The 'Cousins'

Part Forty-Six: What Are You Gonna Do, Flik?

“But will you be carrying out an investigation? That’s what I need to know before I start mine.”

“Not unless a definite law’s been broken and someone files a complaint I won’t. I’d rather keep it low key and escort Mr. Mitchell to the county boundary.”

Donovan heard the huge sigh of relief coming from Dr. Armstrong.

“Thanks Flik, so it’s OK for me to discipline the boy. Like you, I really would prefer to keep this low-key  and in-house, so to speak.”

“Yeah, I’ll go along with that. Keep me informed and let me know straight away if there was money involved.”

“Thanks Flik, I’ll call you later.”

Donavan replaced the receiver with his mind already wrestling with serious implications for his office.  

" Wes Chandler called this office last night and was told to say nothing and that we were handling it.’ He said to himself. " But I wasn't here, so  Chandler would have spoken to Mecklen who was on duty last night. So when was Tod going to tell me about it?"

Donovan screwed up the piece of paper he had taken from Mecklen and hurled it into his waste bin. With rising anger he rose from his desk to question him.

Donovan threw open the door and barked ‘Tod!’

His voice rang around the office like a ricocheting bullet. Maisie and Tod looked up in surprise at the grim faced Sheriff.  But Donovan had a sudden afterthought. He forced a smile at Tod who now stood in front of him, pale and with trembling lips. “Go get us some decent coffee from Harry’s will you.”

“Sure, sure Sheriff,” Tod took the ten dollar bill Flik offered and rushed out onto the street to run the errand. Maisie tapped her teeth with a pencil, her head on one side as she looked with big, questioning eyes at her boss. She knew something was amiss, but Donovan was giving nothing away. He nodded and smiled at her. 

“You’d like some decent coffee for a change wouldn’t you Maisie?” He didn’t wait for a reply before he went back into his office, closed the door and retrieved the ball of paper from the waste bin. With care he smoothed it out with the flat of his hand on his desk blotter and put it into an evidence bag before locking it in his desk drawer. Flik sat back and chewed the end of his pen to think this through.

‘So what have we here? Mecklen took Wes Chandler’s call last night. He seems to have told Felix but he didn’t tell me. Why is that I wonder? It would explain why the story has spread the length and breadth of the town and everybody’s talking about it.  You think you’ve been clever Mr. Mecklen? Well we’ll play the waiting game and find out in good time what it is you and Felix are playing at. I’ll just let you think you got away with it for now and watch you like a hawk meanwhile.’

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Timeline: 0845, Friday 20th April :: Schoolhouse, Top Landing, outside the attic storerooms

Jess sat on the windowsill alone with his thoughts, biting his fingernails and hurting with the shock of being the target of the intense abuse and dislike he suffered from his peers in the cafeteria this morning. His stomach growled to remind him it had missed breakfast and was overdue for feeding.

‘What was Melissa doing here for breakfast. Why was she saying those things about me?’

His newly found confidence had evaporated. He hid himself away upstairs until the school clock struck the quarter hour before the first hour lessons. He counted slowly to three hundred before slinking downstairs to collect his books and bag from his locker and make his way to the classroom. There were several groups of students making their way into class and he held back until he was the last one to go into the room.