Justin Thyme Ch. 12

"I've wanted to get back up there, too, Ben. I really didn't feel like climbing stairs and things last time, and I want to take a good look at it. Rosemary said they have a couple of the rooms done, and I want to be certain the colors are going to look right before we get too far into the project."

"I still think it was foolish, taking two vehicles and all. Oh, well. Can't be helped now, can it. Is Michael going to be up there, too?"

"No, Daddy. He said he had to go to Phoenix today, but he will be available to meet the Sheriff tomorrow. I've OK'ed it for Justin to come up, too, although I hate him missing school. He's so far ahead of things though that I guess it's OK."

"Well, at least they managed to find the door on the first floor. I really like that better than having to take the Sheriff up to the top and back down. I'm not too keen on showing more of the house than we need to. Do you think we need to call them and wake them up before we get there?"

"No, Daddy. Justin texted me early this morning that they found the door, that they were going to go to Bill's for breakfast, and they would be back there well before we get there."

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

Rosemary put her hair up in a shower cap before getting into the tub with me, much to my disappointment. I really enjoy washing her hair, and love the feeling of it trailing through my fingers. I knew we didn't have the time for that though, so I made up for it by carefully washing the rest of her body, down to her feet and toes, with particular attention paid to certain regions. After all, one cannot go out in public with one's carefully trimmed exclamation point of pubic hair ungroomed. I might have paid extra attention to the areas around said hair, also, much to her arousal.

"Justin, that's not fair! You are getting me all turned on when we can't do anything about it!" I just gave her an evil leer and an extra stroke across her pussy with my hand before turning the hand held shower head on a slow pulse and rinsing it thoroughly. By the time I quit she was squirming anxiously and holding to the towel bar for support. I stopped just before her orgasm could take her, much to her dismay, but I had other plans!

We stepped out of the shower, with her complaining about leaving her hanging as I dried her carefully, paying particular attention to her distended nipples, which reacted beautifully to the nap of the towel brushing across them. Rosemary's pussy was visibly swollen and red with arousal as I grabbed her hand and led her from the bathroom back into my room, where I laid her gently back onto my sleeping bag and quickly knelt between her legs and began to address her pussy with my tongue.

I didn't have the time to really tease her and build up her desire as I would have liked to do, but I wanted to give her one more good orgasm before Mom and Grandpa got there and we couldn't do anything more. When I put her legs up over my shoulders and reached upward to tweak her nipples with my fingers she was rocking and moaning her arousal. Her juices were freely flowing, and I think I got a taste of some of my own cum, but if she could take it why not I? As I slid my hands up and down her sides, paying particular attention to her hips, which she loves, before sliding my hands back to her breasts and fondling them, her breath was hissing between her teeth and her head was rocking back and forth almost violently.

Suddenly, her hands, which had been splayed on the sheets, alternately grasping the cloth and spreading out to their utmost, swooped in and grabbed my head and pulled it almost violently into her pussy. Her back arched and she let out a wail, "Enough, Justin, enough! I can't take any more," and her juices poured from her pussy onto my lips and chin.

Of course, I was hard, but there wasn't any time to do anything about it right now, not if we wanted to get breakfast and be back before Grandpa got here. There was no way I wanted to face his wrath if we weren't here! There is nothing Grandpa hates worse than someone being late.

Rosemary lay there with her chest heaving, trying to regain her equilibrium while I went back into the bathroom to brush my teeth and use some mouthwash. I certainly didn't want Grandpa or Mom either for that matter, smelling pussy on my breath.

Rosemary sat up gingerly and took the hand I reached down to help her up from the floor. She stepped in to give me a big hug and whispered, "Thank you. You are always doing special things for me!" She glanced down at my erect cock. "Let me take care of that for you."

"We don't have time. I'm OK, I came several times yesterday. I just thought you needed it this morning."

"Stephanie is one lucky girl! I'm so glad she shares you with me." Rosemary hugged me once more, and slipped my cock between her legs and squeezed it. The heat from her pussy was nearly enough to make me change my mind, but there was just no way I would risk Grandpa's ire.

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

Dr. Meechum stood up from the breakfast table after eating breakfast with the Winters women. They were both eager to hear anything he could tell them about their husband and father, and in a way he found talking about the time in Iraq cathartic. For all of these years he had kept it all bottled up inside, knowing he needed to get it out.

First of all, the chaplain had talked with him, and a succession of therapists, all of whom he totally despised as they had never seen uniformed service, and exhibited a haughty attitude toward those who had served in harm's way. Only the Chaplain had merited his admiration, because even in the middle of the worst firefights, when he was supposed to be back at battalion headquarters, the Chaplain did his best to be present and provide comfort and care for the men, often running out with the medics to help pull wounded men out of the fire zone, and helping to care for them.

"Tom," the Chaplain told him, "You have to let it out. You can't carry the burden all alone. You did all you could do, and you saved lives that would have been lost without you. You are not at fault for what happened, and you have to talk with someone," but the horrors of what he had seen and experienced had been too great. He just couldn't bring himself to share any of it to anyone who had not been there, and he had lost contact with all in his company.

"Thank you for the breakfast, and for listening to me cry. I am so glad to have met you at last. Winters told me he was from Arizona, but I had no idea where; or anything about your family. I'm so glad you forgot your purse last night. To think I've been working with you now for six months and didn't know."

"I'm so glad you came by, too," Mary said. "I have missed my husband desperately for ten years, but now you have given me some closure. And you have done a lot for Stephanie, letting her get to know her dad a little bit better. She is really the one who has lost so much. Please come back. You are welcome in our home anytime."

"Thank you and I shall. I shall also look into the decorations he should have been given. I don't know what happened."

"Oh, that really isn't important. They won't bring him back."

"No, they won't, but they do represent the price he paid and the character of the man. If not to you, who knew him longer as an adult; then it will to Stephanie, who didn't. And, it will mean a lot to me, who knew him when he earned them, and am alive because of it." He bowed his head, obviously fighting back emotions again. "Thank you so much. I feel a tremendous weight is off of my shoulders. I'll see you in the hospital Monday." Giving Stephanie a nod he turned and made his way to the door.

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

Rosemary and I got back from Bill's in plenty of time to meet Grandpa and Mom, but I knew better than to cut it to close. The first thing I did was to go to the kitchen and make a pot of coffee. Grandpa's second cardinal sin after being late was to be out of coffee. It would have made him really happy if I would have made 'cowboy coffee', but none of the rest of us could drink it that way. Grandma used to get upset when she found him making it, with one of her good pots. He would take a pot and fill it with water and then throw in a handful of coffee grounds and boil it until it was as dark as he liked it, "darker than the hinges of Hell," he'd say. Grandma said the way he knew it was done is if a spoon would float!

Rosemary called Mom and found out they were still about thirty minutes away, so we asked her to give us a call about five minutes out and Rosemary and I started looking for the second floor entrance to the passageway. I sent Rosemary upstairs while I ran up to my room and turned on the floodlight, then climbed down the ladder. I started knocking on the door, while also looking for some sort of latch. Whoever installed these doors had made the latches obscure on both sides, I guess in case someone found a way in from outside they would not be able to access the house easily.

Rosemary could hear me knocking, but had no idea of the door location. I climbed down to the first floor entrance and went back to the second floor and looked with her for possibilities, but we found nothing.

Mom called, so we broke off looking and went out the front of the house to meet them as they pulled up. Seeing Grandma along with them was a pleasant surprise; and it would keep Rosemary occupied. I noted Grandma had a bag with fabric samples with her, so the three ladies would be occupied with decorating for a while.

Grandpa came from the kitchen with his travel mug freshly topped off and said, "Alright, Justin, just where is this treasure trove of yours? I wish Michael was here with you. It would be easier if I could talk with him about this at the same time as you, but I guess it can't be helped. I'm going to need him to come up with us tomorrow, though. Can he do that?"

"I believe so. We both figured we would have to come back. I'd like to keep this out of the news as much as possible, and if at all possible, can we keep his name out of it? He doesn't need the publicity, especially if he's going to move back up here, and the Thibodeaux name will just make this place into a three-ring circus and might be bad for renting rooms."

"Leave that to me. There will have to be some publicity. After all, it isn't every day a celebrated murder/disappearance is solved after a hundred plus years, in a room with secret passages, no less. Samuel Johnson was a very important man in his day. I did some checking. There are some reward offers for finding him that are still active after all of these years. I rather doubt the State of Arizona, territory at that time, remembers anything about the rewards, but they were never rescinded. There are also rewards offered by the Southern Pacific Railway and the US government. All told, they are in excess of $10,000, which was a tremendous amount of money at that time. Now, let's go take a look."

I led Grandpa to the closet in the library and challenged him to find the latch. After ten minutes of pushing, pulling, twisting and prodding he gave up, and I twisted the hanger rod and the door popped open. "Well, I'll be hanged for a monkey if that isn't the most ingenious thing! How did you find it?"

"It was totally by accident. We thought it would be in the library, because the one upstairs was facing in that direction, plus it was in bookshelves, but we couldn't find anything at all. I was sitting on the desk when it came to me. The library was a very strange place to have a coat closet. We tried everything, much as you did, and I found the latch totally by accident. I was holding on to the rod, talking to Rosemary. I had tried lifting and pushing or pulling, and had given up. I had my hand on the rod while I was talking with Rosemary and I rotated it accidentally when I turned around."

"Hmmph. Shall we go on down? You lead the way."

I quickly climbed up to the second floor and retrieved the floodlight before descending the ladder to the basement level. "You'd better find something to block that door open, Grandpa. We haven't been able to find any of the latches from this side yet."

Grandpa gingerly stepped onto the ladder and made his way down it. I'll give him this: For a man of his age he's still pretty spry! "Land's sakes, son! They sure enough shot each other, didn't they! Now show me exactly where you found the poke of gold, and if you moved anything else down here."

"It was right here, Grandpa, on the desk behind these books, and on top of this map."

"You didn't see any other gold lying around, did you? You know this place doesn't have much dust! It must be really tight. Anyway, you didn't see any other gold, like gold coins, did you?"

"No sir. We knew right away not to disturb anything, but I didn't want to leave that gold poke lying there on the desk to tempt anybody when the authorities come to check it out."

"That was wise, son. Most in law enforcement are honorable men doing a tough job, but it's always a good idea to keep temptation from before anyone. Now, did you check the other guy for any identification or anything?"

"No sir. Again, we thought we ought to leave that for the authorities."

"Good, good. There are two things I want to do today, and then I'll call the sheriff's office and arrange an appointment for tomorrow. After a hundred years I don't think we need to have them out here like it's an emergency. First of all, I want to see if we can find a railroad chest or two. Then, I want to see if we can find an outside entrance or exit down that passageway, there. I'd rather not bring the Sheriff through the house if we can help it."

"What do we need to find railroad chests for?"

"One big reason they were looking for him was the Union Pacific had just merged with the Southern Pacific. The U.P. sent him fifty thousand in gold coins, as partial payment for him to disburse to shareholders, and it disappeared too. Some thought he absconded with the gold, although he had the reputation of being a very honorable man. One of his managers also disappeared that night, and a buckboard and team were found hitched and ready to go in the coach house, but no one knew why, or who had them. I think we will find out the other skeleton is that of Henry Murray, the manager I spoke of. I say, old Sam Johnson could shoot! He put that one right between the running lights, and that was after he had been shot in the left shoulder."

"How do you know he was shot first?"

"Because I've never seen a feller who could shoot back after a .44 went between his eyes."

"Well, duh! Silly me. I didn't even think about it."

"That's what God gave you a head for, son. Something besides just growing hair." He grinned at me and then turned back toward the room. "Let's take a look around a bit, and then we'll check the passageway. Be sure not to disturb anything. I know it isn't actionable, but still this is a crime scene and has to be processed as one. I'm sure they will bring a photographer down here to record it.

We found nothing in the room itself, although we did not disturb the desk. There was no way to hide fifty thousand dollars in gold in that desk, so we weren't too worried about it. It was Grandpa who found the two trunks when we checked the first of two passages. This one led forward under the house, and had a little alcove off to one side of it. Two small chests were stashed in there with a jumbled heap of tarpaulin covering them, obviously attempting to make it look like just a jumbled heap of tarpaulins stored there, but they didn't fit with the rest of the order Samuel Johnson lived.

That passageway obviously didn't lead where we wanted to go, so we left it for further exploration at a later date and went back through the office room and down the other passage. I didn't have enough extension cord to reach beyond the very entrance to the passage, so I left the floodlight shining down the passage and Grandpa and I went on ahead with flashlights. It was a long passageway, a little over two hundred yards before we came to the end, and another ladder, although a much shorter one than in the house.

"If I don't miss my guess we are under the carriage house, and I'll wager you there is an opening on the first floor and another on the second. Now the thing for us to do is to find the way out, and we'll bring the Sheriff in through this way. I'll also wager you that we'll find a hoist on the second level, and that is how they brought the gold into the house. What I don't understand is how Johnson got the gold into the basement. Obviously no one else knew it was there."

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

Michael walked into Carole's Couture to the delight of Carole and Suzette. "Michael, what brings you here this morning?" Carole called out to him.

"I didn't know if I would find you here today or not, but I wanted to check something with you for Susie's gown."

"I'm not going to show it to you, or tell you what it looks like. You'll have to wait until the Prom to see it!"

"Oh, that's OK. I didn't come to spy, but I wanted your opinion on something before I buy it." He pulled the box from his pocket and opened it carefully. "Is this something that will look right with the dress?"

"Michael, that's beautiful! Let me guess, you got that from Zeni."

"Right. I got her to let me bring it over to be certain it would go with the dress. I saw it in the display case and it had Susie's name all over it. It will do OK with the gown?"

"Exquisitely. I couldn't have chosen anything better for her. You really think a lot of that girl?"

Michael stood silent for a moment or two, then nodded. "Yeah, I do. In fact, if I were you I'd start thinking about another dress you will be making for her, I'm sure."

Carole stepped up to him and gave him a big hug. "I'm really happy for you, Michael. She is a real gem, and I think she will be really good for you. Does she know?"

"No, so please don't say anything. I just talked with her father last night and got his blessing. I'm not sure about Madge, yet." He grinned as Carole and Suzette both laughed.

"I kind of got the feeling she could be difficult if she wanted to be."

"She is a very strong lady, but yet she's wonderful once you get to know her. The first day I met her she would have killed me if it was in her power, but once Susie told her what really happened in the wreck and told her I stayed in the hospital room with her so she wouldn't be alone with her parents gone, well, as far as she was concerned I was OK. When we got Susie moved home two days later they gave me a key to the house so that I could drop in and be with her during the day when they were at work, and so that I could help with her rehab. They made me feel like part of the family.

"What do your parents think about this?"

"They don't know yet, and now that you mention it, I have to go or I'm going to be late for lunch! Please hold onto the necklace and earrings for me, and give them to her with the dress. If I try to give them to her she will say they are too much and try to get me to return them. She is the most unpretentious girl I've ever met!"

"We noticed! That's one reason we are so thrilled for you. At last you found a girl who isn't out for what you have, but for who you really are. Hurry on to lunch. We'll take good care of her for you."

Michael waved as he almost ran out the door to his car.

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

Mary and Stephanie Winters sat at the breakfast table in silence after Dr. Meechum left. Both of them were deep in thought, Mary with memories of her late husband, whom she still missed with an ache in her heart every day, and Stephanie who had never really had a chance to get to know her father. Her memories were those of a little girl, and those memories were sparse and few.

"Mom, what was Daddy really like? Would I like him?"