Chapter Twelve: Say No More

I could hear them before I saw them.

Still ten meters from the entrance of the garage, several loud voices carried through the chilled air to where I was walking. I recognized at least two of them instantly – Rebecca and Winnie. They seemed to be yelling at each other.

I walked into the garage. Rebecca and Winnie were at opposite sides of the garage, screeching at each other, nostrils flared, eyes flashing with fury. Riza was standing in between them, screaming something along the lines of "Shut up!" over and over again. Winnie and Rebecca both had two girls standing next to them. The two girls standing next to Rebecca, one tall, curvy, with long blonde hair, and the other shorter, with cropped hair that greatly resembled Rebecca's, were both red in the face, and shouting at the other girls. On Winnie's side, however, only one of the girls besides Winnie was yelling, a short, pale girl with high cheekbones and brilliant green eyes. The other girl, who was almost grotesquely thin, with red hair and a smattering of freckles, was pleading with Winnie in an undertone. Her words were drowned out by the other girls.

Suddenly, someone grabbed me by the shoulder and wrenched me into the office, where the voices were slightly muffled. I turned around to see Roy standing there, a harassed smile on his face. I asked, "What's going on out there?"

"Just a minor argument," he said with a shrug.

"Minor?" I asked dubiously.

He laughed. "I've lived with these girls long enough to know when they're really angry." I glanced back out there, just as someone who sounded like Riza screamed, "DON'T YOU DARE SUGGEST…"

Roy leaned back in seat behind the desk. "There's not much to do now but ride it out," he said, putting his arms behind his head. "They'll be done in a while."

I sat down. "Who are the other girls out there?" I asked.

"Margaret, Shauna, Fiona and Anne," said Roy lazily. "Margaret – she's the tall blonde – I don't think she really even cares much about the argument, she just wants to be part of something. Shauna – she's the youngest one – absolutely idolizes Becca, so she of course she's defending Becca's position. Fiona, the short one, she just came because she doesn't know what else to do, and Anne, the redhead, is the only one trying to break up the fighting. She-" there was an extra-loud shriek from the garage "-hates it when people argue."

He stopped talking, listening to the argument. Winnie screamed, "Don't make this about me!" and Riza screeched, "Do NOT interrupt me!"

Twenty minutes later, the screaming had been reducing to a low buzz of venomous conversation. That was when Roy stood up and said, "We should go out there, before they start yelling again."

I stood up and nodded, then followed him out. Riza was rubbing her temples while Rebecca talked to her quickly, every now and then glancing at Winnie, who was saying nothing, while the green-eyed girl whom Roy had told me was Fiona chattered excitedly.

Rebecca broke off as we approached. "Oh, hello," she said icily. "Glad to see you've finally decided to join the party."

Riza's response was immediate. "Don't you dare speak to him like that, young lady," she said harshly, in a tone that would make a grown man cringe. "We have provided you with a home and bought the clothes on your back and yet you still insist on being insolent, and ungracious, and-"

Roy put her arm around his wife. "Why don't you go sit down, Riza?" he asked gently. "I'll take care of this."

She hesitated for just a moment, then strode away, muttering under her breath. Roy turned to Rebecca, an expression on his face that I couldn't quite decipher. Rebecca sighed. "Don't," she said, folding her arms.

"Ed, you want to go over and talk to Winnie?" said Roy, without looking at me. "Please?"

"Uh – sure," I said. I strode away from them, across the garage, where Winnie was standing, the skinny girl named Anne patting her shoulder appreciatively, and Fiona humming loudly. "Hi," I said, feeling somewhat awkward.

"Hello," she said, her eyes never leaving the back of Rebecca's head.

"So…what exactly were you two arguing about?" I asked. Winnie glanced at me.

"Nothing."

I was just about to reply, "It obviously wasn't nothing," when Fiona stopped humming and asked, "Why do you want to know anyway?"

"Fiona, don't," groaned Anne.

Winnie jerked her head, gave me a look that seemed to say 'you don't have to answer her', then said slowly, patiently, as if she were talking to a child, "Fiona, this is Ed. Remember when Roy and I told you about him?"

There was something very strange about Fiona. Even though she was looking at me and appeared alert, there was a sort of glazed sheen over her eyes. It was unsettling. "Oh," she said dully. "My name is Fiona." She held out her hand.

I shook it uncertainly. "Er – nice to meet you." Something that resembled amusement flickered across Winnie's face.

"Ed, this is Anne," said Winnie, motioning towards the other girl. "Anne, Ed." Anne nodded in acknowledgment, her eyes fixated on the ground, her shoulders hunched over strangely. Her nose was slightly crooked, like it had broken and never really set properly. Winnie was still looking at Rebecca. "You must think I'm a real-"

But she didn't finish her sentence, because, at that moment, Riza's voice rung out around the garage. "Roy?" she asked, and something in her voice caused everyone to look around at her. She was at the door of the office, her face pale. There were several police cars turning into the parking lot.

Roy did not hesitate; without saying anything, he strode out to the front of the garage and started speaking to the officers. A man who was not a policeman ducked out of one of the cars.

"I should go help him," said Rebecca, heading that way, but Riza caught her by the arm.

"You'll cause us no more trouble, Becca. Stay here." Rebecca rolled her eyes, but stayed still, while I went right past her to stand next to Roy, who was now trying to reason with four policemen, and the Irishman who had been hassling Rebecca the night before.

"This is the man?" asked one of the policemen, pointing to Roy. The other man nodded confidently, barely concealing a smirk. He had several bad bruises around his cheeks and eyes.

"That's him, Officer," he said.

"This is ridiculous!" said Roy. "I haven't done anything-"

Another officer began to put handcuffs on Roy as the first one said, "Sir, I'm afraid you're under arrest for assault."

"No!" I said loudly.

"What?" asked Roy. "Assault? I was just defending a helpless woman!"

"Get in the car, sir," said the officer holding the handcuffs.

"If you're going to arrest anyone, it should be him!" I shouted, pointing at the bruised Irishman. "You can't-" I tried to stop the officer from shoving Roy into the car. Another policeman caught me, threw me to the ground, and put a knee on my back.

"If you do that again, sir, we're going to have to take you in for attacking a police officer," he said coolly. He lifted his knee off my back. I looked powerlessly to Roy.

As he was forced into the seat, he managed to say a few words to me. "I'll be fine!" he said. "Don't get involved! Tell Riza to-" the officer slammed the door in his face "-tell Riza to take the girls home!"

"Roy!" cried Riza.

As the car started and began to roll away, Roy shouted two last words: "It's okay!"

Then there was silence.

Riza broke the stillness. She snapped, "Ed, who was that man?"

I turned around, and couldn't stop my eyes from wandering to Rebecca. Riza whirled around and stared at the girl expectantly.

"His name is Joseph O'Mahony," said Rebecca lamely.

"What happened last night?" demanded Riza.

"He… Well, Roy found him bothering me and he took care of him. I mean… he was only protecting me."

Suddenly, a hand shot out of nowhere and Winnie had slapped Rebecca across the face. "THIS IS YOUR FAULT!" she shrieked. "WHY THE HELL DID YOU HAVE TO RUN OFF?"

Rebecca stumbled when Winnie hit her. Everyone looked at her, expecting her to scream something in reply. But she just stood there, looking at the ground dully. There was a pregnant pause.

Then Winnie sighed. "It's not your fault," she said lowly. "I'm sorry I said that."

"Oh," was all Rebecca said. Winnie rolled her eyes and bit her lip, then looked pleadingly to Riza.

"Let's go bust him out!" said Fiona loudly, largely defusing the awkwardness of the situation. Everyone began to talk at the same time.

"What do we do, what do we do, what do we do-"

"Who was that guy? Do you know that guy? I'm sure we know that guy…"

"Let's go home, that's what Roy wanted us to do…"

"What do we do, what do we do?"

"Winnie, take the girls home," said Riza, brushing a loose strand of hair out of her face. "I'll go see what I can do." She glanced at me. "Roy might need your help, Ed…"

"I'm there," I said immediately. "I'll do everything I can."

"Thank you," she said gratefully.

Then Rebecca said, "I don't want to go home. I know this is partly my fault and I want to help."

Riza glared at her. "No. Go home."

"But-"

"No buts!" said Riza, her voice rising several octaves. "Winnie! Now!"

Winnie just stared at Riza.

"No," she said softly.

Riza looked at her. "What?"

"Becca's right. She should take some responsibility for this." Winnie paused. "Fiona, Ann, Margaret, Shauna… let's go. Becca…take care of this."

She left the garage with the rest of the girls in tow. Fiona's eyes were unfocused and she skipped lightly outside. Anna kept her head down when she passed me, while Margaret smiled seductively and brushed my side warmly. Shauna didn't move.

Riza sighed. "Shauna…"

"If Becca's staying, so am I," she said, folding her arms resolutely and standing next to Rebecca. She couldn't have been older than thirteen.

Winnie took the girl by the shoulders and gently guided her out. "Rebecca's staying because she has to. You, on the other hand…"

The disappeared into a car. Riza, Rebecca and I were left alone. Then Riza grabbed a coat from a stand and hurried out. "Where do you think he is, Becca?" asked Riza.

"West station," she replied without hesitation. "That's the way they were headed." She paused, then added, "I noticed Officer Brown was with them. He's always been pretty sympathetic, you know."

Riza said nothing. She glanced at me. "Please say so if we're asking too much of you, Ed," she said. "But I would feel much better if you would stay a little longer."

I shook my head. "No, I'm happy to help."

With a brisk walk bordering on a jog, the three of us made it to the police station in just over ten minutes. The silence was powerful and somehow seemed to be alive, like there was some sort of unnamed energy in the air.

Riza went straight into the station and past the front room, to a dingy concrete room where Roy was sitting on a small cot behind bars. A policeman stood up to stop us. I wondered vaguely where the rest of them were

"Riza!" called Roy, as the police officer said, "Can I help you?"

"That's my husband," she said, pointing to Roy. "He shouldn't be in here – he didn't do anything wrong!"

The officer seemed to have not heard you. "I'm going to have to ask you to go into the other room."

"But this can't be legal-"

"Pardon me, Officer," said Rebecca, sliding in front of Riza, so she was face-to-face with the policeman. "You must excuse her, she's very upset right now…"

She made a small motion with her hand, as if to tell Riza and I to go away. I glanced around at the large policeman behind me, then tugged Riza softly. "I'm not-" Riza began, but Rebecca shot a glance her way, and she was silent. We went into the main room of the station, but we could still hear Rebecca's voice, purring quietly to the policeman… I looked out the window, trying to block out the noise. Riza was biting her fingernails worriedly.

Suddenly, the door banged open again and Winnie strode into the station. She saw us and said, "Riza, where's-"

"Shh," said Riza, pointing to the other room. "Becca's taking care of it."

Winnie turned faintly pink. Then she shook her head and marched into the room where Roy's cell was.

We followed her quickly. Rebecca was smiling up at the man, pressing herself unnecessarily close to him. Winnie put a hand on Rebecca's shoulder and wrenched her away from the man. "You scumbag," she spat.

The man looked somewhat surprised. "What-"

"This man has done nothing wrong!" she said, pointing at Roy. "You have no right to imprison him!"

The officer shrugged. "Sorry, Ma'am, but I can't do anything about it."

"You could let him go!"

"You know as well as I do that I can't do that," he responded. "This man was charged with assault on an innocent man-"

"What? That is so, so, so wrong, I can't even-"

The door to the police station opened and several officers filed in, as well as the Irishman who had accused Roy, and another man I didn't recognize. He grinned sickly at us.

The whole room went silent when the man slid into the room. His nose and mouth seemed too large for his face, or else his eyes too small. His hair was dark and thinning, and his fingers were fat and sausage-like.

"I am not happy that you dragged my daughter into this affair, Mr. Mustang," he said, with a voice that could have belonged to a snake. "I will be taking her immediately out of your care."

"No!" said Riza, and Roy was standing up, staring at the man with such hatred that I had never seen before.

"Get out of here," he growled. The man just smiled.

He turned to face Riza, Rebecca, Winnie and I. "I see you've replaced the boy already," he said quietly, his tiny eyes resting on me. "How…convenient."

"You're not taking her," said Winnie defiantly, though she shook as she said it. "I won't let you."

The man looked at Winnie coldly, then he glanced out of the room. I noticed all the policemen had retreated to the front room.

He whispered, "Too late."

He grabbed Rebecca by the arm. "Come," he said. "Your mother is waiting for you."

"No!" cried Roy, Riza and Winnie together, and Winnie threw herself at the man, only to be blocked by several policemen.

"It was a lucky thing Joe found you, girl," said the man loudly. "I would have been very upset if you had to scrounge around with these pigs any longer." Rebecca had tears streaming down her face by now.

Dragging Rebecca in tow, the man reached out an arm to open the door-

But before he could reach it, someone opened it from the outside.

My brother Al stood in the doorway, taking in the scene. Then, frowning slightly, he asked, "What's going on here?"

There was a split second of silence, then everyone burst into talk. The policemen who recognized Al were trying to be polite, but at the same time describe the situation. The man I could only assume was Rebecca's father starting roaring about these improper intrusions, and Riza, Winnie, Roy and I were trying to shout what was really happening.

After a few seconds of this, Al held up his hands. The police shut up at once. I silenced myself, and so did Riza, Winnie and Roy. Only Rebecca's father was still shouting.

"Who are you?" asked Al calmly.

"I'm the girl's father!" he bellowed, pulling up Rebecca. She met Al's gaze, and I saw him give her a tiny, almost imperceptible nod.

"I thought her father was dead," Al replied bluntly.

The man turned slightly red. "Yeah…well. I'm her stepfather, ain't I?"

"I don't know," said Al. "Are you?"

I breathed a silent sigh of relief. He had this under control.

The man was very flustered by now. He let go of Rebecca and said loudly, "Don't mess with me, kid! I'm getting out of here…"

He grabbed Rebecca and lunged towards the door. Al stood resolutely in his way. "I'm sorry," he said politely. "But I don't think you're in any fit state to take care of your step-daughter."

The man glared at him. "What are you talking about?"

Al glanced at the policemen. "This man should be arrested."

"What?" roared the man. "Jesus Christ man, what are you going on about?"

"He has a definite smell of alcohol about him," continued Al, unfazed by the man's shouting. "If I were you, I would apprehend this man."

The police hesitated for a moment, then one said, "Go on, then!" and they grudgingly advanced toward the man.

"What do you take me for, an idiot?" he screeched. "I ain't no drunk! Get offa' me!" The man glared heavily at Al. "You'll pay for this, boy."
"I don't think I will, sir," he said politely, and the man shook off the police and ran out of the station. Al looked at the police expectantly. "Well? Go after him!"

"Yessir," mumbled two or three of them, and they darted out of the station. Al looked at Rebecca once, then pulled something out of his pocket.

"How much is bail?" he asked, nodding toward Roy. Roy began, "No, don't-" but Riza shushed him.

"Hundred dollars, sir," said an officer.

"Well I think I can take care of that," said Al quietly. He handed the money to an officer, who then took the keys and unlocked Roy's cell. He hurried all of us outside, where he turned to Al.

"Thank you," he said gruffly. "So much. I can't-"

Roy broke off, as Al was staring at Rebecca, who wasn't meeting his gaze. Finally she took him by the arm and said, "Let's talk."

They strode off away from us, and Rebecca began to speak very quickly, gesturing with her hands. Al just looked at her, somewhat more pale than usual.

"We should be getting home," said Riza. "Daley might need us."

Roy nodded. He shook my hand firmly. "Thanks, again," he said. He glanced at Rebecca and Al. "I think the garage is going to be closed tomorrow," he murmured. "So you don't have to come in. Becca," he called. "We're going."

"We'll take her home," replied Al, still looking at Rebecca.

Roy sighed. "See you, Ed," he said, then got into the car with Riza. Winnie sidled up to me. I smiled weakly at her.

Then she totally took me surprise, and put her arms around me in a tight embrace. She loosened her arms slightly, and, her lips a centimeter away from my ear, she whispered, "I need to talk to you…can I meet you at the garage tomorrow, ten o'clock?"

"Uh – yes, of course," I said, frowning slightly. She nodded, kissed me on the cheek, then got into the car.

As I watched the black car drive away, the air was very, very cold, but when I reached up a hand to touch the spot on my face where Winnie had kissed me, I felt incredibly warm.

----------------------------------------

So... was this Rebecca's fault, after all? And what do you think about the relationship between Ed and Winnie? Could it possibly be more than just friends?

So the beta-reader idea probably is just fizzling out. I've had a pretty busy week, so forgive me for not updating on Wednesday. Thank you all for reading, as well as your wonderful support, I really appreciate it. As usual, review, tell me what you think of this chapter. Anything you see wrong? More constructive criticism, anyone?

There are more girls than are mentioned in this chapter, and all of them have stories, which will all be revealed in time. Thanks once again.