d. To knock
would have made it obvious he had been listening. He barged right in.

The twins were in the anteroom. Muldoon got the impression they knew he
had heard them, and an even stronger impression, that the fact was of no
importance. That bothered him, for some reason.

"Ah, there you are," the twin to the left said. "Evin was wondering
whether you would show up, but I told him he was putting himself to
useless aggravation."

That damned mixed-up phrasing again, Muldoon thought. "Took a little
time to find parking space," he said.

"Shall we be off, then?" Robert asked.

"All right with me," Muldoon replied. There was another odd thing. Evin
Reeger seemed to have so very little to say.

Their destination was a place halfway down the Island. Muldoon's brow
had lifted when they gave him the area. So far as he knew there hadn't
been any development in the area. It was just a bit too far off the
highways and rail lines for housing developments, and even more badly
located for industrial requirements. He wondered what the devil they
had in mind out there.

Traffic was light and the drive took little more than an hour and a half
on the main highway, and another fifteen minutes of blacktop side road
before Evin told him to "Turn left here," onto a rutted path off the
blacktop. The path led through some scrub growth that ended on the edge
of an acre or so of dump heap. Rusted heaps of broken cars were
scattered about. A foul odor came from the left as though garbage, too,
had been dumped and left to rot. There was a flat one-storied wooden
shack close by to which Evin directed him to drive up to.

* * * * *

Evin produced a key and opened the door to the shack. There was a
partition separating the place neatly into two sections. There were a
couple of straight-backed wooden chairs and a leather sofa in the near
room. The door to the other room was closed.

"Sit down, Muldoon," Robert Reeger said. He waited for Muldoon to make
himself comfortable on the sofa, then continued: "First time we've ever
been out here during the day. But Evin's sense of direction is
unfailing." He shook his head, smiled brightly. "Ah, well, we must each
have some factor to make for validity of existence, eh?"

"I don't follow," Muldoon said.

"No matter. Now, to the business at hand. I wanted you to see the area
involved. Evin, the plot plan, please."

To Muldoon's surprise Evin Reeger went into the