Chapter Seven
The rapidity with which the police car covered the distance between City South and The Esplanade would have put even Miss Fisher's Hispano-Suiza to shame, but it was a calm and quiet Inspector who let himself into the house. He glanced first into the parlour and kitchen, but received only a shaken head and a finger pointing up to the first floor from Mr Butler, who was working his way through a pile of as-yet-unpeeled vegetables.
He opened the door to the boudoir, and came upon Soo, Phryne's maid, tidying the clothes into the wardrobe and the laundry basket. She inclined her head briefly towards the bath, and left the room so quietly that, had he not been watching, he would have sworn she hadn't moved.
A dark head was all that could be seen, and he removed his jacket and cufflinks, rolling up his shirt sleeves before he went to kneel behind her and kiss the top of her head.
"Hello, Jack."
Two words that had punctuated their relationship over the years. By turns gleeful, excited, sultry and downright surprised, this was a new inflection: or rather, a lack of it. It was so quiet as to speak only of emotional exhaustion; a resigned monotone.
He whispered a hello, but said no more, reaching to lace his hands with hers where they lay on the sides of the tub. He rested his chin on the rim and his cheek in her hair, and they remained like that for long minutes. The air was scented with jasmine, and he closed his eyes and breathed it in.
"I should be accustomed by now," she said flatly.
He considered. "One can be accustomed yet still be disturbed. When you stop being disturbed, then we can worry."
They stayed there for a few minutes more, until the steam had stopped spiralling from the surface of the water. He stood and reached for the towel, holding it out for her in invitation. She stepped out, and allowed herself to be embraced in cotton, warmth and Jack's very specific tenderness.
"Dinner will be an hour at least."
"It will."
"You can tell me then what you found out at the safe house."
"I can."
"In the meantime, if you'll let me, I'd like to demonstrate the proper treatment of wives."
"I think I'd like that very much, Jack."
