Stone Cross (Arliss Cutter #2) - Marc Cameron Page 0,73

with her hands folded in front of her, listening while the judge asked her not to forgive the state of Alaska or the federal government, but him personally. To his credit, he offered only regret without a single excuse.

The Yup’ik woman stood stoically for a time when he was finished, staring straight ahead, as if she were looking through instead of at the judge. Her chest rose and fell. She closed her eyes and her entire body shuddered. Then, she waved a hand at the food laid out on the long table.

“I made boiled tomcod,” she said. “You should eat some.”

Daisy Aguthluk didn’t seem the type to try and murder a man who’d just come clean about a terrible injustice. Still, Cutter nodded for Lola to stay close. Jasper remained with them too. Markham’s clerk, already holding a plate of food, started to approach, but the judge shooed him away.

A quiet cough behind Cutter amid the echoing din of the open gym caused him to turn. He found Birdie Pingayak holding a Styrofoam cup of something that looked like pink marshmallow fluff.

She held the cup out in front of her. “You look like a man who’s about to get back on the trail without eating.”

“Thinking on it,” Cutter admitted. “I’m used to working through logistical problems, but this sitting on my hands . . .”

“Fog’s still too thick,” she said. “We’re all trapped.”

“Agatha Christie scenario.” Cutter gave her a rare smile. “Just like you predicted.”

Grumpy would have said she had flinty eyes. Beautiful to look at, but plenty sharp enough to slice to the bone if she looked at you wrong. Cutter thought such eyes would come in handy for a principal.

He scanned the faces in the crowd. Kids of all ages hung around the fringes of the gym, like youth everywhere, mildly stupefied that their parents were talking with their teachers. In a sparsely inhabited area like this, there was a better than average chance that someone here in Stone Cross was Rolf Hagen’s killer, or was somehow involved.

He shot a glance at Birdie, then back to the people lined up at the tables, filling paper plates with food. “There’s a good chance someone here has blood on their hands.”

“I imagine so,” Birdie mused. “Both literally and figuratively. I’d bet a forensic examination would show that most of the men and all of the women in Stone Cross have dried blood under our fingernails. Virtually everyone here has a rifle, and we use them regularly—like you go to the grocery store.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Cutter said. “Tell me more about Rolf Hagen’s girlfriend. You said she has a disgruntled ex.”

“James Johnny.” Birdie nodded. “Far as I know, he hasn’t come back from hunting yet. I don’t think he’d kill Rolf even if he was worked up over Marlene, but even if he did, then why would he kidnap the Meads? If he was going to kill the witnesses, he’d have left them to lie there with Rolf. Don’t you think?”

“That is the more likely scenario if he did it,” Cutter said. “There’s a chance we’re looking at this wrong. Maybe Rolf was the witness and the Meads were the intended victims.”

“Or the murderers,” Bridie said.

“Don’t forget about the tooth,” Cutter said.

“So maybe only one of the Meads is the killer,” Birdie said.

“You think David Mead shot Rolf Hagen, then bashed in his wife’s teeth and carried her off?”

“Could be,” Birdie said. “Or it could be the other way. David is . . . qumli . . . kind of an idiot. If I was married to him, I’d be tempted to knock out his teeth.”

“You seriously believe that’s a possibility?”

“Sarah’s tough,” Birdie said. “But I don’t think she’s the type to kill Rolf.”

“So who then?” Cutter mused, half to himself. He looked around the gym again. “I’ve never met a principal who didn’t have a list of likely suspects for everything that goes down in his or her bailiwick. You know everyone in town, probably know some of their secrets too.”

Birdie pursed her lips, like she’d just eaten something that tasted bad. “We all got secrets,” she said. “Even you, I suppose. Dangerous to go poking around in ’em.”

Cutter shrugged. “That can’t be helped. Think about it. What does your gut tell you?”

Birdie sucked on her bottom teeth, looking around the gym like she expected to see someone in particular.

“I guess the killer could be James,” she said. “He’s the obvious choice considering Hagen was sweet on his