Chapter 5: Camille feels fear and euphoria

Summary:

The Loa's like to play with Richard and Camille. On the one hand, the Loa, who doesn't seem to accept the Inspector, insists on giving him a nightmare or two, and on the other hand it seems that a friend of theirs, a Loa with good intentions, wants to show Camille something that she would like very much and that she may risk losing if our favourite couple don't shield themselves from unwanted attacks.

Chapter Text

Time passes in a placid, quiet, warm and... boring way. Twenty days have passed and it seems that a tornado has passed through Richard and Camille's poor shack.

Richard, in an astonishingly quick and reflexive move, managed to save his lizard from a barrage of building materials that would have crushed the poor animal.

It was up to Camille to look after the Inspector's injured ankle and endure his endless stream of moans and groans.

The Inspector, once he had made sure that no one was looking, built a large terrarium for the lizard. The effort proving that Richard's ankle is not as bad as he would have others think.

Of course, it feels so good when you are surrounded by loved ones who respect, love and pamper you...

Richard wants to enjoy that for as long as possible.

There is hardly any movement in the police station. The four of them are bored and tired of the oppressive heat.

"It's too hot to break the law". Camille comments, fed up not only with the heat and inactivity.

Richard is a caged lion when he doesn't have a case to sink his teeth into. A bored Richard is a terrible thing, so the Sergeant is entertained as much as she can by any detail about the shack refurbishment, however unimportant.

They are now living in a shack even smaller than their own. The bedroom is tiny, the bathroom is the same as what they are used to and the kitchen is just a breakfast bar with a few conveniences. There are few amenities but the veranda is very spacious and they can still hear the waves of the sea.

The building work is going very fast. So fast that Richard doesn't understand how they can do it in the heat.

"You pay them very generously, darling."

It is the Inspector's mother, who along with her husband is still on the island, who has commented that very thing to him. And more than once.

"It's not too much money compared to what that same reform would cost in the UK."

Richard's parents, Camille and the DI are enjoying an evening of conversation on the veranda of the temporary beachside dwelling.

Arthur, his father, is discovering that life in the Caribbean can be much quieter and calmer. One forgets the hours and, in fact, he has already made a few friends with whom he shares more than just small talk.

Alice, for her part, has made such good friends with Catherine that she has decided it's a shame to break up such a close friendship by leaving the island to return to a routine life.

For the moment they are in no great hurry. They are fine as they are.

"Richard, are you listening to me?"

He, eyes half-closed, answers his girlfriend.

"Yes, Camille. I always listen to you."

"You're half asleep! It's almost nine o'clock and tomorrow we have to get up early. And then we have to talk to the reform people. We have to decide some things about the enlargement. Who knows, it might not be impossible for us to get some work done at the station."

Alice looks at her watch and gets up, waking her husband in turn.

"We have to go, Arthur! Your son and daughter-in-law have a lot to do tomorrow and must go and rest. They have to get up early."

Camille was speechless at the word daughter-in-law.

"But I don't." Says Richards father.

Arthur knows how to joke too.

"Get up and let's go now. If we stop by La Kaz Catherine will serve us some of her cocktails. And you might even run into some of your friends."

"All right." When he sees his son almost completely asleep in the deckchair, he says to Camille.

"Leave him lying there. And wake him up tomorrow morning."

"So the mosquitoes will eat him." Camille comments.

And she thinks: "I prefer to eat him myself."

So, instead of leaving him asleep on the deckchair, she wakes Richard up, they say goodbye to his parents, and when they are both in bed, Camille decides to feast to her heart's content.

Not too much though, they really have a lot of work to do in the morning!

When they arrive at the station the next morning, they discover Dwayne asleep on his desk, quite damaged.

"When is he going to learn that he's too old for this way of life?" asks Richard.

Of course, as DI, he must see to it that the rules are enforced in his station and wakes poor Dwayne up none too gently.

"Dwayne, this life is killing you." Richard warns him with the best of intentions.

And that comment is the only punishment Officer Myers receives.

Sadly, another day of inactivity ensues. Apparently.

Until Honoré's police team has to go to the Jacaranda clinic because a corpse of one of its patients has been found in the swimming pool.

A French woman whose husband was about to divorce her.

Suicide perhaps?

Richard and Camille will have to put off renovating the house until later.

Dwayne and Camille update the DI on the properties and information of Mr. Tipping, the owner of the cosmetic surgery clinic.

The team has to tread carefully, even the Commissioner is a client (for physiotherapy, or so he says) of the clinic. If Richard is ever promoted to Commissioner, he already knows that he will be able to enjoy an affluent lifestyle and now that includes free massages!

So he thinks, while he can't help but notice the lush female beauties that swarm around the clinic. Until he meets Camille's warning glance.

"You know I love classical music, Camille. That's Vivaldi playing."

"Even I know that, Richard. But music doesn't distract you that way. You'll have to make do with me, even if I don't have them so...exuberant."

"Camille!"

She has no problem with opening her mouth and blurting out the first thing that comes to mind, even if they're surrounded by all their friends.

But at the crime scene, once Commissioner Patterson has politely "warned" them not to cause too much trouble with their presence at the clinic and leaves to get dressed, the DI is in his element.

While Camille talks to Dr. Anna Jones and Fidel and Dwayne question some witnesses and make sure no one touches the body, Richard watches with his eyes and his brain.

For a moment he forgets the renovations, his adoration and love for Camille, his friends, his family, everything. Now there is only the scene of the suicide (which remains to be seen) and the evidence he can find.

When he finishes, as he cannot go long without thinking about Camille, the DI and the DS go to the victim's room and find the unfinished tea, Da Hong Pao tea, one of the most expensive teas in the world. This makes Richard think that Valerie Dupree would not make a cup of this jewel tea then commit suicide without finishing and enjoying it. Not to mention all the other evidence they find.

As the police team leaves the clinic and meet Commissioner Patterson already dressed, Camille looks at Richard with concern when her boyfriend tells the Commissioner that it is not entirely certain that it was suicide.

Too bad that in this dimension they can't communicate with the mind otherwise she would have warned him not to say it!

Back at the Station the boredom returns, Richard returns to his crossword puzzle. If its suicide, they won't have much work to do. Until they get the autopsy results and Richard notices that there is no trace of Diazepam although a bottle of the drug was found in the room register.

Camille asks him with a predatory interest on her face as she adores Richard when he is immersed in an investigation and he brings out all that strength that only he has in him when he is working on a case:

"Are you saying it wasn't suicide?" though she already knows the answer.

"No accident?" suggests Fidel.

"So it's ...?" Dwayne begins the sentence.

"It can only be murder." Richard finishes the sentence.

Camille and Richard return to the Jacaranda Clinic, next to the pool where the victim's body was found and there Camille demonstrates to him why she is an expert in a hand-to-hand fight.

Its clear that it is impossible for anyone to try to keep the victim underwater without her fighting for her life. Clearly there would have to be signs of that struggle for life and there is no trace of it anywhere.

The Commissioner is not going to like the measures Richard takes from that moment on: the clinic is closed until the investigation is completed, no one is allowed to leave and no one is allowed to enter. Of course, the passports of the clinic's staff and clients will be confiscated.

And they will all have to be questioned. That is the procedure.

Later, the woman being questioned by Camille, a Mrs. Smythe, tells the Sergeant that she is missing her fourth husband, who died in her arms, very much. He had been a force of nature and so much fun. Camille knows that this woman loved her fourth husband; the Detective Sergeant cannot be fooled.

For her part, Camille thinks of Richard: he is her force of nature, he is her fun, he is everything to her.

So, as this woman has taken a liking to her, Camille advises her to leave the resort, to have fun, to get to know the island of Saint Marie and to enjoy herself. She gives her the telephone number of La Kaz. Catherine will know how to help her.

Meanwhile, poor Richard, following along with Mr. Tipping and passing through the odd corridor of the clinic leading to an operating room, is with the doctor while he performs one of his "wonders" while Richard interrogates him.

The Inspector was definitely not lying later when he told Camille that he liked her just the way she was - under no circumstances does he want her to have anything done to her body for him!

Richard Poole has experienced many truly horrifying situations in his life as a police officer, few comparable to what he has experienced in that operating theatre.

At least, that's how he feels. Camille laughs in his face with love and understanding, but still she laughs. And she tells him that Paul Vincent must be the only human being born on the island who doesn't know French.

And just as everyone is back at the station, the Commissioner is in a very bad mood because the case hasnt been treated as a suicide and the clinic has been closed due to the investigation. He gives them 24 hours to solve the case.

And the team sets about it with all the tools and information at their disposal.

When it looks like they have a prime suspect, nurse Carlton Reynolds, they don't. He's just stealing barely expired medicine to help the poorest people on the island.

From calls made before the victim was killed, calls made to his lawyer in France, Camille and Richard discover that the surgeon Tipping is losing his sight a little more each day. He is going blind.

That was probably why Valerie Dupree was going to file a lawsuit against the clinic, but the poor man just keeps thinking that the victim committed suicide due to his poor eyesight.

But so far Richard can't see anything positive in the case. He can't figure out who killed the woman at the clinic. And with this desolate feeling the police station closes its doors on another day without having solved the case.

Its night time and Richard and Camille are on the veranda having a beer. They have only recently arrived at the little shack to rest. They have been talking to the architect to discuss the extensions and materials to be used to make their final home, once refurbished, a little cooler.

The tree is giving them a lot of trouble, but the Inspector insists that it stays where it is planted. At least the man in charge of the work has assured him that they will be able to have air conditioning.

"I'm going to bed, Camille. Let's see if I can dream up a solution to the case."

Camille smiles at him and replies:

"I'm pretty tired too. It's been a long day. You must have faith, mon coeur, you are not alone."

Camille is asleep, she is sure of it. But she is not in the usual shack. She is in La Kaz and is talking to her mother. In fact its a very bright and luminous morning.

But she supposes that the fact that there are two cowboys having a pig roast while their horses wait outside tied to a post enhances the fact that she is dreaming. And that Catherine is not at all surprised by what is going on around her.

Why isn't she dreaming about Richard?

"Camille! Are you listening to me? I'm telling you that your children have stolen the proceeds from today's bar to buy the train that you and Richard promised them and didn't get them. I'm afraid your husband will have to put them in jail."

Camille looks quizzically at her mother.

"What are you talking about, Maman?"

"I'm sorry, darling. I was only joking. You know I love those two little devils. But they have to pay me back."

Suddenly Camille hears noises of children laughing outside the bar and runs to see what those children look like. She catches a glimpse of them. One of them has Richard's green eyes while the other has her eyes. She is thrilled. They both have the Inspector's smile.

But when she goes to approach them, her mother stops her:

"Wait, Camille, I have to tell you something."

Camille looks at her in fright, her mother has lost her usual expression on her face.

"Dangers await you and Richard. I allow you to see this so you can see what will be achieved in the end if you persevere and fight for your happiness. Not to mention the lives of these two little ones. Richard is not the only one who is not alone, neither of you are."

"Maman, you're scaring me."

"Camille!"

Its Richard who is waking her up by grabbing her shoulders. Camille has been making strange noises. The strangest thing though is that she is having a dream within a dream.

Then Camille wakes up and sees what the shack she is in now looks like. This is the place where she wanted to be!

"Oh, Richard! Let me tell you about something strange that happened to me!"

Richard hugs her tightly, but Camille is still afraid until she discovers that she is also immensely happy.

"You know, Richard? I have something to tell you that you're really going to like. ..."