12. A New Possibility

Pam joins the board of Doc Arra’s museum as they gather for their usual Wednesday night work session. Sam Weiss says, “Peter won’t be here tonight. He called me and said he’s got a plumbing job that’s turned out to be more complicated than he expected.”

Mary says, “Or it’s so hot he’s exhausted from working all day in this heat and needs a rest.”

“I sure could use a rest. I worked in my garden too long in the heat today myself,” adds Pam.

Joe says, “It’ll be awfully hot upstairs in the clinic. Maybe tonight’s a time to chat a bit and go home. I know it’ll be cooler at home with a breeze coming off the lake. Sam, what’s the gossip this week at the Coffee Mug?”

“I haven’t been there for a few days but I heard the gossip from Jolene while getting my haircut. At the Cut and Curl it’s been a split between no one hearing of any progress on the Lund murder investigation and the ongoing struggle with the city budget. One of the sheriff’s deputies told Jolene the sheriff instructed the deputies and Sue not to talk about the investigation to anyone. The deputy told her even Deputy Wilson won’t tell him what’s going on, but he believes Wilson has learned that all the suspects except two have solid alibis. He said Tom Eyre is out of jail, although he doesn’t know if Tom’s still a suspect. The deputies believe Sheriff Ericsson is so mad about Mary Jane Bloom’s column last week he doesn’t want any new information to get out. He doesn’t want her to have anything to write about the investigation this week,” replies Sam.

Joe says, “That plan sure backfired on the sheriff. Not having any new information she wrote about all the rumors going around town and made it look like the sheriff is trying to sweep another murder under the rug. I got a coffee at the Coffee Mug this afternoon. The old guys hanging out there were all laughing about her column and how it made the sheriff look like a bumbling hick.”

Joe’s remarks got a few snickers. Then Pam asks, “What is the gossip on the budget, Sam? I thought that would be the subject of Mary Jane Bloom’s column. I guess she feels she can stir up more readers by needling the sheriff.”

Sam replies, “Lots of speculation and some news on what the mayor is doing. Jolene told me one of Violet’s customers said the mayor met with the County Commissioners asking them to decrease the costs of the city’s share of common services. The customer thought that’s the mayor’s negotiating tactic. He’s hoping to convince the county to hold to last year’s numbers instead of raising the city’s share. She said the Commissioners told the mayor flatly that they weren’t going to budge on the numbers. The county’s revenue is down and the city’s share of expenses has to increase, otherwise, the county will have to have layoffs and no county employee gets a raise next year.”

“How did that go over with the mayor,” Pam asks.

“I can answer that,” said Mary. “The next day he called a meeting of the city department heads, told them what the Commissioners said and instructed each of them to plan for a ten percent budget cut. He’s adamant that he won’t ask for any tax increases. The mood at the Courthouse is gloomy. Word got around quickly; everyone now expects there will be layoffs instead of raises for city employees.” Mary continues, “Rumors are, the mayor is talking to his supporters on the City Council about finding someone to run against Ralph Hess for City Treasurer. They say he hasn’t come up with anyone who has a chance of beating Hess. Ralph has been Treasurer so long everyone thinks he’s the only one for the job.”

“I’m glad the mayor’s still resisting raising taxes. Pineville has a lot of retirees like me that are barely getting by,” adds Sam. 

Joe says, “Not much good news in the gossip, let’s go home. Maybe it’ll be cooler next week,”

The others agree. They lock up and leave. Joe and Sam drive away as Mary and Pam pause by Mary’s car. Mary says, “I owe you a big thank you, Pam for suggesting I tell Sally to ask Karl Katz to represent Tom. He got Tom released immediately and didn’t charge them. He said it only took 20 minutes and they didn’t owe him anything for such an easy task. She is truly grateful. Tom went to see Trudy to apologize for not being able to support her at Glen’s funeral. Trudy feels better about it and I’m relieved my two friends are relieved.”

Pam says, “Glad I could help, Mary. It occurs to me the sheriff may be so focused on suspects connected with Glen’s land deals he’s forgetting Glen’s role on the budget issue. I remember Glen telling us at an Art Society meeting he was getting threatening letters. That was soon after he started working as Assistant Treasurer. I think it may not be a coincidence the threats started soon after he began work with the city finances.  If you can access city files how about looking at files relating to the budget to see if anything seems strange. If you find anything unusual call me. I won’t be able to forgive myself if I don’t do what I can to find my friend Glen’s killer.”

Mary replies, “I can and I will. It’ll keep my mind off the gloom in the building. I’ll call you if I find anything interesting.”