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Jimmy?
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Plummer.”
“Please, it’s Judy. Mrs. Plummer is Jimmy’s mother.”
The two women laughed. That Jimmy didn’t might have been due to his having heard the joke for years.
The two women exchanged routine pleasantries for five minutes until Jimmy prompted, “Greta and I have some department business to discuss, dear . . . if you’ll excuse us.”
“Of course, Jimmy. Just let me know if you need anything. Greta, what about you right now? Coffee or anything?”
“Thanks, no. I’m really fine.”
“Okay, just let me know.” Judy Plummer left the room.
“We can sit here in the living room,” said Plummer. They made themselves comfortable on a sofa with a long coffee table in front of it. “So, what’s this mysterious new information?”
Greta laid out the “new mysterious information.” First, she summarized what they didn’t know, which didn’t take long. Then the indication that Balfour’s Peru mission was a scam, followed by her observation of the interaction between Balfour and Helen Snyder. Her spiel ended with her theory of what happened, that Toompas accidently stumbled on the tryst between Balfour and Helen Snyder, and Balfour had killed him to protect his scam. Plummer listened attentively while she talked. She waited for his response once she finished.
“Greta . . . either this is a wild-ass fantasy you’ve dreamed up or a piece of detective work for the books.”
She was annoyed by his first option because she thought her scenario was perfectly logical. She was pleased by the second option.
“I know it sounds too Hollywood, but that’s how I see what happened, based on the information we have. Doesn’t me
an it’s right, only that it fits.”
“Off the top of my head, I see several problems. One, where is the proof Balfour and Helen Snyder were having an affair? Two, I know you’ve said Balfour’s mission is phony, but neither I nor anyone else has seen the evidence. Three, where’s the proof Balfour and Mrs. Snyder were together that night and Toompas discovered them together? Four, assuming Balfour killed Toompas, was it at the Snyder house or somewhere else? Remember, the car with Toompas’s blood was found in Lincoln City, not Pacific City. Five, assuming Balfour killed Toompas at the Snyder house and dumped the body at the Tillamook/Lincoln county line, he would then have had to drive the car to Lincoln City. How did he get back home? I’m sure I could think of a few more problems, given more time.”
Greta threw up her hands. “Did I say it was an ironclad case? Let me show you something about your point number . . . I forget if it was number two or three, that you haven’t seen proof of Balfour’s scam.”
She described getting the PowerPoint file from Father Merstory and finding the photos copied from the Internet. She didn’t have her laptop with her, so they logged in to her email account using his computer. She pulled up the email from Simpson’s unknown source and followed the links to the photos.
“He gave this presentation claiming it showed his church’s mission in eastern Peru, but it’s all phony.”
Plummer appeared glum. Greta thought he still didn’t believe her story. She was wrong.
“Goddamn it, Greta,” he whispered, looking around to see if his wife was within earshot. “I was hoping all this was your imagination.”
She frowned. “Why?”
“Balfour is a prominent figure in the community. He’s got a big and growing congregation. He’s on boards and committees all over the place. Everything I hear is that people who go to his church swear by him. Damn . . . Judy’s sister and her family go to his church, as do some of friends.”
Greta’s face heated up. “What the hell does that matter? We know for sure he’s a crook, and I think there’s a good chance he’s a murderer. You think we should just let all this go because he’s a ‘prominent figure’!”
“Shh, not so loud,” Plummer pleaded.
She glared at him.
He sighed. “Of course, we can’t ignore this. You’ll have to excuse me for wishing this happened on someone else’s watch. Judy and I live in this town. Our families live here and all our friends. This is going to hit the community like a thunderbolt. Some of the blowback will come to us, you and me, even if we do the right thing.”
She cooled down, considering his point, and recognized some validity to it. She might move on in a year or so, but the Plummers would experience long-term consequences.
“There’s another factor you aren’t going to like hearing, but it’s also a fact of life for me,” Plummer said. “I like getting along with Sheriff Wallace. I know he’s a prick, but he’s my boss, and I’m dependent on his good will and performance reports. I have a family, a mortgage, and other bills, and I don’t see myself ever getting a better job than the one I have. I’d like to not be on my boss’s shit list for the next twenty years.”
Plummer’s words annoyed Greta, even as she sympathized. “I know Wallace doesn’t want to make any waves before the next election. Still . . . ”
“Greta,” said Plummer patiently, “if you ever look at the walls of Wallace’s office, one whole wall is covered with photos of him with community leaders. Balfour appears in several of those photos, and one of them is Wallace and Balfour arm in arm at some charity event. If the worst comes out about Balfour, Wallace will worry about it slopping over on him.”
