The Underground Man

14

Mark Taylor stuck his head in the door. “I got good news and bad news, Steve.”

“Oh?”

“My men called in. The good news is, Jack Walsh is very much alive.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. He came out the front door grungy as ever and large as life about an hour ago.”

“So, what’s the bad news?”

Taylor sighed. “They lost him.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah.”

“Was he wise?”

“Yes and no.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

Taylor shrugged. “Well, I doubt if he spotted my men. But Carl Jenson was following him. I’m sure he was wise to him. Anyway, he ditched Jenson at the same time he ditched my men.”

“How’d he do it?”

“Easy as pie. He went down in a subway station, waited till a train came through, then hopped down on the tracks and walked into the tunnel.”

“You’re kidding.”

“Not at all. Very simple, but very effective. If you ever want to ditch someone, I highly recommend it.”

Steve grinned. “I’ll bet. So no one wanted to follow him?”

“They may not have wanted to, but they sure as hell did.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. Jenson hesitates a moment, then he hops down and walks into the tunnel too.”

“And your men?”

“Went right in after him.”

“So?”

“So, I don’t know if you’re familiar with the underground in New York. My men sure as hell weren’t. But they sure got an education. It’s all connected down there. The subway system connects with the sewer system, which connects with abandoned unfinished tunnels, which connects with subbasements — it’s a whole goddamned labyrinth. I don’t want to bore you with details, but suffice it to say my men got hopelessly lost. They also got totally freaked out, and they both swear they’ll never do that again, even if it cost them their jobs.

“At any rate, they lost Walsh and they lost Jenson. And it’s a cinch Walsh lost Jenson too, if that’s what he was after. ’Cause apparently he knows his way around down there. After all he’s been living there for months.”

“Great,” Steve said. “So what are you doing now?”

“Well, I got one man staking out the hotel in case he comes back, and the other staking out the subway system in case he comes back the way he came in.” Taylor shrugged. “Figure that’s the best I can do.”

Steve grimaced, “Yeah, but it’s probably a lost hope. If he went to the trouble to ditch Jenson, he’s not gonna show up in any of the obvious places.” Steve thought a moment, then shook his head. “No, call your men in, Mark. I just wanted to see what Walsh was gonna do. Well, he’s done it. He’s called all the family members in for conferences, and now he’s gone back to the subway and ditched ‘em. That sounds to me like he’s checking out.”

Taylor nodded. “It does to me too.”

“Well, that’s that,” Steve said. “Anything else?”

“As a matter of fact, yeah.”

“Oh?”

“Julie Creston.”

“What about her?”

“I found her.”

“Oh yeah? Where?”

Mark Taylor frowned and shook his head. “I’m embarrassed to tell you. And here I got men out scouring the country, looking for her under one alias or another. And look where she turns up.”

“Where?”

Taylor reached into his hip pocket, pulled out a rolled up copy of TV Guide, and flopped it on the desk. “There. In next Sunday’s Murder, She Wrote. Listed in the additional cast, playing a small but featured role under the same stage name you gave me. It seems when she left New York she moved out to L.A. and kept on working. That didn’t bother Walsh’s relatives none, ’cause they didn’t give a damn what she did as long as she wasn’t around him. So they weren’t gonna bother her. She moved out there, got a small flat in L.A. and she’s been working ever since. Nothing much, you understand, just enough to pay the rent. And even then, only with some waitressing on the side.”

“Well now that’s interesting,” Steve said. “Anyone talk to her?”

Taylor shook his head. “That’s what I wanna ask you. She’s not there. She’s on location. She landed a week’s work on a picture shooting in the mountains around Denver. So you want me to have someone track her down on the set or wait till she comes home?”

Steve waved his hand. “Shit, let it go. You track her down in Denver, it makes it too much of a big deal. She’s that much less willing to talk. Plus she’ll be flustered, what with people showing up on the set. It’s not urgent. You got her pegged, we can get her any time.”

“O.K.,” Taylor said. “Well, just wanted to keep you up to date on your millionaire bum.”

“Gee, thanks,” Steve said. “You get any more good news, just trot it on over.”

“I’m not gonna have anything more, now you pulled my men off the job.”

“You still got a leak at headquarters, don’t you?”

“Yeah.”

“Put a bug in his ear with the name Jack Walsh. You may get something yet.”

Taylor frowned. “Like what?”

“How the hell should I know? Frankly, I hope you get nothing. I just got a bad feeling about this.”

“You and me both. I mean, I hate to lose the business, but I can’t tell you what a relief it will be to tell my men I’m pulling ‘em out of the subway system.”

“I’ll bet,” Steve said. “But all the.same, I can’t help feeling that’s where they ought to be.” Steve shook his head. “Damn. I just wish I knew what that lunatic was up to.”