April 20, 1952
Dear Rose,
Things have been happening kind of fast around here. We got six new patients this month. Four are physically handicapped, and two are not so good mentally. I understand two of them are from the territorial prison. Neither of them seems at all violent. One of them just sits in a chair and sort of mumbles to himself. It’s sad. I’ve tried to talk to him, but he just looks at me and mumbles about some kind of numbers.
Both Careen and Cassidy made the honor roll this semester. I’m proud of them. They seem to fit in well in school and have new friends.
I also wanted to tell you we’ve been in our new house for three weeks now. I followed up on an ad in the Star newspaper from the A-to-Z Real Estate Company. They have a special program going with the Juneau Trust Bank. I had to give them $2,000 down, and the bank financed the rest.
I received a nice bonus for overtime work and bought some new furniture for the girls’ bedrooms. We have three bedrooms upstairs, and for the first time, we each have our own bedroom.
Our new address is 144 East Chestnut Street, Juneau, Alaska. I know this is a long way from Atlanta, but the girls and I want to invite you to come for a visit.
I checked, and a train or a plane ride is not too expensive. A bus ride would be too long. Think about it.
I’ll write again soon.
Love from Alaska,
Trina
At four o’clock in the afternoon on May 1, 1952, Aaron Mueller’s taxicab pulled into the driveway at 144 East Chestnut Street.
“Why is there a four-door Ford coupe in the driveway?” asked the taxi driver. “I thought you just bought this house.”
May 3, 1952
Dear Rose,
This letter may end up rather short. Maybe I should not have purchased the house I told you about in my last letter. You won’t believe the situation I find myself in. It seems two people bought the same house—me and a man from New York City. Aaron Mueller arrived two days ago. Don’t ask me how this happened. Two days ago, I got home with a friend, Sharon Smith, and there was a taxicab in my driveway. A man was talking to Careen and Cassidy on the front porch.
Sharon and I work together. She lives three blocks over from us, and we started sharing rides to work. This was her week to drive, and she was dropping me off at home.
When Sharon asked who the man was, I said, “I’ve never seen him before, but if the girls are sitting there and talking to him, it must be okay.” Well, it turns out he bought the same house I did. We showed each other our deeds to the house. What a deal!
Since it was a Friday and past five o’clock, he said he’d be back the next day to try to figure it out. He been traveling for almost twenty-four hours, and he was very tired. He took the cab to a hotel.
Oh my! Cassidy just walked in holding her finger. She said she hurt it—so I’m going to go for now.
Love from Alaska,
Trina
When the taxicab driver asked why there was a four-door Ford coupe in the driveway, Aaron said, “Maybe it’s not 144. I don’t see any house number, do you?”
“No, but I think it is 144,” answered the driver.
Aaron told the driver to wait while he knocked on the front door. He was quite surprised when two young black girls answered. They looked almost alike, and they were beautiful. At age fifteen, Careen and Cassidy were already taking on the strikingly good looks of their mother.
Aaron’s concentration on the girls’ looks, though only a few seconds, was broken when Cassidy said, “Hi. May we help you?”
“Yes,” Aaron said. “Is the address here 144?”
“Yes, sir, 144 East Chestnut Street,” Careen said. “What address are you looking for?”
“I’m looking for 144 East Chestnut Street, but I don’t understand. Do you two girls live here?”
“We have lived here for the past three weeks. Our mom bought this house,” Cassidy said.
“Is your mom or dad here?” Aaron asked.
Careen said, “Mom should be home any minute from work, but our stepdad died almost three years ago.”
Aaron thought, What is going on here? Something is not right! To be polite, Aaron said, “Is it okay if I sit here on the porch and wait for your mother?”
“Sure, it’s okay. We’ll sit with you,” Careen said.
Aaron walked out to the taxicab and asked the driver to wait until the girls’ mother came home.
The taxi driver said, “Okay, but I have to keep the meter going.”
Aaron agreed.
A few minutes later, Trina and Sharon pull behind the taxicab.
Sharon said, “Who is the guy on the porch?”
“I’ve never seen him before, but if the girls are sitting there and talking to him, it must be okay. I’ll see you on Monday. Remember that I’m driving. Have a good weekend.”
“You do the same,” said Sharon.
When Trina reached the porch, Aaron stood, reached out his hand, and said, “Hello, my name is Aaron Mueller. I think we have a confusing situation here.”
“Hi, I’m Trina Brown,” Trina responded. “What confusing situation?”
Aaron said, “I bought a house at 144 East Chestnut Street over six weeks ago, but when I arrived, the girls said you bought this house and have been living here for three weeks. If this is true, something doesn’t make sense.”
“Is this a joke?” asked Trina. “You can’t be serious. I have a deed to the house and loan papers from the Juneau Trust Bank.”
“I have the same—a deed and loan papers from the Juneau Trust Bank—so this is no joke. Well, Mrs. Brown, I have a taxi waiting. I am very tired because I’ve been up traveling for twenty-four hours. I’m going to a hotel, and I’ll be back tomorrow afternoon if that’s okay.”
“Sure, that’s okay,” Trina said. “We should try to figure this thing out. See you tomorrow.”
When the taxicab was pulling away, Careen said, “Hey, Mom, maybe we could all live together. Mr. Mueller seems like a nice man.”
“That’s not even funny, Careen,” Trina said, realizing it was no joke. Like Aaron Mueller, she sensed something was terribly wrong.
Aaron Mueller took the taxicab to the Sunrise Hotel and was asleep within an hour. As he was falling asleep, he thought, Was Josh right when he said, “I still think you’re crazy!”
May 10, 1952
Dear Rose,
What a week this has been. Remember how I told you two people bought this house the twins and I are living in? Well, we’re still living here—but I’m not sure for how long.
When the fellow I told you about, Aaron Mueller, looked at the deed I had and the one that was mailed to him, he noticed some differences. Mine had fewer markings on the front, and the paper was thinner.
We reasoned that—or I should say he reasoned that—if they were issued from the same governing agency, they should be the same except for our signatures. It was a Saturday, and the Juneau Trust Bank was closed. Before coming to the house on Saturday afternoon, Mr. Mueller had the taxicab go by the A-to-Z Real Estate office. It was closed, and there was a sign in the window: “On Vacation—Back in Two Weeks.”
When he got to our house at three o’clock, he said, “I was in business for thirty years. I’ve dealt with sleazy people, and I smell a rat here—but there is nothing we can do until Monday when the bank opens.
We talked about how each of us had managed to buy the same house and how we had lost our spouses. He said he would go to the bank on Monday to find out more. He seems like a very nice guy.
Everything is going well at work, and Tilly said to say hi.
It’s now midnight. I better get some sleep. I’ll write again soon.
Love from Alaska,
Trina
In 1952, Juneau was becoming somewhat of a tourist attraction. Because of this, there were a number of specialty shops not far from the Sunrise Hotel where Aaron was staying.
At breakfast on Sunday morning, Aaron decided since he could do nothing until Monday anyway, he’d spend time walking around to see what was available. As he walked around, temporarily forgetting about the house problem, Aaron’s natural business mind started working on him. He knew there wasn’t going to be a market for Kosher foods just like his brother Josh had said. On the other hand, it was obvious that there were things that would sell. There were certain things that he could not find in the stores he walked through. For example, little Eskimo dolls, which he reasoned parents or grandparents would purchase for their kids or grandkids.
He remembered reading about the Eskimos at the library back in New York when he was researching Alaska. At one point, as his mind was racing with ideas of business, Aaron stopped and thought, Wait a minute, Aaron Mueller. You’ve already goofed by buying a house someone else also bought. So slow down! His mind went back to Josh’s words: “I still think you’re crazy.” I will build a new life for myself here despite the way things have started out. It is now a challenge for me to make it here in Alaska.
May 15, 1952
Dear Rose,
I keep telling you what a hectic week it’s been. Well, it sure was true the past two weeks. When Aaron Mueller went to the Juneau Trust Bank on Monday morning, May 4, he felt like they were giving him the runaround.
When he asked to see Janet Green, he was told she was out sick. When he asked to see the bank president he was told that the bank president, Timothy Rogers, was out of town for a least a week.
He stopped over on Monday night and told me he had talked to the office manager, Cheryl Miller, and she told him he would have to talk to Janet Green or Mr. Rogers if it was about a house loan. She said she did not have access to that particular information. He stopped at the bank every day for a week to see Janet Green or Timothy Rogers to no avail, and he finally went to the sheriff’s office. Bill Finley is our local sheriff. After talking with Aaron, the sheriff said he was going to look into it, because two other people had recently complained about access to their bank accounts.
After seeing Aaron every night for a week, Careen and Cassidy suggested that we have Aaron move in with us until this mess is over. One of their arguments is that, at the time, we are not sure who owns the house.
I really did not like this idea. Although he seemed very nice, I’d never done any such thing.
They kept saying, “But he seems like a very nice guy.”
I thought about it for several days, and I figured he is trying so hard to get this house situation resolved for both of us. And he’s here almost every night telling us about what he’s found so far. Since it should be temporary, I decided to do it.
I said, “Why don’t you move in with us instead of spending more money on a hotel. I am sure it will be temporary, and the girls have agreed to give up one of their rooms for you.”
Since it was their idea, Aaron agreed—but only if he could contribute to some of the bills.
I’ll write again soon to keep you informed.
Love from Alaska,
Trina
Janet Green was born in Houston, Texas, but she remembered none of that part of her life. Her mother, Ann, moved her to Alaska when she was just three years old. Ann had lived with an alcoholic husband for nine years, but when he became abusive and hit little Janet—giving her a black eye—she divorced him. Ann took little Janet and moved to Juneau to be near her only living relative, her sister Maeve Green.
Janet Green grew up as an only child, but she was not spoiled like most only children tend to be. She was not abused by her mother, and from an early age, Ann made Janet do chores around the house. As Janet grew older, Ann would not give her money. Instead, Janet started working part-time jobs when she was twelve. From babysitting to waiting on tables in restaurants, Janet worked to have money of her own.
Ann had been so traumatized by her husband that, as Janet grew up, Ann constantly drilled into her head that men were not to be trusted. Janet lived with this situation until she was fifteen and Ann died of heart complications. Janet’s aunt, Maeve Johnson, took Janet into her home.
Maeve Johnston joined the navy right out of high school, served ten years, and resigned when she was to be reassigned from the base in Juneau. She did not want to move and attempted to get a change of assignment. When it was denied, she resigned.
Two months after she resigned, Maeve received a phone call from a new base commander, and he asked if she would come back to her old job as a civilian. The new commander was aware of the value of her work and how long and difficult it would be to replace her, and he got the exception Maeve could not get. This made it fairly easy for her to switch to civilian life.
Maeve Johnson had never been married, but she did not share her younger sister’s attitude toward men. She had been around enough men in the navy to know there were all kinds. There were both good men and bad men. There were those who were fanatical about religion and those who couldn’t care less about religion. She also knew she had not lived nine years with a man the way her sister had. So, when Ann wrote that she was leaving her husband and coming to Alaska to start a new life, Maeve welcomed Ann and Janet. She told Ann she would do what she could to help her make a new start.
When Maeve took Janet in at age fifteen, it wasn’t long before she realized how badly Ann had poisoned Janet about men. Maeve had confronted Ann several times over the years about this, but she always was told to mind her own business.
“If you want to decide how to raise a child, get one of your own,” Ann once told Maeve. This situation definitely caused a rift between the two sisters.
Over the next three years Maeve used the time to soften Janet’s attitude toward men and finished raising her to age eighteen. After graduating from high school, Janet joined the Juneau Trust Bank. She was hired as a teller at the bank. It was a starting position at a bank that was going to grow.
When she graduated, Janet moved out of Aunt Maeve’s house and into a small two-room apartment above a little store in downtown Juneau. It had a bathroom and a room that served as a kitchen, bedroom, and living room all in one. It was small, but it allowed her to be on her own. And despite her aunt’s help—first to her mother and then to herself—Janet never let herself get close to Maeve Johnson.
Janet worked the last two years of high school part-time as a waitress, and she saved every penny she could to be on her own. She graduated from high school with high honors, which was one of the reasons she landed the bank job so young. Over the next twenty years, Janet Green slowly worked her way up the ladder at Juneau Trust Bank. After five years, she became head teller. After ten years, she was made manager of the main office. It was at this point that Janet allowed herself to find a new apartment. It was a two-bedroom apartment with a separate kitchen, living room, and bathroom. After fifteen years, she was made vice president in charge of all residential home loans. The bank was not large by national standards, but the vice president position did hold a certain amount of prestige.
During those fifteen years, Janet Green had one hobby: reading books from the library. They were mostly mystery books. She became particularly fascinated by books about robberies and how some participants managed to get away. Those who got away always had a backup plan. They realized a person or persons could make a goof, which could lead to failure and getting caught by authorities, but she never understood how many got away until she read enough books about it.
In the fall of 1951, Janet Green was passed over to be the president of the Juneau Trust Bank. This left her very bitter.
Bobby Moore was a real estate manager at the Kenny Real Estate office in Juneau. He met Janet Green in late October 1951, when he brought a young couple into the bank. Kate and Tom Casey wanted to apply for a home loan. They had asked Bobby to go with them because it was their first time applying for a loan. Bobby was immediately fascinated by Janet Green. Although not really pretty, she was intelligent and very knowledgeable about bank loans, and she had no ring on her finger. In 1951, few women were in such a high position in a bank. A woman as vice president of a bank was almost unheard of.
Bobby was nothing if not persistent. He stopped in the bank to ask Janet to dinner seven times before she finally said yes, but since it was the night after she learned of not getting the presidency of the Juneau Trust Bank, she drank too much at dinner. As a result, she felt like being reckless and invited Bobby back to her apartment to sleep with her that night. Of course, Bobby Moore did not refuse.
When Janet Green found out she had been passed over for bank president, she was furious. Timothy Thompson, whom she knew to be incompetent, got the position, and she had covered for his mistakes many a time. She had worked diligently for more than twenty years and knew everything there was to know about the banking business, and he had only worked at the bank for ten years. Everyone knew that Janet Green ran the bank. No major decisions were ever made without her input or approval.
The most aggravating thing was when she discovered she had been passed over because she was a woman. In fact, she was privately told that one of the board members, during the meeting when the decision was made, said, “We gave women the right to vote, didn’t we? What more do they want? They’re only women, right? She’s only a woman.”
Janet Green was furious and made a pledge to herself: I will somehow get even with the Juneau Trust Bank, somehow, some way, no matter what it takes!
May 20, 1952
Dear Rose,
Three days ago, Bill Finley, the sheriff, stopped at our house. Aaron and I talked with him for about an hour. He told us that Aaron’s visit to his office prompted him to do a little digging and that what he found caused him to contact the FBI.
He told us they would be coming to see us the next day, which they did.
What Sheriff Finley found only confirmed Aaron’s suspicion that there was something sleazy about both of us buying the same house.
The next night, two FBI agents came to the house. One was older, and the other one was fairly young. Maybe in his twenties. The older one wore a fishing hat, and when he took it off, you could see he was bald. The older one took me into the kitchen, and the younger one kept Aaron in the living room. We were questioned separately, and they took notes. They wanted to know how we came to be in Alaska and how we came to buy the same house. They also wanted to know if we knew each other before coming to Alaska. They asked how we knew Janet Green, and the oddest question was if we knew where Janet Green was right now. Of course, we didn’t know where she might be.
They asked us to sit in the kitchen while they compared notes in the living room. I guess they figured we were being truthful because the four of us sat in the kitchen as they explained why they were questioning us. It is amazing how Aaron sensed something amiss that first weekend he was in Alaska. He must have been pretty successful in the business of supplying others with their company’s meats.
The FBI told us that within the past two weeks, eleven other houses showed up as being purchased by two different people. The bank was to cover the balance of each loan, and then Janet Green would approve them. Each house was listed as sold by Bobby Moore of A-to-Z Real Estate, but the signatures were all fake. The FBI found that all eleven were either empty houses or vacant lots. The house at 144 East Chestnut Street, our house, had been repossessed by the bank a year ago.
In addition, they told us more than $300,000 was missing from the bank—and Janet Green had not been seen in three weeks. They told us that it looked like a scam, and we were two of its victims—but the bank stood to lose much more than our $2,000. It might not survive.
The FBI also was looking for Bobby Moore. He hadn’t been seen in three weeks either. Bobby Moore owned the A-to-Z Real Estate outfit.
That’s as much as I know right now.
I know this is a long letter, and there are a couple other things you might find interesting. Aaron did move in with us, but I’m not so sure how this is going to work out. We gave him the biggest of the three bedrooms. He went out and bought a used army Jeep to get around in. When he pulled in the driveway with it, Cassidy yelled out, “Hey, Mom. There’s a yellow Jeep in our driveway.” It was a bright yellow with dinosaurs on the side doors. It was really kind of funny, and when Aaron stepped out of it, the three of us started laughing. Aaron told us it had been owned by a young man, maybe twenty or so, who couldn’t keep up the payments. Aaron found it in the newspaper, checked it out, and decided it was worth the money. So he bought it.
Besides the Jeep, he bought a used desk, a filing cabinet, and a captain’s chair for his room. He is not working yet, but he appears to be frugal and has plenty of money.
We’ve worked it out. I pay the bills, and he gives me half, but he won’t give me anything until he sees the bills first. He’s frugal and cautious too.
The second night he was living here, I had to tell the twins to wear bathrobes instead of the nightgowns we were used to wearing. Our first little trouble came this morning at breakfast when Aaron wanted to know who had left the toothpaste on the bathroom counter—and who had squeezed the tube in the middle instead of rolling it up from the end.
When Careen admitted to both, she asked what difference it made if she squeezed in the middle. Aaron said even though it wasn’t his toothpaste, he thought it looked neater to roll it up.
Oh well, it’s late. I have to get some sleep.
Love from Alaska,
Trina
Janet Green was a woman possessed. She knew her plan had to be perfectly executed if it was to succeed. There would be a window of time to pull off the demise of the Juneau Trust Bank. Her aim was to damage its reputation—and to see the complete collapse of its operation. It turned out that the toughest part of her plan was convincing Bobby Moore to help her. His biggest concern was that they might get caught. Once he believed they would not, he put his heart and soul into making it work.
The first part of her plan was for Bobby to set up his own real estate company. He called that company A-to-Z Real Estate. Starting in January 1952, he would put an ad in a trade magazine for houses for sale in Juneau, Alaska. They didn’t expect any response; it was just a cover for Bobby leaving his job and setting up a getaway trip on the boat to Seattle on April 10. Janet Green knew they had a window of six weeks to send the fake loan applications. She had Bobby come in with the first one on March 15, 1952. He made sure Janet’s secretary, as well as other people, understood he was coming to this bank because of the nice and efficient service he received from the Brooks family. The eleven applications slipped easily to Janet’s desk, and she put them through the system as approved loans. Since it was Janet’s work, no one questioned the transactions. She then transferred the money to an account in Jamaica, which only she could access.
Aaron Mueller’s and Trina Brown’s loan applications in the middle of April added to the validity of Janet’s loans because the bank saw Bobby bringing in Trina Brown as a live person.
They only had a six-week window to put their scheme put into action because the bank’s accountants would be in on May 1. When they went through the bank’s records, they surely would question the missing money. Janet knew they could not find where it went, but they would detect it missing.
On April 10, all was done. After Janet called in sick for work, she and Bobby Moore boarded the boat for Seattle. And on April 20, they stepped off the boat in Port Arthur, Jamaica. Mission accomplished. The next day, they were married.