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wasn’t hurt. I squirmed out through the window on the left-hand side of the car. The door wouldn’t open but the window was down. I was pretty badly shaken up and I guess pretty rattled. I struck a match and took stock of the situation. I wanted to see if I could help the other girl.”
    “Mildred?”
    “Mildred.”
    “And what happened?”
    “As soon as I saw the way she was lying, half-in and half-out of the door and he head—I . . . I just became terribly nauseated. It was frightful. She had been half-out of the car and her head had been—Well, it was smashed! Just a pulp!”
    Mason nodded.
    “After that it took me a little while to get myself together and, of course, all of that time gasoline was running out of the car. Apparently it was leaking out of the tank at the rear of the car and trickling down toward the front. I didn’t know just what was happening and I’m afraid I’m responsible for not appreciating the danger. Anyhow, I struck a second match am that second match burned my fingers, so dropped it. There was a flash and I jumped back and the whole thing started blazing into flame.”
    “You didn’t have your hair or eyebrows singed?” Mason asked.
    “No, I was holding the match down and—Well, that’s the way it was.”
    “So then what did you do?”
    “I had my purse with me, fortunately. I—My suitcase, with everything I own, was in the car. I started running from the fire and then I found myself at the bottom of a little canyon . . . And then I guess I got in something of a panic. There was a rattlesnake that I almost stepped on and—Well, by the time I got up to the road, I just wanted to get away from there without having my name in the papers or anything, so—Well, that’s what I did.”
    “You didn’t report the accident to anyone?”
    She shook her head.
    “How long ago was that?”
    “About two weeks, not quite. It was the twenty-second.” Mason’s eyes narrowed.
    “And some development has caused you to come to see me?”
    “Yes.”
    “What?”
    “A man by the name of Carl Harrod called on me last night. He’s an investigator for the insurance company. From the position of the car and the manner in which the doors were jammed, it was apparent that only the person who was in the driver’s seat could have squirmed out through the window. My suitcase was in the car, it wasn’t entirely consumed by the fire. The fire burned uphill and some of the things in the front of the car weren’t even damaged. A motorist with a fire extinguisher saved the car. Mildred’s purse wasn’t burned up . . . Well, anyway, this man Harrod had put two and two together. He found out that Mildred had picked up a hitchhiker at Vista and then he traced the hitchhiker back from Vista, which wasn’t too difficult to do.
    “You see, a woman hitchhiker who is—” She broke off to smile at Mason and said, “All right, I’ll use the term good—looking, naturally attracts some attention. I had given my right name to one of the people who picked me up and then there was the clue of the suitcase and—Well, that’s the way it was.”
    “And what did Harrod want?” Mason asked.
    “He wanted me to sign a statement.”
    “In regard to the accident?”
    “Yes.”

    “Did you do it?”
    “No.” ‘Why?”
    “Because I . . . I have the feeling Mr. Harrod wants that statement not on behalf of the insurance company but—I think he wants to do something with it.”
    “Blackmail?” Mason asked.
    “I wouldn’t be too surprised.”
    “Did he make any overtures along that line?”
    “He intimated something like that. Later on, he was very careful to point out that he actually had asked for nothing except a written statement.”
    Mason drummed with the tips of his fingers on the top of his desk. His eyes were squinted thoughtfully.
    “So,” she asked, “what do I do?”
    Mason said, “You’ve gone this long without reporting an accident. That is bad. But sit tight and wait for