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“Archie Abbott?”

“He’s the only man I would trust with your life, other than Joe Van Dorn But no one would ever believe that Mr Van Dorn dressed up like an Indian was looking for an acting job in your movie Whereas Archie would have been an actor if his mother had not forbidden it Until we can be sure that Katherine Deethe day At night, I want you to stay at the Knickerbocker”

“An unmarried lady alone in a respectable hotel? What will the house detective say?”

“If he knohat’s good for hiht’”

ISAAC BELL WENT BACK into the streets He felt he was getting close, so close that he carried sandwiches in his coat pockets assue as Billy Collins wou

ld be glad of a s Both were on Ninth Avenue near where it ended abruptly at 33rd Street by the huge hole in the ground they were excavating for the Pennsylvania Terminal rail yard

He went to the construction site, shabbily dressed, and watched for the tall, thin silhouette he had seen in the coal pocket An entire district of the city-six acres of houses, apartments, shops, and churches-had vanished Ninth Avenue crossed the gigantic hole on stiltlike teirders that held up two streetcar lines, the roadbed, and a trestle for pedestrians Propped high above it, Ninth Avenue Elevated locals and expresses still ran, ruiant airplanes made of iron and steel

A steam whistle blew day’s end A thousand workmen climbed out of the pit and hurried hoone, Bell climbed in, down ladders and teas mains, cast-iron water mains, electrical conduits, and brick sewers Twenty-four feet down, he encountered a steel viaduct partially constructed-underpinning, he had been told, for Ninth Avenue and the buildings around it He descended through it into darkness lighted by pinpricks of electric work lamps

Sixty feet below the surface, he found the floor of the pit It was a field of stone rubble, dynae rails for the cars that hauled debris out and material in and forested ide coluh its fra as the El trains thundered across the sky

Bell explored for an hour, keeping an eye peeled for night watchround The third tinawed apple core Poking around, he found a man’s den-a crumpled blanket, more apple cores, and chicken bones He settled down to wait, sitting on the ground, still as ice, ile and then only when the Els clattering overhead masked his movements

He was not alone Rats scuttled, a dog barked, and frouroan drowned out by a passing El It got quieter as the night wore on and the El trains ran less frequently Soe of the hole at 33rd Street, which sent flickers and shadows dancing on pillars, girders, and rough-hewn stone walls

A voice whispered in Bell’s ear

“It’s like church in here”

47

ISAAC BELL MOVED ONLY HIS EYES