e road and set them down.

There was no point in groping about under the Packard's hood. When it
came to mechanics, Phil Garfield was a moron and well aware of it. The
car was useless to him now ... except as bait.

But as bait it might be very useful.

Should he leave it standing where it was? No, Garfield decided. To
anybody driving past it would merely suggest a necking party, or a drunk
sleeping off his load before continuing home. He might have to wait an
hour or more before someone decided to stop. He didn't have the time. He
reached in through the window, hauled the top of the steering wheel
towards him and put his weight against the rear window frame.

The Packard began to move slowly backwards at a slant across the road.
In a minute or two he had it in position. Not blocking the road
entirely, which would arouse immediate suspicion, but angled across it,
lights out, empty, both front doors open and inviting a passerby's
investigation.

Garfield carried the suitcase and flashlight across the right-hand
shoulder of the road and moved up among the trees and undergrowth of the
slope above the shoulder. Placing the suitcase between the bushes, he
brought out the .38, clicked the safety off and stood waiting.

Some ten minutes later, a set of headlights appeared speeding up Route
Twelve from the direction of Redmon. Phil Garfield went down on one knee
before he came within range of the lights. Now he was completely
concealed by the vegetation.

The car slowed as it approached, braking nearly to a stop sixty feet
from the stalled Packard. There were several people inside it; Garfield
heard voices, then a woman's loud laugh. The driver tapped his horn
inquiringly twice, moved the car slowly forward. As the headlights went
past him, Garfield got to his feet among the bushes, took a step down
towards the road, raising the gun.

Then he caught the distant gleam of a second set of headlights
approaching from Redmon. He swore under his breath and dropped back out
of sight. The car below him reached the Packard, edged cautiously around
it, rolled on with a sudden roar of acceleration.

* * * * *

The second car stopped when still a hundred yards away, the Packard
caught in the motionless glare of its lights. Garfield heard the steady
purring of a powerful motor.

For almost a minute, nothing else happened. Then the car came gliding
smoothly on, stopped again no more than thirty fee