Justin Thyme Ch. 13

"I know, honey, but we can't live his life for him. He has to make those choices for himself. She's a good girl, and you know she loves Michael completely. She'll be good for him, and I think we can let the religion side of things take care of themselves."

"She's a lot different than all of the girls that chased him up here! I really miss having him around the house, but I think his moving down to Tucson was a wise decision on his part. You should have seen her eyes when Carole laid the gown in her lap. You could see she wanted it desperately, it is a beautiful gown, but she thought it was too much. She isn't one who likes a lot of fuss made over her. Remember Connie, and the way she was after Michael?"

Jeff groaned. "She was a piece of work! It didn't take Michael long to figure her out, though." Jeff laughed. "Remember Michael telling us how Susie gave him fits because he bought that CTS to transport her because she couldn't get into the Escalade? Just wait until she finds out he really bought it for her!"

Joanne giggled at the thought. "She is going to be spoiled, whether she likes it or not! That girl has him wrapped so tightly around her finger it isn't funny, but she doesn't take advantage of it. She has very special parents. Speaking of Michael, I wonder what he is up to today. Why couldn't he tell us what was going on? And what is he doing that we will see it on the news?"

Jeff just shrugged. "Whatever it is, he seemed to think it funny we would find out on the news. For one who is publicity shy as he is, he's enjoying it." His massive hand slid up from where it had been caressing her side and cupped her breast and began stroking it, which brought a purr of contentment from Joanne.

"You think you're twenty again, or something?" Jeff grinned and kissed the top of her head.

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"Hey, Grandpa, what do you need?" I was a little breathless from running down the stairs to keep him from coming up.

"I just got to thinking. Sam Johnson was a major stakeholder in several of the railroads out here, but we haven't found anything to indicate it. I think it would be wise if we were to go back to the lower office and go through some of his paperwork. There is likely a collection of stock certificates or such that we might want to discuss with the railroad people today." He looked at me searchingly for a moment before continuing. "I don't know if you've thought about this, but you are likely to be a rather wealthy young man before all of this is through. And by the way, I'm not trying to leave Michael out of this. I just thought about it after he left."

"I know you aren't trying to short Michael, Grandpa, and yes, I've given a good bit of consideration to how to handle all of the money that seems to be coming my way. I wasn't looking for it when we found it, and I've never had any real aspirations to being rich. I'm not sure how I'm going to handle it, but I'm not going out and doing anything rash, I promise you."

"OK, good. Money can be destructive, as well as being a blessing, and sudden money, particularly when you are young can be especially destructive. You don't have to look far to see examples of that in Hollywood or professional sports. You have a good head on your shoulders, and you've been raised right. Just think long term consequences before you make any decisions, and it would be good for you to find a good counsellor to work with you."

"I thought I'd depend on you a lot."

"Well, I'll be happy to help you all I can, you know that, but you will need more than I can give you. I'll be happy to recommend some people if you like."

"I'd be grateful."

"OK, now, if your sister decides to come down we can go on down to the cellar and see what we can find."

"Do you want to use the ladder, or would you rather go down the stairs to the first floor?"

"Oh, the ladder will be fine. I'm kind of curious to see the doors, anyway."

I texted Rosemary to come down the ladder from upstairs and then led Grandpa to what was now her room and showed him the door. I told him the latch was one of the peg boards for clothes and he started tugging and twisting both, but didn't find it. I showed him how you lift the pegs on the left side and the door opens, leaving him shaking his head. "I'd like to meet the guy who designed all of these doors! I should have thought to lift the pegs, because if you hang clothes on them that would pull down, which would accidentally open the door if you weren't careful. One doesn't think about lifting them intuitively, though."

We stepped through the door and closed it behind us before descending the ladder into the lower office.

The three of us went first to the desk and started looking through drawers and checking files, but we found nothing there. There were a number of files dealing with day to day operations, with mines mentioned a couple of times, but nothing of any real significance to us. Grandpa scratched his head as he looked at the desk. "Does anything about this desk look strange to you kids?"

"It looks like a desk to me. I don't see anything unusual. It isn't ornate or compartmentalized like the one upstairs is." Rosemary nodded her head in agreement.

"We've already seen Sam was secretive and careful, even creative in the way he hid things. It wouldn't be unlike him at all to have someplace hidden on these desks." We carefully pulled out drawers, checking for false bottoms or other compartments, but we didn't find anything. "There's a possibility he kept them in the other room, but I didn't see anything that looked like a file down there, but it won't hurt to take another look."

Grandpa pulled the keys from his pocket as we walked down the passageway, but just as he was ready to unlock the padlock his cell phone rang. "Hello."

"Michael here. We're about ten minutes out. They got in early."

"Thanks. We'll meet you upstairs." "Well, kids, I guess we'll have to do our looking another time. What do you say we meet in the library? Justin, could you grab a few clean five gallon paint buckets for us to sit on? I should have thought about bringing some folding chairs."

I climbed the ladder to the second floor while Grandpa and Rosemary made their way to the front door to meet our guests. First of all, I grabbed all of the empty fives we had and carried them downstairs. No point in dragging more full ones than were needed. I had just gotten back downstairs with two full ones when I heard Grandpa open the front door and call out, "Welcome."

Three gentlemen carrying briefcases got out of the car and started for the door. Michael followed along behind. "Good afternoon, sir. I presume you are Ben Thompson?"

"Yes, sir. Thank you for taking my call and then for coming."

"Well, if what you have to show us is what I'm hoping it is I'd have been crazy not to come. By the way, I'm Ben Jorgenson, and this is Pete Fleming, our Corporate President, and Charles Weigle, our Counsel.

Grandpa shook hands with each of the men before saying, "You've already met Michael Borden, one of the discoverers, and this is my grandson, Justin Thyme, the other discoverer, and part owner of this house. Rosemary Thyme, here, is my granddaughter, and also partial owner of the house. Unfortunately, my son-in-law and daughter, the other owners of the house are not able to be present, but they are not a part of the discovery. Would you please come in?"

We all made our way to the library, where Rosemary brought a tray with coffee and cups. Michael followed behind her with some sodas and bottles of water. "What a magnificent desk!" said Ben Jorgenson. "That is phenomenal! Would you be interested in selling it? I would love to have such a desk in my office!"

"Thank you, sir, but no. For one thing, you cannot remove it from the room without breaking it apart or tearing out the doorway," I answered. "Besides, I kind of like it myself." I gave him a smile to soften the words.

"I've never seen the likes of it, have you, Charlie?"

"No, I haven't, Ben. It is exquisite. Even the "Resolute" desk in the White House doesn't match it. I don't have a room in my house that it wouldn't overpower. Would you mind if I take a look at it, Justin?"

"Charlie is our antiquarian. I doubt he has a stick of furniture in his house that isn't a hundred years old."

I just nodded and held my hand out toward the desk in invitation as Charlie said, "Not quite. My wife insisted we sleep on something a bit more modern." He grinned at me, "For the rest it's probably close to true. I just love the workmanship one finds in some pieces, and like I said, this one is exquisite."

As he approached the desk, Grandpa said, "Please excuse the Spartan accommodations. The kids are in process of restoring the old house, and I didn't think about bringing any chairs up with us today. They've been sleeping on the floor and I don't know how else they get by, but it's nice to be young."

Pete Fleming, who had up to this point remained quiet said, "I've sat on a lot worse when I was on the track laying team back during college." He responded to our surprised looks by saying, "My dad made me get a 'real' job while I was in school. He said too many people get into management who have no idea what they are managing. The experiences I had then have paid off very well since I moved into the offices. In fact, when we have interns come to work with us I make the ones that have potential to stay around spend at least a summer on a rail job of some sort. Something besides sitting at a desk." Ben was not quite as happy to sit on a bucket, but did so without complaint.

Charlie ooohed and aaaahhed over the desk even as Grandpa turned the meeting to its original purpose. "Well, gentlemen, the reason I interrupted your vacation and everything else you were doing was because of the find my grandson and Michael made. Samuel Johnson disappeared on the very night he had a meeting with some government people investigating the railroad, and some of the military, who were looking into using the railroad in support of our troops. That very day he had received shipment of $50,000 in gold coin for dispersal to Southwestern Railroad of Arizona shareholders for the merger. Is this your understanding?"

Ben agreed.

Charlie interrupted. "Sorry, Ben, and Ben, but Justin, you need to take a look at this!" I walked over to the desk and saw where he had pulled on what looked like a support column for some cubbyholes. It was a hidden drawer that was filled with old papers and forms! "A lot of these old desks have such drawers. You just have to know where to look for them."

"Thank you, sir! We'll check those out later. In fact, we had just been looking for something of the sort when Michael called."

Grandpa nodded at Charlie and me, and then he continued where he had left off. "There was some thought that Johnson perhaps absconded with the funds, although much of the money was coming to him anyway; and one of his managers, a Henry Murray, also disappeared that night. Something that mitigated against that theory is an empty buckboard and team was found in the carriage house, and no horses were missing. Well, gentlemen, we have found Mr. Johnson, as well as Mr. Murray, and it is pretty clear Mr. Johnson gave his life defending those trunks. It appears Mr. Murray found out about them somehow and tried to hold up Johnson in a secret room under the house that no one knew about, other than Johnson and Murray. Murray, it appeared, was working with Johnson on some mining properties that he would have tried to take over as well. Shall we go have a look, and then we will check out those two cases and see if they hold what I believe they do."

Grandpa led the way to the closet and called me. "Justin, would you please open the door. I've forgotten already how to do it." I slipped past him and quickly twisted the rod before anyone else could see it. Grandpa, that sly fox, had forgotten nothing, but he didn't want to give away our secret either.

Grandpa stopped them before they descended though. "Gentlemen, can we have a gentleman's agreement between us? I didn't bother drawing up a non-disclosure document before the meeting because I really didn't think it necessary. May I have your word you will not reveal where and under what circumstances this was found? A 'secret room at an undisclosed location' would be quite adequate, I believe." All three of the railroad men nodded in agreement. "The Sheriff was here this morning, and removed the skeletons of the two men. I'm sure some of it will leak out, but we would like as little publicity as possible, especially as the kids, here, are renovating the house and will be providing student housing for girls here. We don't want to scare any of them away."

That brought grins to the men's faces, and Grandpa followed me down the ladder.

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Stephanie and Susie were making good time up I-10 with little traffic until shortly before they reached the Metro Phoenix area. They were held up for a while by an accident by Sky Harbor Airport, but not for long.

"I still think we ought to give them a call and let them know we are coming," Susie said. "We don't know how long the meeting is going to last, and I know Michael wouldn't be happy if we interrupted."

"Oh, don't be silly. If we see another car at the house we won't stop. We'll go by Bill's and get some lunch and come back."

"I guess, but I'd feel a lot better if we called."

From the airport on traffic was smooth and they made good time, and turned onto our street. Susie sat open-mouthed. "Tell me that's it! Holy Cow! That place is huge, and beautiful!"

"That's it! That's home for the next four years, girl. Now, is it everything I told you it would be?"

"That's what you said, and more! If the inside is anything like the exterior it is a palace!"

"Well, I'd not quite call it a palace, but mansion fits the bill nicely. They must be done. I don't see another vehicle. I'm glad we aren't too late. It would really bite it to get here and they are gone already!" Stephanie parked next to the Escalade and the girls jumped out of the car excitedly and hurried up to the front door, where Stephanie rang the doorbell.

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Mary Winters sat in the cafeteria for lunch, and caught herself looking around for Tom, but he wasn't in the room. She scolded herself for even looking, but Stephanie's comments had struck home, and she did find herself somewhat interested in the man. It had been a long, long dry spell, with nobody in the long ten years since her husband's death other than Paul. Her experience with Paul had not been particularly good, but it had been just enough to reawaken the hunger.

She picked disinterestedly at the tuna salad on her plate, and pushed it around as if trying to find something good about it. Actually, she didn't dislike the tuna salad as prepared by the cafeteria; it was more of a dissatisfaction with life in general. She had taken a good look at herself in the mirror before getting ready for work in the morning, and wasn't unhappy with what she saw. For a forty-eight year old woman she thought she had maintained her figure quite well, and her breasts, while not large, had not sagged appreciably. She ate carefully, partly because of her medical knowledge, but also because she wanted to keep herself looking good. A part of it was Brad. She never left the house without saying goodbye to his picture, and she wanted to be certain she would please him if he could see her. She recognized it was foolishness, but it was what it was, and she didn't plan to change.

The biggest fight she had with Paul was when he wanted to take down the picture and the flag when he moved in. She acquiesced, but felt guilty as she did so, and the first thing she did when Paul was taken away, even before starting to clean up the mess, was to replace Brad's picture, and apologize to it. She solemnly promised never to let it happen again. At last, finished with her tuna, and needing to get back on duty she rose from the table and turned for the door just in time to see Tom coming in. He gave her a great big grin, which made her heart lurch, and then he waved across the room. She smiled back and waited for a moment by the tray return line until he had passed through the serving line. "Hi, Tom. Say, would you like to come over and have dinner with Stephanie and me this evening? Nothing fancy. You have to take whatever I can find." Now where in the world did that come from?!

His face brightened considerably. "I'd love to. Thank you! My cooking is not worth mentioning, and I get tired of talking to myself. You two are a welcome change. Can I bring anything?"

"Oh, no. That's not necessary. I just thought it would be nice to have someone else in the house, too, and I know Stephanie really wanted to talk with you some more."

"Fine. It will be six or so before I can get there, would that be OK?"

"Perfect. See you then." And with that Mary walked from the cafeteria with a bounce in her step that had not been there when she trudged in.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I heard the doorbell ring as I got to the bottom of the ladder, and Grandpa stopped, irritated at the interruption. Rosemary called out, "I'll get it. Go ahead," and Grandpa stepped off of the ladder. Ben followed, with Pete and Charlie right behind. Michael started down the ladder when Rosemary called to him. He called down the stairs to say he would be right down and returned to the front room.

"Susie! What are you doing here?"

"We thought we'd sneak up and see you and Justin. They had a fire in the air conditioner at school, and school is out tomorrow, too. You guys are through with your meeting aren't you?"

"Actually, no. We're just getting started."

"Oh. I'm sorry! We didn't see another car, so we thought they were already gone."

Rosemary spoke up quickly. "Why don't you go on to the meeting and Steph and I'll show Susie the house. I don't have to be in it anyway. Just tell Justin to let me know what happens."

Michael nodded and gave Susie a little hug and kiss. "That will have to do you until later, Little One. Love you," and he turned and hurried away. He carefully closed the secret door and scurried down the ladder to find Grandpa waiting impatiently for him to arrive.

"What's the problem, Michael?"

"Oh, no problem. Susie and Stephanie decided to drive up since school was released because of a fire in the A/C. Rosemary is going to show them around the house, and we can proceed."

Grandpa nodded. "Thank you." "Now gentlemen, I'll turn this over to Justin and Michael to tell you what they found."

Michael waved at me to go ahead, so I cleared my throat and began. "Well, it's like this. We had been trying to figure out why one set of bookshelves looked a little funny up in my room up in the turret room up on top. Michael suggested Sam Johnson had an escape route, or perhaps a safe room with a secret entrance. We looked all over for a latch and were about to give up when Michael found it. My room is at the top end of the ladder we climbed down. When we climbed down here we found Sam Johnson sitting here at the desk, with a revolver in his hand. He had been shot through the left shoulder, upper chest area. Over there, in the corner, Murray was sprawled on the floor with a revolver in his hand. He had been shot through the head, right between the eyes. Am I leaving anything out, Michael?"

"No, you pretty well have it. We left right away and called Ben Thompson, here, knowing we needed some advice." He gestured at Grandpa. "I was not able to return with them when Justin brought Ben, but that is when they found the two chests I believe you gentlemen are interested in. Is there anything you'd like to add, Ben?"

"Nope, I think that takes care of it. If you gentlemen will step around here with me I'll show you what we found, and where, and then we will see about checking it for contents, which we did not attempt before calling you." Grandpa led them into the corridor and showed them the loosely piled tarpaulins, and told them the tarps were what had tipped him off in the first place, as Johnson was very particular about everything in the place, from what we could see in the cellar, and from the layout and design of the house itself. When Grandpa pulled the tarps aside you could have cut the silence with a knife. "These, gentlemen, are I believe what Mr. Johnson gave his life to protect, and unfortunately, his good name also, as no one knew where he was. Justin, Michael, you guys are a lot younger than are we. How about the two of you grabbing one of these and set it out on the desk for me."