brad Hollis." She let go of his arm and put up her hands. "And maybe you're right." She shrugged and nodded at him. "I'm not doing this to be right Nick. This is not some ego-game. Maybe Brad Hollis is innocent. Maybe I'm seeing things or feeling things that aren't there. But I don't want to keep wondering about that for the rest of my life. And if he helped kill these woman, he needs to pay. For them. And I need closure."She massaged her forehead with one hand. "I have to be sure." She looked up at him now.

"I understand," he said softly.

"Do you?" Her nostrils flared and she shook her head. "No, you don't, you gave up on me." She spoked sadly.

Nick looked away. "I didn't give u-"

"-You were pretty clear." She interrupted him quickly. "About your 'flick the switch' comment."

"I didn't give up on you!" He urged as he took her underarm.

"It's okay." She stepped away from him. "I don't blame you Nick. I really don't. We all have different ways of coping... Yours is another way. But please let me have mine." She put her hands in her pockets. "And I have the idea that you don't."

"I do! We had a difference of opinion. That's all. That doesn't mean that I wasn't there for you. You pushed me away. You ignored me since then."

"Maybe that was for the best." She shrugged. "Please understand why I went here alone. I wanted to do some research on my own. If I find something, then I will tell someone else. If I find nothing... Then you were right."She shrugged. "I'm in no one's way. What's so bad about that?" She sounded defeated, sad, tired.

He didn't want her to feel sad, beaten and alone. Something dawned on him. She was putting herself in danger and he hated it. "That's not the only reason why you told no one is it? And it's not the only reason why you shut me out." Nick concluded as he studied her face.

"What do you mean?"

"You didn't tell Camille, or anyone else, because you know that she'd stop you immediately and try to talk some sense into you, if that's even possible."

Kris shook her head tiredly. "I make my own decisions Nick. I can do whatever I want on my own holiday. And I decide for myself what I think is dangerous and what's not."

"And what if someone grabs you?" He asked worried as he looked at her again.

"I'm being very careful. You know that I'm good with blending in."

"Blending in?! Kris!" He gestured around him heatedly. "This is the freaking Caribbean! Not England! You stand out like a Snow Puppet on the beach. You're like Bambi between criminals."

"Don't patronize me." She warned.

"You know what I mean. Everyone will remember your freckly light skin. Your built."

"My built?! What's that supposed to mean?" She repeated flabbergasted.

He gestured towards her. "You stand out Kris! You're tall, your limbs are everywhere and-"

"-Woow thanks." She interrupted sarcastic and hurt. His description of her didn't sound very attractive to her own ears.

"I want you to stop going after him right now."

"Don't be like that." She told him.

"Like what? Worried? Am I coming too close? Is that it?"

"No, I meant bossy. And authorotative. You don't get to order me around."

Now

"And did she? Stop?" Richard asked.

"Yes, at least... So she said. She took the deal. Of course. She didn't want to anger our Commander any further and she knows I was very serious about sticking to her like glue." Nick stood up.

'So Kris didn't want to tell me because she was afraid I would stop her?" Camille asked.

Nick nodded. "She wanted to find clear evidence first, before she told you and Richard."

Camille muttered a few French words that didn't sound to friendly. "That sounds like her."

"So somewhere along these last days or weeks, Kris made a jump from wanting to put herself in danger for a case, to becoming a criminal that doesn't care about anything anymore but money. That whole change of character still doesn't seem logical to me at all." Richard thought out loud. "Is it possible... That someone blackmailed her?"

"But she was alone," Nick said as he looked at Richard.

Richard turned to the white board behind him. "Wouldn't it be convenient to have an inside man, -woman in this case-, to steal diamonds for you?" He turned back towards them again and stared at Camille. "What could anyone have on her?"

Camille wasn't facing Richard. She was staring at the ground, deep in thought. Running through all the options. "That still doesn't explain her behavior."

"And that's what makes this case so difficult isn't it? We keep hanging in her behavior; 'How could she have said those things? How could she have betrayed you? How could she have hurt all of you.'" Richard repeated as he began to pace and looked from afar at the white board. His eyes went to Nick. "She's a psychologist you said. She's good at manipulating, blending in. She made some sort of cloud around this whole case so we can't see clearly. You are all wrapped up in emotions and pain. It even confused me." Richard narrowed his eyes in thought.

"You mean she hurt us with the intention to hide something? Not with the intention to hurt us in the first place?" Nick asked as he thought about this new theory.

"I'm not sure yet." Richard answered as he put his marker against his chin. "She was trying to tell us something at the same time. With the bullets, the keys, making it easy for us." He pointed at Camille. "She only defended herself in the fight with you, according to Nick. At the same time she spins a psychological net around all of you, all of us. By getting to what is most important to us." He looked at Nick. "She seduced you and humiliated you," he looked at Camille. "She took the big insults out for you... To get you angry," he studied Camille as he thought back about Kris's behavior towards Camille. "But you didn't get angry. Not angry enough. It's like she pushed, and pushed."

"What?" Camille asked.

"In the hallway at the mansion; the party. She pointed the empty gun at Nick. She waited. That bothered me all along, why wait? She could have run away already. No, there had to be a reason for her to stick along." He ticked his marker against the board. Much to Camille's chagrin. "The reason wasn't clear to me, it only brought more danger to her. She humiliated you," he said as he looked at Camille, "she pushed you, and she kept on pushing. I bet that she knows your tipping point, doesn't she?" He pointed the Marker at her.

"Don't point that at me." Camille warned as she wanted to grab it from him, but he was just in time to pull it away from her quick grip.

Richard turned around in one swift move, putting the marker against his chin again. "All the things she said weren't enough, you wouldn't attack her. But the things she said about Aimee..." He turned back towards Camille. "Even I could predict that would make you explode. And what happens when you explode?"

Camille frowned angrily at his words.

"She gets angry?" Nick filled in curiously, hanging on every word that came from Richard's lips.

"No, Err... Yes... I didn't mean that." He dared to point the marker at Camille again. "She attacks."

"I'm not a dog." Camille countered heatedly.

"You have trouble with reigning yourself in." Richard stated easily, without thinking of the consequences.

She grabbed the marker from him and threw it against the wall. Nick looked with open mouth at the marker that rolled away from the wall now.

"Impulsive, edgy, French. Your breaking point is quite easy to find." Richard told her analytically.

Camille's nostrils flared. She felt dissected like an insect. And insulted.

"Pay attention Camille." Richard told her when he saw her jaw working overtime.

"So she slapped away the gun!" Nick filled in. He ignored the tension between Camille and Richard.

"So she couldn't shoot you." Richard said as he looked at Nick. "And she already knew that she couldn't really shoot you because she had emptied the gun of its bullets earlier." He looked from Camille back at Nick. "You said that she is good with guns and knives, if she really wanted you dead she'd already had the chance before that moment, many times. She didn't kill you on the bed, and she didn't in the hallway."

Camille began to pace. She got goosebumps all over her skin. "So you mean that she wanted me to stop her from shooting Nick..." She replayed the scene and everything Kris had said. Could she find more clues?

"And she was too close to you already, she would never stand so close to someone because she knows it's easy to get to the gun that way." Nick mentioned.

"But what does that say?" Camille asked as she looked up at Richard. "There was no one else in the hallway. So she was performing an act? For someone?"

"Like a puppet on a string." Richard said deep in thought as he looked at the Photo-Kris. "Did someone force you to shoot Nick?" He asked the dark paper eyes.

Nick looked at the white board too. Could it be true?

0000

And? What do you think?