up to New York and fixed myself an alibi. I’ve got a lot of friends in New York. Six of them swore I was with them the night Jean Bruce was knocked off. I and my lawyer took their statements to Olin. There was nothing he could do about it.’
Rico drew in a deep breath of relief.
‘That’s fine!’ he said, rubbing his hands. ‘That’s terrific! You’re free to operate again?’
‘Sure,’ Baird said indifferently. ‘Did you get rid of that bracelet?’
Rico nodded.
‘I didn’t get much for it, but I was lucky to find a buyer.’
‘Don’t talk crap,’ Baird said roughly. ‘If the stuff’s good there are always buyers.’
‘What happened to you? There was some talk you were shot.’
Baird stared across the desk at Rico.
‘I was. I was laid low for a couple of weeks. I had a pretty close call.’
‘How did you get away from them?’ Rico asked, his eyes popping.
‘I holed up with a girl,’ Baird said, and rubbed his hand across his eyes. ‘She looked after me.’ He frowned down at the desk. ‘The damnedest thing that’s ever happened to me.’
‘Who was she?’ Rico asked. ‘Talk about luck! Was she pret y?’
The look Baird gave him was hard and menacing.
‘Shut your dirty trap,’ he said. ‘Never mind who she was. She had more guts in her lit le finger than you’ve got in the whole of your rot en body. So shut up about her!’
Rico smiled ingratiatingly.
‘Sure, sure,’ he said. ‘I didn’t mean to talk out of turn.’
‘I’m running short of dough,’ Baird said. ‘Anything around for me?’
‘Yes,’ Rico said, leaning forward. ‘Something big. You’ve arrived in time. Another three days, and it’d have been too late. This is a big job; worth ten grand to you.’
Baird lifted his head sharply.
‘Ten grand? You been drinking?’
Rico rubbed his hands together excitedly.
‘The guy who’s behind this is Preston Kile, the financier. He’s offering ten grand for a guy who’l do a job for him. I told him you were the only one I’d trust to handle it.’
‘What’s the job?’ Baird asked suspiciously.
‘I don’t know. Kile wants to see you first. He’s acting awful cagey. Says he wants to talk to you before he spills any details, but it’s okay, Baird. Kile’s a big-shot. He’s got a front that’l knock your eye out, and you want to see his girl. Used to be with the Follies. Everything about Kile is big. Getting in with him is the best thing that’s ever happened to me.’
Baird didn’t seem impressed.
‘You’re sure about the ten grand?’
‘Yeah. If you pull the job off it rates ten, if you fail he’l pay five. There’s nothing smal about Kile.
You wait until you meet him.’
Baird started to say something, but broke off as the door opened and a red-headed girl wandered in.
She was wearing a low-cut evening gown of lemon yellow, and her green eyes looked Baird over sharply.
Rico said, ‘What do you want, Zoe? I’m busy.’
‘That guy Dal as asked me if he could cash a cheque,’ Zoe said, coming over to the desk. She tossed a slip of paper on Rico’s blot er. ‘It’s only for thirty bucks. He wants to buy me champagne.’
Frowning, Rico picked up the cheque, scrutinised it, opened a drawer and dropped it in. He took out a cash-box and began to count five-dollar bills on to the blotter.
‘He’s get ing quite a regular customer,’ he said. ‘What’s he do with himself?’
Zoe rested an elegant hip on the desk and swung her leg, her eyes roaming over Baird.
‘I guess he’s got ideas about me,’ she said, smiled and winked at Baird, who stared at her stonily.
‘He’s spending a lot of dough here, so why should you worry?’
‘I didn’t say I was worrying,’ Rico said, and pushed the money over to her. ‘Next time you come in here, Zoe, please knock.’
Zoe lifted her eyebrows.
‘Why, sure, I didn’t think. Aren’t you going to introduce me to your boy friend?’
Baird made an impatient movement.
‘Run along, Zoe,’ Rico said, waving her away. ‘I’m busy.’
She slid off the desk with an indifferent shrug.
‘Well, I can console myself I’m not missing much,’ she said, making a lit le face at Baird. She crossed to the
