The phrase “in due time” is ambiguous in ways that investigators and journalists have noted without being able to resolve. It could mean: I’ll explain this to you once I’ve sorted out what I’m doing. It could mean: you’ll figure it out eventually from circumstances. It could mean: I’ve made arrangements that will become clear to you. It could mean almost anything, and given that the explanation never came and the man died without providing one, it means nothing verifiable.
What it does suggest, in the context of everything else, is that Nichols expected there to be a future in which explanation was possible — or, at minimum, that he wanted his wife to believe there would be such a future. Whether he believed this himself is not something any source can establish.
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## The Geography of Disappearance
After leaving his family in New Albany in 1964, Robert Nichols moved through a series of locations that are partially documented by the letters he sent to his family during the period when he was still in contact.
He went to Dearborn, Michigan. He told his parents he was working in the automobile industry — the Detroit metropolitan area was, of course, the center of American automobile manufacturing, and Dearborn in particular was home to the major Ford Motor Company operations. Whether he actually worked for an auto industry employer, and if so which one, is not established.
From Michigan, he moved to Stroud, Oklahoma — a small town in Lincoln County, in the center of the state. The significance of Stroud, why he went there, what he did there, and how long he stayed, is not documented.