The bed creaked; feet struck the floor.
‘I fix you for this!’ Toni snarled. He pul ed open the door.
In the light from the passage Baird saw blood running down Toni’s face. Four deep scratches, just missing his eyes, were like deep red ruts in his face.
The girl crouched on the bed. She was naked to the waist. Some of Toni’s blood was smeared on her shoulder. Her eyes smouldered as she glared at Toni.
‘Get out and stay out!’ she said, stil keeping her voice low.
Toni snarled at her, his hand to his face. He went out and slammed the door.
‘You all right?’ Baird asked hoarsely, crawling over to the bed.
He heard the girl slide off the bed on the opposite side.
‘I’m all right,’ she said curtly. ‘Are you bleeding again?’
‘I don’t think so.’ Baird pul ed himself up on to the bed and lay flat, his breath coming in long, painful gasps. ‘You didn’t have to do that for me.’
The girl didn’t say anything. He could hear her groping in the darkness. After a delay, the light went on.
She was fastening a shabby coat about her, and she looked sharply at him. They stared at each other for several seconds.
‘I’ll look at your wound,’ she said, coming over to him. ‘Does it hurt?’
‘A lit le,’ he said, watching her. ‘I don’t think it’s bleeding.’
She bent over him. Together they inspected the pad on his side. There was no sign of blood.
‘No. It’s al right,’ she said, and as she straightened he caught hold of her wrist. She remained bending over him, looking down at him.
‘Do you know what you’re doing?’ he asked. ‘They could put you in jail for this.’
She pulled free.
‘I don’t like coppers,’ she said, her face hard. ‘They won’t get you now.’
‘I guess I owe you something,’ Baird said uneasily. ‘If it hadn’t been for you I’d be dead now.’
She smiled cynically.
‘I dare say you’d have been bet er off,’ she said, turning away. ‘And you don’t owe me anything.’
‘What’s your name?’ he said, wiping his damp face with the back of his hand.
‘Anita Jackson,’ she said. ‘You’d bet er try and get some sleep.’
‘I’m Verne Baird,’ he told her. ‘Those punks think I kil ed a copper.’
She looked at him, but didn’t say anything.
‘You’d bet er get some sleep,’ she said after a long pause.
‘You’re a knock-out,’ he said, shut ing his eyes. ‘What did the cops do to you to make you hate them like this?’
‘That’s not your business,’ she returned curtly.
‘I guess that’s right. Give me an hour, and I’ll get out.’ He touched his side and winced. ‘I owe you something.’
‘You’l have to stay here until you’re better,’ she said, sit ing in the armchair. ‘You won’t get far with that wound.’
‘What about you?’ he said, opening his eyes and staring at her. ‘The longer I’m here the bigger risk you’re running. Suppose that fat guy comes back?’
She shook her head.
‘He won’t. I know Toni. He won’t come here again. I’m out al day. It’s only the nights. I don’t care.’
‘You’ve got to have the bed,’ Baird said, a lit le surprised he was thinking more of her than himself.
‘I’l lie on the floor.’
‘Oh, shut up!’ she said crossly. ‘Go to sleep and don’t talk so much.’ She pul ed another chair forward and put up her feet. ‘I’m al right here.’
‘Suit yourself,’ he said, shrugging. ‘I’l be okay by tomorrow.’
She reached out and turned off the light.
‘Go to sleep,’ she said.
Baird lay in the darkness, staring at the night sky through the open window. Below, the police still went on with their search for him. The voices, the trampling of feet and the hammering on doors became fainter as they moved farther down the street.
He felt an odd stirring inside him as he thought of the girl. She had saved him. Why? It was something right out of a book. He owed her something, and the thought made him uneasy. Gratitude was a new sensation to him. He felt restricted. No one had ever done anything for him up to now. He tried to push this feeling of indebtedness out of his mind, but he couldn’t. Sooner or later he knew he would have to do something about it. He felt in his hip pocket for the five hundred Rico had given him. He could always give her some of the money, he told himself. From the look of her, she could do with it.
