The X'ed-Out X-Ray Read Online Free PDF

at her.
    “With his name tag on it,” Ruth Rose added.
    “So … so if the guy in the tent wasn’t Dr. Fleming, who was he?” Dink asked.
    “He was Georgie, the thief!” Josh said.
    “But he knew doctor stuff,” Dink said. “He took me to the hospital and x-rayed my arm.”
    “Maybe he
is
a doctor, just not Dr. Fleming,” Ruth Rose suggested.
    “Then why would he need to steal some other doctor’s jacket and name tag?” Dink asked.
    “If he knew he was gonna snatch that diamond,” Josh said, “he wouldn’t wear his own name.”
    Dink nodded. “That makes sense. But who is he? Where does he live?”
    “Georgie knows his way around Hartford Hospital,” Josh said. “So maybe he lives in Hartford.” He pointed at the autograph book. “And if he lives in Hartford, maybe his aunt Alva Horst does, too!”
    Josh picked up the telephone and dialed Information. He was given a phone number for A. Horst, and he dialed it.
    When a woman answered, Josh asked if he was speaking to Alva Horst.
    When she said yes, he told her that he had found an autograph book belonging to Georgie with her name in it.
    “Could you give me his name and address so I can send it to him?” Josh asked.
    Georgie’s aunt supplied his name and address, and Josh hung up. “His name is George Shill,” he told Dink and Ruth Rose. “He lives on Laurel Street in Hartford.”

“We can’t just show up at the guy’s house,” Josh said. “He’d just deny the whole thing.”
    “But we have this X-ray for proof,” Dink said. “And that autograph book.”
    “Get real, Dink. We’re kids and he’s a grown-up,” Josh said. “He’ll just tell us to get lost.”
    “I know one person he won’t tell to get lost,” Ruth Rose said as she reached for the telephone.
    Twenty minutes later, Officer Fallon was sitting in Dink’s living room.
    The kids told him the whole story.
    “I’m glad you called me,” Officer Fallon said. “George Shill might still have the pendant. He hasn’t had much time to get rid of it.”
    He placed a call to the Hartford chief of police. They agreed to meet near Georgie’s house in forty-five minutes.
    “Dink, you should come along to identify this guy,” Officer Fallon said. “Are your folks home?”
    “They went out,” Dink said. “But I could leave them a note telling them I’m with you.”
    Dink looked at Josh and Ruth Rose. “Could they come, too? They solved the mystery,” he said.
    Officer Fallon grinned. “Sure, we’ll all go,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to break up the gang!”
    Two Hartford police cruisers were waiting when Officer Fallon pulled up to the corner of Laurel Street.
    The kids waited in the backseat as Officer Fallon talked with the Hartford officers.
    “You ready, Dink?” Officer Fallon asked when he came back to his cruiser.
    Dink nodded. His stomach was flipping like a fish on a line.
    “Let’s go,” Officer Fallon said. “The other guys will be around back, in case Georgie decides to leave that way.”
    Officer Fallon drove slowly up Laurel Street and stopped at number 13. The house was old and made of brick. One shutter was hanging crooked and the lawn needed mowing. All the shades were pulled down.
    Officer Fallon and Dink walked up to the door. Dink was holding the envelope with the X-ray inside. His legs felt like cooked spaghetti.
    The man who answered the door was wearing jeans and a T-shirt. He was barefooted and eating a doughnut,but Dink recognized him. It was the “doctor” who had been in the first-aid tent the day before. “It’s him,” Dink whispered.

    “Mr. Shill, is it?” Officer Fallon said.
    George Shill swallowed nervously. “What … who …?”
    Officer Fallon held out the autograph book. “Did you lose this?”
    Georgie looked at the book. “I … I think so. Where did you find it?”
    “Penelope Gwinn had it,” Officer Fallon said. “She was signing it for you when you grabbed her diamond pendant yesterday. Then you hid the