Ghost Beyond the Gate Part 8

"Of course not!"

"I knew you wouldn't give out any information," Penny said in relief.

"But somehow Harley Schirr has learned about it."

"Schirr! That egg? How could he have found out?"

"I'd like to know myself. He hinted that something dreadful might happen to Dad if the story is printed."

Jerry patted Penny's hand. "Don't give it a thought, kid," he said.

"Schirr does a lot of wild talking. Probably whatever he said to you was pure bluff. He doesn't know a thing."

The arrival of the cab at the station put an end to the conversation.

Jerry paid the driver and hustled Penny inside. He barely had time to purchase a ticket before the train was called.

"Well, goodbye," Jerry said, squeezing her hand.

"Have a good time in Canada," Penny replied. "And bring me a nice bear rug!"

"Sure, I'll catch him with my bare hands," Jerry rejoined, making a feeble attempt at a joke.

The train began to move. The reporter swung himself aboard the last Pullman. As he waved from the steps, Penny realized that she had forgotten to ask for his Canadian address.

Soon the train was only a blur down the frosty tracks. Penny climbed a steep ramp to the street. She felt lonesome, and for some reason, discouraged.

"First I lose my car wheels, and now it's Jerry," she reflected sadly.

"What a week!"

Penny scarcely knew whether to go home or to the _Star_ office. As she debated the matter, her ears were a.s.saulted by the shrill scream of a siren.

"A fire," thought Penny.

An ambulance rushed past. It raced to the end of the short street and pulled up.

"Probably an accident," amended Penny.

Curious to learn what had happened, she began to run. At the end of the street a large crowd had gathered. A car with a smashed fender and damaged front grillwork, had piled against a street lamp.

"What happened?" Penny asked a man who stood beside her.

"Two cars in a smash-up," he answered. "Didn't see the accident myself."

"But what became of the other automobile?" asked Penny.

She pushed through the gathering crowd to the curb. Broken gla.s.s was scattered over the pavement. Ambulance men were searching the wreckage of the car which had struck the lamp post. The other automobile, apparently, had driven away.

Suddenly, Penny's gaze riveted on the rear license plate of the smashed car. In horror she read the number--P-619-10.

"Dad's car!" she whispered. "He's been hurt!"

CHAPTER 6 _FRONT PAGE NEWS_

Never in her life had Penny been more frightened. Breaking away from the group of people at the curb, she ran to the parked ambulance. A glance into the interior a.s.sured her that Mr. Parker had not been placed inside on a stretcher.

"Where is he?" she asked wildly. "Where's my father?"

A white-garbed ambulance attendant turned to stare at her.

"That's my father's car!" Penny cried, pointing to the battered sedan.

"Tell me, was he badly hurt?"

The attendant tried to be kind. "We don't know, Miss. Someone put in a call for us. Said we were to pick up an injured man. Evidently he was taken to a hospital before we could get here."

"That's what happened," contributed a small boy who stood close by. "A woman drove by in an auto. She offered to take the man to the hospital and he went with her."

"A tall, lean man in a gray suit?" Penny asked quickly.

"Yes. He had a leather case in his hand."

"Then it was my father!" Penny cried. "How badly was he hurt?"

"Oh, he could walk all right," the boy replied. "He seemed kinda dazed though."

Greatly relieved to learn that her father had escaped serious injury, Penny sought more information. The boy who had witnessed the accident, told her that the car which had caused the smash-up, was a blue sedan.

"Two men were in it," he revealed. "They started to go around your father's car and crowded him toward the curb. Next thing I saw, he'd plowed into the lamp post."

"The other car didn't stop?"

"I'll say it didn't! You should have seen 'em go!"

"Didn't you notice the license number?" Penny asked hopefully.

The boy shook his head.

Having learned all she could from him, Penny questioned other persons.

Only one woman in the crowd was able to provide additional information.

Her eye-witness account differed slightly from the boy's, but she confirmed that a middle-aged woman in a black coupe had taken the accident victim to a hospital.

"Which hospital?" asked Penny.

The woman could not tell her. She did say, however, that the accident victim seemingly had suffered only minor scratches.

A police car drove up. Penny, frantic to find her father, did not wish to be delayed by questions. Without revealing who she was to members of the investigation squad, she hailed a taxi. Mercy Hospital was only a few blocks away. It seemed reasonable that her father would be taken there for treatment.

A few minutes later, standing anxiously at the information desk of that inst.i.tution, she learned that Mr. Parker had not been admitted as a patient. The nurse in charge, noting the girl's agitation, kindly offered to telephone other hospitals. After six calls, she reported that she was unable to trace the accident victim.