[Episode 4]
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old sight,
And we laughed when we saw him, in spite of the night!
A click of the pen and a check next to "Dead"
Soon gave us to know we had nothing to dread.
"What's that sound" cried
dreams. "What now?"
"It's the door bell ... I wonder who would be calling on us tonight?" wondered
WT Sharpe.
"I'll get that" shouted
Alex, running down the stairs. "I called the insurance company. They promised to send an agent out right away."
Opening the door,
Alex found a short, nattily dressed man wearing a bowler hat, wire-rim glasses, and a cautious smile. Tipping his hat politely, the man introduced himself: "Good day, Sir. Here's my card. I'm
Jellby, from the firm Jellbby, Jelbby, Jjellby, and
Jellby.
You remember we were involved with your
Kindle Dev Forum? Also, the
Sony Dev Forum, which introduced us to the
Kobo Dev Forum. Very good groups you have there. Yes, sir. Why some of the things that I discovered there were amazing. Did you know, that there is this one guy, goes by the name of geekmaster.. "
"Yes, yes. That was all handled nicely by your partners,"
Alex cut in. "Now, about why I called you."
"You rang our office about a *ahem* tragic accident, I believe?"
Jellby consulted the forms on his clipboard. "A fall from the roof whilst hanging lights?"
"Come in, come in" cried
Alex. "We've moved the body inside. Yes, a fatal fall. We still can't believe it happened. I'll take you upstairs to view
pilotbob's body. "
"Pssst ...
Alex ... a word before you go upstairs!" whispered
dreams. "Errrr ... We don't think it was an accident
Alex. Look at the cord that
WT Sharpe unwound from
pilotbob's body. It's been cut! And .... we can't find my scissors anywhere! We think that someone did this on purpose .... that
pilotbob was murdered!"
"Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. This is very bad." murmured Mr.
Jellby. "Very bad indeed."
"Yes, it's absolutely terrifying! One of us is a murderer!" cried
dreams.
"Well, yes, that too. But I was referring to your insurance coverage" explained
Jellby, smoothing his remaining strand of hair over his shining pate. "You chose not to purchase the 'MobileRead Holiday Homicidal Havoc' package ... so a murder is not covered under your policy. You sir will be fully liable for damages if you choose to regard this *ahem* tragic holiday accident as a murder. And since the *ahem" alleged murder weapon has inexplicably vanished, I don't see any problem with writing this up as an accident, and wrapping things up tonight."
"But what about this?" demanded
WT Sharpe, holding the cut ends of the light cord in
Jellby's face.
"Oh yes, oh yes .... obviously old decorations ... normal wear and tear from being used outdoors ... perfectly understandable. Let's just get rid of some trash, all right?"
Jellby smoothly responded.
He rang for the maid before anyone could object, and when the housekeeper,
ravenne, entered the room,
Jellby handed her the cord and bade her to throw it into the trash.
"Now sir, let's get this pesky paperwork filled out, and I'll be out of your hair. And you can go on with your holiday festivities,"
Jellby quickly said.
ravenne silently took the cord and went back into the kitchen where she quickly made a call to
Marc_liest. "
Marc?" "I think you
both should stay busy in the
Deutsches Forum for a while longer, just to be safe. It may be a good idea to stay together and don't let
mtravellerh sneak off by himself. Right, we don't know what might happen next. Talk to you soon."
ravenne returned and announced "Dinner is ready!" Ringing the dinner gong brought everyone downstairs, crowding around
Alex and
Jellby, talking excitedly.
"Wow,
dreams, you even had time to cook dinner tonight?"
"What are we having?"
"Can I have
pilotbob's portion?"
HarryT's nose twitched as the delicious aroma wafted out of the kitchen. "That's odd. I could swear I smell chicken. We never have chicken.
poohbear_nc gets hysterical whenever someone suggests we have chicken."
Glancing around the room,
DaleDe asked "Where is old
pooh anyways? We haven't seen him since we carried
pilotbob upstairs."
Everyone froze for a long, silent minute .... and then stampeded into the kitchen.
ravenne was laying out the silverware on the long table, candles burning brightly at each place setting.
"
pooh came out here earlier to pop the corn for decorating the tree" cried
dreams. "Where is he? What's happened to him? Have you seen him,
ravenne?"
"No ma'am,"
ravenne replied. "When I came on duty this afternoon there was no one in the kitchen. The microwave was running though. I assumed someone had already started making dinner. I did have to clear away all these bags of popcorn - somebody had spilled them all over the floor."
All eyes turned to the microwave ... the source of the savory aroma tickling all nostrils. In the hushed silence, a sound rang out
DING
[End of Episode 4]