American Notes WASHINGTON

While he was Ronald Reagan's Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Samuel Pierce was known as Silent Sam. Now, amid a burgeoning scandal at HUD, he is courting a new nickname: Invisible Sam. The House subcommittee on employment and housing would like to question him again, but, says a member, "finding him is tough."

Investigators contacting Pierce's old Manhattan law firm were told he resigned in 1981. They would check his business address, but he doesn't have one. The searchers believe he lives in New York. Exactly where? Nobody knows. When he is in Washington, he stays with a friend. Who? Nobody knows. Why not subpoena Pierce? Well, says a subcommittee staffer, "you have to have an address." The HUD probe may drag on for months. So could the search for Silent Sam.