A touch of Paradise
Summary:
Loosely based on "One touch of Venus" (Venus era mujer in Spain) 1948 with Ava Gardner and Robert Walker. "Speak Low", the song of the film, is simply impressive.
I humbly believe that a little love and magic these days will do us all a lot of good.
A thousand thanks to Sweepeaspatch for reviewing the story. English is not my mother tongue and your help has helped me to make clearer what I wanted to write and express!
Chapter Management
Chapter 1 : Alone
Chapter Text
Richard Poole feels satisfied with his work. At least he feels he gets justice for the victims. When he looks at his life objectively, that is all he can hope for.
It could be worse.
He is alone in his office. A poorly ventilated, windowless cubicle would be more appropriate. But the "office" is neat and tidy. There is even room for a small blackboard to help him put all the pieces in the right order.
"Poole is an eccentric," say his colleagues.
Better to say colleagues. Except for one or two who sincerely admire him and have tried to bring him out of his shell without success, for the rest he is downright annoying. He always embarrasses them.
And although they take advantage of his achievements, his deductions, his brilliant observations, they always do their best to make him feel like a pariah, someone who does not deserve their friendship or respect. A zero to the left.
It's the only revenge they can afford on Richard Poole.
Detective Chief Inspector Halliwell respects him... from afar. He is, after all, useful to the Station. Because he manages to get practically all his cases through. He solves almost all of them. But Poole doesn't work well with anyone and that's a problem.
And he doesn't suck up to anyone either. Halliwell shakes his head ruefully. Richard won't get far. He knows better than anyone that brilliantly solved cases are only a small prerequisite for promotion. The most important thing is to have social skills, to know how to promote yourself, to sell yourself.
And Richard Poole is a loner.
Richard signs the report, as always, neat and precise in its details, to have it submitted to his superior. He keeps a copy in the file along with the other documentation related to the case and decides to call it a day.
He puts on his coat, his scarf, takes a last look at his desk to check that everything is in order, locks the door and goes home to spend another day alone.
With his crosswords and his books. But first he glances at the answering machine. It's not that he doesn't trust modern technology, he simply doesn't need it. When the time comes, he will decide whether or not he wants to enter this virtual world.
His mother asks him to call her. It's nothing important, she probably wants to introduce him to the daughter of one of her friends. At over forty years old, he has no plans to get married or even have a relationship with anyone. He'll make up an excuse.
But he will talk to his mother tomorrow, he is frankly tired now.
A grey life in a grey world. But he still has dreams. And lately they are very strange dreams.
"Still won't help me, Richard?"
It's a Caribbean woman, his Caribbean Venus, he calls her. Pure fire. But it's a fire that doesn't burn, it's more like a fire that's slowly filling him. It fills him with life. She has beautiful dark eyes, deep and hypnotic. She is beautiful.
He smiles, with his usual lopsided smile.
He has been dreaming about her for almost the whole week. He already knows her, he's beginning to know her wiles, her tricks to lure him.
They find themselves on a deserted island full of light. There are only palm trees, no human constructions of any kind. He is wearing a light beige suit, a short-sleeved shirt and is barefoot. The curious thing is that he is neither hot nor cold and the sun does not bother him.
As usual, when he meets her again, it is beginning to get dark.
And they are both sitting on the beach watching the sun slowly sink into the horizon.
He turns to look at her and says again:
"You know I can't. This isn't real, you're not real. "Then he stares at her and thinks: 'I wish you were'.
She laughs and replies:
"You know I can hear your thoughts, Richard. You never believe me when I tell you that you are destined for so much more than you have now. You know I'm waiting for you."
Richard laughs in disbelief.
And she, his Venus, gets angry. As she always does. He loves that.
"You'll believe me in the end, Richard Poole. I'll come out of your dreams and cross paths with you wherever you go. Subtly, if you like, but you won't be able to avoid me. I know you like clues. I assure you that you won't be playing alone this time, Richard, because I'll always be one step ahead or behind you."
Something is changing in the dream. Before she never "threatened" him like that. It is strange.
When he, confused, wants to ask her what she means, she disappears.
And he panics. He doesn't want to lose her, even if she's not real. Before, he would just wake up while talking to her.
And now he wakes up in his bed at home in Croydon strangled, confused and scared.
What is real and what isn't? He worries because he doesn't know if it will start to affect his work. Is he going mad?
Camille is bored to death. Being an undercover agent, even in Guadeloupe, so close to home, is becoming monotonous and tedious.
She came about three months ago from France. She was already becoming too well known there. She was "burnt out", so her superiors offered her to continue her work in Guadeloupe. Paradoxically, she was not well known there and they had an open arms smuggling case on the island, with connections to Saint Marie.
Since they also knew she was from there, they considered the possibility that this would be of great help to her in the performance of her duties.
And there she was. The suspect had connections with a certain Lavender, a famous character in Saint Marie, but already suspected of being involved in more than shady dealings.
Of course, nothing was happening that night. The event she was at was one of those parties to raise money for a good cause, although she didn't think anyone cared about that cause, in fact few really knew what it was.
She did know what it was, it was to prevent human trafficking. People were still being trafficked.
In any case, in half an hour she would have to leave her post at the fundraiser. The suspect had not made an appearance and she was tired.
On the few occasions she had spoken to Catherine, her mother, she had already told her that she always had the same dream lately. She was always meeting someone, a strange man with bright, sad green eyes.
And it was becoming more and more difficult for her to understand that it was just a dream, that she would have to forget about him. Maybe that was why she kept dreaming/meeting him? She didn't want to give him up?
She felt good with him and she knew it was the same for him. When she returned to Saint Marie she was sure she would recognise the beach of her dreams... and maybe she would meet him.
She laughed at the thought, she really was bored!
She looked at the time on her mobile and decided to call it a day.
Much later, when she was already catching up on her sleep ...
She is waiting for him already sitting in her usual place. She is still thinking about how to meet him. When she dreams, she sees it so possible that she can't help thinking of a thousand ways to meet him in person!
"You still don't want to help me, Richard?"
When she asks that question, she instinctively knows that he is already there with her listening to her.
He smiles, his usual lopsided smile. At first he looked at her suspiciously, but by now he doesn't fear her. She, too, instinctively knows that he is very lonely. Resigned, but very lonely.
How can she make him understand that it doesn't have to be like this?
He is wearing a light beige suit, a short-sleeved shirt and is barefoot. He looks so young and relaxed when he is with her. But she knows he only feels that way with her. She knows because he has already confided in her more than once.
As always, when he meets her again, it's getting dark.
And they are both sitting on the beach watching the sun slowly sink into the horizon.
He turns to look at her and says again:
"You know I can't. This isn't real, you're not real. "Then he stares at her and thinks: 'I wish you were'.
She laughs and replies:
"You know I can hear your thoughts, Richard. You never believe me when I tell you that you are destined for so much more than you have now. You know I'm waiting for you."
Richard laughs in disbelief and she gets angry - doesn't he believe her? Why doesn't he want to help her? And he seems to like it when she gets angry.
But this time she has decided that if he won't do anything, she will. Maman has "special" friends who will help her realise that she's not going to stay in her daydreams.
"You'll believe me in the end, Richard Poole. I'll come out of your dreams and cross paths with you wherever you go. Subtly, if you like, but you won't be able to avoid me. I know you like clues. I assure you that you won't be playing alone this time, Richard, because I'll always be one step ahead or behind you."
Something is changing in the dream. It's strange. It's starting to feel real. She is frightened.
When he, confused, wants to ask her what she means, she disappears. She is afraid. But before she disappears, she looks at him and knows she has made a decision. Because she knows he doesn't want to lose her either.
I can read your thoughts after all, my dear Richard!
As she sits on the bed and listens to herself, she can't help but be amazed.
This whole thing is definitely going too far. She decides to take some special herbs she has to help her sleep. Is it possible for her to forget all this mess?