‘That’s a lot of hooey,’ Purvis said. ‘Olin’s got nothing on Baird. I know you’re feeling sore about the girl, but you can’t talk like that. If you felt like that about her, you shouldn’t have put her out on a limb.’
‘So it’s my fault?’ Dal as said, his face white and strained.
‘It’s certainly not mine. I didn’t suggest paying her three hundred dol ars.’
Dallas didn’t say anything. He ran his fingers through his hair and grimaced. He was feeling bad about Zoe.
‘What’s Ainsworth doing?’ Purvis asked, after a short pause.
Dallas drank more coffee, and as he fumbled for a cigarette, he said, ‘He’s watching Kile. At the moment we’ve lost Baird, Rico and Gil is. When I got to the club with Olin, Baird and Rico had skipped. There was no sign of Gillis. I tried to find MacAdam, but his car had gone. I’m hoping he went after Gillis. Olin took the club to pieces, but we didn’t find anything. That guy, Luigi, Rico’s Captain of waiters, talked after Olin got tough with him. He told Olin both Rico and Baird had returned to the club about forty minutes before we got there. Rico said he had to leave town in a hurry. He collected all the cash he could lay his hands on, and went off with Baird in a dark blue Packard. No one knows where he was going. Olin’s thrown out a drag-net, but so far the car hasn’t been seen. While this was going on, I searched around for MacAdam. As soon as Ainsworth reported to me, I sent him down to watch Kile. If Kile slips through our fingers, we’ve lost the lot of them.’
‘I imagine Baird and Rico have gone to Shreveport,’ Purvis said thoughtfully. ‘I think the balloon’s about to go up.’
‘Yeah,’ Dal as said. ‘Think we should tel Olin what’s cooking? He could set a trap for Baird.’
‘Red River’s not in his territory. By the time he got any action, Baird would be miles away. Besides, we’re losing sight of our objective: we want Baird to take us to the jewels. If Olin barges in now, we’re back where we started.’
‘I don’t like it,’ Dallas said. ‘The casualties are mounting up. First Burns, now Zoe: maybe it’ll be me next.’