Vash's Decision

Actually, the blame was placed solely on the boy named Vash Zwingli. The moment Roy put eyes on Heidi he could not think she had anything to do with it. He was not the type to have his suspicions dissuaded by a cute little face and younger people had been capable of worse. No, she was just too innocent. Even Brian seemed to think so.

So their attention was placed on that girl's older brother.

"An' ye both come from..."

"None of your business," Vash retorted.

Brian wrote something down. Roy could only imagine.

"Roy! Brian! Here for breakfast?" Elizaveta asked, obviously just having washed up dishes. Then she frowned, staring between them and the newcomers. "What are you doing?"

"We 'ave a couple counts of stolen goods on our 'ands, Liza," Brian told her.

"Mo' than a couple. An' tha' laddie's the most likely suspect," Roy finished.

"What?" Zwingli demanded. "How dare you! I have nothing to do with–"

"Vash, please!" his sister exclaimed, grabbing at his arm. "Let's just cooperate with them, then they'll know we're innocent."

Heidi's plea seemed to settle Vash slightly, but not enough to remove the glare from his face. It reminded Roy of Arthur, which was amusing.

"My favourite cast iron skillet is missing too," Elizaveta said, looking thoughtful.

"Ye shoulda known be'er than ta steal from under yer own roof!" Roy wheeled on to Vash, who simply continued to glare at him.

Brian looked incredulous.

"Wha'?" Roy asked him.

"That jist seems too stupid."

"Neither of them stole anything!" Elizaveta spoke up, grabbing all of their attentions again. "They got here just after midnight. Neither of them left and the only things they brought with them could not hold any stolen anythings unless everything that was stolen were toothbrushes!"

Brian and Roy shared sidelong looks at each other.

"Why don't you go check out Ivan or someone?"

"We're jist doin' our job," Roy reminded her, something that seemed to deflate her defensiveness slightly. "An' jist 'cause ye're mad a' Ivan right' now doesn't mean we're goin' ta suspect 'im."

"I'm saying he's just as likely to have done it as these two," Elizaveta continued.

Elizaveta was not likely to keep up defending these two unless she was absolutely certain they had nothing to do with it. Roy liked Elizaveta and would like to think she was right. Still, he could only keep her opinion in mind.

Meanwhile, the older Zwingli had pulled something out and had handed it to Brian, who was looking over the identification with a bit of interest.

"Wha' is it?" Roy asked.

"'e's one of us," Brian commented, handing it back. "Officer Zwingli, surely ye can understand. We 'ave a job ta do."

"Which is why I understand you are wasting your time," Vash replied.

"A person yer description was seen on Pacific," Roy said.

"We were looking for a place to stay the night," Vash reminded them. "The train pulled into the station at midnight. We checked in here fifteen minutes later. Does that give us enough time to have committed your felonies?"

"Only if yer tellin' the truth," Roy chuckled.

"Then just check the–" Vash paused in mid sentence, glancing over at Elizaveta for a moment before looking between him and Brian. "The train is not on a consistent schedule, if I recall."

"That's true," Elizaveta nodded.

"We'll 'ave ta check if anyone 'eard it come in," Brian folded his arms across his chest.

"Then I will assist in the retrieval of these items," Vash announced. "If only to clear my name from these... stupid accusations."

"You do realize that means one of them will be watching you at all times, right?" Elizaveta said, sounding a bit concerned.

Roy had no idea why she would be concerned. He thought it was a great idea. "An' what's wrong wit' tha', Elizaveta?"

"She seems troubled," Brian nodded, for once seeming to be thinking correctly.

"Ai ken. 'e'll be fine. We'll make sure o' it."

"That's what I'm afraid of," Elizaveta began, but Roy just grinned, gesturing for Vash to follow Brian out.

"An' ye keep an eye on the li'l lassie," he called in before turning all his attention to Vash Zwingli. "Take yer lead, officer. We'll be watchin'."

Time to see what a fancy officer from a big city would make of this, if anything. Things were about to get interesting.