“Never heard of Mr. Norris before in my life,” he answered, but it was observable that he still breathed deep.
She did not believe him. Some tie in their buried past bound these two men together. They must have known each other in the South years ago, and one of them at least was an enemy of the other. There might come a day when she could use this knowledge to save Jack Flatray from the punishment dogging his heels. Melissy filed it away in her memory for future reference.
“You wanted to speak to me,” she suggested.
“I’m going away.”
“Because I’m not a hound. I can’t blackmail a woman.”
“How do you mean?”
“I mean that you’ve found work here for me because I saw what you did over by Antelope Pass. We made a bargain. Oh, not in words, but a bargain just the same! You were to keep my secret because I knew yours. I release you from your part of it. Give me up if you think it is your duty. I’ll not tell what I know.”
“That wasn’t how you talked the other day.”
“No. It’s how I talk now. I’m a hunted man, wanted for murder. I make you a present of the information.”