Good evening, everybody. I hope you all have made it safe and sound through the holidays and into the new year. Thank you once again for your reviews, I am very interested in your thoughts even when I am insanely busy and therefore quiet on this end.

What else can I say? Our lovebird have gotten themselves into a bit of tangle at the moment - as most couples do occasionally. But rest assured, they will figure it out.

Chapter 28: Redowa

Phryne again flicked through the coroner's report; the file on the suspects interviews, stared out the open door at where Hugh was writing some report or other... Something was trying to get her attention but she couldn't put her finger on it. She fished for the lab results, biting with a soft crunch into one of the biscuits Jack always hid in the bottom drawer behind his Shakespeare and the spare pencils. They weren't baked after any of Dot's recipe and for a brief moment, Phryne wondered where he got them from. And why she still kept stumbling over his secrets while he seemed to know her down to her very soul. It was an unsettling habit.

It seemed to the Lady Detective like it would forever stay a mystery what exactly was going on in his head. Finding him dancing in complete abandon, with Dot's little boy nevertheless, after the afternoons events appeared a provocation. Yet he had let her run against a brick wall with her anger, unwilling to confront her. Jack was locking her out, both literally and metaphorically and she was losing ground.

Phryne had to grumpily admit that she was scared. She preferred anger.

A sentence in a statement of Mrs. Steeger caught her attention and she put any thoughts about the Inspector on hold for the time being, which took some effort. Phryne chewed on her lip, then riffled through the test results on the poison, leaned back. It made perfect sense. She jumped to her feet, rushing towards the door. And bumped into someone soft who hit her with a warmth and scent that made her wish she could just crawl underneath his skin and stay there. The sudden yearning took her by surprise. She took a step backwards and sucked some air into his lungs that wasn't saturated with the smell of his skin.

"Jack? I didn't expect you back just yet."

"You seem to have made yourself comfortable, Miss Fisher," the Inspector quipped, storing his biscuit tin back in the drawer in an effort to hide that her proximity hadn't left him cold. After a night tossing and turning alone in a cold bed he longed to hold her so much that it hurt. At the same time he was still furious. The conflicting emotions left his head spinning.

"Not particularly comfortable. Those chairs are a disgrace," Phryne quipped. Nevertheless she sat down again. Jack took her teasing with absolute calmness that annoyed her beyond measure and slipped onto the edge of the table, now occupying her usual place.

Phryne picked up the lab results again, running a slim finger along the edge.

"I have, however, figured out that we were wrong all along. We assumed that Mr. Steeger was poisoned the very morning he died."

Jack grinned.

"But if the jam was left for Camila Steeger the day before, that means that anyone who was at the picnic could have just as well placed it," he finished her thought.

Phryne glanced at him, hiding both her amusement and her annoyance at the fact that he had come to the very same conclusion.

"Which leads us to many more witnesses to interview," she said, getting to her feet. Phryne almost made it to the door, when she heard him casually say: "You might want to start with Mr. Riley's former lover."

He turned towards her, smiling in a way that was both charming and incredibly infuriating. She didn't give him the satisfaction of asking. But he told her all the same.

"Charlotte McAster."

Phryne frowned.

"Charly?"

Apparently oblivious to her surprise, Jack continued, returning to his chair behind the desk. It was still warm.

"It appears that your Mr. Riley was reluctant to make her his wife, considering his parents would likely disapprove of her family's financial struggles. So she ended it."

"A clever girl," Phryne taunted. "What's the point in keeping a man around who cannot decide on what he wants?"

Jack ignored the obvious stab and smiled.

"And there I thought you would be backing your friend?"

Phryne huffed, casually leaning against the edge of the desk.

"I hadn't taken Julian for such a coward."

The Inspector cleared his throat.

"To his defence, he is thoroughly heart-broken by the events and seems to reconsider."

He watched Phryne's reaction closely. There wasn't a flicker in her composure. If she was disturbed at all by this revelation about her dancing partner she was very good at hiding it.

"Didn't you say she ended it? Whatever makes you think she would want him to reconsider?"

Jack opened his mouth and closed it again. He didn't have an answer.

"Either way, I am going to head to the McAster's house," she decided, slipping on her gloves. "Are you coming, Jack?"

A throat was cleared behind them. The Inspector grinned as Phryne turned to look at Constable Collins. "I don't think that will be necessary, Miss Fisher," Jack pointed out casually. Hugh looked from one to the other, deciding that staying in this room was not a good idea.

"Sir, Miss McAster is here. She would like to speak to you."

X

"More lemonade, Miss Jane?"

"Thank you," the girl mumbled absent-mindedly, accepting a glass from the maid. From her place in the ivy covered arbour she had a great view at the dining room where the McAsters were currently arguing.

"What's wrong with your parents?" she asked Mel who was chattering about something or other without making much sense. Her friend stopped, confused by the sudden change of subject.

"I told you, they're weird," she shrugged.

"They've always been that," Jane grinned, "but why are they fighting?"

Melody chewed on her lip.

"I think father's company is bankrupt," she finally said, her voice's usually happy tone turning a little shrill. "Mother says we will will have to give up the house."

Jane took a moment to get over her shock.

"That's terrible, Mel, why didn't you say anything?"

Her friend continued chewing on her lip, staring out into the garden.

"I did, but you weren't very interested."

Jane swallowed dryly, finally turning to look at her friend. She guessed she had been rather preoccupied.
"I'm so sorry, Mel."

But her friend just waved her apology away.

"You're life is so much more exciting. Of course you are busy."

She grasped for her drink but was surprised when a hand clamped over her wrist, spilling lemonade over both girls fingers.

"No!" Jane stated firmly, without releasing her. "I am your friend, Mel, and I should have listened."

Melody stared at her with big eyes.

"Can you hand me the napkins, please?"

"Of course."

Jane could feel her ears turn an embarrassed shade of red as she fished two napkins from the tablet that the maid had left behind and wiped sticky liquid from her fingers.

"Anyways, there isn't much to tell," he friend said quietly. "Mother is in a state and father is getting more sarcastic by the day. And Charly is weeping all day in her room."

Her friend, who had been nodding until a moment ago, now frowned.

"Charly's crying?"

Mel shrugged, throwing the balled up napkin back onto the table.

"I didn't think she even capable of tears. But she's looking all puffed up and disgusting. Mother pretends she doesn't notice."

Jane found herself stroking her friend's arm. She hadn't ever really seen her upset. In fact she was so silly most of the time, it was sometimes hard to remember that she had feelings. Now her eyes were suspiciously light.

"She'll have to get married now, won't she?" Melody stated. "Daddy can't afford to feed her any longer. And I will have to get married too."

Jane shuddered at the idea. She wanted to protest that they hadn't even finished school yet. But then that was reality, wasn't it? Phryne would be outraged by this. In fact, Jane firmly decided to talk to her mother. There must be something they could do. Sipping her lemonade, she was making plans in her head.

"I told you it's not very interesting," Mel said, finishing her own drink. Embarrassed, Jane realised that she had drifted off in the middle of the conversation.

"Nonsense," she protested. "I was just wondering-"

"Who killed Mr. Steeger? I think we should go out sleuthing, don't you?" Melody exclaimed with an enthusiasm that seemed slightly fake. Jane decided to not remind her that a murder wasn't a particularly uplifting subject either.

"Come," her friend pleaded, stretching out her hand.

"Won't your parents notice that we are gone?" Jane asked as she followed her friend to the hedges separating the yard from the street.

"They are preoccupied," Melody pointed out, glancing at her father who seemed completely absorbed in a book behind the window of his library, covered in an aura of sulking. "Mother is probably yelling at the cook about her dinner plans. And getting it wrong."

Jane couldn't help but grin as they ducked through the greenery. A branch getting tangled in her long hair caused her to stop when something sparkling caught her attention.

"What is it?" Mel asked, turning and finding her friend picking up something from the floor, her hair tousled with leaves stuck in them.

"It's a button," Jane said, studying the item in her palm.

"Probably the missing one from Charly's green blouse," Melody explained casually as they stepped out onto the street. "She's been using this exit for quite some time."

Jane held the glittering silver button up into the sunlight to inspect the distinctive pattern. She remembered it.

"I doubt it," she mumbled.

It had been attached to Julian Riley's coat only two days ago.

X

"He came to our house early on Wednesday morning. I had sent him a message that I needed to talk to him. And talk we did. My father is bankrupt, rendering a future together with the approval of his family impossible. It was the last time I saw him," Charly explained calmly.

"You ended your dalliance that morning?" Jack asked. A bitter laugh answered him.

"If it had been a dalliance I would be a lot better off, Inspector. But it's not that. And I was not after his money, for all you might think."

"We aren't thinking any of those things," Jack said, glancing at Phryne who looked like she might be thinking quite a lot. "We are merely wondering why neither of you came forward with this information when someone got murdered right in front of your nose."

Charlotte looked stunned.

"Why would we? It's not like our love had anything to do with Mr. Steeger's death."

"I don't think that is a judgement that is yours to make," Phryne said coldly from where she was leaning against the window sill. Jack's eyes flew around, his brows asking her why she was so offended by this secret love affair. Was it jealousy?

"Look, I came here because Jul... Mr. Riley telephoned the house and left a message with the maid that he had blabbed." The bitter tinge of Miss McAster's voice was now undeniable. "I should have known that all his promises of protecting our secret wouldn't hold," she added after a moment. "But I do still not see what either of us have to do with this murder."

Jack felt the burning need to tell the young woman that he had to all but arrest Riley before he had finally given into sharing his secret. But instead he decided to stay quiet when Phryne sat down beside him.

"Miss McAster, you collapsed on Sunday afternoon? At the picnic?"

A perfect eyebrow was raised at the Detectives.

"I did. Dr. Harbert said it was likely just exhaustion. I hadn't eaten that morning."

"Are you sure?" Mrs. Robinson asked.

"It is what the Doctor thought."

"Well maybe you have accidentally poisoned yourself," Phryne pointed out. "While cooking up jam?"

The Inspector gaped at his wife before he managed to compose himself. She knew as well as him that it wasn't a particularly likely option. Phryne was bluffing. For a long moment shocked silence filled the small interview room to the brim.

"You can't just accuse me of murder without backing it up, Mrs. Robinson," Charly said stiffly. "And I'll have you know that I am a terrible cook."

"I'm sure your future husband is going to be very glad to know that," Jack quipped. "However, I don't think Nicolas Steeger was pre-occupied with the taste when he ate his deadly breakfast."

A pair of big, brown eyes looked at him in disapproval of his joke.

"What motive could I possibly have to kill him? I barely knew the man."

"Well, he was the rival of the man you loved," Phryne pointed out. "But on second thought maybe he wasn't the intended victim at all."

Charlotte stared at her, her rather short brown hair standing tousled from her head as if it felt her confusion.

"Mr. Riley had found out on Saturday that he was to be Camila Steeger's dancing partner, rather than her husband."

Charlotte gasped for air.

"I didn't know that," she said tonelessly. "But you've got it wrong. I had no chance to poison anyone as I wasn't at the dancing school that morning. I didn't join the party until the picnic. I'm sure my mother will be happy to confirm that."

"Where were you?" the Inspector asked.

Charlotte stared at her hands for a long moment.

"I was getting fitted for a dress."

Phryne raised an eyebrow, ready to make a sharp remark but was silenced by the next words.

"A wedding dress. Julian had promised to announce our engagement at the ball tomorrow."