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3:00 P.M.

As Dillinger relaxed with his family, a stream of cars passed by the farm on the two-lane blacktop of Route 267. Many were curiosity seekers, Sunday drivers from Indianapolis craning their necks to catch a glimpse of the infamous Dillinger homestead.

According to FBI memoranda, one of these cars was manned by a pair of young agents. J. L. Geraghty and T. J. Donegan had just arrived in Indiana. Donegan had come from Cincinnati the night before. He had been given a whirlwind tour of the area at 2:00 A.M., but in the darkness his mind had registered little. He was working on barely two hours’ sleep and trying his best not to get lost. His partner, Geraghty, was even more out of his element; he had arrived in Mooresville from the streets of New York just that morning.

As they cruised past the Dillinger farm around three, the two agents noted three cars in the driveway: two sedans and a Chevy coupe that matched the description of Hubert’s car. This was good; their orders were to find Hubert and keep an eye on him. Two miles past the farm, they turned and headed back. When they passed a second time they glimpsed a number of children and two men outside the house.

Farther down the road Donegan and Geraghty turned around once more, trying in vain to find a spot to watch the driveway’s entrance. When the FBI agents passed the Dillinger farm a third time, they noticed Hubert’s car was gone. They set off to find it. Cruising through Mooresville they spotted the car, driving toward them, back toward the Dillinger farm. A black Ford cruised just ahead of it. A few blocks later, the agents turned and headed back toward the farm, taking their time to avoid arousing suspicion.

Hubert saw the agents’ car and assumed its occupants were FBI men. He returned to the farm, left the Lincoln, and told Dillinger they were being followed. He and Fred Hancock then drove off in Hubert’s Chevy, promising Dillinger they would see him later that night. By the time Donegan and Geraghty passed the farmhouse a fourth time, the two young men were already gone. When the agents saw Hubert’s car was missing again, they grew worried. They drove faster, hoping to overtake Hubert farther down Route 267. They proceeded as far as the town of Plainfield before giving up. Thinking Hubert might have turned off on a side road, they returned up the road toward the Dillinger farm.

By that point Dillinger had hatched a plan to evade anyone watching the farm. He had hoped to leave after nightfall, but between the airplane and the FBI agents, he needed to move fast. He arranged for everyone to leave in a three-car caravan. Audrey and her husband drove out first, turning left toward Mooresville. John Dillinger, Sr., drove the next car, turning right. Billie climbed behind the wheel of the third and final car, the new Lincoln, along with the two teenage girls. Dillinger slid down onto the rear floorboard, pulled a blanket over his head, and clutched his machine gun.

No one saw them leave. Billie turned right and drove a short ways toward Plainfield. When Dillinger thought it was safe, he told her to stop the car. Just as she did the two FBI agents, Donegan and Geraghty, approached from the south. They saw the shiny new Lincoln parked on the roadside and recognized it as the car they had seen earlier.

As they neared the Lincoln, the two agents saw three women and a man inside. Just as they passed, the man stepped out of the passenger door. He began to walk around the rear of the car. Both agents got a good look at him. He was about thirty-five, they guessed, not quite six feet tall, and well built, wearing a gray summer suit and a matching hat. It was Dillinger.

They didn’t recognize him.

Later, they would swear to their superiors it couldn’t have been him. But it was. Dillinger turned and watched over his left shoulder as they drove away. After a roadside meeting with friends that night, he and Billie headed for Chicago.

The following week, local newspapers confirmed rumors of Dillinger’s weekend