Part 2 of "In The Woods When First We Met"

219. Townsfolk

They finally returned home, without their son.

---

There was very little sleep in the Andrews home that night. Mr. Andrews slept on a chair in the parlor in his suit, never having gone to bed at all. Mrs. Andrews had changed for bed, but sat awake at their bedroom window, looking out worriedly out onto the lawn and the road.

Jane and Prissy went to bed, but Prissy drifted into a light, troubled sleep, and Jane lay awake all night.

---

The next morning, Mrs. Andrews was in tears and wanted to fetch the police.

"We can't go to the police," Mr. Andrews said, frustrated. "We cannot have any involvement with them; the police will surely question people about if they've seen Billy, and if they question the Cuthberts, what will they say about it?"

"But the police might find Billy," Mrs. Andrews pleaded.

"Yes, they might find him. And then he'll say something to them that lets the whole thing out of the bag!" Mr. Andrews said angrily.

"Then what are we to do?" Mrs. Andrews said weepily. "My baby is out, God knows where, we cannot just sit at home and wait!"

"We won't, dear. We'll go out and keep looking. We haven't asked everyone. Let's not panic yet."

"...You're right. We only asked friends and neighbors. We need to stop at every home, even people we don't know well."

Mr. Andrews patted her hand. "And if he still isn't found, we'll drive out further, to the next town over- perhaps he's run away. We'll find him."

Mrs. Andrews nodded, taking a calming breath.

---

Miss Winston, the tutor, tried to occupy Prissy and Jane while their parents were anxious about Billy.

Jane did not do her work with Miss Winston the way Prissy and Billy did, but she sat with Miss Winston and worked today, because even though it was Saturday, they must do something to distract themselves, and Miss Winston kept them busy.

Miss Winston had offered to go out and look for Billy as well, but Mr. and Mrs. Andrews said they wanted her to stay at the house in case Billy came back home.

She did not particularly enjoy having Billy for a student- he did not want to work, and he was sometimes surly and disrespectful, but she cared about the two young people entrusted to her, and one of them being missing was distressing.

---

In town, Mr. and Mrs. Andrews went into every store, and asked employees if they had seen their son. They questioned every passerby they saw.

Strangely, people in town acted rather cold to them.

They had gotten similar reactions the previous night, but they'd been going from house to house too quickly to pay much attention to it.

Today, moving through town and speaking to people, it could no longer go unnoticed: nearly every person they spoke to seemed to give them the same detached, distrustful expression.

When they stopped a family with four daughters, to ask if they'd seen Billy, the mother asked, sounding horrified, "He's out here somewhere, and no one knows where? Girls, come with mama now, you mustn't go off alone." And they rushed past the Andrews.

Mr. and Mrs. Andrews looked at each other, their eyes confirming that the other was thinking the same thing they were thinking.

They slowly looked around. People were whispering about them, and turned away when they saw the Andrews' looking at them.