Kids Will Be Kids - Part V (Conclusion)

Want to read this from the beginning? Here's Part I, Part II, Part III, and Part IV.



Shrugging, Dougal continued on to cottage number five, Gizwold's, and had a quick look around. The sleigh bed was neatly made, and it looked like there were fresh towels in the bathroom. There were no suspicious looking stains anywhere, nothing to indicate any foul play. Dougal even went so far as to check a couple of dresser drawers and under the bed, but the place was clean.

He continued next door to number seven. There was no car in the parking space, but the door stood open.

"Hello?" he called from the veranda. "Anyone here?"

"In here," came a muffled reply.

Dougal entered and met Jendra as she came out of one of the bedrooms, a suitcase in her hand.

"Sheriff, I'm glad you came!"

"I -"

"This was our last day. Tibor and Julien have already left, I just had a few more things to pack."

"What I -"

"I didn't have enough time for a trip to town, I was going to leave you a note. You've been so kind, I felt you deserved to know how things worked out."

"Have -"

"The mystery is solved!" she beamed at him.

"How -"

Jendra pushed him unresisting into a chair. She perched on the edge of the sofa and leaned forward. "Julien really did disintegrate our neighbour."

"But -"

"It was a very naughty thing to do, of course it took awhile for Julien to understand this, but with the right kind of therapy I think there's hope for him yet."

"But -"

"Now, don't you worry Sheriff," she patted his hand. "We'll take care of everything. I was wrong to have bothered you in the first place. It turns out this wasn't part of your jurisdiction at all. You see, our neighbour was a time-traveller too. We've already reported it to the authorities in our time, they'll see that Julien gets the help he needs."

"Now just a -"

"We've already sent Mr. Gizwold's things on to his family, it wouldn't do to leave them in the past, would it? Julien has paid up Mr. Gizwold's rental fee, out of his own pocket too, I might add. It was only fair."

"But -"

A disembodied chime sounded.

"What -"

Jendra jumped up, "I've got to go." She picked up her suitcase and moved to the centre of the room. "Goodbye Sheriff, thank you for being so understanding."

Before Dougal could say a word Jendra was enveloped in a beam of light. It sparkled around her, then faded away, taking Jendra with it.

Dougal's mouth opened and closed several times. He stood up slowly, hitching up his pants. He removed his hat, ran a hand through his hair and put the hat back on. Shaking his head, he left the cottage.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

"Hey, Dougal," Doc greeted him at the Wednesday night poker game. "How's that crazy woman of yours?"

"Gone," Dougal said, sitting in his usual seat. "The whole works of them."

"What about that mystery of hers," Henry asked, "the body and all?"

"Well," Dougal replied, shuffled the deck of cards, "It's like this..."

By the time he was finished his story, it was time for a beer break.

There was silence for a moment, then George said, "That's some tall tale, Dougal. You really had me going for a minute there."

"You should write for one of them UFO papers, Dougal."

"Ain't you even going to search for a body? Been a long while since we had to round us up a search party," Henry said wistfully.

Dougal opened up a beer. "Don't see no point. The only real crime here was that Gizwold fella stiffing Carl. Carl's got his money and he don't want to press charges."

Doc frowned. "That Jendra woman was a real nut case, if ever I saw one."

"Crazy as a loon," several heads nodded in agreement.

"Ain't you at least going to put out a bulletin?"

"What for?"

"Well," Doc glanced around the table. "Well, at least a warning there's a family of lunatics running loose."

Dougal snagged the bowl of pretzels as it made the rounds. "No point. Like she said, it ain't my jurisdiction."

END