her hosts had eaten an early dinner they added a picnic basket to the load, as well as brandy flask and, of course, Bear.
‘It’s not all that far to Geelong, but I don’t want to hurry,’ she said as Jack Leonard swung the starting handle. ‘Are we clear as to what we are going to do?’
Everyone nodded.
‘Right,’ said Phryne taking a deep breath. ‘Off we go, then.’
She located the Geelong Road without difficulty and soon they were bowling along in the darkness. There would be a moon but it had not yet risen. It was clear and frosty, and the stars were very bright. Phryne hoped that she wouldn’t freeze to death on the escapade which she had in mind. She had already fought a fierce action with Jack Leonard, once he heard what she intended to do.
‘Don’t be silly, Jack. Look at the size of you. I’m five feet three and I weigh eight stone with all these clothes and goods. How much do you weigh?’
‘Twelve stone. I suppose that you are right. But what if you fall off?’
‘Then you shall pick me up,’ said Phryne, and the conversation was at an end.
Dot was talking to Molly Maldon to distract herself from how cold she was, how worried about Phryne, and how fast the car was going. Molly was keyed-up. After what seemed like years of hanging about and worrying, there was now a chance of some action and she was all for it. The afternoon among her possessions had soothed her spirit and she had great faith in Phryne. She was beginning to believe that she would recover Candida. She had the bag of lollies in the picnic basket, though she had an instinctive and superstitious dread of picturing how glad Candida would be to see them, and paid as much attention as she could to Dot’s account of one of Phryne’s previous cases.
‘And this abortionist was her capture, was he?’
‘No, that was a police-lady called. . Miss, what was the police-lady’s name, that caught that. . er. . you know, the chap that operated on women.’
Dot would not say the word ‘abortionist’, any more than she would swear in church.
‘WPC Jones. I saw her today. She got a medal for seizing the Brunswick rapist.’
Dot could feel her cheeks burning. Everything she said seemed to have a sexual meaning.
Phryne, perceiving her embarrassment, launched into flying-shop talk with Jack Leonard.
‘Did you like Bunji, Jack?’
‘She’s a ball of lightning, isn’t she? Bustled in and spent twenty minutes with her head in the engine, and then she and Bill worked out how to mount the light. It’s a drain on the power supply, but I don’t think it’s enough to significantly affect the performance.’
‘Did she argue with Bill?’
‘All day. You could tell that they were both having a lovely time. And she’s a sporting flyer. Took the Alps and even flew over the Himalayas. Said that all you had to do to thoroughly depress the spirits was to look down. Nowhere at all to land — just rocks.’
Phryne laughed, and shifted into top gear.
The Geelong Road was visible only as a tarmac trail that gleamed faintly in the lights of the powerful car. There was no sound but the roar of the engine and the swish of the slipstream. Luckily Mr Butler had managed to put the hood into place or the passengers would have been even colder than they were. The stars shone down like lanterns — no, they were on the road: two swaying lights. An odd noise began to make itself heard. Phryne listened attentively. It was halfway between a clatter and a clop like hooves. She racked her memory, and concluded that she really was hearing a new sound.
‘Can you hear that?’ she asked.
Dot cried out, ‘Slow down!’
Phryne applied the brakes and the car lost momentum. She had almost stopped when the explanation was vouchsafed to her.
A wave of advancing sheep circled the car, their fleeces oddly grey in the starlight. The moon was rising. The lanterns gleamed. A ghostly stockman, looking like a revenant from the past, raised a casual hand. Two jinkers clattered past, with bags slung underneath for the dogs to rest in. A dog barked. The sheep trotted down the road.
‘Thank you, Dot, I might have ploughed right into them. I didn’t know they took sheep along this road. And in the dark. How dangerous! They must be going to Borthwicks — and there’s the cemetery. How convenient. Well, tally-ho, and if anyone sights a flock of flamingoes or a herd of elephants, just let me know.’
‘Where are we?’ asked Molly.
‘About halfway I should think. We have to look out for Bunji and Henry in the Fokker outside Geelong. They should be over on the left side of the road, near the railway bridge. Give me a shout if you see them. Then we have to test the plan. I would feel very silly if I went ahead with it and it turned out not to function. I’d be left on my own with the kidnappers and they are probably armed.’
‘Are you?’ asked Jack.
Phryne nodded. ‘Certainly. But I hope not to have to use it. I do not approve of guns.’
‘Good shot, are you?’
‘Not particularly. At the distance one has the most use for a pistol, however, it makes no difference. A man is too big a target to miss at a range of five feet.’
‘Why five feet?’
‘Any closer and he can grab,’ explained Phryne. ‘Let’s talk about something else.’
Jack Leonard obliged with a dissertation on the merits of Rolls-Royce engines which lasted until they were nearing Geelong.
‘They bore their engine blocks, put them out to weather in a field for two years, and then re-bore them. I have never come across a Rolls with cylinder trouble. Marvellous machines. . Hello! There’s the Fokker.’
Phryne swung the car off the road and drew to a halt on a flat paddock. The flying machine was stopped and had been turned on the grass so it could be got back into the air with the greatest dispatch. Bunji Ross, short and plump in her flying suit and boots, strolled over and grinned at Phryne.
‘Hello, Phryne. You’ll be pleased to hear that the gown was a great success. I only spilt a little tomato soup on it, which is good, for me. I’ve mounted the light, m’dear, and I can cast a fairish light on the road, but only at very low altitude. I can’t make much impression on it over fifty to seventy feet. What’s the landscape from here to where you are going? Any mountains?’
‘Not as long as you follow the road. Leave the road and the ground gets very lumpy away to the left. If you can keep the plane to the right of the road, you’ll be fine.’
‘Good, will do. I’ve got Henry with me. He has a good pair of Zeiss-Ikon binoculars and seems competent in the air. Come and let’s give this idea a try. Run her back towards Melbourne, pet, we don’t want to muddy our trail.’
Phryne dabbed a small drop of paint on the road, then took the car slowly along, dripping a little paint out of the driver’s side. She continued for a quarter of a mile, then took the car off the road and waited.
Overhead, but only just overhead, the Fokker engine roared. The plane circled once above the car. She dipped her wings, and flew off towards Geelong.
‘Good. It works. Bunji really is a brick. We are almost there. Jack, you take the wheel and remember what I said about garters.’
Geelong was a sizeable town, encircled by grain silos and storehouses, with a respectable town hall and wide streets. It did not keep late hours. The only person Phryne saw who seemed to be awake was a strolling policeman. Phryne took note of the moon. It was now bright and full.
‘There’s the park, Jack, stop for a while at that corner near those big elms. Light a cigarette and look bored. Stand there until you finish the smoke, then you can go into the park and stop short of the band rotunda. According to the map, it must be about three hundred yards over that way. Molly takes the money and puts it into the hollow stump. Don’t stop and stare, just drop the bag in and walk away. Then you start the car and give her a lot of high revs in case they are already here. Then get back on the road and wait. We could be here all night, but don’t go to sleep. You wait for the plane, and keep a good way behind it. You’ll be able to see the light for quite a long way. In any case I think that we are going to Queens- cliff. Break a leg,’ said Phryne, and slipped into the darkness. In her black garb she was hard to see, and she stopped at a convenient mud-puddle and smeared her face.
