would yield until the carving began to emerge from the wood.
Talking things over with Mim while he carved helped him get his thoughts in order. She seemed even more subdued than usual tonight, but assured him that everything was fine.
“So,” she said after he’d given her a thumbnail sketch of the day. “Do you still believe there’s a threat to the judge’s life?”
“Probably not.” Cutter blew wood dust away from what was becoming the animal’s face. “But at this point, Markham could stub his toe and it would be the Marshals Service to get the blame since we have the de facto protection detail up.”
“That sucks,” Mim said.
“Big-time.”
“How are you going to go after the people who murdered that poor man and still watch the judge?”
“I can’t,” Cutter said. “That’s just it.”
“What would Grumpy do?”
Pocketknife in one hand, cottonwood root in the other, Cutter rubbed the back of an arm across his forehead and then glanced up at the locker room entrance to be certain Markham wasn’t coming out. The judge was nowhere to be seen, but Cutter lowered his voice anyway. “Grumpy would tell the judge to watch his own tail end and then he’d go look for that killer.”
“What about the couple who’s been kidnapped?”
“Find one, find the other.”
“I guess that’s true,” Mim said. “I know your propensity to run into the fire. You’re not going to leave the judge, are you?”
“Probably not.” Cutter leaned back in his chair, stretching. He looked at his watch, suddenly feeling guilty. “Sorry to keep you up so late gabbing with me. I know you have an early shift tomorrow.”
Mim gave a forlorn laugh. “Like I ever sleep.”
“You should try.”
“Arliss . . .” She paused.
He could hear her breathing, even above the static.
“Yeah?”
“Don’t get fired.”
“Okay . . .”
“Or transferred.”
Cutter chuckled softly. “You bet,” he said, thinking she knew him all too well.
* * *
“Frankly, I am surprised,” Judge Markham said ten minutes later at the door to the Family and Consumer Science room where he would spend the night. Dressed in a white V-neck T-shirt and absent his trademark bow tie, he seemed a shade more down-to-earth. Birdie had put him here because it had a private restroom. It was a courtesy befitting a judicial bladder—which, all deputy marshals knew, had to pee more frequently than the normal bladders of common folk. Cutter found himself glad though, since the FACS room was next to the library, and the attached restroom meant Markham wouldn’t have to venture into the hall during the night.
Cutter braced himself so he could remain civil no matter what the judge came up with. “Surprised, Judge? How’s that?”
“I’m not an idiot,” Markham said. “You don’t enjoy protecting me any more than I enjoy having your protection. You would much rather be out there hunting whoever murdered that man at the lodge. You want to be out looking for that couple. It baffles me that you aren’t.”
“That’s an Alaska State Troopers problem,” Cutter said.
“Pfft,” Markham scoffed. “It’s society’s problem. At this precise moment, you are the man in this society with the expertise to pursue the killer and, Lord willing, rescue the Meads.” He leaned a hand against the door frame, gesturing toward his chest with his shaving kit. The leather bag probably cost more than all the luggage Cutter owned put together. “I know all the jokes about federal judges. Good hell, man, we tell them to each other. Do you know what the difference is between me and you?”
“I think I have some idea,” Cutter said.
“I don’t believe you do,” Markham said, thumb to his chest. “The difference is that I do not look down on you.”
The judge may as well have thumped Cutter on the nose with the shaving kit.
“Your Honor—”
“I merely dislike being followed too closely by anyone,” Markham said. “It makes me feel weak. I can’t speak for anyone else on the bench, but I know full well that when I issue an order, it’s the marshals who put the muscle behind what I say. I make judgments; you make certain those judgments are enforced. It’s a good system—and, by the way, it is that system which you are protecting, not me. I do not care if you like me. I stopped worrying about what people think of me or my decisions many years ago.”
Cutter thought about that for a moment. “You know, Judge,” he said, “I have protected cabinet members who were absent any hint of a moral compass, and foreign ministers from countries