Chapter 31 - No More Secrets

*.*.*.

Cec and Bert seemed to know exactly where Phryne wanted to go without her telling them. They dropped them off seemingly a few streets away from their destination as Janey and Dot followed her sister along what seemed a very familiar route to the older Miss Fisher. She had given them no information. Every time Janey asked Phryne what was going on she just apologised profusely and told her that she loved her. Janey would have been worried except that Dot clearly wasn't. She almost looked as if she knew exactly where she was going even though at the same time she was looking around as if she hadn't been here before.

Phryne took them to a fairly non-descript house that looked like all the others around it. To Janey's utter surprise she didn't knock on the door. Instead Phryne took out a key and unlocked the door. Is this where Phryne had been living before she came home? Then why did she still have a key?

"Back already?" an amused deep male voice drifted through the house at the sound of them coming in, one Janey recognised but couldn't place.

"Technically," Phryne called back. "I have some evidence for you."

Phryne took off her coat and hat and indicated for Dot and Janey to do the same. Hesitantly, Dot did. Janey was less willing to simply relax in this strange man's house because her sister for some reason had a key for it.

"What evidence? Who did you beat up?"

"I didn't beat anyone up!" Phryne replied indignantly. "And it's not exactly my evidence. Where are you?"

Footsteps heralded his approach and Janey felt her breath catch as she recognised Detective Inspector Jack Robinson. He looked equally as shocked to see her and Dot there.

"Miss Williams, Miss Fisher. This is a lovely surprise," he greeted the pair before he cocked his head questioningly at Phryne, who suddenly took a great interest in her shoes.

"Hello Inspector," Dot smiled at him, trying to break the awkwardness.

"This is your house?" Janey asked him, trying to make sense of all this.

The Inspector seemed to come back to his senses at that question. "It is, yes. Why don't the three of you come into the parlour and I'll get us some refreshments. Luckily I have just put a pot on for a cup of tea for myself, I'm sure it will stretch to the four of us."

"Oh, I can help with that." Dot seemed uneasy at the idea of the Inspector waiting on her.

Silently Phryne lead the way into his parlour. Inspector Robinson and Dot both stopped at the doorway to the room.

"There's no need, Miss Williams, although I confess your tea making skills far surpass my own. And I should thank you, as well, for the food you sent over. I assume that was mostly your doing."

Phryne finally raised her head at that and glared at the Inspector. Janey was completely lost.

"It was a joint effort," Dot replied before she and the Inspector left for the kitchen, leaving the sisters alone.

"You have a key for Inspector Robinson's house?" Janey asked after a minute or two of uncomfortable silence.

"I do," Phryne admitted.

Janey looked around, trying to pretend she didn't recognise a cardigan sprawled carelessly across a chair as Phryne's. "Why? What is this?"

"Probably exactly what it looks like," Phryne replied sullenly.

Janey had no idea what it looked like, except that it looked like Phryne was simultaneously living with her at their aunt's house and here, with Rosie's ex-husband, in sin…

"Inspector Robinson? I don't really understand, Phryne. What about the prostitutes?"

Janey had hissed that last word but sadly Inspector Robinson and Dot returned in that moment with a pot of tea, a plate of biscuits and some other bits on an old tray. Janey's eyes widened in horror at having mentioned the scandal in front of him and Robinson paused for a second before placing the tray on the coffee table.

"It's a fair question, Miss Fisher," he replied in a tone that didn't sound offended, "and I believe I'll let your sister answer that one."

Inspector Robinson walked over to the window and gazed outside, Janey realised to leave the three women to talk. Dot poured out the tea and tried not to make eye contact. Whatever it was, Dot clearly knew all about it. She had known, somehow, that this was where Phryne was taking them. She had been involved in it all.

"There were no prostitutes, Janey, not really," Phryne said hesitantly. "Certainly not in the plural sense. It was all just me."

"You made up that horrible rumour?" Janey asked, still not understanding.

Phryne looked over at the Inspector, who was still keeping his back to them. "I, um, no, I wouldn't have done that. I meant… oh, Janey, I never wanted to have to tell you this! I'm so sorry."

"Stop apologising, Phryne, and just tell me what you're sorry for and what any of this has to do with Inspector Robinson, Joan and that convent girl."

Janey noticed that the Inspector did turn around at that last part of the sentence and walk closer to make sure he could hear what they were discussing. He still didn't sit with them.

"You remember when Rosie asked about how I knew Fletcher, why I didn't trust him, and I said I met him while I was working in a club? What I didn't say was which club. It was… it was a gentleman's club, Janey. I was working in a gentleman's club, I was a…"

Phryne tailed off, looking like she was close to tears. Janey closed her eyes for a second and then looked back at her sister. "Oh, Phryne…"

She couldn't say anymore as Phryne suddenly ran out of the room at some speed. She heard her thudding footsteps on the stairs then a door slammed shut in the following silence.

Janey stared down at her hands. "All that time… when I was attending the best schools, being entered into London society and my dear sister…"

She found herself being offered a cup of tea and looked up to see Inspector Robinson looking sympathetically down at her. "Don't beat yourself up about it, Miss Fisher. Phryne wouldn't want that. That was where I found her, by the way, and why she was so insistent that I couldn't tell you. It's why she's still been keeping things from you, because to understand what's going on, you have to understand how she got involved in it all."

Janey glared at him. "How can you be so civil about this? Are you telling me that you found my sister in a brothel and then paid her to sleep with you? Are you still paying her, Inspector, or blackmailing her or what?"

"What?" Robinson seemed completely baffled at Janey's anger with him. "No, I never paid her. I, um, if anything, she seduced me…"

He seemed flustered now. Janey had never seemed him anything other calm and reassured. It was quite bizarre and she wasn't convinced of his innocence. "Fine, so no money passed hands, but you still found her in a brothel, kept her from me and started … a physical relationship with my sister, in secret."

"It's a bit of a grey area," he muttered, glancing up at the ceiling, his thoughts clearly on the woman hiding up there. "If you'll excuse me, Miss Fisher, I'd better go and check on your sister."

"Is she in your bedroom?" Janey asked, still angry.

Inspector Robinson didn't answer that, he almost ran out of the door and she heard his footsteps take the same path as Phryne's had.

"You knew all this?" Janey asked Dot, turning her anger on the poor woman who was left with her.

Dot nodded. "I did, Miss. Not at first but I made Hugh tell me where she was. That's when I found my sister, Nell, working there too. It shocked me so much, Miss. That's when I decided I couldn't tell you. I knew how you'd feel and like Miss Phryne, I wanted to stop you having to feel it."

"What about her sleeping with Rosie's husband?"

Dot glanced at the door they'd exited through. "I don't think it's anywhere near as sordid as you think, Miss. I think they're very much in love to tell you the truth, though I don't think they'd admit it. I didn't know about it until Inspector Robinson lost his job and Miss Phryne admitted to me it was her he'd been seen with, although Hugh was suspicious about how close they were before. Then, after he spent a bit of time with them together and he saw how fond they are of each other… please, Miss, give the Inspector a chance. He's a good man and he cares so much for your sister. You have no idea what they've already been through together."

"But you do," Janey said sadly. "That's what really hurts, Dot. My sister has been living this whole other life with Inspector Robinson and she's kept me out of it."

"To protect you because she loves you. I believe the Inspector has always wanted her to be honest with you but he'd do anything she asked, including keeping her secrets. He just wants her to be happy and she's still your big sister, Miss, trying to protect you from the bad things in this world."

"Of which she isn't one!" Janey insisted while staring forlornly at the door, hoping her reaction to Phryne and her lover hadn't just ruined her relationship with her sister forever.

*.*.*.

For a short time Janey and Dot sat in silence as Janey made sense of everything she'd just learned. Phryne's big secret was that she'd worked in a brothel which, as horrifying as it was, made a certain amount of sense. She clearly had never worked in service of any kind and how else could she have survived on her own? Somehow Janey suspected that Aunt Prudence had known. When Phryne had arrived she'd just ignored any hint she gave at what her life had been and swept it under the carpet. Janey also began to understand why Dot had gone along with the secrecy. She was very religious; she must see it as deeply sinful. Janey just felt like she'd let her sister down. If she'd tried harder to find her or come straight back to Australia as soon as she was old enough to leave her parents, maybe sooner if she'd begged Aunt Prudence to take her in, she could have found her sooner and saved her.

Saved her from what, though? From forging her own path through life? From finding a man like Inspector Robinson who, despite all the evidence to the contrary, did still appear to be the decent man she thought he was when she first met him. Dot was certainly right about him caring, and not just about Phryne. All he had done was try to explain to her and she just accused him of abusing his position of authority over Phryne. That wasn't possible, though, was it? Because Phryne wouldn't let someone do that. She'd nearly attacked Fletcher with a knife at a party her aunt was holding because… Janey suddenly realised because he'd misbehaved in a brothel. And really, Janey tried to reason with herself, if Phryne had stayed at home, had grown up alongside Janey, did she really think she'd be any different? In all honesty, Janey supposed Phryne was never going to grow up to be a conventional wife and mother.

Eventually Phryne reappeared with Inspector Robinson behind her, supporting her Janey finally recognised. Phryne had been crying, something Janey was unused to seeing. Even when Father used to beat her or lock her in cupboards, Phryne had refused to give him the satisfaction of seeing her cry.

Janey stood up and walked over to her sister, who seemed unable to move any further than the doorway of Inspector Robinson's parlour, and she hugged her tightly. Moments later, Phryne wrapped her arms around Janey and she heard a little sob as Phryne cried again, this time into her shoulder.

The sisters withdrew from each other and Janey brought out a handkerchief. "None of that, Phryne. I won't have it."

Phryne smiled and glanced back at Inspector Robinson, who briefly touched her shoulder before walking past the sisters to the seating area, helping himself to a biscuit and finally taking a seat beside Dot.

"Sorry," Phryne apologised. "I've been so scared of seeing that look on your face, of what you'd think of me if you knew, Janey. I really don't care what anyone else thinks of me but you, Janey, you're the only person in this world I love you know."

Janey glanced over at Inspector Robinson, suspecting that wasn't true. The stony-faced policeman raised an eyebrow at the comment but there was no further reaction from him. She'd probably said similar things to him before.

"I know, Phryne, and I love you. I was shocked, still am a little bit, but I don't care. You were never going to join the nuns, I know that. I'm much happier knowing the truth than I was with you keeping secrets from me," Janey scolded her.

"No more secrets," Phryne promised.

Janey took Phryne's hand and brought her over so that the four of them were seated around Inspector Robinson's coffee table.

"And, Inspector, what I said before, I–"

"Don't worry about it, Miss Fisher," Inspector Robinson cut her off as Janey tried to apologise to him. "I've thought the same things about myself. Phryne makes it all seem reasonable, somehow. And perhaps you and Miss Williams shouldn't call me Inspector. Right now I am just Mr Robinson and if we can't work out what is going on I'm likely to stay that way. You can all just call me Jack, you know."

Janey nodded and looked slyly at her sister. "Very well. You can call me Janey if you like, after all, we're pretty much family, aren't we?"

Jack did smile at that and Phryne almost looked like she was about to blush. Janey squeezed her hand. "Now, what else do I need to know? What does your club and your… relationship with Jack have to do with poor Bernadette?"

"Who?" Jack asked.

"We think Bernadette is the girl Hugh and I fished out of the river," Dot told him.

"Wait, what girl?" Jack was all business now. "What does Hugh have to do with this? I've been trying to keep him out of it all."

Phryne raised a hand to quieten him. "Wait, Jack, we're coming at this from far too many angles. Let me start from the beginning."

So she did, she told Janey how she'd started off stealing to live but then got a job working at the Imperial Club. She explained how Jack had happened across her while investigating the death of one of the girls there, who was a friend of Dot's sister, how she pushed herself onto him despite his reservations. She told them about a box that the Imperial Club kept souvenirs of their clients in that they believed had been stolen by someone who had sold it on, that they believe it had been purchased by Sidney Fletcher who had happened upon seeing Phryne and Jack together and told Sanderson to make Jack lose his job because he was getting too close to something. They suspected that they had also used something from this box to persuade Sanderson's predecessor to step down so Sanderson could take his job, all they didn't know was why.

Phryne then switched from telling Janey to speaking to Jack. Janey tried not to smile at the difference. Whereas Phryne's tale to her had been full of apologies and rather hesitant, when speaking to Jack it was down to business. He had been her confidant in all this and Janey wondered if Phryne realised how deeply she trusted this man. She had always dealt with everything alone. Even as a child she took on her father's anger on her own. The adults who noticed and cared would try to pry the truth from her but got nothing. Phryne made sure it was something Janey wouldn't have to deal with, so never spoke to her about it, much the same as with her past. Phryne had struggled so much opening up with Janey but as soon as she spoke to Jack it flowed so easily.

For Jack's part, his face was completely serious as he listened to Phryne tell him about the body Dot had found, that Aunt Prudence's new kitchen maid had vanished and how she had come across Janey and Dot talking about what they've found in the punishment room and then dragged them straight to Jack's house.

"De Vere was the name of the captain you said, wasn't it?" Phryne insisted.

"It was," Jack confirmed, looking over the glasses and Dot's note of what Bernadette had scrawled on the wall with his expert eye. "So, you're thinking that this is it? The big thing Fletcher's up to, stealing girls?"

"The white slave trade," Phryne almost spat. "Oh, those poor girls."

"What will happen to them?" Dot asked the pair of lovers who still seemed two steps ahead of her and Janey.

"You remember when you asked me what it was like for your sister working at the Imperial Club and I tried to explain that sex wasn't all terrible?" Phryne asked.

Dot nodded. "Yes, Miss."

"Well, what will happen to those girls is exactly the same all your fears about what working at a brothel is, only they have no choice in what happens to them whatsoever and what does happen to them is much worse than what you're thinking."

"We just know that the captain of his ship has taken two young girls," Jack told Phryne sternly. "We don't know it's for sex."

"Oh, it's always about sex," Phryne argued.

"You're scaring your sister and Miss Williams," he argued back.

Janey knew in many ways she was terribly naive, she still didn't quite understand why two people who had just admitted to being lovers would bicker so much. She did know that Phryne would have no time for someone who didn't stand up to her, however. Everything about this was confusing. "I don't understand, though. Do you really think Sidney is behind all this? I know you don't like him Phryne, I don't like him much, but what you're saying sounds so evil."

"It is so evil," Phryne retorted, "and yes. He as much as admitted it to me. Well, you were there when he told me he'd been the one who got Jack fired. Don't you remember?"

"I remember you had a knife," Janey replied harshly. "I don't remember anything else you're saying."

Phryne sighed. "When you came over, we'd essentially both been threatening to get the other thrown out of Aunt P's party. You introduced us, then he made Rosie tell us about Jack, remember? He smiled so smugly at me, Janey, he made it so clear that he knew that I was the woman in question and he was so happy with himself. He may as well have shouted out that he'd used me to get Jack fired."

"Again, I'm not actually fired…" Jack tailed off his complaint as quickly as he raised it.

Janey noted Phryne's hesitancy at saying Rosie's name and something suddenly dawned on her. "Oh, that's why you don't like Rosie!"

Phryne's eyes flickered ever so quickly over to Jack and then she stared at her lap. "I have nothing against Rosie, I just wasn't sure if she was in on it with Fletcher and her father."

Janey grinned. "Of course, silly me."

"Is she?" Dot asked, either not picking up on the tension at the mention of Jack's ex-wife or not caring.

Jack shrugged, seeming nowhere as bothered as Phryne at the direction the discussion had taken. "We're not entirely sure. We think probably not."

"But her father, Commissioner Sanderson, is?" Janey pushed.

Jack nodded slowly.

"That's why we can't go to the police or get Hugh involved," Phryne told Dot. "Jack's already lost his job over all this and we can't risk the same thing happening to Hugh."

Jack drummed his fingers on the coffee table. "Need I remind you again that I'm only suspended pending an investigation into, well, you?"

Phryne glared at him. "How long have you been suspended now? Has Sanderson even opened the investigation yet?"

"Not that I'm aware of."

"And do you really think that's going to change any time soon? If Sanderson does actually investigate the allegations, do you really think he'll find you innocent and give you your job back?"

"He might do if it's after this ship sails," Jack seemed determined not to rise to Phryne's bait. "Do you think Joan's on board?"

Phryne picked up Joan's thick glasses. "He's unlikely to go to all this trouble for just one girl and, lovely as Joan is, she isn't the sort of girl you'd get a lot of money for trafficking."

"What about this Bernadette?"

"She was at the convent when I was," Dot replied hesitantly. "I didn't get a good look when Hugh pulled her out of the water, he wouldn't let me. All I really saw were her bound hands. I couldn't say for certain if it was her but if it was I do remember her being a very pretty girl."

"Fair haired?" Phryne asked and Dot nodded. "White gold."

"Sorry?" Janey asked.

Phryne grimaced slightly. "You can get a lot of money for a young, pale skinned, blue eyed, blonde virgin girl. Or one who can act virginal at least."

"Phryne!" Janey exclaimed. "I am willing to accept your past, but there's no need to be distasteful about it."

"It's the truth, Janey, and I know what men will pay good money for in a woman. It's how I know Joan's not it."

"So why Joan?" Janey asked.

"She went missing after Aunt P's gratitude dinner. Did Fletcher and Sanderson go to it, Janey?"

Janey nodded sadly. "Yes, they did."

"Where were you when this was all going on?" Jack asked Phryne, seemingly perplexed as to why she was asking about events at her own home.

Phryne looked just as confused at his question. "Here."

"Ah."

She shrugged. "I had made myself very unwelcome at events to do with the gratitude board, Jane and Arthur were happy keeping each other company so I–"

"Yes, we get it Phryne, enough," Jack scolded her, almost blushing as Janey and Dot tried not to laugh at his embarrassment and her total lack of same. "So you think, what, she overheard Fletcher and Sanderson talking?"

"It's my current theory."

"As good as any," Jack agreed with a heavy sigh.

"So what..." Janey asked horrified, "what you're saying is that Fletcher has made his fortune by stealing pretty young girls from their gratitude placements and then selling them on for… for…"

"Profit," Phryne finished for her. "Yes. There has to be more missing girls than just Joan and Bernadette."

Janey stood up. "Well, unlike some, I haven't upset the convent to the point where I've been told to have nothing to do with them anymore. Dot and I will go back and see what we can find out."

Jack nodded. "If they're all on placement you might not get much from the convent," he added. "Can you find out what girls are on placement and where? It might be better to talk to disgruntled employers about the girls they gave a chance to who have run away."

"We can do that," Dot agreed, likewise standing.

Jack looked at her. "And you're happy keeping this from Hugh?"

She nodded. "For now. It's better this way, isn't it?"

"Yes it is, Miss Williams. Meanwhile, I'll have another look around the docks, see if I can spot anything unusual on the Pandarus and find out when she's due to leave. We have to make our move, whatever it is, before then. I'd also like to learn more about this De Vere. If Bernadette's hands were bound, as Miss Williams said, then she didn't accidentally drown when escaping the convent, she was thrown into the water by someone who had bound her first and at the moment my suspicion is that it's De Vere. Why else carve his name in the wall if he wasn't the one after her?"

"What about me?" Phryne asked indignantly. "What am I doing while you three are doing all this?"

Jack shrugged and then grinned at her. "There's a pile of washing up in the kitchen."

TBC...