Chapter 26 - Evidence

*.*.*.

"Do you know someone called Lavinia?"

Phryne looked over as Dot walked up to her, clutching the note and the Bible close to her chest as if they might disappear in an instant.

Phryne had been sat outside reading, something she did from time to time that seemed completely at odds with everything else she did. As she put the book down Dot realised it was a book on crime. She wasn't sure what to make of that. Considering her connection to the Inspector, Dot had to hope that she wasn't trying to improve her skills as a criminal.

"I did, once," Phryne answered, her attention all Dot's. "Why do you ask?"

"Nell came to see me, sorry, Lola. She brought me a Bible. I thought it was a real gift but she seems to have stolen it from someone called Lavinia so I thought, I wondered, if it was someone she worked with so…"

Phryne held out her hand as Dot tailed off realising she may have just been about to ask her to return to her old life, so instead Dot passed her the Bible, hoping Miss Phryne wasn't going to take offence at her nearly spoken request. She watched silently as Phryne opened the front and traced the name.

"It's Lavinia's handwriting all right. She kept this well hidden." Phryne looked up at Dot sympathetically. "Don't worry Dot. It's not something someone's looking for. You might as well have it as anyone. I'm afraid Lavinia is dead."

"Nell stole it from a dead woman?" Dot asked, horrified.

"Lavinia doesn't want it now and her conversion to Catholicism was quite recent so I doubt any relatives would want it in her memory. She'd probably be happy for you to have it."

Phryne tried to hand it back to her but Dot couldn't take it.

"Lola and Lavinia were quite close, Dot. It probably means more to your sister than you realise. She wouldn't have minded Nell taking it and she wouldn't have minded her passing it to someone else who was a believer. Accept it."

Reluctantly, Dot finally did. "How did she die, Miss?"

Phryne grimaced. "She was murdered, Dot, best not to think about it. In fact, that's how I met Jack and your Hugh, they investigated her murder."

"Are they still investigating it?"

Phryne smiled at the question and Dot cursed herself. Of course Inspector Robinson wasn't, he was still suspended. "No, they caught the man, Dot."

"So this means nothing, then?"

She passed Phryne the note and she immediately read it without hesitation. She watched Phryne's eyes widen as something clicked in her mind and she sprung up onto her feet. "My God, Dot. Sanderson's in on it. He's always been in on it!"

"In on what, Miss?" Dot asked mystified.

"This address is Sanderson's address, Jack took me there. S must be Sanderson, so he was somehow involved in Lavinia's death. Jack said he killed Burke so he must have been trying to stop him from talking. No wonder he suspended him, Jack was right, he was very close to uncovering a conspiracy!"

"Sanderson as in Rosie Sanderson?" Dot was still struggling to keep up with Phryne's thought process.

Phryne waggled her head somewhere between a nod and a shake. "Well, yes, except I suspect this is her father. I have no idea if Rosie's part of this or not."

Phryne practically spat the name Rosie. Dot didn't understand. Janey and Rosie had become quite close. Was Phryne jealous that Janey had her own friend? Somehow, the more she got to know the older sister the more she liked her. She didn't understand her at all but she thought she was a good person at heart. There was no reason for her to have taken against Rosie.

"Should I take this to Hugh?" Dot asked.

"Yes, you absolutely should, except that it's proof that the Deputy Commissioner is up to no good. What does he say about the man who's taken over from Jack?"

Dot shrugged. "Not much really, just that he misses working for the Inspector."

"Hm," Phryne drummed her fingers against her leg. "No, Dot, for the moment we won't involve Hugh. I think if he took this in the best outcome would be that someone higher up would make sure it disappeared. The worst would be Hugh having to start on a new career."

"I can't keep things from Hugh! I got him to tell me where you were by insisting there should be no secrets between us!"

Phryne laughed at that. "Deary me, Dot, you're a dark horse! You come over all sweet and innocent but you're a sly one, aren't you?"

Dot averted her gaze. "I'm sorry, Miss, I know Hugh shouldn't have told me…"

"No, he shouldn't have," Phryne replied, smiling. "But I am glad he's not keeping secrets from you. You can tell him, of course, but you should warn him that it might be dangerous for him to start investigating."

"But if we can't take it to the police and it's as important as you say it is, what can we do?"

"Well, we do have contact with a suspended detective who is currently trying to work out the real reason for his suspension. You can tell Hugh that Jack is looking into it if you think that will make him feel better."

Dot smiled in relief. "I think it would, actually."

*.*.*.

Dorothy Williams never failed to surprise Hugh. For a while she hadn't wanted to know anything about his work and then she fluctuated between wanting to know nothing and everything about anything involving Phryne Fisher. She'd gone back to not wanting to discuss it once the Inspector had been suspended and Phryne had finally gone home to her family.

Now he had picked her up from home, the aforementioned Miss Fisher still being decidedly absent on his visits, and Dot had started grilling him like, well, like a detective.

Hugh smiled fondly at her. "Do you want to start from the beginning, Dottie?"

"I don't even know where that is," Dot admitted. "I came across some evidence today. To do with the murder of a girl called Lavinia."

"Lavinia?" Hugh thought for a second. "Yes, that was the girl from the Imperial Club. That's solved, Dottie."

"So Miss Fisher said," she agreed, "but, well, knowing there was a connection to the club I took this evidence to Miss Fisher, Miss Phryne I mean, and she seemed to think there was more to the case. It was a note for Lavinia from S. Miss Phryne thought that might be Sanderson."

Hugh's eyes went wide. He remembered Sanderson's involvement in the case. The way he had shot Burke in cold blood, the way both he and the Inspector tried very hard not to be suspicious of the death. "Dottie, that's... you can't go around implying things like that."

"I know," she admitted. "That's why Miss Phryne said not to give the note to you. To protect your career."

"Miss Fisher has more sense than I realised," Hugh said mostly to himself. "So where is this note, Dottie? It could be dangerous."

"Miss Phryne has it, well," Dottie amended looking unconcerned, "I believe she's giving it to Inspector Robinson. She said he's gathering evidence to do with his suspension."

"He's suspended because he spent too much time with Miss Fisher," Hugh told her firmly. "Are you telling me that they're still...?"

She nodded and he was surprised that she seemed happy with the situation. "Oh, yes, as far as I can tell. I've even helped Miss Fisher put together care packages for him. The poor man lives alone you know and he doesn't go out much now because of the papers."

"Does he?" Hugh asked, unconvinced. "Just how much time does Miss Fisher spend at his house?"

Dot pursed her lips as if she didn't like Hugh's insinuation. "She spends more time at home with her family, I know that."

Hugh let out a huff of air. "That woman, I swear she's some kind of witch. She's managed to wrap the Inspector around her finger, now you. Who's next?"

Dot giggled. "Oh, don't be like that, Hugh. You were starting to like her yourself until the Inspector lost his job."

"Fine, well, let's talk about something else, shall we? How about I take you to the movies at the weekend?"

"Oh, yes," Dot agreed, "I'd like that but..."

"Go on, Dot," Hugh gave in as he realised his attempts to change topics weren't going to work. "Talk more about Miss Fisher."

"Well, she was asking about Inspector Robinson's replacement."

Hugh considered his response. He had sulked when Jack's replacement had started simply because he wasn't Inspector Robinson. In fact, he so wasn't Inspector Robinson that he was a much more fun and relaxed boss. He took all the men, including Hugh, out for drinks and joked and laughed with them. Despite himself, Hugh had started liking him. Recently, though, he'd begun to notice what Inspector Robinson would have called lazy police work. Clues weren't being followed up on, cases were hastily written off and culprits were always the most obvious suspect. Hugh's own workload had grown considerably as all the paperwork was piled onto him to compile and Hugh wasn't exactly sure what it was his new boss was doing instead.

"He's not like the Inspector," Hugh told her vaguely. "He doesn't take his job very seriously. I hope Inspector Robinson returns soon."

Dottie smiled and didn't ask any more questions. Hugh got worried as she fell completely silent.

"Was there something else, Dottie?"

"Yes, but I don't know that you can help me with it."

He took her hand. "Dottie, that's what I do, I help people. Tell me."

"You're right about Miss Fisher," Dot told him, "she is oddly good at getting people to like her and she seems very keen to be liked, especially by you by the way, but..."

"Go on."

"But she seems to have taken against Rosie Sanderson in a very odd way."

"Rosie... oh," Hugh blushed. "Oh, well, that's obvious."

"Is it?" Dot asked, confused.

"Isn't it?"

Dot stared at him and Hugh began to wonder if maybe she didn't know. "You know who Rosie Sanderson is, don't you?"

She nodded. "Your boss's daughter."

"Yes, but more than that?"

Dot shook her head.

"Dottie, you do know that she's Inspector Robinson's former wife, don't you?"

"Oh," Dot exclaimed as realisation dawned on her, "oh, you think Miss Fisher's... jealous?"

Hugh smiled at the innocence of his Dot. "Well, I would be, Dottie, if my sister was friends with a former beau of yours. Wouldn't you be?"

"Oh, I would hate it," Dot agreed. She paused for a moment, thinking through this new information. "Poor Miss Fisher."

"Poor nothing," Hugh scoffed. "Trust me, Dot. I've seen the Inspector speak to both women. I don't believe she has anything to fear. Miss Sanderson is no rival for Inspector Robinson's affections."

"I hope you're right," Dottie replied, obviously very taken with Miss Phryne even though Hugh thought she'd be a terrible sweetheart for any police officer.

"Now, can we please spend the rest of evening not discussing Phryne Fisher?" Hugh begged her. He was beginning to fear that the whole world revolved around that woman.

"Yes, please," Dot beamed.

*.*.*.

Jack stared at the note Phryne had brought him. "And where did you say you got this?"

"From Lavinia's Bible," Phryne told him smugly.

"Which you got hold of…?"

"Through Dot."

"Dot." Jack rolled his eyes in exasperation at the inadequate explanation. "Are you going to tell me how Hugh's sweetheart got hold of valuable evidence in a murder investigation?"

"Her sister gave it to her."

"The sister that works at the Imperial Club?"

"Correct."

"The sister, then, is a person that you know and used to work with?"

"Yes but Lola doesn't know Dot works for my sister. Or more to the point she doesn't know that the woman Dot works for is my sister. I don't know where she thinks I am, I suspect Madam Lyon said nothing to the staff other than I'd left."

He paused for a moment letting all these connections sink in. "You know before I met you my life was nowhere near this complicated."

"It was also boring," Phryne retorted, "but that is the house you took me to, isn't it? Sanderson's address?"

Jack nodded dumbly. He had hoped, despite his concerns, that if there was some deeper conspiracy that Sanderson wasn't involved. He'd always looked up to the man. Yes, he was a bit old fashioned in some ways and in comparison Jack seemed extremely liberal, but Jack had always thought he was a good and honourable man. It was appearing more and more like he'd got him all wrong.

"Burke was the one who killed Lavinia. He confessed."

"Except that we know that he was working for someone else. What if that someone else was Sanderson?"

Jack looked at her in disbelief. "Sanderson paid Burke to kill Lavinia and frame himself for her murder?"

Phryne pouted. "Fine, I admit that's unlikely, but Sanderson's clearly involved somehow."

"This could have been part of the setup to make it look like Sanderson had killed her, just old but fake evidence we missed at the time."

Phryne tapped the piece of paper. "S, Jack. It just says S. If you received that note with no prior connection to someone called S who would be likely to send you mysterious notes, would you follow the instructions?"

"You would," he retorted.

"Lavinia wouldn't. She was a lot more careful than that." Phryne let his remark wash over her but Jack did notice that she didn't refute him. "But she did follow the instructions on the note. That's the day she died, isn't it? And the time?"

"Yes, I see that. So, apart from the obvious, why would Lavinia had known Sanderson?"

Phryne ran a hand along his thigh. "Why are we ignoring the obvious? Your father-in-law is a man same as you, Jack."

Jack swotted her playful hand away. "Because, Miss Fisher, Sanderson and I are not that similar. Besides, you never saw him talk about the brothels and when I was investigating his involvement he swore to me–"

"Jack, the man fired you because he's corrupt," Phryne interrupted, indignant on his behalf. "Let's not pretend we can take him at his word."

Jack closed his eyes in a moment of pain. She was right, unfortunately. "I've known him for over fifteen years, Phryne. I agree his motives for suspending me may not have been honourable and I agree that he had a deeper involvement in Lavinia's death than we realised. I still refuse to believe he paid for sex."

"You've never paid me and yet…"

Jack raised an eyebrow. "You really think Sanderson and Lavinia's relationship, if that's what we're calling it, is comparable to ours?"

"If that's what we're calling it," Phryne mocked him, reminding Jack that she had told him on more than one occasion that whatever this was between them wasn't serious. Jack was less convinced these days.

"There is something I didn't tell you at the time because it didn't seem relevant then that does seem relevant now," Jack said, ignoring her reply.

"About what?"

"The company Burke worked for. Its owner is one Sidney Fletcher."

Phryne's eyes widened. "My God. He's been behind everything this entire time, hasn't he? But why would he want to frame Sanderson if they're working together?"

"Burke had a vendetta against Sanderson for the death of his brother. It's possible Lavinia's death may not have been Fletcher's idea," Jack reminded her.

"So what was Fletcher paying Burke for, then?"

Jack shrugged. "When I asked him about it he said something about an early shipment that came in unexpectedly. I didn't exactly believe him but I had no reason to look any deeper."

He watched Phryne's brow furrow as she thought. She looked so much more adorable in her few serious moments somehow. "The box. Lavinia wanted to take it to Father Blackburn but she didn't. What if she reached out to Sanderson instead, knowing he wanted to close the clubs and was in a much better position to do so than Father Blackburn? Burke could have been in on it with them, or so they thought, lured Lavinia to Sanderson's with this note, killed her, framed him and then sold the box to Fletcher."

"A few weeks ago I would have said I'd speak to Sanderson but I think that ship has sailed," Jack said with a sigh. "And if Sanderson gets wind of me opening up a closed case it's not going to help me get my job back."

"Fletcher clearly won't help and would probably go straight to Sanderson," Phryne agreed. A guarded look came into her eyes. "There is one person in the middle of all this we haven't discussed."

Jack tilted his head questioningly.

"Rosie."

"Ah," Jack nodded his head slightly. That was the hesitancy. Phryne never used to mind the odd mention of his wife before she met her and she was just some almost hypothetical person from his past. Now she was 'Rosie' and Phryne was awkward around any mention of her. Jack wondered if she might be slightly jealous, not that she had any reason to be. "You suspect her?"

"I don't know what to think," Phryne told him. "Logically, if her father and fiancé are up to something there's a good chance she knows, may even be in on it. It does appear that she left you for Fletcher. But I don't know her. Janey doesn't trust Fletcher but she does like Rosie. You didn't believe Fletcher about Burke but you did marry Rosie. I do trust both yours and Janey's judgement so instinct tells me she's an innocent in all this."

"It would still greatly help if we knew what this was," Jack added. "I agree with everything you're saying. I find it hard to believe that Rosie would be involved in something underhand but I feel much the same about George even though the evidence keeps pointing to him."

He watched her think a little deeper. "Do you suspect me at all?"

Jack was surprised at the question. "Suspect you in what? If I noticed my silverware was dwindling I'd suspect you a lot."

"Have you ever considered that I killed Lavinia because she wanted to leave the club and I seduced you to persuade you that Burke was responsible? That I might still be manipulating you? I keep bringing you evidence against your family. Have you ever considered that I'm trying to pull you into some evil scheme by putting a wedge between you and the Sandersons?"

"Never," Jack pulled her against him. "Well, not exactly never. To be honest with you, I may have considered you a suspect briefly at the start, which I'm sure wouldn't surprise you at all. But, Phryne, you have always been so brutally honest and obviously cared so much for those women that I very quickly considered it unlikely that you would have killed one of them and hidden it. As for all this now, please remember that the Sandersons are no longer my family but mostly I could never suspect you because, Phryne, I know you now. Not just the harsh front you put on but I've seen your vulnerable side too. You're selfish, vain and a thief on occasion but you are a caring person with a strong sense of justice. You may go about things the wrong way but I can't believe you'd be involved in some big, bad plot. Even when you do something technically criminal, you always do it for the greater good and I can't see any greater good in Lavinia's death."

"Do you really think me selfish and vain?" she asked, affronted at his unflattering description of her, ignoring all the nice things he'd said as well.

Jack grinned. "I believe you can be, yes."

"Well, you're boring and pompous," she argued back.

He laughed at that, refusing to get into an argument over something so silly. Neither one of them was perfect and they both had flaws, that didn't matter. "I know so can we get back to the case?"

She pulled out of his embrace. "I suppose you're right about not being able to talk to Fletcher and Sanderson. But, if there was more going on with the box, Father Blackburn would know and he's quite scared of me."

"Don't torture a confession out of him, please."

"Would I do such a thing?" she asked in mock innocence.

"Yes," Jack replied, "and I'm no longer in a position to help you if you get yourself in trouble with the law."

"Would you have? If I had got arrested, would you have tried to make the charges disappear?"

"I frequently hoped I'd never be in a position to find out," Jack told her honestly.

Jack could tell that this conversation wasn't going to last much longer as Phryne started playing with his clothing. For the moment it was a button hole on his shirt that had gained her attention.

"What about Rosie?" she asked.

"Really? You're thinking about my former wife right now?"

She seemed annoyed with this form of teasing. "I need to know if she's involved, Jack, for Janey's sake."

Jack grabbed her hands to still them as they kept undoing two of his buttons and then instantly doing them back up again. He wanted her to leave them undone. "I have a feeling she won't want to talk to me. She's Janey's friend so can't you spend time with both of them and see what you can find out?"

"I'd rather spend my time with you than your ex-wife."

"I'm glad to hear it."

"And it sounds like I'm doing all our investigating. What will you be doing?"

"Well, I'm suspended, have no money coming in and I don't think George is going to hurry this investigation along. Maybe I'll see what work is going down at the docks." Jack leaned forward and kissed her hungrily. "Plus, I have a rather rich and insatiable woman to satisfy."

Phryne grinned happily. "That you certainly do. But I am concerned, Inspector. Are you asking me to pay you for your affections?"

Jack pulled off her blouse. "I'm sure the Honourable Miss Phryne Fisher would never stoop to such immoral behaviour."

"Never," she agreed with a wicked glint in her eyes as he started exploring the flesh he'd just uncovered.

"And you're already supplying me with food. I'm sure if I needed a loan of some money, we'd work out some deal."

"Absolutely. But would this be your preferred method of repayment?"

"It's become my preferred method of everything, Miss Fisher," he teased before capturing her far too talkative lips in a deep kiss.

TBC...