J5

J5

Ruth gasped. "You can't think that I or that Paul did this."

"Not at all ma'am! A criminal investigation is much like tracing out every rabbit trail even when they just come  to a dead end. If you show us your own kitchen knife set then the sheriff and I will back out of this here rabbit trail and be on our way."

"We never bought our knife block,"  Ruth said. 'It was made by old Owen Bergin when Headwater  was first settled and has passed down from father to son ever since."

Felt made a note of that on his pad, then broke into a smile. He said, "You see, Sheriff? I knew we must be wasting our time."

"I'm sorry, Ma'am," said Sheriff Walker, "but we had to be sure. Still, do you mind if we take one little peek at the one you do have?"

Without showing it  on his  face, Mark  Felt admired  how Roddy caught his little  game and  slid right  into his  role without clashing gears. And Ruth went inside to fetch it.

The fact that Ruth didn't know she was missing her knife set was recorded in  Felt's  notebook. As he expected,  she  returned empty-handed and Felt recorded  that too, not  so much  that he didn't already know it, but for  the affidavit he would have the sheriff type up for Judge Porter.

"I don't understand," Ruth said. "I used a knife from that set just  this  morning when  I  made  breakfast  for Paul  and  the children, but now everything is gone."

"Oh no, Mrs. Bergin," Roddy  said, "that's just what  we didn't want to hear. But I'm sure there must be a good explanation."

"Ruth, do you mind if the sheriff and I come in so all the heat in your house doesn't escape through the front door?"

She thought about that for longer than Felt liked but in the end Ruth nodded and opened her screen door to let them in. She asked them to sit  on a  couch. Roddy thought Ruth's  home was  very similar to Kim Zinter's place in size and  design but different in almost every other way. There were no decorations at all, no paintings,  no rugs,  not even  a single  knick-knack. Only two books were in sight, a Bible and the Green Book.

There was another  difference: when  he visited  Robyn she  was playing music, but here it was silent.