Chapter 17

“Hey buddy,” Norm told the guy who was standing in the way. He had been on this particular aisle, in the hardware section, when Norm and Cal first got here. The guy was busy looking at the stickers on bags of rope. Unlike anyone else, the man didn’t just sift through them. He’d pull a bag off the hook, look at it, and then toss it in the floor when he was done.

When the guy turned to look at Norm, for some reason, Norm had a quick flash of recognition. It had more to do with the eyes than anything else but, Norm could not quite place it. The guy noticed the look he was getting. He sneered at Norm and said, “something wrong buddy?”

“Nothing,” Norm told the man and then he said, “I guess all you big white mutherfuckers all look the same to me.”

Instead of getting angry, and Norm was almost betting that is what the guy would do, he actually cracked a smile. There was even a hint of respect in his gaze. Then the guy just stepped back and made a polite gesture to the rows of laundry line. As Norm moved in the guy did, almost as an after thought, reach up and snatch down a bag. He put this one in his pocket and then started to walk off.

Before the man actually vanished he did turn back and ask, “you guys know where the duct tape is?”

Cal lifted up the roll he had in the cart and pointed with it, “two aisles over.” Once the man was out of sight, Cal asked Norm, “so Jake didn’t even bother to say where he was?”

Norm snatched down a couple of bags of line and replied in an almost disinterested way, “no and I didn’t ask.”

“Well,” Cal thought about it and then said, “he said it was personal. You know I saw news clip on my phone a little while ago. That Jessica Walsh was down at the airport this morning too.”

As they began walking towards the check out line, Norm listened to Cal. He got a really funny look and then asked, “what the hell does that have to do with anything?”

“Personal,” Cal replied. “You know? Personal? Jake’s been here how long now? A couple of months?”

The line was extremely long so they settled in for the wait and then Norm told Cal, “the problem here is, as I see it Cal. You been hanging around with Tony for too long.”

“Oh come on,” Cal protested. “ Everybody gets an itch that needs to get scratched. You don’t remember because you’ve been married for so long.”

“That’s where you’re wrong,” Norm told him. “I’ve been married so long and now I don’t even have an itch left to scratch.”

Cal considered that and finally said, “that’s not a very healthy attitude, you know?”

Norm turned and looked at the guy like he was crazy, “am I hearing marital advice from you? Why would I take your advice? You’re divorced.”

“Well when it you put it that way,” Cal said and just gave up.

When they reached the check out, Norm started unloading his cart. The little girl behind the register, with the braces on her teeth, started up the belt. She watched as several bags of rope, three rolls of duct tape, two cinder blocks, and a baseball bat came up to the scanner. She turned off the conveyor and looked at Norm and Cal with a slight tremble.

The little girl in the red smock asked meekly, “all this stuff yours?”

Cal pointed to the cart, “no I got a bag of quick setting cement and a bucket in here but, that’s separate. I’m paying for that.”

The cashier gritted her teeth and pointed to her drawer, “you guys know I only got like fifty bucks in here, right?”

Norm told her as he pulled out his badge, “it’s all right ma’am, we’re Colonial Officers.”

“Yeah,” she looked unconvinced, “all I know is the last guy that came through here with almost all the same stuff,” she pointed to the door with a certain amount of fear, “he went outside and then shooting broke out in the parking lot.”

Cal took a wild guess, “big white guy with short hair, board shoulders, in an old green jacket?”

The girl almost dropped down behind the register, “you’re with him?”

Norm grunted and told her, “hell no girl. We ain’t with him. Now will you check us out!”

The girl reluctantly began scanning and as she pulled the baseball bat across she said, “well if you’re going after him, you might want to go back to sporting goods and swap this out for something with a little more kick to it.”

Norm forced a quick, and obviously fake, smile for the girl. Then, after Cal finished they both were on the way to the front doors when a voice called out from the crowd, “well if it isn’t Agent Scoggins.” Norm spotted the man rather quickly. He was the only guy dressed in a black suit and tie. As usual, the guy stood unusually erect, with his legs spread and his arms clasped in front of him. He also had his sun glasses on.

Norm left his cart for a second and stepped towards the man but, some woman beat him to the guy. She actually tugged on the man’s sleeve and asked him, “where’s the grill stuff at?”

The man gave her a nasty stare and said in a very polite tone, “fuck off bitch.”

Norm waited for Cal to have his back and then walked up to the man with a genuine smile and said, “so what happened Baxter? Did the Kingsley’s finally come to their senses and fire you? I’m guessing you’re the security guard here.”

Baxter held a straight face and replied, “you only wish Scoggins.” Norm snorted out a laugh and waived the guy off. He went back to his cart. As he did, Baxter called out to him, “I’d keep my head low if I were you.”

Norm walked right out the door without so much as a reply. Calvin did not take the meeting so easy but, after they reached the outside of the building he forgot all about the man in the suit. Cal pointed out to the parking lot where there was a mixture of cops, firemen, and the Wehrmacht. Cal frowned, “I guess something really did happen out here.”

Norm looked back over his shoulder and thought about it for a minute. Then he examined the parking lot and decided, “it’s not our problem today.” As an afterthought he added, “I hope.”