Encyclopedia Brown and the case of the midnight visitor Read Online Free PDF Page B

lay by a parked car. He was holding his back. His face was twisted with pain.
    As if in answer to a prayer, an ambulance sped up. Its lights were blinking and its siren screamed.
    The woman stepped into the middle of the street and threw up her arms.
    "Stop!" she shouted. "Stop!"
    Parked cars narrowed the one-way street, and the ambulance driver could not steer around the woman. He slammed on his brakes.
    "Lady, get out of the way!" he pleaded. "We're on a call!"
    "Take this man to the hospital," she insisted. "He's been hit by a car!"
    The driver tried to argue. He had no time to stop. "A man on Bradley Square has suffered a heart attack," he said.

    The woman stepped into the middle of the street and threw up her arms. ''Stop!" she shouted.

    The woman held her ground in the middle of the street. "What's the matter with you? This man's hurt!"
    The injured man protested. ''Let them answer their call,"-he said. ''Mercy Hospital is only two blocks away. I can make it."
    "Don't you try!" scolded the woman. "Crazy drivers! Crazy ambulances!"
    By now a large crowd of men and women had gathered to watch. They seemed to side with the excited woman.
    "Okay, okay, lady, you win," the ambulance driver said, shaking his head. "This could cost me my job, but I guess there is room."
    He nodded to his partner and both men got out of the ambulance, their white uniforms bright spots of comfort. They opened the back doors and reached for a wheeled stretcher.
    "Heck, I don't need that," said the injured man.
    "Yes, you do," said the woman. "The blue car knocked you six feet. I saw it. Oh, I wish I'd got the license number!"
    So did Encyclopedia. He had glimpsed only the last part—008.

    The two men in white were carrying the stretcher when more sirens sounded. Four pohce cars halted behind the ambulance.
    Chief Brown leaned out of the first car. **Move that ambulance to one side/' he commanded.
    As the ambulance was being moved, Chief Brown spied Encyclopedia. "What are you doing here, Leroy?" he called.
    "We were visiting Benny Breslin at Mercy Hospital," replied Encyclopedia. *'This man was struck down by a speeding car."
    *'Did you see it happen?"
    **No," said Encyclopedia. "But I'm pretty certain I saw the car that hit him."
    "Are you chasing it?" asked Sally.
    "Chasing robbers," said Chief Brown. "The First City Bank was held up ten minutes ago. The bank teller who phoned the station was still so scared she didn't know how many robbers there were. She remembered only that they wore masks and long black capes."
    The ambulance had pulled into an open parking space. Chief Brown sent the other police cars on to the bank.

    ?!
    100 Encyclopedia Brown
    "The hit-run car might be the getaway car," he said. ''The bank is only six blocks from here. The robbers would come this way to dodge heavy traffic. What did the car look like?"
    ''It was a blue four-door Chevrolet, with two men in it," said Encyclopedia. "The last three numbers of the license plate are oh-oh-eight."
    "That will help," said Chief Brown. "Who saw the accident?"
    "I guess that woman—and the man on the stretcher."
    Chief Brown spoke with the woman and the man. He returned to the police car and used the two-way radio.
    Meanwhile, the men in white were lifting the injured man into the ambulance. They had strapped him down and were gently rolling him in feet first. Encyclopedia could see the top of his head clearly. It was bald, with cuts that were bleeding slightly.
    Encyclopedia thought about the man's head. He thought about the blue car and the men in white. He thought about the woman who had stopped the ambulance.

    Chief Brown had finished talking on the radio.
    "You're our best witness," he .said to Encyclopedia. '^Neither the injured man nor the woman even recalls how many doors the blue car had. I'm afraid the robbers will take a lot of time to catch."
    '*No, Dad," said Encyclopedia. "You can make an arrest right now."
    WHAT DID ENCYCLOPEDIA MEAN?
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