Under all silences

"Whenever you think or you believe or you know, you're a lot of other people: but the moment you feel, you're nobody-but-yourself. To be nobody-but-yourself —in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else — means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting."

― e.e. cummings

"Love is the voice under all silences, the hope which has no opposite in fear; the strength so strong mere force is feebleness: the truth more first than sun, more last than star..."
― e.e. cummings

(Set during the timeframe between S1 x 12 and S1 x 13)

Chapter 1

The crescendo of the singing cicadas was lost on the lone occupant of the unremarkable motorcar tucked into an otherwise quiet side alley in St Kilda. On account of the extremely late hour, any passerby would have quickly lost interest after one glance at the driver who seemed oblivious to his nearly undone tie and completely unfastened waistcoat. On top of all this, the fact he was hunched over the steering column rubbing his eyes and then raking his fingers through his now unruly locks indicated someone who may have had one too many pints that evening.

It was just as well then, perhaps, that no one did spot him because Detective Inspector Jack Robinson normally would have been appalled if anyone were to regard him in anything less than his customarily pristine appearance. Or to find him in such a rumpled state at that time of night and in this particular locale where he had parked his car after driving off barely a few minutes earlier. At the moment, however, the stalwart officer of the law was too immersed in mulling through the overwhelmingly intensive events of the day and evening he just experienced to worry about something mundane as his attire.

No, for someone accustomed to unravelling heinous deeds by all manner of criminal elements or taking command of situations that would weaken many a lesser person, Inspector Robinson found himself still succumbing to his innate sense of honour and duty even though he was technically off the clock. At least, this was what he was trying to convince himself of as he finally allowed some of the screaming emotions he could usually master and hide to escape now that he was all alone in the dark. Or not quite alone, he thought as his eyes again peered towards one particular window that still softly glowed on the upper floor of the notable Italianate-style house he could view clearly from his vantage point. A slight shadowy movement from behind the curtain proved his suspicion that the room's inhabitant wouldn't be getting any sleep this night either.

He knew the more sensible course of action would have been to follow through and drive back to his own residence, which he had begun to do after reluctantly departing from 221B The Esplanade. Even with the night duty constables he had dispatched to stand guard by the front gate and the side entrance, however, Jack was loathe to leave. Especially after having discovered how a maniacal killer had just managed to infiltrate the household of the Honourable Phryne Fisher and then escape from it practically right under their noses. How tempting (again!) it had been when Miss Fisher, still arrayed in her exotic Queen of the Nile costume, had offered the use of a guest room after finally convincing him to give up combing the surrounding area. Though he knew she was right, he had automatically refused from a combination of both gentlemanly and constabulary principle.

But, he knew that she knew the truth of how close he had come just earlier that evening to tossing aside that official mantle of propriety he usually swathed (hid?) himself in to give in to her entreaties to surrender to 'one gaudy night.' Especially now that he was at liberty to do so having just arrived at her cousin's engagement party straight from the courthouse where the ink had barely dried on his divorce papers. And he had been so close to giving in despite all the months of self-constraint that he had thus far displayed...and he knew that she knew this. That she had seen through to the depths of his inner turmoil. And the knowledge that she had and could so easily pierce his protective shields now formed the basis of his heart and mind's current chaos.

As luck would have it, he longed to be able to talk through his broiling thoughts with her as he had grown accustomed to sharing theories about his (their?) latest case. In fact, he could have stayed there in her kitchen doing so all through the night even though she was and indeed had been the cause of upending his concentration so much of late. And that was precisely the reason why he had fought to listen to his trustworthy inner voice of reason and bid her good night after ensuring that she and her household were securely guarded.

So, why had he not been able to drive off completely?

Mercifully, the tension of the entire day and evening eventually took its toll just as he saw the soft light in the window across the square go off. With the hypnotic buzz from the insects lulling him to surrender to his exhaustion, Inspector Robinson slumped against the vehicle's window and slipped unwittingly into the Land of Nod.

Jack startled awake just as the sound of tapping echoed through the fog of his semi-consciousness through the window where his face was half-buried against his fedora and the glass pane. He struggled against the grainy texture of his eyelids as they stubbornly peeked open to reveal Phryne Fisher standing on the kerb on the other side of his motorcar's door. She wore an impish smile that semed incongruous with the sombre black materials of the outfit she had chosen for the day whilst holding a cup of something steaming. With a slight groan, he flopped against the steering wheel in an attempt to hide himself as she swung the door open and a rush of fresh air, grass and her unique fragrance washed over him.

"Hello, Jack!"

He had to clear his parched throat when his first attempts at responding were to no avail. He then felt her free hand perch on his shoulder, which caused him to rotate his head enough again in her direction where he came face-to-face with the tantalizing cup of tea.

"There's more where this came from," she informed him as he reached out to gratefully grasp and then sip from the cup that she still held. "In fact, Mr Butler has started preparing a feast of a breakfast that I insist you partake of before you go anywhere else."

"Thank you, Miss Fisher," he managed to engage his vocals again after the hot liquid refreshed them. "But, I think I had best be off so I can tidy up before getting to the station…"

His voice trailed off suddenly when he more felt than saw the slight shift in her sunny demeanour. It was then that he noted the dark circles beneath her eyes that she had mostly been able to expertly mask with cosmetics. What stopped him in mid-sentence, however, was the deep-seated shadows still lurking within her eyes that she might be able to hide from everyone else. Jack suspected that she had evidently, and unsurprisingly, not been able to sleep or rest at all from the unsettling events. And how could she when the man responsible for her sister's disappearance and now, the multiple deaths of innocent people, was at large? Instinctively, he ignored the demands of custom and heeded the need to follow his gut reaction to the moment by coaxing his aching limbs to maneuver himself out of the vehicle.

"Then again, Miss Fisher," he easily adapted their habitual bantering tone as he stretched slightly, working out the kinks in back. "Seeing how rare it is to see you out and about at the crack of dawn, I think I should make the most of this historic event alongside checking in on my men and telephoning for a fresh changing of the guard."

Phryne rewarded him with a dazzling smile before reaching out without a word to reverse her handiwork from the previous evening. She managed to do up the buttons of his waistcoat and knot up his tie in the time it took him to reach for his hat. They both stilled for an interminable moment as the space between their bodies inevitably disappeared as it always did whenever they found themselves within the other's orbit. He managed to tear his eyes away the magnetism of hers at the sound of a door somewhere closing loudly. She then calmly took his arm after he turned to close his own motorcar's door and they set off across the small square towards her house.

"Why are you up so early, Phryne?" Jack couldn't help asking her when he noticed her tensing again as they neared Wardlow, his concern causing him to forego his usual stance to not address her by her given name.

"I couldn't really sleep so gave up towards dawn and decided I may as well get ready for the day," she admitted to him easily. "Besides, I wanted to speak to Jane and Mr Butler again as soon as I could to find out more about what happened last night."

"And did you?"

"I will as soon as Jane is up, poor darling was so worried even though we kept assuring her it wasn't her fault. Dot stayed with her in her room to help calm her."

"Of course it wasn't her fault," Jack quickly agreed. "And thankfully, Mr Butler was there." He revisited his mental note to take the older gentleman aside for a full briefing on the household's security measures. Not that he wouldn't have done so with Phryne, but he didn't want to add to her concerns over Jane at the moment.

"Then, since I had also noticed that you hadn't left after all last night, Inspector," the lady detective squeezed his arm and somehow managed to shuffle herself even closer to his side as they walked. "I decided you might want to join the discussion. And be in need of some sustenance before you start your day."

Before Jack could reply, a familiar taxicab careened around the corner and pulled up short just as the detectives had reached Wardlow's red gate.

"Morning, Miss Fisher!" Cec called out happily as he hopped out of the cab first. "Hello, Inspector."

The two of them greeted the cabbie just as Bert quickly jumped out of the vehicle and hollered his curt greetings.

"Morning, miss, have you seen the news?" He then began to brandish what appeared to be the morning's fresh of editions of several newspapers.

"What news?" Miss Fisher began to ask curiously as she and Jack made their way closer to the red raggers. Bert began to mutter a litany of curses under his breath as he handed two of the publications over.

"Oi, Bert!" Cec admonished as Phryne grabbed hold of the first one, and unfolded it so that she and the inspector could see the headlines of that day's edition of The Argus:

CONVICTED CRIMINAL, MURDOCH FOYLE, ESCAPES PRISON AND AT LARGE

That in and of itself was not news to the pair who continued to skim the article rapidly with Jack growing more and more indignant as he wondered how the upstart reporter had found out so much confidential information about what had happened...and so quickly!

Phryne had then reached for the other, small newspaper, if one could call it that, after handing The Argus to Jack. She continued to read whilst he was internally ruminating until she gasped audibly, the newspaper starting to slip through her frozen fingers from the shock of what she had just read.

"Miss Fisher?" Jack, who had been began to read over her shoulder, quickly reached his arms around her to both steady her and grasp hold of the paper when he felt her begin to shake. Although he wasn't sure whether it was from fear or anger. "Phryne, what is it?"

"Miss?" Cec immediately enquired as he turned worried eyes towards their friend and employer before glaring at his partner. "I told you we should have waited until we were all inside."

The two ex-wharfies then glanced towards Inspector Robinson whose grim expression forecasted a veritable storm as he read the accompanying article beneath the second newspaper's fold with Miss Fisher still in his arms.

"I agree, let's get inside," Jack confirmed as he suddenly slapped the newspapers against Bert' chest. He then kept one arm about Miss Fisher's waist and gently prodded her down the front walkway towards the house. She was still too caught up in her own mixture of reactions to notice.

"I usually could care less what anyone prints about me, Jack," the cabbies heard her tell the inspector. "But this? That editor is going to be hearing from me and the full meaning of slander and libel!"

"Let's just get inside first, Miss Fisher," he replied, "and then we'll get to the bottom of it all."

"Now you've gone and done it," Cec muttered in an accusing tone. "This don't bode well."

"Not like I wrote the bloody thing!" Bert spat out without losing his chewed cigarette. "But yar, seems like we oughta find out who did. Or, at least whoever had the bloody cheek to leak Miss Fisher's private matters to the bloody press."

"You think?" Cec responded as he gave up trying to refold the paper before giving up and stalked towards their cab where he threw it through the open window into the back seat. "Let's get some grub first." He waited impatiently for Bert to dispense of his cigarette before they trailed after the others.

A sudden gust of wind blew through the motorcar's window and ruffled the bottom half of the Daily Star's front page. It revealed a photo of the former professor named Murdoch Foyle alongside one of the Honourable Miss Phryne Fisher with the headline:

BARON'S DAUGHTER SUSPECTED OF AIDING AND ABETTING CONVICTED CRIMINAL

Author's Notes:

This story was written for the MFMM Year of Quotes challenge, and specifically, for the January one that contained quotes by e.e. cummings. I decided to use the expanded version of one of the quote prompts as well as another that encompass this story much more fully.

Thus far, I have been publishing this particular story (and all my other MFMM fics) on Archive of our Own, but was encouraged to try posting on here. This is my first attempt at migrating to this platform and getting to know the readership here.

P.S. Huge thanks again to the fabulous OllyJay for helping me weave in this idea I'd had knocking about for awhile now in conjunction with the e.e. cummings quote challenge. And much love and hugs as always to ComeAfterMeJackRobinson for reviewing and encouraging me to continue with it!

Thank you for taking the time to read and look forward to hearing what you think!