/ / TUESDAY - Midday / /

The coroner could not be specific.

"I'm sorry Inspector, but all I can say is that this individual died sometime between midday and six o'clock on Sunday."

"You can't narrow it down any further?"

"No."

Jack bit back a curse and thanked the doctor, accepting a copy of his report in person before walking out of the morgue and making his way with Constable Collins to their police vehicle.

When they arrived back at the station and walked inside, it was to find Dot sitting opposite the front desk, a basket in her lap. Jack frowned slightly, and Hugh beamed.

"Dottie!"

At the sound of his voice Dot looked up, mirroring his smile with her own. They stepped forward and Hugh's eyes darted quickly to the distracted policeman on the desk before he bent down and pressed his lips to Dorothy's cheek. She blushed happily and Jack stepped past the couple to move through to his office.

As he suspected Phryne sat almost splayed across his desk, her legs crossed neatly, feet resting in the chair he'd much prefer her to be occupying. Next to her was a basket of her own, and from the smell of it, she wanted something.

"Miss Fisher," he greeted, removing his hat and coat and hanging them on a hook on the wall, "to what do I owe the pleasure?"

Phryne pouted dramatically, "Perhaps I just missed you," she said. "You did leave before breakfast this morning."

This was true, Jack thought. But only because as naked and as close as she'd been that morning, he'd had enough trouble dragging himself from her bed without her protesting and all too distracting arms pulling him back into her embrace.

"So you brought me lunch?"

"Of course!" she smiled. "Come on Jack, won't you humour me?"

Jack sighed, stepping around the lady detective on his desk to sink into his chair. To his great relief Phryne slid from his desk; only to walk around it as he had done and sit on its other side, facing him once more.

"Must you sit there?" he asked dryly.

"Where else am I to sit Jack? In your lap?"

"I thought the chair."

Phryne raised her eyebrows and looked over her shoulder to the chair behind her. She looked back at Jack. "All the way over there?" she asked. "But I'm not here on official business Jack, but rather, personal business, where I feed you lunch and shower you with my domestic affection."

It was Jack's turn to raise his eyebrows now.

"Here," Phryne said, ignoring his pointed look and pulling a dish of Jack's favourite gratin from the basket. "Have some of this."

He accepted the dish cautiously, but Phryne said nothing, so he allowed himself to take a fork and eat.

"So tell me Jack, darling," Phryne said, slipping off his desk once more and this time walking around his chair to stand behind him. "Have you found your curious Mr Fisher yet?"

Her hands found his shoulders, and Jack swallowed his mouthful before replying.

"Yes, we found him," he told her. "Have you chosen a destination?"

"Destination?" Phryne frowned.

"For your trip."

"Oh! No, I've decided I'm not going to go away after all," she began to knead his muscles, loosening the knots that had formed there. "What did Mr Fisher have to say about your dead businessman?"

"Not much," Jack murmured vaguely, "I don't want to let him know he's a suspect, in case he tries to run back to Sydney. Why have you decided to stay?"

"It no longer appealed to me. I couldn't decide on a place so I thought I may as well not bother. Perhaps I will wait; we could plan a trip together."

It was an appealing thought, Phryne realised, to travel with Jack and explore together. She had enjoyed the few times she'd gone away only to discover a case requiring his in-person assistance.

"I've heard excellent things about Mrs Moller's Holiday Cottages in Lorne..." she continued, squeezing at the back of his neck now.

"I have fonder memories of Queenscliff," Jack retorted, resisting the urge to groan under her touch, and Phryne smiled, gliding instantly around Jack in his chair to bend and kiss him.

"Very well, Inspector. You tell me the dates, and I will book us appropriate accommodation in Queenscliff. Don't forget your swimming costume."

Jack chuckled, "I'll get back to you. Though might I suggest we wait until the weather is warmer?"

Phryne shrugged. "All right," she said, straightening up and taking his fork from him to steal some of the gratin for herself.

She was itching to ask more about Orpheus and Jack's investigation, but knew she couldn't do so yet, in case she raised his suspicion. Instead she took another bite of gratin, returned the fork and bent over to press a kiss to Jack's forehead.

"Return the basket to me tonight. I feel like dancing, so you're welcome to join me," she flashed him a smile, knowing he preferred a waltz to the kind of dancing found in the night clubs she frequented. "I'll see you then."

Jack watched her go with a sigh and a small groan. But a night of dancing meant a night in Phryne's arms. He wondered, briefly, what his housekeeper would make of his absence three nights in a row, and then decided he didn't want to think about it.

/ / /

Phryne and Jack lay together late in the night. They'd dined and danced and made love hours ago, and were now simply enjoying the chance to be together, Phryne's head resting over Jack's heart, his hand stroking slowly along the vertebrae of her spine.

"Are you asleep?" he murmured.

Phryne lifted her head to peer at him through the dark, "No."

His hand splayed on her lower back and pulled her closer, prompting her to drop a kiss to his lips.

"You need to rest Phryne," Jack murmured to her.

"Hmm, I think you'll find you're awake too, Inspector."

He chuckled, "So I will sleep with you."

"That's what I'm hoping for," she teased, kissing him again. He moaned lowly into her mouth, telling himself he should push her back and roll them over so they could sleep. But then her leg worked its way over his lap, and her body pressed so fully into his, and Jack's arms had no hope of doing anything but holding her closer.

"Phryne..." he groaned, her kisses having found the weak spot under his jaw.

"We can sleep afterward," she murmured into his skin, "I promise."

Jack nodded, his fingers gripping her hips as they moved against his. "Afterward, yes."

Phryne smiled and she kissed him again.

Her victory was short lived however, as at that moment there was a loud crash downstairs. Both Phryne and Jack sat upright in the bed, ears perked. Someone was in the house.

Jack was out of bed in an instant, pulling on his pyjama trousers and a robe. He grabbed Phryne's small gun from its place in her nightstand and moved to the door.

"I'll find out what it is, stay here."

"Jack, I can-"

"Please, Phryne," and he was gone, gun carefully raised as he moved down the corridor and to the stairs.

He crept slowly down, peering into the darkness. A figure was crouched by the doorway to the dining room. Jack levelled the gun and reached for the switch cord hanging from the ceiling.

"Hands on your head," he demanded as the room filled with light.

The figure had his back to Jack, but dropped the broken remains of a vase he'd knocked over to lift his hands into the air.

"Stand up and turn around," Jack demanded.

The intruder carefully followed Jack's instruction. He stood, hands pressed to his head and turned, only to frown in utter confusion at the sight before him.

Orpheus Fisher stood at the foot of the stairs, staring up at the Detective Inspector that had questioned him at his hotel room that very same day. Not only that, the man was wearing a poorly tied night robe, showing a bare chest above expensive pyjama trousers, and held a small golden gun in his hand.

"What are you doing, breaking into a detective's home in the middle of the night?" Jack demanded, glaring at the other man. "Answer me before I arrest you for break and enter."

"Jack, stop it!"

Both men jumped and Phryne walked from the parlour, having snuck down the staff stairs to investigate matters for herself.

"He did not come here to follow you," she told the inspector. "He's my client."

Jack stared at her, "Your client?" he spluttered incredulously. "How on Earth did you even meet him Phryne; he's a su-"

"Yes, I know," she stared up at him, refusing to drop her gaze and back down.

"Why," Jack demanded, "is he here?"

"I believe I'm allowed to invite whomever I want into my home," Phryne replied simply, though Orpheus had clearly picked the lock on her front door. But she was willing to let that slide if he explained himself adequately. Murder investigations did strange things to people.

Turning to her brother and fixing him with a glare she said, "Come sit with me in the parlour. We should talk. In private."

Jack scowled, watching as Phryne turned back into the parlour, lighting the room as she went. Orpheus followed. He sat in the far armchair and watched as Phryne poured him a drink. She turned and sat opposite him, not bothering to pour one for herself, and passed over his glass. He drank, the pair sitting in silence until they heard Jack slowly move down the stairs.

Orpheus watched through the open doorway as Jack retreated through the dining room and toward the kitchen, retying his robe as he went. Raising his eyebrows he turned his gaze toward his sister, sitting with her bare legs drawn underneath her in the arm chair, only a finely embroidered silk robe to cover her.

"Why do you have a policeman in your house?"

"I believe I just explained that I can have whomever I want in my house, Orpheus."

"And in your bed?" he asked. "So that is how you knew I was a suspect. What interesting pillow talk you must have, Phryne."

Phryne glared at him, "Do not tempt me into changing my mind and letting him shoot you. Why did you come here and break into my house?"

"My aim was to avoid the police – how excellently that has gone. They found me this morning, after you left, and the manager of the Scott's was not pleased by their visit. I've been warned if they return I'll be required to take my business elsewhere."

"Why did you not come earlier, Orpheus?"

"I called. You were out."

Phryne raised her eyebrows at him. "Breaking in during the middle of the night was your next best option?"

"I needed to see you."

"Why?"

Orpheus gaped at her like his answer was obvious, "Because I am scared, Phryne. I am scared the police will not look hard enough for the truth, that they will arrest me and my family will suffer for it."

"You could have knocked. Mr Butler would have heard you eventually."

She was too tired for this right now, and far too agitated by the interruption of her night to sympathise with her brother's irrationality. She said as much, untucking her feet from beneath herself and standing.

"It is late. You will stay here tonight, and we will talk tomorrow."

"I don't think your policeman will be pleased with that arrangement."

"No, I don't suppose he will be. But this is my house, Orpheus, not his. You will stay; you're safe here. I will not let Jack arrest you, and I am not going to send you back into the streets on your own at this time of night."

She waited and nodded toward his glass. Orpheus finished it on her silent demand.

"Come, we will find you a guest room."

She led him to the main spare bedroom, where the bed was always made for last minute guests, and bade him goodnight. Side stepping his attempt to kiss her cheek Phryne shut the door behind her, then returned down the stairs in search of Jack.

She found him sitting at the kitchen table drinking cocoa that no doubt had a good portion of alcohol added to it. With a soft sigh she stepped in behind him, placing her hands on his shoulders and rubbing at his neck, just as she'd done hours before in his office.

"I am sorry about that. I said he could call in day or night, and he seems to have taken that rather literally."

Guilt twinged in her at the lie, and she knew Jack could most likely hear the falseness in her voice, "Are you coming back upstairs?"

"Has he left?"

"No. I've left him in the guest room. Just for tonight, it's too late for him to go back to his hotel."

Jack glowered into his mug, "He shouldn't be here; he's a murder suspect Phryne. I thought that was where you drew the line."

Phryne tensed, her hands slipping from Jack's shoulders.

"He came to me for help," she said briefly, then stepped back and changed the subject. "Come upstairs, Jack. It is late, and you need to sleep."

Phryne turned to the door, pausing there until she heard his chair scrape against the floor and his mug hit the table with an empty thud.

Turning off the lights as they went, the two moved through the house and back to her boudoir.

Jack caught sight of a strip of light under the door the guest room and glowered at it, following Phryne into her room and letting her door close behind him before he asked the question burning on his lips.

"How do you know him?"

A memory pulled at her, her small hands locked around large elbows, wind rushing all around her, laughing and looking up into kind blue eyes, spinning and spinning until they tumbled into the half dead grass. Her small head landed over his stomach, and she knocked the wind from his chest with an innocent giggle.

"Again, Orphie! Let's go again!"

"Oh Phryne! I can't, you're too big now, getting too heavy for me."

"No, again!"

"Perhaps it is Janey's turn..."

Pulling herself away from that garden and all the pain it brought with it, Phryne shuddered. Back in her bedroom she licked her lips slowly and considered what to say, pulling off her robe and slipping into bed.

"We were ...close," she said vaguely. "A long time ago."

"Were you sleeping with him?"

Phryne gaped at him incredulously, "I'm sorry?!"

"It was a simple question, Phryne," Jack murmured, taking off his robe and climbing into the bed after her.

"I do not want to get into this now."

She reached for the lamp, the bulb flickered out and cast them in darkness but Jack sat still, watching her silhouette as she lay down.

"You can't expect me to just let this go. The man is my main suspect, he broke into your home and you're letting him sleep in the next room. You know him."

Sighing, Phryne rolled over. "I wasn't sleeping with him, he's not- he's not anything like that."

"So then why are you protecting him?!" Jack whispered sharply. "Who is he, Phryne?"

"We are not doing this now," Phryne growled, rolling over. "Go to sleep, Jack."

Jack glowered, pushing back the bedcovers and swinging his feet over the edge. He stood up and reached once again for his robe.

Phryne sat up.

"What are you doing?"

"Getting answers."

"Jack you can't just go into the other room and demand he talk to you."

"No," Jack conceded, switching on a lamp. "But I can arrest him for break and enter."

"Jack, don't."

He began to walk for the door, looking back at her with a shrug. "He broke the law, Phryne."

"Stop," Phryne shot from the bed and across the room in an instant. She stood splayed, completely naked and chest heaving in frustration as she blocked his way to the door. "I'm not pressing any charges."

"Phryne!" Jack yelled suddenly. "Move!"

"No!"

"Then tell me who he is to you."

"It doesn't matter! Trust me, Jack."

Jack threw his hands into the air and took a few steps away. "Dammit Phryne, why should I?! You haven't given me any explanation as to why you're letting a murder suspect break into your home and stay the night."

Phryne stared at him, feeling like he'd just slapped her in the face. Tears began to well in her eyes and she brushed them away in frustration, pushing passed him to go back to her bed.

Jack watched on in confusion, but then his words caught up with him and he bit back a curse.

"Phryne…" he murmured.

"Don't speak," she spoke into her pillow, "I'm too angry."

"I'm didn't mean… Of course I trust you."

Phryne sighed, deflating.

"Just, just come back to bed Jack, and go to sleep. We can talk about this tomorrow."

Jack nodded, though she couldn't see him, and he turned off the light before yet again pulling off his robe and sliding into the bed behind her. She didn't move.

Regret coursing through him, Jack could only sigh. And with that, they closed their eyes and slept.

AN: Please let me know what you think :) reviews really make me smile, and to be honest I could do with a bit of smiling at the moment.