EDENVILLE

Mystery

By @naomimrshl

The little village sprang into action... and those who couldn't spring, hobbled.

There hadn't been a satisfing murder mystery for awhile.
The last one (it made the headlines clear up as far as Farmville) had been five years before, when the Mayor's wife was found to have had her bucket kicked out from under her whilst she was whacking moles in the woodpile. Turned out, it was a jealous cousin who felt slighted that a certain gold pin had not been inherited by the proper niece. On occasion, Mayor Maynot still receives short, angry notes demanding its return to the proper branch of the family. The mayor, after seeing the return address, never reads them.

Constable Breem, The Inspector, and several officers of the Edenville Law and Order  homicide unit fluttered around the remains of Corky. They hung yellow  crime scene tape over anything that did not move and took snapshots of possible clues.

The doc came and identified the body as surely Corky... and most surely dead.

Then the pick up and delivery man, from the county morgue came and took what was left of Corky away. (he is really the elected Dog and Rabid Varmint Catcher, but there simply wasn't any of that.. so he uses his collection wagon as the morgue truck)

There had, of course, been an exhaustive search, but none of Corky's toes - formerly firmly attached in the usual order to Corky's feet, showed themselves.
And, even more curious, there was no blood! Not a drop of blood was found anywhere! (Except inside his boots which  along with Corky's bobbed feet, were full of the gory stuff.)

Another curious thing that was duly reported, was that there was no evidence of a struggle.

...............

Millicent was back in the hospital, cast in plaster from head to foot.. only her eyes, red from crying, could be seen.
Two little holes located her nostrils, and a breathing tube snaked from her mouth to a large, sucky sounding machine.

The door opened, and a masked man approached her bed...
"There, there miss, you will be just fine. Actually safer here than anywhere else."

"mmoh mmm mmmoh mm!" Milli responded.

"Ha ha ha!" the masked man laughed, you sound funny! See ya lator, alligator! " he sang out as he fairly skipped from the lonely room.

Millicent heard the door shut but her heart beat faster when she heard the lock click.

...............

Bessie sat, tightly huddled twixt her stove and the sink counter.
She polished her precious moo cow creamer with tragic tears... waves of them, actually.
Disappointment consumed her. She had had such high hopes for today.
In her dreams, she had allowed herself to script a romantic scene :
At just the right time, silence would descend over the Olde Junk Roadshow as the excited whispers quickly sped from ears to ears...
"Look! Bessie is about to open her satchel!   Look at her! She seems like a queen! Certainly she must have a treasure..."

Porter Dobbs would rush to elbow his way to her side   he would kneel on one knee.

"Oh, my Bessie, girl... OhOh! my swwet.  what is it you keep so secret... please please, share with me and we will live happily forever!"

And then, in a golden beam of celestial light from the rafters, Bessie would slowly extract moo cow and offer it up to her Porter... her handsome, clumsy Dobbs.

They would, of course live happily ever after.  but now her dreams were as dead as Corky... Porter hadn't attended to her... not even a tidbit of attendance!

Porter Dobbs needed to learn his lesson, and she reckoned she was the only person who knew how to help him...

But, Oh!, she wished there was another way!

Ancient Boo purred as he wound himself around Bessie's swollen ankles.