His hand slid inside his coat and came out again, holding his Colt. Silently he began to edge back along the alley, moving like a ghost.
Burns stood straining his ears, sure now that Baird was still in the alley. He decided not to show himself, but to wait Baird out. He didn’t hear Baird creeping along the al ey, and he had no idea of his danger until a hand came around the corner of the wall and grabbed hold of his coat.
He let out a yell as he felt himself jerked forward, and he hit out blindly. Then something hard and heavy smashed down on his head, and his world snuffed out into darkness.
Baird dragged Burns into the alley, turned him on his back and went through his pockets. He found one of Burns’s cards and he struck a match to read it.
International Detective Agency! A shamus following him! He gave Burns a hard nudge with the toe of his shoe and stood up, his face hard and set.
He hadn’t time now to think what it meant. If he didn’t hurry he’d miss his train. He left Burns’s body in the alley and ran towards the railroad depot.
* * *
Forty minutes later Harmon Purvis was startled out of a heavy sleep by the furious ringing of his telephone bell. As he picked up the receiver he glanced at his bedside clock. It showed a quarter-past three.
‘Who is it?’ he demanded.
‘This is Ed,’ Dal as’s voice barked over the line. ‘Baird’s given us the slip. Burns is in hospital with a fractured skull. I thought you’d welcome the good news.’