Page 48 of It Takes Two to Tumble
Ben put a steadying hand on his arm. “Yes. Of course. But we need to plan this out, otherwise we’ll cross one another’s paths.” He turned to Hartley, because Hartley, for all his London clothes and polished manners, knew this countryside as well as Ben did himself. “Can you search the hills between here and Lindley Priory? The dog once ran off to the wood between here and the Priory, and Martin didn’t take kindly to the trespass.”
Hartley nodded in understanding. “I can help,” said Ned.
“Yes, you and Hartley go west. On your way, ask the stable hands and, really, any strong person you see to come here and we’ll tell them where to look.”
“Wait, Ben,” Alice said, “you go look by the crag. I’ll stay here because I know the countryside well enough to know where to send people. Mrs. Howard has already gone to fetch lanterns.”
It was scarcely past midsummer, so the light would last for several more hours, but lanterns were a good idea. That way the search could continue into the night if need be. God, he hoped it wouldn’t be necessary. Mrs. Howard returned with the lanterns and a pair of manservants, and soon Ben had sent people in pairs to search the areas he thought Jamie most likely to have gone.
Ben’s most pressing fear was that the boy might have fallen or gotten wedged between rocks. He glanced at Phillip and nodded, and they headed off together towards the crag. As they walked, Ben said a silent prayer—that Jamie was safe, that they’d have the skill to find him.
“Jamie knows these hills,” he said to Phillip, “and he’s a clever child. He’s fine. I know in my heart that he’s fine.”
“I don’t,” Phillip said, and Ben squeezed his hand. “I mean, I know it’s overwhelmingly likely that he’s safe, but I don’tknowit, and I don’t know how the hell I’m going to get onto that blasted ship and put myself months away from any reassurance that they’re well. They could be dead and buried and I wouldn’t even know. I don’t know how I managed not to think about it.”
“That was why it was easy for you to stay away,” Ben said, the truth suddenly obvious. “You let yourself believe that since your children were out of sight, they must be fine and well.”
“Stupid.” Phillip’s hand was closed tight around Ben’s as they walked.
“And now you can’t.”
“People leave their families all the time.”
“True. But maybe not if they don’t have to.” Ben’s heart soared at the thought that Phillip might not leave, that he might stay with his children and put together some kind of family, even though Ben wouldn’t be around to see it.
“Maybe not,” Phillip echoed.
When they reached the summit of the crag they called Jamie’s name but got no response. There was no sign of the child anywhere.
“Damn it,” Phillip said, sitting on a rock and putting his head in his hands.
“One of the others surely found him. But let’s go around to the other side of the hill and check over there.”
Before they got far, they heard a dog barking. Ben, used to the barking of sheepdogs, hardly noticed, but Phillip went still.
“I think that’s Jamie’s dog,” Phillip said.
“Let’s see.” Ben was mainly humoring Phillip, trying to play for time so that Jamie would be more likely to have reappeared or been found by the time they went back to the hall.
They heard the barking again. “This way,” Ben said, taking Phillip by the hand again and leading him towards the sound. He didn’t know if it was a trick of the echoing hills, but that bark did sound familiar.
It was Phillip who first noticed where they were.
“Ben. Isn’t this your father’s house?”
It was. And that was definitely Jamie’s dog barking outside Alton Sedgwick’s door.
At the sight of Jamie eating jam and bread at the table of a gray-bearded man who must be Ben’s father, Phillip nearly collapsed from relief.
Ben all but pushed him into a chair and pressed a mug of cider into his hand.
“I’m furious,” Phillip said, his fingers clenched white against the mug. “Don’t ever do that again.”
“I’m not going back,” Jamie said, his chin tilted up.
“Why the devil not? I thought we were having a fine time this summer. I thought we were getting on well.” He scrubbed his hand across his jaw and glanced at Ben, who was leaning against the wall beside his father.
“We were.” Jamie’s eyes were damp. “But you’ll be leaving soon and sending me to school and I can’t go.” He swallowed hard. “Ican’t.”
