Chapter 10: Clarification and Apologies
Summary:
Camille takes things a bit badly. Probably because her mind and heart have been dealt a hard blow. Not to mention that she, only at the beginning, has the terrible feeling that she is being replaced. ...
Chapter Text
Camille wakes up in a haze. Her head feels very heavy and she can hardly remember anything. She reaches out an arm for Richard's body, but she is alone. How strange! They like to wake up together, if possible, holding each other.
As Richard likes to joke now, they have air conditioning and no longer roast in the heat of each other, they can cuddle as much as they want. But she can't bring herself to smile at the memory of that comment. She feels utterly crushed and little by little she remembers the cause of her deep sadness.
Aimé. Today was the day that Richard would have met her childhood best friend and now its no longer possible. Why isn't Richard with her?
She begins to understand that too. Like a flash of lightning, she recognized the symptoms of haze and heaviness when she woke up. Last night. The drink he'd given her. Richard had drugged her! Couldn't he have told her before? The pain was and is unbearable, but she is more useful to her friend in full use of her mental capacity. Shes sure he's already at the station taking care of the case. Not counting on her.
At that moment she is beginning to hear voices downstairs. She recognizes her mother and Alice, Richard's mother.
They could have woken her up earlier but didn't. That means they must all be in cahoots against her. Worse, they consider her useless.
She dresses quickly and rushes downstairs for breakfast and coffee before heading off for the station. Doesn't everyone understand that she will go mad if she doesn't do something?
Catherine is the first person to wish her good morning with a big hug.
"How are you, sweetheart? Alice and I thought you needed some rest. If you need anything, just let me know, anything at all. I know what Aimée meant to you. I'm so sorry."
Alice prefers not to intrude.
Camille feels her anger subside a little, enough to thank the two women for their support and eat breakfast quickly. She wants to get to the station as soon as possible.
Richard is at the station. He has already put some pictures on the board and still can't concentrate too much on the case. He closes his eyes and is reminded of Camille's despair.
He listens as Fidel and Dwayne talk to each other. Not just about the case itself, but about the rum business. They are priceless and a welcome distraction.
In a corner of the station stands Arthur, his father.
When Alice told him about her assistance on the boat after the murder, Arthur couldn't help but feel jealous. He can help his son in a professional way too! Especially considering Camille's condition.
Richard sighs, he suspects his life is already getting complicated enough. And on top of that he's dying to call home and check on Camille.
His father is already studying the photos on the board and has already read the reports of the previous night's events on the boat.
"Dad..." Richard tries to tell his father to leave the work to them when he perplexedly watches Camille walk into the station with a very serious face. Richard doesn't think it's just because of the personal loss.
She indicates that she has brought her camera with her and takes the photos and puts them on the board. From the quizzical look she has given Richard's father, the DI knows there will be trouble.
"I'm so sorry about everything that's happened, my dear. You have Alice and me for whatever you need." Arthur tells her warmly.
Camille knows hes sincere, but she can't help but be angry with him, with Richard, with everyone.
"You're very kind, Mr. Poole." She emphasizes the "Mr. Poole", not constable, not detective, not even sir. "But I think what I need most right now is to focus on the job and find out everything that's happened. I'd go crazy if I stayed home alone."
Arthur has taken the hint. He'll help his son by talking to him in La Kaz when, preferably, Camille isn't with them.
Richard looks at his father worriedly.
"Son, I see you're all at full strength. I don't want to disturb your work dynamic. I know how important that is. I'll think about what I've read so far and, if I think of anything, I promise I'll tell you."
Richard replies gratefully:
"Thank you, Dad."
By the time Arthur has left, Camille has finished giving the relevant orders to Fidel and Dwayne, who set about dutifully carrying them out. They, too, prefer to focus on work.
"Is there a problem, sir?" Camille asks Richard.
Richard replies that there isnt, not at all.
She just looks at him without answering him. She is already walking out the station door and Richard has to run after her to catch up.
When he grabs her arm, she lashes out with angry words:
"Next time you drug me, tell me first. And by the way, I don't need anyone to fill in for me."
Richard looks at her not knowing what to say. He considers that now is not the best time for excuses and apologizes instead.
"It won't happen again, I promise. Dad just wanted to help us."
When they arrive at Aimée's house, Camille is still a little tense, but calmer. She wants to focus on absolutely every detail she can find.
At least Richard is relieved to discover that, if they talk about work, there is no risk of personal conflict.
At the station, Fidel has already pinned up all the photos on the blackboards. Lots of photos. This is how Richard and Camille find him on their way back from Aimée's house.
The toxicology report has been received: Aimée was poisoned, something Richard already suspected from the symptoms. It was strychnine.
After a visit from Commissioner Patterson to remind them of the importance of rum smuggling on the island, she and Richard go to the ship to question Aimée's boss, Mr. Morrison. Although Camille's questions are more aggressive than usual, Richard does not interfere.
Aimée apparently had enough money to break Morrison's contract and go to Miami. Aimée's boss had no idea where she got the money. Twenty thousand dollars. Richard is shocked.
Richard can't help but suspect that the poor girl was involved in something shady at the very least. At worst, dangerous.
Back at the station, it seems that Camille is already succumbing to the strain, and Richard is tremendously worried to see her openly down in the dumps.
The only good thing is that maybe she will be able to open up to him and understand that he only wants to help her. That everything he has done, wrong or not, he has done because he loves her.
"Camille, are you all right?" he asks her.
"No, Richard. I don't think I can even think right now. I need to be alone."
"I'm sorry, darling. I'm staying with you, even if you feel like ripping my head off. "
Camille smiles sadly.
"As you wish. I don't have the strength to argue."
And that's how Camille and Richard end up sitting on the sand on the beach fifteen minutes later. Even though Richard hates the sand, he loves Camille deeply.
"Camille, I know you're angry with me. Last night you were in a bad way. I felt I had no choice but to give you a mild sedative. I'm sorry. And my father just wanted to help. You have to understand him, my mother talked to him about how she helped on the boat and I think he felt left out."
Camille looks at him trying to understand what he is saying.
"Camille," Richard continues, "I'd like to think that when I have a problem, you'll help me without a second thought. Even if you have to make decisions I don't like. You and I have each other. You can't ask me to stand idly by. Even if I make mistakes."
"Does that include replacing me with your father? I know you're in charge and I'm not well, but..."
"Camille, I did nothing of the sort. You're irreplaceable. My father did it more for himself, to feel useful again, than for you. He told me that now that you're here, he'll be on the sidelines."
"So love won't affect your career decisions."
Camille is still a little angry she almost has the urge to fight him.
Richard sighs.
"I don't know. I've never experienced anything like that. Besides you know our particular case is even more special than usual. I don't know. So far there have been no problems because you and I are very professional in our work. It's our vocation. And I trust you, I really do. You're one of the best police officers I've ever worked with. If mixing love with our work worries you, we'll talk about this when you're better."
"I'm not being very helpful, am I?" asks Camille. She is already starting to become aware of her current situation.
"Camille, you're fantastic, you lost your friend unexpectedly! You did a great job on the boat before we arrived."
"You have to help me, Richard. You have to find out who killed her. And I don't know if there's anything I can do right now."
"Of course you can and I'll be by your side, always."
"Thank you, Richard."
She squeezes his arm and kisses him on the cheek.
When they return to the station they discover that the fingerprints of Eloise, wife of Aimée's boss and Aimee's backup singer, are on both gargle bottles used before the show. Aimee's prints were not on Eloise's bottle.
And in Aimée's bottle was strychnine. Plus a voice irritant.
They both return to Eloise's house to interrogate her. There Richard has to control Camille in the interrogation, as she was already preparing to arrest Mrs. Morrison. And that would have been a professional mistake.
He takes her aside and tries to reassure her.
"It doesn't make sense. Eloise just wanted to humiliate Aimee like her husband did to her. Not kill her. She wanted everyone to think Aimee had an allergic reaction to the irritant, she didn't know about the strychnine. She denies it and I believe her."
Instead Richard asks the singer for her passport and to call the station every hour.
Richard phones Fidel and Dwayne, he has decided that he and Camille are going to the shack right now to rest. He doubts very much that they can find anything else of use and Camille is exhausted. And he's going to stay with her for the rest of the day and all night.
"We're going home, honey. You and me. Tomorrow's another day."
Richard says it in a tone that brooks no reply.
Camille doesn't have the strength to refuse. Deep down she thanks him.
But now Richard is slightly worried about what Dwayne has told him over the phone. His father is with them helping them with the rum problem on the island. The DI thinks he'll talk to his father tomorrow. Or maybe not. After all, Commissioner Patterson is putting a lot of pressure on this issue and all extra help is good help.
When Richard discovers where he is, he realizes that the changes to his real house are also noticeable in this Loa dream house, even though the tree is still in the room he and Camille share. Some things are impossible to change.
Quickly he looks at his companion. She is starting to wake up. The night before they had an interesting conversation about not sedating each other again without permission. Richard promised...
fingers crossed. Like Camille.
"Honey, I think we have a visitor." He whispers in her mind.
She opens her eyes, looks at him, observes the changes around her and she prepares to listen to what the Loa have to tell her about Aimée. She wants explanations.
"Camille, I'm sorry." It is the lizard who speaks first.
"She belonged to Saint Marie. Couldn't you have warned us? We could have done something. "
Erzulie consoles Camille through Richard. Camille notices a warmer, deeper embrace.
"Aimée was blinded by her impatience and ambition. Those two qualities don't always have to provoke this kind of tragedy, but she refused even to heed the dreams in which we advised her to talk to you, Camille. She wouldn't listen to us."
Camille looks at Richard/Erzulie in astonishment.
"She wanted to surprise you, to come back a star. When you told her about Richard, she saw that you were very happy and she was very happy for you, really. But she knew very well that you would never have approved of the method she chose to get the money."
"Camille, we can advise, never force. You chose to agree to our plans. She didn't." Now it is the lizard - Loa who speaks to Camille.
Richard becomes himself again.
And the Loa puts them into a deep sleep.
The next day the whole police team got up very early. Poor Fidel because Rosie decided every hour to wake up and make her presence known.
Looking at the photos again, Richard finally discovers the missing connection. In reality everything has always been in the photos, specifically in the ornaments – in the hanging mirror decorations.
Richard remembers the detail of the beer bottle stored in a cupboard and not the fridge at Aimée's house and asks Dwayne to get it as soon as possible and bring it to the crime scene. The rest of the team heads there too.
Grant, the ship's cook, was moving drugs using the beer bottles and Aimée found out about it. Grant never intended to succumb to Aimee's blackmail.
Richard was right when he initially assumed that Aimée had got herself into a dangerous business.
When everything is over, including the official paperwork and police proceedings, Camille asks Richard to let her go alone back to the beach from yesterday afternoon. She wants to say goodbye to Aimée.
He half-heartedly agrees. While Fidel and Dwayne, under the command of Commissioner Patterson, prepare to carry out the long-desired bootleg rum raid, Richard heads to La Kaz, where he informs his parents and Catherine of the resolution of Aimée's murder case and also that Camille has gone to say goodbye to her friend on the beach where the two of them went when they wanted to share a secret.
Arthur listens to this and, with the excuse of going to see another friend of his, decides to buy some flowers for his future daughter-in-law and apologize to her on the beach. He doesn't think Richard suspects a thing.
Camille is alone on the beach and, for a moment, she thinks she sees Richard, but in reality it is a slightly more mature version of him. It's his father. What is he doing here and why does he have flowers?
When he comes over and sits down next to her without putting his jacket underneath, she can't help thinking that Arthur Poole is adjusting to life on the island much faster than Richard. That amuses her.
"I've come to apologize to you. I suspect you were not at all pleased to see me trying to help with the case. I don't know if I can explain it so you'll understand. I've retired and it's a bit of a terrible thing to stop feeling useful. You know how much Richard loves his job. No, it's not a job, it's a vocation. He likes puzzles, although I suspect he likes you a lot more now and... with good reason. Alice and I have never seen him so happy. Even if he doesn't show it publicly very often, we see it because we know him well. We Poole men aren't too good at showing our feelings."
She smiles at him and tells him that she is getting to know the Poole men quite well indeed.
"I've always had a special connection with Richard. Most of the time. And that connection is ours, it's unique, very special. You could almost say we can read each other's thoughts. Besides, you Poole men are delightful, a discovery I suspect Alice and I prefer to keep to ourselves."
Arthur blushes - in exactly the same way Richard does! It is decidedly charming.
"And Arthur, I promise I'll get over it. At least I know that Aimée came to know that Richard is the man of my life and that we are happy together. Even if we still have some things to sort out. She, in a way, got to know him."
Richard, who is some distance away from this emotional scene, is turning over the small rectangular box in his pocket as he watches. He never leaves home without it. This box is the item he asked his mother to bring him from England. An engagement ring from a great-aunt.
He likes to think that when one life ends, another begins. He had hoped it would be a start to a shared life together, just the two of them, but, with a sigh, he turns away and decides that today is not the time nor is this beach the place for what he has long thought of asking Camille.
He doesn't want to wait much longer, though.