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room.
    ‘Amelia,’ said Dad. ‘Mum and I are so shocked. What were you thinking?’
    Amelia just shook her head. All the reasons that had made sense when she and Charlie
were talking seemed like nonsense now.
    ‘What you did,’ Mum said, ‘going into a guest’s room – our first guest! – well, I
only hope you understand how wrong it was. And why it was wrong.’
    ‘I do,’ Amelia whispered miserably.
    ‘I don’t,’ Charlie said.
    Amelia stared at him.
    ‘I don’t,’ he repeated. ‘I mean, I know it wasn’t right , but was it really that big
a deal?’
    Mary gaped at him. ‘You stole a key from the front desk, broke into a guest’s room
and went through her personal belongings. That’s a big deal!’
    ‘We only borrowed the key,’ said Charlie. ‘And we were just looking.’
    ‘For what?’ Mary asked. ‘And what gave you the idea you had any right to look in
someone else’s room, Charlie? That’s trespass!’
    Charlie’s eyes widened. He obviously hadn’t thought of that. Amelia felt her own
shame deepen another notch – she’d committed a real crime. Not even James had done
something that bad.
    ‘Well,’ Dad twitched slightly, ‘I’m not sure we need to get the police involved just yet. But you do get it, don’t you, Charlie?’ Dad squatted down so he was eye level
with him. ‘We have to work together as a team if this hotel is going to run properly.’
    Charlie fidgeted under Dad’s gaze.
    ‘Charlie?’ Mary snapped when he didn’t answer straight away. ‘Do you get it? Do you
know what Mr Walker is saying?’
    Charlie looked at Amelia’s dad. ‘I think so.’
    ‘You’d better know so,’ said Mary. ‘He’s saying that if you can’t behave yourself,
we will be off the team, Charlie. I will lose my job. Do you understand that ?’
    Dad pulled back a little. ‘Well, uh, I wasn’t exactly … I’m not threatening …’
    But Mary was staring hard at her son. If Dad wasn’t threatening, Mary surely was.
‘I’m not joking, Charlie,’ she said quietly. ‘I need this job.’
    Charlie dropped his head and nodded.
    Dad clapped him on the shoulder, and stood up. ‘It’s all good, Mary. I’m sure both
kids have got it straight now. We’ll be smooth sailing from now on.’
    Amelia glanced at Charlie’s hunched shape, and some of her anger at him shifted.
Before she knew what she was doing, she heard herself say, ‘Well, what about Tom?’
    ‘What about him?’ said Mum.
    ‘Is he part of the team, too? Does he have to change his behaviour – because there’s
something up with him!’
    Dad and Mum swapped awkward glances, and Amelia could swear they had both tensed
up.
    ‘What are you talking about, Amelia?’ Mum asked.
    ‘Tom’s up to something. We saw him breaking into Miss Ardman’s room!’
    ‘Which you so strongly disapprove of,’ said Dad, ‘that you decided to break in yourselves.’
    Amelia blushed, but kept her chin up.
    ‘We were looking for proof of what Tom was up to. We think he’s a thief! We were
trying to prove it to you to protect the hotel.’
    ‘But you can’t stop a bad thing by doing that thing yourself,’ groaned Mum. ‘I thought
you understood that. Dad and I trust Tom, and yes – he’s part of our team. You might
not like him, and who knows? Maybe he doesn’t like you, but we have to work together.’
She took a deep breath, and said, ‘Right, we’ve made our point, I think. Now, when
Miss Ardman’s had a chance to recover, I’m going to take you to her, and you can
apologise for what you’ve done.’ She let out a sigh, and some of the hardness slipped
from her expression. ‘With any luck, we can smooth this whole thing over.’
    The three parents left the room, closing the bedroom door behind them. Amelia and
Charlie stared glumly at each other, neither of them speaking.
    Then suddenly, Charlie stood up straighter.
    ‘What?’ said Amelia.
    ‘Shh!’ hissed Charlie, jumping up from the bed. ‘Listen!’
    He crept