Chapter 4: Phryne and Jack: The Investigation Begins
When Dot and Hugh came down to the dining room an hour later, they find the Inspector and Miss Fisher deep in discussions over tea and toast, the enamel box on the table between them. "Good morning Dot" exclaims Phryne, "I hope you slept as well as me". Dot murmuring her agreement and gracefully sat in the chair next to Phryne. She picks up the enamel box and begins to examine it closely as Miss Fisher greets Hugh, "Dear Hugh, thank you for escorting Dot. Good morning to you". Constable Collins blushes as he always does when Miss Fisher gives him praise. "Good morning Miss" he said. "Sir", he speaks to the Inspector. Jack replied with a "Good morning Collins. Miss Williams"
Dottie examining the box is taken with the beautiful ruby red enamel with delicate flowers on the top and a lining of sapphire blue velvet. As she examines the box she sees that the lining is loose. "Miss Phryne", Dot says with rising excitement, "Did you see this?" Phryne and Jack look up in surprise. They both missed this detail when examining the box. Hugh comments with definite pride in his voice "That's my Dottie". Dot very carefully pulls the liner and as it comes untucked from the bottom of the box, she discovers a folded up piece of paper. She pulls it from the box and hands it to Miss Fisher. Phryne takes the note, giving Jack a look of deep mystery, and begins unfolding the paper. The paper is good quality vellum, and neat black handwriting appears as Phryne unfolds the paper.
The note says:
"I need help. I have been taken. I don't know where I am. I live at
12 Kendara Way in GlenRowan." Silvia Warrington"
Everyone at the table gasps and looks at each other in disbelief. Two cases seem to morph into one connected case. It is time to get to the morgue and to the scene of the murder and see what they could sleuth out to help solve the case.
"Miss Fisher" drawls Jack as they walk along to the police station, "please let me smooth the way for you to come to the morgue. If it is scandalous in Melbourne, it will be much more so here." "Why Jack", says Phryne her tone dripping with sarcasm, "of course, I certainly don't want to scandalize anyone." Jack throws her an apprehensive look, worrying now what she might get into her head to do. He stops saying, "You know I want no one but you there; there is no one I trust more to see the details others miss." Phryne can't help but be pleased, and she acquiesces with a nod of her head, her shiny cap of black hair brushing her cheeks. Jack captures her deep blue eyes with his lighter blue ones; his look clearly saying "thank you". Phryne smiles into his eyes, her look saying," I'll be good". They walk on, their steps moving in unison that they don't notice. Hugh and Dot are walking ahead of them, and even though Phryne and Jack stopped a moment, Hugh and Dot are not far ahead. Phryne smiling at them leans to Jack to comment, "This investigation is giving Constable Collins and Dot much more time together than they would have in Melbourne. I hope Hugh can get a few of his thoughts out, he is so shy." Jack nodding his head and grinning replies, "I do have to agree with you Miss Fisher."
When they arrive at the police station, the Inspector and Constable Collins go in and the ladies stroll up and down the sidewalk, taking in the town and talking about the note they found in the box. Phryne looks up to see Jack motioning for her. She and Dot hurry over. "I made arrangements for you to come to the morgue with me. Constable Collins, Dot, I want you to go to the crime scene and look around making sure that nothing is disturbed." commands Jack in his deep voice.
Hugh takes Dot's arm and they set off. Phryne takes Jack's arm, favoring him with a slow sweet smile. Jack's lips quirk and he looks down at her with a keen gaze and covers her hand with his as they move into the building, heading down the stairs. They encounter no one. Jack will be sure to give the local constable a letter of commendation for how he is helping them. The two of them slip into the morgue. As they draw the sheet back so that they can examine the body, Jack finds the Coroner's report. "It says here he was strangled." intones Jack, "This was confirmed by their examination of the body." "Look at this Jack, see how his hand is clenched?" asks Phryne. Jack turns to look at what Phryne is observing and sees the clenched hand. There is no mention of this in the report. "Inspector," she drawls, "It seems to me that this gentleman was trying to protect the box, and our arrival in the vicinity stopped the theft." "I tend to agree with your assessment Miss Fisher," Jack responds back. They check the victim's clothes for further clues, but don't find much useful information. The man's boots are caked in dark mud which they had not noticed in their observations of the town. Jack taking an evidence bag put some of the mud into it, "Just in case." he says. They quietly leave the morgue, again meeting no one, and step out into a bright sunny day.
Jack and Phryne walk to the crime scene. They spend the next couple of hours scouring for clues, but the only thing they find is a trail of the dark mud, but it ends in front of a boarding house where there is a large mud puddle. Jack gives the local police the task of interviewing the boarders, while the four of them go back to the inn for lunch and a short rest before heading to the address from the note.
Jack wants to be alone with Phryne. He found concentrating difficult all morning. His mind keeps replaying her spread before him in the pink robe as he put her into bed. He shakes his head, warning himself that this is neither the time nor the place; his heart is saying otherwise, but Jack being an honorable man, drops Phryne off at her door, just allowing his thumb to rub the sensitive skin at the base of her thumb. Phryne looks up at him, a sense of wellbeing making her warm from head to toe. "Thank you for your gallantry Jack," Phryne says warmly, "I am safely at my door." Jack moves down to his room as Phryne shuts her door. Phryne leans against the door pondering her next move. Can she go to him? She knows he wants her. She saw the desire spark in his eye. She wants to thank him again for taking such good care of her yesterday. So many men would have taken advantage of the situation and her vulnerability. Perhaps because she knows deep down Jack is not like other men, understands his innate sense of honor and right; that is why she feels comfortable enough to fall asleep in his presence. She can't explain how having men in her bed is different. But it is. Perhaps it is being in her house where Mr. Butler is there should anything happen or because she isn't sharing her soul with them. Jack is not a passing fling, she knows that, and as much as it scares her, she wants to feel the contentment she feels when he is with her.
She makes her decision and quietly slips from her room to knock softly on his door. Jack opens the door; unsurprised to find her there whispering, "Come in Miss Fisher." Phryne slips under the arm Jack is using to lean against the door frame. "Thank you Inspector" she intones, moving to sit on the love seat. "I need…her voice trails off. What is she going to say? She starts again, her voice shy with revelation, "I want to thank you for being so kind yesterday and again last night. Many men, probably most men' would have taken advantage of the state I was in. I appreciate that you didn't Jack. I feel so safe with you somehow. You always do the right thing, the noble thing." She stops speaking, looking at him. He has come over to the love seat and is sitting very close to her, touching her in fact. He looks like he is having an internal struggle, looking at her with those unfathomable eyes. "Do you remember, Miss Fisher, what I told you the last time you spoke those words to me?" he asks his voice breaking slightly. Phryne's heart skipping several beats breathlessly answers, "Yes. You said not always." Her large blue eyes seek his and her fingers move to his hand, restlessly stroking. Jack stops her fingers ceaseless movement by capturing them in his hand. He moves toward her, and says "not always is correct Miss Fisher".
Jack leans in slowly and places a chaste kiss upon her mouth. She gasps lightly clearly wanting more. She moves into him and kisses him gently. He tastes so good to her; she thinks she might devour him. She feels Jack respond to her kiss with a small moan, "Phryne, so sweet, want you, need you. Will you stay?" "Yes," she breathes putting her arms around him and feeling his warmth seep into her like a tonic. Jack kisses her then his hunger for her causing him to be less gentle now. How sweet her kisses taste. He tentatively flicks his tongue across her bottom lip, deepening the kiss and asking for entrance into her mouth. Phryne responds, and she lets her tongue caress his lips before she pushes deeper into his mouth. Jack is lost. Phryne feels like time is standing still. This is the most incredible feeling. As they break apart, breathing heavily, Jack places his forehead against hers. "Phryne," he breathes. "Jack," she breathes back. This feels so right and safe. Each of them is working through the feelings the other creates.
Jack is running his fingers softly, delicately, like she may be breakable along the soft white skin of her neck and jaw. Phryne is moving her hands across his shirt holding his shoulders and then up to run her fingers through his hair. They kiss each other again and again thrilling in the feelings and responses that they are getting from the other. Jack raises his head finally, panting heavily. "Phryne," he ground out, "we need to stop or I won't be able to stop". "Why Inspector, I thought you would never ask" she says in a voice heavy with implication. Jack smiles and draws her in for another kiss. "Not today Miss Fisher, we have a murder to solve, but I promise we will talk about this soon. Please go to your room and prepare to meet Hugh and Dot." "But Jack, this feels so lovely", she teases nipping him lightly on the lip and then sucking it into her mouth. "Are you sure I have to go back to my room?" Phryne asks delicately.
Jack is very close to keeping her with him. "Please Phryne," he pleads. She hears the plea in his voice and knows she has to have mercy. Her Jack needs to do the right thing; always, so she kisses him one last time and then pushes herself up from the love seat. "Later, Jack," she says with a significant look of desire, her eyes dark and deep purple now with the passion he has aroused in her, her lips swollen from his kisses. It has been a long time for her because as she has grown closer to Jack, she hasn't wanted to be with any of the other men who sought her affections. Jack hasn't been with a woman since long before Rosie left him, so his hold on doing the right thing is tenuous at best. He returns Phryne's look, his own blue eyes clouded with the passion he feels for her. "I will see you shortly Miss Fisher," he spits out clearly not wanting her to go. They smile at each other their eyes communicating what their hearts know but their minds still do not comprehend.
Almost immediately after Phryne is safely out of his room and in her own, Constable Collins knocks on Jack's door. Jack tries to look unruffled and be his usual cool collected self. It is very hard though with the emotions the afternoon have aroused. "Sir", said Hugh Collins, "I just received a report from local police. They found something very interesting at the boarding house." He holds up a large brown bag grinning triumphantly at the Senior Detective Inspector. Jack grinned back saying, "Let's get the ladies, Collins. I will reserve a room for us downstairs where we can work and maintain appropriate propriety for Miss Fisher and Miss Williams." "Yes, sir" said Hugh, handing the bag off to Jack, and moving to rouse the ladies.
Phryne has really just had time to straighten her mussed hair and reapply her lipstick, when she hears the men in the hallway. She sticks her head out of her door to see what is happening, noting the bag in Jack's hand as he walks briskly by her. Hugh stops at her door and lets her know that they are going down to check out some evidence found in the boarding house. "Excellent news, Hugh" says Phryne with a smile. Phryne grabs her hat, gun and handbag and leaves her room. Hugh and Phryne recover Dot from her room and the three of them go downstairs to find the Inspector. Jack has already commandeered a room for them, letting the inn's proprietor know that they will be using it to headquarter their investigation. He has spread newspapers over the table in the room, and empties the contents of the bag onto the table as the three of them arrive.
The contents of the bag are quite interesting. There is a pair of men's boots. The boots are made of very expensive leather, but are covered with caked on mud. The same dark mud that was found at the crime scene and leading away from the crime scene. Also, there are some pieces of expensive jewelry. An emerald ring, a necklace with rubies and diamonds and a tiara studded with sapphires. Jack thinks idly to himself that the sapphires are the color of Miss Fisher's eyes, and then jerks his mind back to the task at hand. Constable Collins is telling the ladies about where the items were found. The room was vacated before the police got there, but these things were left behind. "According to the landlady, the room is being rented by a David Johnson" Hugh intones from the notes. "She hasn't seen him since the morning on the day of the murder." The other boarders report that he is a quiet man, but is friendly enough. He hasn't been there long, only a couple of weeks. "We were given a description by the landlady" Hugh says, again reading from the notes, "He is about 6 feet tall, has blond wavy hair, brown eyes and is about 90 kilos." Phryne is grinning appreciatively at this description, when Jack catches her eye growling, "Miss Fisher, please remember this is a murder suspect, and we are not at a church social." "I was just picturing him in my mind; setting the description in my memory" quips Phryne slightly raising one delicate eyebrow.
She examines the jewels and the boots. "These are very expensive items", she muses." I wonder if they are stolen or if they belong to our suspect or if they belong to Silvia Warrington?" She picks up the ring and tries it on, it fits perfectly. "Well, this ring is a size four, so we know that the woman we are looking for has slim fingers." She takes the ring off and examines it more closely. "Look Jack," she says excitement tingeing her voice with a higher pitch than normal, "There is an inscription". Jack moves close to Phryne's side to look at the ring. "Can you make it out?" he asks moving closer still. Narrowing her eyes in concentration she studies the inscription, "I believe it says "to my darling Silvia, All my love forever, David". She looks up at Jack, and he looks down at her "Curiouser and curiouser" he says gravely. "I think it is time we make a trip out the Warrington home. Does everyone have what they need to make the trip?"