by Eric Hodges
CHAPTER 9
UNDERCOVER
The three of them drove to what was left of Old Glorys just as the fire department was pulling their equipment out of a gutted shell. The front of the building was gone, the framing for the door and windows must have been in the rubble in the middle of the street and there was no sign of furniture anywhere. There was just the odd, foot tall pile of cinders here and there inside. This was not just a fire, it was an explosion that caused all of this.
Alice and Bob huddled around the fire chief to get what information they could, but it was all slow motion now. There was nothing to do, nothing to say. Alice’ car keys were in her purse, in the mess somewhere but it didn't matter. The car caught fire as well. They rode back to Bob’s shop, collected his truck and drove out to the farm hoping it was still there.
The last light of the day was fading when they got there but there was enough light to see that the house and the grounds were just fine. Alice and Bob were somber but Wheeler’s mind was racing. There was a next step to be taken and the time was now.
“Can you fix us a fast dinner” Wheeler said to one or both of them “We’ve got a job tonight.” The last part he said like safe-cracker from an old gangster movie, making a weak attempt to lighten the mood. He sat at the table to think, or more accurately, to listen, to glean some insight into the evening’s activities. He actually had as much as he would get but he was just making sure he didn’t miss any cues. This next phase had to be timed and choreographed perfectly.
Bob brought a plate of sandwiches and Alice followed with what looked like juice.
“Excellent, no beer for us tonight, we will have to be sharp” Wheeler said, coming out or his reverie.
“Okay, the suspense is killing me,” Bob said, reaching for a sandwich. “What did you get from the great beyond?” He asked in a joking manner but he wasn’t critical. He was coming to appreciate Wheeler’s strange abilities.
“I am assuming the casino is not far from here” Wheeler said “we have to go out there.”
“It’s only a half hour drive out of town. Do you know why?” Alice asked between bites.
“Not yet, but like I told you, I only get one step at a time” he said pleasantly. “Here’s what I know so far, the house here should be okay, but I want you, Bob, to stay here so it doesn’t look like an easy target. Alice and I will go the casino, and we should be leaving now.” They were about finished with the quick sandwiches anyway.
“Okay” Bob said. “You go and I’ll clean up here. Do you know how long you’re going to be?”
“We should be back before midnight” Wheeler replied. “Is that under your curfew here?” Wheeler was still trying to lighten the mood.
“Just so you know, boy” Bob was playing his part well, “I’ll be out on the front porch there cleaning my shotgun so y’all best be early.”
“Okay pappy” Alice joined in. None of them wanted to acknowledge the uncertainties they all faced. Alice gave Bob a light peck on the cheek as the started to leave.
“Make sure that gun is clean” Wheeler said in a quiet, serious tone.
Alice and Wheeler saw the casino lights arcing up into the horizon before they could see any structures. Alice filled him in on the history and answered his questions about the layout, the parking lots and the surroundings. Wheeler was looking for a clue to direct them into the evening’s festivities. He didn’t have anything yet but they drove into the parking lot at the front of the facility and gaped at the light show on the large building. It was big by small town standards but only medium sized for a casino.
Actually, it was nowhere the size of the big casinos in Vegas or Atlantic City but made up for its compact size in garish lighting. There were sequential running lights shows, figures that seemed to move, signs that blinked ‘Show Girls’ and ‘Well Drinks $1’ and a host of other tasteless figures in neon that disgusted Wheeler. This was not a family-friendly place.
“Well, what do we do next?” Alice asked, nonplussed at the light show. She had seen it before and didn’t comment.
“We’re not going in there” he said with obvious displeasure, “let’s try around back.” With his negative reaction to the front he ‘knew’ that wasn’t right, so he started his wander to find the right place.
He slowly maneuvered through the front lot to the dimly lit service entrances in the back. He pulled the VW to the back of the parking area to get a good view of the loading docks but far enough away to not be noticed. He backed in to an overflow area and shut off the engine to wait.
“Is this it?” Alice asked. “What do we do now?”
“We just wait” Wheeler said distractedly, “it won’t be long.” He was leaning closer to the windshield of the bus to get a better view. It wasn’t any better than leaning back so he relaxed and scanned the area as attentively as he could. It didn’t take long.
A bakery truck pulled into the lot, made a sweeping u-turn and backed up to the loading dock. A white uniformed attendant got out of the cab, hopped up onto the dock and opened the back doors of the delivery van. He rolled a bread rack out that had only two bundles and rolled it through the swinging doors.
“That’s interesting” Wheeler said.
“Why?” asked Alice. “It’s just a delivery. They probably get a lot of them.”
“But a bread delivery” he consulted his internal clock “at 9:40 at night? Don’t they usually deliver at five in the morning? Two loaves do not make much of a delivery.”
The white uniformed delivery baker returned to the dock with a rack half full of ‘loaves’, opened the van doors and shoved the rack inside.
“And besides” Wheeler said starting the engine “why would the bakery delivery van be doing a pick up from a casino?”
“Very suspicious, Holmes” Alice said, drawing out the words like a contemplative Dr. Watson. She grinned at Wheeler and turned back to see the bakery van rolling out of the parking lot.
“The chase is on” Wheeler said sounding slightly British as he followed the bakery van with the headlights on the VW still off. The van drove down the access road to the highway and turned toward Eaton with Wheeler following at a respectful distance. There was not much traffic at this hour so he stayed well back.
The van made the trip obeying speed laws and behaving as a law abiding citizen and Wheeler had no trouble keeping it in sight. It turned off Main Street in Eaton then drove up the alley behind a commercial row of shops and offices. Wheeler held back then followed, driving past the alley and parking on the side street so they could just get a view of the bakery van when it stopped. The baker knocked on the back door of the building, then turned to open the back of the van and disappeared inside. A figure came out of the building and propped the door open, spilling light out into the alley. A bundle appeared from disembodied arms and it was handed it the new guy who went back inside.
“That’s Wix” Alice said, in a loud breathy whisper. “I’ve seen him in town.”
“I like it when the boss gets out there and does real labor with the hired help” Wheeler whispered back, grinning broadly.
Alice punched him lightly on the shoulder as the unloading continued in a steady stream. Wheeler and Alice watched two dozen loaves change hands and disappear inside the back entrance to the office building. The baker closed the van and drove off, Wix shut the door and it was all over in less than two minutes.
“Pretty slick,” Wheeler said in a normal tone.
“Well, it sure wasn’t bakery bread. The only thing a casino makes is money, and that looked like a lot of money.”
Wheeler shut off the VW in the driveway at 10:30 under the watchful eyes of Bob ‘Pappy’ Keefer guarding the porch with is shotgun, good to his word.
“Anything happen here?” Alice asked, her apprehension easing as she saw Bob looking relaxed on the porch.
“Naw” Bob said in character, “Purdy quiet ‘round these ports.” He made a loud spitting sound to make it sound more convincing. The
n he got up and said “Well, tell me what happened” as he led them inside without a shred of hayseed showing.
Around the table, Alice told him about the phony bread and the delivery to Wix as Wheeler served beer and wine from the refrigerator. He did feel like part of the family now, he thought as he joined them at the table.
“We probably know about Walt Carter’s problem” Wheeler started the analysis, “but the bread delivery doesn’t quite fit. The bread is money going into Davies and Wix but Walt’s problem is not enough money.”
Alice and Bob didn’t join in to help, so Wheeler continued “Let’s extrapolate here a bit. If the Carter loan was to buy into the casino he should be getting money out of it. He evidently has not gotten enough to pay off or replace the loan so he is getting desperate, and we’ve seen, desperate men do desperate things.”
It was quiet for a moment as the all sipped and contemplated.
Alice began “Davies and Wix have been in some shady deals and have not been caught at anything. Probably because they are just plain good at this stuff, you know, the worst reputation of lawyers might have been because of them.” She sipped to consider “What if they cut themselves in on the casino project, somehow, and now they are double crossing Walt?”
“The money going out the back” Bob added “sure looks like something shady or maybe illegal, but how do we find out or even prove anything?”
“Our problem is not proof quite yet” Wheeler said. “I am never involved in something that belongs to the authorities; it’s never that easy for me. The way I see it, our problem now is to find out who is stiffing whom and then come up with a plan. We have just found a pair of really big sharks in a tiny pond.” Alice and Bob nodded and the planning session was over. Anything else that could be done that night was lost on tired minds and bodies. Wheeler felt another busy day coming tomorrow.