Chapter Eight

Author's Note: Next chapter. Inktober for Writers is keeping me very busy right now, but I hope to get more chapters of this out soon.

Elfmaiden4legs: Thank you so much. :) This one took me a while to write and I wasn't sure if it would be one my readers would like. So I'm thrilled to hear that you are enjoying it thus far. I hope you'll enjoy this update and what I've got planned next as well.

It was a quiet, tense atmosphere at breakfast that morning at Skeldale House.

After a long night spent keeping an ear out for either the phone or the Farnon brothers' return, James and Helen ended up letting themselves sleep in a little longer than usual. When they finally came down to breakfast, they had anticipated finding Siegfried and Tristan already eating.

Instead, they found no sign of either of them and all the worries that had started to creep in last night came back with a vengeance.

"James, if they had had a late call that kept them out all night, they would have called," Helen said. "Siegfried isn't that absent minded."

"No, you're right," James replied. "Something must have happened."

"James…." Helen breathed. She reached over to clutch one of his hands. "You, you don't think they could have…."

"No, I'm sure it's nothing like that, darling," James said, putting his other hand over hers. "More than likely, their car just broke down and they were stranded on the moors all night. I told Siegfried that engine needed work, but you know how he is. It's not really a problem in his eyes as long as he can still get it moving."

"I suppose you're right," Helen said. "Oh, I do wish he'd be more careful with the cars. It could have just as easily been you stuck out on the moors all night. Or something worse."

"Well, after a night spent stuck in a car with Tristan, I'm sure Siegfried will think twice about letting the cars go to ruin," James laughed. "And once he's done getting his car fixed, I'll make sure he has mine seen to. The farmers are starting to complain that I'm poisoning their stock with the clouds of smoke I'm always leaving behind."

Helen finally laughed and squeezed his hand. The tension broken, they managed to have a light meal, both of them eating quickly so they could make up for the late start to their day.

"I'm afraid Mrs. Hall won't be pleased to have so much of her lovely breakfast left behind," Helen added. "Maybe we can reuse some of this for lunch. I'll go ask her."

She gathered up her dishes and James' and left for the kitchen. Meanwhile, James continued to sip his coffee, a troubled expression appearing on his face.

He hadn't wanted to mention it to Helen, but he was starting to get concerned about Siegfried and Tristan too. Granted, it was bad enough to be stuck with a broken down car in the middle of nowhere and to spend a night hiding out from a thunder storm, but that wasn't the only possible explanation for what happened. And those other explanations were extremely worrying.

Sykes' comments about how Siegfried and Tris had spent most of the day out at Gibbs' farm and had at least one more night call to tend to came back to him. If the car had broken down after those visits…well, James couldn't blame the two of them for not wanting to go traipsing about the moors during a torrential rain in the dark to find help. Knowing Siegfried, as soon as he could, he'd concentrate all of his energy on getting the car seen to and getting back to Skeldale rather than bother with updating people on his movements.

Still, as much as he didn't want to think about it, James was forced to admit that other less benign reasons for the Farnon brothers' continued absence were becoming more plausible. The same car that could have ended up broken down along an isolated road could have ended up in an accident that severely injured Siegfried or Tristan. Or both of them. And if that had happened in a remote area on the edges of Darrowby, they could still be lying somewhere hurt and in desperate need of help.

The phone rang, and James decided to let Mrs. Hall answer it. He was already facing a mountain of work with no one to help him, but even that felt like a piffling thing next to the possibility that one of his dearest friends and professional partners could be seriously hurt. A knot was beginning to form at the pit of his stomach.

A moment later, Mrs. Hall strolled into the room.

"It's Mr. Sykes on the phone. Sounds right angry about summat."

"All right, I'll see to it," James said. "Thank you, Mrs. Hall."

Mrs. Hall gave him a quick nod and then looked at the mostly untouched platters of food, shaking her head as she began to gather up the leftovers.

Meanwhile, James heaved out a giant sigh and finished his coffee before going out into the hallway. The last thing he needed right now was some cantankerous and most likely unjustified complaint about a job Siegfried had worked on.

"Hello, Mr. Sykes. What seems to be the trouble?"

"That you, Mr. Herriot?" Sykes shouted over the line. "I'll tell ye what the trouble is. I spent half the night waiting for your boss, Mr. Farnon, and he never showed himself."

"Wait…he didn't?" James said, confused. "But you said that Mr. Denham saw him leave the Gibbs' farm late in the evening and that he was heading over to your place."

"Nay, I didn't say that," Sykes scoffed. "Aye, Denham said he saw Mr. Farnon's car. But he told me he'd seen it in the afternoon. Late afternoon like, but no later. Well, before supper anyhow. So what was he messing with that whole time that he couldn't come out last night like young Farnon told me he would?"

"I, I don't know," James stuttered. "But I'm sure it was an emergency. I tell you what, I could come out in say, about an hour. Would that be all right?"

"Well I don't know. It's not that I think you don't know your business, Mr. Herriot. You did all right by me when my sow was doing poorly. But my calf…well…Mr. Farnon has been watching him all along, so I don't rightly think…."

"You don't want to change vets in mid case," James said.

"Aye, that's the size of it," Sykes said. "Look, it's not urgent. Just tell Mr. Farnon to come out as soon as he can to look at him. He'll know which calf it is."

"All right, I will," James said. "Thank you, Mr. Sykes and sorry again about the delay."

James hung up and took a deep breath. It was unavoidable now. If Siegfried had finished up with Gibbs that early, he would have checked in if at all possible. The fact that no one had seen or heard from him or Tris since Denham had seen him leave Gibbs' place meant that something had gone wrong. Very wrong.

"James?"

He glanced over to see Helen and Mrs. Hall standing near the kitchen doorway.

"Helen…I think we need to go to the police."

There was a frantic rush as James made several more phone calls to check on Siegfried's other clients and then as Helen and James had grabbed a few things from the house before taking off. They sped over in James' car to the police station, leaving Mrs. Hall to stay close to the phone in case any word about the Farnons came in.

Unfortunately, the constable on duty, a Mr. Stapley who was covering for Blenkiron at the moment, didn't appear to see any cause for the urgency they felt.

"If I'm understanding you correctly, veterinary, Mr. Farnon and his brother were called away on some jobs yesterday afternoon which you just said could take several hours apiece," Stapley said. "So what's to say that they're not still out on the job now?"

"They do have to sleep some time," James snapped. "And none of the clients they were supposed to see has had any sign of them since last evening."

"And they would have called Skeldale by now, officer," Helen chimed in. "Especially if they knew they would be out this long."

"Not all the houses around here have phones," Stapley nodded sagely. "Perhaps they got busy at a place they couldn't call out from."

"Not for this long they wouldn't," James insisted. "And I just told you that none of the clients he was supposed to have visited have heard from him."

"Car broke down, mebbe," Stapley replied. "Which is hardly the emergency you're trying to make it out to be. Someone's bound to pick them up eventually."

"Maybe, but maybe it was more than a break down," James said. He saw Helen's eyes become even more anxious, but pressed on. "The weather was bad last night with that storm. What if they had gotten into an accident? They could need help."

"Aye and suppose you are right," Stapley said. "Where do you suggest we should look? You said they were seen driving away from Gibbs' farm. Fine. But there's more than one crossroad along the way between here and there, and you said they were probably going to another job. It's a big area, Mr. Herriot, and we don't have that many men. So again, I ask you, where should we start?"

James started to reply, but fell silent instead. His first thought was to tell Stapley to search the main road between Gibbs' farm and Darrowby. It seems like the most logical place to start as Denham had mentioned seeing them on that road. Still, there were plenty of other places they could have gotten to after leaving Gibbs' farm and committing to any one location would mean hours spent searching miles of countryside.

Also, if Siegfried and Tristan had been in an accident, time could crucial. What if he sent the search party down the wrong road and valuable time was wasted? Time that could mean the difference between his friends coming home and…and….

Stapley and Helen continued to stare at him expectantly, waiting for an answer. James knew that doing nothing at all would be far worse than possibly making the wrong choice. However, that did not change the enormity of his decision or the stakes involved if he failed to make the right call.

"All right, Birley, in you go."

Everyone turned to see Blenkiron guiding another man who he referred to as Birley into the station. Birley was clearly more than a bit tipsy with his shuffling gait often switching into uncoordinated stumbling.

"I'm telling you, Constable, he threw the first punch, not I," Birley insisted in an overly loud voice. "I was just protecting me good name from his slander."

"All right, so what's this about?" Stapley snorted, turning his attention away from James for the moment.

Blenkiron chuckled and shook his head. "Well, Birley here…."

"Nay, nay, let me tell it," Birley insisted. Then he moved closer to Stapley's desk. "I was travelin' back from Brawton, right? In me old buggy with my mare, Marigold. A right fine mare she is too. Anyhow, I was riding back when I saw Charlie Kemp's horse wandering in a field. Well, I knew he was missing it, so I crept up on him while he was grazing and grabbed the rope that horse was dragging around just as quick as that."

Birley snapped his fingers and sat down heavily on the edge of Stapley's desk.

"Well then, I just hitched her up to my buggy and guided him back to Kemp's farm. Kemp, he was so grateful I found his horse, he gave me fifteen bob for my trouble. And then that scoundrel
Clarke tried to say I stole that horse and cheated Kemp out of his brass when I did no such thing."

"All right, that sounds fair enough," Stapley nodded. "I suppose you've got witnesses that say Clarke struck you first."

"Oh aye, everyone there will tell you he did," Birley said, nodding enthusiastically. "And Kemp will tell you. I found his horse and gave it back with no thought of a reward. And Mr. Farnon, he can tell you I didn't steal it too."

James immediately picked up on that last statement and grabbed Birley's arm. "Hang on, are you saying that Mr. Farnon knows about this?"

"Oh aye, he must," Birley replied. "That horse had a leg all wrapped up when I found him, like he'd been hurt. Looked like it was new too. So I figured Mr. Farnon must have done that when he stopped alongside the road."

"Stopped alongside the road?" James repeated. "You mean, you saw Mr. Farnon treat Kemp's horse?"

"Well no, not exactly," Birley said, pulling his arm away from James. He paused and scratched his head. "I didn't see him, but I saw his car parked alongside the road. It was just getting close to dinnertime when I saw it and then I saw Kemp's horse wandering about."

Birley scratched his face, an indignant look returning to his features. "I ended up almost missing dinner 'cause I returned that horse. I say, you do a good deed for someone and there's always someone who tries to make something bad out of it. I'm telling you…."

"Please, Mr, Birley," James interrupted. "This is very important. Did you see either Mr. Farnon or his brother anywhere nearby at any point?"

"Young Farnon?" Birley replied. "No, no I didn't see him or Mr. Farnon. Come to think of it, I did think it was rather odd that they left the car behind. There didn't seem to be anything wrong with it from what I could tell. Mind you…."

"Mr. Birley," James said, his voice grave. "Can you show us where you found the car?"