Chapter 6: A very special Loa
Summary:
The supernatural begins to invade Richard Poole against his deepest convictions. And to complicate Camille Bordey's life to levels she had not imagined only a week before.
It is only fair to thank Sweepeaspatch for her suggestions and corrections. This story wouldn't be the same without it.
Chapter Text
Camille is sitting in La Kaz sipping an experimental iced tea, she would have preferred another drink, but Catherine, her Maman, has suggested she try this new recipe for the English tourists who come to the island for sightseeing.
Either way, whether its because Camille is sitting with her back to the curious conversation between officers Myers and Best, as they stand in La Kaz's doorway, she is not feeling particularly relaxed today. In fact, she feels very nervous.
Officer Best, seemingly quite impressed by the new DI Richard Poole, is prepared to question every woman on the island who matches the woman in the photograph.
Camille knows full well that she is going to be found out. Fortunately Dwayne Myers tells him that he has had enough of interrogating so many women in so many bars and convinces Fidel Best to stop.
But Camille is left with something Fidel has said... What if, despite what Poole said, he stays on the island as the new DI on a permanent basis? At least for a few years, however few? What Camille doesn't understand is why that matters so much to her. He'd still a stuffy, pompous man! Before Dwayne changes his mind or Fidel insists on interrogating her, Camille decides to vanish.
This English man definitely confuses her.
Camille is not the only one in trouble.
After dark Richard Poole is rummaging through the clothes of Hulme, his predecessor. Seeing those shirts as hideous and unbecoming to his taste, he decides to discard them and try his luck again with his own clothes, the clothes that best define him for better and for worse.
But he still has no luck. Of course, in the middle of the telephone conversation with the airport, he discovers an awkward and strange witness: a small, bright green lizard that looks at him curiously.
Richard isn't scared, but that lizard is strange. He's not even scared of Richard's presence!
Of course Richard chases the reptile out of his shack. What a strange island.
But that lizard might bring him luck, who knows. As he washes his hands and refreshes himself in that cubicle in what they pretend to call a toilet or a bathroom, Richard recognises the smell coming from the towel. His first clue! And that clue connects the late DI Hulme to the case in a rather intimate way. Lady Salcombe and Charlie Hulme knew each other very well.
That night Richard has a rather strange dream...
He finds himself in a tropical forest. Its already dark, but he can see everything around him perfectly. From far away he hears the waves of the sea and he insists on getting there, but this forest looks terribly like a labyrinth of leaves, trees and strange animals that look at him hidden in the undergrowth.
He knows he has to persist, he has to tell Camille that he is already on the island, that he wants and needs to talk to her, to embrace her.
He has to ask her if she has anything to do with that strange woman he has already met on the island, that woman whose name he didnt ask. How stupid of him!
He stops, by the sound of the waves mustnt be very far away, but Richard doesnt lose hope and continues his search. He needs to find that path that will lead him to her.
He is very close, he knows it!
A small bright green lizard looks at him, partly hidden between two palm trees.
Richard asks:
"Who are you? "
Suddenly he is astonished. Did he just ask a lizard who he is?
"Richard Poole, I didn't like you at first. Not at all. But I like the way you are trying to find what you've been desperately searching for so long. Who knows. I'd say it's something you've been looking for all your life. You will need a partner to help you, my friend. Erzulie was right. Friendship is an equally powerful kind of love, if you don't lose your courage, you will also discover it on the island".
The next day, promptly at eight o'clock in the morning and neatly dressed and shaved, DI Richard Poole is already imposing the necessary order on the police station. But he is thanking and congratulating the staff under his command.
Richard Poole is a kind and considerate man ... when he is not irritated.
When, in the evening, Richard finds himself back at the shack after a fruitful day's research with Sergeant Thompson, the lizard reappears, coming down one of the columns on the verandah. And Richard has a strange feeling that the lizard is trying to warn him of something.
This island is so strange. And that lizard is equally strange.
When the Sergeant says goodbye to him after a ridiculous walk on the beach, Richard can't help thinking that he should be thankful he hasn't done something stupid. It seems to be true that some women are mermaids after all. And mermaids used to lead the poor unwary sailors to their deaths...
And that reminds him of a particular mermaid. A good mermaid. A good woman. A woman he misses terribly...
Camille has wasted no time. She has had to wait a day or two to continue with her plans. But, she insists, since the new DI has wasted no time. Through a contact she had in France, who in turn knew someone in the UK (an ex of her friend in Paris), she had got some information about DI Richard Poole.
Of course, it was unlikely that he was involved in her case. Camille has also heard things about his steady, determined and intelligent manner on the island. He seems to be a policeman of integrity and honesty. And very intelligent.
Apparently Poole is a loner, someone not too popular or liked among his colleagues and superiors. But respected. His diligence is beyond question.
She looks up from her papers and frowns.
Like the man of her dreams! Someone as lonely as he is, someone as honest and kind as he is. Someone equally stiff who hardly dared to touch her when they first met, even though his eyes communicated everything with his gaze.
She's never been a romantic fool!
She is beginning to feel frustrated and confused. Its curious that Poole has arrived on the island and, while he is gaining confidence and security, she is losing hers by the minute. She doesn't understand.
She decides to leave him aside and head for Lavender's boat. It's time! Her superiors in Guadeloupe and now Commissioner Patterson have insisted there is a human trafficking plot.
A few hours later she finds herself searching every nook and cranny of the boat she can find. Right now Camille is on the deck dressed only in her bikini as she had to swim out to the boat. When suddenly, and for the second time! she sees Richard Poole who is going to interfere again, this man is unbelievable! She decides to duck and hide until Sergeant Thompson, Officer Myers and Poole himself are sufficiently entertained for her to escape.
But when Camille hears Lily say that she has found something, she can't help but get up to look and that's when she's discovered.
"You're Charlie's cleaner" says Richard pointing his finger at her.
Obviously she wasn't, but Camille wastes no time in jumping overboard. And, although Dwayne and Lily also swim after her, Inspector Poole takes the motorboat and cuts her off. This man will definitely be her undoing.
She can't get him off her back!
But she has promised herself she won't say anything and so she doesnt when, locked up with a goat in one of the few cells in the police station, the DI interrogates her for information.
In the end she has to laugh. Richard Poole is indeed polite and formal, even offering her a lawyer! She can't help it and laughs.
Of course, when he talks to her about human trafficking, Camille knows that she has already lost. Richard Poole has hunted her down and that's what she has to accept. All she asks for is a phone call.
It's all over for Detective Sergeant Camille Bordey as an undercover agent.
.
Almost two days have passed and Camille has received a call from Commissioner Patterson. He regrets to inform her that she will no longer be able to work undercover anywhere, the only thing he can offer her is the job vacated by Sergeant Thompson (she was the corrupt officer and murderer of Charlie Hulme and James Lavender).
Camille hangs up the phone after accepting the job.
She just hopes that DI Poole will leave as soon as possible. Of course ... she saw something strange in his eyes when he discovered she was a cop like him. It seemed that, for a few seconds, he had recognised her. He seemed to feel betrayed.
Given what happened with Sergeant Thompson, she expects that just professionally speaking, it seems normal to her that he should stop trusting people a little. Not counting his life in the UK if Camille has to trust the report sent by her friend.
She recognised those eyes. Camille remembers again the dream she had last night. It wasnt on their beach, she misses him very much, as he misses her.
She feels so lost. She finds herself searching for her love in a tropical forest that at least reminds her of where she normally lives. She likes that. But its already dark and she is and feels lonely. She hasn't spoken to him for a few days.
Her research and her career have gone down the drain, she hasn't managed to see him again and she feels a bit down. But Camille decides to continue her search and continues walking through what looks like a maze of vegetation.
She feels watched, but she knows that most of them are completely harmless animals. When she begins to hear the waves of the sea, her heart leaps with joy - at last she will be able to talk to him! But it's not like that.
When she manages to find a path that leads her somewhere, to her love, to her friend, that path leads her instead to an empty and somewhat abandoned shack.
It's DI Richard Poole's shack! But when she goes inside to find out what's going on, there's no one there, just a glowing green lizard that seems to be smiling.
"You're not what I'm looking for, little lizard," she says.
"Camille, in this world no one is what they seem and I want to help you, even though Im not Erzulie. He is still looking for you. He really is the most stubborn man who has ever entered the island. That could get him into trouble... Although I can assure you that we are all on your side. I will protect him, Camille. All of us will protect him. Just like you."
"He's someone very special, isn't he?"
"As are you. We need you both. You are the protectors of the island. We've already talked to him and he agrees. The problem is that it's very difficult to get you two to remember what we want from you when you go back to your normal lives. But not impossible. Love works wonders."
She then remembers waking up with a start.
Of course, it dawns on her that DI Richard Poole has arrived on the island at the same time as her love is supposed to arrive!
"Richard Poole, if you're that special man, you're not getting rid of me."
It's a promise.
Notes:
This story will still have more than one chapter. More than one idea is already emerging. Finally!.
Isn't Richard's comment about the bins in the chapter, when he is talking to a neighbour about the bins at his Croydon home, a nod to "The Armstrong and Miller Show" sketches about bins? I would say yes.