you get a tag number?”
“I told the police in the report just SO2. That’s it. I call them every day and they tell me they have nothing.”
Zach wrote down what was said. “No other witnesses?”
“It was very near closing time and everyone was gone. There were cars passing by on the road, but it could have looked like a lovers’ quarrel.” The judge rubbed Clark’s injured arm.
“Please don’t worry about me,” she told her loyal assistant.
He smiled, but their relationship was one that was deeper than a mere office acquaintance. His genuine care had saved her life. “The ice cream store did have cameras embedded in the exterior walls. The video arrived today.”
Clark moved to get up, but she patted his arm. She went to her desk and Zach watched her move. A black sleeveless, jewel-neckline dress hugged a shapely figure that was buxom on top, just the way he liked on a woman. Gold cuffs circled her wrists, while she wore a topaz on her right ring finger. While her hair had been in a conservative bun in court, she’d taken it down in her office, and she had freshened her lipstick, adding a shiny gloss.
In court, she hadn’t smiled once, but inside the confines of the warmly appointed room with the cocoa-colored microsuede couch, red-and-sienna-colored pillows, he could see how this would be a place where she smiled and relaxed in peace before going home. Zach accepted the DVD from the judge and put it in his bag.
“Have there been other attacks?”
The judge nodded, taking her seat. “While I was sitting in the hospital with Clark, I began to recall things. About a month ago, I got the impression someone was following me as I drove around one weekend running errands. I deviated my plans and lost the car, but I never got over that feeling. I alerted the marshals, but with budget cuts, security is an area they trimmed. Without a valid, active threat that I could prove, I was pressured into releasing the extra security detail.”
Zach took notes. “That’s crap. This just happened Friday. You were threatened in court today. There should be security posted outside your office right now. Ridiculous,” Zach told her.
Clark nodded. “I agree. I’ve contracted food poisoning three times this year, and that’s just crazy for it only being the ninth month of the year. I swear, I get poisoned every time Chef Henrietta comes here. I believe it’s her.”
The judge’s disbelieving look told Zach not to believe Clark. “Clark, what do you think this is about?” Zach asked pointedly.
“I suspect it’s jealousy or revenge. An envious colleague or a vengeful defendant or their family.”
“That’s an interesting viewpoint. No ex-employee or ex-lover?”
“No,” Clark replied, followed quickly by a no from the judge.
“If an employee has a problem, they can come to me. I’m tough, but I’m not without a heart.”
“In your opinion, Your Honor,” Zach pushed, testing her temper.
Kim didn’t take the bait. “It could be a stranger. I just wonder why?”
“It’s not a stranger,” Zach said quietly. “But we’ll find out who it is and end it. That’s what Hood does.”
“I like that,” Clark said.
“If I had to ask you for five names of suspects, who would they be?” Zach had directed the question to Clark, but Kim tried to intercept it, seeming to hate not being in control.
“That’s not fair,” Kim cut in.
“Judge, with all due respect, I’m trying to catch someone who is assaulting you. Nothing is impossible. Let him answer.”
“Trevor is the second assistant, and I think he’s rather sketchy. Lieutenant Franklin. Howard Daniels is a sheriff. The Baxters.” His eyes widened as he talked. “And Merrill O’Dell was the judge’s first conviction ten years ago, but he won an appeal recently. He skipped probation and hasn’t been seen since.”
Pleased, Zach wrote down everything Clark said, while Kim managed to look surprised and slightly annoyed.
“I believe Trevor is harmless,” she countered.
“Then where is he?” The sarcastic twist to Clark’s mouth wasn’t lost on Zach. “He’s gone longer than anyone on break, he leaves early all the time, and I’ve put him on two action plans for shoddy work. The man is a terrible assistant. He needs to be fired, yet you won’t do it.” He eyed the judge. “In my humble opinion,” he added, then rolled his eyes.
“He’s not that bad of an assistant, and he’s entitled to be absent once in a while. We all work hard and sometimes people have private lives that require some leeway. I don’t believe Trevor is a threat, but you’re going to do your own investigation.”
Zach nodded. “That’s right.”
Clark hugged the judge, then stood, holding his healing arm as he walked to the office door. “I’m going on three weeks of vacation far away from here, and when I get back I expect things to be different.” He smiled and leaned toward Zach. “Puh-lease. I don’t want to die.”
Zach chuckled, shaking his head. “You’re not going to die, and not a hair will be harmed on the judge’s head, either. You remind me of Daniel, my administrative assistant. Nothing but drama.”
Clark’s eyes brightened. “Daniel? Well, I’d better cut your office a check. I’ll drop it off to Daniel on my way out of town.”
Zach looked at the judge, who seemed totally relaxed. Her legs were crossed and she was resting her face on her finger and thumb. “We haven’t decided to do business yet,” Zach told him, his gaze shifting back to the judge.
Clark held the doorknob. “Judge?” he asked softly.
She looked at the Hood Inc. logo that spun in a circle on Zach’s computer. “Notify me when I am able to sign the contract, then cut a check for twenty thousand dollars to Hood Investigations. Also, prepare a dossier on all the marshals who’ve worked the security detail for the past twelve months.”
“I’m going to need one on the staff, including you, Clark.”
“Yes, sir.”
Zach focused on the judge.
“Thank you and enjoy your holiday,” the judge told Clark.
“Mr. Hood, everything is already compiled. I’ll have it in a few minutes, then I’m leaving, okay, Judge?”
The judge waved and the door closed softly. She exhaled a deep breath. “I’m going to miss him.”
“You’ll be down an assistant for a few weeks. Can you manage?”
She looked confident. “I haven’t forgotten how to type. It’s not that we as judges can’t do those forms, we just have so much other work to do. If I get swamped, I can get Trevor to step up.”
“So
