"Jean?" Li poked her nose into the bedroom, relieved to see Jean still awake.
"Come in, Li," Jean shifted over so there was room for the girl to sit down, "what is it?"
"This evening, dinner, everything was good, wasn't it?"
"I don't think your father had the chance to start a fight with your grandfather," Jean hummed, "but there were a lot of things he didn't know about you, Alderton ... however there are things he needs to talk about. Things that we know are in the letters that he returned. I have no doubts there will be fireworks and tears."
"It's been such a long time since they have seen each other," Li sighed.
"And a lot of that time has been spent resenting the other and I don't know how they are going to get over that." She lay back against her pillows. "I'm here if you need me."
Li hugged her and headed back to her own room.
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"Lucien?" Thomas stood in the living room with a box.
"Huh? Sorry, dad," he hummed, "I am just trying to get my head around all that you have told me, tonight. I mean I didn't expect such a warm welcome, I even thought I might just take Li and go and find somewhere for the two of us."
"That would be a shame," Thomas sat down, "I mean I understand, but I have got rather fond of her, and she and Jean have grown quite close in such a short time, but we have to talk, don't we?"
"Yes, I suppose we do," he frowned.
"You returned all my letters," he lifted the box off his lap, "unopened."
"The last one I read you told me it would be stupid ..."
"I think I used the word 'folly', son ..."
"It's the same thing," Lucien grumbled, "but all the same, it was about my marrying Mei Lin."
"I could have put it better," Thomas nodded, "it's just ... hear me out," he stopped his son from leaving the room, "please. When I married your mother I thought everything would be wonderful. I loved her, unconditionally, her joie de vivre, her flirting, the parties she threw, but not everyone had the same reaction. Most of my family, my brother, my sister Dorothy, all turned their noses up at her, she was a foreigner and an artist, she wasn't local, or even Australian, and she definitely wasn't a quiet little mouse who would do my bidding at the drop of a paintbrush. The townsfolk, particularly the women didn't trust her with their husbands, they didn't trust her continental ways and I think a lot of them were jealous ... I didn't want Mei Lin to be subject to that, to the talk, whispering behind hands of her oriental ways, her looks – she was beautiful though from the photograph you sent – I didn't want her to be looked down on; and when the war started even the Chinese restaurant was targeted, they've lived in Ballarat for years, the younger generation were born here, but it was their looks, their heritage that was targeted – all foreigners are the same, untrustworthy, those of German and Italian descent were also targeted, people are fickle, Lucien they don't think they generalise, I didn't want that for Mei Lin, so yes, I should have explained myself and I am so very sorry that it meant we never spoke and I never got to meet her."
"Do you know why I married her?"
"I'm rather hoping it was because you loved her," Thomas tipped his head.
"I married her because she was like mum, she was charming, the life and soul of a party, an accomplished flirt and because I loved her – unconditionally. I hated you for what you put in that letter ..."
"Can't say I blame you," Thomas mused.
"... and for sending me away, for pushing me out of your life ..."
"I hate myself for that, too, son," his father stood up, "I made the biggest mistake of my life when I sent you to Melbourne. I can't ask you to forgive me, Lucien, or forget, I was wrong, and I have regretted it, even more since Li came. She is a wonderful girl, clever and to come all this way without support, just a ticket and a passport and a little money to feed herself, very brave of her."
"Hm ..." Lucien poured himself another drink and waved the decanter at his father.
They spent the rest of the evening talking, saying things they had wanted to say for years; some of them were hurtful and voices were raised, some were kind but all came from the heart. Lucien told his father how he felt when he was sent from the house so soon after his mother died, Thomas told him how he regretted it but in his grief he hadn't known what to do with a child.
"Nell Clasby has been giving me hell for that ever since you know," he put his glass down.
"Always liked her," Lucien raised his glass, "to Nell."
Thomas laughed.
"I'm incredibly proud of you son," he sighed, "even if I didn't like you joining the army, staying away from home, or even just your home country, but the things you have done, have seen are more than I could imagine, the good and the painful and you survived."
"Just about," Lucien hummed, "but what to do now?"
"You are a doctor, and a surgeon."
"No licence to practice."
"Should be easy enough, just have to convince the medical board."
"I'll think about it," he twirled his glass in his hand.
"I'm getting on a bit, son, you could always take over the police surgeon duties for a start, you always did like a puzzle." Thomas stood up and started for his room, "Matthew Lawson is the Inspector here now ..."
Matthew and Lucien had been good friends when they attended school together, protecting each other from the bullies like Donald McAvoy and the prospect of helping Matthew put criminals behind bars piqued Lucien's interest.
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It was the early hours of the morning before Lucien finally went to bed. His father had left the box of letters on the chair and he had eventually succumbed to curiosity and started to read them.
In them he found all the regrets, the hopes and the pride his father had tried to express during their conversation, his worries for his safety as the war progressed and his fears when he heard he was a prisoner of the Japanese invading forces. The final letter, the one he had thought was a little light, was the one that told him Li was safe and he should come to her.
"Sometimes, Lucien Blake," he muttered to himself, "you are your own worst enemy."
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Thomas was reading the paper as Jean served breakfast when Lucien entered the kitchen the following morning.
"Good morning, doctor," Jean looked up from putting a plate in front of Thomas, "breakfast?"
"Do I smell bubble and squeak?"
"With bacon and an egg, of you like," she smiled.
"Sounds perfect," he sat in the seat that appeared to have been set for him, next to Li who was finishing a piece of toast.
"Sleep well, son?" Thomas hummed round a mouthful of bacon.
"I did, for a change," he nodded and helped himself to tea. "Sleep's been a bit elusive for some time."
"Do you have plans for the day, doctor?" Jean put his plate in front of him and sat down to her own breakfast.
"Hm, well, my initial plans were to take Li and find a place of our own, but ..." he looked round at the shocked faces and the tears in Li's eyes, "after a talk with dad last night, and a read of his letters I thought that maybe I should write to the Board of Medicine and ask if I would be allowed to practice medicine here, and write to the service and tell them I'm done with it. They've done nothing for me, why should I continue to do their dirty work, I resigned my commission from the army as soon as I could; I just kept working for them because they said they could help me find Li, in return. When you've just come out of such circumstances and someone offers you a life line you tend to grab it."
"Will you tell them you've found me, father?" she sniffed back the tears that had been about to fall.
"Not sure they need to know, unless they ask, people will find out soon enough."
"How?" Jean frowned.
"Oh, y'know, Alderton's poking around ..." he tipped his head as someone knocked the door. "Aren't you allowed to eat breakfast in peace here, dad?" he smiled.
"Can't be Matthew, he phones," Thomas frowned and stood, "only one person calls at the least appropriate times."
"Alderton," Jean pushed her chair back.
"No, Jean," he held up his hand, "you three stay here, but no need to hide, I don't think." He straightened his waistcoat and headed up the hall.
There was silence in the kitchen while they all listened.
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"Major Alderton," Thomas sighed, "now there's a surprise. You can ring you know, we do have a phone and appointments are very easily made."
"I am not consulting you on medical matters, Dr Blake," Alderton stepped uninvited inside the hall and closed the door behind him.
"Really, so why are you here?"
"Your son, Lucien ..."
"What about him?"
He cleared his throat, "we can't find him."
"Really, goes undercover well, then?"
"You don't seem worried, we can't find his daughter either ..."
"You told me to leave well alone," Thomas reminded him, "you said I wasn't to look for my son or my granddaughter, and now you say you can't find them? It strikes me, Major, that either he is darn good at his job or you are incompetent, which is it?"
"You know nothing of our work," he spat back.
"If it's espionage then I am not supposed to know anything, am I? How long has my granddaughter been missing?"
"Some weeks, a month or so," Alderton had the good grace to look sheepish.
"How hard have you looked? I mean she's sixteen surely a teenager, a child, hasn't managed to hide from experienced spies?" Thomas folded his arms, his voice was just loud enough to be heard in the kitchen.
"She, ahem, she seemed to have moved from where she was placed."
"Ah, now it comes out," Thomas nodded, "you placed her somewhere ..."
"For her own safety, she's the child of a European, a foreign soldier, Dr Blake, those kinds of people aren't looked on kindly."
"Yet you knew she had a home here ..."
"From what your son told me you couldn't care less about his family," Alderton sneered.
"But you could have asked, instead you hid her, moved her around – used her as a pawn to get Lucien to do your dirty work." Thomas was determined to get the Major to admit he had been using an innocent child to force a man to do things that he couldn't get done just by asking or even ordering another person, someone who was willing to continue in the service – or even himself.
"I trusted you, Uncle Derek," Li stood outside the kitchen and looked up the hall, "you were my parents' friend and you betrayed us. It took someone else to get me home, not a spy, not a soldier, just a person who cared about me, who thought it was wrong I should be used to force father to do your work. You're a sad and lonely man who wants me and father to be the same, just because you couldn't have my mother."
"Li?" Lucien stood behind her. "What do you mean?"
"He came to dinner when you were out, father, I remember, a lot. I may have only been six but I remember things, how he was there so often. When Grandfather told me about the men here, wanting your mother it all made sense to me." She leant against him, "I don't think mother wanted him though, sometimes she would let me stay up late, so she wouldn't be alone with him."
Alderton stood with his mouth open, in complete shock. Here he was to say that Lucien had apparently disappeared overboard from a ship bound for Melbourne and that his body hadn't been found. He was also going to say that as Li had gone from the place he had sent her that there was no chance she could be found. All his plans to keep Lucien in the Secret Service as he had promised his handlers had just gone up in smoke.
"Obviously my son is much better at working undercover than you thought, Major, now, if you don't mind, I have my hospital rounds to do and surgery ..." Thomas opened the door to usher him out.
"It was her," Derek spluttered, "that infernal woman ... interfering ..."
"Now, now Major," Thomas pursed his lips, "Mrs Beazley is my housekeeper ..."
"Just a simple farmer's widow with a taste for spy fiction," Jean poked her nose round the doorway and grinned.
Alderton stormed out of the house and down the drive watched by the household.
"Well," Thomas sighed and closed the door, "that shook him."
"And me," Lucien looked at Li, "is it true, what you said?"
"About him coming over to the house when you were out? Why would I lie, father, he would only deny it and who are you going to believe, a sixteen year old with ten year old memories or a respected military man? It was only when Grandfather told me about the men here, in Ballarat, flirting with your mother that it all made sense, or why would mother have me stay up for an extra long bedtime story if not to keep him at arm's length?" Li wrapped her arms around him, "what do you think he'll do now?"
"Beats me," he mused, "but I better write those letters quickly."
"Paper and pens in the study," Thomas smiled, "and I better get off to the hospital."
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"Want me to post those letters, Dr Blake?" Jean shrugged her jacket on and lifted her basket, "I'm going into town."
"Not on my account I hope," Lucien smiled.
"No, I need some baking ingredients and some more magazines for the waiting room," she smiled.
"Mind if I come with you? It's not as if I am here undercover, is it? Not now." He raised his eyebrows.
"If you're going, father, can I come?" Li looked up from her book. "After all I'm not hiding from the Major anymore am I?"
"What do you think, Mrs Beazley?"
"The poor child's been imprisoned here since she arrived, I guess now that Alderton knows she's here it won't make any difference and if she is with us she will be safer than on her own here."
"I'm here," Thomas frowned.
"You're nearly seventy dad," Lucien tutted, "Alderton is still a fit man, I'm sorry, you'd be no match for him."
"Ok, I get it," Thomas huffed good-naturedly, "and yes, if it came to the strong arm stuff I'd be done for. You just take care of her, Lucien, or you will have me to answer for."
That made Lucien feel good, it made him feel as if his father really did want him, that they could both be happy there, at least for a time. Who knew what the future held?
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Jean pulled the car up outside the post office. "I'll meet you here ..."
"No, we go together," Lucien got out of the car and opened the door for Li, "I won't trust Alderton until I know he's out of Ballarat."
"Oh," Jean gasped, "well, I suppose you know best."
"Probably, but there again, Mrs Beazley, I'm just going on my gut, I could be completely wrong."
"Even if you are, there's no point in taking the risk, is there."
"No." He shook his head.
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Buying stamps took longer than it should have but Lucien was not well known and Jean found herself introducing him to quite a few of Thomas' patients and people he was likely to come across if he was to stay. There were people he hadn't seen since his school days, Patrick Tyneman didn't seem too pleased that he was back or that he had brought his half-caste daughter with him, Lucien sensed his disapproval but ignored it for now. Nell Clasby, however, greeted him like her own long lost son, voicing her delight that he had returned and saying how lovely it was to meet Li.
"About time, Lucien," she teased, "it's so good to have you back – you are staying aren't you?" she tipped her head and stared at him.
"For now, Miss Nell," he grinned and kissed her hand, "Li is settled with father and Mrs Beazley and I have yet to see how I should support her."
"You're a doctor," she huffed.
"I need my licence to practice," he smiled, "hence the letter."
"Oh, I'm sure you'll find something," she smiled, "perhaps I shall see you at my next appointment, I'm sure Mrs Beazley has already arranged it," she smiled at Jean.
"And I have told you, Miss Clasby," Jean rolled her eyes, "Thursday at two thirty." She shook her head, this was a regular thing, Nell pretending she had forgotten and Jean calling her on the phone to remind her.
Letters stamped and put for posting, they headed across to the grocers where Jean bought her baking ingredients and a few extra things for the pantry. Now she knew how many she was feeding certain amounts would have to be revised.
"Is there anything in particular you like, Dr Blake?" she waited while her purchases were added up.
"After dinner last night, and this morning's breakfast, Mrs Beazley, I am sure your cooking will be just fine as it is. Dad certainly seems very well on whatever you put in front of him." He laughed, "but I am partial to a lamb roast."
"Ah," she nodded, "perhaps I shall do that for Sunday ..."
"Will Inspector Lawson be round, Jean?" Li asked, "he comes over for dinner sometimes," she explained to her father.
"Now, that would be lovely," he nodded, "if it's not too much trouble."
"Matthew is always welcome," Jean hummed, "I have known him for many years ..."
"We were at school together for a while," Lucien shoved his hands in his pockets, "it would be good to see him again."
They headed out to the last shop, the newsagents for the magazines; Lucien seemed to be on high alert as a couple of soldiers passed them.
"Hm," he muttered.
"Doctor?" Jean frowned.
"One of them, the taller one, was with Alderton at the station when I arrived," he hurried the ladies into the shop.
"Oh, right, well, I shouldn't be too long ..." Jean lifted a selection of magazines and took a couple of comics Li passed her.
"For the children, Jean, you have something for the adults ..."
Jean just smiled and paid for them. "Shall we go?" she passed them to Li and they stepped out into the street.
Lucien looked up and down the street, scrutinised the passers-by and ushered them across the road to the car.
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Alderton didn't know quite what to do next. They had lost their best man in the field but he also knew he had only done it in order to take the tips to find his daughter. His main problem, this aside, was that no one knew he was moving Li from place to place, or that he had his own man at the Consulate. He hadn't worried that Li had gone missing, at first, it was one less thing to bother with, but when Blake was reported missing, probably overboard from a ship bound for Melbourne, he could see things were starting to unravel. First of all, why was Blake on a ship, he'd had no mission that would take him to his homeland? Had he found out about Li? Had somebody got a message to him that Li was out of China and with her grandfather? And why did he not know about this? The girl had intimated that it was someone from the Consulate that had given her all she needed to get home, but he trusted the man he was using so it had to be someone who was intercepting the orders. He had more questions than answers but first he needed the flat searched.
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Lucien's flat was clean and tidy. There were no letters from or going to his home in Ballarat, the grate was empty, there didn't appear to have been a fire for weeks, the bed was made, there was no indication anyone had been there for quite some time. The occupant had intended to disappear and had done it rather well.
"Hm," the Consulate official pushed his hat back on his head, "sure is a good man, shame to lose him." He did not know where Blake was or which direction he had travelled in, all he had been told was to search the tiny flat and pass on what he found.
He reported his findings to Major Alderton who was less than happy, Lucien's letter had arrived at his contact's office and Alderton was being called back to Melbourne to answer questions.
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Alderton came out of Headquarters (a small room in a nondescript apartment building) with a black cloud over his head. When his superiors had told him to use any means necessary to keep Blake on their side they hadn't envisaged him using a child as bait, his child, and when they found out that said child had evaded the service and got herself to her family they were even more impressed with her and less impressed with him.
They bumped him down to a desk job, administration of the barracks in Melbourne, for now. He would receive further orders in due course.
"Clear your things from Ballarat, Alderton," his superior glared at him, "and stay away from Blake, he is no longer ours."
Alderton blamed only one person for his fall from grace, Mrs Jean Beazley, a typical woman's interference.
A well dressed man and woman entered the building as he left. The man tipped his hat the woman smiled but he didn't know them.
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"We saw him," she nodded to the superior who had just been talking to Alderton, "doesn't look too happy."
"No, he isn't, he's to clear out his things from the base at Ballarat and come back here, a desk job until I think of something to do with him."
"You want us to go to Ballarat?" her companion sat back in his chair.
"I worry for Blake's safety, or more importantly for his daughter's safety."
"I should add the housekeeper into that as well," she smirked. "It was her who sent Lawson to us. He says she's quite devious."
"Hm," he frowned, "perhaps the house then."
"Right, well, I'm sure you need a replacement for something off the car, darling," the man squeezed her hand, "after all isn't that where you got it from?"
"I did," she nodded, "I might have something go wrong with it ... or we could just go for a weekend?"
"Right," he wondered how she was going to do that, he would leave it to her. "Of course while we're there my shoulder might play up, I may need a doctor."
She shrugged, "That bullet may move again."
He tipped his head and smiled.
"I really should get it removed."
"Unless you find someone I trust as much as I would have trusted Mac, then it stays put," she huffed, "far too dangerous."
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"Mr and Mrs Archie Jones," he smiled at the receptionist behind the desk of the Soldier's Hill Hotel, "you should have a reservation for us."
"Sign here," he turned the book around, "Jenkins, room twenty three," he called for a porter.
Jenkins was well tipped for his service and assured them of his close attention during their stay.
"Shall we stretch our legs, darling?" Mr Jones rolled his shoulders.
"Lovely idea," she smiled and touched up her make-up, "let's see what Ballarat has to offer this fine afternoon."
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They wandered down the streets, gazed in shop windows, considered the art gallery, but Mrs Jones said perhaps the following day.
"I'm rather hoping to find an Etienne," she hummed, "I believe she lived here before her untimely death."
He shook his head, of course she would have done extra research but he didn't know the name.
"She was his mother," she whispered.
"Blake's?"
She nodded.
"I think we ought to speak to Lawson," Mr Jones, hissed, "let him know we are in town."
"Lovely idea," she agreed, "quietly though, let's not visit him."
"No, of course not," he tugged her hand, "he's over there," he pointed to the post office.
"I do believe I need some stamps," she hummed.
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"Sir, madam," Matthew lifted his cap, "visiting our city?"
"Just passing through, Inspector," Mr Jones extended his hand, "Archie Jones, my wife, Fern."
"Pleasure," Matthew smiled, giving absolutely nothing away as he shook hands with the couple. "Where are you staying?"
"Soldier's Hill Hotel," Mrs Jones smiled, "any idea what the food's like?"
"Not bad," Matthew nodded, "though if you want something a little more interesting try Henri's over there." He nodded towards the French restaurant.
"Thank you for the recommendation," she arched an eyebrow.
"Anytime," Matthew raised his cap once more and they parted.
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For the next couple of days Mr and Mrs Jones took in the sights of Ballarat. They spent time in the art gallery where indeed there was an Etienne that Mr Jones declared 'interesting' and Mrs Jones said if it was ever up for sale she might be interested.
They spotted Alderton while they were having a light lunch at a small cafe, he was having a heated discussion with a junior officer and as Mrs Jones watched she was sure she saw him mention 'Blake'.
"Lip reading, Fern?" Mr Jones hummed softly.
She nodded.
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"Li, would you just go and pick up the lamb I ordered," Jean passed her some money, "don't dawdle I see Alderton is still in town."
"I thought he was supposed to have been recalled, that's what father said," Li hissed and scowled.
"I'll just get the last of the groceries, I'm only next door," the older woman smiled, "we'll get off home then."
Jean thought it was best if they did the two purchases quickly, and to do that she decided to send Li into the busy butcher's – Alderton couldn't do anything in such a crowd – at least that was how she would play it if she were him. He was across the road anyway, which gave her time.
Across the road, in the cafe Mr and Mrs Jones had noticed the young oriental girl and surmised, correctly, that it was Blake's daughter and possibly a target.
"I assume the other woman is the housekeeper," Mrs Jones hummed, "sensible, the shop she's sent her into is nice and crowded."
Her husband nodded and called for the bill.
"Time for a stroll, dear," he smiled, handing over enough for the lunch and a tip.
"Lovely." She let him help her into her coat.
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Alderton knew better than to instigate an incident in a crowded street, especially as he was in uniform so he just watched Jean and Li get into the car and drive off, he in turn was watched by Mr and Mrs Jones who decided the ladies were safe – for now.
"Well, at least he's trying not to make a scene," Mrs Jones sighed, "do we know where Blake lives?"
"Mycroft Avenue, I brought a street map with me," he patted his top pocket, "easy to find. Do you want to make us known to him?"
"I don't think so, I'm rather hoping nothing happens and Alderton just goes away."
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"Don't," Jean caught Lucien's arm as he strode to the front door, "he'll go away, he's been recalled I just think it's best to leave well alone."
"He was watching you," he growled.
"There were far too many people about, Lucien, he wouldn't dare do anything." She smiled, "now, how about we have some tea and forget about him for a while, there's no need to worry Li."
He frowned.
"Look, if it really bothers you, ring Matthew and let him know. He'll have his men out and about and if he starts anything they are within the law to arrest him, aren't they?"
She watched him think this over and was glad to see he agreed with her – for now.
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All he wanted to do was tell her she had put the country, if not the world, in danger by taking one of their foremost agents out of the field, of course if he could persuade Blake back into the fold that would be even better, but he no longer had the child to hold over his head, and his wife had died as the ship had gone down. He'd been the one that identified her body and taken the coat and necklace to prove to Li that until her father showed up she was to stay in an orphanage. If course he had left that to a junior officer, he wasn't interested in the child clinging to him and begging him to take her with him.
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"No worries, Blake," Matthew hummed over the phone, "there are agents in town watching him."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, good people, they'll be here until he clears out."
"Good, well, there's a big piece of lamb for dinner on Sunday, Jean says, if you're interested?" Lucien grinned.
"Lamb, you say," Matthew licked his lips, "well, I am off duty that day."
"Good, see you then," Lucien laughed.
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"I'll drop you at the station," Thomas smiled, "good to see the Board of Medicine aren't hanging about."
"Well, hopefully this will mean that at least I can help out with surgery, dad," Lucien shrugged his jacket on and picked up his briefcase, "maybe some of the police surgeon cases?"
"That'd be good son." He nodded, "now, I shall drop the ladies off at the library, Jean says they'll walk back."
Lucien frowned, Alderton still hadn't left town and he didn't like the idea of his daughter without recourse to a swift mode of transport home.
"Jean refuses to let Alderton see her scared and Matthew has his men and those other people in town."
"And I refuse to be held prisoner in my home by someone like him," Jean huffed as she and Li joined them in the hall.
Lucien looked at her and decided that he would rather argue with a group of marauding Japanese soldiers than Jean Beazley on the warpath.
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Li had never had the chance to visit a library before; her childhood had been spent in an orphanage and the towns she had been left in didn't have such a facility for her to make use of, so all these books for her to choose from had her quite excited. She'd exhausted all the books in the house, some of Jean's spy novels and the Jane Austens Thomas had recommended, some of the books Lucien had read as a child, but now she wanted something a little more modern. Jean let her browse while she saw to getting her a card to allow her to take out six books at a time. Jean noticed the librarian look the teenager up and down, as if memorising her for further trouble, books that went missing ...
"Dr Blake would like his granddaughter to catch up on the reading she's missed growing up," Jean made a point of mentioning the doctor's name, "the war did awful things to education, don't you think?" she arched an eyebrow.
The librarian cleared her throat, "Dr Blake's granddaughter, you say?" she held her pen above the entry in the register, "and how long is she staying in Ballarat?"
"Oh, for as long as she wants," Jean smiled, "her father has just gone to complete his registration with the Board of Medicine, he is thinking of settling back here ..."
"Ah, I see, hm ..."
"It's so sad how the war kept families apart, don't you think?" she arched an eyebrow and kept the sweet smile but thought she would accompany Li to the library until she became a familiar face in town. It was obvious to her that the librarian distrusted anyone who wasn't Caucasian and raised in the town. The card was handed over and Li carried out the books she had chosen.
"That's an eclectic mix," Jean nodded at the pile of books, fiction, non-fiction, science ...
"My education was not as full as father would have liked, and grandfather has shown me some science. I think I'd like to look into it more, perhaps choose a science career. I should have a career, don't you think, Jean?"
"If that is what you want then by all means, it will mean quite a lot of hard work, but I'm sure your father and grandfather will help you."
"And you, Jean, will you help me?"
"If I can, dear, but I left school at sixteen and was married at seventeen."
"That doesn't make you unintelligent, Jean," Li hummed, "grandfather says you are cleverer than he and father put together."
"Huh," Jean shrugged.
"You're good at maths, you read, a lot, you have common sense, grandfather says, and that doesn't come out of a book. He says we all have cleverness in our own ways and you are smart."
"He's very kind."
"He means it." She nodded her head definitely.
They started out for home, still talking about what career Li thought she might have an aptitude for.
"Of course, I could become a spy," she laughed.
"I think you'd be better than some we know," Jean agreed with a grin.
"Mrs Beazley ..." a familiar voice stopped them in their tracks.
"Major Alderton," Jean didn't turn round, "off you go, Li dear, I shall see you at home." She passed her the key as if it was the most usual thing to do.
"Jean?"
"Go on, put the kettle on, I shall be right behind you." Jean patted her back and hurried her along.
Li turned round as she started to walk away, wondering if she should turn down the road and back towards the police station.
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"What do you want, Major?" Jean turned on her heel and stared up at him.
"Do you have any idea what you have done with your meddling?" he growled.
"I didn't meddle, Major," she straightened her back, "you left Dr Blake, Dr Thomas Blake, no choice in his search for his granddaughter ..."
"Blake told me his father didn't care one way or another about him or the child ..."
"People change, Major, the fact is Dr Blake did care about Li but he couldn't find anything out, which I think is something you had to do with. In the end it wasn't just our letters to the consulate but your thoughtlessness about a child that had someone else realise what you were doing and they took matters into their own hands. The rest you know; we have friends who have friends, Major ... and you told him not to interfere. Perhaps you should have been honest with Dr Lucien," she continued, "told him you could get Li out of China but that you would expect him to continue in his role, whatever that was, but you just fed him breadcrumbs as to the whereabouts of Li ... you used your knowledge of his family feelings to your advantage, not for his work, oh no, to exact revenge on him because you couldn't have his wife, the one thing you wanted was Mrs Blake and if you couldn't have her then he wasn't going to have any kind of family, I doubt you were interested in Li as a step-daughter. Leave us alone, Major Alderton, leave Lucien and Li to their own lives, to peace – they've earned it."
"You have no idea, the work he was doing ..." he stretched out his hand and put it round her throat, "getting rid of the underworld, those that would take away our freedoms and replace them with the communist ideology, repress us ..."
Jean continued to stare at him as his grip tightened and she felt the lack of oxygen but she wasn't going to struggle. He leered closer and closer until he felt the point of a small gun in the small of his back and a very polite voice ask him to kindly set Mrs Beazley down. As his concentration wavered for a second Jean was able to take a breath and brought her knee up sharply. He gasped, went pale and dropped her.
Jean blinked and groped around for something to help her regain her footing and found she was helped up by a man.
"Sit here, on this wall," he said, his voice was warm and smooth, "get your breath back."
"Fern?" he looked over at his accomplice.
"Doin' just fine, Archie," a cheerful female voice floated over, "don't suppose you've got those old handcuffs on you, have you?" They flew through the air to be caught quite expertly by the woman who snapped them around Alderton's wrists. "That'll do, we'll run him over to Inspector Lawson and then I suspect Mrs Beazley would like a lift home."
"Who ..." Jean's vision cleared, "who are you?"
"Friends," the woman smiled, Jean thought she was quite beautiful, her hair cut in a twenties style bob that didn't look out of place, somehow, perfect make-up and a glorious smile, "we'll explain later. First, let's get Alderton out of the way and you home. Don't want Miss Li to be worried now, do we?"
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With Alderton safely stowed in one of Matthew's cells until the army could pick him up, Jean was driven in Mr and Mrs Jones' elegant car back to the house where Li was pacing up and down the drive.
"Jean," she ran alongside the car, "oh thank goodness!"
Mrs Jones parked the car outside the house and they all headed inside.
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Li made some tea, Jean needed a drink to soothe her throat and it gave her something to do. The couple who had brought Jean up to the house were happy to help Li and keep her nerves steady.
"Grandfather will be back from his rounds, soon," she put out the cups and saucers, "he'll want to look at your throat; oh Jean ..."
Jean opened her arms and held her in a warm hug, "I'm fine," she croaked.
"The Major won't bother you again, Miss Blake," the man smiled, "and Mrs Beazley I suspect is made of stronger stuff than he realised."
"Who are you, though?" Jean coughed, "you said you'd explain."
"Round here we are known as Archie and Fern Jones, same line of work as your father, Miss, Blake," Mrs Jones smiled and continued setting out the tea things, "though rarely these days. In fact we'd all but retired when this whole thing blew up. It was me Lawson came to see, he was a junior officer with Archie way back before this latest debacle at City South."
"So it was you who got me out of China?"
"No, in fact it was that nice, unassuming young chap from the embassy took it upon himself to see to that. Seems he has a young family and you reminded him of his daughter, he didn't like that it could have been her. I'll look after him, now." She shook her head.
"Jean? Li?" Thomas' voice rang down the hallway, "whose is the car?"
"Dr Blake," Mrs Jones advanced with her hand extended, "... well, well, well," she smiled ..."I think we've met somewhere before."
Thomas blinked as he took her hand, "Face is darn familiar, those eyes ... years ago a little lass with a bad bruise and cracked ribs ... can't be?" he shook his head, "strange name if I remember, but I had not long qualified."
"Phryne," she whispered.
"That's it," he clicked his fingers, "Phryne, you were a scrawny little thing ..."
She roared with laughter while everyone looked at everyone else.
"I was taken to the hospital by my mother, must have been about eight or nine, father had given me a beating, nothing unusual about that but he'd hurt my ribs, this young doctor patched me up and warned mother that if it happened again he would be contacting the authorities." She explained.
"I take it it didn't," Jean swallowed again.
"Oh it did, but father got a title and we moved to England, I joined the ambulance service in the war and went to Paris, then back to Melbourne." She shrugged, and poured tea. "Come on Mrs Beazley, you need this more than anyone."
"I take it Alderton has made his move," Thomas moved to sit with Jean and stared at the red marks round her throat. "Here, I need to look at that, Jean."
"I'll be fine," she waved his hand away.
"Didn't black out," Mr Jones passed Li some tea, "kept very calm ..."
"Doesn't surprise me," Thomas grumbled.
"Phryne took control with her gun and in the time it took him to realise the jig was up, Jean here had kneed him where it hurts and he dropped her. He's detained at Lawson's pleasure for the time being. The army will come and pick him up."
"Man's mad," Thomas huffed.
"Probably," Phryne shrugged.
"Father's going to be furious," Li whispered.
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As Lucien hadn't indicated which train he would be returning on he wasn't surprised that there was no one to greet him. He headed out of the station to see if he could hail a taxi.
"Lift, Blake?" he turned to see Inspector Lawson leaning against the side of a police car.
"Er, well, I didn't think you were supposed to give lifts, unless it was to the cells, Lawson," Lucien grinned.
"Not for you, but I am just on the way up to your place and wondered if you would be on this train."
"What happened?" he got into the car quickly and let Matthew tell him, without interruption, all that had happened.
"Bastard!" he hissed.
"Yeah, but Jean's ok, so's Li. You are about to meet my friends, they were there just where they should be and I believe they have booked a table at Henri's for dinner. Your father refused to let Jean cook so they decided everyone needed a treat."
"Who are these people?"
"She was a lady detective and he a police detective. Well known in their day, and they did some work in intelligence during the war. He was my boss when I was a green constable in City South." Matthew pulled onto the drive behind the Hispano Suiza that the lady detective still drove.
"Nice," Lucien whistled admiring the car for its aesthetic beauty rather than any mechanical virtues.
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"Father!" Li ran up the hall to be enveloped in a strong hug.
"Li," he kissed her all over her head, "are you alright?"
"Of course, Jean made me come on ahead, I didn't want to leave her ... but she insisted."
"I'll kill him," he growled.
"No you won't," she pushed back and looked at him, "he's a sad old man not worthy of your attention."
"He used you."
"But I am here, and I am alright, so's Jean and he will have to answer for his crimes. Please, father, let's forget about him, let's stay here – I like Ballarat, I like living here with Jean and grandfather. Now, how did you get on in Melbourne?"
"Got my licence back, so I can practice medicine here."
"Well then, grandfather could use the help, he said so." She kissed his cheek, "now come and meet these people who rescued Jean."
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In between protestations of his admiration for Jean, Lucien insisted he check her throat and neck.
"This is why I didn't like the idea of you walking back from town," he grumbled.
"We would have been waiting for weeks, months, even, for him to make his move," Jean sighed, "maybe this was the best way. I would never have let anything happen to Li, Lucien, but I knew it was me he was after. I was the one who upset his plans ..."
"... not such a simple housekeeper," he smiled.
"Never," Thomas laughed.
After being introduced to Mr and Mrs Jones, by their real names they all agreed to meet at Henri's later, though Jean protested that as a mere housekeeper she couldn't be seen dining out with her employer – people would talk.
"I had a companion a bit like that, years ago," Mrs Jones smiled, "and you must come, ignore them." She waved her hand.
"That's easy for you to say," Jean sighed heavily, "but round here it doesn't take much to get tongues wagging."
"You are better than the lot of them," Thomas huffed, "I keep telling you that. We know what happens in this house and it is all perfectly proper. Now, you will dine with us, and if it makes it easier, I am ordering you, as your employer ... right?"
Jean knew when she was beaten, and it would be nice to eat in a restaurant for a change. Perhaps if she sat in the corner no one would notice her.
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If anyone took any notice of Jean sitting with the doctors and the agents, and Inspector Lawson, Jean, for once didn't care. Mr and Mrs Jones, who they now knew to be Phryne Fisher and Jack Robinson, kept them amused as they regaled them with tales of their past cases, the times Phryne had interfered in his police cases and the story of her flying her reprobate of a father back to England in a small airplane.
"Brave?" Phryne tipped her head when Jean remarked on it. "Foolhardy, if I look back on it, but mother would have divorced father and after such a long marriage it seemed wrong, even though I thought of tipping him out of the plane over the ocean on several occasions."
"You can do anything you want to, if you set your mind to it," Jack added, "anything," he looked at Jean and Li. "What other people think of you is less important than what you think of you. If you know your actions to be good, and done in good faith, then you are a good person. Phryne may have been reckless, my charming freight train, but everything she has done has been for the greater good. The only people who suffered at her hands where those that did wrong."
"Why thank you darling," she squeezed his hand, "does that mean I'm forgiven for giving you all those grey hairs?"
"I thought you said they made me look distinguished," he pouted.
She threw back her head and laughed.
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"They'll be fine," Phryne smiled as Jack packed the car the following morning. "Our work is done."
He nodded and tossed her the car keys.
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"So you'll stay?" Thomas looked eagerly at his son over the breakfast table.
"Why not," Lucien nodded, "Li is happy here, she wants to continue her education, university perhaps, and if the offer still stands, dad, I'd be happy to join you in the practice."
"Marvellous."
Jean answered the phone and held the receiver in the air. "Body at Lake Wendouree?"
"I'll go," Lucien grinned and pushed his chair back, "might as well see how this police surgeon work goes, eh?"
Thomas raised his tea cup in salute and nodded.
As Lucien passed the hatch to the kitchen Jean called to him and tossed him an apple – life might just be about to get interesting.