Sada Elderbridge wiped her hands on a towel and gave her patient a warm smile.  "There you are, Joe, almost as good as new." She ran a finger under the bandage, checking to see that it was secure but not too tight.  "I think if you stay off your leg for the rest of the night you shouldn't run the risk of starting the bleeding again."  

"Thanks, Sada." Joe stood slowly, ignoring the stiffness in his leg. "It feels a lot better than it did."  

"You're done? How's it feel?"  Frank stood at the door to the sitting room, sipping on a glass of milk.  Ben Elderbridge was standing behind him, leaning against the frame of the door, his own glass of milk in hand.

"I was just telling Sada that it feels pretty good." The blond-haired teen gave his hostess a wink. "Not ready to run a race yet, but that'll come tomorrow."  

"That's great."  Frank shot his brother a relieved grin and then turned to Ben.  "So if you can give us a tow out of that ditch, Joe and I can get out of your hair and back on the road."  

Scratching his head, Elderbridge squeezed past Frank to sit next to his wife.  "Well, to be honest, son, that's not something I'd like to try in the dark."  He looked to his wife.  "Now I know that I didn't talk to you about this first, Sada, but I'm sure you won't mind if I offer these boys a place to sleep for the night."  

Sada Elderbridge's eyes lit up as she smiled at the brothers.  "I think that's an excellent idea! We have the room.  There's a spare bedroom at the back of the house that you can use.  It has two beds and is always set up for guests."  Taking a quick glance at the grandfather clock, she added, "and it awfully late to be out on the road now. Almost 1:30."  She raised her hand to halt any arguments.  "We won't take no for an answer. And just to answer all your worries, it's not a bother.  It'll be nice to have young people in the house again." She gazed up into the farmer's weatherworn face.  "Won't it, Ben?"  

Reaching over to squeeze his wife's hand, Ben only nodded. "Since we lost our son," Sada explained, giving her husband's hand a gentle pat, "it's been so quiet here. We'd be very grateful if you would let us do this for you."  

"Sure, then," Frank answered.  "We'd be happy to accept your offer.  Thank you, again."  Setting his glass down on a table, he took his jacket from the back of a chair.  "We've got some things we're going to need.  I'll just head to the car and grab them."  

"That's fine, dear."  Sada got up and took Joe's arm in hers.  "I'll get your brother settled in your room and have everything set for when you get back."   

Frank saw the flash of doubt in his brother's eyes.  "That okay with you, Joe? I can always get the stuff tomorrow morning."  

"Nah, that's okay," Joe assured his brother, shaking off his apprehension.  The Elderbridges seemed as friendly as the people in Castle Rock had seemed odd. "Just be careful."   

"Tell you what," Ben said as he rose from the sofa, "I'll give you a ride to the end of the lane and then it's just a short walk to your car.  I need to make sure everything's locked down for the night.  I'll hurry and do that and will probably meet you on your way back.  This way it'll take no time.  How does that sound?"  He lifted a set of keys off a peg by the front door.  "And don't you worry, Joseph, the woods are safe this time of night.  The most your brother will have to watch for is a skunk or two," he chuckled.  "But then we have stacks of cans of tomato juice out in the storm cellar."  He opened the door and ushered Frank out.  "We'll be back before you know it."  

***

"Okay, here you go, son."  Elderbridge brought the truck to a halt at the base of the country lane.  "You get what you need and make your way back. I'll tuck my stock in as quick as I can and meet you on your way back."   

"Thanks, Ben."  Frank hopped out of the truck, laughing at the old farmer's warning to watch out for skunks.   Turning on his flashlight, he shone it down the road and began to jog to the car.  Everything looked just as they had left it.  Now that he was more relaxed and could make a more thorough inspection, he thought that the car didn't look as bad as he had first imagined.  The front wheels were stuck in the deep mud, but he couldn't see any structural damage.  They had been lucky.  The slope had been a grassy one, offering a soft cushion to the underside of the car.   

He pulled his keys from his pocket and popped the trunk.  He made quick work of stuffing a change of clothes and toiletries for both he and Joe into one bag.  He wasn't going to score any points for neatness, but he wanted to get back to the farmhouse as soon as he could.  Seeing his brother's cell phone, Frank decided to try calling home again.  He hit the power button and dialed the number.  As had happened all the times before, he heard the 'out-of-range' warning signals. Powering off the phone, he tossed it into the bag and slammed the trunk lid shut.  "So much for technology."  

Shifting the strap of the bag to a more comfortable spot on his shoulder, Frank started the walk back to the farm.  The fog had gotten no worse, in fact it had started to lessen, and the chill breeze that had come with it from across the waters seemed to have disappeared.  The night was very still with only the crunch of the gravel beneath his shoes to break the silence.  There was no sound of night critters scurrying through the tall grass or the hoot of an owl out hunting its supper.  The unnatural quiet made him quicken his step.  Something about the silence had the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end.  Suddenly, his brother's words were in his head. I just know that if we split up something's going to happen. That was all he needed to send him into a panic.  The Elderbridges were a nice old couple. What if Joe's intuition had been right and Wellwood and Meyers were threats?  Had the farmer's kindness brought trouble to his door?  Had he and Joe been followed? But why?  Had they blindly stumbled into something?  Each question drove him to move faster until he was racing madly down the lane.  There was something wrong.  Where was Ben Elderbridge's old truck?  He couldn't hear the ancient engine that sounded like an outboard motor.  He was more than three-quarters of the way down the mile long path.  Why couldn't he see the lights to the house?  He had been able to see them from the road earlier.  

The feeling of dread was so strong that he felt as if his heart was going to burst.  He knew what he was going to find when he reached the house.  Meyers and Wellwood.  He could only pray that Joe and the Elderbridges were unharmed.  He'd find a way to get them out. He had to. Planning his next move, he finally turned the small bend in the path that led up to the front steps of the house.  What met his eyes stopped him dead in his tracks. His brain fought to make sense of what stood before him. "No!" Gasping for breath, he fell to his knees on the crushed stone and clutched the duffel bag to his chest.  "Joe!"  

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