midnight
A few minutes later , dressed in brown riding clothes exquisitely tailored , and a soft brown felt hat , she might have been seen hurrying through the back fence , if anybody had been looking that way , across the Joneses ' lot to the little green stable that housed a riding horse that was hers to ride whenever she chose . She had left word with Naomi that she was going to Economy and would be back in time for lunch , and she hoped in her heart that when she returned both of their guests would have departed . It was perhaps a bit shabby of her to leave it all on her mother this way , but mother would understand , and very likely be glad . So Lynn mounted her little brown horse and rode by a circuitous way , across the creek , and out around the town to avoid passing her own home , and was presently on her way up to the crossroads down which Laurie Shafton had come in the dark midnight . As she crossed the Highway , she noticed the Detour , and paused an instant to study the peculiar sign , and the partly cleared way around . And while she stood wondering a car came swiftly up from the Economy way past the Blue Duck Tavern . The driver bowed and smiled and she perceived it was the Chief of Police from Economy , a former resident of Sabbath Valley , and very much respected in the community , and with him in the front seat , was another uniformed policeman !