Sweeting hadn’t expected to find a night clerk on duty at Maddox Court. He was sure the clerk wouldn’t let him upstairs if he saw him, and he thought it unwise to walk in boldly and ask for Gilda at this hour.
But he had infinite patience. He waited, holding Leo close to him, while he leaned his fat shoulders against the pillar. He had to wait twenty minutes before the opportunity he was hoping for came.
The clerk suddenly glanced at his wrist-watch, dropped the paper on the desk, and went into a room immediately behind the desk.
Sweeting was through the revolving doors in a flash. He scuttled across the thick pile carpet that covered the lobby floor and darted up the stairs and around the bend as the clerk came out of the room.
Sweeting waited, listening; then, hearing nothing to alarm him, he went on up the stairs.
It took him some moments to work out where apartment 45 was located in this vast building, and eventually found to his dismay that it was on the top floor.
He was tempted to use the elevator, but decided against the risk. There would be an indicator on the ground floor, and the clerk might wonder who was using the elevator. So Sweeting toiled up the stairs. By the time he had reached the sixth floor, he was sweating and puffing.
The time was now ten minutes to twelve. What a flop it would be, he thought, as he stood outside Gilda’s front door, if she were out. He dug his grimy thumb into the bell-push and held it there.
After a slight delay he heard someone coming, and a moment later the door opened.
Gilda stared blankly at him. She was wearing a pale blue neglige trimmed with blue mink. Her bare feet were thrust into blue-quilted slippers. She made a quick movement to shut the door, but Sweeting had had too many doors slammed in his face in the past not to be ready for such a move. His foot was already against the bottom of the door.