Chapter One
"Jack, we've spoken about this before."
"No, I don't think we have."
"Well, I have. And you agreed with me."
"You're going to have to remind me what form my agreement took. And if it was because I snored at the right moment in your monologue, it doesn't count. It's your birthday – of course I'm going to give you a present."
He stepped back and tipped his head to one side, nodding judiciously.
"I was right. Jade suits you very well."
She cast him a darkling look.
"As long as you only mean the stones, not the epithet, oh-husband-of-mine."
"How could I mean anything but the stones?" he asked innocently; then turned her to face the mirror. She glared at her reflection, then lifted her head and turned it to one side and the other, as the teardrop-shaped pendants in her ears swung gently.
And she reflected on the kind of liberal man who could approach Lin Chung to find exactly the right birthday gift for his wife, who also happened to be Lin's former concubine.
You've come a long way, my Jack. Thank you for bringing me with you.
"We should go downstairs," he suggested. "Either there's a shootout going on in the parlour, or Mr Butler just popped a champagne cork."
She met his eyes in the glass. The way she was feeling right now, she'd cheerfully take either option; though the champagne would probably be exhilarating enough, and definitely more sociable. And she'd hate to lose an earring if it came to a fistfight.
Jade suited her, after all.
There were few places in the whole of Melbourne that could compare to 221B The Esplanade when Miss Fisher was in party mood. The champagne flowed extravagantly; the red raggers, as usual, stuck to beer but even Jane partook of a glass or two, and became flushed and loquacious. Phryne watched her but preferred she learn her lessons in these safe environs and did nothing to curtail her; her instinct was rewarded when the girl decided she didn't like stumbling over her words and switched to lemonade.
The gramophone was wound and rewound, until the Inspector was persuaded to sit at the piano to accompany raucous (and, once Jane had gone to bed, bawdy – Mrs Colllins flushed but giggled indulgently) singing. Mr Butler kept the canapés coming.
The only casualty of any note was Dr Elizabeth Macmillan's wrist watch. When she caught Cec in a particularly exuberant dance spin, his cuff caught her watch strap and dragged it so hard that it gave way. The glass not being designed to win a war with the tiles surrounding the fireplace, there was a temporary lull in proceedings while Mac gave vent to some choice curses, Mr B swept up the broken glass and Miss Fisher, concerned that the party mood was dissipating, insisted that she would arrange for it to be mended First Thing In The Morning and did anyone want more champagne?
Jack muttered sotto voce to Mac that she should let Phryne have her way, and returned to the keyboard, inviting Mrs Robinson to stop bossing everyone about and come and sing them a song.
She chose Ain't Misbehavin', which made up in droll delivery what it lacked in verisimilitude. The crowd went wild, and demanded an encore; so she sang Embraceable You. Mr Robinson heckled the line "You and you alone bring out the gipsy in me" and then joined in the singing, and all of a sudden there seemed to be an awful lot of dust in the room, because everyone's eyes were oddly irritated. The pianist gently played the closing bars and rewarded the chanteuse with a kiss on the hand, and a look which reminded Mrs Collins to remind Constable Collins that they had a babysitter to get home to, and Dr Mac that her first case was at UnGodly-O-Clock in the morning and even Bert and Cec found they didn't need any more beer, thanks.
(No-one knew at what point Mr Butler ceased to be in the room, but that was rather a speciality of his).