Disclaimer: I do not own Home Alone.
Kevin huddled up close to Becky as the siblings made their way back home with Mr. Marley. Both of the siblings were relieved at the coincidence that had just landed upon them and even saved them from a terrible fate. "Thank you so much for this Mr. Marley," Kevin heard his sister say, once they were within the vicinity of their home, as he looked up and smiled at their old neighbor in return. Looks like that shovel worked for something better than shoveling snow and sprinkling the sidewalks with salt.
Old Man Marley smiled down at the two children. He was relieved that he was able to save them in time. One thing about those bandits was that they were not clever enough to keep themselves quiet from all of the pain that they endured through those traps. It was also the moment where Marley was relieved that he had kept the windows of his living room open for the night to let in the Christmas Eve night air. That way he was able to hear all of the pandemonium that was occurring outside. "Will your two be alright here by yourselves?" he asked them, "you are more than welcome to stay at my place until the police, or even your parents arrive."
"No thanks Mr. Marley," Kevin piped up and looked at him, "the cops should be here soon. We'll be alright now, won't we Becky?" he asked as he looked over to his sister and smiled.
"That we will," Becky agreed with a nod of her head.
Marley didn't know how these two had managed to outrun those bandits with just booby-trapping the house, a fact that he had learned from Kevin as he was taking the siblings back home. For one thing, he was very impressed about that but for any further questions, he was going to save those for the near future. "If you need anything, I am only a house away," he said before finishing his visit with a smile. "Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas," the siblings said in unison and escorted their neighbor out the door. Both Kevin and Becky watched as Marley's figure became smaller in the distance as they aged man made his way back home. Kevin leaned against the doorway as he watched Marley, wondering how he would be spending Christmas in the morning. If anything, and if his wish didn't come true, maybe he would take Becky to spend Christmas with Mr. Marley.
Once Mr. Marley disappeared into the night, Becky closed the door and looked over at Kevin. "We have a lot of work to do to clean this place." Cleaning up was the last thing that either of the siblings wanted to do but Christmas was almost here and such a holiday needed to be welcomed in a properly cleaned home.
Before Kevin could say anything, he perked up when he heard the sirens coming towards the Murphy's home. He scampered over to the window and looked out where he noticed the red and blue light surrounding the house. It wasn't long before two policemen escorted the bandits out of the house. "Wow, this is great," Kevin said and looked over at Becky who let out a yawn in return.
After her yawn, Becky smiled but she was not at all tempted to see what was happening out there. Both of them had enough excitement for one night and all she needed not was a long sleep within the warm covers of the bed. But Becky knew that she was going to be imagining that once the house was cleaned. "They won't bother us anymore."
That's for sure Kevin thought and let the curtain cover the window once the police car pulled away from the house with the two bandits inside. Kevin then walked over to his sister and sat down beside her. "Merry Christmas Becky," he said and leaned his head over her arm.
Becky perked up when Kevin said so. Was it midnight already? Looking over to her little brother, Becky leaned her head close to him and said, "Merry Christmas Kevin."
A loud pounding vibrated off the walls of the apartment, startling Amy from her sleep as she gasped and bolted up in her bed in a sitting position. The pounding on the door continued and she pulled the covers against her and curled against the headboard of the bed. "What?" she whimpered and at that moment, she turned her head and looked at the empty side of the bed. "H-Harry?" she said but the pounding continued to get louder, causing her to shrink into the covers of the bed.
The clock on the drawer read twelve at midnight. Who was pounding on the door at this hour? On Christmas? Unless it could have been either Harry or Marv who had forgotten to take the keys with them. But they wouldn't be banging on the door so loud! Also, Amy remembered that she had seen Marv go into the guest bedroom for his sleep while she remained with Harry in theirs. Slowly, Amy got up from her bed and walked to the door. Standing on the tip of her toes, she peeked through the peephole and let out a gasp.
Right outside the door there were two police officers, one who was older than the other. But what were they officers doing at the apartment?
Turning away from the door, Amy scampered over to the guest room where she was hoping to find Marv, but when she got there the bed was unmade and empty. Another loud knock came from the door and Amy turned her head to look at it as if the officers were going to materialize through the door. Was it possible that the police showing up have soothing to do with Marv's and Harry's disappearance? Reluctantly, Amy walked over to the door and opened it where she finally came in contact with the officers. The both of them were rather tall in heigh compared to Amy that she had to crane her neck and look up at them. If Marv had been standing by their side, he would be practically towering over the both of them. "Yes...officers?" Amy asked as she clung onto the doorknob, thinking that it would be her only support.
"Ma'am, are you Amy Lime? The wife of Harry Lime?" the senior police officer asked.
Amy's eyes widened at that question. "Oh my God what's happened to him?" she asked and gripped the front collar of her shirt in worry.
The younger police officer glanced at her. "He and his parter, Marvin Merchants, have been arrested."
If Amy hadn't been holding onto the doorknob she would have fallen on the floor. "What?" she breathed out, "a-arrested?"
The officers looked at one another as if they hadn't expected this sort of question from Amy. To the senior officer's mind, either Amy was a really good actress or she had no idea what was going on. "Your husband and his friend," the senior officer continued, "have been stealing from houses, flooding them, and calling themselves...what was it that one of them said, Ray?" he asked his partner.
The younger officer, who went by the name of Ray, flipped through his notepad and read, "Wet Bandits."
Amy looked at the two men aghast. "Stealing? There must be some mistake! They work in plumbing!"
"They seemed to have you fooled Mrs. Lime," the senior officer, "if I should call you that, that is."
"My marital status is none of your concern!" Amy said sounding harsh than she had intended to.
However, the officer continued as if he had not paid any attention to what Amy had just said, "they're neither licensed nor are they contracted with any company around Chicago."
Out of all the people in the world, why did it have to be Harry who was the one to end up in jail? Was there a sign that Amy had missed after all these years that she had been married to him? Had it been her sudden breakdown those eight years ago when she was certain that they had finally settled and could make a family? Was it her fault? "Maybe you have the wrong guys," she suddenly spoke up.
"No," Ray said as he shut the notepad and looked over at his partner, "everything that my partner said was true and everything was a match."
Letting out a sigh, Amy leaned her head against the doorframe and shut her eyes. Why did thing have to be like this? Why on Christmas? Why ever?
"Did you," Ray asked as he pointed at her with the pen in his hand, "have any idea about their whereabouts?"
Amy lifted her head from the doorframe and tried her best not to glare at him. How dare he ask her such a question? Did he expect her to be a culprit as well? "No," she answered, trying to keep her anger at bay, as she shook her head. "All I knew was that they had their job as plumbers for around the area, which turned out to be a complete lie," she added and looked elsewhere.
"Well," the senior officer said as he looked at his partner, "we may need you to come in with us for some further questions at the station."
At that moment, Amy looked directly at the both of them. "What do you need me there for? I told you everything I knew!"
"Its standard procedure," Ray said and tapped his pen against his notepad, causing tiny streaks of ink across the sheet of yellow paper.
"And we just want to be sure that we have our facts straight. It will only be for a few minutes," the other officer added.
Amy knew that if she tried to resist, she had that feeling that she wouldn't be triumphant in the end. "Fine," she said and looked down at her feet and then at the officers, "just let me change." With that, she pulled herself away from the doorway and allowed the officers to have a full view of the apartment.
Amy fast walked over to her bedroom and shut the door. She leaned against the door and tightened her fist after recalling the words that she had just exchanged with the officers. She felt hurt, angry, and extremely disappointed. Why would Harry, and even Marv for that matter, lie to her about this? It took all her will to not throw an object across the room or even tear that golden band around her finger and fling it over her shoulder and hope to never find it. Even she did, she knew that all of those years of being with Harry would be marked upon that finger of where that golden band was.
She suddenly slipped out of her pajamas and into the clothes that she wore whenever she went outside. This is just crazy she thought. It was just too hard to believe at what was happening. So many aspects of her life had gone wrong while being in the marriage but this one was just the cherry on top of it all. Letting out a sigh and not even caring how she looked like, Amy made her way out of the bedroom and back where she had left the officers. "Alright officers, I am-" she stopped when she suddenly saw one of them leaping off the couch where he sat and pounced over to her.
Amy didn't know whether she had let out a shriek or not but for one thing, her back was against the floor and she was staring into the blue cold eyes of the young officer. "What the hell is this?!" she yelled and tried to struggle free from under his grip.
"Hold her up, Ray," the senior man said as he stalked over to the both of them.
"Come on," Ray said as he got up from Amy and pulled her on her feet. He kept her arms behind her in a firm grip to make her chances of escape futile.
Within his grip, Amy could feel herself shaking and she couldn't find the urge to make eye contact with either of them. However, the senior man had a different plan. He reached over with his hand and placed it under shin so she could look up at him. The man could see that there was fear in her eyes and it made him delighted to see that. Perhaps he could instill the same fear upon Harry, if he could get out of jail that is. "Now that we have your attention Mrs. Lime, you'll listen to us well. Harry owes us, and he owes us big."
