Kids Will Be Kids - Part III

Want to read from the beginning? Here are the links for Part I and Part II


The bell over the sheriff's door tinkled as Doc entered. Dougal sighed and closed the hunting magazine he'd been reading. Doc helped himself to a cup of coffee and sat down in the padded chair beside the desk.

"Any news on your nut case," he asked, grinning.

Dougal frowned. "Might be. Carl had a man up at his cottages who left without paying."

"You don't say -"

The bell over the door tinkled and Jendra rushed in. Today she was dressed in a metallic red pantsuit.

Doc's eyebrows rose.

"Oh, Sheriff, I'm so glad you're here," she said, breathlessly. Turning to Doc who'd half risen from his chair, she held out her hand. "I'm Jendra Nixtrom."

"Pleased to meet you, ma'am. I'm Doc Snowden."

Jendra's eyes lit up. "A real, old-fashioned doctor? How wonderful!"

Doc bristled, "Now see here -"

"I have some important information for you, Sheriff," she said, turning to Dougal. "I've discovered the name of the man Julien, that's my nephew, has done away with."

"Done away with? No one said anything about doing away with anyone -"

Jendra looked puzzled. "I'm sure I mentioned it the first time we met. Didn't I mention a murder, or something about bodies being reported?"

"Well -"

"I suppose I was rather flustered, but Julien swore he had done away with someone, and I just found out it was the rude man in the next cottage."

Dougal held up a hand. "Wouldn't happen to be a fellow by the name of Gizwold, would it?"

"Why, how ever did you know?"

"This fella went missing about two days ago."

Jendra beamed. "Why, that's wonderful, Sheriff. Julien didn't tell a falsehood after all. He tells falsehoods quite alot you know," she said in an aside to Doc.

"What's your nephew got to do with this?" Doc asked, still stinging from the term "old-fashioned".

"Why everything! Julien's only been here a few days, but he gets bored so easily, he's just a child you know, and try as I might, I'm only one person and there are times I do have to take my eyes off him for a split second. Have you ever wondered how a second is split?"

"How old is this nephew?" Dougal asked. He was beginning to get a headache from trying to follow her train of thought.

"He just turned eight. Such a precious age, don't you think?"

Dougal relaxed.

"Anyway, he was only going to explore the flora and fauna, he's very interested in flora and fauna. Why he -" she broke off as she glanced at her watch.

"I've got to be going," she said, jumping to her feet. "Nice to meet you," she called over her shoulder to Doc as she dashed out the door.

"No more sense than a hummingbird," Doc snorted.

"She's starting to spook me," Dougal admitted.

"No reason for it, she seems pretty harmless. I think she's just hankering after attention. I wouldn't worry, 'less of course a body shows up." Doc snickered.

"Yeah, well I'm going to keep my eye on the situation, just in case."

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

The next day Dougal was alone in his office when he saw Jendra coming. He heaved a sigh and stuffed his True Crime magazine into a drawer.

"Good afternoon, Sheriff." She looked almost normal in a deep purple metallic trench coat, belted tightly against the stiff breeze outside.

"Ma'am."

"About this murder ..."

"Let me see if I've got this straight. You want to report that your eight year old nephew has confessed to murdering this man Gizwold, is that right?"

"In a nutshell, Sheriff."

Dougal muttered something under his breath about pots calling the kettle black.

"We want to co-operate in every way."

"Well, first ma'am, you'll have to take me to the body."

"Body? Oh, dear. Oh, my." Jendra bit her lip.

"Let me guess, you don't have a body?"

"I'm afraid not, Sheriff," she said apologetically. "You see, Julien used a disintegration gun on the poor man, so of course there's nothing left."

"Disintegration gun," Dougal muttered. "Now see here -"

"It's so very annoying, we didn't even know he brought it with him, he couldn't have got it here, could he? And who knows what else he's made vanish. He'll only admit to disintegrating Mr. Gizwold, and I'm very certain he was provoked into it, Mr. Gizwold was such a nasty man, but of course Julien is just a child, and I'm very much afraid he's covering up some of his other misdeeds."

"Does your -"

Jendra's watch suddenly chimed. "Oh, my. I'm so sorry, but I've got to run."

"Now wait just a -"

"I'll be back on Monday," she called over her shoulder. Without further ado she rushed out the door and disappeared down the street.

Dougal, forgetful of the fact he was using a party line, phoned Doc to bring him up to date. This let him in for a great deal of ribbing over the course of the weekend, which he took, for the most part, good naturedly. He did, however, grow extremely tired of being asked if he'd found any bodies yet.