His horse came to a stop so fast that it almost sent him toppling off. They were both off their horses and running for the door when they saw Jack coming around from the backyard with a large flashlight in his hand.
“Humphrey’s gone too,” Jack said as they sprinted up to him. “I’m so sorry, David. I only left him for a minute. I can’t imagine where he’s gotten off to.”
The older man’s hands shook, sending the beam from the flashlight skittering across the yard. Sarah took the flashlight and handed it to David, then took both of Jack’s hands in her own.
“Tell us what happened,” she said, as she walked Jack up to the front porch and sat him down in the closest rocking chair.
Jack looked pale and David could see that the man was visibly shaken by Davey’s disappearance, but right then they needed to be out looking for Davey. As if reading his mind Sarah turned back to him.
“We need to figure out where Davey might have gone,” she said, then turned back to Jack. “Start from the beginning. What did the two of you do after David and I left?”
David tried not to fidget as he listened to Jack tell them about the supper of hot dogs and chips and then how Jack had taken Davey down to the big stables.
“We came back up to the house as soon as I finished locking the doors. I could tell that Davey didn’t feel well, but all he complained of was his throat hurting. He was in the family room, I’d put on a movie for him, and I left him there while I went into the kitchen to get him a teaspoon of honey. I thought maybe it would soothe his throat a bit.” Jack turned back toward him, his eyes full of pain. “I’m so sorry, David.”
“It’s not your fault, Jack,” he said as he let his hand rest on the older man’s shoulder. It wasn’t this man’s fault. He wasn’t responsible for Davey’s disappearance. If the blame rested anywhere it was on David. He’d known his son was acting out of character and that something had to be wrong, but he never would have thought Davey would run off from Jack.
“You said you locked the stables. Did Davey know that they were locked? Would he have gone back there to see one of the horses?” Sarah asked.
“I told him I was locking it up and he saw the keys I had,” Jack said. “At first I thought he was just in the bathroom. When he didn’t come back I checked the bathroom downstairs and then the one upstairs.”
“We played a lot of hide-and-go-seek when he was younger. Did you check under the beds?” David said as his mind searched for any explanation for his son’s disappearance.
“But that doesn’t explain Humphrey being gone,” Sarah reminded him. “Jack, you go back and clear the house. Maybe the two things don’t have anything to do with each other. Either way we need to know for sure that Davey’s not in the house. I’ll check out the stable behind the house with David.”
He followed Sarah around the back of the house then down a hill where a much smaller building stood. Like the house, the building’s bright lights shone from each corner. He could tell Jack had been in a hurry to meet them as he had left the double doors to the building wide open.
“Davey,” Sarah called out as they entered the building. Though smaller, this building was set up much like the bigger one with a short aisle running between stalls that faced each other and a larger room at the end where tools and horse tack hung.
“Davey, are you in here?” David called as he went from stall to stall to make sure his son wasn’t lying alone in one of them hurt and unable to call for him. Several of the stalls were empty, their floors swept clean. An older horse eyed him warily as he climbed up the metal bars of the stall door and looked past him, but the only thing besides the horse in the stall was a bed of fresh hay.
“David,” Sarah called to him. Jumping down for the gate he ran toward her with visions of his son lying bleeding on the ground flashing through his mind, but when he made it to her all he could see was Sarah staring at a spot on the stable wall.
“Humphrey’s saddle is gone,” she said as she turned to him.
“I don’t understand,” he said. “Davey doesn’t know how to put the saddle on the pony.”
Sarah face fell. “Remember the other night when he was asking me questions about the horse book you had bought him? We went all the way through on how to get a horse ready to ride and he already knew the name of most of the tack parts.” She headed back to where the stall doors stood open. Inside the stall he saw a small two-step platform.
She turned toward him, her eyes wide with fear that hadn’t been there when they had been talking to Jack, and then she pushed past him running out of the building. He found her at the edge of woods that ran behind the building.
“Davey,” she called out into the dark trees, and then ran blindly into the woods. He followed her, calling out his son’s name. And soon was unable to tell which way led back to the stable and house. If Davey had gotten lost so easily, how was he supposed to find him? How was Davey supposed to find him? He saw the light from the flashlight Sarah still held and used it as a guide back to her. What had he been thinking to leave his son alone? Davey was a precocious little boy who was always pushing the boundaries. And now his son was lost in the dark because his father hadn’t been there
