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handsbunching into fists at his sides. Amy put out a hand to stop him.
    ‘Were the rumours true?’
    ‘No, they most certainly were not! And that’s what I told Tom. Who believed me. I hardly knew Bannister. Oh, I admit I spoke to him if I saw him when he came to town to buy supplies, especially if he was staying overnight and left his horse and buckboard here. That was all. I couldn’t understand it when I learned what people were saying about me and him.’
    ‘Did he ever mention liking you?’
    ‘No,’ Amy said again. ‘Our conversations concerned things like the weather or the price of hay. Just like the conversations I have with countless other men. He was always polite, never anything more.’
    ‘Did he speak to you about Steadman?’
    ‘Why should he?’
    ‘Well, he probably knew you two were courting….’
    ‘It certainly wasn’t a secret.’
    ‘… So perhaps if he did have some feelings for you he might not have approved because he was a farmer and Steadman was working for the ranchers.’
    ‘Apart from the fact it was nothing whatsoever to do with him I really can’t remember him even once talking to me about personal matters!’ Amy was most indignant. ‘And if he had, as you say, felt something for me he would have said so. Bannister wasn’t the type to keep quiet.’
    ‘That he weren’t.’ Greg Mallory spoke for the first time.
    Amy shook her head, looking upset and almost tearful. ‘I don’t know who put around such a lie about me or why.’
    Cobb said, ‘The why might be easy. I doubt it was anything to do with you personally. But it gave Steadman another reason to kill Bannister. Or at least another excuse for people to believe he did.’
    ‘Yes, that’s quite likely.’ Amy thought about that for a moment or two then burst out, ‘Oh, Mr Cobb, I can’t tell you how angry and distressed I am at being used in such a way to hurt Tom. It’s simply not fair.’
    Greg put his arm around his sister and scowled at Cobb as if this was his fault.
    ‘Is there anything else you can tell me that might help?’
    Twisting her hands together, Amy shook her head. ‘Marshal Jackson already came round asking the same thing, didn’t he, Greg? But there was nothing we could tell him. I wish there was.’
    ‘Look, Miss Mallory, there’s not much time till the hanging. I can only do so much. Can you and your brother ask around town, try to find out who started the rumours? That could be important.’ It would also give Amy something to do, keep her mind occupied.
    ‘Yes, all right. What are you going to do next?’
    ‘I thought I’d visit Mr Rowlands. Discover what the Cattlemen’s Association thinks about all this.’
    ‘His place is easy to reach,’ Amy said. She went to the door of the stables and pointed. ‘Follow the trail out of town towards the foothills and when you come to a fork in the road, take the left-hand one. It’ll takeyou a couple of hours to reach the house.’
    ‘OK, thanks.’
    Amy held out her hand for Cobb to shake. ‘Good luck, Mr Cobb, I’ll be praying you succeed.’
     
    Although the marshal said people were already starting to arrive for the hanging, Cobb managed to get two rooms in Mrs Penrose’s boarding house, which Jackson had recommended as clean and cheap. He was pleased because Mr Bellington didn’t like his detectives to spend more money than was necessary and he didn’t want to share with Neil, who snored. His room was on the first floor and the other much cheaper one was in the attics. For a few cents more Mrs Penrose offered breakfast and an evening meal.
    That evening Cobb sat alone at a small table under the window of the pleasant dining-room, eating beef stew with potatoes and onions followed by a huge portion of apple pie. There were several other guests: a couple of ranchers and their wives and two drummers who sat together and discussed stagecoach timetables and the difficulty of travelling in the West.
    After Mrs Penrose brought him over a