Jean was in the kitchen making breakfast and thinking over everything Doctor Blake had revealed on the previous night. She hoped Lucien would remain true to his word to work with Chief Superintendent Ashby in order to bring Jock Clement to justice rather than trying to do it all himself. She didn't think her fiancé would deliberately break his vow, but she knew him well enough to imagine him coming across new evidence and rushing to act on it without thinking things through.

She enjoyed this early morning quiet most days. It gave her a chance to gather her thoughts and plan the day ahead. On this particular day, though, she heard small footsteps coming down the stairs much earlier than usual. She was just wondering if they belonged to Christopher or Li when Jack appeared, surprisingly her completely.

"Good morning," she greeted him, noting that he was already dressed for school. His uncharacteristically early appearance wasn't due to illness, then. "What are you doing up at this hour?"

He grinned. "Morning, Mum. I woke up early."

"I see. Is anything wrong?"

"Nooo," he said slowly. "I was just wondering something, and I wanted to ask you."

"What's that?" she asked, lowering the heat on the stove and turning to give him her full attention.

He began with an explanation, in his usual exuberant fashion. "Lucien's taking me to Melbourne to see the Big V, did he tell you? That's the best thing I ever wanted to do! It's like he knows me better than anyone, except maybe you, Mum. That's why I was wondering, do you think I could start calling Lucien 'Dad'? Would he mind?"

Jean pulled out a chair and sat down, then held out an arm to motion Jack closer. "I'm certain he wouldn't mind at all, he'd feel honoured. What's brought this on?"

"I've been thinking. I can hardly remember my real father now. And Lucien does all the things a father is supposed to do, right?"

"Yes, he does," Jean admitted, not quite sure how she felt about all of this. But, of course, Jack had been very young when Christopher was killed, and so much of the boy's life had been spent in the camp where Lucien had been the only adult male he knew, aside from the guards, and the less said about them the better. Still she was reluctant to see Christopher's influence erased from his life.

On the other hand, Lucien had taken the boys into his heart and under his wing, and Jack was right that he'd done all the things a father was supposed to do. And as Jack got older and approached manhood himself, she hoped Lucien was the one he used as a role model. If calling him 'Dad' would encourage that, she felt certain her Christopher would understand. She knew he'd always want what was best for their boys.

"All right," she told Jack. "You speak with Lucien about it in private, and you can tell him it has my blessing."

He gave her a big smile. "Thanks, Mum." And a hug. "Shall I set the table?"

"That would be a big help," she told him. She thought she would speak to Lucien about it herself, wondering if he would mind if she made it a point to speak more about Christopher Sr. to the boys, to help keep his memory alive.

Lucien never made it to the breakfast table. A call came from the police station before he even sat down: a body had been discovered behind the Bended Elbow pub. He only had time to wish the children good morning and give Jean a hasty kiss on the cheek before he was heading for the door.

"Doctor," Jean called, causing him to pause.

She tossed him an apple so at least he'd have something in his stomach.

When he got his first look at the body, he wasn't sure having anything in his stomach was such a good idea after all. The man's body was hanging by a rope around his neck, the other end tied to a rung of an upper floor balcony. It looked as though it had been there for several hours at least.

Matthew Lawson was standing guard as Lucien circled the body first to study it before signaling that it should be taken down.

"Hardly more than a boy. Any idea who he is?" he asked as he examined the knot, then loosened it.

"Name is Andrew Harrison," Matthew told him. "Aged twenty-two. He's a farmer and a regular patron of this pub."

"Married? Children?" asked Lucien.

"Yes, married, but no children."

"You knew him?"

Matthew shook his head. "The publican did. He's the boy's uncle so he made the identification of the body. Said he hasn't been the same since he got back from the war."

"No, I suppose not," said Lucien, recognizing just how much he himself had been changed by it. "Especially for someone so young."

"Didn't seem all that surprised that the boy might take his own life," Matthew observed.

"I'm afraid we may see this happening all too frequently over the next few years," Lucien said sadly. "Too many people saw and experienced too much horror."

"So you don't see anything here to indicate it was anything other than suicide? The boss will ask."

"Doctor Harvey and I will take a closer look, but I'm fairly confident young Mister Harrison did this to himself." Lucien's heart was heavy as he stood and motioned for the ambos to take the body to the morgue.

Alice Harvey was just entering the morgue when Lucien and the body arrived. She took a close look at the marks around Harrison's neck, then glanced up at her colleague. "Was it self-inflicted?" she asked.

"Unfortunately it seems so," Lucien said soberly.

"Very sad, especially for such a young man," said Alice. "Do we have any idea why he'd do that?"

"I'm afraid it may have been related to his war experiences."

"I've been reading about that in the journals. It's not all that uncommon, they say. They're calling it Acute Stress Disorder now, rather than the term 'shell-shock' that was used in the Great War."

"Yes, or 'battle fatigue'," said Lucien. "Although for many men it seems to worsen when they try to return to ordinary life after seeing combat. It can seem pointless to them."

They examined the body as they spoke but found nothing inconsistent with the notion that it was self-inflicted asphyxiation by hanging.

"Let's run a basic blood toxicology, and if it's clean we can close this," said Lucien.

"Concur," said Alice. "And seeing as we're alone here I should tell you I have the results of the tests on the soil samples from your mother's grave."

"And?"

"It confirms your suspicions, I'm afraid." Alice went over to pull a file from her bag. "Strong traces of strychnine, strong enough to point to it as the cause of death."

She handed him the folder, and he glanced over its contents. "May I keep this? I'd like to discuss it with the Chief Superintendent."

"Of course," she said, "but you realize the testing was unauthorized."

"I won't bring your name into it," he promised. "No need to get you involved."

Doug Ashby looked up as Lucien approached his desk. "Well?"

"Waiting for toxicology tests before I sign off on it, but it's quite clearly a suicide."

"Another one," said Doug. "A shame really. Go with Lawson on the death knock to the widow, would you? The uncle might have already told her, but we need to make it official."

Lucien nodded, not looking forward to it but thinking he might be able to provide some small comfort to the young woman.

"I have something else you should see," he told the Chief Superintendent as he handed him the folder from Alice.

Doug took the file and began to study it carefully as Lucien settled into the seat beside the desk. When he'd finished reading he asked, "Do I want to know how you got this?"

"Best not," said Lucien. "You should also know I had a long talk with my father last night about this very subject."

Doug lowered his voice so as to not be overheard. "He told you about the threats?"

"Yes, he told me everything. Now what do we do about it?"

"i have a few thoughts, but not here," said Doug. "Clement has eyes and ears all over this town."

"Why don't you bring Violet over to dinner tomorrow evening?" Lucien suggested. "That will look harmless enough."

"All right, thank you, I'll do that. Now Lawson is waiting on you."

Jean was just moving the filled serving dishes onto the table for dinner when Lucien walked in the door, looking a bit worse for wear. He kissed her cheek before sinking into a chair.

"Tough day?" she asked him.

"Difficult day," he confirmed. "And before I forget, I invited Doug Ashby and Violet to dinner tomorrow. I hope you don't mind."

"It's fine. Is there a particular reason?"

Lucien told her about Alice's findings and Doug's suspicion that Jock Clement might have informants keeping him apprised of any investigation.

"I can be sure the children are occupied so you men can talk," Jean told him.

"I'd like your insight as well," said Lucien. "You always have something valuable to contribute."

Jean couldn't help feeling pleased that he valued her input. It was flattering to be appreciated for something other than her housekeeping and gardening skills.

"Oh, what was the call out this morning all about?" she asked him.

"Oh, Jean," he sighed. "Such a tragedy. A young man, Andrew Harrison, hanged himself."

Jean gasped. "I knew him years ago when he was just a boy. His older brother was a schoolmate of my Christopher's."

"I am so very sorry," said Lucien, taking her hand in his.

"Why would he do such a thing?" Jean asked, shaking her head in dismay.

"The war," Lucien said simply.

"He was so young! It's no wonder he couldn't deal with it," said Jean with tears in her eyes. The last time she'd seen him, Andrew hadn't been much older than Christopher Jr. was now. She prayed the inevitable next war was far off in the future so her boys wouldn't be involved. They'd already seen enough of war. That reminded her of her talk with Jack that morning.

"Lucien, I know you're tired, but after dinner could you make some time for Jack? He has something he wants to talk to you about. I promise, it's not bad news. You've had quite enough of that today."

"It would be my pleasure to talk with Jack, my dear," said Lucien.

Dinner was a somewhat sober affair, with Lucien's somber mood affecting the others. He made an attempt to overcome it, telling Li that Violet and her father would be joining them the following night. Li thanked him and said she looked forward to it, but then returned her attention to her plate.

Jean smiled at him for the attempt, which instantly made him feel better. He glanced over at Jack, wondering what he wanted to talk about. Was it something about their trip to Melbourne? Jean had said it was nothing bad, though, so he'd hold onto that thought.

Jack glanced his way a few times with a sort of half-grin, then quickly looked away as though he was enjoying some secret of his own.

Lucien was relieved when dinner was over. He badly wanted a drink of whiskey, something to dull the image of young Emily Harrison weeping for the loss of her husband. The whiskey could wait, though, until after his talk with Jack.

At his nod, Jack followed Lucien into Thomas's study, and they sat down side by side in front of the desk. "Now, then, young man, what can I do for you?"

Again Jack gave that little grin. "Mum said I should tell you she said it was all right," he began.

"That's good to know," Lucien told him. "What did she say was all right?"

Jack squirmed a little in his chair, then looked Lucien squarely in the eye. "Would it be okay if I call you 'dad' now?"

All the cares of the day fell away for Lucien. His heart seemed to swell in his chest, overflowing with the love he felt for this boy and so very proud he seemed to have filled a void in Jack's life.

But Jack was looking up at him expectantly, waiting for a response. "I'm very honoured that you want this. Are you sure? Your real father was a very good man, I'm told."

"Mum says he was, but I can't really remember him now. I just know that if I could pick someone to be my new dad, you're the one I'd pick," said Jack.

"Then I would be proud to have you call me Dad, just as I know how proud your mother is when Li calls her Mum. Thank you, Jack." He pulled the boy over for a hug. "I was having a very difficult day, but you've just made it one of the best I've ever had."

"Me, too," said Jack, with another grin, which Lucien had to answer with one of his own.