Chapter 8: Something Personal
Summary:
It seems that the Loa "put pressure", in this case, especially on Camille so that the Saint Marie police team succeeds in saving the island. And Richard returns with one of his beloved experiments...
Chapter Text
The next day Fidel wakes up both detectives, calling them to report there had been another accident, but this time someone has died.
They call a taxi and Camille can't help but remember how much fun she used to have laughing at Richard's eccentricities when they find themselves walking through the jungle of Saint Marie towards the camp where the accident has occurred. It's clear that the DI has yet to adapt to some of the island life. The walk through the almost impenetrable jungle does not suit him at all. And he, by her direct order, is already wearing lighter suits adapted to the heat of the island.
But he seems to have two left feet and Camille fondly remembers old times...
Especially when he loses his balance on two or three occasions. But now she adores help him. She loves to help him regain his balance, always.
Besides, any excuse is a good one to touch him, to hug him.
However, neither the heat nor the exhaustion make Richard, when he finally arrives at the camp, do his duty with any less dedication. He is precise and thorough as always.
Fidel is already there, of course, making sure that no one goes near the crime scene or the body. Dr Ian Parks, the group's geologist, is the unfortunate man who has died while apparently cleaning an antique gun that he was restoring. He was found by Daniel Morgan. Logical, considering the body was inside Daniel's tent.
When Richard discovers that this is the camp where the explosion occurred the day before, he starts to connect the dots. Too many accidents. Too much coincidence.
The team begins to gather all kinds of evidence, including, of course, a map to a treasure that the team working in the camp are apparently looking for.
Camille is the first to discover that the shooting couldn't have been an accident and Richard agrees with her. She, before he sees the hole in the tent, discovers that the deceased could not have been cleaning the weapon, as the cleaning cloth was nowhere near the body.
When he begins to question Liz Curtis, it is Camille who quickly deftly takes over the questioning. She doesn't like the way the woman looks at Richard.
When both detectives conclude the interrogation, Richard comments quietly to Camille.
"Thanks, honey, but I already know how to defend myself against damsels in distress."
Camille smiles slyly and says:
"Maybe but, just in case, you leave those damsels to me. You're mine, remember?"
"Always. And you're mine."
When they meet in an outlying part of the camp along with Dwayne and Fidel to gather information, and after Richard has made it perfectly clear that he will allow no curse from the pirate world, the senior detectives head towards Joel Maurice's home, the landowner, while the other two officers remain in the camp looking for more evidence.
When Richard asks if Beyoncé will confirm Maurice's statement, Camille is reminded of the old Richard again. She can't believe her boyfriend... doesn't know who Beyoncé is!
Of course, on the other hand, she almost prefers it that way. Although Richard keeps saying that he's not the same, it's clear that he's still too impressed by the beautiful sex.
At the police station, Camille and Richard are unexpectedly visited by his parents. Visits that have been happening more often than usual lately.
"Look, Arthur, he reminds me of you when you were younger."
The detectives, who were discussing the possibilities of the case, look at them amused.
Arthur doesn't seem so comfortable with that last comment.
"True, my dear. But in my day we were not surrounded by such deliciously beautiful female agents."
Camille lowers her gaze. She doesn't want to be the cause of an argument between her future in-laws.
"Is something wrong, Dad?" asks Richard.
"No, we heard something about a dead man at the same place where the explosion happened yesterday and we wanted to know if the two events had anything in common. Your mother was worried."
"That's not true!" replies Alice.
Richard looks down, smiles, looks at Camille and replies to his parents.
"I'm afraid all I can tell you is that you or the inhabitants of Saint Marie have nothing to fear. The rest is confidential information."
"I understand perfectly well, son. By the way, I got a call from the contractor, Mr. ... Rodriguez."
"Rivera" corrects Richard.
"Right, Mr. Rivera. It seems that putting air conditioning throughout the house is going to be an extra expense..."
"I'll pay for it. Whatever." The DI cuts him off in a curt manner. "Even if we have to reassign money from other work."
Camille looks at him in amusement.
"Son, that won't be necessary. If necessary, your mother and I could help you with some money we have saved up..."
Anything for those grandchildren.
"Dad..."
"We don't need it right now. And, if we ever do need it, you can pay us back later." Alice becomes serious and strict as well.
Camille decides that she will talk to Richard alone about this later after they've had a chance to talk to Rivera themselves.
Just then Dwayne and Fidel arrive from base camp. They bring more evidence, not much, but important to the case.
Richard's parents understand that the cops are busy and decide not to disturb them any longer and meet the arrival of Commissioner Patterson at the entrance.
After a brief chat with the ever-imposing Commissioner Selwyn Patterson, Alice and Arthur leave in order to attend another of their lately all-too-frequent excursions around the island.
The Commissioner speaks to the DI, making it clear to him to do his job but in no way do or say anything that might harm tourism resulting from the legend of the pirate Leclerc.
When Patterson leaves, Richard suggests that the Commissioner also be considered a suspect in the case...
The team makes further progress on the case, everything continues as usual until Daniel Morgan shows up at the station asking for protection, claiming that he had been the target of the assassin who, having failed the first time with the explosion, tried a second time, killing Parks instead.
And has tried a third time by dropping a heavy branch on him. He seeks protection in one of the police cells.
Richard looks at him and even he realizes that Daniel Morgan knows something he is not telling them. No one should have such a grudge against a human being over a four-hundred-year-old treasure.
And Morgan continues to insist that he knows nothing.
Poole has decided, in the light of events, what he is going to do tonight. He orders Fidel to get a set of materials that he will need to restore a burnt piece of paper found in one of the camp's wastepaper baskets. Perhaps it will reveal something important to him. Fortunately, that night, he manages to make the most of the tiny space in the tiny kitchen of the police station to carry out his experiment.
Fidel doesn't mind accompanying him for most of the experiment's duration, and neither does Camille, really. But she doesn't have the necessary patience and is making Richard nervous. So, with a smile, he accepts her offer to leave him and go to bed to sleep. He is relieved; he knows that he might get distracted by her presence and perhaps spoil the experiment.
Camille must have already been asleep for a few hours when Richard gives Fidel the result. Fidel will take care of the rest.
And Richard leaves without delay for the shack. He can't help but start to feel a little tired.
"Camille! Camille! What are you doing here alone, without Richard?"
Camille wakes up startled to land in a dream without her lover.
The other times that's happened to her, it's either she was travelling or something serious was going on.
Until she remembers that he is busy at the moment.
She wakes up in the usual shack, although gradually some slight changes become apparent. It seems that this place will also get bigger in the future.
"Camille! Do you want to answer me?"
Camille stands in front of Catherine.
"Richard is... working, Maman. You know we have a case."
Catherine doesn't look the same, though.
But Camille then understands that this is not the first time the Loa's have spoken through her Maman.
"You must be very careful how you use your discovery. If you don't do things right, Camille, not only will the island of Saint Marie be lost, but you too will not get to meet your children."
"Maman! You mean I got to know my own children before they were even born? Nothing bad will happen to them, will it?"
Catherine looks at her doubtfully, though seriously.
"Right now everything is up in the air."
Camille rises from the bed to chase after Catherine's figure, who starts to walk out the shack door.
She is shouting for her, but can't catch up...
"Camille, Camille! Wake up!"
Now it is Richard who is shaking her by the shoulders. He looks very worried. He regrets leaving her alone.
"Richard?" She hugs him and tries to talk to him about everything before she forgets. She blurts it all out in a jumble.
Richard is thoughtful for a minute and then tries to reassure her.
"So we're going to have two little devils. I don't know why I don't wonder. Don't worry, honey. It's going to be all right. I'm sorry for all the fear you've been through. I'm with you, my love, I'm with you." And he, trying to get Camille's peace of mind back, says, "Now I understand why your mother imposes on me so much."
He explains what he has managed to find out from the experiment. Now it all starts to make more sense.
"Fidel is checking all the maps to see if he can find point PD46."
"Good job" say Camile with a huge kiss. "My little scientist... Reeechaard..."
Richard was tired, but….
The next morning, the team discovers that the fingerprints found on the explosive in the cave, when Morgan emerged unharmed, seem to confirm that Daniel Morgan is the killer who, all along, wanted to murder Doctor Ian Parks, but when they check on him they find Morgan dead in the station cell.
By, what looks like another accident, an anaphylactic reaction to a bug bite. It is too much.
Fidel is the one who discovers the insect that caused the anaphylactic shock.
Fortunately it is Dwayne who gives the crucial clue to the case, helped by Fidel, about what was written on the burned paper that Richard managed to uncover in his experiment. PD 46. A point not found on any map in the case.
Richard needs no more. Perhaps it is all to do with treasure, after all.
At the home of Joel Maurice, the landowner, and surrounded by all the suspects, including Liz Curtis, who is actually an undercover insurance agent investigating Daniel Morgan, he unveils the name of the killer, Benjamin Sammy.
But, for once, not the cause of the murders. It seems that Richard has taken into account the great concern of the lizard Loa because he knows very well what has happened elsewhere on the planet when such 'treasure' is found.
"The murders were not caused by hatred but by love." Says Richard. He can't help but reflect.
His team looks at him with admiration and affection. They have long known that he is not exactly a stuffed shirt.
The discovery of a rare element worth millions of dollars will bring ruin to a country or... an island.
And that rare element is PD 46 which stands for palladium and not a dot on a map. Its extraction by strip mining would have been the ruin of Saint Marie and its inhabitants. And Benjamin Sammy loves Saint Marie. He murdered for love.
Fidel receives an unexpected push from Richard. The DI will support him in his Sergeant's exams.
The night is over, and after celebrating the resolution of a case that has turned away a great threat to the island and, for reasons that Camille and Richard do not yet understand, also something personal for both detectives, they can finally sleep or... dream peacefully.
At least, until they receive any further setbacks from the shack renovation.
Notes:
A change of phrase, a change of location that turned out to be great to add a scene or two?
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