Chapter 10: A case like no other

Summary:

Angelique Morel's case is perfect for this particular plot. Magic, voodoo, etc... continue to surround the Poole team. Even if some of its members are more aware of them than the rest.

Chapter Text

Richard and Camille are paralysed, but Dwayne is on his way and he enjoys speeding around the island. She is the first to come out of this strange stupor.

"I know! I'll talk to my mother as soon as I get home and explain that a friend of mine had a terrible problem: her husband has walked out, or cheated on her or whatever!"

"But Camille..." Richard stares as she is hallucinating. He doesn't think Catherine is that stupid.

Camille interrupts him.

"Don't interrupt me, there's no time to waste! I'll decorate my story while I'm on my way to La Kaz." She stops talking and rummages through the clothes Hulme left Richard as an objectional inheritence.

When Richard realises that Camille is moving swiftly around his small shack and naked, he has to make superhuman efforts to focus on the fact that Dwayne is about to arrive.

Camille demands his attention by snapping her fingers.

"Would you please do me a favour and shower and get dressed while I find something that will keep you from having to arrest me for public scandal?"

Richard reacts.

"Excuse me, Camille, are you going to walk to town?"

"Of course! How do you want me to go, flying? By the way, "she turns away and Richard looks away as he heads for the shower." Do you have a copy of the shacks keys? You understand it's safer for you to get out of here before I do. Ill get to my flat, shower, change and call you and..."

"And I will officially admonish you and inform you where we are all waiting for you, which will be the scene of the crime, if its a crime, because I have no idea of anything. I will be an understanding and magnanimous boss. By the way, I only have one set of keys, so when I go to leave here, I'll pretend to lock up with them and drop them by the side of the door."

"Very good idea." She comments already distracted by the clothes she has found.

Richard Poole is beginning to feel the effects of stress and tension.

While Camille puts on the first thing she can find, preferably something not too recognizable as belonging to Charlie Hulme, because he had been quite well known on the island, Richard finishes showering and is already dressing in a hurry.

When he reaches for fresh underwear, he discovers that Camille has taken his last clean pair. She only had her tunic on, now he understands!

Camille is looking at him from the side of the bed.

"Richard, I will wash and disinfect your underwear, I promise."

He makes a hand gesture indicating that he doesn't mind too much as he dons yesterday's underwear and continues dressing. He finishes by putting on his tie with a flourish.

Suddenly the Jeep's horn sounds. Richard runs out onto the veranda, motioning to Camille not to peek out. He notices Dwayne waving at him.

Richard shouts back:

"I'll be right there, wait for me in the Jeep!" and he runs back into the shack.

When he sees a rather nervous and quiet Camille watching him, dressed in Hulme's hideous clothes, he realises what a wonderful woman he has been given, who is willing to do whatever it takes for him and their relationship.

He comes closer and whispers softly in her ear:

"Camille, last night was one of the happiest nights of my life, in spite of this practical joke by your dear friends" at that moment he is looking at the lizard, who is still looking at him with amusement. "And... well, you know what..."

Camille relaxes, its clear that she can still trust him and she answers him:

"It's been very special for me too, Richard. In spite of everything. And... yes, let's do it again, except while awake and when I have some of my clothes here!"

They are both gazing deep into each other's eyes when Dwayne honks again.

Richard almost runs off, but he changes his mind, goes over to her, kisses her, and then he leaves to join Dwayne.

On the way to the station, Richard behaves more seriously than usual. Even though he hasn't been on the island long, he knows Dwayne's reputation and knows that hes very perceptive. And that makes him nervous.

"So, Dwayne, what can you tell me about the case?"

Dwayne looks at him strangely:

"Fidel is preparing a little report, Chief. What I can tell you is that a woman has turned up... dead at the school where Fidel studied."

Richard nods, feeling as if he has made a small misstep.

Dwayne keeps talking:

"I thought you were going to be more angry, Chief. About Camille."

Richard almost gasps.

"Because of Camille?"

"Yeah. Me and Fidel not being able to track her down and all."

Richard already knows the faux pas. The only relationship his officers know of between Richard and Camille is not exactly a good one. He would have to be, at the very least, angry with her for her absence.

"Dwayne, I'll ask her for explanations when the time comes. That's for sure. It would be unprofessional of me to take my bad temper out on you."

"I understand, sir." Well, Dwayne doesn't really understand much and doesn't really care. This case has affected him more than he realises and he feels more distracted than usual.

The victim predicting her own death in front of him! Why did he ever think of taking his girl to the beach to see Angelique Morel?

Dwayne is distracted and Richard Poole has been lucky.

When Camille, who arrived at her flat half an hour ago, has already showered and dressed (she will burn Charlie Hulme's clothes another time), Catherine appears with a very worried look on her face.

"Camille, honey, can I know where you've been? I tried to call you, but you left your mobile phone in your room with the battery almost dead. What happened?"

"Maman, a friend called me very late at night. She had a very serious problem and in my haste I forgot my mobile phone. I had to stay with her all night."

Catherine looks at her strangely.

Since when does her daughter lie to her when she spends the night with a man? Because she's sure of it. Catherine knows her daughter doesn't get on too well with her new superior, DI Poole. She understands that Camille will need a... distraction.

"I see. What are you doing now?"

Camille is calling from the landline to Fidel.

"We have a case, Maman. I'm calling to let him know I'll be late. I hope hell tell me directly where I should go to meet the team as soon as possible."

"All right, I don't want to keep you. I'll see you later."

"Bye!" And Camille rushes off.

Catherine is left wondering:

"How did Camille know they had a case if she hadn't been called earlier?"

She shrugs and goes back to her bar.

It is already dark and Richard is weighing up the facts of this bizarre case. So this is what I've been sent to this island for? He can't help but wonder.

"Well, I feel sorry for the Loas, for those who believe in voodoo, for this whole superstitious bunch. I will solve this case with evidence, deduction and, if necessary, with the help of science. If they wanted me on this island to protect it, I'm going to do it my way." This last he says to the lizard, who was staring at him.

A voice interrupts him:

"Do you always talk to yourself, Richard?

When he turns around, he smiles at his expected visitor. It's her.

"I just wanted to make it clear that I am a Detective Inspector of Police who will investigate the case as professionally and rationally as possible."

He steps forward and kisses Camille on the cheek.

"Did the reprimand really upset you, sweetheart?"

She hugs him and replies:

"Not at all. You understood perfectly well that an emergency has arisen. You're the perfect boss."

When they kiss again with more intensity, she pulls away:

"I'm sorry, but I have to go. I can't leave my flat two nights in a row. With the reputation as a libertine I inherited from Paris and Guadeloupe, Richard, I have more than enough of a bad name. I'm afraid the truth is much more regrettable. More than half of what is told is a lie, to my misfortune."

"And the truth is so extraordinary that no one would believe it," declares Richard with his half smile. "So why did you...?"

"Because I needed to see you off duty, nothing more than that. With any luck Ill see you tonight... you know how..."

He nods.

"If it's like yesterday, no, thanks. I hope this time your friends..."

"Our friends."

"Good, well our friends don't complicate our lives like that again."

She kisses him again, smiles, wishes him a very good night and runs off.

He continues to think about the case with a smile on his lips.

"Wake up at once!"

It's the voice of the lizard!

Richard wakes from a deep sleep to find himself face to face with the little animal.

"Honestly, I was expecting to meet her. Don't take it personally."

"I'm here, Richard," Camille clarifies.

When he sits on the bed and watches her standing at the foot of his bed, he already knows that this dream will not be like the others.

The lizard keeps talking to them:

"All of us." Camille already knows that Harry is referring to the whole family of Loas" We know of the existence of an evil soul on the island. Angelique Morel was a friend of ours. She was a bridge connecting the inhabitants of the island with us."

"I understand that it is important to you. But for me all victims deserve equal justice," Richard replies.

The lizard smiles:

"I don't need to inform you again of what we expect from you, from you two," clarifies the Loa glancing at Camille. "But you will also have to look beyond what meets the eye and..." he turns around to face Camille. "... and we're going to further enhance your intuition, Camille."

As the lizard leaves and she and Richard try to get closer to each other, the dream is cut short. The Loas have decided that they should focus on the case for tonight.

The next morning the team finds the unpleasant surprise that Nicholas Durham is putting pressure on Commissioner Selwyn Patterson to prevent Richard and Camille from getting too close to him.

"Sir, be careful," warns Fidel, who hasn't managed to forget what his time at the school was like under Dunham's iron rule. "He is a man who brooks no disrespect."

The Commissioner, who was with them when Durham had threatened them all, also warns him:

"He's a clever man, DI Poole, he likes to play people and win every time. Be careful."

"I like to win too, Commissioner. And we have a victim who deserves justice. But what I don't understand is the Headmaster's reaction, it was disproportionate."

Camille can't help but smile at that comment.

She comments to Fidel, pointing at Richard.

"He also likes to play by the looks of it".

Notes:

The plot of the case will conclude in the next chapter. Thanks, as always, to Sweepeaspatch, she manages not only to correct obvious mistakes and improve the story, but to get what I want to express, imagined in another language, just as I had intended. Thanks!