A Tourist in Mayberry

6/2) Sheriff Nichols Does Some Sleuthing

Sheriff Nichols was unhappy. His normally quiet, dull town was going crazy. Missing teenagers, a missing mayor, and now his former deputy, Romey Honeycutt, was calling him sometimes twice a day with reports of spies and secrets and missing persons and underhandedness taking place at the retirement center. Officer Honeycutt was convinced the Wild Bunch was involved. While Sheriff Nichols knew the Wild Bunch and respected their past deeds and exploits and capabilities, he was skeptical these 60 and 70 year old retirees were still actively involved in actions more exciting than a game of cards or tennis. They did seem to love a good mystery, especially when the mystery involved a crime, but there was nothing to indicate they were capable of illegal activity. Sheriff Nichols was sure they were messing with Officer Honeycutt and having a good laugh at his expense. Officer Honeycutt was being a little over zealous in his pursuit of what he called "undercover, sneaky-ass spy killers who had done gone and probably kidnapped the mayor".

Still, Sheriff Nichols knew how helpful the Wild Bunch could be in the apprehension of a bad guy, so he sought help on the disappearances from these experts and was met with unusual disinterest from the mystery lovers. He asked for their theories on the missing mayor.

"Never cared too much for the man," said Shiela. "Seems like a pig to me."

"Agree," said Reid.

"Eighty-nine percent of missing public officials are involved in some type of crime, usually stolen monies," said Izito, "Have you checked his bank accounts?"

Right to the point thought the Sheriff. "SBI is looking into that now." The Sheriff then quickly changed the subject to throw them off, though it was impossible to throw this bunch off. "What do you know about Candi who works here? She has been doing work on the side for the mayor, cleaning his office."

Matthew said, "She is upstanding. She goes out of her way to help my Lacey. She's a single mom doing the best she can to raise her daughter. She's not capable of hurting a fly." Then he changed the subject pointedly. "My opinion - sometimes a person wants to vanish and disappear, and sometimes, they should have done it a long time ago."

The Sheriff left with little more than he started with.

After the sheriff was gone Izito said to Matty, "Well, now you've done it. Not everyone wants to be saved."

"Not everyone knows they need to be saved, " Matty added, "Besides, what do the kids have to do with the mayor?"

"You know they are connected," said Izito. "You basically ran that boy off too. And he took his girl."

"Well, I am sure I know about the mayor, but the kids, I'm not so sure about them anymore."

"Matty, can you find them?" asked Shiela. "I'm starting to get worried this is worse than we thought. Since you didn't do it, the missing finger concerns me. It totally feels like a threat or warning. Worries me."

"Me too," said Matty. " Reuben is wondering if those kids are together anymore. He said from what I told him, Damien was not the type to take care of anyone but himself. Reuben says that if they are together, we need to find them. On the off chance they are together, and he hasn't already hurt her, the girl is in danger."

"Let me make some phone calls," said Izito. "Time to fix this mess."

After Sheriff Nichols left the Wild Bunch he was frustrated. He made no progress at all and those reporters from the News were pestering the fool out of him. The DNA report came back from the state crime lab late last night, but he suppressed it so far from the News. The finger was the boy's. Where was that two-bit hood? No sign of the teenagers or Mayor Booker. Dammit. He needed to find somebody who was missing. The Sheriff was going to go talk to Candi.