I + 

It was dark when Rico reached the outskirts of Hammond. He drove into a field, took the licence plates off and buried them, and got out of his jumpers. Then he took some clean waste from the tool box and wiped the grease from his face. + 

“What a cinch,” he said. + 

Things had gone a lot better than he had expected them to. There hadn’t been a hitch of any kind. A motor cop out in Blue Island had waved to him even. Rico laughed. You never know. When you’re looking for trouble, why, things are OK. Yeah, funny! + 

Rico walked to the car line. He was wearing a plain, dark suit and an army shirt Arrigo had given him. He had shaved off his moustache and the hard, short bristles on his upper lip worried him. Rico felt very proud of his escape. It was a good idea to dress himself up like a garage mechanic and drive across town in broad daylight. Yeah, it was a good idea, and if things broke right he’d write to one of the papers and tell them all about it. Only the postmark would give him away. Not so good. Well, anyway, he could tell Sansotta about it. + 

Rico got on a streetcar. + 

“Well, how’s things?” he said to the conductor. + 

“All right,” said the conductor; “getting cooler, ain’t it? Reckon we’ll have winter before we know it.” + 

“Yeah,” said Rico. + 