Chapter Ten

Jack came to slowly, conscious that his arms were aching. He tried to stretch them out, and discovered they were bound behind him. Recollection came back.

The studio mysteriously closed, and no meeting apparently expected to take place. The woman standing on her front step smoking a cigarette and asking for help with a jammed window in her first-floor apartment. The same woman he'd shared an umbrella with the other night. Liv. Throwing the window of her parlour wide, and turning to see her holding a perfume bottle in his face. A spray … then nothing.

"Oh good, you're awake," came the high, slightly nasal voice. He looked up at her, mystified.

"What – why – what am I doing here?"

"You live here now, Jack. This is your home. We're going to have tea soon." She stood looking at him and smiling.

"If I live here, why am I tied up?"

"Silly! I've got to keep you safe."

"Liv, I've got a job to do. I can't stay here." He tried to flex his wrists, to slacken the knots in the rope tying his hands, but they were tight. "People will come looking for me."

She frowned. "I hope that whore comes looking for you. I'm going to shoot her. I nearly managed it the other day, but she moved too quickly." She wagged a finger at him. "She's not good enough for you, Jack. You're so lucky you've got me now."

Realisation dawned.

"It was you. Outside the restaurant. You were standing looking in a shop window."

She nodded happily. "No-one ever realises that the best way to hide is to stand still, not run away. I knew you'd never guess."

The noise of a very familiar motor engine floated through the open window, and Jack did his best to show no reaction. How on earth could Phryne have found him so quickly? He hoped fervently that she would be careful.

Not the stairs, Phryne. Don't take the stairs. Find a way to take her by surprise.

Thinking fast, he said, "Liv, I've got a terrible thirst. Please, could I have something to drink? Even just water?"

She smiled at him warmly. "Of course, Jack, I bought some beer for you specially. I'll get you one."

She was only out of the room for a few seconds – not enough time to do more than glance at the window. No sign.

Liv returned to the room, pouring from a bottle into a glass as she walked. Holding the glass to his lips, she tilted it so that he could take a sip, then another.

"Is that better?"

"Much, thank you. I could drink the whole glass down, I think. You couldn't release one of my hands to let me hold on to it?"

"Naughty, Jack, of course not!" she giggled. With his gaze fixed on her face, he caught the slightest of movements in the window.

"Then I'll have some more, if I may," he begged. Obliging, she tipped the glass further for him. He took a longer drink, then leaned his head back, and smiled up at her.

"I have to say, that was so welcome, Liv, I could just kiss you for it."

"Then you shall do so, Jack dear." She leaned down to press her mouth to his. His stomach churned at the sensation, but he did his best to keep her interest.

A firm voice came from behind her.

"I think, Miss Rich, you will find that you are claiming a privilege reserved for the Inspector's wife, who lacks a sense of humour on the issue. You will now cease, put down the glass, and raise your hands. You'll find that I am far more accurate with my revolver than you were with yours."

Liv froze. She put the glass down and slowly turned round, to find Phryne Fisher standing next to the window and calmly pointing her pearl handled .38 at the other woman's head.

Phryne called out. "You can come in now, Hugh," and the door opened to let in the Constable.

"Cuff her, please, Hugh," she asked politely. As the constable complied, the woman began to let out a stream of invective so filthy that even Phryne raised her eyebrows. Once the prisoner was secured, Phryne tucked her pistol away and went to untie Jack.

"Darling, if I'd only known you wanted to be tied up and kissed I could have done it myself."

Collins went bright pink and tried to pretend he hadn't heard.