Chapter Two

Instead of heading straight for the area where the constable had said the search was currently concentrated, Siegfried decided to stop by Ross' farm to see if Dale could give him some ideas of where to look. As he got about halfway there, it occurred to him that Dale might not be there and that this could turn out to be a wasted errand.

As it turned out, it did turn out to be an unproductive visit, although not for the reasons that Siegfried had anticipated.

He spotted Dale walking toward the house as parked his car on the main drive and sprinted toward him as soon as he got out.

"Mr. Ross," he shouted. "Thank heavens I caught you. I thought perhaps you had met up with the police for the search. Or have they found Derry already?"

"No, they haven't found him," Dale snapped. "And if you didn't think I'd be here, why did you come?"

"I'm sure the constables have already asked you plenty of questions about where Derry might have gone," Siegfried pressed on. "But I thought that, if the two of us were to put our heads together, we could come up with some inkling of where he was heading. Did he mention….?"

"Look, Mr. Farnon, Derry and I…we don't talk. He has his business, and as long as he gets his work done, I leave him to it."

"But he's your brother. Surely, you must have some ideas about…."

"I told you, Derry lives his life and I live mine," Dale interrupted. "I'd moved out long before Mum and Dad had him so I ne'er really knew him. I'm not saying he's a bad sort…even if he is useless around the farm. But he's just a child and I'm a man with responsibilities. And brother or not, we had nowt to talk about between us. And now, look at this mess he caused. Running away like that. I'm already behind in my chores. I don't know how I'll catch up. But I'll teach him a lesson when he gets home. Mark my words, I will."

"Yes, but for now, let's concentrate on actually finding him," Siegfried said, his tone increasingly brittle. "And if you don't have any ideas that can aid us, you can at least join me in the search."

"You go on ahead if you like," Dale said. "I'll be meeting up with the constables later. I've got to see to my piglets before I can go gallivanting all o'er the fields. I know where I'll have to go so there's no reason for you to stay here."

Dale marched into his house, slamming his door behind him. Siegfried glared at that door for a full minute before storming back to his car and taking off as fast as he could toward the latest search area.

It was well after dark when James finally finished with his own list of jobs, along with several of Siegfried's, and came back to Skeldale. However, instead of finding Siegfried waiting for him with news of how the search went, he saw Helen sitting on the couch in the living room alone, watching the fire.

"James," she said, nearly jumping up to greet him. They shared a quick embrace and kiss. "Mrs. Hall kept supper for you. I'll go get you some."

"Thanks," James said, shuffling over toward the table. "Any word from Siegfried yet?"

"Not so far, no," Helen said as she walked out of the room. "Oh and I had to send Tristan out to a call on Dent's farm a couple of hours ago. One of his pigs cut its leg on some barbed wire."

James nodded and sat down at the table with a yawn. Then he got back up to pour himself a beer and was just about to sit again when Helen returned with a plate of food.

"Thanks," he repeated. The two of them sat down, and James immediately dug in, starved after the long day he had had.

"I hope they find him soon," Helen said. She rested an elbow onto the table and placed her chin on the heel of her hand. "It's getting cold at night again. What if he got lost on those moors? With as cold as it is out there, he could get exposure."

"I know," James said, his tone grim. "And I doubt they'll make much progress on the search now. There's not even any moonlight to help them."

Helen started to respond, but was stopped by the sound of the front door slamming and the cacophony of dogs rushing to greet someone. There was a shout in the hall and then Siegfried appeared in the living room.

"Siegfried, any word?" James asked him. Siegfried let out a sigh and headed over toward the tantalus.

"They are still searching the fields around Ross' farm," he said as he poured himself some whiskey. He walked over to sit down in front of the fire. "They are some abandoned cottages in the area nearby, so they'll probably work their way toward them tonight, but it won't be easy in this darkness."

"Poor boy," Helen said softly. "First his parents and now this. His brother must be terribly worried."

"His brother?" Siegfried snorted. He took a long swig of his whiskey. "He hadn't even joined the search when I stopped by after I left this morning. You know what he said he was going to do first? Check his piglets. His baby brother is missing and he's wasting time worrying about his blasted piglets."

James and Helen shared stunned glances with each other over this news while Siegfried finished his drink. Once he was done, he slammed his glass onto the settee and jumped to his feet.

"It's a dammed disgrace," Siegfried growled. "What the hell is he doing, idling away on things that he could leave to his hired hands while his brother is missing? It doesn't matter how busy his farm is or that Derry chose to run away. His little brother is still his responsibility. He should be focusing his energy on making sure he's all right. Derry is just a boy and it's Dale's job, his job, to look after him."

Siegfried's voice rose in volume as he furiously paced around the room. James and Helen looked silently with sympathy. Both of them were worried about Derry and imagined that Siegfried was even more so. Still, they also suspected that this outburst was about more than just Dale and Derry Ross.

Their suspicions were confirmed with Siegfried's next question.

"Where's Tristan?"

James cleared his throat. "He apparently got called out to Dent's farm to stitch up a pig's leg that had gotten cut on some wire. Helen said he left a couple of hours ago."

"A couple of hours ago?" Siegfried echoed. "A cut leg shouldn't take this long. Why isn't he back yet?"

"I don't know," James said. "Apparently, there haven't been any other calls. Maybe he decided to stop by the Drovers after he got done. You know how much he hates dealing with Dent's pigs. He probably just decided to treat himself to a pint after he finished."

"That's no excuse to…."

Siegfried's next rant was cut off by the sound of the front door opening and closing. A moment later, Tristan walked into the room, rubbing his hands together. As soon as he he saw James and Helen, a rueful grin appeared on his face.

"My god, James, that wind is freezing," he said. Then he spotted his brother, the grin vanishing. "Oh, Siegfried, um, have they found Derry?"

"No we haven't," Siegfried replied. "And where the hell were you? Stitching up a pig's leg shouldn't take you over two hours."

"Well, it was a pretty bad cut, Siegfried," Tristan said. "And while I was there, Matthew Jarvis stopped by and said he had some sheep that looked off. So after I was done with the pig, I went over to his place. Turned out his sheep had gotten away from him and had overeaten which led to a mild case of protein poisoning. I told him to give them some Epsom salts and to call us if they don't improve in a couple of days."

"Yes, well done, little brother, well done," Siegfried said with a smile. However, it wasn't long before the smile disappeared, and his voice heated up again. "Still, you should have called. What if you were needed for another call? Or what if something had happened to you? Like the car breaking down or…or…. We'd have no way of knowing where you were or if you were all right."

"Come on, Siegfried," Tristan said. "If there was an emergency, James could have gone. It's not as if…."

"That's not an excuse," Siegfried interrupted. "From now on, you're to call if you are sent somewhere else or if a job is going to take longer than expected. That way, we will know if we'll need to work around an emergency."

"But Siegfried…."

"No, my mind is made up," Siegfried said. "How are we supposed to run a business if we can't keep track of each other's movements? It's simply not acceptable. We'll keep a log book when we go on call-outs. That will make it easier to monitor what each of us is doing."

Tristan rolled his eyes, and James felt like doing the same. It would be a great hassle to adhere to a routine like that given how erratic their call outs could be. Still, it was doubtful that Siegfried would remember this idea tomorrow. Hopefully.

Besides, James was willing to give Siegfried some leeway right now. He knew where this sudden need to keep track of everyone had come from, and while it was irritating, it was also a natural offshoot of the parental facet of Siegfried's personality. A facet James was fond of most of the time even if it also led to moments like this.

From the look on his face, James suspected that Tristan was thinking similar thoughts while the two of them watched Siegfried silently pace back and forth in front of the fireplace.

"It's no good waiting around here," Siegfried suddenly said. "I'm going back out. I should be back by tomorrow morning. Oh um, Helen, my visits for tomorrow…."

"I'll have a list waiting for you on the desk," she said. "I don't think there's much in the daybook anyway though."

"Good, that will give me more time to help with the search," Siegfried nodded. "I'm off." He marched out into the hallway to grab his hat and coat.

"But Siegfried," Helen called after him. "You really should try to get some…."

The slam of the front door put a halt to her words, and she sank down onto a chair, a crease of worry in her brow. James sat back down at the table. His food didn't look as appetizing now, but he didn't want to let Mrs. Hall's efforts go to waste either so he tried to get more of it down.

Tristan stared at the front door for a few moments before shaking his head. "I, um, I'll be upstairs swotting if anyone else calls."

"That's ok, Tris," James said. "I can take over. It was supposed to be my night for evening call outs anyway."

"No, um, that's all right, James," Tristan said. "I mean, I can go too, if you want." Tristan paused, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Well, exams are coming soon again and I could use some time with the books. Good night, Helen."

"Good night, Tris," Helen said as he strolled out of the room. Then she turned her attention back to James. "You've hardly touched your dinner. Would you like something else? I could probably whip up some sandwiches."

"No, that's all right," James insisted. "It's still good. I was just, well, I wasn't that hungry tonight anyway. I can make do with this."

Helen nodded, but James could tell that she wasn't convinced. It didn't surprise him as he knew he wouldn't even be able to convince himself right now.

At the moment, all of their thoughts were on Derry. And Siegfried.

The next morning, James woke up to find frost spreading white tendrils onto the windows in his rooms. A light snow had fallen overnight. It wasn't enough to hamper travel, but it did dramatically increase the chill in the air.

It took several tries and a gentle nudge from Helen, but eventually, James managed to convince himself to get out of bed and get started on the day. All he had waiting for him was morning surgery, but the cold seeping into their rooms was enough to make for a slow, reluctant pace as he got himself ready to go downstairs.

The two of them were greeted in the living room by the sight of Mrs. Hall silently serving up a hearty meal of scrambled eggs, bacon, fried mushrooms and tomatoes along with toast and jam. As they sat down, the first thing both of them noticed was the missing place setting at the head of the table.

"Mr. Farnon has already left," Mrs. Hall said, anticipating their question. "A constable stopped by earlier and asked if he would be willing to join them for more searching. He said he wouldn't be back until the end of morning surgery."

"What about his calls?" Helen said. "James can't take them on and watch morning surgery too."

"Mister Tristan has already started on those calls," Mrs. Hall answered. "He should be back any time now."

"I see," Helen said quietly. "Thank you, Mrs. Hall."

Mrs. Hall nodded at her and left the room. James picked up his plate and served himself a generous helping of everything before going back to his chair. He looked over to see Helen staring down at her empty plate.

"Helen? Like me to get you some breakfast?"

"Oh that's all right, James," she said. When she looked up, there was a trace of a smile on her face. "I'll just get myself some."

James nodded and sat down to eat. The quiet, somber mood in the living room wasn't the best environment to eat in, but James hadn't eaten much last night and doubted he'd make it through the day if he skimped on two meals in a row. He ate silently while watching Helen slowly make her way over to the serving dishes and scoop out the food listlessly. Once she was done and had sat back down, she mostly picked at her food for several minutes before finally digging in.

The two of them had almost finished their first helping when Tristan came into the room. Mrs. Hall was close behind him, carrying a large pot of coffee.

"Ah coffee," Tristan grinned. "Mrs. Hall, once again, your timing is perfect. Is there any bacon?"

"There is," Mrs. Hall said, sitting the pot onto the table. "And there's more eggs if you want them."

"I'll let you know," Tristan said, beaming at her. He rushed over to snatch up his plate so he could fill it as fast as he could."

"How'd it go?" James asked him as he poured himself a cup.

"Oh fine," Tristan said as he dished out a giant mound of eggs. "Handshaw was his usual pleasant self. Felt like showing me that cow you said would never walk again so you know what sort of mood he was in."

"I can imagine," James said with a snort. "Any word from Siegfried?"

Tristan said down and studied the food in front of him. "No. I saw Mrs. Dalby, and she said she had seen Siegfried searching with the police while she was on her way here to do the shopping. Oh and James, she wanted me to tell you that the calf you injected last week is doing much better now."

"Well that's good, at least," James nodded. "It's nice to see that poor woman have some good luck for a change."

Tristan nodded and started to eat. He'd only gotten a couple of bites in when a phone call and then an appearance from Mrs. Hall interrupted him.

"It's for you, Mister Tristan," she said. "One of the constables who was out searching with Mr. Farnon."

Tristan rose from his chair, a pensive look on his face. Once he had left the room, James and Helen sat their forks down, too worried about what this phone call could be about to continue with their breakfast.

A couple minutes later, Tristan returned, his expression grave with eyes that were lit up with worry.

"Tris?" Helen said. "Is it, is it about Derry?"

Tristan took a deep breath and nodded. "I'm afraid it is."