After Eight

Disclaimer; Death in Paradise doesn't belong to me, if it did, series three onwards would have been very different.

Rating; T

This story takes place after the blind date in episode 1 of series 2.

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Chapter 2. Catherine

Catherine loved a good party. The air was alive with the sights and sounds of people enjoying life, celebrating love in all its forms. She sighed a contented sigh, her bar staff were bustling about, feeding and providing refreshments, chatting and laughing, creating the sort of atmosphere that La Kaz thrived on. Tonight was going to be a good and profitable evening, Catherine knew she would be able to afford to give her staff a little bit extra in their wage packets this week, a thank you for working during the festival. She wiped the bar down and smiled as a shadow fell across it.

"What can I get for you?" She asked without looking up.

"A large rum and a back way out of here." Catherine looked up into the eyes of her daughter. Camille looked miserable.

"Cherie, what is wrong?"

"Maman, my 'date' has just spent the last fortyfive minutes telling me all about himself, about the gym he runs, and how he helps people to try to reach his level of perfection. He's offered to help me tone my unused body mass, he's asked me if I'd like to watch him take part in next month's All-Islands triathlon. In all that time he hasn't asked me one thing about myself. He is so vain. Seriously Maman, that man doesn't need a date, he'd be happier sitting opposite a full length mirror, he loves himself that much." She sighed as her rant came to an end. "You have to help me."

Catherine smiled.

"Very well. You go into the back. I'll tell him that you have been called away." She ushered Camille into the kitchen area. "While you are hiding back there, you can prepare some more limes."

"Oui Maman, et merci."

Catherine made her way out onto the patio where the blind date was, she saw him chatting to a couple of young female tourists, flexing his muscles as they giggled, he looked up at her and beamed as she approached.

"Ah, Madame Bourday, this is a splendid evening. Do you know how long Cally will be, she went to 'powder her nose". Catherine frowned slightly at the fact he had got her daughter's name wrong.

"I'm sorry, she got a phone call, police business, she asked me to apologise, but duty calls…."

"Ah, not to worry." He turned to the girls. "You want to see where I work out?" He asked them, making them giggle again. He stood and reached for his wallet.

"No, the drinks were on the house. I hope you enjoy the rest of Erzuli night." She told him and watched as he beamed at her and left with a giggling girl on each arm. She sighed. "He seemed to have so much promise. Wait till I see Josephine tomorrow, 'I have this shy young nephew…' indeed."

She wiped the table down and went back into the bar and through to the kitchen. Camille was stood at the counter, listlessly slicing at an unfortunate lime.

"Cherie, I am sorry. Josephine told me that her nephew was shy and lonely and new to the island. I will be having words with her."

"Maman, please stop setting up these dates for me. It's not fair, I'm not a teenager anymore."

"I know, but I worry. I do not want you to end up alone."

"Maman, I am only thirtyfour. I have plenty of time to find the person that I want to spend my life with." There was a moment of quiet, the sounds of the festival muted by the door.

"I think maybe you thought you had found him tonight, before your date…" Catherine suggested. Camille sighed and stopped chopping.

"Maman. Don't…"

"You looked a little disappointed when Fidel came to collect Richard. Did you really think he was your date?"

"Maman." Camille warned.

"Because I could arrange…"

"Don't you dare! Seriously Maman, Don't even think it. This is Richard we are talking about. It doesn't matter what I feel, if you push him, he will run, maybe away from Saint Marie altogether. Leave Richard alone."

"But Cherie, if he is the one you want…."

"No Maman. He is not like all the other men you have lined up for me. He has no confidence in himself, he will think we are mocking him. Leave him alone. I mean it." She swept the lime slices into a dish and stalked out to the bar. Catherine watched her daughter as she took up a place behind the bar, she had no intention of setting her and Richard up on a date, she had just wanted to gauge Camille's reaction, and she had all the answers she needed now. Catherine wasn't stupid, she had seen the growing attraction between her little girl and the awkward Englishman, she had noticed the little touches, the awkward smiles, how Richard seemed more at ease in Camille's company than he had been just a few months before. She had noticed the quiet affection that Camille's voice betrayed, even if she was moaning about him. She had seen the disappointment in her child's face just an hour ago, when she had realised that Richard wasn't her date for the evening, but more than that, she had watched Richard as he had walked away, and she had seen the devastation on his face as Camille had sat down with her real date, and the resigned droop of his shoulders as he had turned away and followed Fidel.

But something Catherine was sure of. Unless someone interfered, neither would make the first move, and they would waste precious time. Her previous good mood had been dampened somewhat and she watched as Camille bustled around behind the bar trying to make herself busy. Catherine jumped slightly as a hand touched her shoulder.

"Date didn't go so well then?" She turned to see Dwayne watching his comrade with an affectionate expression. Catherine shook her head.

"Non. It turns out that he was a little self-absorbed, Josephine has some explaining to do."

"Josephine! Seriously! You should know better than that. Her family have the humility gene removed at birth."

"I know. But I hate seeing her so alone. I know she has you, and Fidel, and…"

"And the Chief?" Dwayne raised an eyebrow at her.

"You know?"

"Cat'rin, If me and Fidel were blind, deaf and dumb, it'd still be impossible to miss. That man has it bad for your little girl, and I'm fairly sure she feels the same way. But don't expect him to say anything, he's to terrified of her, and you…"

"Me! Why on earth would he be scared of me?"

"Why would a man make himself ill so as to not insult you?"

"Whatever do you mean?"

"The chicken soup. When he was still half delirious with fever and insulted your soup, Camille came down hard on him. You remember the next week how he ate here more, and didn't complain once.."

"Yes."

"He was trying to make it up to you, and Camille. But by God he suffered. He hid it well, but my Auntie Meg had a sensitive stomach, you remember?" Catherine nodded.

"She had that bad bout of gastric flu, she ended up in hospital didn't she?"

"Yes, that's right. Afterwards she couldn't tolerate certain foods and they made her sick. Same with him, I recognised the signs. He was sick as a dog all week. Lost weight too. You couldn't see it, with him wearing those suits, but you could notice it in his face."

"Why on earth didn't he say something. I'd have…"

"Made him something different? I think that's the problem. He want's to blend into the background, not be noticed. I think he has learned the hard way that being noticed is a bad thing."

"Oh, my…. Poor Richard. I'd not have made a fuss. Why doesn't he trust us?"

"I don't think it's us. I think it's the world in general. But one things for sure, he's never going to take a chance with Camille. He's afraid of saying the wrong thing and making her angry…" Dwayne paused. "Which on reflection is a valid worry, he does seem very skilled in upsetting her without meaning to."

"Yes, I have noticed. I don't think he intends to insult people…"

"He just doesn't know how to be sociable without being defensive. Makes you wonder, doesn't it, what's there in his background to have made him so afraid of people." Catherine looked at the man in front of her.

"Dwayne Myers, I think a great many people have been underestimating you for a very long time."

"Shhhhh! We keep that between ourselves yes. I have a reputation to maintain after all." He winked. He nodded towards Camille. "What do you want to do?"

"She has forbidden me to interfere."

"She hasn't forbidden me. So what do you want to do?"

"No, it's Erzuli night, I know you probably have better things to be doing…."

"Cat'rin, every night is Erzuli for me, and besides, nothing is more important to me than friends, so I ask again, what do you want to do?"

"Richard is babysitting Rosie, so I don't think we can do anything tonight…"

"How about I relieve The chief, and he can come back here and have dinner…"

"No, I have a better idea….."