Mattie was pushing the pram up the road and jumped when someone tooted their horn. She turned and waved at Lucien as he drove past her and turned onto the drive.

Jean got out of the car and waited for her granddaughter to be brought to her. Mattie thought she looked better than she had done for ages and grinned. She greeted the older woman with a hug,

'Hello, welcome home, Mrs Blake.' She kissed her cheek.

'Hello Mattie, it's good to be back, I think.' Jean returned the greeting and picked Amelia out of the pram. They'd have to behave themselves now, well almost. 'How's everything, here?'

'Fine,' Mattie accepted Lucien's hug, 'Alice hasn't scared any patients away, Amelia has slept through and nobody's murdered anyone. Matthew says Lucien must go away more often, it's been nice and quiet.'

'He'd get bored.' Lucien took the suitcases into the house while Jean and Mattie pushed the pram round to the back garden. They met in the kitchen where Mattie put the kettle on.

'I'll just go and freshen up,' Jean headed upstairs thinking she'd treat herself to a bath, on her own, later, a cold wash after the cabin wasn't enough for her.

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Lucien took his post into the study, Jean started to do the laundry they had brought back, and Mattie tried to get far too much detail out of her.

'Matilda O'Brien,' Jean scolded, 'what do you think I did?' Then realised that wasn't a good question to ask and blushed.

Mattie laughed at her, 'Sorry, Jean,' she cleared away the tea things, 'I thought Lucien may have taken you to the theatre or dinner.'

'We went to see 'Pirates of Penzance' and Lucien took me to a jazz club.' Jean paid attention to the washer, rather than look at Mattie.

'A jazz club?' Mattie gasped, 'I didn't think jazz was your thing.'

'Well, maybe my tastes have changed.' Jean smiled, 'it was fun. We danced and Lucien took over the piano when the pianist had a break.'

'Wow!' Mattie exclaimed, 'how did he do?'

'Very well,' Jean grinned at the memory, 'they offered him a job, if he ever gives up medicine.'

'Ha ha, like that's going to happen.' Mattie laughed.

'Exactly.' Jean agreed.

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Jean lay in the bath and closed her eyes. Charlie had cooked dinner and he and Mattie had washed up. All Jean had to do was see to Amelia and sort out the laundry. It was nice, she thought, to be able to relax but she would have to get back to looking after the house and the business tomorrow. Lucien had phoned Alice and thanked her for looking after the practice and contacted Matthew to tell him he was back and ready for work.

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She cuddled close to him on the couch and sighed.

'Welcome home, wife.' Lucien whispered and kissed her head.

'Husband,' she replied, realising she was very tired.

'Early night?'

'Lucien...' much as she loved him...

'I know, ' he murmured, 'sleep, that's what we both need.'

Jean giggled, 'Are we getting old?'

'No, well, I'm not,' he huffed, 'just need to pace myself, it's my insatiable wife.'

She shifted then stood up, 'I'm going to check on Amelia, then, I'm afraid...'

'I'll lock up.'

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She tucked the blanket round the sleeping baby and smiled. So beautiful. She felt Lucien's arms wrap round her waist and leant back against him.

'I love you so much, Jean.' He mumbled into her hair.

She turned in his arms and put her head against his chest, listening to the steady thump thump of his heart she sighed.

'Come on,' he shifted, 'time for bed.'

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Jean woke as the sunlight broke through the clouds outside the bedroom window. Trust Lucien to forget to close the curtains. She barely remembered getting into bed, the last thing she remembered was Lucien telling her it was time for bed and propelling her gently to the bedroom. He must have taken her robe off her and put her to bed. So much time spent in bed but not sleeping had taken its toll on her, she needed more sleep than her husband, that much was plain to see.

She stretched and turned to look at him, he was lying there grinning at her.

'Lucien!' She smiled, 'Good morning, darling.'

'Morning, sleepy-head.' He kissed her cheek, 'you must have been tired. You were literally asleep on your feet last night.'

'Sorry.' She smiled shyly.

'Don't be,' he pulled her into a hug, 'I told you, if all you want to do is cuddle up that's fine with me.'

Even though she knew she should be thinking about getting up she cuddled closer and sighed. Five minutes just for a cuddle wouldn't hurt.

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Mattie heard the water running in the bathroom and smiled. Jean was up, everything was back to normal. Which meant no tea in bed, brought to her by Sergeant Charlie Davies, that was small price to pay she thought, no nappies or bottles to deal with. Not that she hadn't liked looking after a baby, but it made her realise she wasn't yet ready to be a mother herself. She waited until she could smell bacon before she got out of bed.

She smiled at the scene in the kitchen, Jean was cooking, Charlie was eating and Lucien was feeding Amelia. He looked completely at ease.

'Morning,' she yawned, taking her place at the table.

'Morning, Mattie.' Jean smiled and put a plate of bacon and eggs in front of her, then sat down herself. 'Are you working today?'

'No,' Mattie mumbled through a mouthful of toast, 'I thought I'd have an extra day, give you a hand, if you want one.'

'That'd be lovely,' Jean grinned, 'I need to do some shopping and there are some bills that need paying.'

'Ok, let me know what you want me to do.'

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Jean left Mattie to do the ironing for her and took Amelia into town. This was her first trip as Mrs Blake and part of her was rather looking forward to it. Now the gossips couldn't say anything about her relationship with Dr Blake, although some would still say she had to get married and stare at her to try and determine if her waistline was growing.

She paid the rates bill and headed to the grocer's. It took longer than usual, she was stopped by friends, other housekeepers, Bill Hobart was out and about and even he had a smile for her. She saw Cec Drury, standing outside the club, smoking.

'Mrs Blake,' he nodded.

'Hello, Cec.' She smiled warmly at him, 'thank you for all your efforts for our celebration, it was lovely.'

'My pleasure, ma'am,' he smiled. '...and how is Miss Amelia this morning?'

'She's very well, thank you.' Jean stroked the baby's hand, 'growing.'

'Indeed, ma'am, indeed.' He nodded, 'and the doctor?'

'In good health and spirits, Cec,' Jean grinned, one day he'd refer to, or call, her husband by his given name.

'Excellent.' Cec wished her 'good day' and headed back inside.

Jean felt she should get a move on, Amelia would be needing a bottle very shortly so, with the pram laden with the shopping and all the bills paid she headed home, nodding to Susan Tyneman on her way past the florists.

Susan, as usual looked as if she had a bad smell under her nose, but nothing could dampen Jean's spirits as she pushed the pram. She had a loving husband, a beautiful granddaughter, who they were going to adopt, and good friends; life really was pretty good, she thought.

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For the next few days nobody conspired to annoy Jean. Nobody got murdered, surgery proceeded as normal, two new patients joined the practice, a single mother, who had been dismissed by Dr King, and a family just moved into the area, looking for a GP. She and Lucien settled in to life as husband and wife, instead of man and mistress; which nobody except Mattie and Charlie knew about; and Christopher asked if he could come over for a couple of days. This pleased Jean, she had wanted him to make the first move to mend the break in their relationship and this looked like it may be it. They also needed him to sign off some legal paperwork for Amelia's adoption, so Lucien saw the solicitor to arrange that.

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'For heaven's sake, Patrick!' Susan was shouting at her husband, 'what do you think you are doing?'

'Susan, please,' he tried to quieten her down, 'it's a property deal, I'm going to have it demolished and use the land for another building.'

'It was a brothel!' She was furious, 'think of the talk.'

Jean turned her back and headed in the opposite direction trying so hard not to smile. In a way she sympathised with Patrick, the building in question had fallen into disuse years ago and was a blot on the landscape. There again, she had no idea what Patrick was going to build in its place.

She related the encounter at dinner, 'I'm surprised Susan chose to have a row with Patrick in public, though,' she noted as she handed Lucien the carving knife, 'not very ladylike.'

'Patrick's planning on building a motel like affair.' Lucien informed the assembled company, 'as it's on the outskirts of town he thinks he'll make money off people shooting through. Overnight stops, a small eatery and petrol.'

'Hm...' Jean mused, 'won't the local hotels be annoyed at that?'

'I don't know.' Lucien admitted, 'possibly, overnight stops can be very profitable, especially out of holiday season.'

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Jean was right, the local hotels objected most strongly and Patrick's planning permission for a motel was refused. Now he was left with a rundown building with a shady past and no idea as to what he could do with it. He had to demolish it, repairs would be more expensive than rebuilding.

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'Dr Blake's surgery.' Jean answered the phone in her usually bright voice. 'Oh, Sergeant Hobart, what can I do for you?'

She listened,

'No, really?' She was visibly shaken, 'I'll send him over.'

She went into the study without knocking. The look on her face told him there was something really wrong.

'Jean, what's the matter?' He stood and went to her, taking her hands in his.

'You're needed out at Patrick's site.' She spoke quietly, 'they've found remains, more than one body.'

'Ok.' But he was sure she knew more, 'what else did Matthew tell you?'

'It was Bill,' she told him, 'apparently at least one is a child.'

Lucien was angry, Bill should not have told her that much, especially if a child was involved.

'Lucien,' she stopped him, 'I think he only wanted to warn you, don't be angry with him.'

He kissed her, 'As long as you're all right.'

'I am,' she smiled, 'it just sounds bad, more than one body and children at a brothel.'

'Hmm...' He squeezed her arm and headed out to the car.

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'How long is this going to take?' Patrick was blustering about, harassing Matthew and Charlie as they stood by three makeshift graves, two much older than the last. The two older graves had, what appeared to be skeletons of very young children as well as possibly adult skeletons. The third was old, but more than a skeleton, some skin and hair and the remains of a red dress.

'As long as it takes.' Matthew snapped. 'Got plans?' He looked up as Lucien's car drew alongside the police cars.

'I'm losing money.' Patrick grunted.

'They,' Matthew nodded towards the graves, 'lost their lives.'

Lucien strode up, 'Matthew, Patrick.' He greeted the two men, his friend and his adversary. 'So, Bill told Jean bodies, including children.' Matthew could see he wasn't happy about the amount of information Jean had been given. 'Don't let anyone tell Jean when there are children involved, please, Matthew.'

'I'll speak to Hobart.' Matthew grunted.

'Not in so many words, 'Lucien started to pull on gloves, 'Jean was just a bit shocked, that's all.'

He walked round the graves then squatted down at one.

'Female, age...not sure. Child, very young by the size.' He looked at the next one, 'same.' He walked over to the last one, crouched down and sighed. 'I need them back at the morgue to do a proper examination.' He stood up and looked at Matthew.

'I'm afraid further work will have to wait.' He said no more, just took off his gloves and headed back to his car.

'Now, just a minute, Blake!' Patrick shouted after him, 'you can't stop the work.'

'I can.' Matthew stood in front of him. 'Until we know how these people died this is a crime scene.'

'The commissioner will hear about this.' Patrick stormed off.

Matthew shook his head, the commissioner would agree with him, he hoped. Ballarat was in his good books at the moment, good clear up rate, well regarded force, not even Patrick could get past that.

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The remains had been taken to the morgue and now lay on the tables in front of Drs Harvey and Blake. They stood leaning against the counter, side by side, arms folded and gazed at them.

'Where do you want to start?' Alice asked.

'Let's do a general, 'what have we got,' look first.' Lucien pushed away with his backside and wandered over to the first body. 'Hm...' he looked down for obvious pointers, 'female,' he waved his hand over the pelvic girdle, 'no older than twenty five.'

Alice noted his findings on the first clipboard, then watched him go over to the second. He noted that this, too, was female, aged over twenty five but judging by the state of the teeth, not much older.

The third body had more to it. Some hair and skin was still visible, 'This one hasn't been dead as long.' He mused, 'but still sometime.'

'Shall we start with this one then?' Alice suggested.

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They gently wiped down the body, removing the remains of the dress and the underwear. The body was dried out, as if it had been left out in the open, in the sun, before it had been buried.

There were no apparent injuries, no deliberate cuts and no limbs had been broken. Lucien decided he'd go with the obvious and check the hyoid bone, had she been strangled? If so, why?

'Well, she wasn't throttled,' Lucien sighed, 'so how and why?'

'There is always natural causes, doctor.' Alice observed.

'I know, and I'd prefer that to be the case,' Lucien continued to do a full autopsy and cut through the torso. He got down to the pelvic area before he found a possible cause. The womb was in a mess, what he could see of it, anyway. 'Oh dear.' He peered closely with a magnifying glass. 'Look Alice, a perforated wall, more ripped than anything.'

'Botched abortion?' She held out a kidney dish for him to put the delicate organ in.

'Could be.' He examined the organ under a bright light. 'Then bled to death. Dreadful, and so unnecessary.'

'It is illegal, Lucien.'

'I know, but it wouldn't be the first time such a case had been dropped on the hospital steps,' he turned and looked at her, trying to gauge her feelings on this.

'Surely the women and girls take steps to prevent pregnancy at such establishments.' Alice suggested. 'I mean, the places would be overrun with children, otherwise.'

'They do,' Lucien nodded, 'there is always the odd mistake, but generally you're right, johnnies, dutch caps and the like.' He was sure his colleague knew of such things, being a doctor.

'I do know, Dr Blake,' she scowled at him, 'but they aren't a hundred percent, are they?'

'No, Alice, they aren't.' He sighed and put the dish to one side, 'so, who was she, and who were the others?'

'How do we find out?' Alice noted the findings, 'when did the brothel close?'

'Well before this lass died.' Lucien thought back, 'it wasn't open when I came back from Edinburgh.' He saw Alice's almost shocked expression, 'I didn't use it,' he smiled, 'dad did their checks. He told me he had lost a nice little earner.'

'Oh.' Alice didn't quite know how she felt about Dr Blake senior looking after the local prostitutes, or his description of it being a 'nice little earner.'

'Somebody had to, Alice.' Lucien appealed to her better nature, 'think of the diseases that could spread through the population if he didn't. I think he dropped his prices for them, though.'

'Right.' She decided she'd had enough of this conversation. 'You don't suppose it was used by some after it closed, do you? I mean, out of the way, no hotel room to pay for.'

'Oh I have no doubt about that.' Lucien agreed. 'But I bet I know someone who will know.'

'Who?'

'Jean.'

'Jean!'

'Knows everything about Ballarat.' Lucien smiled, 'she will know what was going on, when the place closed.'

'Lucien,' Alice was shocked, 'you are going to ask your wife, about the local whorehouse?! Well, I hope the couch is comfortable.'

Lucien grinned, he would have to phrase his questions just so, or he would be sleeping on the couch. But Jean did know a heck of a lot about Ballarat past and present.

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So, is it the couch, or will Jean take his queries with her usual sang froid?