the man resisted, it could be impossible.
But difficulties never worried Baird. He never considered defeat. He would try, and if it didn’t come off it would be just too bad. If it did the prize of ten thousand was worth having.
But he would have to make certain the money was there. He didn’t trust Kile. He knew instinctively that Kile wasn’t the top man. Someone was using Kile as a front. Baird was sure Kile didn’t want the job to come off. Even before the final arrangements had been made, Kile was jumpy and scared. Someone bigger than Kile was pushing him into the job either by threats or by the inducement of money.
What was the doll-faced blonde doing mixing herself up in this? Where did she fit in? She was scared, too. When he had said the job wasn’t impossible, she had flinched as if he’d hit her. Before he committed himself he would have to find out something about these two, and if he could, find out who the top man was and why he wanted this man in jail kidnapped.
There might be even more than ten grand to pick up if he kept his ears and eyes open. The job seemed full of possibilities.
He reached the garage, got into the battered Ford and drove over to the walk-up apartment house where Anita rented her room.
He left the car a hundred yards or so beyond the entrance to the house, walked back and paused to look up at the top window. It was in darkness, and he grimaced, sure now she was asleep.
There were still a number of people in the street and sitting at open windows, and he felt their eyes on him. Two men sat on the doorstep to the apartment house, smoking, and as he came up the steps they looked curiously at him. One of them was Toni, and Baird gave him a hard, menacing stare.
Toni shifted quickly to one side to give Baird room to pass. Baird saw the scared look that came into Toni’s eyes, and he felt like taking Toni by his mop of black hair and banging his head against the wall until his brains spilled out.
But he kept on, walking into the smelly, dimly lit lobby, and began to mount the stairs, aware that Toni and his companion were staring after him.
He walked up the five flights of stairs until he came to Anita’s landing. He paused outside the door, listening. Then he went back to the banister rail and looked down to make sure no one was coming up or watching him. He saw no one, and he returned to the door and rapped softly.
‘Who is it?’
The sound of her voice sent a little prickle up his spine, surprising him.
‘Baird,’ he said, his mouth close to the door. ‘I want to talk to you.’
He leaned against the doorway and waited. He heard the light click on, the pad of bare feet on the floor, then the door opened.
She stood looking up at him, her dark eyes unafraid and enquiring. She had pulled on her shabby overcoat. Beneath it he caught a glimpse of her plain white nightdress he had seen her in so often.
‘What do you want?’ she said sharply. ‘I was asleep.’
He experienced a pang of disappointment that she wasn’t pleased to see him, but he wasn’t going to be put off.
‘I guessed you would be,’ he said. ‘I’ve just got in from New York. I thought I’d see how you were getting on.’ He moved forward, riding her back into the room.
‘I don’t want you in here,’ she said, stepping away from him. ‘Not at this hour.’
‘Take it easy,’ he said, moving around her to the sagging armchair. ‘You’re not scared of me, are you?’
‘Why should I be? I just don’t want you here so late.’
He sat down, his eyes searching her face. No, she wasn’t afraid of him. He could tel that by looking at her.
‘Get into bed,’ he said. ‘I won’t keep you long.’
‘No.’ She sat on the edge of the bed and ran her fingers through her hair. She looked tired and pale, and he noticed her lips were whitish without the lipstick camouflage. ‘I’m dead beat. I wish you’d go. I don’t want you here.’
He felt a wave of irritation run through him, but he controlled it.
‘I shouldn’t have gone off like that without saying goodbye,’ he said uneasily. ‘I’ve had you on my mind. I’ve stil got that money. I’d like to lend it to you.’
She sat for a long moment looking at him. She saw his embarrassed uneasiness, and she felt sorry for him. Suddenly she smiled. She looked pretty when she smiled, and Baird found himself smiling stiffly back at her. He couldn’t remember the last time anyone had smiled at him. He felt as if he had been given a costly and unexpected present.
‘Why do you want to lend it to me?’ she asked.
‘Because you’re such a damned mug you won’t take it as a gift,’ he said, sitting forward. ‘I owe you plenty, and it gives me the belly-ache to know you’re short of dough when I could help you.’
‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘I appreciate that, but I can’t take money from you. I guess I am a mug, but that’s the way it is. I don’t suppose you’l understand, but I must stand on my own feet. I can’t see you borrowing money if you were in a jam. You would want to be independent. Well, I guess I’m like that, too.’
He studied her.
‘But if a guy owes me something, I’d expect to be paid,’ he said. ‘And I owe you plenty.’
‘Can’t you forget that? It just happened you were lucky to come here. I would have done the same for anyone else. I always side with the one against many. It’s the way I’m made.’
He didn’t like that. He had hoped that she had helped him because of himself, not because of some cock-eyed kink about helping one against many. His expression changed, and his eyes became hostile.
‘You can’t expect me to keep on begging you to take the dough,’ he said roughly. ‘If that’s the way you feel
