Part 4 of 4

While all this is happening at the station, Camille Bordey wakes up in her own bed (hopefully not something she will have to endure for much longer) and stretches luxuriously. She crushes a pillow to herself and kisses it senseless before flinging it onto the floor and jumping to her feet.

On her way downstairs to put the coffee on, she sends a text with a smug look on her face. Her cell phone dings on her way back up the stairs and she reads it several times with an even smugger look on her mug. She spends several minutes texting a reply then jumps into the shower and spends almost twice as much time as it usually takes to make herself irresistible. Because now she's got a good reason, the best reason in the world and woe betide him if he doesn't notice!

She reads his reply to her reply over and over again as she dresses then decides she'll stop at the lingerie shop on her way to work to see what's new and/or (hopefully AND) sinful. Once in the shop, she asks for his opinions on her choices and both of them spend a very happy time texting about lace, ribbon, rosettes, and white versus black versus pink.

By the time she gets to work, he looks as happy as she feels. She rustles the little paper bag at him before slipping into her bottom drawer. She notices that his eyes are glued to this drawer as she strolls over to the break area for a coffee. She smiles at him over the rim of her mug, certain her purchase will get a very brief but energetic workout later tonight.

"Hey!" Dwayne flutes as he comes in from the back room, "Here she is, one half of the newest shiniest most unexpected couple onna island! Congratulations!" He sweeps her up into a boisterous bear hug.

Camille's eyes are huge as she swivels around to pin the Englishman where he sits. "You TOLD them?!" she all but shouts in surprise as she is buffeted by Dwayne.

Richard winces and twists in his chair, "I DIDN'T, they already knew! I tried to bluff my way out of it but… but…" He flashes a bossy eye at Fidel, "It was two against one and I had no ammunition!"

Dwayne flaps a hand at his boss and laughs, "Don't be too hard on him, Sarge, he tried his best, but it has to be the worst-kept secret inna world, you two. People have been talkin' for months 'bout it."

Camille gives her paramour one last hot glare then rolls her eyes, "Oh, alright, I guess I shoulda known better." She calls over Dwayne's shoulder, "I'm sorry, Richard, I should have known you'd never brag about the stupendous, incredible, huge…"

"Ca-MILLE!" he strangles out, eyes frantically signaling her to shush! She merely laughs with delight and now Richard realizes he is the object of speculative masculine looks as Fidel joins the group hug going on in the middle of the room. He watches for several moment then snaps out in a clipped voice that sounds rather proprietary, "Careful there, officers, I hate to sound territorial but… careful there."

Both men grin and step back, turning to salute the boss. "Yes sir, sir," Dwayne sasses, "whatever you say. Yer right, no more hugs or kisses or nuthin'." He nods to Fidel, "We gotta keep our distance now, yes aye? This beauty is no longer a free agent."

Richard nods firmly, "Yes aye indeed." He comes out from behind his desk and takes her hands, "Shall we start our first morning as a working couple by strolling down to La Kaz for an early lunch? I have some more questions for your mother."

Camille bites her lip, "Oh, um, she's already apologized. Do you really have to talk to her?"

Richard folds her arm over his, "Of course I do. I can't plan a wedding all by myself, now can I?" This results in a new burst of congratulations from Dwayne and Fidel and a huge wide-eyed blush from Camille – all of which cheers Richard up no end. "Come, let's away. I'm sure we can leave the station in the capable hands remaining."

Fidel nods, "Oh, you bet, Chief, and February is a good month, cooler, unless you plan to honeymoon further north?"

Richard calls over his shoulder, his gaze fastened onto the shining eyes of his intended, "Now, why would I want to leave Saint Marie? Everything I ever really needed was here all along."

When the couple wander into La Kaz, everything is freshly set up, the lunch rush hasn't started yet, and Catherine is sitting at the bar looking thoughtfully at the phone. She turns to meet them, kisses them both on the cheek, and pours three coffees as she seats them at her favourite table. "I just spoke to Clarisse and it's odd."

Richard pauses in sipping, "Odd? How?"

Catherine frowns, "Well, she says her aid was just standard ingredients that she uses all the time… except she didn't have enough of one thing so she called another practitioner and borrowed some. Other than that there shouldn't have been any problem, not even with the extra extra bit I gave you."

Camille grumbles, "Now I know why I saw little green flecks floating in my drink! So Clarisse has no idea what went wrong?"

Catherine shakes her head, "None at all. The poor woman is beside herself. She's convinced you are going to arrest her, Richard. I tried to tell her that you wouldn't but she's very upset."

Richard grumps, "And well she should be! She almost took out half the police force!" At Camille's touch and Catherine's alarmed eye, he relents, "But accidents happen, even with voodoo, right?" Now Camille and her mother exchange aggrieved glances but neither of them speak so Richard continues, "You can tell her I'll let it slide this time but she'd better stop medicating people without their consent or I'll have stern words with her in future!"

Catherine rolls her eyes as Camille laughs, calls Clarisse to give her Richard's warning, and then the trio sit down to begin the serious discussion of weddings.

Elsewhere

Up on a remote inland jungle-covered hill, Clarisse slowly hangs up the phone. She'd called her outsource as soon as Catherine's call ended. Her emergency supplier assured her again that the 'Neverdone' she'd given Clarisse was fresh and clean, so whatever mishap came of the love potion couldn't be blamed on her. Clarisse studies the phone, not sure what to think.

Meanwhile

Back in Honoré, Monique Morel is also studying her phone but not in puzzlement. In anger. That man! That awful man! She'd sent the 'Stinging Evermore' (which looks and smells just like 'Neverdone' but isn't) in high hopes he would be fatally affected by it. Somehow he had survived his dose, probably because Clarisse or that hoity-toity Bordey woman had messed up the use of it.

Monique stands and lifts down a battered photo of her beloved sister Angelique. She rubs a rough thumb over her sister's younger smiling face and growls, "Don' you worry none, Angel, I'll get 'im yet. That man is not gonna rob us of our revenge. If I can't hoodoo that pig headmaster, I'll curse the man that sent him offn the island an' outta my reach."

She kisses the beloved smiling faded face behind the smeary glass and puts it back up onto the little alter shelf, "Don' you worry, I'm just getting' started! Real soon now, I'll make 'im sorry he interfered in our business, you just wait."

She picks up a small knife, knicks her thumb, and adds exactly three drops of blood to the smoking embers in a fat bowl of black oily ingredients. The coil of smoke that erupts curls around her face like something alive.

"Oh, yeah," she hisses, "I'm gonna make 'im sorry he wuz ever born!"

END (but not)

*And, so, Isa has provided me with the perfect introduction for a story that I never thought I'd post. Coming soon on the FanFic site, "Canis Major", a voodoo story with a twist.*