Chapter 3: One more step...
Summary:
It was ridiculous to pretend anything in front of Richard's parents. In this chapter they already live together... more or less. Since the transformation of the shack will begin soon. The case has a few nuances that are different from what is already known.
And Richard's parents seem to be in no hurry to leave Saint Marie...
Chapter Text
"Camille, let me sleep a little longer, the alarm clock hasn't gone off yet." It is Richard who is mumbling like a little boy who doesn't want to wake up so early. And he feels a more intense heat than usual in his feet.
When he decides to open his eyes and order Camille to leave him alone, much as she doesn't like hearing it, he finds, again! a hen comfortably ensconced at his feet.
Richard doesn't know what he hates more at the moment, finding a chicken in his bed again without his permission or not finding Camille anywhere.
Actually what really bothers him is finding a chicken in his bed instead of Camille.
Soon he chases the poor animal out of the shack and, what he sees on the beach at that moment makes him reconcile with the hen, saving her from ending up in an appetizing stew...
Because he can't take his eyes off the mermaid emerging from the sea. In a bikini reduced to the bare minimum. She takes advantage of the privacy of the beach, obviously.
When she gets to where he is, she gives him a little kiss on the lips. But as she knows that Richard hates sand even when it comes in such a package, she dries herself carefully with the towel she had prepared for that purpose on the veranda. And when she is perfectly dry, she goes to the kitchen where there are already some very fresh eggs waiting to be cooked.
As Richard watches her carefully, he realizes that a fortnight has already passed and the plans for the future refurbished shack are ready. The night before, Richard and Camille were up late deciding on the finishing touches. They realize there will be problems, it is a building site after all!
As Camille prepares the casserole for the boiled eggs, she receives a call from Fidel announcing that there has been a fire at the Couvent du Sacré-Coeur. A postulant has fallen into a coma due to smoke inhalation.
The door locked from the inside, a certain anomalous behaviour of the postulant and, above all, the priest's insistent request for help from the police to clarify what had happened, led the Saint Marie police team to take matters into their own hands.
Richard is already in the shower. He had overheard Camille talking to Fidel and he doesn't like to waste time. She waits for him to finish and, while she dresses quickly, he will cook the eggs. Richard still has to shave, brush his teeth, get dressed and so on. And he likes to be dressed to the nines, which takes time.
Who's waiting for whom, Camille wonders with some mischief. But she informs him of the fire when he gets out of the shower, which almost starts another one between them, but they are already on duty and haven't got time for any 'personal business'...
They are in a hurry, but Camille notices that he has twisted his face when she tells him about the Convent of the Sacred Heart and the nuns. They will talk about it in more detail later.
Instead they concentrate on the wonderful breakfast Camille has prepared for him. A perfect boiled egg with toast points. And he savours and eats it with relish. Just like her breakfast, but with some croissants added in Camille's case.
As Dwayne and Fidel are already at the convent and the postulant is already in the hospital due to her coma, Richard and Camille head straight there.
"You know, Camille, after all that has happened to us in Saint Marie and before I came here, I'm not at all surprised to find such a relaxed atmosphere in this convent. Imagine, a novice in a coma for not putting out a cigarette!"
She nods.
Richard has learned that at Saint Marie they take everything in a more relaxed way. And he likes it. Although it wouldn't hurt to be more careful. Good thing the priest had got to the poor girl in time.
When they arrive at the scene of the accident, Richard can't help but feel a little shiver. The place doesn't bring back good memories, but he looks at Camille. She symbolizes all the enormous change his life has undergone for the better. She has turned everything bad in his life around.
"Are you okay, Richard?" she asks not knowing what he is thinking at that moment.
"Of course. Just ghosts from my past life that don't matter in the slightest now."
"If you say so." Camille has decided that she will try to talk to his mother to find out what Richard is talking about. Despite his words, she knows some ghosts don't rest easy.
The Saint Marie team can sum up all the facts in that: the young novice was perhaps not quite convinced to become a nun, that Father John was really very upset, that Sister Marguerite was the one who saved the girl's life with her quickness of action, and that a "ghost" sister has been seen around the convent, although neither Father John nor Sister Anne believe in her existence.
When, after initial enquiries, Richard and Camille walk with Sister Anne, she informs them of one of her potential sources of income: a spring with miraculous water that can cure ailments. Richard finds this hard to believe. In any case, it's one more thing to consider. It doesn't seem like a bad deal for the convent.
All information is important.
Richard decides that he will meet Fidel in the novice's cell and Camille will talk to the rest of the nuns. It is soon discovered that, although the novice smokes, she didnt smoke the cigarette that caused the fire.
Which means that the accident becomes attempted murder.
Who would want to kill a novice?
Hours later, the team is discussing the case and it is discovered that the girl and a man named Michael Lannon were to leave Saint Marie the week after the fire. The girl definitely had no intention to become a nun.
Could Daryl Dexter be that Michael Lannon? His name has been recalled by Sister Marguerite. But he is only the public relations man who makes holy springs profitable.
Richard also discovers that Father John was in Strasbourg in 1988, where there is an orphanage from which the comatose novice, who wasnt at all religious, came.
But that is the end of the first day of the investigations into the case and the team take the opportunity to meet up at the Kaz late in the afternoon, where they meet the Poole couple, Alice and Arthur, who are keen to find out more about the refurbishment of the future love nest for Camille and Richard.
While Fidel and Dwayne have a few beers, Richard is questioned by his father about the course of the investigation, while Camille continues to talk to Alice a little further away from them.
"I'm afraid there's not much to say, Dad. What looked like an accident, an oversight perhaps, now appears to be an assassination attempt."
His father looks at him with surprise.
"I can assure you, Richard, I never had a case like this. A novice victim of an assassination attempt on an island as remote from the world as this one."
"As Camille often says, this island is magical."
Richard knows it is highly unlikely that his parents will ever know the kind of life together that he enjoys with Camille. The magic that has brought them together forever.
"Besides, the girl must have felt the same way, because she was planning to leave Saint Marie next week. I'm afraid she had no vocation. Although we didn't locate the man she wanted to leave with."
The two are now seated at one of the outside tables at La Kaz. It has grown dark and they are enjoying a cool breeze as they sip a cool beer. Richard has learned to intersperse a beer now and then in place of his idolized tea. Tea he will never give up.
"I see, son. Nothing is as it used to be. I don't think it's too difficult to solve. With today's almost instantaneous information from all over the world, it shouldn't be too complicated. In my day it was a bit harder and slower. Of course, if you need help..."
Richard smiles and thinks that, if he and Camille have children and they become detectives, he would do the same thing his father is trying to do now. A cop is always a cop.
"No doubt about it. Your experience would do me a lot of good." Then he watches his mother and Camille chatting animatedly, while Catherine bustles from table to table serving the regulars. "What do you think they're talking about, Dad?"
Arthur shrugs and replies:
"I think your house renovation. Your mother is driving me crazy with a thousand and one details. Or maybe about the clothes her little grandchildren will be wearing..."
Richard looks at him as he warns him:
"Dad! One thing at a time..."
Arthur Poole resigns himself to waiting a long, long time... And Richard continues to watch Camille, who at this point listens with her full attention to her future mother-in-law.
"So Richard was mistreated at boarding school. Was that normal when he was a little boy?"
"Of course not, Camille. Arthur and I didn't know until a few years later, when it was too late and Richard had changed."
"I understand you would have taken him out of there as soon as you knew."
"Yes, it would have done Richard a lot of good to talk to his father about it but Arthur wasn't then like he is now. Father and son, they're both alike. When they're in trouble they turn in on themselves and are silent. I don't know if I've told you but I'd given up hope that my son would ever be happy."
Camille takes a small sip of her cocktail while Alice tells her:
"But that has changed. He's even making plans with you for your future together. I know you've already got the shack renovation organized, right?"
Camille smiles.
"Yes, and it's better than we thought. In the end we'll have to tear down most of the shack. Except for the tree. Richard is very fond of it. What's clear is that it's going to be a lot bigger than it is now..."
Alice thinks of all that extra room for her future grandchildren.
"Of course it is, my dear. When are you starting it?"
"We're already looking for a place to live while it's being carried out. Richard wants to keep listening to the sea. He doesn't like the hustle and bustle or the noise of town."
Camille also knows that their special relationship with the Loa demands privacy.
Camille smiles, she knows that Alice, like Maman, thinks only of the grandchildren. But since that's up to Richard and her, the grandparents-to-be will have to wait.
"Besides, Alice, we're going to spend tonight putting all our things in boxes. I don't think it will be long before we find that temporary rental we're looking for. The Commissioner Patterson is helping us."
That night, as they are lying in bed in Richard's shack, they finish talking over the case then turn to personal matters.
"What were you talking to my mother about, Camille?"
Camille smiles at him and answers:
"About how you were as a child." Richard twists his face. "And house hunting while this one gets fixed up. I also told her we were going to box up some of our stuff tonight."
Richard smiles in turn as he clarifies to Camille:
"They're really insistent, aren't they? The sooner we get the new shack done, the sooner..." They both think of the longed-for grandchildren, but he then asks, "Why did you want to know what I was like as a child?"
"Oh, I was just curious. If we had children, I'd like one of them to inherit your eyes and your intelligence."
He looks at her amused.
"How many children do you want? Besides, I don't know if we could choose what they might inherit from us. If anything, I'd like them to have your beauty and your intelligence too."
Camille then replies.
"We'll see about that, Richard, but we have to sleep now. Turn out the light, we have work to do tomorrow. And not just with the case."
Worries never go away completely in dreams.
"Really, Camille, how many children are you thinking of?"
When Camille notices the coolness of the shack, she discovers that they are both now asleep.
"Right now, none. But I would like to have several children with you. You and I would have been a lot less lonely with more siblings to share everything with."
Richard is thoughtful. Of course he wants more than one child too. But later...
"I'm of the same opinion as you when it comes to this matter. Besides, with the new house, the job... But if, for whatever reason, the babies were to arrive earlier in this world (and the next), I would still love them with all my heart."
Camille kisses him on the cheek.
"As would I. And because I don't want there to be any doubt on the island as to who their father is, I want them to look like you."
Richard bursts out laughing.
The lizard looks at them mockingly. He knows that these children are already in the plans for both of them. These humans turn everything upside down. They seem to find it hard to accept the inevitable.
And Catherine Bordey, Camille's mother, and Arthur and Alice Poole are doing a good job of "encouraging" their respective children.
Richard, who has been watching his lizard friend's expression, asks him curiously.
"Are Camille and I going to be able to continue to enjoy these times in this special shack all to ourselves while the refurbishment takes place?"
"Of course. We can't, as yet, share our whole world with you, but this shack will remain yours. That's why it's an image of the real thing. Even if you live in another house while there is work being done on this one…
Notes:
I hope you enjoy it. Before I came up with the final version I made more than one change because there was something I didn't quite like. Hence the delay. I understand that there will still be a few details left. Anyway, thanks for being there!