He looked over at me.
‘Don’t kid yourself she can’t use that rod. She can.’
He went out of the cabin.
I listened to him crashing through the bushes on his way down the hillside. It would take him the best part of half an hour to reach the mine.
By that time Mifflin would have arrived.
Mary Jerome moved away from the fire and sat in an arm- chair facing me, but on the far side of the room. She dropped the gun into her lap and leaned back, resting her head against the padded back of the chair.
I considered the possibility of diving across the room, but decided there would be nothing in it for me except a slug through the head.
‘It seems a long time since we met,’ I said. ‘Was it you who told Paula I was in the mine?’
‘Yes. Don’t ask me why. I guess I’m going soft.’ Her voice sounded weary.
‘Who’s this guy, Joe? A pal of yours?’