Chapter 16: Where are you, Camille?
Summary:
Even the Loas can't help Richard and Camille when tropical fever invades Richard's sacrosanct home in the Caribbean...
Chapter Text
Chapter Text
"I must go, Catherine," says Fidels voice. "Dwayne and I have a case. A drowning, but Dwayne doesn't think it's an accident. He's talking about a crime. And if Dwayne says so, there's no doubt about it! Goodbye!"
Good Fidel. If it wasn't for him, no one would know that Richard was seriously ill.
The almost comatose Richard Poole, still with the thermometer in his mouth, can't help but open his eyes wide at the word "crime", but weakness, the ramblings of his mind and the fever that has invaded him since last night prevent him from even getting up.
"Camille, where are you?" Richard thinks he thinks. He has forgotten that she, against her will, has gone to Paris for a police training course. The Commissioner made it very clear that the fact that the two detectives have a notorious and public relationship should not be a problem for both policemen to fulfil their duties. And one of those duties is precisely the police training courses.
But his visitor had heard him. "Richard, it's me, Catherine. Camille is in Paris. You sent her to do a course, remember?" Catherine, in a break from cutting up the chicken to make her famous tropical fever broth, is sitting on the bed next to a lost Richard.
Richard looks at her unfocused. He is uncharacteristically slow to comprehend what Catherine is saying to him.
"Ah!" is all he is able to reply before closing his eyes.
Catherine rolls her eyes, smiles to herself, gets off of bed and continues with her special recipe. If she tells him that Camille is on the moon, it wouldnt matter, Richard will still understand virtually nothing in his current state.
Meanwhile, in Paris at 18:00, Camille is very worried. She has just finished the course itself, but she would like to do some shopping at Galeries Lafayette. A silk nightdress here, more women's undergarments there... She hasn't shopped like this for years. Richard is not the only pathetically out-of-practice person in this couple.
And Juliette has also done some errands for her behind Fidel's back, of course. What Juliette and Camille also keep quiet about is that Fidel's credit card is going to see some activity.
Initially, she and Richard hadnt worried too much about her forced trip to Paris. They had their own personal and private "communication channel". But when Camille remembers what she dreamt last night...
Both of them are having a nice cold beer. It's a luxury for Camille to be sleeping in her Paris hotel bed and at the same time enjoying the company of her boyfriend, enjoying the sound of the waves.
But Richard seems to fall asleep at times so that Camille can't even read his mind. It feels like his mind is beginning to fill with confusion. At first he seemed fine and a bit more refreshed.
"Richard, are you okay? You don't seem to be listening to me."
Richard looks at her, finding it hard to move his head.
"The truth is, Camille, I'd be grateful to get some rest tonight. Today I haven't felt well at all and I've missed you so much! Fidel is someone I talk to very well, but Dwayne, since my birthday party, he hasn't stopped talking to me about his girlfriends, about what he's done... He drives me crazy!"
She looks at him with understanding and a big smile on her face.
"Richard, when Dwayne gets too overwhelming, I send him along with Fidel, to patrol the island a bit. "
"I'll try that trick next time. How was the course?"
"Same old stuff. Some new technology that we'll only see in the class because there's not enough budget to implement it in the modest police stations like ours. I have managed to reconnect with my old friends".
"What friends? Any particular ones perhaps?" asks Richard worriedly.
Camille smiles at him and reassures him by answering him.
"Of course they're special. They wouldn't be my friends if they weren't. But you are the most special of them all. There's no denying that. My life is full of real magic with you, my love."
Richard smiled before he began to slowly fall to the side. That reply has soothed him, but he feels an irresistible desire to sleep without dreaming.
When Camille tries to wake him up, worried about him, she can't do it, he slowly fades away as he mumbles:
"I'll call you tomorrow, Camille, I just need to get some sleep...".
And the next second she was awake sitting on her Paris bed not knowing what to do.
She looked at the clock and it was half past four in the morning. Camille started counting backwards on her fingers and saw that it was half past ten at night in Honoré. Since when did Richard go to bed so early?
Camille tried to go back to sleep, a few hours later that day she would finish the course and, in theory, depending on her next phone call to Richard, would go to Galeries Lafayette.
Camille finished reminiscing about the previous night and then called her mother, as she promised she would let her know as soon as the course was over. She would call Richard next.
"Hello, Maman! How's the morning going?"
Camille can hear the background noise of "La Kaz". Her mother is working from table to table as usual.
"Fine, as usual, honey. Didn't Fidel call you? Or Dwayne? It's about Richard."
Camille feels her heart suddenly stop.
"Maman, what's wrong with Richard?"
Catherine tries to reassure her daughter.
"Richard didn't go to work early this morning and Fidel, very worried, went to his shack. He is suffering from a very high fever, honey, but we are already taking turns to look after him. The doctor has visited him and she said it's serious, but not specially severe. And I've made him my famous chicken soup for emergencies!"
Camille doesn't know what to think.
"But how is he?" she insists.
"He's rambling a lot, Camille, he's asked about you more than once. He seems to have forgotten about your course. Besides, there's been a drowning that could be a crime, not an accident. Dwayne himself suspects which may be murder."
"What a time it is for me to go to Paris! I'm going to get an early return ticket. Bye, maman, I've got to go!"
But before getting the return ticket, Camille calls Fidel and he informs her of everything he has so far regarding the case, of the times he has had to hang up the phone on Richard, Camille half-smiles at the latter, and, above all, of the horrible Detective Sergeant appointed by Commissioner Patterson to "help" solve the case.
Camille reassures him, that she was going to call to get the return ticket as soon as possible.
She has managed to get her plane ticket changed, but as she still had a few free hours (the flight will take off by four or five in the morning the next day), she decided that shell go to the French department store to buy Juliette's assignment (which she has promised to pay back religiously as soon as Camille arrived in Saint Marie courtesy of Fidel's credit card) and, of course, what Camille had in mind to reward Richard for his determination in trying to solve a case when he couldn't even get out of bed.
At least Camille managed to talk to a still sleepy Richard as she had just boarded the plane. She needs to know if Richard is fine!
Detective Sergeant Angela Young is one of the strangest people, in the worst sense of the word, to ever pass through Saint Marie Police Station.
Fidel can't stand her, she has invaded Richard's desk! But Dwayne, more experienced in these matters, knows how to handle her. After all, she is temporary.
Dwayne deduces that she is on holiday on the island because they couldn't stand her in the UK. Funny, nearly the same case as the Chief.
The big difference is that Richard Poole is one of the best DIs the UK has ever exported and DS Young is, quite simply, incompetent and self-important.
Fidel is looking forward to Camille's arrival.
But life, or rather the police investigation, goes on. And in that respect, the male officers at the police station have been working long enough with the Chief to at least collect data and record statements properly, despite DS Young's gross incompetence.
Data and information that Fidel himself, fed up with dealing with DS Young as well as hanging up the phone on a weak but persevering Richard, passes on to his boss, mentor and friend.
Meanwhile it is Dwayne who must accompany Detective Young. And thank goodness, because Dwayne is a great human being who knows how to comfort Benjamin's widow when the DS only knows how to grimace.
The DS even lacks Richard's empathy and compassion for the victims and their families.
And Dwayne begins to get fed up with her.
In Richard's shack, he, every time he falls asleep, even if only for a few minutes, always dreams the same thing. He is in the cottage where he can enjoy his time alone with Camille undisturbed, but without her. Of course, contrary to what happens in such cases, it is just as hot as usual in the house, almost unbearably hot.
And when he goes out onto the veranda looking for Camille and some coolness, all he finds is a strange, dark, hot mist. And he hears murmurs all around him, but he can't locate the voices or understand what they are saying.
Fortunately, these dreams don't last long...
And he starts shouting for Camille, but this time Catherine answers. But he wants to talk to Camille.
Camille is on the plane on her way home to Saint Marie thankful that she managed to pick up the items Juliette had ordered as well as her own personal shopping. Her classmates had also looked at her since she still had 3 or 4 days off and several of her male colleagues were also disappointed. One of them had even made a pass at Camille, which she refused. The men had all thought that in the days she still had left, they might have a chance. And they didn't stand a chance, not now.
Camille once even let Richard's name slip.
Thank goodness that the few who had heard of Camille's DI only knew him by his surname!
Of course, she's not thinking about any of that, she's just obsessed and worried about getting to Saint Marie as soon as possible and making sure he's safe and out of danger.
Against all hope, she decides to take a nap and try her luck. Maybe Richard can reassure her.
She is walking along the beach on her way to Richard's shack It is still a bit far away. It's strange, because she's never been this far away from him before. As she approaches the little house, or at least tries to, she understands why.
Although its a bright, sunny day, albeit with some cloud cover, the shack is surrounded by a compact, greyish mist that makes it impossible for Camille to try to enter it.
Which makes her desperate, because she can hear Richard calling out to her. She tries again, but the plane has hit a little turbulence and she wakes with a start.
Catherine is back at her bar in La Kaz. Anyone who saw her would think she was thinking about her next order for the bar, or something else. They would be wrong, she is actually thanking Erzulie.
Because a little less than a year ago she had prayed that Camille, her Camille, would stabilize her life and be happy. Because Catherine knew that her daughter was not happy. Maybe not unhappy either, but she wanted the best for her daughter at that moment.
And if that helped Camille return to Saint Marie, so much the better.
She is thinking of an overheard conversation that a sleepy Richard seemed to be having with her daughter, even though he was alone. And he seemed to be talking about certain private matters that Catherine had tried to talk to Camille about only seconds before she left for Paris. And she knew that her daughter had not been able to say goodbye to Richard for lack of time (even though they had already done so the night before in his shack without any problems – but Maman can't know about that).
Now she thinks she understands the unexpected and perfect relationship that the two of them seemed to be enjoying. That trust they had in each other, trust that only comes with time.
They knew each other before! Even when separated by thousands of miles... A miracle! An Erzulie miracle!
Notes:
Sweepeaspatch's help has been especially valuable in this chapter. If you add the time difference to the spiritual communications, it certainly becomes more complicated...