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Dallas had no doubt that Quint’s suspicions were true But she needed enious, of course And the very last thing anyone would expect”

“You did,” Boone stated, unaware that his words were an admission of sorts

“Experience givesjust how dirty and devious the Rutledges can be There is very little you wouldn’t dare, is there?” Venouise it, aware that Boone would instantly be wary if she tried to act friendly or cooperative

“I knew you were sleam of a man convinced he had the upper hand

“I intend to” But not in the way he meant it

“Is Echohaondering if we had so to do with the anthrax?”

It was a question Dallas had expected him to ask much earlier Her nonansas all prepared “Why should he? They were Cee Bar cattle on Cee Bar land I’ed that” She looked at hie anih to be hand-fed And if you set out contaht away—and a definite risk that it could be discovered” She paused, not at all sure the ploy would work “I’m curious How did you do it?”

Mentally Dallas crossed her fingers, hoping against hope that Boone wouldn’t be able to resist the opportunity to boast of his cleverness

The wideness of his s up a portable holding pen to confine the out some contaminated feed for them to eat”

“But—you would have had to do that on the Slash R land,” Dallas said, feigning surprise

Boone shrugged “How can it be our fault if the boundary fence is in such bad shape that a fes stray onto Slash R range? Naturally we had to push them back on their own side”

“So that would have looked completely innocent to any chance passerby But you ran the risk of infecting your own cattle,” Dallas said, subtly pressing for more information

“Hardly,” Boone scoffed in a to know the safe way to do it”

“That would be you, I suppose” But she saw at once that her acid flattery wouldn’t succeed in getting an answer from him this time

“That’s so you don’t need to know,” he replied in easy unconcern