“Yessir. Didn’t I tell you that twict?”
“Was she alone?”
“There was a guy with her, but I didn’t know him. He lit out.”
“What kind of lookin’ fellow?”
“Why, I didn’t see him right close.” The quid of tobacco stuck out in the homesteader’s cheek. He watched Reed closely, jaws motionless.
“You’re not a good liar, Black. You know a lot more than you’re telling,” the owner of the Diamond Bar K accused. “I’m gonna have it out of you, man, if I have to tear it from your throat.”
Black’s figure stiffened. “Try any funny business with me, an’ I’ll show you where to head in at, Clint,” he said quietly.
“Why don’t you ask the kid?” Forbes said in an aside to his employer. “Black didn’t steal her. A blind man could see that.”
“He knows who did.”
“Sure, an’ he’s hell-bent not to tell. You won’t get it outa him. I know Don.”