‘I wil come up and see you, bambino.’
‘With the cops coming up, too?’
‘No cop stops me loving a girl,’ the man said, and laughed. ‘Not even a cop with a gun.’
‘That’s what you say,’ the girl said, and snapped her fingers. ‘You’re al talk, Toni.’
‘Yeah? This time I don’t talk. I come up.’
‘Bet er not,’ the girl jeered, ‘they’l take you away in their little black wagon.’
Baird heard quick, heavy footsteps on the stairs. He saw a fat, powerfully built fellow, going bald, with a blue-black growth of beard, come bounding on to the landing. He was wearing a soiled singlet and black trousers, and his face was shiny with sweat.
Laughing, he rushed at the girl, who avoided him. They dodged about on the landing. She was very quick, but she hadn’t much room to manoeuvre, and he finally trapped her in a corner.
‘No, Toni! I was only fooling,’ she said, trying to push him back as he crowded her, holding her arms and grinning like a mischievous monkey as she wrestled with him. ‘Not now. Some other night. Stop it!
They’l be coming up!’
‘It’s always some other night,’ the man said, giggling excitedly. ‘To hel with them! Al talk, you say.
I show you it’s not al talk!’
He grabbed her around the waist and under the knees and swung her off her feet.
‘Put me down, Toni!’ the girl said, keeping her voice low. She struggled to break away, but not so violently that he couldn’t handle her.
‘Not even a cop with a gun is going to stop me this time,’ he said, and there was a sudden change in his voice that made Baird stiffen.
‘No! Stop it, you fool!’
He ran with her across the landing, kicked open the door and blundered into the dark room. He kicked the door shut and stumbled over to the bed.
Invisible against the wall, Baird lifted the gun. He stood motionless, every nerve in his body tense, while he listened to the struggle going on on the bed.
‘You devil!’ he heard the girl gasp. ‘You mustn’t!’
‘Not even a cop with a gun!’ the man panted as he struggled with her. ‘You asked for it this time, bambino. You get it.’
Baird made a move towards the bed, then stiffened back as he heard a quick rush of feet on the stairs.
A voice shouted outside the door, ‘Open up!’
The door was flung open, catching Baird and pinning him behind it. The white light of a flashlight swept into the room and lit up the bed.
The man on the bed twisted his head around and glared along the beam of light. There was a savage, animal expression on his round, sweaty face.
‘Ain’t there any privacy in this goddamn world?’ he shouted violently. ‘Get the hell out of here!’
The two cops, one with a Thompson at his hip, the other with an automatic rifle, gaped at what they saw.
‘For crying out loud!’ one of them exclaimed, grinning. ‘If I’d known, mister, I’d’ve knocked.’
‘Get out!’ Toni shouted furiously. ‘Leave us alone!’
The two cops backed out of the room, laughing, pulled the door shut and Baird heard them clattering down the stairs.
‘You see,’ Toni said, ‘not even two goddamn cops with two goddamn guns!’
‘Let me go!’ the girl gasped. ‘Get out!’
‘Yeah?’ Toni said. ‘I go in a little while.’
Baird stood motionless, sweat running down his face, listening to the struggle going on in the darkness. He heard the girl catch her breath sharply. He slid the barrel of the gun into his hand, and took a step forward, but away from the support of the wall, his legs wouldn’t hold him, and he slithered down on hands and knees.
As he struggled to get back on his feet, Toni gave a sudden yell of pain.
‘You bitch!’ he shouted. ‘You’ve blinded me!’
‘Get out!’ the girl said, her voice low. ‘Let me go!’
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 little,’ 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 better 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 better 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 better 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 little 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.