Chapter 29 – Missing Maid

*.*.*.

Phryne had been aching to get to Jack's all day. She had been tempted to take more girls with them when they left the convent. Cec and Bert's taxi could comfortably take one more and uncomfortably a couple more but she and Jane had been almost thrown out of the convent as soon as Perpetua realised Phryne meant business.

She and Janey had listened to Jane's tale on the drive home. She didn't remember anything about her father and her mother had been unwell so she'd gone into welfare, where she and a bunch of other girls had been taken on by a horrible woman who worked them all harder than the nuns did and who lived with a man that Jane almost remembered. He was some sort of hypnotist and he made them do things like steal. She'd managed to run away, very similarly to how Phryne had done, and found herself struggling to survive on her own. She'd thrown herself at the mercy of the nuns but fearing a return to welfare had given them a false age.

Phryne had hugged the girl at that point in her tale, promising her that those days were behind her, if she could cope with Aunt Prudence.

To Phryne's surprise when they made it back home they found Dot preparing a room for Jane next to Phryne's own. The sweet girl immediately took Jane under her wing to show her around and feed her and Aunt P, having calmed down during the time it had taken her nieces to make their way home and having already put Joan to work in the kitchen, had recognised Phryne's insistence at Jane going to school.

"So, as we're not setting her to work but sending her to school, I thought it best not to make her sleep with the staff," Aunt Prudence had explained.

"Thank you Aunt P," Phryne had replied, surprised at her benevolence.

"Don't thank me yet, Phryne. Do you have any idea the responsibilities you've just taken on? Now, I've spoken to the grammar school and, with a sizable donation and the provision that Jane passes an exam they're going to set her, she's all set to start in a week."

Phryne was amazed. "A grammar school? I was just thinking the local school."

"Stop thinking like a pauper, Phryne. You have money and are from a good family. Of course your ward needs to go to a good school. Luckily, I have a friend on the board, so as long as Jane is up to scratch academically there shouldn't be any issues."

"Why?" Phryne asked at this sudden change of heart. "You didn't want me to take her on."

"No, it's a terrible idea," Aunt Prudence agreed, "but you have done it regardless and I know why. Because I should have done this for you and Janey when you were children but blind fool that I was I didn't think of it. So we'll do it for Jane now."

Phryne nodded, reminding herself that she was a strong woman who shouldn't cry at this reminder of what her own childhood had been. "Thank you, Aunt P."

"But the rest of this is on you now, Phryne. You are responsible for her; not me, not Janey, not Dorothy; you. Do you have any idea how to look after a child?"

"When I was fourteen–" Phryne started.

"When Guy was fourteen, he thought he could look after himself but couldn't. I was constantly running around, sorting things out for him and he had no idea. Yes, Phryne, you managed to look after yourself, somehow and someway, but that didn't mean you didn't need your mother, it was just help you denied yourself. At least Jane had more sense than you. She knew she couldn't take care of herself so she went to the convent. Now she's looking to you for that nurturing and you are going to make sure she gets it!"

Aunt Prudence hadn't been joking. Phryne found herself spending the entire day being lectured on motherhood, getting textbooks and helping Jane study for her test and getting the girl some new, appropriate clothes. Jane had eaten her meals like she'd been facing a famine and only when Phryne believed she had finally fallen asleep, did she sneak out to see her lover.

Jack had still been up when she'd arrived, his nose buried in a book. For a moment Phryne grinned to realise the similarities between him and the girl she'd just unofficially adopted. Jane's questions about books at the convent had confused Phryne until that moment when they had gone into Aunt Prudence's library to study and the girl's face had lit up. She was certainly a tough one, and Phryne didn't doubt that she was a thief and a liar, but she looked like she'd do anything simply to be surrounded by books. Janey was a known bookworm, too. What did it say about Phryne that she surrounded herself with this sort of person?

Phryne made an exaggerated moan as she flopped down into a spare seat in the hope of getting Jack's attention.

Jack didn't look up at her efforts but she saw his lips lift in a slight smile. "Busy day, dear?"

"I thought I was chasing up another possible lead on what Fletcher is up to but instead I just became a mother."

That finally got Jack's full attention. He marked his page and put his book down so quickly that it thudded on the table. "Do you want to explain that to me a little more?"

Phryne sat up, enjoying his sudden worry. "Well, I found out Fletcher is on some sort of board with my aunt, one that Janey's taken an interest in that works with a local convent. Aunt P was going there to hire a maid through this programme that gets employment for the girls that end up there."

"Sounds noble enough," Jack mused. "Go on."

"I don't know how noble it is, Jack. You should have seen the laundry. You know, I used to wonder if I should have gone to the nuns for help. I'm extremely glad I didn't, working in a gentleman's club is much safer. The woman in charge of the girls is a piece of work, too. The girls were mostly all about Dot's age, a lot of them were in the family way, but one stuck out to me because she seemed so young. Fourteen! I couldn't leave her there, so I brought her back with me. Then Aunt P went on a crusade because I insisted Jane should be in school, so she's getting her into some posh place and has decided she's my ward!"

She saw the relief on Jack's face. "Oh, that's why you're suddenly a mother."

"What did you think?" she teased, well aware of the thoughts that had probably gone through his head at her announcement.

"What did you think I thought, Phryne? I'm not even sure how you're not pregnant and I'm certainly never going to ask if you ever have been."

"Of course I have never been pregnant," Phryne replied indignantly, "and I told you, I'm careful. You know that."

"Still, accidents happen."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "What would you have done if I had just told you I was pregnant?"

"Panic," he answered honestly. "Because I would, of course, want to do the honourable thing, except that I know you wouldn't marry me and I'd never see you again if I asked."

Phryne smiled, amused by his hypothetical panic. "Poor Jack. You can't handle modern women, can you?"

He stood up and walked over to her. "Just to be clear, Phryne, if we did find ourselves in that situation, I wouldn't abandon you. I know I couldn't force you into anything but I probably would offer, and I would follow your lead and be whatever you wanted to you and the child."

"What if I left you and then reappeared five years later in trouble?" she teased him.

"Depends on how things ended between us," Jack admitted. "I believe I'd still support you."

Phryne stood and wrapped her arms around him. "I wouldn't ask you to raise another man's child, Jack."

"Maybe," he grinned, "but I suspect that as long as it was yours I still would."

Phryne looked around the room which had originally seemed dark and sparse to her but she now considered cosy. She could almost see Jane sat in the corner, her nose buried in a book like Jack's had been. She probably could do it right now while they were discussing such things. She believed that if she proposed to him right this second, he'd say yes. She didn't know much about these things, but if they had a short engagement she could move in here officially in a few weeks, with Jane, and the three of them would have an instant family. And she'd have to be Mrs Robinson for the rest of her life.

She wasn't ready to stop being Miss Fisher just yet.

"Why didn't you and Rosie have children?" she asked him. Bringing up Rosie always brought a sense of reality into her moments with Jack whenever one of them seemed to be getting carried away and acting like a real couple.

He tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. "For all the reasons you already know. We weren't married long before I went to war and when I came back…"

"You must have still tried," she insisted.

"For a little while, yes," he admitted, "but it clearly wasn't to be. A good thing, really."

"Do you want to have children?"

His face straightened into an emotionless poker face and Phryne realised that he wasn't going to answer that, which probably meant that he did but didn't want to scare her off by saying so. "Let me show you what I want."

He kissed her and then suddenly Phryne found herself lifted into the air as he picked her up and started walking out of the room. She very much approved of where this was heading.

*.*.*.

Aunt Prudence was hosting another one of her evenings and luckily, as it was to do with her gratitude board, she had requested that Phryne stay away this time, which Phryne was more than happy about.

Janey was going to attend, so Phryne didn't have to escape her. Jane and Arthur had become firm friends and the pair of them were happily hidden away in Arthur's room for the evening with treats and Arthur's favourite fairy stories. So Phryne was free to spend the whole night at Jack's, something she'd found herself less able to do since she had found herself the guardian of Jane, who could be as troublesome as the woman at the convent had warned. The only good part of Jack's suspension was that she could spend time with him while Jane was at school so long as she could escape the rest of her family. She still preferred spending the night at his though. She found that she slept better with him beside her.

So, the next morning, revitalised and dressed in a fresh outfit that she had left at Jack's so it would look more like she was returning from a morning walk rather than a night out, Phryne returned home to Jane arguing with Aunt Prudence.

"What's this?" Phryne asked.

Janey turned to her exasperated. "So you've finally woken up, have you?"

Phryne spied Dot coaxing Arthur to leave the breakfast room, undoubtedly because the argument was distressing him. "What can I say, I'm a deep sleeper."

"It's nothing, Phryne," Aunt Prudence reassured her.

"It's not nothing," Jane argued back.

Phryne turned to her sister. "What is this paradox?"

Janey sighed and rolled her eyes. "Joan has gone missing."

"Missing?" Phryne looked at her aunt and ward.

"She's run off," Aunt Prudence reiterated. "Young girls do that sometimes, Phryne, as you're well aware."

"Were you beating Joan?" Phryne asked flippantly.

"She hasn't run away," Jane insisted, turning to Phryne. "She wouldn't. Joan was a goody-two-shoes, the nun's pet. Something's happened to her."

Phryne looked back at Janey, who looked frustrated. "You know as much as I do now."

Phryne sighed and turned her attention back to Aunt Prudence. "Have you called the police?"

"What? For a missing maid?" Aunt P scoffed.

"Yes," Phryne agreed. "Whether she went of her own accord or not, missing is the key word here. She may have just left or something may have happened to her. I agree with Jane, Aunt. Joan wouldn't just leave without a good reason."

Aunt Prudence threw her hands up in frustration. "You do what you like. I'm going to find a kitchen maid who actually wants the job. I gave both Marigold and Joan a chance to prove themselves and see how that ended up."

Aunt Prudence stormed off in a mood. Janey looked to be following her, until she announced to Phryne that she was going to call the police.

It was Hugh who turned up a little while later, along with the officer Phryne correctly assumed had stepped up to Jack's role. She found herself strangely happy to see Collins and as much as his face lit up adorably every time he looked over at Dot, he even smiled at Phryne too.

Aunt Prudence had joined them in the parlour when she had been told the police had arrived, but her demeanour and own opinion on the matter had not changed. The new detective, Grossmith, listened to both Aunt Prudence and Jane but Phryne could tell he already gave more weight to Aunt Prudence's words than Jane's. Phryne didn't want to immediately take against him, it wasn't his fault Jack had been suspended to allow him to take his spot, however his dismissal of Jane as just a child rankled her.

"Tell you what I'll do, Miss Ross," he told Jane patronisingly, "I'll list her as missing and if she turns up, we'll send her back. How does that sound?"

Jane had never been one to mince her words, something Phryne had been urged to deal with and was personally determined not to. "Sounds like you're no good at your job."

Grossmith laughed at the girl's words but he glared at Phryne. "Is she just living with you ladies? Is there no man around the house to help teach her manners?"

"Men are useless," Phryne replied.

"Some young man break your heart, did he, Miss Fisher?"

Phryne shook her head in disbelief. "No, my father destroyed my faith in men long before I was old enough to fall in love."

Grossmith put away his notepad. "Well, as I told the young lady, there isn't much I can do."

"You could look for her," Phryne suggested to him.

He nodded. "I'll keep an eye out. However, young girl, finally out in the big wide world... She's probably gone chasing after some young lad. You'd understand if you found yourself a man."

Phryne bit her tongue and glared at Hugh and Dot as they both struggled to keep straight faces at Grossmith's last comment.

"Collins," Grossmith called, heading out of the room as he had obviously decided the case was already closed.

"Er, could I have a moment, sir…" Hugh nodded at Dot.

Grossmith grinned wickedly. "All right, Constable. Who am I to stand in the way of true love?"

Everyone in the room silently watched him leave. He didn't seem to have made a good impression on any of them. Aunt Prudence stood up once he was out of sight.

"Well, that was a waste of time," she announced as she likewise left the room; although she blatantly considered the waste of time being involving the police in the first place, rather than the detective himself.

Phryne turned to her ward. "Jane, you still need to go to school. Go and get ready and I'll get you a taxi."

"Will it be Cec and Bert?" she asked excitedly. She had already grown quite fond of Phryne's regular cabbies and they likewise treated her like a little sister. They quite frequently provided her with transport to and from Aunt P's grammar school that Jane had effortlessly proven herself clever enough for.

"Probably," Phryne replied with a smile.

As Jane ran off to get her books, Phryne realised that Hugh was trying to get her attention. No one had thought anything of him wanting to stay behind to speak to Dot but Phryne noticed that Janey now looked incredibly suspicious as Phryne walked over to join the couple.

"Is everything all right, Collins?" Phryne asked him, concerned.

He sighed and didn't answer the question. "How's the Inspector, Miss?"

"As good as can be expected," Phryne replied. "Is that man really his replacement?"

Hugh looked over at the door, as if he might still be there, which of course would have meant him having more diligence than he had so far shown. "He is, yes."

"And how do you find working with him?"

"At first I quite enjoyed it, if I'm honest, Miss," Hugh admitted. "Inspector Robinson is a great detective but he's a very reserved man to work for. Grossmith seemed a lot more fun to start with but I'm beginning to think he's not as thorough as the Inspector."

"Meaning?"

"Well, usually he turns up at a scene with a theory and… that always seem to be the answer."

Phryne rolled her eyes. "So either he's so good he always gets the answer straight away or…"

"He doesn't bother investigating and only looks for enough evidence to prove his theory and ignores everything else," Dot finished for her.

Hugh sighed and put away his notebook. "Anyway, I will make sure we do look for Joan, or at least, I will…"

"Good man, Collins," Phryne smiled at him. "Keep holding the fort, we need you in place."

Hugh looked surprised at the praise but he smiled warmly at her before exiting. Phryne turned to Dot. "I mean it, Dot. Make sure he keeps his head down."

Dot looked worried. "What do you think is going on?"

"I have no idea but I suspect Sanderson knew Grossmith was incompetent when he put him in Jack's position. It's good if Hugh is making sure justice is still happening; just make sure he doesn't get noticed doing it."

"What are you two talking about?"

Phryne jumped at the sound of Janey's voice, almost as if she'd forgotten that she was still in the room with them.

"I'd better call Cec and Bert and make sure they'll get Jane to school," Dot excused herself from the awkward situation and ran off. Phryne knew she still didn't like keeping Phryne's secrets from Janey.

"I wanted to check out Dot's man."

"No," Janey replied, "no, you know Hugh. You said so. You helped him with an investigation."

"So I did," Phryne smiled worriedly. "Oh, Janey, do you need to know everything about my life?"

"I'd settle for anything," Janey replied, exasperated. "Why can you speak to Dot about things and not me?"

Phryne put a hand on Janey's shoulder. "Because I'm trying to protect you, Janey. So is Dot. We've both lived a life you haven't and you don't need to know–"

Janey shrugged off the hand. "I don't believe you. Did you always do this, Phryne?"

"Do what?" Phryne asked perplexed.

"I remember, before you ran away, we did everything together. You were always there to pick me up or hold my hand and I thought we were close. I struggled so much to simply be without you because I was so used to us being a unit. I know things have changed, I never wanted to stay your little shadow but I thought, in time, maybe we could go back to being the best of friends."

"Oh, Janey, I'd love that so much–"

"Then stop cutting me out of everything! What were you discussing with Dot and Hugh?"

Phryne thought for a moment. "We were discussing Inspector Robinson's suspension. Hugh worked closely with him when I helped them and I wanted to see how he was coping with this new detective. I didn't think much of him."

Janey looked confused. "Then why not simply say that?"

"Well," Phryne's voice rose slightly as she tried to find an answer, "you're so close with Rosie, of course, that I didn't want to risk upsetting you by discussing her ex-husband in front of you."

Janey shook her head in disbelief. "You know, Phryne. Your voice always gets higher when you lie."

With that, Janey turned on her heels and strode away. Phryne punched the wall in frustration. She knew knowing the whole truth would do Janey no good but were things any better with her not telling her? At some point their relationship was going to be even worse than it had been when she'd been missing. They needed to find out whatever was going on with Fletcher soon before it cost her a sister.

TBC...