Chapter 2

It seemed that the night wore on for Jason, Joshua, and Aaron, they were busy with their books, the accounting they were working on wasn't that hard, it was just matching what was cut against what was sold and what was spent. For some reason, the numbers did not match. Jeremy showed up late after he had said goodnight to Candy, he came by the saloon to see if he could help. Both Jason and Joshua said not at that time. Tomorrow in the morning maybe. Jeremy said okay and headed to the cabin.

Aaron too was working late, for some reason his books weren't balanced either, he was also going over Lottie's books as well, and found some discrepancies in her books. Ben Perkins was doing the same thing, while Emily had watched Molly and Christopher, he had been working on his books and noticed a discrepancy like all the others. This would not bode well with the auditors who were scheduled to arrive on Friday and work on the books that weekend! They all went to bed in their respective houses for the night expecting to get up and find that they had been wrong.

The next morning as the sun shone brightly again, the ladies started the canning and jamming process. Joshua, Jason, and Jermey woke up and smiled. The sun was out, they were happy. Aaron woke up and had his usual breakfast and headed over to his office. Ben woke up and after breakfast went to the mercantile to get ready to open. He came in and was about to go over his inventory when he noticed that the pad and pencil that he had for the telegraph were on his counter, not near the telegraph. He went over and noticed that there were three pieces of paper. They each had a riddle on them. At first, he thought he had been robbed but as he read each piece of paper, he realized that someone had been in his shop, and left these messages for him, Aaron, Lottie and the Bolts. He immediately went to Aaron's office and then to Lottie presenting them with their message. He then headed to the Bolt cabin and knocked on their door.

"Oh, Ben, come in," said Jeremy.

"What's up Ben?" asked Jason. Ben handed Jason the message, and said:

"There were four messages, one for me, Aaron, Lottie, and you. Each has a different riddle on them? I don't know what to make of it?" said Ben, a little nervous.

"These message were in your store? Was your door locked?" asked Joshua who looked at the message as Jason looked at it. Jeremy glanced at it but went back to cooking the bacon and eggs.

"Jason, my door was locked. I lock it and then go into my home through the back door and lock that! If someone were to come into the store, I would have heard them because the cash register is near the door leading to my home and surely someone would have tried to open that door to get more things, but, but nothing was stolen? Only those pages each one of them directed at one of us?" Jason looked at Ben.

"Ben, get Aaron, and we will meet at Lottie's!" said Jason, who put on his boots and motioned for Joshua and Jeremy to do the same.

"B-b-but J-J-Jason, the bacon and eggs?" Jeremy asked.

"Put them on a plate and bring them with us, we will eat there!" Jason said as he went with Ben out the door. Joshua was dressed and ready to leave and Jeremy had just gotten his boots on, placed the bacon that was a little underdone, and the eggs that were well cooked onto a large plate and covered it with a towel. When they arrived, the ladies from the dormitory were there as well.

"Why are you ladies here?" asked Jason and Aaron at the same time. Candy answered:

"I saw Jeremy coming over here with a plate of food and thought that was unusual. So, I decided to come over to see what was happening and how we could help!" Candy said.

"Why are Biddie, Fran and the others here?" asked Jason again. Candy looked and had not noticed that the other ladies had followed her over. She said:

"Oh, well, you may need all of our help!" She smiled at Jeremy who was still holding the plate of undercooked bacon and overcooked eggs. She went over and took the plate, and asked:
"Lottie, may we use your kitchen to cook some breakfast for all of you?" Candy asked sweetly. Lottie said yes and the ladies immediately went into the kitchen to make breakfast. Jason was without words for once, but Aaron wasn't.

"Gentlemen and Lottie, we need to start talking about these so-called riddles? Are we supposed to read them? What does this all mean?" said Aaron. Who took his paper and started to read silently.

"Ah, Aaron, would you share it with us please?" said Lottie, who was nervously looking at her paper and wondering what she should do. Aaron smiled slightly and said:

"Of course. It says:

Your accounts are unbalanced as you know!

But why or how come, how far will you go!" Aaron stopped.

"Well, what is the rest of it?" Asked Joshua

"That is, it!" said Aaron. Indeed, everyone seemed to have only two lines on each paper. Jason, decided to read his next:

"Why is one tree shorter than the others?

There are two trees no one bothers?" Jason looked confused at what he had read. It was Lottie's turn and she read:

"The shade it brought is no longer.

The days are getting shorter." She looked at Ben to see what his had to say.

"Soon there will be no reason.

To have a cutting season!" Ben himself could not fathom what this was all about. They all looked at each other. As they stared, Candy and the ladies brought fresh bacon, and eggs and hot coffee. Jeremy smiled at her. He was the only one to smile. Did he know something that they didn't? What Would J. Bolt do?