Abediah Thornton

Chapter 25 - Friday

DeeDee and John were leaning up against the bonnet of the police cruiser. DeeDee was scrolling through the contacts on her phone trying to find Abediah's cell phone number. They had already knocked on the farmhouse door and looked around the barn but the owner was nowhere to be found. 

Suddenly DeeDee heard John say, 'found her.' She looked up. 

At the far end of the track she could see a small round chestnut coloured ball. As she watched the ball rapidly turned into a very fast moving horse. Materialising on the horse's back DeeDee saw a small woman, her legs looking very short as she sat astride such a wide horse. Abediah's hair, shoulder length, white and wild under her Stetson. 

As she watched, Abediah raised a hand, wove it in the air like a cowboy riding a bull and yelled 'YEEEEEE HAAAAAAA!'

'Do you think we should move?' asked John, apparently rather worried. Their cruiser now appeared to be playing an unintentional game of chicken with a ton of flying horse. But as they watched Edwin started slowing. By the time he reached the cruiser he was moving at an easily manoeuvrable trot. Both he and his rider were breathing heavily. 

'Woohoo! That was fun!' said Abediah, by way of a welcome.'

'Afternoon Mrs Thornton,' said John, touching his hat. 

'Hold Edwin for a second will you John?' she said. 

As soon as John had hold of the reins Edwin dipped his head and started rubbing his forehead against John's broad shoulder, turning his nice navy uniform white. Abediah leaned forward and swung her leg over, sliding to the ground. 

'Edwin! That's rude!' she said, taking the reins from John, 'now look what you did to his uniform,' she went up onto her tiptoes to tap John's shoulder so Edwin could see. He paid no attention and instead pushed at John's hand with his nose before turning towards the barn. The two officers followed Abediah into the barn.

'How y'all doing today?' she asked over her shoulder, disappearing into the dark stable with the horse. 

'Not as good as you it seems!' said DeeDee, 'We thought you were going to run us over!' she added, with a smile. Abediah laughed.

'It's a long time since I let him run home! Usually he's halfway down the drive before he realises he's overshot the mark. I figured with your cruiser in the way he'd stop faster, and he did!' she said smiling at them over the stable door. 

'You played chicken with our cruiser?' said DeeDee.

Abediah laughed again. After rubbing the horse down and checking he had everything he needed she invited the two officers into the house. 

'Now then, what can I do for you today officers?' she said with a smile, pushing the cookie plate towards John.

DeeDee said nothing but opened up a pocket on her vest and pulled out a sealed transparent plastic bag, which she placed on the table. Inside the bag was a key. She pushed it towards Abediah. Abediah took the bag and brought the key to her face. She got up from the table and retrieved her glasses from beside the phone. Sitting down again she took another look. They key was small, very small, but otherwise not very interesting. 

'I've never seen this before,' she said, placing the bag back on the table. 'I don't think it would fit anything in my house. Where did it come from?'

DeeDee took a deep breath, 'this is what Goodman took from your husband in the restaurant Mrs Thornton, at least that's Goodman's story.'

'Interesting,' said Abediah, picking up the bag to examine the key again. 'Can I take it out?' she asked.

'Sure,' said John. She reached into the bag and pulled out the key, examining it again. She moved to the French dresser and found the small key for Frank's desk and put the two keys together. There was nothing similar about them. The second key was clearly too big to fit into the desk's keyhole. She shook her head and shrugged.

'Just a thought,' she said, returning to the table and sitting down. She slid the key back into the bag and handed it to DeeDee. 'The Sheriff would like you to keep the key for now Mrs Thornton,' said DeeDee. 'It's yours, or it was your husband's. Could you ask, maybe...' she hesitated. Abediah caught her meaning. 

'Ah, the Sheriff is wondering if Charlie maybe knows where it came from?' she said, nodding. 'Good idea, yes I can ask her.' DeeDee visibly relaxed. 

'So how did the Sheriff's chat with Goodman go?'

'Goodman says he knows nothing about the pot,' started John, 'he knew about the barn but thought they were all above board. He said your husband wanted to raise some money for his daughter.

'Abediah felt confused again. Charlie had clearly told her she didn't need any money. Why did it seem like every interaction with Goodman suggested Frank had been desperate to get money for Charlie?

'The thing is,' started DeeDee, 'he said Mr Thornton owed money. Apparently Mr Thornton told him, that day, that the farm would pay for it. He says your husband gave him this key and said it was for the deed to the farm.' DeeDee was trying to be careful with her words. She was painfully aware that they were discussing the last conversation Abediah's husband had had before he died.

'The Sheriff thinks Goodman isn't telling us everything,' said John. 'Why would Mr Thornton give Goodman a key but not tell him what the key was for? And Goodman has never mentioned your husband owing money before. Apparently he was really cagey about Mr Thornton, wouldn't tell the Sheriff any more about the money. Might be protecting someone?' John added with a shrug. 'Goodman's playing it like he doesn't know anything but the Sheriff isn't buying it.'

'The Sheriff thinks you might be able to access the deed, and that maybe for some reason Goodman couldn't. That's why he wanted to give you the key and have you check with your husband's daughter,' added DeeDee.

Abediah was shaking her head now. She felt like the roller coaster was climbing again, heading up to the top of yet another steep drop. Frank owed money? To whom? For what? And he was just going to give away her farm? Not likely! And why did everything always come back to Goodman?

DeeDee got up and put the kettle on. John reached across the table and took Abediah's hand. He gave it a squeeze. She looked down, seeing her normally big hand dwarfed in his. 

'Don't worry Mrs T,' he said quietly, 'we'll help you get to the bottom of it.'

She felt a rush of relief. She wasn't alone anymore. She had new friends. She had back up. No matter what happened now, she was much stronger than before, she could handle it.