Dreiser sputtered and closed the window. Betty wiggled out of her harness and settled back in the wider seat that Lummox had provided without being told. John Thomas looked at her. “Hi, Slugger.”
“Hi, Knothead.”
“I didn’t know you knew the Chief.”
“I know everybody. Now shut up. I’ve gotten here, with all speed and much inconvenience, as soon as I heard the newscast. You and Lummox between you could not manage to think your way out of this, even with Lummox doing most of the work-so I rallied around. Now give me the grisly details. Don’t hold anything back from mama.”
“Smart Alec.”
“Don’t waste time on compliments. This will probably be our only chance for a private word before they start worrying you, so you had better talk fast.”
“Huh? What do you think you are? A lawyer?”
“I’m better than a lawyer, my mind is not cluttered with stale precedents. I can be creative about it.”
“Well. . .” Actually he felt better now that Betty was present It was no longer just Lummox and himself against an unfriendly world. He poured out the story while she listened soberly.
“Anybody hurt?” she asked at last.
“I don’t think so. At least they didn’t mention it.”
“They would have.” She sat up straight. “Then we’ve got nothing to worry about.”
“What? With hundreds, maybe thousands, in damage? I’d like to know what you call trouble?”
“People getting hurt,” she answered. “Anything else can be managed. Maybe we’ll have Lummox go through bankruptcy.”
“Huh? That’s silly!”
“If you think that is silly, you’ve never been in a law court.”
“Have you?”
“Don’t change the subject. After all, Lummox was attacked with a deadly weapon.”
“It didn’t hurt him; it just singed him a little.”
“Beside the point. It undoubtedly caused him great mental anguish. I’m not sure he was responsible for anything that happened afterwards. Be quiet and let me think.”
“Do you mind if I think, too?”
“Not as long as I don’t hear the gears grind. Pipe down.”
The parade continued to the Stuart home in silence. Betty gave him one piece of advice as they stopped. “Admit nothing. Nothing. And don’t sign anything. Holler if you need me.”
Mrs. Stuart did not come out to meet them. Chief Dreiser inspected the gap in the grating with John Thomas, with Lummox hanging over their shoulders. The Chief watched in silence as John Thomas took a string and tied it across the opening.
“There! Now he can’t get out again.”
Dreiser pulled at his lip. “Son, are you all right in the head?”
“You don’t understand, sir. The grating wouldn’t stop him even if we did repair it. . . not if he wanted to get out. I don’t know anything that would. But that string will. Lummox!”
“Yes, Johnnie?”
“See that string?”
“Yes, Johnnie.”
“You bust that string and I’ll bust your silly head. Understand me?”
“Yes, Johnnie.”
“You won’t go out of the yard again, not ever, unless I take you.”
“All right, Johnnie.”
“Promise? Cross your heart?”
“Cross my heart.”
“He hasn’t really got a heart,” Johnnie went on. “He has an uncentralized circulatory system. It’s like. . .”
“I don’t care if he has rotary pumps, as long as he stays home.”
“He will. He’s never broken ‘Cross my heart,’ even if he hasn’t got one.”
Dreiser chewed his thumb. “All right. I’ll leave a man out here with a portophone tonight. And tomorrow we’ll put some steel I-beams in there in place of that wood.”
John started to say, “Oh, not steel,” but he thought better of it. Dreiser said, “What’s the matter?”
“Uh, nothing.”
“You keep an eye on him, too.”
“He won’t get out”
“He had better not. You realize that you are both under arrest, don’t you? But I’ve got no way to lock that monstrosity up.”
John Thomas did not answer. He had not realized it; now he saw that it was inevitable. Dreiser went on in a kindly voice, “Try not to worry about it. You seem like a good boy and everybody thought well of your father. Now I’ve got to go in and have a word with your mother. You had better stay here until my man arrives. . . and then maybe sort of introduce him to, uh, this thing.” He passed a doubtful eye over Lummox.