They walked back to the hotel, Johnny with Charlie beside him, without either of them saying much at all.
Going past the front desk clerk, and up the stairs, Charlie began to drag behind.
At the top of the stairs, Johnny paused, to wait for her to catch up to him. "Have your feet stopped workin'?" he asked her.
"Are you going to tell Scott?" she asked, pausing at the last stair, and leaning on the bannister.
"No," Johnny said, and saw her face light up with relief.
"You are," he said, and the light faded instantly.
"Please don't make me, Johnny," she pleaded. "Can't it be between the two of us?"
"No, pequeno."
Johnny opened the door to the hotel room, and stepped inside enough to see that Scott was splashing water on his face, from the basin
in the small bath.
"I wondered if you were coming back," Scott said, reaching for a clean towel and drying at his face.
Johnny stood in the open doorway, halfway in and halfway out of the room.
"What's wrong?" Scott said, looking at him, puzzled, and coming out into the main room.
"I ran into somebody while I was out walkin'," Johnny said.
"Yeah?" Scott asked.
Johnny reached out and gave a grab, pulling Charlie into the room so that she was standing in front of him.
Scott looked surprised for a long moment, to see her standing there. Then his expression changed from surprise to
gladness. "Hey!" he said, in greeting, and came forward.
"Hi, Scott," Charlie said, obviously subdued.
Scott looked from his brother, whose expression was grave, to the little girl, who looked as though she might bolt from the
room at any moment.
"What's wrong?" he asked again, drying his hands and then tossing the towel onto one of the beds.
"Charlie has somethin' to tell ya," Johnny said, and when the little girl was silent, he gave her a light poke in the
center of her back. "Go on," he told her.
Still she was silent, looking everywhere but directly at Scott. Her eyes were fixed somewhere over his shoulder, onto a painting
on the hotel room wall.
"Charlie?" Scott prompted.
"I was-with some other kids, and they were throwing rocks at windows," Charlie said, still looking at the painting.
"Where?" Scott asked, confused.
"Uptown," Johnny supplied. "Near the bank. And they were breakin', not just throwin'."
Scott scratched at his neck, thinking. "Hmmm," he said.
He stepped closer to Charlie, and lifted her chin so that she had to look directly at him.
"Why were you doing that?" he asked her.
"I don't know," Charlie said, her eyes brimming with tears.
"That's not a very good answer," Scott said. "It's not really an answer at all. Is it?"
"No, Scott," Charlie said, looking miserable.
"She says she wasn't the one doin' the throwin'," Johnny tossed in.
"Hmm," Scott said again. Then, still holding her chin, he asked, "Where does your aunt think you are?"
"She doesn't," Charlie said, and then at Scott's raised eyebrow, she added, "I mean, I don't know what she thinks. She
wasn't at home."
A feeling of disgust for Katherine came over Scott. Near to anger.
He dropped his hand from Charlie's chin. "Go and wash your hands and face," he told her, nodding towards the tiny
lavatory.
Charlie went without a word, into the adjoining bath, and closed the door quietly. Scott looked at Johnny, who gave a
shrug, and a shake of his dark head.
"There was a bunch of them," he told Scott, his voice low. "Broke at least two windows that I know of. Snitchin' apples."
Scott sighed. "But you didn't see her throw a rock?"
"No. I didn't see her. I told her that if she's caught, it'll be the same as if she was the one doin' all the damage," Johnny said.
Scott nodded. "Right," he agreed.
"I hope I did right," Johnny said, and at Scott's questioning look, Johnny added, "I gave her a few swats. I thought-it
seemed like one of those times when it called for somethin' immediate to be done."
Scott nodded again. "Yeah."
The door to the lavatory opened, and Charlie stood there in the doorway, her face clean, but looking as sad as if she'd lost
her best friend.
"What now?" Johnny asked Scott. "We gonna head over to the house, or wait for a note?"
"We'll go on over there," Scott said.
"Alright. I'll get a cab, or is it close enough to walk?" Johnny asked.
"It's close," Scott said. "But go on and get a cab."
"Alright. I'll wait down there for ya," Johnny said and went out, closing the door to the room behind him.
Scott turned from his spot in the center of the room and began to tuck his shirt back into the waist of his pants. He was silent, going to
the bed to pick up his hat.
He sighed, and looked back at Charlie. "I thought you could behave yourself," he said. "I've seen you do it, when you were
staying with us. But maybe you really can't, huh?"
Charlie looked back at him, and then hung her head, looking at the floor.
"You don't have anything to say?" Scott asked, feeling his temper begin to rise.
Charlie, still looking at her feet, mumbled something.
"What?" Scott asked. "Speak up, Charlie. If you have something to say, then say it where I can hear it."
"I can," Charlie said, more clearly.
"You can what?" Scott demanded, his tone sharp.
"I can behave." She scuffed the toe of her boot on the floor.
"Yet most of the time, it seems you choose not to," Scott said.
"It's different here," Charlie said quietly. "Here it doesn't matter."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Scott asked, and then he realized that he already knew the answer. "Never mind," he said,
going to the door and opening it. "Come on."
Charlie looked up at him, her eyes shiny with tears. "Are you taking me back to Katherine's house?" she asked, and even
at that moment, when his temper was frayed, Scott didn't miss the fact that she referred to it as 'Katherine's house', and not
'home'.
"Yes. Let's go," he said, and nodded towards the open door.
"I don't get to go?" she asked then, looking as though she was going to burst into full-out sobs.
"What?" Scott asked, confused, and tense.
"For my visit. I don't get to go with you now? Back to Lancer?"
"I didn't say anything about you not going back with Johnny and I, did I?" Scott asked, his tone curt.
When she just stood there, staring at him with wide brown eyes, Scott sighed, and went to stand in front of Charlie,
leaning down so that he was on eye-level with her.
"We came to get you, to take you back to Lancer with us," he said. "We came a day early, because I was hoping to
talk to your aunt. What you were doing today, with those other kids, it's real serious. And we're going to talk about it some more. But yes, you're
coming with us. I keep my promises. Remember?"
Charlie nodded, and then reached up to hug Scott around the neck, so suddenly that he didn't see it coming. Scott
wrapped Charlie in a return hug, and they stayed that way until he felt his back begin to ache from leaning over.
"Let's go and see if your aunt's home now," he said, standing up.
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