I do not own Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries or any of the characters associated with it. I'm merely borrowing them for my own amusement and the amusement of others.
Jack paused on his way to the bus stop. It was early morning and he was on his way to work when a broken window distracted him. The window sat in the front door of a small business near his house, which was owned by a kindly old gentleman. Jack opened the door and stepped inside.
"Mr. Horowitz? Mr. Horowitz is everything alright?" he called into the shop. A small gentleman peeked out from a back room.
"Who? Oh! Inspector! Good to see you! What…Oh! The window. Yes, everything is fine. Late yesterday afternoon a few young lads were playing ball in the street and, well, you can probably guess the rest," the gentleman chuckled. Mr. Horowitz was a man of about 70 with fine white hair that was never out of place and glasses perched on his nose that he was constantly looking over. He had a soft spot for Jack who had stopped in and helped him with physical labor around the shop on occasion and scared off the odd troublemaker with his badge and glare.
Jack smiled. "Anything you need help with? I could run down to the hardware store for you and get a new one. I may even be able to figure out how to install it. It'd be no trouble." Jack offered. Being Detective Inspector came with perks, including being late on occasion. He would be doing his civic duty and all that after all.
"I really hate to ask, but it would be wonderful if you could. Save me from having to call someone. Oh! Your order is ready! Let me go fetch it from the back for you…"
Jack perked up at this bit of news. He had been waiting for some time now, but knew without a doubt that Mr. Horowitz wouldn't let him down.
"Here it is. Is it what you wanted?" the gentleman asked, handing the item to Jack. It was perfect.
"Goooood, good I'm glad. Look, you're even smiling. I'd go so far as to call that a real smile, Inspector, not one of your little half-smiles. Good. I'm so glad," Mr. Horowitz gushed with a proud look on his own face.
"Thank you so much, Mr. Horowitz. How much do I owe you?" The shop owner quoted Jack what was left after his initial down payment. "That's it? That's not nearly enough!" Jack protested.
"Well, you've done so much to help me around here over the years, and I know you gentlemen in law enforcement do not make nearly what you should. Besides, if you are really going to fix my window for me I should offer you something in return."
Jack wanted to protest, but found he really couldn't. Mr. Horowitz was right, money was often tight and this could really put him in a tough place if a sudden emergency were to come about. Jack thanked the man and wrote a check for the amount. "Now I'll just pop down the street and will be right back with that glass." Jack froze half way to the door. "Actually, Mr. Horowitz, do you still have the rest of the broken glass?"
"I threw it all in the bin out back. It should still be there. Why?"
"Could I ask a small favor?" Jack asked, a gleam in his eye.
Phryne dove head first into her closet after hanging up with Jack. He wanted her to help him with a small breaking and entering case. She emerged wearing a pretty blue dress that came down below her knees with blue heels and a blue feathered headpiece to top it off.
"Come along, Dot! There's crime to solve!" Phryne called as she bounced down the stairs. Dot poked her head around the parlor door.
"Alright, Miss Fisher. I'll just grab our coats," Dot answered.
In just a couple minutes they were loaded up into Phryne's car and speeding towards the crime scene. They pulled up to the scene in half the time it should have taken.
It was a little shop in a long line of little shops in a quiet little neighborhood. Hugh was stationed outside, keeping an eye on a group of boys who were forming a knot nearby, looking incredibly nervous. His face lit up when he saw the two of them.
"Hello Dottie! Good morning, Miss Fisher! The Inspector is inside waiting for you."
"Thank you Hugh!" Phryne called, floating past him in a cloud of perfume. She missed the look between the two lovers as she stepped into the shop.
It was a quaint little jewelry shop, apparently owned by a quaint little man. The front window had been broken and the glass was littering the front entryway. She quickly spotted Jack who appeared to be taking a statement from the shop's owner.
"Miss Fisher, this is Mr. Horowitz. His shop appears to have been broken into last night," Jack explained. Phryne turned towards the owner.
"That's right, Miss Fisher was it? I came in this morning and the front window was broken. I came in and looked around to see if anything was missing and it appears that they took a display of necklaces from the case over there," he pointed towards a case that was open with a large empty space inside.
"How did they get into the case?" Phryne asked, feeling suspicious but not letting on.
"Well, you see, I leave the keys to the cases hanging on a hook just inside my office door," Mr. Horowitz explained. Phryne hitched an eyebrow up, but didn't comment.
"Thank you, Mr. Horowitz. Miss Fisher and I are going to go ahead and take a look around," Jack told the man, casually dismissing him. Mr. Horowitz stepped outside to stay out of their way.
"So the criminals entered through the front door?" Phryne asked, walking towards the door in question. She examined the broken glass in the doorframe then the glass on the floor, picking through it gently.
"Apparently so. Though I must admit to some surprise that they only took one display of jewelry," Jack replied.
"Hmm, yes. Maybe they were afraid they had been spotted? Or maybe they were afraid someone would notice the broken glass and call the owner. Or maybe they were afraid they had taken too much time. They did, after all, take the time to go looking for the keys so they could neatly open the display case instead of just smashing it and taking everything they could reach," Phryne suggested, whirling around to face Jack. Jack simply looked at her with a questioning expression.
"Oh come, Jack. What is going on here? This glass on the floor has been thrown away once and then retrieved and put back on the floor. That or they broke the window with a cup of coffee, when the shape of the hole in the door is more suggestive of a ball" she said, holding up her hand, displaying the coffee grounds she had found mixed in with the glass. "And that jeweler, who I would bet good money has been in business at least since the war, probably a lot longer, does not carry the key to his cases with him to help prevent theft? And they took necklaces, when the ring sitting beside it, which would be easier to carry and pawn, has to be worth hundreds? Not to mention, of course, those poor lads outside who look ready to faint. Come on Jack, what is really going on here?" Phryne asked, torn between amusement and annoyance.
Jack stepped towards Phryne, stopping when he was close enough to breath the same air as her, and looked her in the eye.
"I knew you wouldn't be fooled long. But what better way to do this than with a case? Though, a real case would feel wrong, especially since we tend to deal in murder," Jack started, causing Phryne to huff at him. Her annoyance was disappearing though. His scent always soothed her.
"So, when I stepped in this morning to see if Mr. Horowitz needed any help and he told me my order was ready, well, it was just too good an opportunity to pass up," Jack continued.
"Order? Jack?" Phryne asked, starting to catch on to what was going on.
"You know, before the war I was a very happy, carefree man. Naïve, innocent, not too unlike Hugh. After the war, I was cold and hard. I had seen too much, too fast. I never really softened. Not until two years ago. Two years ago you skipped into my murder investigation and turned my whole life upside down. I've…" he took her hands into his. "I've started to be myself again, Phryne. I'm starting to look into the mirror and see a man I know, not a stranger. You dragged me off after you on crazy adventures, helped me see that bending the rules won't always end in tragedy, and you made me laugh…made me sing…made me find that man inside me that I used to like being. And then you kissed me, Phryne. You kissed me at that party six months ago and my world started crashing down around me but it was alright. God, Phryne, it was more than alright, because I opened my eyes from that kiss to find that you had been busily building a new world around me and I just had to look out from the old to see it. Phryne, the last two years have healed me, and the last six months have made me realize I cannot go on without you…"
"Jack…" Phryne had tears pouring out of her eyes and her whole body was trembling. She took one hand out of his and reached the shaking appendage up to brush a stray tear from Jack's face. He let out a shaky breath and dropped to one knee.
"Phryne, will you marry me?"
Phryne thought she was going to die. The ring she was being presented with was simple, like Jack. A gold band with an ornate setting for five small diamonds and four diamond chips, more metal than stone. The man behind the ring was breathtaking. He looked at her with such uncertainty and hope in his eyes.
Phryne was not the marrying type. She was wild, she loved to spend long nights at clubs dancing to jazz and drinking whiskey, then coming home with a handsome young man to while the rest of the night away with. She was her own woman and no one could claim her husband had made her. Husbands were controlling, they stopped women from being independent and tied them to their homes with children and chores. Just look at Dot! Poor, sweet Dot, who was suffering through a long engagement because marriage meant giving up her job, her position in the Fisher household, her independence…
Jack knew her, knew her past and most of what that involved, knew she was not the marrying type…but he asked anyway. He had gathered himself, spent the money on a ring she could have bought a thousand times over but to him was months of saving, then risked the humiliation of a rejection to ask her a question he well knew would more than likely end in heartbreak. She looked at the ring, and she looked at him, and found only one answer, clawing its way out of her throat.
"Yes…"
There ya have it folks! Chapter 1 of All's Fair in Love and War! Not a terribly original title, I know, but you'll have that. I'm not sure how often I'll update this, I'm hoping for every couple days, but realistically it'll probably be once a week, but no guarantees. I hope you all enjoyed chapter 1! Review!