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Chapter 6

by Alyssa G.

 

Catherine returned to her apartment and decided to put the time until the children returned to good use. She checked in with officials at Attica and was informed that Denton had paid off several guards to help arrange for his escape. According to the investigators heading up his manhunt, a number of recent letters from New York seemed to have increased his agitation, as well as his determination to be released. He had spoken with his lawyers seven times in the two weeks prior to his disappearance, and had even offered to provide assistance in any ongoing criminal investigations, as long as he could be immediately released from prison. The only reason he had provided for this request was “urgent personal family matters.”

When the police checked with Denton’s family, no one seemed to know what Mitch was talking about…or so the family claimed. According to Lt. Dawson, while Mitch’s cousins had seemed clueless, Sam Denton, Mitch’s father, was another story. He also said that he didn’t know what Mitch was talking about, but he couldn’t look the officers in the eye, and seemed very anxious for them to leave. The working assumption was that Mitch had been in touch with his dad, but surveillance of Sam’s apartment and a check of his phone records had turned up nothing.  The police had gone as far as obtaining a warrant and conducting a thorough search of the apartment, but no proof of Mitch Denton’s presence had been found. 

Catherine was about to try calling some of her favorite money-hungry informants when Mary, Sarah, and the children came into the apartment looking hot, tired, and hungry.  Mary and Sarah got the kids cleaned up while Catherine placed an order to the local pizza store.

The delivery guy had just put several boxes down on her kitchen table when Michael knocked at the door. After being greeted by the kids and agreeing to stay for dinner, Michael pulled the adults into the kitchen to fill them in on the latest developments.

Everyone looked uncomfortable at the idea that “Carmen” probably wasn’t alone in her knowledge of the Tunnels.  Checking first that none of the kids were eavesdropping, Mary whispered, “Are you sure that no one was hurt?”

“I’m sure,” Michael replied. “I was with the group that confronted her. She seemed more scared of us than we were of her. She’s definitely hiding something, though I don’t know if it’s how many people are with her, how she found out about the Tunnels, her connection to Mitch, or something worse.”

Catherine filled the others in on her phone calls, while Mary and Sarah explained their growing concern that “Carmen” might really be the unknown “Tessie,” someone who had a connection to Hannah – a child that no one could remember taking into their small community.

“Have you tried asking Hannah if she knows Mitch?” When the other women responded in the negative to Catherine’s question, Catherine suggested that they try that next. “While you do that, I think I’m going to try speaking to Sam Denton directly. I know he told the police that he couldn’t help them, but I wonder if he’ll give a fellow Helper a different answer?”

Armed with their good wishes and a quickly scribbled copy of Sam’s address, Catherine headed out the door to see if she could get the answers they needed.

***

“Mr. Denton? It’s Ms. Chandler from the District Attorney’s office. May I speak with you for a moment?” It felt strange to announce herself by her professional credentials to another Helper, but she had already spotted two plainclothes officers in the building and wasn’t taking any chances.

The radio that had been playing a 50’s music station inside the apartment was lowered, and a man shouted from inside the apartment, “Leave me alone! I already told the other officers that I haven’t heard from that foolish son of mine. Now go away before I get a lawyer to make you go away!”

Okay, time for a different approach. “Mr. Denton, if I could just speak to you for a moment? I assure you I’m not here to cause you any trouble…” Catherine kept up her pleading for entry, but this time she changed the pattern of her knocking to one that only a chosen group knew – she knocked in pipe-code. While the police heard only a member of the D.A.’s office trying to convince a potential witness to talk to her, the occupant heard “Urgent. SOS. Intruders in Tunnels. Helper needs help.”

Sam Denton opened the door hard enough that it slammed against the adjacent wall. “I’m on my way out to get myself some dinner! You want to bother an old sickly man, you’ll just have to come along with me, because I’m not going to stay here and be harassed in my own home. And lady, you want me to hear you out, you better be buying!”

Sam went down the stairs as quickly as his sore legs could carry him, with Catherine following closely behind. Once they were about half a block down from the entrance to his building, Sam turned to face Catherine, then winked and smiled at her. “Sorry if I scared you back there. I have better manners than to treat a lady like that. I just needed to throw the police off our scent.”

Catherine smiled back at Sam, and then reassured him that she was fine. She led the way to a diner on the next corner, where they grabbed an empty booth near the back. The waitress was already heading their way, so they kept up the “stranger” act until she had taken their order and left.

“So…tell me, young lady…who are you, and what kind of trouble are they dealing with down there?”

“My name is Catherine, and I’m a friend of Vincent’s.”

“A ‘friend,’ huh?” Sam smirked at Catherine across the table. “We called it a lot of things in my day: courting, going steady, having a steady beau… I must say, ‘friend’ seems a bit of an understatement, at least from what I hear.”

Catherine blushed at the truth of that, not letting herself wonder just now why she always seemed to refer to Vincent that way, when what he was to her was really so much more.

“Sam…I don’t know how to tell you this. We believe that strangers have moved into the Tunnels, and that they may have some connection to your son. We don’t know why they’re in the Tunnels, or if they mean any harm, but we do know that if Mitch is involved…we just need to make sure that the Tunnels are safe. I’m sorry if this is painful or upsetting to you. I know this must be a sensitive topic.”

While they ate their dinner, Catherine told Sam everything that they had been able to put together up to this point, including the fact that Hannah and Tessie seemed to have been living in the Tunnels for some time, with no one knowing precisely when or how they had come to be there, or if there were more people hiding Below with them.

Sam cleared his throat and looked sadly at Catherine. “Jane…you should talk to Jane. She’s your connection. She’s the one person who brought out the good in my boy.” Sam shook his head and played with the napkin in his hand. “When Molly died and Jane started looking after those kids on her own, she asked me for Mitch’s address. She didn’t like the idea of asking him for help, given all the trouble he had gotten into, but she felt she had no choice anymore. She could barely feed them or keep a roof over their heads. I just wish she could have found another way…”

Catherine reached across the table to take Sam’s hand. “Sam, who is Jane?”

 

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