Chapter 12 – The Return of King Memses

*.*.*.

Janey looked at herself in the mirror. Since taking on Dot and sadly having to send the other girls back, she had got more involved in both the Church and her aunt's Gratitude scheme. She had never been overly religious although her mother had dragged her to church for Christmas and Easter and the like but her father hadn't cared much about religion. Both sisters had grown up sceptical of things they couldn't prove. Janey had much more faith in science than God and unless Phryne had changed drastically since she left, she couldn't imagine her being devout either.

However Dot was, to the point that Hugh being a different sort of Christian was a big barrier to their relationship. Janey could see that Hugh doted on her and she suspected that the young constable would be whatever kind of Christian Dot wanted him to be. Still, for the purposes of trying to save those poor girls from the laundry, Janey was prepared to lie a little about the strength of her faith to get everyone on side that she needed to.

Aunt Prudence was delighted, not just that Janey wanted to get involved but that such involvement meant she was going to be staying with her longer. Janey had considered getting her own place now it looked like she would be staying in Australia for a while but as frustrating as her aunt could be, Janey was used to having annoying family members around and she wasn't sure how she would fair on her own. Besides, Arthur didn't want her to leave and taking Aunt Prudence's connections into consideration, this was a much better place for her and Dot to try to save the girls from.

Janey was pleased with her reflection. She had made a little extra effort today, not so much to look pretty although she felt that she did, but to look serious. She had put on an elegant suit, wore her hair up in a simple and practical style and had on just enough makeup to make her features stand out and hide any blemishes but not enough to appear showy. She wanted to be taken seriously and she thought she looked as serious as she could.

Aunt Prudence and her guests were waiting for her when she came downstairs, already deep in conversation. Janey had only anticipated one guest, although she supposed the second made the numbers a little more even.

"Ah, here she is," Aunt Prudence beamed as Janey entered. "May I present my niece, the Honourable Miss Janey Fisher."

The man and woman took turns to shake Janey's hand and greet her.

"Janey, this is Mr Sidney Fletcher, one of our more prominent Gratitude Board members, and his fiancée, Miss Rosie Sanderson. Miss Sanderson's father is the Deputy Commissioner of Police."

Janey smiled but she remembered that the Deputy Commissioner had been involved in some scandal in the press. Miss Sanderson returned the smile but something of Janey's thoughts must have shown on her face. "Oh, if you're remembering those articles on my father, Miss Fisher, he had been set up. They were all lies. The truth didn't make for such a good headline so was buried deeper in the papers."

"Oh I wasn't," Janey tripped over herself, too honest to lie but not wanting to upset Miss Sanderson. "Well, I did read them of course, but…"

"No, don't worry about it," Fletcher insisted. "If we're honest I think both of us had moments when we wondered if it were true, the real villain did a good job of setting the poor man up. Luckily Rosie's former husband didn't hold a grudge and managed to prove George's innocence."

Miss Sanderson seemed uncomfortable at Fletcher's comment. "He's a good man."

"Yes, I'd heard you'd been married before." True to form, Aunt Prudence seemed to think this was not a good thing.

"I was," Miss Sanderson replied, seeming more uncomfortable at this discussion of her marital state than she had discussing her father's recent troubles. "I've learnt my lesson now, don't marry a policeman. I should have known that as the daughter of one."

They all laughed uncomfortably at her joke.

"Anyway," Fletcher continued, "your aunt tells me you would like to get more involved with helping our Gratitude girls?"

"Yes," Janey smiled, happy to be off the uncomfortable topic of Miss Sanderson's past. "I've taken one on as my maid; she's such a dear thing. She's told me awful stories of how the girls have ended up being taken in by the sisters and as wonderful as it is that I want to do more somehow."

Fletcher nodded. "Yes, your aunt said you were keen to get involved. That's why I brought Rosie here, she feels the same way."

Janey was surprised. Rosie Sanderson appeared exactly how Janey wanted to, slightly formal and quiet but it made her seem quite aloof. She didn't seem the sort to want to get her hands dirty and save fallen women from slave labour.

"Yes," the woman eagerly agreed. "Oh, I struggled throughout most of my marriage, Miss Fisher. I ended up moving away to live with my sister, would probably still be there if Sidney hadn't brought me back to Melbourne and convinced me to file for divorce. I feel like I've spent years hiding away and I'm tired of it. I want to do some good, Miss Fisher. I feel that I've been given a second chance and I want to make a difference to the world. So when Sidney told me about this programme of his, and that you wanted to come on board with some fresh ideas I asked if I could come and meet you. I'd like to help."

Janey was slightly concerned that Miss Sanderson's motives were a little more selfish than her own, and she was concerned that having Rosie on board may push Dot out, but she seemed keen enough and Janey needed all the help she could get.

"Well, that sounds marvellous," Aunt Prudence replied before Janey got a chance.

"Doesn't it?" Fletcher seemed decidedly pleased with himself, like the whole thing had been his idea and not Janey's.

"Of course," Janey agreed, "but I have to say, Miss Sanderson, that I have been working closely with my maid on this. I hope you don't mind."

"No, no," she replied. "That makes sense. Oh, and please, call me Rosie. As glad as I am to not have to go by my married name it's still so strange to be called Miss Sanderson again."

Janey watched Fletcher slip an arm around the poor woman. "And you'll be Mrs Fletcher soon enough, won't you dear?"

"Yes, and that," Rosie agreed.

"Janey and her maid want to set up some form of education for the girls, isn't that right, Janey?"

Janey nodded at her aunt. "That's right. As good as it is to get these girls the experience to get a job, most of them never finished school and they don't have much in the way of prospects. I thought maybe giving them help with literacy and numeracy would be beneficial, as well as, well, I know the church wouldn't like it but considering so many of them are in the family way, maybe some family planning knowledge."

Even though Aunt Prudence had heard these ideas before, she still seemed shocked. Rosie seemed speechless but Fletcher was faintly amused.

"Liberal little thing, your niece, isn't she Mrs Stanley?" he said with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes," Aunt Prudence agreed. "I'm afraid she is."

"She's not wrong, though, is she?" To Janey's utter surprise, now she'd got over her initial shock Rosie seemed to be agreeing with her. "It's easy to judge these girls from our position. While I'm sure the church wouldn't like it, it seems a good idea to at least make sure the girls know the consequences of their actions."

"That's part of it," Janey agreed. "Of course, I believe not all of them had much of a say in the matter, but still some general education on the subject of... procreation, couldn't hurt."

Fletcher chuckled and spoke to Rosie. "I had no idea you were such a radical feminist my dear! No, no, that all makes sense I suppose. You women would know such things better than me, I'm sure."

To Janey's ear he sounded extremely condescending but Rosie seemed to take it all as a compliment. Prudence turned to him, as if the board was all him and he had final say over everything. "So what do you say, Mr Fletcher?"

Janey felt Fletcher's gaze on her and felt uncomfortable. "Well I'm certainly happy to back both of their petitions to join us. As for your niece's modern ideas… well, make a proper presentation of them to us when you're able and we'll see how they go down with the rest of the board. No promises."

He bent down and whispered something into Rosie's ear, gave his goodbyes and left with Prudence seeing him out, leaving Janey and Rosie alone.

"Sidney's a businessman, I'm afraid," Rosie said to fill the gap. "He's a good man but he does like proper planning. It might seem a little harsh but he knows what he's doing. He's taken over his family's shipping firm and you should see how the profits have rocketed since."

Janey tried to smile. "It's not money I'm after."

"I know." Rosie let out a sigh. "We have plans, otherwise I'd offer to stay and we could talk. Are you free for lunch tomorrow?"

"Yes," Janey replied, a little blindsided by this sudden change in direction.

"Good. I'm staying at my father's at the moment. I had been staying at Sidney's but, well, Father didn't want there to be any more hint of scandal in our family right now. Anyway, I'll send you the details and we can have a proper talk. Of course, your maid is welcome to join us as well."

"Thank you, Miss– Rosie."

"No, thank you, Miss Fisher. I think this is exactly what I need."

"Then you should call me Janey, I think."

Rosie smiled, said goodbye and ran after Fletcher, leaving Janey alone, not quite convinced that this had all gone the way she'd hoped it would. Still, if they could help the girls that would be the main thing and certainly if Fletcher had all the pull he seemed to, having his future wife on board could only be a good thing.

*.*.*.

Life fell into a strange sort of pattern for Phryne. She spent her evenings working at the club, looking after the women. She did still very much flirt with the men, she would perform silly little magic tricks as entertainment for them at times but she took none of them to bed. All her sexual energy she saved for her nights with Jack and to her constant surprise he always met her with equal desire. He never asked about other men, whether that was because he trusted that she only wanted him or because he simply didn't want to know the truth she wasn't certain. He never completely stopped trying to push her to get in contact with her sister but he didn't always bring it up. When they weren't making love they'd discuss his cases and Phryne began to realise he valued her input. He was cautious over what to tell her, he frequently told her hypothetical stories with no names but she knew, either through the papers or his own attention to detail that these scenarios weren't that hypothetical.

She tried every now and then to find out if he'd discovered the box. Phryne had to assume it was still missing and while she had accepted that he'd never be able to give it back to her he was far too honest to lie to her about finding it.

Phryne kept waiting for their affair to end. She kept waiting to finish a shift and to not want to sneak out to his place. She kept waiting for him to tell her that this had been fun but he'd found someone else now or even worse for him to tell her that he'd fallen for her and ask her to leave the club and marry him. None of this happened, however. There were moments when he looked at her and she thought she saw love in his eyes but all he'd admit to was that he enjoyed both her company and her body and, well, she couldn't argue with that as she felt the same about him.

The strangest thing was that she had started to leave things at his house. She'd go over late most nights, both of them had nights when they had to work until dawn so they usually spent one or two nights apart a week. It started with her birth control, she got frustrated with it in her handbag and had declared one morning that as she only ever used it here it might as well stay here. Jack had laughed at that but he'd made room in a bedroom drawer for it. It gave Phryne a strange sense of security to know she didn't need to worry about forgetting it. It soon got joined by a hair brush, spare underwear, spare clothes, even some makeup and other toiletries. She not only had a drawer in his bedroom now but also space in the bathroom cabinet. To the untrained eye she supposed it would almost look like she lived there but that wasn't true, it just made sense for her to look a little less dishevelled on her trips back to the club.

Jack nearly always woke first. Phryne wasn't entirely sure how he survived on such little sleep but he managed it. Some mornings he was still in bed with her when she woke up but these were few and far between. Usually he was both dressed and eating breakfast or just completely gone by the time she made her way downstairs. There was usually breakfast for her, though, whether Jack was still present or not. Then she'd make her way home and sneak back into her room.

Phryne felt that Madam Lyon probably knew that Phryne didn't technically spend her nights in her room at the club any longer. Since Lavinia's death, the women had started drifting apart. Phryne realised that Madam Lyon didn't trust her the way she thought, that for the most part Madam Lyon put up with her because she couldn't find better security. She had let slip that she didn't like Phryne sleeping with men for free, she didn't like Phryne feeling like she could leave whenever she felt like it. Phryne, meanwhile, didn't like that Madam Lyon considered her just another hostess; that she seemed to think that Phryne's body was her property. An uneasy truce followed with them mostly keeping out of each other's way. Madam Lyon ran the club, Phryne kept the men in line and that was all there was to it.

"Peony…"

Phryne looked up as Lena made her way downstairs. One of the concessions had left Phryne manning the entrance frequently. Phryne would rather be upstairs where the men were more likely to get carried away but they still hadn't replaced Burke and it was her punishment for being too secretive with what she did when she left the club.

"What's wrong?" If someone was being attacked, Lena would have rushed downstairs. Instead her descent was slow and hesitant.

"There's a man upstairs who isn't interacting with any of the women. Madam Lyon wants him gone but he won't listen to us girls."

"How long's he been here?"

"A couple of hours. Still barely touched his first drink. He doesn't seem dangerous but he's not spending money or talking. None of the regulars seem to be with him, either. We're not quite sure how he got past you."

Phryne sighed and stood up from the stool she'd been perched on. "Hardly anything exciting but I'll see to it."

Lena looked around at the empty hallway. "When are you coming back upstairs?"

So, the girls had noticed the change, had they? "When Madam Lyon realises I'm right."

"So never," the woman grinned.

Phryne returned the smile but her tone was serious as she spoke. "We still need to replace Burke. You stay here for now; I'll send one of the men down to relieve you. Shout if there's trouble."

"Always do," Lena replied.

Phryne made her way upstairs, the sounds of the band getting louder as she made her way to the bar. The bar and the lounge were separate entities but they spilled into each other. The drinks flowed one way and the music the other.

The lone man at the bar stuck out, no man stayed without company for long at the Imperial Club. He looked up almost as if he could sense Phryne's entrance. Her heart skipped a beat.

If Jack hadn't shown her the picture she wasn't sure that she would have recognised him. All the events leading up to her running away from home had stayed in her head but the image of the man in the shop had blurred throughout the years until Jack had tracked him down while looking for her. Murdoch Foyle.

Phryne drew herself up and walked over to the man. "Is there something wrong with your drink?"

Foyle looked her up and down with the look of a thoroughly disappointed father. "No, it's lovely. Let me buy you one."

Phryne nodded to the barman as she sat on the stool next to Foyle, her heart racing and her thoughts tripping over themselves. She had been sent here because he hadn't been engaging with any of the girls. It happened sometimes, someone managed to get into the club as a guest, bought one drink to last the whole night and enjoy looking at the girls but refused to let go of any money to get closer. Except that he hadn't come in as a guest, that would have meant using the front door and going past Phryne. Somehow he had snuck into the club and this was the man who had tried to abduct her as a child and now she was the only one he wanted to talk to. The voice in her head warning her that he was dangerous, that she should run now, sounded a lot like Jack Robinson.

The barman passed Phryne a glass of her usual and she took a sip to play for time, pondering her options. Should she let Foyle know she knew who he was or plead ignorance?

"I'm sorry if I scared you," he said. He was softly spoken, Phryne had forgotten that. His whole presence was eerily calm. Phryne hadn't been used to people like that, still wasn't. People were usually frustrated or angry with her; she knew how to deal with that. Even Jack who she personally found calming frequently looked like he wasn't sure whether to strangle her or kiss her. So far he'd always given in to his desire to kiss her.

"It takes a lot to scare me. Sitting alone at a bar won't do it."

"I meant that day in the Chemist shop."

Phryne tilted her head at him. If she hadn't already known who he was she probably would be scared now. "Have you been looking for me all this time? I suspect I'm a bit too mature for your tastes now. We don't have any girls that young here but we do have a couple under 20 if that's what you like."

To Phryne's surprise, the man grimaced at the suggestion. "Is that why you ran? Is that what you thought I wanted from you?"

"Look around you, Foyle. It's what I assume every man in here wants."

Oh, he was very interested now. "How do you come to know my name?"

"How do you come to find me here?"

"I've been looking for you."

"Why?"

He sighed and turned to look at the bar. "I'm not sure that you're quite ready for that, yet."

She laughed. "I'm not getting any readier."

"Miss Fisher–"

"No," she interrupted. "That's not who I am anymore."

"Really? It's what your policeman calls you."

Phryne scoffed and tried to seem unconcerned. "You really have been following me around, haven't you?"

"I started off following him if you must know. I thought he might lead me to you and he did."

She finished her drink swiftly. "Fine, Mr Foyle. Let's not play games. Tell me, is it me you're after? Is it only me?"

He nodded. "Only you."

Phryne felt relief wash over her. Janey, Jack and all the girls here were safe. Foyle was not. "Why?"

"I told you, you're not ready yet. I tried to explain to you before you ran off."

Phryne thought back to that day. "Something about me going somewhere I'd never be hurt again, wasn't it? Forgive me, Foyle, but I've become slightly cynical in my old age. You tried to abduct me, yes?"

"I knew you wouldn't understand."

Phryne heard the sound of someone clearing their throat. She looked up to see the barman nod his head to the bar entrance. Madam Lyon was glaring at either Phryne or Foyle. Phryne simply nodded at her. She had this in hand.

"You don't belong here, Foyle."

"Neither do you," he replied insistently. "Oh, you're destined for so much greatness that you cannot comprehend. You just need to trust me."

"I trust myself and myself alone. You should be proud; it was you who taught me that. So, let me tell you what's about to happen. If you like you can finish your drink in the next thirty seconds but either way in thirty seconds time you are going to get up and leave this club. You will not return. You will stop following me and Inspector Robinson. You will not turn up at my aunt's house scaring my family. You will vanish into whatever nightmare reality you've escaped from and you will leave everyone including myself alone."

He still didn't seem nervous. "And if I don't?"

"Well, let's see. If you don't leave then Madam Lyon is going to come over and between me and that big man beside her you will be forced out. You will certainly never be allowed back in. If you try, or if I find out you are harassing any of my friends or family, you and I will meet in a dark alley somewhere and believe me it will end with you in a world of pain." Phryne hitched up her skirt enough to show him her knife. "Do you understand me?"

Foyle stood but Phryne wasn't convinced her threat had got through to him. "I am so sorry, Miss Fisher. I have clearly failed you more than you know. I promise you, I will make it right."

"Bill," Phryne called over to the man with Madam Lyon. Foyle's calm apologies were unsettling her more than she'd like. "Show our guest the way out, will you."

The man came over and grabbed Foyle. Foyle made no attempt to fight him but his eyes didn't leave Phryne until he was well out of the door.

She suddenly realised that she was scared. Phryne distracted herself by pouring herself another drink and quickly finishing that one off too. She'd done so much to make sure that no man, not Foyle nor her father, could hurt her that she hadn't realised that the scared little girl who'd run with no safe place to run to was still only just beneath the surface.

"Who the hell was that?" Madam Lyon demanded as she made her way over to Phryne.

Phryne chuckled. "I'm not sure you'd believe me if I told you."

"Your father?"

"No. He's much nicer than my father. That was the man who tried to abduct me from the streets as a child before I came here."

Madam Lyon looked over at the doorway in confusion. "I swear, the more I know about you the more I realise you keep from me."

"Likewise," Phryne said with barely concealed irritation. "But there isn't more to know with that one. Obviously a disturbed man who for whatever reason has fixated himself on me."

"Lord knows why," Madam Lyon complained. "How did he find you? I'm not sure that I could find you if you decided to go missing."

"Oh, you wouldn't." Phryne assured her. "To be honest, I have no idea how he found me here."

"Hm." Phryne watched Madam Lyon think this information over. "I'm going to put Bill on the door, I think. I know you're the scariest thing in here but you look like a pretty girl so you're not much of a deterrent. Bill will stop him coming back in here and bothering you and you can go back to keeping an eye on the other men in here."

Phryne realised that despite their current differences, Madam Lyon was nevertheless trying to protect her from Foyle. She felt a strange warmth inside at that realisation. "Thank you."

TBC...