Pike held out a hand. Silas gave him the paper. Pike sniffed it, tilted it, rubbed a corner between finger and thumb like a man testing cloth.
"Ink looks newer than the crease story," Pike murmured. "Not proof alone. Continue."
Tess handed over the tag. Pike read the stamp. "Thirteen-one-one-two. Seventy-nine. Miss Hardwick, when was this mare foaled?"
"Spring of seventy-nine. On our place. Dam was Cinder."
"And Mr. Crowe stamped this tag while in your father's employ?"
"Yes," Tess said. "He admits he made it."
Pike looked at Silas. "You admit that?"
"I do. It shows I knew the animal intimately enough to mark her. A purchaser would."
"A clerk would also," Pike said dryly. "Mr. Redhorn, your page."
Eliot presented the oilcloth sheet. Pike read the entries twice, then the margin note in Thomas Hardwick's hand. He asked Eliot three questions about the grass lease and the trade involving Cinder. Eliot answered without ornament. Peter Ironbow confirmed he had been present at the foaling. Samuel Grayhawk confirmed he had written the original line as a boy and copied it for this hearing from the bound ledger still kept in their camp chests.
Pike asked Silas who had paid whom in March of 1880, and in what coin, and whether a receipt existed beyond the bill. Silas spoke of cash on a porch, no third receipt, Hardwick being informal. Pike asked why the sale had not been recorded in the ranch book Tess still kept. Silas said Thomas must have meant to and died first. Tess said her father died in November of 1880, months after the alleged sale, and had continued to list Starling among breeding prospects in notes dated that summer.
She had brought those notes. Pike read them. The bystanders got quieter.