The cop read the card, then spat in the gutter.
‘A shamus,’ he said bit erly. ‘I might have known it. Okay, forget it. That Purvis creep’s always making trouble for us workers.’
‘He makes trouble for me, too,’ Burns sighed. ‘I haven’t had a good night’s rest since last week, and then that was an accident.’
‘It beats me how you punks who peep through other people’s keyholes can sleep at al ,’ the cop said virtuously. ‘If I had your job my conscience wouldn’t let me sleep.’
Burns saw the light in Baird’s room had gone out.
‘Pipe down,’ he said tersely. ‘The pigeon I’m watching’s going to roost.’
The cop looked up at the darkened window.
‘That guy Baird? You interested in him?’
‘What do you know about him?’
‘I’ve got my orders. Never mind what I know about him.’