"I'm afraid I don't know the name," he said. But he had waited too long. "Who are you, friend?"
"We're going to report this to the police," Ruth said.
"Go ahead, lady. Be a good citizen. Give them the word."
"Come on, Tal," she said. We went back up the trail. When we got into the car I looked back and saw him standing by his car, watching us. He didn't take his eyes off us while he lit a cigarette and shook the match out.
Ruth was oddly silent as I drove back toward the Stamm camp. Finally I said, "What's the matter?"
"I don't know. At first I thought you lied to me. Then I believed you. Now I don't know."
"How come?"
"You know what I'm thinking. You asked him about a Rose Fulton. It shocked him when you asked him that. Anybody could see that. Eloise Warden ran away with a man named Fulton. What would make you think to ask that Mr. Grassman that question?" She turned to face me. "What are you doing in Hillston, Tal? If that's your name."
"I told you what I'm doing."
"Why did you ask that man that question?"