J8

J8

The Church of  Green Dome  had  secrets, the  judge well  knew. Something happened last  summer to  bring three  agents of  the Bureau sniffing around. After a few  weeks they  had abandoned their trailer outside of town but the death of this girl brought them back.

With that in  mind Porter  addressed  Felt and  asked, "Do  you foresee  a time  when the  Bureau will  no longer  be acting  in cooperation with local law enforcement here in Headwater?"

"Certainly, yes  Your  Honor.  After they  are  identified  and apprehended the  individual or  individuals responsible  for the crime will be transported for arraignment in Kansas City."

Judge Porter said, "Then with the view of hastening that blessed day, Special Agent Felt, please lay out your evidence."

Mark Felt nodded at the sheriff. Roddy displayed a knife in a cellophane bag,  a page  from Felt's  notebook, and  two closeup photographs of these. The sheriff said, "Your Honor, Mrs. Ruth Bergin, the  wife of Mr. Paul  Bergin, was kind enough  to allow Special Agent Felt to take an  impression of her right thumb and as you  can see, it matches  the single thumbprint we  dusted on the knife found at the crime scene."

"What in the name of  God would make  Mrs. Bergin give  you her thumbprint, Sheriff? And why isn't she named as a suspect?"

"I think, Your Honor, the answer to both questions is the same. She  was shocked  to find  her set  of kitchen  knives had  gone missing on the morning when the trash was to be picked up."

Porter growled while he chewed on that item for  a moment. Yes, the sheriff, or Agent Felt, or both, would have led Mrs. Bergin to think her  own husband  was framing  her for  murder. Still, there was no legal way to reject this new  evidence. "What else do you have?"

The sheriff reached  into his  briefcase and  removed two  more photographs. 'Your Honor, Paul Bergin's  vehicle is  presently parked at the Temple and is under surveillance  by my deputies. You can see here that his tire tread matches the tracks we found at the scene of the homicide."

"The judge  looked  at  the  photographs  and  without  further prompting he remembered that under wartime rationing Paul Bergin could only  own four tires  plus one spare. Porter  realized the sheriff now had enough evidence to justify an arrest warrant.