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Authors: Bill Crider
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be getting into trouble.
“I’ll go talk to them,” Rhodes said.
“They won’t tell you anything,” Ruth said.
“How do you know?”
“Because they said they wouldn’t. Let’s see, how did they put it. ‘You can tell the sheriff that we won’t talk to him, either. We don’t have to talk to you or him if we don’t want to, and we don’t want to.’”
“They know something,” Rhodes said.
“Maybe so,” Ruth said, “but if they do, they’re not telling.”
“They’ll tell me.”
“We’ll see,” Ruth said.
Chapter 8
On the way to visit the Eccles boys, Rhodes stopped at the house owned by Seepy Benton, a professor at the local branch of a community college as well as a graduate of the Citizens’ Sheriff’s Academy. Benton liked to think of himself as an unofficial deputy and ace crime solver, neither of which was true. In this case, however, Rhodes thought that Benton might actually be able to help out.
It was the middle of the afternoon, but Benton was home. He often finished with his teaching and office hours and came home to grade papers in privacy before going back to teach his evening class.
“What can I do for you, Sheriff?” Benton asked when he answered Rhodes’s knock on his door. “Have you come up against some heinous crime that needs my special skills?”
Rhodes didn’t ask what those skills were. “Nothing like that. I just stopped by to see how Bruce is doing.”
Bruce was a dog that had formerly lived with the Eccles cousins and served as a guard dog. In that capacity he’d once eagerly sought to take a big chunk out of Rhodes’s anatomy.
Bruce was part leopard dog, and he had a bad attitude that Rhodes blamed on his owners. Leopard dogs were descended from mastiffs, and they could be dangerous, as Rhodes had discovered.
Bruce also looked to have a bit of wolf in his ancestry, which didn’t help matters. Rhodes had taken him away from the cousins and given him to Benton to care for while the cousins were in jail for a short time. Benton hadn’t wanted a dog, but he and Bruce had become pals, and Bruce’s disposition had improved accordingly. Because the Eccles boys were often gone and had trouble finding someone to take care of Bruce, they’d allowed the dog to stay with Benton.
“Bruce is fine,” Benton said. He stepped out of the door. “Let’s go around back so you can say hello.”
Benton led the way to his backyard, where Rhodes saw the Golden Rectangle that Benton had laid out with gray paving stones. Benton had tried to explain to Rhodes what the thing was all about, but when he’d mentioned the Fibonacci sequence and started expounding on the math involved, Rhodes had stopped him. There were some things Rhodes felt that he didn’t need to know.
Bruce saw Rhodes and wagged his tail. Then he trotted over to sniff Rhodes and assure himself that he knew him. He licked Rhodes’s hand, and Rhodes rubbed his head.
“You’ve done well with him,” Rhodes said.
“It’s just a matter of treating him humanely and with dignity,” Benton said. “We should take care of our animals as well as we take care of ourselves. There’s even a passage in Deuteronomy that says we should feed our animals before we eat our own food.” He looked at Rhodes. “You have dogs. Do you eat first, or do they?”
“It depends,” Rhodes said.
“I know you do the right thing,” Benton said. “Which is good. According to the Talmud, a person is measured by how he treats other living creatures.”
Rhodes had never met a rabbi, but Benton bore a strong resemblance to what Rhodes thought one would look like, except that he didn’t wear a yarmulke. He usually wore a battered old black fedora, though he wasn’t wearing it now.
Benton looked at Rhodes again. “I get the feeling that you didn’t come here to discuss the Talmud, though.”
“Not really,” Rhodes said. “I’m sure it’s a fascinating topic, but I did have something else in mind. In fact, it
“I’ll go talk to them,” Rhodes said.
“They won’t tell you anything,” Ruth said.
“How do you know?”
“Because they said they wouldn’t. Let’s see, how did they put it. ‘You can tell the sheriff that we won’t talk to him, either. We don’t have to talk to you or him if we don’t want to, and we don’t want to.’”
“They know something,” Rhodes said.
“Maybe so,” Ruth said, “but if they do, they’re not telling.”
“They’ll tell me.”
“We’ll see,” Ruth said.
Chapter 8
On the way to visit the Eccles boys, Rhodes stopped at the house owned by Seepy Benton, a professor at the local branch of a community college as well as a graduate of the Citizens’ Sheriff’s Academy. Benton liked to think of himself as an unofficial deputy and ace crime solver, neither of which was true. In this case, however, Rhodes thought that Benton might actually be able to help out.
It was the middle of the afternoon, but Benton was home. He often finished with his teaching and office hours and came home to grade papers in privacy before going back to teach his evening class.
“What can I do for you, Sheriff?” Benton asked when he answered Rhodes’s knock on his door. “Have you come up against some heinous crime that needs my special skills?”
Rhodes didn’t ask what those skills were. “Nothing like that. I just stopped by to see how Bruce is doing.”
Bruce was a dog that had formerly lived with the Eccles cousins and served as a guard dog. In that capacity he’d once eagerly sought to take a big chunk out of Rhodes’s anatomy.
Bruce was part leopard dog, and he had a bad attitude that Rhodes blamed on his owners. Leopard dogs were descended from mastiffs, and they could be dangerous, as Rhodes had discovered.
Bruce also looked to have a bit of wolf in his ancestry, which didn’t help matters. Rhodes had taken him away from the cousins and given him to Benton to care for while the cousins were in jail for a short time. Benton hadn’t wanted a dog, but he and Bruce had become pals, and Bruce’s disposition had improved accordingly. Because the Eccles boys were often gone and had trouble finding someone to take care of Bruce, they’d allowed the dog to stay with Benton.
“Bruce is fine,” Benton said. He stepped out of the door. “Let’s go around back so you can say hello.”
Benton led the way to his backyard, where Rhodes saw the Golden Rectangle that Benton had laid out with gray paving stones. Benton had tried to explain to Rhodes what the thing was all about, but when he’d mentioned the Fibonacci sequence and started expounding on the math involved, Rhodes had stopped him. There were some things Rhodes felt that he didn’t need to know.
Bruce saw Rhodes and wagged his tail. Then he trotted over to sniff Rhodes and assure himself that he knew him. He licked Rhodes’s hand, and Rhodes rubbed his head.
“You’ve done well with him,” Rhodes said.
“It’s just a matter of treating him humanely and with dignity,” Benton said. “We should take care of our animals as well as we take care of ourselves. There’s even a passage in Deuteronomy that says we should feed our animals before we eat our own food.” He looked at Rhodes. “You have dogs. Do you eat first, or do they?”
“It depends,” Rhodes said.
“I know you do the right thing,” Benton said. “Which is good. According to the Talmud, a person is measured by how he treats other living creatures.”
Rhodes had never met a rabbi, but Benton bore a strong resemblance to what Rhodes thought one would look like, except that he didn’t wear a yarmulke. He usually wore a battered old black fedora, though he wasn’t wearing it now.
Benton looked at Rhodes again. “I get the feeling that you didn’t come here to discuss the Talmud, though.”
“Not really,” Rhodes said. “I’m sure it’s a fascinating topic, but I did have something else in mind. In fact, it
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