she was questioned about her alleged love rival or not, Ruth was determined to bring Elinor into the conversation.
“Have you had any letters or calls from Elinor or her attorneys recently?” Ray Clever asked her.
“No,” she said firmly. “Of course not. That’s ridiculous, because I have nothing to do with her.” Ruth re-emphasized her lack of communication with Rolf’s one-time fiancée.
“Anything else about Rolf that makes him stand out?” Clever asked.
Ruth half-smiled as she told Clever that Rolf was bow-legged. “Too many years of riding decks on the ocean.” He also had a split diaphragm, an injury that he sustained when he was a young man and lifted a heavy log.
Ruth Neslund was clearly a woman with a keen memory, and a talent for minutiae. Whatever their differences, she had known her husband well.
She listed his clothing sizes: “Jacket, 41 chest; shirt, 15½ neck, 33 sleeve; pants, 35 waist, 29 inseam. He wore size 9½ shoe, and a 6⅞ hat.”
She suggested that the investigators check Elinor Ekenes’s house to see if Rolf had his clothes stored there. She recalled that Rolf had a particular set of cuff links thathe always wore with his French cuff shirts. “They were Viking ships. He had other cuff links, too, but I never saw him without the Viking ship ones.”
Clever asked if they might look at Rolf’s jewelry box— still at the Neslunds’ home—to see if he had left anything behind. But Ruth kept talking as if she hadn’t heard him. After he’d asked her several more times, she finally agreed to lead the deputies to the box. When Clever glanced in, he saw at once that the Viking ship cuff links that she had just described were among her husband’s left-behind jewelry. There was also a very expensive man’s watch with a broken metal wristband.
When Doss and Clever found the cuff links that she’d insisted Rolf was never without, Ruth became very nervous. Her voice quavered and her hands shook as she tried to backpedal on her own remarks. She began to talk again about the histories of the cuff links and the watch. She clearly wanted to show that she and Rolf had been very close and that she had been a huge part of his life, at least until their recent arguments.
“Could you tell us a little more about the day that your husband left?” Clever asked her. “What did he say?”
“Well, he said, ‘I’m not coming back.’ Or he might have said ‘I’ll be back after the first of the year—if ever!’”
The more she talked, the more she raised the deputies’ suspicions. Ruth said she knew there had been gossip on Lopez. She was well aware that a man who lived on Lopez was spreading rumors that Rolf was dead.
“I made him apologize to me once for gossiping about someone I was supposed to be married to before Rolf.”
But, oddly, Ruth said she hadn’t confronted the man for saying that Rolf was dead. She didn’t comment on why she hadn’t done so.
Ruth Neslund’s conversation skipped along like a stone flung upon the waves.
“Rolf drinks like a European, you know,” she said. “That means beer in the morning almost every day, sherry in the afternoon, and several highballs before dinner, and then wine and Aquavit with dinner.”
She explained that all that drinking only made Rolf’s diabetes worse. “And it made his blood toxic, too,” Ruth said firmly. “That’s why I tried to make excuses for him when he started hitting me. He never remembered later about fighting with me.”
After two visits from Clever and Doss in two days, Ruth Neslund was becoming more agitated and more talkative, but she wasn’t giving much information that was helpful about where her husband might be six months after he reportedly stalked out of their home, saying either that he was never coming back, or that he might be back after the first of the year. It was now the end of February. The “first of the year” had come and gone.
Ruth was also angry. “She phoned our
“Have you had any letters or calls from Elinor or her attorneys recently?” Ray Clever asked her.
“No,” she said firmly. “Of course not. That’s ridiculous, because I have nothing to do with her.” Ruth re-emphasized her lack of communication with Rolf’s one-time fiancée.
“Anything else about Rolf that makes him stand out?” Clever asked.
Ruth half-smiled as she told Clever that Rolf was bow-legged. “Too many years of riding decks on the ocean.” He also had a split diaphragm, an injury that he sustained when he was a young man and lifted a heavy log.
Ruth Neslund was clearly a woman with a keen memory, and a talent for minutiae. Whatever their differences, she had known her husband well.
She listed his clothing sizes: “Jacket, 41 chest; shirt, 15½ neck, 33 sleeve; pants, 35 waist, 29 inseam. He wore size 9½ shoe, and a 6⅞ hat.”
She suggested that the investigators check Elinor Ekenes’s house to see if Rolf had his clothes stored there. She recalled that Rolf had a particular set of cuff links thathe always wore with his French cuff shirts. “They were Viking ships. He had other cuff links, too, but I never saw him without the Viking ship ones.”
Clever asked if they might look at Rolf’s jewelry box— still at the Neslunds’ home—to see if he had left anything behind. But Ruth kept talking as if she hadn’t heard him. After he’d asked her several more times, she finally agreed to lead the deputies to the box. When Clever glanced in, he saw at once that the Viking ship cuff links that she had just described were among her husband’s left-behind jewelry. There was also a very expensive man’s watch with a broken metal wristband.
When Doss and Clever found the cuff links that she’d insisted Rolf was never without, Ruth became very nervous. Her voice quavered and her hands shook as she tried to backpedal on her own remarks. She began to talk again about the histories of the cuff links and the watch. She clearly wanted to show that she and Rolf had been very close and that she had been a huge part of his life, at least until their recent arguments.
“Could you tell us a little more about the day that your husband left?” Clever asked her. “What did he say?”
“Well, he said, ‘I’m not coming back.’ Or he might have said ‘I’ll be back after the first of the year—if ever!’”
The more she talked, the more she raised the deputies’ suspicions. Ruth said she knew there had been gossip on Lopez. She was well aware that a man who lived on Lopez was spreading rumors that Rolf was dead.
“I made him apologize to me once for gossiping about someone I was supposed to be married to before Rolf.”
But, oddly, Ruth said she hadn’t confronted the man for saying that Rolf was dead. She didn’t comment on why she hadn’t done so.
Ruth Neslund’s conversation skipped along like a stone flung upon the waves.
“Rolf drinks like a European, you know,” she said. “That means beer in the morning almost every day, sherry in the afternoon, and several highballs before dinner, and then wine and Aquavit with dinner.”
She explained that all that drinking only made Rolf’s diabetes worse. “And it made his blood toxic, too,” Ruth said firmly. “That’s why I tried to make excuses for him when he started hitting me. He never remembered later about fighting with me.”
After two visits from Clever and Doss in two days, Ruth Neslund was becoming more agitated and more talkative, but she wasn’t giving much information that was helpful about where her husband might be six months after he reportedly stalked out of their home, saying either that he was never coming back, or that he might be back after the first of the year. It was now the end of February. The “first of the year” had come and gone.
Ruth was also angry. “She phoned our
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