He was trying to put the best face on the story. June could see that, and her heart hardened toward him. She ignored the hungry appeal for mercy in his eyes.
“You mean you stole cattle. Is that it?” She was willing to hurt herself if she could give him pain. Had he not ruined her life?
“Well, I—I—Yes, I reckon that’s it. Our crowd picked up calves that belonged to the big outfits like the Diamond Slash. We drove ’em up to Brown’s Park, an’ later acrost the line to Wyoming or Utah.”
“Was Jake Houck one of your crowd?”
Pete hesitated.
She cut in, with a flare of childish ferocity. “I’m gonna know the truth. He’s not protecting you any.”
“Yes. Jake was one of us. I met up with him right soon after I come to Colorado.”
“And Purdy?”
“Tha’s the name I was passin’ under. I’d worked back in Missouri for a fellow of that name. They got to callin’ me Pete Purdy, so I kinda let it go. My father’s name was Tolliver, though. I took it—after the trouble.”
“What trouble?”