AUGUST 15, 1861

"Oh, Oh where can they be?" Rubbing her hands, Jacy paced back and forth on the porch. She had been doing that ever since Jewel had rode into town to get Sheriff Teaspoon.

Last night when Jacy and Jewel had returned from the newspaper office, they had found the stables empty, no Braids or Prankster to be found. At first the girls were mystified when they noticed the horses were gone, and then when the twins walked up on the porch and saw the wheelchair unoccupied they became concerned.

Calling out to Cody and Melissa as they entered the house, they stopped a few feet inside to listen for an answer. When there was no answer, the girls turned and stared at one another.

"You check upstairs, sis, and I'll check the downstairs." Jewel said as she headed for the kitchen. Ten minutes later the twins met back in the hallway, and they both shook their heads. Neither one had found anybody.

Knock! Knock!

The girls looked towards the door where Brandon stood.

Leaving the train depot, Brandon had decided to swing by StarShine Haven and check on the twins. The twins were pretty and nice, especially Jacy. She seemed to like everybody. He wasn't quite sure what the relationship between her and Cody were. But with Jedidiah gone, the girls needed a man around the place -- one that could walk.

In their haste to find Cody and Melissa, the girls had forgot to close the door.

"It's not safe to leave your door open. Anybody could walk on in." As Brandon spoke he stepped forward.

Jacy blurted. "We can't find Cody and Melissa."

"What?" Brandon knew how one could lose a kid like Melissa, but how could one lose an invalid like Cody.

"They're gone. Their horses are gone, too." Jewel stated.

"But I thought Cody couldn't walk." Brandon stated.

"He can't. Can he?" Jewel turned and looked at her sister. She just shook her head.

"Are you sure, you checked every where?" Brandon inquired. Both girls nodded.

Well, either Cody can walk or he had help getting on his horse. Or someone else took his horse.

"Cody can't walk, so maybe someone else took his horse, but if that's true then where is Cody?" Jacy couldn't think of a plausible explanation for Cody's whereabouts.

"Let me look around outside and see if I can find out anything." Brandon turned around and went back out the door. The girls followed him and stood on the porch while Brandon looked around.

Finally, Brandon walked over and stood in front of the girls. "It seems like there were three horses here and one started off at a faster pace than the other two, but maybe that was because the first person was leaving before the other two or the two were leaving before the one. Let me go down the road a ways and see what I can determine from the hoof prints. I'll be back shortly. Don't go any where." The girls nodded, and Brandon left them standing there on the porch.

A little while later Brandon returned. "I can’t tell which left first, the two riders or the one, but they are all three going in the same direction. It looks like towards town.”

"But if they went to town, then we would have seen them on our way home." Upset Jacy started rubbing her hands and pacing across the porch.

“Not necessarily, maybe they made it to town before you two left, or maybe they veered off the path and took a different direction. I only followed the trail for about a half a mile.”

“Melissa was suppose to go fishing with Michael today.” Jacy shook her head. “But she was suppose to be home by now.”

“Well, maybe her and Michael lost track of time, and she’ll be home shortly.” Brandon thought it was a rational explanation.

“But then where’s Cody?” Jewel piped in.

“Now that’s a mystery. Did you notice anything strange when you arrived home? Was the door open? Anything out of the ordinary?” Brandon was trying to figure out what might have happened.

“No, nothing.” Jewel replied. “The door was closed. Nothing strange but the horses and Melissa and Cody are not here.”

“Then I wouldn’t worry. It doesn’t seem like there was any foul play afoot. I’m sure they will both show up soon.” Brandon saw that the girls were still upset and concerned, and that they weren’t going to be satisfied with his explanation, so he continued, “But if it will ease your conscience, I’ll follow the tracks and see where they have gone.”

Jacy nodded, “I’ll go with you.”

“Me too.” Jewel wasn’t going to be left behind to worry by herself.

“No, you two stay here. You’ll just slow me down.” Seeing that they were going to object, he hurriedly said, “Besides they might come back before I do, and then they’ll be worried because you’re not here.”

Jacy and Jewel looked at one another and then they both finally nodded. Brandon smiled and nodded. He mounted and left. Jewel convinced Jacy to go inside and wait.

Brandon had not returned last night or this morning, so Jewel had decided to ride into town and tell Sheriff Teaspoon about the disappearance of everybody while Jacy stayed home in case someone decided to return there.

Jacy watched as Jewel came riding in. “Where’s Teaspoon?”

Stopping Justice, Jewel replied, “We went and saw Michael. He says that when he arrived here yesterday that Melissa and Cody were nowhere to be found. He didn’t think anything was really wrong. He just thought that Melissa had decided not to go fishing and had forgot to tell him, so he went home. We were on our way out here, when Kid rode up to us and told us that Ike was missing, too. It seems that Ike was coming over here to visit with Cody yesterday, and he never returned to the station, and he was suppose to have a mail run this morning. When he didn’t show up, Lou took his run for him.” Jewel stopped to catch her breath.

Exasperated Jacy asked again, “So where’s Teaspoon?”

“He’s going to town to see if anybody else has any information, like Brandon. Going to see if he’s at the train depot. If he can’t find out anything, then he’s going to organize a search party.”

Now Jacy was more worried. Everybody seemed to be disappearing. Cody. Melissa. Brandon. And now Ike, too. And no one seemed to know what had happened. “Let me get Trixsy, and we’ll go into town, and see what’s being done to find them.” Jewel nodded.