Chapter 7

About the week before the storm, Mr. Rochester made a visit to Mr. Stemple's office.

"Ah! Mr. Rochester, why do I have the pleasure of your visit today?" said Aaron as he stood up to shake Mr. Rochester's hand.

"Mr. Stemple there is a little matter of a missed payment for your lumber mill. Seems it was not made on time and is now due and payable!" Mr. Rochester said as he sat down on the chair opposite Aaron Stemple.

"I don't know what you mean? I keep my books by myself and have never been late or missed a payment? What date and amount were the payment for, I can check right now?" asked Aaron as he opened his ledger. Mr. Rochester looked at Aaron calculating what and how he should broach the subject of the missed payment.

"Mr. Stemple, the payment was not made on the date of 12/15/ 1875. I believe it was when you first set up your business here in Seattle. You were with the Seattle Olympic Bank at the time." Aaron looked at his books and then looked up. He did not remember but he did have his books, but the Seattle Olympic Bank would have a record of that payment as well.

"Mr. Rochester I respectfully disagree with you. I had that paid off 5 years ago! My lawyer has a copy of the receipt if you need to verify that!" said Aaron, a little perturbed! Mr. Rochester produced a slip of paper and said:

"This is the receipt that was provided to me by the bank clerk when the Olympia bank was closed. I am now the owner of this bank, and it will be renamed Seattle First and will no longer be located in Olympia!" He handed the receipt over to Aaron. Who was skeptical, the bank would have had the same receipt but looking for the signature he could not distinguish the writing.

"Mr. Rochester, I will check with My lawyer later today. He is also here in Seattle and this problem will be resolved by this afternoon!" Aaron said as he rose to escort Mr. Rochester out of his office.

"One more thing Mr. Stemple; your partner, Mr. Bolt, he also is in default, I would like for him to meet with me as well. Is there a way to meet him soon?" Mr. Rochester asked. Aaron was thinking of something to say to stall this man. He wanted to tell him that Jason was not his partner, but he was suspicious of why this man thought Jason was a partner?

"Well, Mr. Rochester, Jason has been away on a much-needed vacation. I think he is making retirement plans soon. I am sure he will be glad to meet you as soon as he returns." Said Aaron as he quickly led Mr. Rochester out of his door. He shut his door and locked it and stayed inside hoping that he could find out what this default was all about. He headed directly to the store to send a telegram to his lawyer about the default his company had with this bank. When he got there Mr. Arlington had already made arrangements to have the telegraph office sent to the post office. His store was going to change the way a store did business in this town, and he did not want the inconvenience of the telegraph being located there. The new Post master coming to Seattle would take over the telegraph in a week or two. Aaron was frustrated and went into Lottie's to have a drink, when he came out, he saw Joshua coming to town. That is when Joshua first heard of Jason's retirement.

Back to the present, Jason was sitting in the saloon having a beer, when Mr. Rochester walked in and looking around, he saw Jason sitting with a beer. Aaron had just come out of the backroom and saw Mr. Rochester sit with Jason.

"Mr. Bolt, are you aware that your company is in default? If you retire now, your company will be lost to you and your family!" Mr. Rochester said without any niceties. He did not have to be nice and did not want to be nice. He liked telling things the way they stood so people would react not think first.

Jason sat there and acted as if he had not heard anything. He watched this man, Mr. Rochester and wondered who he really was. He had already asked his lawyers in Olympia to do some background checking on this man. He noticed Aaron standing back and waiting to jump in if needed, but Jason was not sure at the moment if Aaron was on his side or this other man's side. Jason took another sip from his beer and stood up. Without talking to anyone he walked to the back room purposely bumping into Aaron. One of those little tricks he had learned as a 'volunteer' Pinkerton. Aaron followed him into the back room. Jason acted like he turned around too fast and fell on the floor with a thud. Aaron shut the door and went over to him.

"Aaron, do you remember when I told you about Patricia? Do you?" Jason asked. Aaron stood for a moment looking at the window of the little backroom. He remembered, yes, his heart remembered.

"Well, I want to tell you now, that this man, Mr. Rochester, and his friend Mr. Arlington are trying to con this whole town! I have received a message from my lawyers in Olympia, that these men are being investigated for robbery, thievery, and embezzlement as well as fraud!" Aaron looked at Jsaon with some confusion and some amazement.

"Jason!" Aaron said: "you are remembering!" Jason smiled and said:

"I have always remembered. I just needed an excuse to find things out about those two men! There is also a third man coming to this town as well, he supposed to be a postmaster for the post office! Am I right!" said Jason.

"Yes, yes you are, but, why Jason!" asked Aaron.

"Well, because when Joshua sent me the telegraph about you asking to change the contract because I was retiring, I knew something was not right. I had not said anything about retiring to anyone. Especially to you! So, I figured out that it did come from you. You may not have known it, but I saw it as a cry for help! So, before I left Olympia, I had the lawyers check up on what was happening and they said to beware of three men, a Mr. Rochester, a Mr. Arlington, and a Mr. Benson!"

"But then Ben's selling his store to this man isn't valid?" asked Aaron: "We should let him know!" Jason agreed but told Aaron they needed to wait until the third man showed up.

"Aaron do not let anyone know that I am okay, not even my family. Let them think my memory is slowly coming back. We have to set a trap for these men so that they can be caught! And one more thing, Matilda is coming to town. I am not going to 'remember' her, but she will be the third man's 'wife' . This has all been worked out. No one other than you and I will know!" Aaron smiled; he was glad Jason was back to 'normal,' but he had one more question:

"How are we going to leave this room without suspicion?"

"Very simply. When we walk out, you would be helping me to walk again, I forgot how to walk, and I stumbled over a chair. You say that when you went in the room you saw me sitting on the floor and you helped me up."
"Well, it has been a bit of time since we came in here, won't someone think we have been talking. Not if you call someone to help you get me off the floor! I am a very big man and heavy to lift!" said Jason with a smile and then fell backwards again onto the floor. And Aaron immediately went to help pick him up. But found that Jason was right that he wasn't all that easy to 'pick up! Aaron kept trying and finally called for one of the men to help him get Jason out of the saloon and back to his home.