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“Maybe, if we’d been looking right after the murder. By now, I doubt any footage still exists. Few businesses keep recordings longer than a week or so. They just re-tape over previous ones. After this many months . . . ”
Deflated, she said, “Oh . . . yeah. I guess that won’t help.”
“Probably not,” Plummer agreed, “but doesn’t hurt to ask anyway if we’re already going to show the photos to them.”
“Sounds like you two will be plenty busy the next week if you plan to cover the whole town,” Connors commented. “I agree that you focus on the Kiwanda area initially and expand outward as time allows and if there’re no other leads to look into. Alex and I will look over the acquaintance list again for any that might justify a second round of questioning, with more emphasis on possible burglary connections. We can feed you names in Tillamook County that look interesting. I’ll also dig out records on burglaries and receiving stolen goods to see if more names pop up.”
“I assume names like Willie Askew will be on that list,” Plummer remarked.
Connors smiled. “You bet. He’s likely to be at the top of the list.”
Boylan also smiled.
“Who is Willie Askew?” Greta asked.
“The coast’s version of a professional fence,” answered Plummer. “Lives in Lincoln City but is known in all the surrounding counties.”
Connors shook his head. “A very clever fence. We’ve never convicted him of anything major. Oh . . . a couple of receiving stolen goods for which he served a few months. We never pinned as much on him as we’re sure he’s doing.”
“He’s quite a character,” added Boylan. “One of those ‘hail-good-fellow’ types. I’d bet half of the police and deputies in Lincoln County either think of him almost as a friend or someone they don’t mind having a beer with.”
“Not quite as bad in Tillamook County,” asserted Plummer, “though some of that with us as well. It’s gotten to be a symbiotic relationship. Willie stays away from anything involving drugs or violence and slips us occasional tidbits of information.”
Connors nodded. “I’ve let him off the hook a couple of times when I owed him a return favor, but there are strict bounds that so far he’s never crossed. If anyone knows about Toompas trying to sell loot from his burglaries around here, it’ll be Willie.”
Sounds very illegal, thought Greta, and probably quite normal and effective law enforcement procedure.
“I think we’re set for the first couple of days, then,” said Connors. “Let’s concentrate on these initial ideas and let one another know if anything promising turns up. Given our time limit . . . this is Wednesday, so I’d say by Monday we need to reassess, maybe by a conference call.”
All agreed. Greta and Plummer walked together to the parking lot.
She felt awkward, not knowing Plummer well and a little suspicious of anyone close to Wallace. She had questions concerning Plummer’s unexpected interest in the case and his good suggestions. Something wasn’t right.
They reached her vehicle. She was about to ask him when he wanted to start the canvassing when he spoke first.
“I think we can dispense with pretending all this new information came from anywhere except you, Greta.”
Her heart skipped, and her pulse shot up.
“I’m curious, though, why you pretended it wasn’t your work.”
He seemed curious and friendly enough. In lieu of thinking of any way to deflect the topic, she plunged in.
“I’ll answer your question if you’ll tell me why you pretend to be Jimbo, instead of James.”
Plummer laughed, though without humor—the bitter laugh someone makes when there’s nothing else to do.
“Self-defense. My wife and I are both from Astoria, as are most of our families, except for a sister here in Tillamook. We wanted to raise our kids along the Oregon coast, and this is the closest job I could find. I was desperate for a job when I interviewed with Wallace. I’m afraid I sucked up to him something embarrassing. I had the impression he gave me the job because he thought I wouldn’t give him any problems. The Jimbo came from him as a joke. By the time it wore thin, it was too late. I’d seen what he did to deputies who crossed him. He can be vindictive. I guess I settled into the role of ‘Jimbo,’ the reasonably competent detective who doesn’t make waves.” Plummer smiled. “Naturally, I’ll disavow this conversation should Wallace hear of it. Since he knows how innocuous I am, he’d assume it’s you making it up.”
“Naturally,” she replied faintly, not sure what to make of his confession.
“And now it’s your turn. All this information is yours, isn’t it?”
What the hell, she thought. Why not?
“Yeah. I kept digging into this, even after the Lincoln County people put it on the back burner. I just couldn’t let it go like they wanted to. I also didn’t want Wallace to know how much time I spent on it.”
“Smart move,” Plummer said approvingly. “Any way you look at it, Wallace would have put the kibosh on the effort.”
