Part 3 of 7

"Where is my daughter?" she flutes as only an elegant indignant French Maman can. Richard wordlessly hooks a thumb over his shoulder and Catherine sniffs a mighty sniff. "Bon, monsieur DI," she hisses and sails in through the nearest door.

Within seconds, Dwayne and Fidel sail out through the farthest door, spy the Chief, and scuttle down to join him where all three huddle in silent dread and eavesdrop as hard as they can. They hear Camille greet her mother with surprise. They hear Catherine launch into a fiery tirade composed completely in French. Camille tries to get a word in edgewise but it is no good. Maman WILL have her say!

"Ah, man," Dwayne moans, "she is PISSED! Someone tipped her off 'bout Samuel King!" Fidel's face pales and he gulps. Dwayne sees this, "YOU, Fidel, you? Why? You had t' know this would happen!"

"Well," Fidel stutters, "I hoped she'd try to talk some sense into Camille but I never expected this!"

Just then the red rose in its bud vase comes flying out the door to crash at the men's feet. They all dance back like it's a grenade and jerk alarmed eyes to one another. Now there are two loud voices inside and they both sound mad as wet hens. No, madder than wet hens, mad as hornets!

Fidel looks to his boss, "Shouldn't we step in? We ARE keepers of the peace, after all."

Richard just gives the young man an 'are you CRAZY?' look and it's Dwayne who puts it into words, "Fidel, you try t' step in between those two an' we'll be pickin' bits a you offn the ceilin' fer days!"

Richard nods, "Dwayne's right, Fidel, this is bigger than all of us. We'd best go for a walk and let them hash it out. I could use a good…" but Dwayne's hand is suddenly on his boss's arm, his eyes wide. Richard becomes even more alarmed, "What is it, Dwayne? What's wrong?"

Dwayne's eyes get bigger, "Oh my gawd, I don' believe it! They wuz fightin' 'bout Samuel King but now they's fightin' 'bout YOU!"

Richard rears back as if punched, "ME? Why me? Oh, god, what did I do? Maybe I should make myself scarce!" He grabs Dwayne's arm, "Is Catherine blaming me for allowing Samuel King to roam free? Am I getting the brickbats for this misjudged romance?"

Dwayne shakes his head, "No, Chief, yer gettin' the blame fer allowin' Camille t' see other men."

Richard freezes before whispering, "What? What! How am I to blame? I'm not her father! I can't tell her how to ruin her life… I mean… run her life! If I could, I'd certainly tell her to dump King, but I'm not, I'm just her boss, nothing more!"

Dwayne nods, "Yes, aye, an' that's whut this fight is about! Catherine's tellin' her she shoulda gone after YOU instead!"

Now Richard turns absolutely wooden, graven, stony. Finally he grates out, "That's not funny, Dwayne."

"I ain't laughin'! Honest t' god, Chief, Catherine's tearin' a strip offn Camille fer wastin' precious time on King when she shoulda been concentratin' on you!" Dwayne gusts in total shock.

Total shock or not, it doesn't come close to matching what Richard himself is now feeling. He turns, pale as a ghost, to Fidel who nods hesitantly, "I understand some of it, sir, not all of it, but I think Dwayne is right. Catherine is definitely talking about you."

Richard's lips barely move and his heart barely beats as he asks, "And… what is Camille answering?"

Dwayne's head is down, he's listening hard. The voices have dropped, become more intimate, hushed.

"Dwayne?" Richard whispers again.

Dwayne shakes his head and looks to his boss, "I think Camille is tellin' her Maman t' give up any hopes she has 'bout you. Somethin' 'bout you never showin' any interest an' comin' frum a different world an' not likin' women much." Dwayne gives his boss a speculative look, "That right, Chief? You don' like women? Why not? They's real nice."

Richard's eyes are fixed on Dwayne in surprise then mortification then insult, "I do TOO like women! Well, that is, some women, and by that I mean… um… certain ones… you know… smart ones… brave ones… um… ones who can put up with me and don't mind my faults and… and… oh, god, it's hopeless! No wonder I'm still a bachelor! She'd never consider me! Never in a million years." He covers his eyes and groans as Dwayne's eyebrows lift in sudden realization.

Fidel puts a commiserating hand on his boss's shoulder, "Don't worry, sir, maybe Catherine will convince Camille to drop King and start over again, find someone more appropriate, someone that we'd all agree on and her Maman will like." Richard drops his hand and lifts tormented eyes without saying a word.

Dwayne sees this and nods to himself then says low, "I don' think that's whut the Chief wants, is it, Chief?" Now the tormented eyes are turned onto him and Dwayne knows he's right. "Yeah, OK, then we'd better hope Catherine kin convince Camille of her first argument."

Fidel frowns, "First argument? What was the first argument?"

Dwayne purses his lips, looking concerned, "That Camille needs t' go after the Chief here an' not waste her time on that idiot King."

Fidel jerks startled eyes to his boss and sees the embarrassed chagrin and wary cautiousness of a man whose dirty secret has been uncovered to trusted friends and not sure how they are going to take it. "That right, sir? Really?" Richard gives one small nod and gulps. Fidel breaks out into a smile and Richard slumps in relief, "Well, that's wonderful, sir! Congratulations! Juliette will be SO…"

But Dwayne is making hushing gestures, "Shhh, shhh, I think they's almost done in there. Camille is sayin' it's no use, the Chief don' see her inna romantic light…"

The Chief immediately puffs up, "I do too! It's just… just..."

Dwayne shushes his Chief, "… an' Catherine is askin' her t' give you another chance 'cause mebee yer SO different that you didn' realize whut Camille wuz up to, tryin' t' get your attention an' all an'… ooooop!" and his mouth snaps shut, lips pressed tightly together.

Richard swoops to grab his arm, "What? What? What did she say?"

Dwayne reddens, "Um, I'm not gonna repeat whut I jest heard, Chief. It's woman-talk an' I'm gonna try real hard t' ferget it but…" He turns to look at his boss, "Um, you never told us Catherine gave you a sponge-bath when you wuz sick."

END – part 3