"I'm leaving Saint Marie," Neville said with determination.
Naomi stared at him as if her heart was shattering. Inwardly she was thinking, 'No, not again, first Marlon, now the Inspector…' Marlon's departure, still fresh and clear in her mind, still hurt Naomi because she had liked him, fancied him from the moment they'd met. They'd shared a friendly relationship, almost like lovestruck teenagers when they'd worked together before DS Cassell had left the island, and she was promoted to DS.
But only because Marlon stood up, and confronted Neville that she was right for the job. Naomi still kept in touch with Marlon, who was doing amazingly well in Jamaica, and Jocelyn was loving her new school. Naomi had always loved the girl after getting to know her after that Christmas pageant; having a lovely singing voice seemed to be a Pryce family trait, but the girl had been sweet, and clever, and she could easily see so much of Marlon in her.
"What's brought this on, sir?" Naomi asked, desperately needing to find out why the inspector was leaving and to try to get Marlon out of her mind. Along with so many regrets.
Neville sighed, "Zoe inspired me, Naomi," he replied, "until now, she's never left the UK. Or so I'm aware, but she seemed to fit right in. And she dared herself to come, and while our relationship will never, ever go back to where it was before, especially if she decides along the way she doesn't want to be with me anymore like she had before, she gave me good advice; get out there, and find love, and she's right."
Naomi had seen how hard it was for Neville to find love. She had seen him pine for DS Cassell before she had left to go into witness protection following the success in getting rid of Miranda Priestly - Naomi had kept abreast of the investigation carefully, and she knew while the case was being closed up, it had been a struggle dealing with many parts of the Priestly drug empire. She knew that DI Parker had also been more than aware of some parts of the case - well, cases; it turned out there were hundreds of people demanding and begging for protection against Miranda and her hardcore people, offering information in exchange for protection. A cold, hard, darker part of Naomi hoped that with so many of them wanting to talk about the people murdered by Miranda, and her people over the years, Florence could finally be free as the hardliners would be paying more attention to those who were disloyal.
It went against everything she had learnt, everything she had been taught, and everything she believed in, but Naomi couldn't help herself. But she kept it to herself.
Right now she had to see things from Neville's point of view.
But she had seen the way he had looked for love, opening up profiles on romantic websites, and dating sites, and participating more…and then, she turned up.
Just thinking of Sophie Chambers, aka Rebecca Walmslow made her feel utterly sick, especially with how close she had come to succeeding in destroying Neville's life, ruining his confidence in the process, and she had seen how hard he had worked in getting it back.
Naomi hadn't really spoken to Neville's old girlfriend, but a part of her had wanted to make sure she understood Neville's feelings were not to be played with. She had needed to fight off the urge with everything she had, but it was a close thing.
"Where are you planning to go?" Naomi asked.
Neville sighed, "I don't know," he replied honestly, "Where do most travellers start? I might head to Dominica, then Jamaica, and then to America somewhere. I honestly don't know. I mean, a few years ago, I would never have considered it. I was so happy in my little corner of the world, I didn't care about anywhere else, but now I feel like I've opened a door and now I just need to go through it."
Naomi knew enough of her friend and inspector to know he liked things just so, and he needed a big push to do things spontaneously. "I know what you mean," at his confused glance, she smiled, "I'd considered travelling for a bit. Y'know, have a bit of a break before my posting to Saint Marie from St Barnabas, but I decided against it."
"Do you regret it?"
"A little," Naomi conceded, "but I know if I hadn't come I would never have met you; someone else would have been posted."
"That would have been a shame," Neville couldn't imagine the last couple of years without Naomi, who had proven to be an amazing police officer. "You have been phenomenal. You've been diligent and amazing, and the fact you are funny and smart helps. I can't imagine the last few years without you there."
Naomi knew Neville wasn't flirting with her. "Thank you," she replied.
Neville gave her a sad smile. "If you had decided to travel, where would you have gone?"
Naomi groaned, remembering her plans. "Hawaii. I've never seen the Pacific Ocean. India," she ticked off the places on her fingers. "Canada. Never been cold before. Erm, maybe Africa, or Australia."
Neville nodded, impressed, "Quite a list."
"Thinking of going now?"
"I don't see any reason why not. I don't know if I plan on having a specific plan in mind for my travels, Naomi. But I just want to go out there, get away from the ghosts of Saint Marie; this island has been amazing, its made me see that I was just so….comfortable back in my old life, and I still had problems settling in, even if I took a leap of faith and let Florence encourage me to loosen up," Neville's voice choked a little as he thought of Florence, seeing the sympathetic look in Naomi's eye. "But now I want to do more, and see more."