Chapter 3: Fidelity, a great virtue

Summary:

How are things going in Saint Marie? They are not going well at all, despite the Christmas season. Danger is looming... Never mind, reinforcements may arrive!

Chapter Text

Saint Marie...

It's not long before Christmas, but apart from the fact that it's too hot, the atmosphere at Saint Marie police station is hot enough as it is.

The murder of DI Hulme was an unexpected shock. And the person sent from the MET to solve his death, DI Doug Anderson, was an unpleasant surprise for all the police officers at Honoré station.

Especially Lily Thompson.

"I don't understand them sending someone from outside to help us solve what happened to Hulme, but they could at least have sent someone halfway good at police work!"

A month and a half later time proved Sergeant Thompson right.

But that did nothing to help calm the atmosphere. Not even to make Lily feel better. She feels very uneasy.

Officer Fidel Best looks suspiciously at his partner Lily Thompson. He has been watching her for some time now. He doesn't trust her. She behaved as usual even when DI Hulme was found dead in the security vault, but from the time DI Anderson arrived until his own murder, she began to act in a nervous, almost aggressive manner, as if she feared danger at any moment.

He, on the other hand, is trying to get on with his work efficiently, but has a terrible feeling that his career is going... nowhere.

Thank goodness for Dwayne's support. But even Fidel knows that his friend, even if he is not too interested in moving up the ladder in his police career, urgently needs someone to get him out of bad company, out of bad temptations, out of the easy way.

Fidel will continue to do his job out of respect and love for the law, but he knows that they all urgently need help.

The Commissioner has spoken to them that morning to inform them that the Met, again, is sending another DI to investigate the murder of DIs Hulme and Anderson.

Lily has let out a snort, Dwayne has shrugged his shoulders and Fidel haslita candle toallof the saints in his church.

If only Camille would come back... She hasn't been heard from in years.

Fidel sighs, shrugs his shoulders too, and remembering that it will be Christmas in no time and that he and Juliet are going to be parents in not too many months, he decides to put all his worries aside and get on with his task.

But when he looks back at Lily, he suddenly realises that she seems to be watching him too.

Meanwhile, in Paris, Camille has been attending courses given by the mysterious Richard Poole.

For the moment, only two days. It seems that he has already been assigned to another new destination, which he refuses to reveal for the moment.

In the few breaks she has noticed that Richard talks to her a lot about his work, hoping to increase her interest. Other colleagues have tried to approach her, but he, always using the excuse that he will not be able to spare much time, has not allowed her to be taken away from him.

The truth is that Richard's talks are really interesting. Very exhaustive. So much so that the detective and she met up the following afternoon to discuss some points that were not at all clear.

Because, as complete as Poole's information is, she wants to inform him that, for example, in the Caribbean, the idiosyncrasies of its inhabitants would make it impossible to implement some ofhistechniques.

She almost laughs as she watches Richard's face twist at her last comment.

It is eleven o'clock on Tuesday night and she decides, for once, to go to bed early. Tomorrow she has to work very early and then she has the meeting with Richard.

Or maybe it could be a date...?

That's the last thing she thinks before she falls asleep.

The next day, Richard and Camille are sitting in a café in Paris having coffee and croissants.

"So you think that some of my techniques could not be used in Saint Marie... Why, Camille? I thought you had no interest in returning to the island."

Camille looks at him quizzically. She hasn't told him anything about that, and he's not usually so direct.

"I think... the people on the island would not easily accept some of your ideas, Richard. Who told you that I don't want to go back? It's just for the moment. I'm fine here now."

"That's not true, Camille. You have abandoned Catherine. I know you have repeatedly turned down Patterson's offer to return to the Caribbean."

Richard approaches her almost aggressively and looks at her with anger in his eyes. But he says nothing. And the people around them don't seem to notice anything.

"Richard, what is this? What are you doing?"

She tries to stop him, but she can't move.

"You can't turn your back on your life. Commissioner Patterson asked you for help, your mother is asking you to come back..."

At that moment she wakes up and realises that, leaving aside the more than obvious impression the Detective Inspector has made on her,this dreamhasclearly outlinedher fears and worries.

But the truth is that the form her own guilt has taken is pleasurable.

Perhaps it would be all right togoback for Christmas. After all, families get together for Christmas.

A few hours later, in the same Paris café that was the scene of herdreamthe night before, Camille finds herself discussing the content of Richard's talkswith himover coffee and croissants.

Before getting down to the nitty-gritty, the two have been talking basically about sightseeing, about what little there is to see in Paris in little more than a day.

As Richard sees, after more than half an hour of conversation on the subject, that this only delays the reason for his trip to France, he decides to try to change the subject by returning to what he is interested in resolving as soon as possible.

"If I have the time, I will certainly try to visit everything you have recommended... Provided you would be so kind as to serve as my guide, of course. But, to return to the subject that brought us here, do you really think that some of my techniques could not be used in Saint Marie? Why, Camille? I thought you had no interest in returning to the island."

Camille starts to become uneasy.

"Okay. How do you know I don't want to go back?"

He smiles. Rather, he half-smiles. A charming gesture.

"I'm guilty, I'm afraid. I couldn't help overhearing part of your conversation last night with your friends."

Camille lets out a sigh of relief. That's all it was.

"The truth is, I wasn't planning to travel this Christmas to my mother's house, but I'm afraid I feel too guilty not to. You'll have family too, I suppose. Will you be travelling to London?"

"No. My parents are going to Italy this year - the trip of a lifetime! I haven't had the heart to talk them out of it. They've been saving for it for two years."

Camille regrets it.

"Are you going to be alone, Richard?"

Richard thinks for a second that his parents' trip to Italy might get him even more attention from Camille. For once, someone feeling sorry for him could be of great use to him.

"Oh, no. I assure you. I'm going to the Caribbean this year for... work."

"For work? Where?"

Camille remembers Patterson's insistent calls and his proposal that she lead the investigation in Saint Marie.

Richard also feels a little guilty.

"I should have told you earlier. I have to investigate the murder of two Detective Inspectors in Saint Marie."

Camille is terribly shocked.

"Two?"

"In two months."

"But that's highly irregular. I assure you, Richard. I'd been offered to take on another caseinvolvingGuadeloupe and Saint Marie. Human trafficking. But I... the truth. At the time I felt, or rather I feel, quite settled in Paris. Of course..."

As in the dream, Richard stares at her. He's afraid of ruining everything if he opens his mouth, if he tries to force her to agree to go back to Saint Marie.

Fortunately, Camille has not lost the ability to move and speak. But she can't help losing herself in his kind eyes.

And, on the other hand, she begins to think that perhaps Saint Marie is becoming terribly interesting at times. Speaking in police terms, of course. Maybe it will turn out that she is wasting her time in Paris and the action has gone on holiday in the Caribbean!

"When do you have to leave for Saint Marie, Richard?"

He, on the other hand, seems to struggle to articulate the simplest sentence. Perhaps he was wrong in thinking it would only be an official mission.

"I... err. I have to catch the plane tomorrow afternoon. I'm already booked."

Camille makes a sudden decision.

"Would you mind if I travelled with you, Richard? Actually I had already decided to spend the holidays with my mother and I'm afraid that in a week's time there won't be any more tickets available. So I can let you know how things work on the island. As I'm due a holiday plus a day off, I'll have no problem bringing the trip forward by a week."

Now Richard is the one who is paralysed.

Maybe everything will be more complicated than he thought.

What will Camille think when she discovers Richard's real plans for her? She's sure she'll feel manipulated and deceived.

And he's sure he'll put up with it all simply because she's the source of it all.

What will happen when they get to Saint Marie? What will happenwithPatterson? What crazy thing has Richard Poole just done to get himself into such an uncertain future?

He hasn't even told her about Aimée!

On the other hand Camille is hastily sending a message to Aurore, Julie and Isabelle.

"Sorry, in the end I'm not going to spend Christmas with you! I'm going to Saint Marie!"