I've never assumed the dictionary page was dog-eared by a Ramsey.
The dictionary was in the downstairs study, the same room where Linda Arndt corralled people while they awaited the kidnappers' call after the other police officers left. She wasn't entirely successful in containing them, but neither were they all moving about freely. Present in the room were JR + PR, John + Barbara Fernie, Fleet + Priscilla White, Rev. Hoverstock, the two victim advocates, and Det. Arndt. - 10 people in all.
Below is a picture of the study, post-Ramsey, designed to exaggerate its size. Remember, the room has the same footprint as John's dressing room and JBR's balcony (second photo).
In the Rams' day, the study was more heavily furnished and would have been a bit crowded with 10 people mostly seated around the coffee table. I can't imagine that the dictionary was open in front of them with "incest" all but flashing at them, and somehow they all managed not to notice.
Several more credible possibilities present themselves. Perhaps after the body was brought upstairs one of the friends connected some dots - some odd things seen, heard, questioned - and, seeing the dictionary on the coffee table, hit on the idea of using it to raise the suspicion of incest anonymously. Or, perhaps Linda Arndt or another police officer chose to let the dictionary speak for them after the body was found, knowing that incest was a strong possibility and feeling frustrated by Eller's orders to treat the Rams as victims rather than suspects. Perhaps the dictionary was actually on the desk, but the person who folded the page corner also moved it to the center of the coffee table to draw attention to it and show that the marking was deliberate. There would have been opportunities for someone to return to the study to do any one of these things.
Although these possibilities are speculative, they are psychologically more convincing to me than Ramsey scenarios. For example:
Suppose you are John or Patsy needing to check the exact definition of incest - whether age determines the difference between that and sibling sexual exploration - because you're afraid your nine year old son is sexually exploiting your six year old daughter….
Suppose you are Burke, coercing your little sister into sexual activity, wondering if your parents might be catching on, hearing one of them use the word "incest"….
After you look up the word, do you:
A) Put the dictionary back exactly as you found it?
b) Leave the dictionary wide open on the coffee table, with the page corner pointing straight at what you most want to keep secret?
Suppose you are Patsy wanting to let John know that you know he's been molesting JBR….
Do you
A) Leave the open dictionary where he'll find it, with the page corner pointing to the accusation, but make sure it's put away before police and friends arrive on the 26th?
B) Leave the open dictionary where he'll find it, with the page corner pointing to the accusation; and after your daughter is found murdered and sexually assaulted in the basement, make sure it's still out where the police will also find it?
