Mid morning was not peak time for the diner so they had their pick of tables, only one was occupied. They sat toward the back to make the trip for the waitress shorter.
“Hey Bob, you guys in for an early lunch? The lunch special is not even up yet.”
“No Shirley, we're just here for coffee, thanks.” She scooped up two mugs and grabbed the pot on her way over to the table. She poured in a few smooth movements and she was gone.
They both sipped a bit and Bob started in “Alright Wheeler, we're here. What's the deal?” Wheeler seemed not to hear. He just gazed aimlessly over his mug. Bob waited him out.
“It's in here but not yet” he said quietly, hiding his lips behind the mug. “It's not here or he's not here or they're not here. I don't know, yet.”
Wheeler straightened up and seemed to snap out of it. “When does the spreader need to be finished? Do we have a little time?”
Bob was getting used to Wheeler's quick conversational turns but he did experience whiplash occasionally. “I promised to be done with it by the end of the week” he said with a little hesitation. Then he picked up on Wheeler returning to normal. “We do have a trailer coming that should be finished by the end of the week as well.” Bob was just filling in with chit chat as he realized Wheeler needed to be in the diner and appear normal.
“Is the trailer a big job?”
“No, it’s just a cracked axle mount that needs to be re-welded. Just a couple of hours, I think.”
Two men came into the diner just then and both Bob and Wheeler glanced to the front but returned to their work talk without anybody else noticing. “It's them” Wheeler said into his cup before sitting up normally to continue their chit chat.
One of the guys that came in was the investigator Wheeler met the other day at the diner and the other fellow was a younger man with his cap turned around. The curious difference did not fit any combination one would expect. The two chatted normally like they did know each other and proceeded to order breakfast or maybe brunch.
Wheeler and Bob couldn't hear anything but Wheeler had his senses peaked, trying to pull in an essence of what was going on. What he felt is a sense of certainty and security. He likened it to a soldier behind the wall just finishing the powder tamp, the musket ball pressed into place and the hammer pulled back ready for use. Locked and loaded as they said in a later era.
Shirley wandered by with the pot tipping it their direction with an unspoken offer. Wheeler caught her before the pot actually tipped “No thanks Shirley, we should be going. The boss is pushing to get stuff done today.” He said it with a grin to Bob and Shirley chuckled, dropping the check on the table.
Bob was quiet until they cleared the diner, and then asked “Did you get anything useful?”
“I think so, but I'm not exactly sure what. The older guy in the rumpled suit was in here the other night. He said he was down from the capital, so he's probably on the trail of the money. The timing is good for that and the younger guy is reinforcement. They are building up the troop strength.”
Bob looked pensive and asked “Does it mean anything?”
“Not really decisive but things are moving. Let's just get back to the shop and lay low, I feel like a bit of welding therapy.”
Bob opened his mouth as if to say something but just shut it and shook his head. “You're a strange man Mr. Wheeler.”
“So I've been told Mr. Keefer, so I've been told.”
Bob rounded the entry to the back of the shop and nearly rear ended Walt Carter's SUV. Walt was leaning against the fender, casually glancing their way. His face turned anything but casual. They couldn't even get out of the truck before Walt stormed it.
“Wheeler, get out of the truck!” He shouted before getting near it.