‘Where was this, Jane?’
‘By the tower, the thing that the trains get water from. And there was a man there, Miss Fisher, a man.’
‘What was he doing?’
‘Pulling on the rope. The body rose, and so did he; he climbed over her and onto the water tower, then he swung her and dropped her on the grass. It was horrible, and I hid my eyes. Then he jumped down. .’
Jane broke off. Ruth caught Jane in her arms.
‘Ruthie! It was awful!’
‘You just tell Miss about it,’ commanded Ruth, and Jane obeyed. ‘He landed on her body and. .’
‘I know what he did, Jane. No need to go on. Then what did you do?’
‘I was watching out of the window of the ladies, Miss, and I heard a terrible scream behind me, and then the train started again. I just stayed where I was, Miss.’
‘Would you know the man again, Jane?’
‘Yes, Miss. I expect so.’
‘Good. Now you and Ruthie sit down and eat some chops, and let’s get on with the dinner, for I am famished.’
Ruth paused with a fork halfway to her mouth and asked the question that had been concerning her since her arrival. ‘Miss Fisher, what are you going to do with me?’
‘I’m not going to do anything with you, if you mean by that, something to you. What would you like me to do?’
‘Jane says that you are sending her to school.’
‘That is true.’
‘And that you like intelligent girls.’
‘Yes.’
‘And you adopted her.’
‘Yes,’ agreed Phryne, wondering what was coming.
‘I’m intelligent and I can work hard and I have always looked after Jane. What’ll she do without me? You should take both of us, Miss, not just pick one like kittens out of a litter.’
Jane laid her hand on Ruth’s shoulder and looked at Phryne. Ruth bit the end of one plait reflectively. Then she took up her fork and swallowed the piece of chop impaled on it, as though she was not sure when she would get another meal.
Phryne smiled. ‘Two are better than one,’ she said. ‘I was wondering how Jane would manage in this rackety house on her own. All right, Ruth. You too. Any relatives?’
‘No,’ affirmed Ruth, and took some more bread, thankful for the first time in her life that she was an orphan.
‘I’ll call that irritating solicitor tomorrow and get it all put through legally. But you will have to go to school, girls, through term, and you can come back here in the holidays. You can do anything you like, as long as you are willing to work for it. And you must never say anything about my cases, nothing at all, do you understand?’
Both heads nodded. They understood. Ruth grinned a huge grin and slapped Jane on the shoulder.
‘No more Miss Gay, Jane, no more Seddon, no more of the Great Hypno and, best of all. .’
‘Best of all?’ asked Phryne.
‘No more dishes,’ concluded Ruth, and hugged Jane so hard that Ember scratched her.
Phryne finished her dinner and went upstairs to change, wondering what she should wear to a glee club singalong. She decided on comfort — dark trousers and jacket, and her sheepskin overcoat, perfect for the chill, dark night which it promised to be.
She was coming downstairs when the phone rang, and she picked up the receiver. It was Detective-inspector Robinson, evidently in an elated mood.
‘Miss Fisher? Ah! Answering your own phone? This’ll never do — I just rang to tell you about our scoundrel.’
‘Oh? Which one?’
The policeman chuckled. ‘Burton. He’s out of hospital and helping us with our inquiries. He’s singing like a canary, unlike that prize bitch of a wife of his.’
‘What? Married to Miss Gay?’
‘Indeed. The wounds to his eyes ain’t serious — just scratches — but he seems to have lost his power. Tried mesmerising one of my constables — you never had such a laugh in all your life.’
‘Be careful of him, Jack, he’s dangerous.’
‘Miss Fisher, it’s well known that you can’t be hypnotised if you don’t want to be. He’s lost his fangs, all right.’
‘His dentist will have to fit him with an entirely new set. Congratulations.’
‘Thanks, Miss Fisher. And another thing, I got a reply from Thomas, you know, the sergeant down at Rye on leave?’
‘And?’
‘Can’t say yes or no. Said he remembered the man, but couldn’t say if that was him or not. Said it was an odd case — he didn’t seem very drunk, but when the beat constable passed him by, he tripped him and then tried to steal his helmet. Young gentlemen will have their tricks, especially young university gentlemen.’
‘Indeed. Well, that’s about all that we can do at present. Oh, Jack, I forgot to tell you. I have an eyewitness to the murder, who saw what happened and can identify the murderer.’
‘An eyewitness to the murder, Miss Fisher? Who?’
‘Jane, I told you she had remembered. Listen.’ Phryne told the story of Jane’s grandmother and the manner of her death.
‘It appears that the old woman hanged in a noose against a lighted window is what shocked the child out of the trance your harmless Mr Burton had put her into, and she saw the man on the water tower.’
‘She saw him?’ exclaimed Jack Robinson. ‘To know again?’
‘So she says,’ replied Phryne. ‘I’ll bring her tomorrow to look at photographs. All right?’
‘Tomorrow,’ agreed Jack Robinson.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Lewis Carroll
Ruthie and Jane had so much to catch up with that Phryne suggested moving Ruth’s camp-bed into Jane’s room. She knew that they would talk all night, but thought that they might as well do it in comfort. Jane was regaining her past in large chunks, and Phryne hoped that it would not prove too indigestible.
Ruth, Jane and Ember partook of a light supper of bread-and-butter and hot milk, then they all snuggled into Jane’s bed so that they could talk without being heard. It was a cold night, but the girls and the kitten were warm in their nest under the eiderdown with the jazz-coloured cover. Phryne looked in on them as she was going out.
‘Goodnight, my dears,’ she said, and heard the chorused ‘Goodnight, Miss Fisher’ from the heaped covers. She smiled and closed the door.
‘Dot, I’m going to this glee club do, only because I promised to bring the beer. Go to bed, old thing, and don’t worry. Mr B.! All the crates safely stowed?’
‘Yes, Miss Fisher, all secure.’
‘All right, I’m off — I may bring company home, but I shan’t need you again tonight. Everyone can go to bed. We’ve all had too much excitement lately. All the locks and things up, Mr Butler? Good. Well, sleep tight,’ said Phryne, and sailed out into the night, a furry cap on her head, huddled in the sheepskin coat, and looking like a rather dapper member of the Tsar’s entourage of female soldiers. She started the Hispano-Suiza without trouble, steered her carefully into The Esplanade, and turned her nose for the city. The wind whipped her face, tearing at her hair, and she laughed aloud into the rainy dark. It was fine to be on the road with all this power at one’s fingertips! She leaned on the accelerator, and the car leapt like a deer under her hand.
She rolled carefully down the unmade road to the boathouse, and it was obvious that there was revelry afoot. The boathouse, a rather rickety two-storey construction with a balcony, was lit with lanterns, as were several of the
