Episode 16: Thomas Is Missing
Thomas is missing.
By the first morning, his absence had been noticed. By the second, there was no pretending that something was not wrong. And when a third night passed without any sign of him, worry had settled over the house like bad weather.
Nobody needed to say much about it.
Neil had watched Uncle Robert become quieter with each passing day. He went about his work as usual, but there was a sharpness in everything he did. He checked the road more often than necessary. Whenever a horse approached, he stopped whatever he was doing and listened.
Thomas was not a boy who simply got lost.
That was what troubled Neil most.
Thomas had grown up with these roads, woods and fields. He knew paths Neil had never seen and shortcuts Neil would never have dared take alone. More than once since Neil’s arrival, Thomas had laughed at him for not knowing where some track led or which road brought you back into town.
If anyone could find his way home, it was Thomas.
Yet there had been nothing.
No message. No word passed through a neighbour. Nobody who could say with certainty that they had seen him since he disappeared.
And now there were rumours.
Neil first heard them properly when he went into town.
A group of strange men had been staying there for several days. Four men, according to one account. Six according to another. They had money but nobody seemed to know where it came from. They drank late, kept mostly to themselves and had been asking questions.
By afternoon they were no longer merely strangers.
They were a gang.
Neil found Robert behind the house when he returned. He was checking one of the horses.
“They’re talking about those men again,” Neil said.
Robert kept his attention on the saddle.
“People have been talking about little else.”
“One man says they’ve been here since before Thomas disappeared.”
“That doesn’t mean anything.”
“You don’t sound as though you believe that.”
Robert stopped.
“I believe Thomas is missing. That’s what I know. Everything else is talk.”
Neil leaned against the fence.
“Do you think they could have done something to him?”
Robert looked at him.
“I think frightened people will join two things together because they happened at the same time.”
“But?”
“But I also think you stay away from those men.”
That afternoon another search was organised.
Neil went with them.
The men followed the river and searched the woods beyond the town. Neil quickly realised how little he knew of the country. Paths appeared where he would never have noticed them. Men called out the names of places that meant nothing to him. At one point Neil thought they were travelling farther into the woods, only to find themselves suddenly back beside the river.
Thomas would have known exactly where he was.
They called his name until their voices grew hoarse.
Nothing answered.
As evening approached, the rumours became darker.
Someone claimed Thomas had been seen arguing with one of the strangers.
Someone else had seen a wagon leaving before dawn.
A shopkeeper said one of the men had bought enough food for a journey.
Nobody could agree on the details, yet each telling made the story more certain.
By nightfall, doors were being locked.
Neil returned home tired, wet and uneasy.
Robert was waiting for him.
“You went with them.”
“I couldn’t sit here.”
Robert sighed.
“I know.”
For a moment neither spoke.
Then Robert said, “Until we know what happened to Thomas, you don’t wander anywhere alone.”
“I’m not a child.”
“I didn’t say you were.”
“Then why—”
“Because Thomas knows this country better than either of us, and he hasn’t come home.”
That silenced Neil.
Later, lying in bed, he found himself thinking about those words.
Thomas knew the country.
So what could have happened to a man who knew every road home?
Neil was still awake when he heard the horse.
At first he thought it was the wind shifting something outside.
Then it came again.
Hooves.
Slow.
Deliberate.
And not on the road.
Neil got out of bed and crossed quietly to the window.
The yard was pale beneath the moon, but beyond it the trees were almost black.
Something moved there.
A horse stepped into the moonlight.
There was a man in the saddle.
Neil could not see his face.
The rider stopped.
For several seconds he remained perfectly still, facing the house.
Neil felt his stomach tighten.
Then the horse turned.
Man and animal slipped back between the trees, and moments later there was nothing but darkness.
Neil stayed at the window.
He thought of Thomas.
He thought of the strangers in town.
And now, for the first time, another thought came to him.
Perhaps Thomas had not simply disappeared.
Perhaps someone had wanted him gone.