Chapter 7

The countdown has started

As Camille woke up on Friday morning, she knew before she was fully awake that today was a special day. "I'll be back on Friday" he had said. She felt the excitement in the pit of her stomach and jumped out of her bed. After her morning shower she had breakfast – not without almost cutting off her finger, burning the tip of her tongue with hot coffee, and biting the inside of her cheek when she ate her croissant. Ouch. This was going to be an interesting day. Hopefully, it would end better than it had started…

She got into her tan skirt and the dark blue blouse and left for the station. On the way, she made a mental list of her tasks and duties today, as far as she could foresee them at this point. Feeding Harry would not be one of them – unless Richard failed to come back. If everything went all right, he should be there by 6 p.m. – give or take a few minutes - depending on traffic.

The Commissioner had informed her that he would go to the airport to pick up the Inspector. Actually, his choice of words had insinuated that she might want to pick up Richard – Camille suspected that he had talked to her mother about this. She turned down this thinly veiled offer – she did not want to feed any more rumours or gossip. It was bad enough that her mother and the Commissioner had a hunch that she was pining for Richard. Considering that she was not sure about his feelings at all, it could only become more embarrassing if she went to pick him up. She might not be able to refrain from hurling herself at him and telling him she'd missed him – and he'd be mortified by her emotional outburst. No, she'd best stay where she was and let the Commissioner see him at the airport.

As a matter of fact, it hadn't escaped Catherine that Camille had been a little moody during Richard's absence, and yes, she had indeed taken the opportunity to talk to the Commissioner when he approached her on Thursday morning. She was not too excited about the idea that her daughter might be in love with the starchy Englishman, but she figured there wasn't anything she could do about it.

And even if she could… there was no doubt that Camille would never forgive her if she dared to interfere. Catherine was not unaware of the delicacy of the matter. Camille would always go her own way. Of course, she wanted her daughter to be happy – admittedly, her concept of happiness might differ from Camille's idea of it, and she respected that. She had always gone her own way, too, she had brought up her daughter to fend for herself and take responsibility for her actions and decisions, and so she understood Camille's attitude.

But really, did it have to be Richard – of all the men on the island?

Against all odds, the conversation with the Commissioner had made her a fraction more mellow in her views about Richard. He pointed out a few things she hadn't considered so far, and these insights made her look at things differently. She had lamented a little about how he offish he was sometimes (sometimes? At all times!), how he kept wearing his woollen suits when that was so impractical, and how he just couldn't be happy with where he was.

The Commissioner had smiled indulgently while sipping his drink, then he took the floor and remarked "But Catherine, is it fair to criticise him like that and complain about his quirks? You know what he's like. He might have his weaknesses, but they are part of him. You might as well complain about the rain coming from up above instead of down below. You and I both know that the Inspector never really wanted to be here, yet he's never been idling around or become remiss in his duties. He knows very well that with the good work he's doing, I won't let him go without a fight. So by doing his work carefully and solving all these cases, he anchors himself more to the island, and he knows it – yet he never has been lackadaisical. And he always manages to motivate the team – they respect him for his fairness and work ethics. I will admit that I have not always been happy with how he has done his investigations – the way he handled the situation at the Jacaranda Clinic at first was rather bold, almost unabashed, and not tactful at all, but he didn't back down, he said and did what he thought was right. He had the courage to insist, and I give him credit for that. I put pressure on him, and he ended up proving me wrong – I would never have thought there'd be so much criminal energy in this place. I was shocked when I realised what had been going on – right before my very eyes, so-to-speak, and I had not suspected anything!"

Catherine admitted that the Commissioner had a point there. "But these suits – I'm sure that they contribute to his unhappiness… and then he gets hot, moody and peevish, and Camille and the others have to suck it up. Why can't he just wear loose shirts and trousers like Charlie Hulme did?" The Commissioner smiled. "Catherine, I will tell you a secret now – I never liked that. I'm very glad that Inspector Poole dresses according to his job. It brings about more respect if you wear something smart. He might be overdoing it a little, but the sloppy manner of Charlie Hulme never made me very happy. I couldn't say anything about it to him since senior officers do not have to follow an official dresscode, but it doesn't make a good impression if you dress like a tramp in our field of work. However, if you think that the woollen suits play such a big part in the Inspectors grouchy moods, I might have a word with him and make a few suggestions regarding lightweight suits." He added sardonically "Considering his bad luck with the luggage carousel on our airport, he might have to go shopping next week, anyway. I doubt that he'll want to spend an incalculable amount of time in his only suit."

"But Selwyn, they usually deliver lost luggage within a day or two, so by Monday he'll have his case, and then he won't want to go clothes shopping anymore – even if he'd be ready to do so initially… He'll just continue to do what he has always been doing."

"Oh, is that so, Catherine? If he seems unwilling to hit the shops, just leave it to me! I have my ways to use my influence," said the Commissioner with a sly grin. Then he rose and said "Have a good day, and don't fret. The Inspector isn't as unpleasant as he often appears to be. And I have good reasons to believe that he will make more efforts to finally settle in than he did over the past two years…"

Catherine raised her eyebrows and exchanged a knowing smile with Selwyn Patterson before she said "Right, Selwyn – and thank you so much. In all fairness, I hadn't realised some of the points that you mentioned, and maybe you're right – he might not be as grumpy as he appears to be after all. I know he can be very kind, and I'll never forget that he solved the mystery of how Angelique's daughter died – and that he saw to it that the murderer was caught. Not to mention Camille's friend's murder not so long ago – and I know that Camille is very grateful for his efforts and accomplishments there, too."

The morning flew by. Before they knew it, it was lunchtime. Dwayne and Fidel got some food from the market, but Camille said she had errands to run and disappeared. When she returned, a slight smile curved her lips, and as the day went by, she got more and more giddy and fidgety. Fidel – who could hardly wait to show off his new Sergeant's stripes to the Chief (although he knew that would have to wait until Monday when he'd be in uniform again… but still, he was proud to have them!) – and Dwayne noticed her agitation, but didn't say anything. They knew that any remark they'd come up with would make Camille fly off the handle as she was so over-excited.

Dwayne was actually a little worried for her – he wasn't entirely convinced that Richard would come back, and heaven only knew how Camille would take it if it turned out that he was going to stay in the UK. He had obviously noticed the growing mutual attraction between Camille and the Chief, but in his opinion, the Chief was scared to death of his emotions (not to mention that Camille was indeed a handful – a relationship between the two of them surely wouldn't get boring! Would be fun to be a fly on the wall if they ever got together), and he might chicken out at the last moment and decide not to return – if the Met offered him another position, it would be perfectly easy for him to leave the Caribbean behind. He never really had settled in, anyway, although it had become a bit better over the past few months. It was obvious that the heat still did him in, and the complaints about sand and humidity hadn't stopped, either – although they came less frequently and less intensely now.

Fidel would be sad because he felt that the Chief had done much for him and he owed him something for recommending him for the Sergeants' exams, but he'd get over it – he was young and ambitious, and he'd climb the ladder, with or without Richard. For Dwayne himself it was different – he had never entertained anything as cumbersome as ambition, and he'd just go with the flow. He had worked well enough with Charlie Hulme, he had adjusted to Richard, and if another Inspector was to come from overseas, he'd work with him as well – he was flexible.

But Camille? How would she feel? After her training and service in Paris, she had worked undercover for a while, and she had reported directly to the Commissioner. When her disguise was wrecked and she had to begin to work as a regular DS with the team, she hadn't been too happy, and she had teased, provoked and challenged Richard wherever she could. He had earned her respect rather quickly, however, and Dwayne knew that Camille wouldn't work so well with someone she couldn't respect.

Recently, things had become different at the station, anyway. Dwayne had definitely noticed the way Camille looked at the Chief when she thought nobody noticed. She might not take it very well if he didn't come back – for all kinds of reasons. The older officer chuckled, recalling how she had managed to wind up the Chief with the silliest things on oh so many occasions, and their shouting matches were still priceless. Camille's way of saying things sometimes really was provocative, and Richard was just hilarious when he was hitting the roof with anger – provided the anger was not directed towards him, Dwayne quite enjoyed these scenes. It was better than any reality TV show could ever be.

"What's so funny?" asked Fidel. "Oh, nothing important" said Dwayne, as he was caught grinning from ear to ear. "What time is it – can't we lock up already? Look, it's five o'clock – time to start the weekend, huh, Camille?"

"Oh, right – I think we can finish for today," said Camille. "There's no point in wasting any more time here. Who's going to be on call tonight? Fidel?" The young officer sighed and nodded. He hoped it would be a quiet evening. He just wanted to greet the Chief, have a few drinks and go home to see Juliet and the baby – family life was so much more important than work.

"Meet at La Kaz just before 6?" asked Camille. The boys nodded, and off they went. It had been a quiet week with few cases, so they didn't feel overly exhausted, but still it was nice to know that the weekend had arrived.

Camille rushed home – only a little more than an hour, and he'd be back again! It had been a long week, but now it all seemed to go almost too fast. Forgotten were the doubts that had bothered her so much on some days this week. He'd be back! She took a quick shower and then flew into her bedroom to get dressed. As she opened the doors of her closet, her mind went blank – what on earth should she wear to greet him?

She wanted to show him that his return was a reason to celebrate, that she was happy to see him, that she was excited about having him back – no, stop, she wasn't "having him back". He was returning to his workplace and to the team, not to her in particular. Her racing mind slowed down and sobered a little. The doubts came up again. She rifled through her wardrobe, pulled out a few items and shoved them in again. No, not the blue one, or the yellow one, or the turquoise one. Not the red one, either – she had worn that on the evening of the blind date, and although he had said she looked stunning in it, she didn't want to wear it tonight. Not something that felt like she was recycling it for another occasion.

But then, all of a sudden she knew what she would be wearing. Her hands began to flutter nervously as she was trying to find what she was looking for. Ah, here it was. She had bought this for a special occasion – well, if this wasn't a special occasion, she couldn't think of anything that would fall into that category. She knew that the colour looked good on her, and she hoped he'd understand she'd be wearing this just for him tonight. With a little luck, he might even say something about it – but she didn't count on it…

Shortly afterwards, she showed up at the bar. She had carefully applied new make-up – discreetly, so it didn't look overdone – and brushed her hair briskly so it fell into its natural curls, but didn't appear to be "puffed up". She tried to ignore Catherine's knowing looks and her teasing remarks, claimed that she had only put on this dress coincidentally because it was the first thing in the wardrobe she found, played innocent… but she couldn't quite hide her nervousness. And of course, she knew that she couldn't deceive her mother – so when Catherine suggested decorating the bar for a little welcome party for Richard, she literally flew to fetch the lights, the balloons, the festive table decorations…

Catherine smiled quietly. She still had her doubts about Richard, but maybe he wasn't as hopeless as he appeared to be, even if he hadn't appreciated her chicken soup. Whatever silly thing he may have done in the past and might do in the future, she'd forgive him if he'd make her daughter happy.