Chapter Three
In this part of the tunnels, the ways had not changed, and she confidently led Elliot deeper into the earth. In place of tapping on the pipes, she heard the scampering of little feet. Rats. She shivered with distaste. Elliot, following closely behind, marveled at her ability to negotiate the pitch black corridors of stone even with a flashlight. As they proceeded through the home tunnels, she inspected all the chambers along the way. Suddenly she wondered what had become of Narcissa. She hoped that she was still alive.
Elliot was amazed at all that they found in the chambers: beds, chests, chairs, tables, wardrobes, clothes and candles. Everywhere there were candles. He expressed his amazement to Catherine who told him there where even more marvels to see. They entered a large chamber with a spiral staircase and a large oaken desk. Catherine knew where Father had kept his candles and grabbed a handful. Lighting them, she placed them all around the chamber. In their light Elliot could see hundreds of books: some in bookcases, some on the tables and chairs, and some on the desk; many of them showing the ravages of time, humidity, and rodent predation. Catherine thought of how it would hurt Father to see his precious library in such condition, and she determined then and there to rescue everything she could from the tunnels.
"Wow," he said. "I’ve never seen so many books outside of a library." Turning around, he said, "So, this was your big secret."
"Part of it," she replied. "This is the library and Father’s chamber. Vincent’s chamber is through that archway." She bounded up the small, metals stairs and down the short corridor to his chamber. She gasped when she saw the upset wardrobe and the broken table and chairs. He had fought his captors. Her heart constricted when she saw the smashed cradle in one, and her eyes filled with tears as she envisioned Jacob rudely snatched from his warm bed. She ran her fingers tenderly over the broken pieces of the cradle. She wondered how the raiders had gotten to the home chambers without the sentries knowledge. It was something she meant to find out. Lighting more candles, Vincent’s room was soon ablaze with light. His bed had become a rat’s nest, there was a some water damage, and his clothes were strewn all over the floor. But the stained-glass half-moon window was still intact. Looking around critically, she said, "Everything can be repaired or replaced. It’s not a total disaster."
"It’s bad enough." Elliot chimed in.
"It will take time, but the tunnel world can live again."
He looked at her as if she was crazy. "You want to live down here?"
Smiling reminiscently, she said, "You have no idea how warm and cozy these chambers can be."
"You’re right; I don’t."
Dousing the candles, she stated, "I’ve seen enough. Let’s go back Above."
"Gladly," he said.
Returning the way they had come, they exited the Beaumont just as the sun was beginning to be eclipsed by the tall New York buildings. When they returned to Elliot’s office, the telephone was ringing and Elliot put it to his ear. He listened, engrossed, nodding several times then said tersely, "Thanks," and replaced the handset. Intently regarding her, he broke into a wide smile. "One down, one to go," he crowed.
"What do you mean?" she asked with exasperation.
"Our very own Clarence Darrow came through for us."
"What did he find?" Breathless with excitement, she waited impatiently for a very smug man-about-town to reveal his secret.
Just letting her stew for a few minutes, he looked at her with a Cheshire-cat smile, and finally giving in, he told her. "It seems that the person who tested the drugs that Peter had was very careless and tested only a few. And those were the anaesthetics. Since then all the drugs have mysteriously disappeared, and because he has been shown to be so inept and they don’t have any drugs to test, it looks like Peter will be released from prison in the very near future."
"Oh, that’s wonderful," she cried, embracing him joyously.
"Darrow will let us know when Dr. Alcott is to be released," he told her, holding her tightly for just a second then letting her go.
*
A month later, when Peter was released, Catherine was at the gate waiting for him. His face lit up when he saw her standing by the car. She held out her arms to him, and he gratefully walked into a warm and welcome embrace. "Oh Peter, it’s so good to see you. How are you? Did they hurt you in any way?" She stepped back and took a good look at him. He was thinner if that was possible, and she hated to see it, but he was older, grayer.
"I’m fine, honey. They knew I was no threat, and this is a minimum security prison, so I was treated fairly well. It’s the loss of freedom that gets to you."
They entered the car, Cathy started it with a flourish, and pulled onto the highway. Peter Alcott sighed deeply and put a most disagreeable time behind him.
"Well, you won’t have to worry about going back. They threw the case out of court when the forensics report was shown to be so mishandled. You’re free."
"Yes, but I’ve lost my medical, and I can’t practice medicine," he said sadly.
"Don’t worry about that now. We’ll get your license back for you."
"Do you know what has happened to Jacob? Vincent? The baby?"
"No, not yet. I was hoping you might be able to help us in that regard."
He shook his head sadly. "Sorry, honey, I never saw or heard of them after they took me to the police station."
"I feel as if this is all my fault. If I had only told Vincent about the baby as soon as I knew, none of this would have happened."
"No one could have foreseen this, honey. There was no way that you could have known what was to happen. It’s that monster Gabriel’s fault."
Peter lapsed into silence and didn’t seem to want to talk anymore. He was content just to gaze out the window at the countryside moving past his window. Knowing that he needed this time to himself, she was satisfied to simply drive. She thought back over the last month. Elliot had been more than good to his word; the lawyer he had hired for her was hot on the trail of a means to get Diana released from prison and to have a new trial. He had found so many mistakes and errors that a retrial was almost assured. And that would mean that the woman could be freed until the trial. That was all that Catherine really needed for now.
She thought of her reunion with her family. On the day after she and Elliot had gone into the tunnels, she had decided to walk the busy streets of the city in hopes that she would see someone she knew. She had purposefully stayed away from the Helpers as she didn’t want to draw undue attention to them. She was afraid for them, and when she stopped by Long’s store, her fear was reinforced. It had been burned out, and though the Longs were safe, they had moved on. No one knew where. Old Dr. Wong had died and his shop had been torched also. When Catherine went to Henry Pei’s restaurant, she fully expected to see the sight that was there. It had been burned to the ground and had been replaced by a video store. It looked as if someone in a rage of vengeance wanted to punish all those who had aided the tunnel world and somehow had found out who the helpers were. She feared for all their lives. It had to be Gabriel or Pope. Revenge was their stock and trade. It was useless to look for help from the Helpers. They needed help themselves.
She went to the library files and made a list of all the Helpers who had been burned-out over the last four years. Giving the list to Jordan, she instructed him to find these people and to give their names and places to her. She wanted to make sure that they were all right and to help them in any way she could.
When she wasn’t at Elliot’s office, she was roaming the streets of the city. Jordan’s office had given her a few leads but they had turned out to be nothing. While she was searching, she was beginning to formulate a plan for the future. She was coming to the conclusion that it was too dangerous to return to the tunnels. The tunnel world was no longer a cherished confidence but an open secret to the world above. It wouldn’t be safe to return there. She pummeled her mind trying to come up with safe places for them to live. She thought of islands, isolated villages, large tracts of land or forests, anything that was secluded and remote: a ranch, a huge estate. There was something wrong with each locale that came to mind.
One night after a long day of tromping the sidewalks of New York, she was watching a fairly engrossing movie about a group of people living in a hidden valley. This piqued her interest, and she wondered if there could possibly be such a place. It would be ideal, almost like a Shangri-la. She decided to see if she could find such a valley. The next day before she went out to roam the streets, she stopped by Elliot’s office.
"Nothing new on Diana’s case yet," he said after greeting her with a kiss on the cheek. He liked to see her at least once a day.
"It will happen; it just takes a little time. What do you know about acquiring land in the mountains? I was thinking about the Andes or the Rockies." She arranged herself in a chair, waiting expectantly for his answer.
"Nothing, really," he replied.
"Can you find out?" she persisted.
Settling into his chair, he peered at her intently. "What are you up to?" he asked.
Unable to contain her excitement, she edged forward in her chair. "I’ve been thinking that it is impossible for us to return to the tunnels. Too many people know about them. I need to find a place where we can disappear."
"There’s no place like that," he stated.
"There has to be. What I want is an enclosed valley with an entrance that could be sealed if we are found."
With stunned amazement, he stared at her. "You would give up all?"
"I would give up everything to keep my family safe. They are the only ones that matter."
"My god," Elliot breathed, overwhelmed by the force and extent of her love. He hoped that Vincent was worth it. Going over the possibilities, he had a sudden thought. "I know a man that searches for movie locations. I’ll bet he could find what you want . . . if there is such a place."
His reward was a brilliant, grateful smile. "Get in touch with him right away," she said. "If he’s working for someone already, offer him any amount he want to work for us."
"Any amount?"
"Whatever it takes," she answered.
*
Before she left Elliot’s office, Jordan called with another lead on her family. The address was in a squalid part of the city, and Elliot insisted on accompanying her. But she demanded that they go there in a taxi, not in his limousine that would attract unwanted attention. After all, they didn’t need to get mugged.
The cab driver would only go so far then they had to walk. Elliot was very glad that he had listened to Catherine and wore only a T-shirt and well-worn blue jeans. A ball cap covered his graying brown locks. Dressed similarly, Catherine marched determinedly beside him.
The St. Regis was as rundown and dilapidated as any building that she had ever seen. And walking through the seedy, timeworn entrance was Cullen. He swung onto the sidewalk and was rapidly moving away from them.
"Cullen," Catherine cried. He stopped for a few seconds and then continued on. "Cullen, wait," she shouted.
Several of the pedestrians looked over their shoulders then kept on, moving around the former tunnel dweller who had stopped and turned to see who was calling his name. His eyes squinted as he tried to identify the woman hurrying up to him, then his jaw dropped as he recognized her. "Catherine?" he queried in disbelief.
"Yes, it’s me, Cullen." She hugged him fiercely. As soon as she touched him, the rigidity in his body evaporated and he almost fell.
"But you died!"
"No, I didn’t; I was drugged."
"Where have you been?" he asked suspiciously.
Deflecting his question, she asked, "Can we wait until we’re all together for me to answer your question? Who’s here?"
"Mouse, Jamie, Mary, Sarah, Pascal, John, and William."
"That’s all?" Surely there must be more of them somewhere.
"Well, Olivia and Kanin keep in touch. He’s working and they help out whenever they can. And we know where some of our friends are except for the children. Social Services took them."
"Ok, let’s go in and we can decide what we’re going to do." They walked up the steps, Elliot lagging behind. "Oh Cullen, do you know Elliot?" He shook his head.
"This is Elliot Burch, Cullen."
About to shake hand, Cullen snatched his hand back. "You’re the one that almost got Vincent killed."
With a question in her eyes, Catherine looked at the uncomfortable other man. "I’ll tell you about it later," he said.
"All right," she agreed, and he knew that she wouldn’t forget, not when it concerned Vincent.
"I’ll take you to the others but then I’ve got to go. I’ve got a job," Cullen said. "We barely keep our heads above water, and I can’t afford to miss a day," he said, leading them to the stairwell. "We all have rooms on this floor. We’ve tried to stay together. Why?" He shrugged. "I don’t know. Maybe hoping that something like this would happen."
"I’ve been searching ever since the feds released me." Panting slightly, she followed closely on Cullen’s heels as they mounted the stairs. Elliot marched silently beside her.
"We’ve lost contact with a lot of the community," the former tunnel dweller said.
"Well, we’ll try to find all that we can. I’ll do everything that I can to find them."
At last they left the stairs to enter a dingy, dim hallway and stopped before the first door. "Mary lives here," he said, rapping on the door. "It’s Cullen, Mary. May I come in? There’s someone here who wishes to see you."
Mary’s thin voice came through the door, inviting them in.
"Let me go in first," Cullen advised. "I don’t want her to have too great a shock."
Catherine nodded. She waited patiently, hearing the murmur of indistinct voices. Suddenly one of them began to rise, and she knew that Mary needed visible proof. Quietly she opened the door and entered a sparsely decorated room. She glided up to the distraught woman and knelt before her. "Mary," she said, taking the withered, frail hands in her own. "It’s Catherine. It’s really me."
Peering closely at her, Mary pulled her shaking hands loose then placed them on either side of the young woman’s face. "Oh," she said softly, "It is you. I’ve prayed that someone would come to help us, but I never thought it would be you. Diana, maybe. Peter, but not you."
There was that name again. Uneasily, Catherine wondered about the woman. "Peter is free and with his daughter in Arizona, and I have the best lawyer we could find to get Diana set free."
Cullen touched her on the shoulder. "I’ve got to go to work, Catherine."
She looked at him from Mary’s embrace. "Ok. I’ll see you tonight."
"Want me to get the others before I go?" Cullen asked.
"Would you, please?"
"Sure," he agreed and, with a pat on Mary’s shoulder, passed through the open door.
Elliot was standing just inside the door and philosophically withstood Cullen’s distrustful glare as the man left for work.
With a gabble of wondering voices, the others traipsed into Mary’s room. "Well, I didn’t believe it," William boomed as Catherine returned his delighted smile. Her tunnel family crowded around, needing to touch her to convince themselves that she was really alive.
"Knew it," Mouse stated. "Knew you’d come back."
"Oh, Mouse, you didn’t know any such thing," Jamie said, cuffing him lightly on the arm.
Standing to the side, Elliot watched the joyous reunion, realizing that in all his life he’d never had such a reception, and he couldn’t help it; he was envious of Cathy.
William raised his voice and asked everyone to find a place to sit. In Father’s absence, the remnant of the community had chosen him to be their spokesman and leader. Silence settled over the room.
"Tell me what happened," she asked, breaking the silence.
Everyone looked to William. Shaking his huge head in baffled despair, he told her of the first assault. Their Helpers had been singled out and threatened: told to leave and if they didn’t they were burned out. It was a swift attack, well-coordinated and simultaneous. Somehow–they never figured out how–someone with unlimited power and wealth had learned who their Helpers were.
One of the Helpers had called Peter and told him what had happened. He was just about to go Below with his monthly supply of medicine for Jacob. Unknown to him, he was followed into the tunnels, and as he was talking with Young George, they were surrounded by a gang of men which included many policemen. They were unable to send out a warning by the pipes, and the tunnel world was surprised and silently overwhelmed in a very short time. Vincent was trapped in his chamber and fought bitterly to escape with Jacob. The invaders had been warned not to kill him but to capture him and the child. They shot him full of tranquillizers and, as he fell to the floor, pulled Jacob from his arms. Father begged to be allowed to go with Vincent and Jacob, assuring the intruders that he could control the leonine being. Grudgingly, they took him with them. All the members of the community were rounded up, the children taken to Child Social Services, and the adults were forced to go Above, then the known entrances were sealed. The policemen arrested Peter and took him away. They never saw him again. Diana had already been arrested and later was convicted of the shooting of Gabriel. "We’ve lost contact with so many. There’s only us," he indicated those in the room, "And Olivia and Kanin."
"Don’t forget Lena and Katie," Mary’s soft voice interjected.
"Yeah, Lena was able to keep Katie by getting a job as a waitress. She’s not much better off than we are," William added.
It was worse than Catherine had feared: so many lost or out of touch. She wondered if they could be found, but she would do her best to find them. "Do you have any idea where Vincent and Jacob are?"
"No one would tell us anything," Pascal said. "We asked and asked, but they acted as if they didn’t even exist."
Turning abruptly to William, she asked, "How have you survived?"
"I work the night shift at a beanery down the street."
"John and I are working on a construction site right now," Pascal added.
"Mouse makes things and Jamie sells them," Mouse informed her.
"Ok," Catherine said, returning to the problem at hand, "I’m going to rent a house, and we can all live there while we search for other members of the family."
"It’ll be great to get out of this rat trap," William boomed happily.
Elliot had been sitting in a corner listening to the plans being made. He wanted to help and spoke up, "I have a house you can use. It’s big enough for everybody." All the heads turned to him in surprise. They had forgotten that he was there.
"That’s wonderful, Elliot. Then we won’t have to wait until I can find a house. Thank you." Catherine rewarded him with a glowing smile. All those present nodded their heads in appreciation.
"I’ll get Tony to bring a van, and we can get out of here in a short time," he said and at Cathy’s nod of agreement left in a hurry. He found a payphone in the lobby and made his call. That night, after what was to the remaining members of the tunnel world, a sumptuous dinner, they slept unafraid in crisp, white sheets for the first time in three years.
Elliot felt what it was like to do a good deed for no other reason than that it was the right thing to do, and realized that not even building the tallest and most beautiful building compared to the feeling he had as he watched these people go from having no future to blossoming with hope. And he liked that feeling.
While they were settling in, Catherine went to see Olivia and Kanin and determined that they were in good circumstances. They were asked to keep in touch. Lena and Katie she brought with her to Elliot’s house.
Hoping to find more of the tunnel world members, they plastered the city in the following days with flyers that read: Father’s friends: Please contact this number. Catherine had hired a homeless woman, Sadie, got her an apartment, food, and clothing, and a telephone. She was to take the name and address of anyone who called, if they had one, then give them to Catherine. Cullen and John would meet with them and bring them to Elliot’s after apprizing them of the community’s plans.
Slowly they managed to find a majority of the tunnel family and bring them to Elliot’s palatial home. Soon it was so packed that some of them had to sleep on the floor. Every day she waited to hear that they had found the whereabouts of Vincent and Jacob. Although she was consistently disappointed, she never gave up hope.