‘Who’s this guy Baird, Gil is is so strung up about?’
‘If it’s Verne Baird,’ Purvis said, crossing his long, bony legs, ‘and I’d imagine it must be, he’s suspect number one for Jean Bruce’s kil ing.’
‘Is that right?’ Dal as said, startled. ‘Is he the guy Olin’s searching for?’
Purvis nodded.
‘A pretty dangerous character, according to Olin. I ran into Olin on my way home tonight. He’s had quite a night of it. As a routine precaution he put a couple of his men to watch Baird’s apartment house.
One of them spotted a big man watching the house and went after him. He cornered him in a drug store, but wasn’t fast enough with his gun. He and the girl in the store were shot to death, and the kil er escaped by way of the roof. Olin got some boys down there in double quick time, and one of them spotted the killer as he was crossing the roof. He winged him, but he got away somehow. They’ve cordoned off the area and they’re making a house-to-house search. Olin swears no one can get through the cordon, so with any luck, they’l catch him.’
‘Was it Baird?’
‘Olin thinks so, but no one has identified him. The cop who shot at him said the man was Baird’s build, but he couldn’t swear it was Baird. Olin says there’s no other hood in town who’d shoot it out with a cop, and then kill the girl so she couldn’t identify him. I think he’s right. We don’t run to types so ruthless as that.’
‘Well, if it is Baird and they catch him, Gillis’s plan may come unstuck.’
Purvis didn’t say anything. He was thinking, his hand covered his face. There was a long silence, then he looked up to say, ‘I’m going to put every man I have on this case, Ed. I don’t think we need bother with the Rajah for the time being. The people who matter now are Kile, Eve Gillis, Rico, Baird and Adam Gillis. They’re the ones who wil lead us to the jewels if anyone’s going to lead us to them.