The Mystery of the Spiral Bridge Read Free Page A

clothes.
    They were grimly silent as they whizzed through the streets to the hospital. There they took the elevator to the third floor. It seemed forever until they reached it and the door slid open. The boys rushed to the nurses’ station.
    â€œIs Dad—Fenton Hardy’s condition worse?” Frank asked the nurse in charge. “Is that why Nurse Tice called?”
    â€œMercy, no!” she whispered. “If anything, your father is slightly improved.”
    Although vastly relieved, Joe said wryly, “We sure had the daylights scared out of us!”
    â€œI’m afraid we’ve had the daylights scared out of us, too,” the nurse replied. “Miss Tice will explain.”
    On tiptoe, Frank and Joe ran down the corridor. Nurse Tice, red-faced and distraught, met them outside Mr. Hardy’s room.
    â€œWhy didn’t you post a guard here if you expected trouble?” she asked indignantly.
    Frank gulped. “Trouble? Did somebody try to hurt Dad?”
    â€œNo, not that.”
    â€œTell us what did happen!” Joe said impatiently.
    â€œA man, dressed as an intern, sneaked into your father’s room, that’s what!” said the nurse.
    Frank drew a deep breath. “And then?”
    â€œI was coming back after my coffee break,” Miss Tice continued, “and I saw this man in white removing the tape from the recorder. I was so surprised I cried out and he came rushing at me. I tried to stop him, but he got away.” The nurse looked puzzled. “Why anybody would steal a tape with just mumbling on it is a mystery to me!”

CHAPTER III
    Who Is Felix?
    FRANK and Joe stared at each other in dismay. “We should have had someone guarding Dad,” Frank said glumly.
    â€œWell, there are two police officers here now,” Nurse Tice replied.
    â€œPolicemen?” queried Joe. “Where?”
    â€œThey’re searching the building. The night supervisor phoned headquarters as soon as I reported seeing that thief.”
    The Hardy boys had hoped to handle this case mostly by themselves. Now the police already had been called in. Sensing their concern, Miss Tice became apologetic. “I don’t usually flare up like that,” she said. “But it was an unnerving experience.”
    â€œWe’re sorry you had such a scare,” said Joe. “I’d sure like to get my hands on that phony.”
    â€œAt least,” Miss Tice remarked, “you still have the tape.”
    â€œWhat?” Frank exclaimed. “I thought the thief got away with it.”
    â€œI forgot to mention I’d changed the tape.” The nurse opened the night-table drawer and pulled out the first tape.
    â€œThanks a million,” Joe said. “We’ll take the recorder and play the tape when we get home.”
    When the nurse had checked Mr. Hardy’s pulse and respiration, Frank asked if she could describe the thief.
    â€œThe man was tall,” she said, “with jet-black hair and a mustache.” The impostor, she added, had worn a mask which she had almost torn off during her tussle with him. “If I’d known Judo,” added Miss Tice, “I might have caught him!”
    The boys exchanged glances. Except for the mustache, this description resembled that of the intruder at Radley’s apartment!
    At the sound of brisk footsteps in the corridor, the nurse and the Hardys left the room. Outside, they met Chief Ezra Collig of the Bayport Police Department, followed by a patrolman, who held a rumpled white jacket in his hands.
    â€œHello, Frank, Joe,” the husky, keen-eyed chief said. Collig was an old friend of the Hardy detectives. “When I learned your father was here, I wanted to investigate this matter myself.”
    Joe looked at the jacket. “Is that the one the thief wore?”
    â€œYes,” replied the chief. “We found it near the first-floor fire exit.” Collig’s eyes narrowed.