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Chapter 13

Harm was seething. Chloe had 'accidentally' dropped her towel on the way back to the room as they passed by the pool where there just happened to be a bunch of teenagers having some fun. Harm had been so eager to keep her covered without making a scene, that he'd nearly fallen in the pool.

"Well it's not easy to cover someone with two beach chairs while you're walking along." he'd defended to Mac who shook her head and smirked at his sudden clumsiness. "They were wolf whistling her..." he glared at Chloe who was trying to wipe the pleased smile off her face. She'd rather enjoyed the attention.

"I know." Mac said with a smile as they headed into the elevator. She had to admit that she found this deep instinct to protect Chloe rather sweet."

"I don't know what all the fuss is about." Chloe said as the door of the suite finally closed behind them and she found herself being propelled towards the sofa.

"Sit and not one more word unless you're asked a question." Chloe rolled her eyes. Harm pulled her to her feet, spun her around and landed a few hard smacks to the convenient target.

"Ow ow ow." Chloe yelled.

"NO eye rolling either." Harm said. "You're attitude is about to be sent packing."

"Mac?" Chloe appealed with a worried look.

"What he said." Mattie buttoned her lip and tried to send Chloe positive thoughts...'shut up...shut up now.'

"Right stay there." Harm said. He whispered something to Mac before heading to the girls room. Mac saw the look of worry that flashed across Chloe's face.

JAGJAGJAGJAGJAG

He closed the door quietly behind him and stood stock still while his eyes scanned the room. It didn't take long for him to see what he needed... proof. Under Chloe's bed there was a hint of brightly coloured cardboard. Harm crossed the room and retrieved the tag and another two. It was his turn to roll his eyes. She hadn't even bothered to hide the evidence, but then looking at the mess, neatness and order weren't either of the girls strong suits.

Harm took a seat on the bed and turned the tags over in his hand. He winced at the prices...and the logo's. Hotel's weren't known for bargain prices on clothing. But how had she paid for the stuff, that was the question...? He put the tags into his pocket and prepared to go back out and confront her when he saw a piece of paper with numbers written on it poking out of Mattie's jacket. Curiosity got the best of him and picked it out. He sagged visibly as he read what was written. His name and a bunch of numbers... an expiry date...and a security number. "Oh no." He said sadly.

JAGJAGJAGJAGJAG

Chloe watched the door nervously out of the corner of her eye. Mac watched her watching and Mattie watched her fingernails...and listened.

"You know...I'm a little cold." Chloe said. "Can I use your bathroom to change back into my shorts?"

"No." Mac said.

"That could be child abuse." Chloe said under her breath. "I could get pneumonia."

"What you could get is a damn good spanking before we even figure out EXACTLY what you've done." Mac said. Mattie's head shot up.

Uh oh she thought.

The door opened and Harm stepped into the room. "Take a seat at the table please ladies." he said. The girls just stared ….unsure of what was going to happen. Mac included.

"NOW!" he barked. Both girls scurried up to the table...Chloe holding the towel safely in place around her waste. Mac made her way over there as well but slower...she was trying to read Harm's face. He'd found something, but she wasn't sure what.

Harm smoothed the cloth that covered the table like he was preparing to deal a deck of cards for a serious poker game. All eyes followed his hands as he reached into his pocket. Then he stopped short of actually retrieving the contents.

"Anyone have any idea what I'm about to put on this table?" he asked.

"Cards?" Chloe asked. Harm didn't bite, he wasn't going to give the little brat the the chance to orchestrate a distraction like she was trying to do.

"Close." he said as he watched both their reactions carefully. Mattie's eyes hadn't left his pocket. She knew the information hidden in there was the end of whatever they'd been up to. Guilt was written all over the young girl's face with a touch of regret. Chloe's eyes danced from his pocket to his face...to Mac's face and back to the pocket. She was a tough cookie on the outside but on the inside she was a scared little girl and so she should be. This was serious.

No answers were offered so Harm did what he had started and pulled out the tags from the clothes and laid them all on the table in front of Chloe.

"Care to explain why I found these under your bed?" he asked Chloe.

"Um..." Chloe's mind was working overtime but she was having trouble coming up with anything. "I..." Her eyes filled with tears and she suddenly looked less like a teenager and more like a little girl.

"Chloe?" Mac asked. "Are these yours?" Chloe burst into tears and Mattie sighed. Why hadn't she listened.

"I..."

"Why?" Mac asked. "If you needed something...I would have got it for you if you asked."

"I dunno...I was just looking and then..."

"Then what?" Harm asked. He shot a firm look at Mac, she was feeling sorry for her already because of the tears, he could tell.

"I...there was a girl."she said trying to focus on Mac who was by far the most ;likely to be a little sympathetic. "She...she charged some stuff to her room...and then when she left, the lady asked me …..if I...if my Dad would mind if I charged it to the room...I wanted it to be true." Ok, that tugged on his heart strings a little...but still.

"Oh honey." Mac said.

"Look...I have absolutely no problem with you pretending I'm your Dad...but even if I was, it wouldn't be ok. It's not ok to charge something without asking and it isn't ok to choose that type of revealing..." He pointed to the covered up bikini. "Piece of …...Chloe it's more like a piece of junk jewellery than an item of clothing."

"So your not so mad?"

"Oh I'm mad alright...that was a lot of money...and you broke the law..."

Mattie was intently listening to Chloe getting hauled over the coals...so much so that she didn't see the next trap fall into place. She did however see the piece of paper with Harm's credit card details as it fluttered through the air and landed on the table in front of her.

"And what about you Matilda? What exactly is this and why was it in your pocket?" Mac's head swung around and settled on the piece of paper and she tried to comprehend what it was. The penny dropped. Well that answered how they managed to pay for the flowers...

Mattie's eyes filled with big fat tears.

"We didn't use it much.." she tried. The truth was she wasn't entirely sure exactly what they'd spent.

Harm started to pace... "You didn't use much?" he yelled. "Mattie you shouldn't have used ANY. That's fraud! You broke the law! You both did! "

"I'm sorry Harm...really, I'm so sorry."

"Why? Why would you do such a thing?" Mattie's eyes darted across to Mac.

"I...we..." she said, her face wracked with guilt as she realised she'd just dumped Chloe even further into the mess. Chloe didn't look too worried about that, she was already about to face the firing squad...there was such a thing as double jeopardy.

"We were trying to set you to up." Chloe said with a sniffle. "We thought we were being nice...giving you a shove in the right direction..." Harm ran his hand through his hair and looked at Mac who looked...embarrassed as all hell. Her face flamed and she was sure that her thoughts were actually on show. She was shocked herself...that part of her wished they had succeeded. But she managed to push those thoughts away...for the moment. There were more important things to deal with here.

"So what did you use the card for?" she said. She slid a slip of paper over towards Mattie. Write down every charge you put on the card and where you used it." she said. Mattie took the pen that Mac was holding out for her and started to write.

"I...I don't know exactly how much things cost." she said feeling really stupid as the words left her mouth.

"Write what you do know. We can find out the rest."

"It's only credit...it's not like we took cash."

"Credit IS the same as cash...you have to pay the bill when it comes...no I have to pay the bill when it comes." Harm said.

"But can't you get another credit card and pay for this one with that one?" Chloe asked.

"It doesn't work like that." Harm said. He looked over to where Mattie was sniffling and scribbling on the paper.

"Oh Mattie." he said. "We didn't mean it to go so wrong!" she wailed.

"The upgrade as well?...There was no free upgrade? He was mentally trying to remember what the difference in the room prices were...Finally finished, Mattie passed him the paper.

"I think it'd be better if you two went in the bedroom for a while...we're going to need to make some calls."

"Do I need a lawyer?" Chloe asked.

"Nope...you already have two...won't help you." Harm said as we stood by the door waiting to help them inside.

TBC