The Naked Face by Sidney Sheldon Page B

with reality. Then, when he returned, he would make an appointment with Dr. Robbie and put himself under his care. It was a painful decision to make, but having made it, Judd felt better. He dressed, packed a small suitcase with enough clothes for five days, and carried it out to the elevator. Eddie was not on duty yet, and the elevator was on self-service. Judd rode down to the basement garage. He looted round for Wilt, the attendant, but he was nowhere around. The garage was deserted. Judd sported his car parked in a corner against the cement wall. He walked over to it, put his suitcase in the back seat, opened the front door, and eased in behind the wheel. As he reached for the ignition key, a man loomed up at his side from nowhere. Judd's heart skipped a beat. 'You're right on schedule.' It was Moody. 'I didn't know you were going to see me off.' Judd said. Moody beamed at him, his cherubic face breaking into a huge smile, 'I had nothing better to do and I couldn't sleep.' Judd was suddenly grateful for the tactful way Moody had handled the situation. No reference to the fact that Judd drive up to the country and take a rest Well, the least Judd could do was to keep up the pretence that everything was normal. 'I decided you were right. I'm going to drive up and see if I can find a scorecard to the ball-game.' “Oh, you don't have to go anywhere for that,' Moody said. That's all taken care of.' Judd looked at him blankly. 'I don't understand.' 'It's simple. I always say when you want to get to the bottom of anything, you gotta start diggin'.' 'Mr. Moody...' Moody leaned against the door of the car. 'You know what I found intriguin' about your little problem, Doc? Seemed like every five minutes somebody was tryin' to kill you -maybe. Now that ”maybe“ fascinated me. There was nothin' for us to bite into till we found out whether you were crackin' up, or whether someone was really tryin' to turn you into a corpse.' Judd looked at him. 'But the Catskills...' he said weakly. 'Oh, you wasn't never goin' to the Catskilla, Doc.' He opened the door of the car. 'Step out here.' Bewildered, Judd stepped out of the car. 'You see, that was just advertising- I always say if you wanta catch a shark, you've gotta bloody up the water first.' Judd was watching his facc. 'I'm afraid you never would have got to the Catskills,' Moody said gently. He walked around to the hood of the cat, fumbled with the catch, and raised the hood. Judd walked over to his side. Taped to the distributor head were three sticks of dynamite. Two thin wires were dangling loose from the ignition. 'Booby-trapped,' Moody said. Judd looked at him, baffled. 'But how did you...?' Moody grinned. 'I told you, I'm a bad sleeper. I got here around midnight. I paid the nightman to go out and have some fun, an' I just kinda waited in the shadows. The nightman'll cost another twenty dollars,' he added. 'I didn't want you to look cheap.' Judd felt a sudden wave of affection towards the little fat man. Did you see who did it?' 'Nope. It was done before I got here. At six o'clock this mornin* I figured no one was gonna show up any more, so I took a look.' He pointed to the dangling wires. Tfour friends are real cute. They rigged a second booby-trap so if you lifted the hood all the way, this wire would detonate the dynamite. The same thing would happen if you turned on your ignition. There's enough stuff here to wipe out half the garage.' Judd felt suddenly sick to his stomach. Moody looked at him sympathetically. 'Cheer up,' he said. 'Look at the progress we've made. We know two things. First of all, we know you're not nuts. And secondly” - the smile left his face - 'we know that somebody is God Almighty anxious to murder you, Dr Stevens.'

Chapter Ten
    They were sitting in the living-room of Judd's apartment, talking, Moody's enormous body spilling over the large couch. Moody had carefully put the pieces of the already defused bomb in the trunk of his own car. 'Shouldn't