“I can’t tell yuh just what I do mean. No, I’m not in cahoots with Blaze Nolan. I just figure he’s got the worst end of a deal, and I’d like to see him come out of it—clean.”
“How could he come out of it clean?”
Cultus eased back on the comfortable couch, squinting one eye as he looked at the ceiling.
“Suppose,” he said slowly, “that Blaze Nolan never killed yore son?”
The old man’s anger blazed up quickly.
“That’s foolish, Collins.”
“Sounds foolish to you,” corrected Cultus.
“Sounds foolish to anybody who was here at that time. If you had been here and heard that trial and heard all that was said, and⸺”
“The queer part was the disappearance of that girl,” interrupted Cultus. “Did you ever stop to consider that it was queer she wasn’t here to testify? Was there anybody to prove conclusively that yore son and Blaze Nolan fought over her?”
“Alden Marsh testified to it.”