Thank you for the reviews! Hope you enjoy!

They had all just finished dinner. The boys went upstairs to finish their homework. Lucien was helping Jean dry the dishes after she washed them. Thomas still sat at the table, sipping his tea, watching them out of the corner of his eye. They worked well together, occasionally teasing each other. He was enjoying the scene when the blasted phone rang. Jean handed Lucien the last dish and went to answer it. As she was talking to the caller, Lucien chanced a look at his father. He was not amused by the smirk he found there. He meant for his tone to hold a warning but failed due to his sudden happiness. "Not a word, dad."

Feigning innocence, he responded, "What's that, son?"

Trying to hide his own grin, he said, "I know exactly what you're thinking. That smirk isn't hiding anything."

"Oh, come now. I can't be excited for my son and favorite girl?"

He leaned closer to him. "Dad, there's nothing to be excited about." He smiled at his father's pout and straightened as Jean was walking back into the kitchen. Before she spoke, he quickly added, "Yet."

"Ha, that's my boy!"

Jean was confused by the tail end of their conversation and the chuckle Lucien and Thomas shared, wondering if she should be worried. Lucien shook his head and looked to Jean silently asking who was on the phone.

"Uh, Lucien, Matthew needs you to meet him at the Soldiers' Hill Hotel. There's been a death."

He sighed. "Right, so much for a quiet evening. Thank you, Jean." She gave him a sympathetic smile as he walked past her.

Lucien was glad he was pulled away tonight, giving him an excuse not to sleep. He parked and walked into the hotel, noticing a housekeeper being consoled by another hotel employee. He assumed she was the one to find the body.

He walked into the room which was now a crime scene. "Matthew. Superintendent. What have we got?"

Matthew answered, "Zelda Fitzgerald, age 28."

"Quite the name."

"Indeed. She was checked in for two nights."

There was quite a bit of blood. He knelt and felt around her head. "Well, it looks to be blunt force as the possible cause of death. Her skull is fractured right here." After skimming over the rest of her body, he said softly while shaking his head, "Goodness me. Whoever did this was very angry with her." He stood looking at Matthew. "I'll be able to tell you more once I perform the autopsy."

Ashby asked, "Time of death, doctor?"

Lucien cocked his head as he looked at the body. "Judging by the lividity and rigor mortis, I'd say at least 15-20 hours."

"Okay, so we are looking at late last night or early this morning then?"

Lucien nodded. "Again, I'll know more when I do the autopsy." He slowed as he said the last word, distracted by a bloody kerchief under the table across the room. "What is that?" Matthew was closer to it and picked it up with his gloved hand. They both looked it over. "That looks rather expensive, that quality of stitching there." He was pointing at the initials P.T. that were stitched into the garment. "P.T…Patrick Tyneman, perhaps?"

Matthew shook his head. "Blake, don't go there." He looked at the superintendent, hoping he didn't hear the mention of Tyneman's name.

Lucien knew the Tynemans' practically owned Ballarat but that shouldn't mean they be exempt of suspicion if there were evidence pointing toward them. He decided to drop it for now. He'd go and talk to Patrick later.

"Doctor? Are you just going to stand there all day or am I going to get an autopsy report sometime this year?" He smiled at Ashby. He was a bit rough around the edges but he liked him.

Lucien decide to stop by the Colonists' Club on the way to the morgue, willing to bet Patrick would be there. He walked in and Cec greeted him.

"Cec, how are you?"

"Very good, sir. Thank you. Can I get you anything?"

Lucien looked around the room. "You haven't seen Patrick Tyneman by chance, have you?"

"Yes, sir. In the next room over."

Lucien patted his shoulder. "Splendid. Thank you, Cec."

Lucien walked over to the other room and saw Patrick getting ready to leave. "Patrick, you have a moment?"

"Lucien Blake? What would you have to talk to me about?"

God, he hated his smugness. "Well, Patrick, as you may know, I am the acting police surgeon."

"Oh yes, how is your father doing?"

He knew he really didn't care, but he would play along. "Doing well. Thank you for asking." He started to walk away from Lucien. "Patrick, what's your relationship to Zelda Fitzgerald?" He stopped in his tracks and slowly turned back to Lucien, looking around to see if anyone else was within hearing range of their conversation.

Patrick walked up to Lucien so that he was within inches. "I have nothing to say to you. Now, leave me alone or I will have you brought up on harassment charges." He glared at him and slowly turned to walk away, leaving Lucien surer than ever of Patrick's involvement with this case.

Lucien walked into the station just as Ashby slammed down the phone. "Blake! Care to tell me why you felt the need to discuss this case with Patrick Tyneman?"

Lucien looked at Matthew, who had closed his eyes and shook his head at the news. "He knows something, Superintendent! He didn't deny knowing her."

Ashby walked up to Lucien and said in a low growl, "You are off this case. Go home and pull yourself together. Maybe read the police surgeon handbook while you're at it." He walked back to his desk and yelled, "And stay away from Patrick Tyneman!"

Lucien was irate. "He's involved somehow and you're just going to let it go?!" He slapped the autopsy report down on the desk. "Your report, sir." Ashby glared at him. Lucien couldn't believe they would be excluding anyone from being a suspect just because of their standing in the community. He left quickly, not making eye contact with Matthew. He knew he was disappointed in him. He needed to go home and run off some steam.

Jack and Christopher were throwing the ball around when Lucien came back from his run. They could tell he wasn't in a good mood and shared a look. They watched him as he went into the garage and started to do pull-ups with a bar hanging from the ceiling. They stopped throwing the ball, in awe of how many he was doing and how easy he made it look. They walked over to him as he started doing push-ups. Jack had a big smile on his face, waiting for him to stop before he asked, "Lucien, can you teach me how to do those pull-ups like you?"

He smiled. The exercise did little to lighten his anger but a simple question from little Jack was able to bring him down a few notches. "It's not really something you have to learn, Jack. You just have to build muscle to be able to endure it." He didn't really understand, so Lucien decided to show him. "Come here. Turn around." He lifted Jack so that he could reach the bar. "Now, try to pull your chin up to the bar." He struggled but he did it. "There you go! Well done, Jack!" Christopher smiled, proud of his little brother.

Jack released his hands from the bar and Lucien caught him, lowering him to the ground. He looked at Lucien, wringing his hands at the burn and hurt from gripping the bar. "How do you do that? I only did one and that was hard!"

Lucien laughed. "Like I said, it takes muscle and you will be able to do as many as me in no time." He ruffled Jack's hair, causing him to laugh. Jean yelled for them to come in and get washed up for dinner. "Go on." He watched as they ran inside.

Jean waited for them to get past her and she looked to Lucien. "Will you be eating with us?"

"I don't think so, Jean. I'm not hungry. Thank you, though."

She wanted to ask him what was bothering him but left it alone for now. She smiled and nodded as she turned to walk inside.

Jean was knitting in the parlor when Thomas walked in. "Jean." Thomas smiled as he sat down in the arm chair. "What are you making now?"

She returned his smile and said, "Scarves for the boys."

"Very smart."

They sat in silence for a while, Thomas trying to figure out how to approach the subject of her and Lucien.

"I see you're getting along okay with Lucien."

Slowly, she replied, "Yes...why wouldn't I?"

"Oh, no reason. I'm just glad." He chanced a look at her and saw her eyebrows were furrowed and her knitting long forgotten. "I just…I see the way you two look at each other. It reminds me of my Genevieve and me. But, Jean, I've seen the way you look at him when you think no one is watching. He does the same thing. How long are you two going to go before you realize you should do something about it?"

She tried to sound firm but her voice cracked when she said, "Doctor, the boys are my priority."

"Yes, as they should be. And they always will be. But, Jean, you can still have a life while keeping them your priority. They need you to be happy and maybe they need a father figure in their life again? They are quite fond of Lucien. I am fairly certain they would be okay with you two courting."

She couldn't believe they were having this conversation. Was this even appropriate to discuss with her boss? Then again, Thomas was much more than just her boss. She knew this. She decided to share her other issue with moving on. "I can't replace my Christopher, doctor." Her tears that were threatening began to fall.

"Oh, Jean dear." He moved so he was sitting next to her on the settee, putting his arm around her shoulders to comfort her. "Jean, you wouldn't ever be replacing him. You're finding someone to help share your life, bring you happiness." He waited a moment before he continued. "Just think about it."

She huffed. "I feel like it's all I've been thinking about."

He smiled. "I'm sure you have. Think about what I said." He squeezed her shoulders. "I want to see you both happy. Good night, Jean."

He rose and walked to the hall before he heard a faint, "Good night, doctor." Smiling, he continued to his room.

Lucien answered the door, wondering who it could be at this late hour. He whispered, trying not to wake his father, "Matthew, please come in. Let's go back here."

"Sorry for the late call, Lucien."

"No, no, it's fine. Matthew, I owe you an apology."

Matthew put his hand up to stop him. "Yes, you said you were going to let me in on your little stunts but you didn't this time. All that aside, you were half right." At his confused look, Matthew continued. "The kerchief was indeed Patrick's. He was having an affair with her. They had an argument that night and he gave her his kerchief because she was crying. She was working him for his money. She had another man she working as well. He found out about her and Tyneman and one thing lead to another."

Lucien's mouth was agape. "Bloody hell."

"Yeah. You know, Ashby was already planning on bringing in Tyneman before you went over there. You have to talk to me, Lucien, otherwise I can't help you." With that he turned to leave, leaving Lucien to his thoughts.