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Wrong Place, Wrong Time, Wrong Clark TOC can be found Here

Author’s Note: Lex Luthor has been a very naughty boy, and I’m issuing a WHAM warning as some things in this part might make some people uneasy (or queasy).
Where we left off in Part 173…

If only he could turn off that infernal song, he could finally think in the…

Clark’s head whipped up.

Why wasn’t Luthor letting him hear what was going on in Lois’s apartment? Apparently, the wine cellar was hooked for sound. It had been blaring “The Phantom of the Opera” song for what felt like hours. If the picture wasn’t a lie, why didn’t Luthor want Superman to hear what was happening? If she screamed, it would be more torturous for him. Luthor had to know that. So, why remove the sound?

It’s a lie.

He took a deep breath and this time his lungs filled fully with air.

It’s another lie.

Clark sat up. Knowing that the video was another lie, he focused his attention on the monitor once more, only this time he was searching for the truth.

That isn’t Lois, he told himself almost with glee. Lois still loves me.

It was another mask. It had to be. The woman looked just like Lois, but it wasn’t her. Lois hated Luthor. She wouldn’t allow him to do those things to her. She leaned her head back, arching her chest against Luthor as he kissed down her neck towards her chest. There was no turtleneck this time. Her neck was bare and without lines. There was no mask.

Clark pressed his lips together with determination. That wasn’t Lois. He knew in his heart that it was another of Luthor’s lies. His eyes darted to the other objects in Lois’s living room. He would prove it wasn’t Lois by proving that it wasn’t Lois’s apartment. It looked just like Lois’s apartment, but it wasn’t it. It couldn’t be. Lois would never let such things happen in her apartment, just as she shouldn’t be a willing participant to Luthor’s ardor.

This woman wasn’t Lois. It looked like Lois, exactly like Lois, but it wasn’t her. He didn’t know how Luthor had made this woman look like Lois, but Clark knew that it wasn’t her. If it was Lois, Luthor would be letting him hear her voice, hear her make love to his nemesis. Since he wasn’t, Clark knew for a fact that the woman couldn’t be Lois. He only needed to visually find something to verify his theory.

By this time, the woman had unbuttoned Luthor’s dress shirt and pulled it from his body, leaving his chest covered with only a tank top undershirt. The strap of the woman’s negligee slipped off her right shoulder and down her bicep, revealing more of her chest. Luthor stood up and, taking her hand in his, led her back towards Lois’s bedroom. Thankfully, the camera remained focused on the living room and there was no sound, emanating from the apartment. Unfortunately, it was one of only a few things for which Clark could be thankful.

“It’s a lie,” Clark repeated, hoping to find the one clue he knew had to be staring him in the face. “Lois loves me.”

Lois loves me.

***

Part 174

Through the burning pain, Clark forced his eyelids open to look once more at the empty living room of the fake Lois’s apartment. He had been staring at every aspect of it since its occupants had retired to the bedroom. He was searching for something wrong, something different from what he could dredge up out of his sore head about Lois’s living room.

Clark didn’t know how long ago they had left the room. It was difficult to tell time here. There was no sunshine or moon to tell night from day. There was no clock, nor could his no-longer-super ears hear the ticking of any clocks outside of this room. Despite those things, he had long ago determined the unreliability of his sense of time.

When he had been exposed to Kryptonite the first time, what had felt like hours of torture with everyone looking and pointing at him as Tempus revealed his true identity to Metropolis, and thus the world, Clark had learned had only been the barest of minutes. Those nine months he had lived alone and exposed between meeting and losing that other Lois to her dimension’s Clark and being able to see her again in her own dimension, had been the longest years of his life. Since arriving in this dimension, every minute of the night he had spent waiting for day to arrive, so that he could see Lois sitting at her desk at the Daily Planet, seemed ten times longer than the same amount on the clock that they spent working, her available to his gaze at a moment’s notice. Though he had sped faster than the speed of sound when he heard the crack of Luthor’s gun, it still hadn’t been fast enough to reach Lois before the bullet had hit her. That kiss they had shared while dancing at Cat and Phil’s wedding had somehow lasted the whole song and yet felt shorter than a few seconds.

Enduring the passage of time was almost as harrowing as the physical and auditory suffering being perpetrated on him.

The ‘Phantom of the Opera’ song ended, and Clark exhaled a deep breath he hadn’t realized he was holding as he embraced the majestic and beautiful sound of silence.

At some point, Clark had pondered Luthor’s choice in music for him. Was it symbolic in some way? Was Luthor comparing Lois to Christine and Superman to the deranged Phantom, picturing himself as Christine’s true love, the rich hero, Raoul? That would have been backwards from how Clark would have interpreted their similarities. Luthor better fit the role of a genius whose obsession drove him mad. He was bent on ruining Christine’s happiness by molding her into something else by getting into her head and driving her as insane as he was.

“Argh!” Clark screamed as the thundering organ, which opened the song, once more broke the silence.

Would this torture never end? It would have been easier to stand the constant music if it weren’t for the one minute of respite from it that he was given every fifth repetition or so. It was comparable to making love to Lois only to have her die because of it. Then, again, he thought as he glanced back up at the empty living room on the monitor. No torment could compare to that.

Luthor had made one mistake, though. By playing the same song in repetition, Clark could have been able to tell the passing of time. He only needed to estimate the length of the song and multiply it by the number of times it had repeated. Unfortunately, through the pain of the Kryptonite, the nightmare scenarios playing through his head at what Luthor could be doing to that poor Lois double, and the volume of the music, every song seemed to run together… until those blasted silences.

Clark knew that he couldn’t trust his perception, as a con man and professional liar was influencing it. How was Clark to know whether the video of Lois’s apartment hadn’t been paused or altered to imply a longer duration of time passing? In this way, Luthor could fake sharing intimacy with Lois for hours, instead of a mere few minutes. For that poor woman’s sake, Clark hoped that the sex alluded to in the previous scene on the monitor was just as fake as he knew in his heart this Lois was.

Luthor must have somehow found out how much Superman cared for Lois, and was exploiting his worst fears against him. Otherwise, why keep trying to delude Superman by showing him Lois in dangerous or revolting scenarios? Although, even if Superman and Lois had remained just friends, Superman would have found these images disturbing, knowing what he knew about Luthor. So, maybe Luthor hadn’t found out about him and Lois. How would he have? They had always been care…

A memory flitted across his consciousness. Lois stood on her roof, stretching out her arms and calling out to be ravished. Clark could picture himself landing practically in her arms, still wearing his uniform, and kissing her until they were both breathless.

Had Luthor put a camera on the roof of Lois’s apartment building? Had Luthor watched Lois and Superman kissing after she had called to him? Had Luthor seen the way their heads had joined as they tried to catch their breath, holding themselves back from going further than they could… than was allowed. Clark forced back his other senses for too brief a moment to recall Lois’s hands dancing across his chest and murmuring to him how much she would always love him. The memory gave him just a little more strength to make it through the night.

Was that why Luthor had made this cage? Was that why he was torturing Superman with these images? Because he thought that Lois had been unfaithful to him?

Clark drew up all the strength he could muster and pushed himself into a sitting position. “Lois.”

What would Luthor do to punish her?

No. No, if Luthor knew that Lois had been unfaithful with Superman, nothing would have stopped him from ruining what was left of the Man of Steel’s reputation on LNN by broadcasting the pictures or video for all to see.

Then, again, would Luthor want to advertise how his fiancée had cuckolded him? Probably not. Luthor was all about maintaining his all-powerful image. Even if the news reports made him out to be sympathetic figure, Luthor wouldn’t want anyone to see him as this type of victim… as not man enough for his own fiancée.

Speaking of the devil, Luthor appeared back in the living room of the fake Lois’s apartment on the television. He stopped in front of the mirror near Lois’s front door, where he finished buttoning up his shirt and patted his hair neat. Then, he opened the closet to remove his jacket and tie he had left there earlier. As he turned to leave, the fake Lois rushed into the room, falling to her knees as she grabbed him around his waist in what appeared to be her begging him not to leave. She was only wearing the robe, this time; the nightgown was now gone. Her hair was disheveled from… Clark didn’t want to think about what. She leaned her head against Luthor’s stomach as the man petted her hair as if she were some obedient dog.

The image reminded Clark of when Superman had broken Lois’s heart in those woods after Luthor had shot her, telling her definitively how it was too dangerous for them to be a couple. Of how she had begged him for one night, one kiss to remember him by and how she had crumpled with despair when he had told her ‘no’. Her head leaned against Luthor’s thigh as Lois’s head had leaned against Superman’s chest that day in the woods. She looked lost and afraid. Clark’s eyelids closed as his shoulders drooped, the strength from the previous memory of Lois zapped from his body.

Luthor jerked Lois to her feet and pressed a nauseating kiss upon her lips. The woman grabbed his wrist and tried to lead him back towards her bedroom, but Luthor shook his head ‘no’. He kissed the back of her hand, bringing her back to his chest. When she wrapped her arms around his neck, he pushed her roughly away and then turned to leave. Apparently, neither of them had worried about the locks because he was able to open the door without touching them as he strode out the room.

Wrapping his cape around his hands, Clark grabbed hold of two bars of his cage and pulled himself to his feet. He needed to escape. He needed to get to Lois. She was waiting for him.

The woman sat down on her settee and dropped her face into her hands, clearly heartbroken by the encounter, or perhaps merely by Luthor’s leaving. Again, she reminded Clark of the broken Lois whom he had left in his apartment after Superman had crushed her heart.

He was as callous a man as Luthor.

Clark pushed against the bars of the cage, neither bending the bars nor moving the cage. “Come on!” He shoved harder. Still nothing happened.

His energy drained, Clark’s knees weakened and he slipped down to the floor in a heap. “Oh, Minha, I’m so sorry,” he murmured, gazing up at the woman.

She looked so much like his Lois.

He swallowed.

She looked so much like the woman he loved.

Desolate.

Alone.

In pain.

Clark curled his knees to his chest to try to form a barrier between his heart and the Kryptonite in the bars. His fists still held on to the hem of his cape.

It’s not her, he told himself.

“That’s not Lois,” he whispered aloud to himself. Because of the loud, echoing organ music, Clark could hardly hear himself speak.

“It’s a lie,” Clark reminded himself, leaning forward. “That’s not Lois.”

As he moved closer to the bars, the electricity passing through his veins seemed to get stronger.

“It’s a lie. That’s not Lois.”

Slowly, he began to rock as he repeated the words.

***

Cat raised her hand to knock on Clark’s door again. She had waited for her best friend to stop by this morning, and waited, and waited, and waited. She had even made lunch for him. Well, for herself, really, but she had made extra in case he was hungry. And what did he do? Blew her off, again! Probably for little Miss Smarty Pants, too. Some hero best friend he was.

‘Urgent.’

Ha!

‘Can I have it now?’ Clark had asked. ‘I can help you look for it.”

Ha!

The jerk didn’t even show up. She spent the morning looking for the blasted envelope, only to find it in the outside pocket of her laptop case. One glance with his x-ray eyes and he would have been able to find it lickety-split, but…. No. She had dug through six boxes of files and papers and other stuff, all by her lonesome. Of course, those x-ray eyes probably would have erased her laptop, which would have been bad. Still…

‘Tonight, Cat. I need to know tonight,’ he had demanded, even though she told him that Phil would be leaving town with her brothers this morning. Okay, fine. He had backed off when she had told Clark about Phil’s trip, but still, he didn’t have to stand her up, especially when he and Lois were on the verge of fleeing town.

Jimbo, Jimmy’s cousin… which technically would make him her cousin, too, wouldn’t it?... opened the door. “Cat?” he said in surprise.

Some best friend. Doesn’t even tell his roomie that she was his best friend. Really, why was she? “Hey, Jimbo. I need to see the boss man,” Cat said.

“The… Boss?” Jimbo stammered, his eyes growing large.

Gee, crack one little joke. “Clark!” Cat snapped and rolled her eyes. “We were supposed to meet today about my story notes and he never showed.”

“Never showed?” Perry echoed from Clark’s dining room table.

“Oh. Hi, Perry. Whatcha doing here?” Cat said, pushing past Jimbo into Clark’s apartment. “Don’t tell me that Alice threw you out again.”

A hint of a smile brushed the side of Perry’s mouth. “Not yet.”

“So, where’s Clark?” Cat demanded.

“Don’t know. He never returned last night,” Jimbo replied.

“Last night? You mean after I talked to him on the phone?” Cat said, turning around to look at Jimbo as he closed the door. “Where’d he go last night?”

Jimbo shrugged. “Beats me. To his job on the docks maybe.”

Right. A job on the docks. Really, who wrote this man’s excuses? “Right,” she scoffed. “A manual laborer in his spare time.”

Ha!

There were a couple of teenage boys sitting on Clark’s couch, both of whom had dropped their jaws at her entrance. Piled next to them were some pillows and blankets. Just like Clark to turn his apartment for his own Kent House for Homeless Teens. His landlord wouldn’t be happy about it. First Jimbo, and now these guys. His charitable heart was going to get him in trouble one of these days.

“He must have returned home,” Cat said, and marched into Clark’s bedroom to look around. Jimbo didn’t know Clark’s secret, unless the idiot had been blabbering it about again. She still couldn’t believe he had told Phil and that Phil hadn’t told her until their honeymoon that he knew. Lois wasn’t going to be happy about how cavalier Clark had been with his secret identity, especially after not telling her about it for so long.

“Who’s that?” she heard one of the kids ask.

“Cat Grant, gossip columnist,” Perry replied.

“I’m Clark’s best friend,” she called from the bedroom, since they didn’t even attempt to lower their voices.

“She’s his best friend? Why isn’t he dating her? She’s hot.”

Weren’t those kids sweet?

“She’s pregnant,” Jimbo said before she heard Perry hush him.

Jimbo, on the other hand…

“She’s a bit high strung,” the other kid said. “Then again, he likes Lois.”

Sometimes, she just couldn’t understand the male of her species!

“And I’m married to someone else!” Cat reminded them, straightening the comforter on Clark’s bed. Not that she had invited any of them to her wedding. Really, why would she? Clark was her friend. Not these people. To them, she had always been a joke more than a person.

“That’s right, Cat. Congratulations!” Perry said.

A couple of weeks late and a gift short.

She rolled her eyes, and then returned to the living room. “Clark came home last night. His bed’s been slept in.”

“How can you tell?” the older of the two teens asked.

Perry and Jimbo actually had the audacity to exchange a knowing look.

“Because Clark is neat as a pin, and doesn’t leave his bedroom this messy. His pajamas were on his bed, too. So, he must have left in a hurry,” she told them, and received a speculative glare from the Chief for it as well. “What? He did call me all hot and bothered last night about his big exposé. Maybe a source called him early this morning with something.”

Perry exhaled and glanced warily over at the teenagers. “Yeah. That’s probably what it was,” he said hesitantly, yet with conviction, as if he were trying to get the others to believe it.

She stared at Perry, and then at the teens. Okay, who in the hell told Perry Clark’s secret? Clark could be stupid at times, but not this stupid and not usually about his dual identity, which left…

“Lois,” she grumbled under her breath with a shake of her head. Apparently, Lois didn’t get the ‘don’t tell anyone because your life and the lives of your family depends on it’ lecture Cat did. Cat couldn’t understand why Clark had all these strict rules if he was going to throw them out the window at the drop of a hat… or one ‘help, Superman’ from Lois.

“But I didn’t hear the phone ring,” Jimbo said.

Cat looked at Jimbo and raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t your cousin once say that you wear your Walkman to bed?”

Jimbo flushed. “He did? I mean, I didn’t… I don’t… know what… he… ah… It’s noisy on that side of…Well, he snores!”

“Do you have that data on Lex Luthor, Cat?” Perry asked, changing the subject and offering her the chair at the dining table he had vacated upon her entrance.

She accepted it; not because she had to walk up however many flights of stairs it was to get to Clark’s top floor apartment, in heels no less, but because her feet hurt. Sometimes, it felt as if all her shoes had shrunk overnight. If it weren’t for the bloating, the nausea, the throwing up, the mood swings, and muumuus, pregnancy would be a blast. “Thanks,” she said and plopped her oversized purse down on the table. “Well, where is he?”

The teens shrugged. Jimbo gave the impression that thinking about his answer hurt. Perry looked anywhere but at her.

A toilet flushed, and Cat glanced towards Clark’s bedroom. Wouldn’t they all be embarrassed if Clark walked out?

Instead, it was William Henderson with the MPD. He smiled as he saw Cat. “You’re looking well, Catherine.”

She had always liked him. “Thanks, Bill.”

Henderson studied her for a moment. “You look different. Did you change your hair?”

Cat lightly touched her hair. She had it pulled back with a simple clip, not wanting to deal with it after another bout with morning sickness. “No.”

He shook his head. “Well, whatever you’ve done. It certainly agrees with you. You’re positively glowing.”

Cat relaxed into a smile and rested her hand on her growing bump. She had heard that pregnant women glowed, but nobody had ever said that about her before. Certainly not someone who didn’t know she was four months pregnant and feeling anything but beautiful. She winked at him. “Maybe LexCorp dumped nuclear waste from his failed nuclear reactor near the reservoir and contaminated the drinking water,” she said, regretting her teasing words as soon as they passed her lips as her stomach contents had wanted to follow.

Bill chuckled. “I wouldn’t put it past ‘em, but let’s hope not. Has anyone checked in with Lois?”

Lois and Clark were supposed to run away that night, if they hadn’t built a solid enough case against Luthor. Clark wouldn’t have left early without saying anything, would he? No… well, yes, he would, but that was beside the point. Was he having another freak-out, thinking that Lois was actually going to marry the million… billionaire bastard? Possibly. He did have a track record.

Nevertheless, Clark had asked for Cat’s data, the tracking code to Lois’s watch and for Cat to tell him everything about the red and green watch Lex had given Lois at Christmas. No, he wouldn’t have changed his mind.

“Could I have a drink of water, Jimmy? Bottled, if you have it,” she asked Jimbo. He smiled and nodded, heading into the kitchen. “Clark had been tailing Lois and Luthor, so it’s possible he’s still doing that. It’s the night before their wedding. They must be doing some huge rehearsal dinner thingy, right?” She turned to Perry, who would know. “He’s probably trying to sneak in to keep an eye on her.”

Perry shook his head. “No wedding party, just the wedding. Apparently, Luthor has no family and, after her mom disappeared, Lois was able to convince the rest of her family not to show. They’re not even having attendants.”

God, she hated being out of touch with what was happening in her own city. “Who gets married without a best man and a maid of honor?” Cat scoffed.

“People without a friend in the world,” Perry replied.

“Luthor must have friends. It’s why we’re talking here instead of down at the station house, isn’t it?” Jimbo asked, glancing at the policeman. He handed Cat a glass of tap water.

Bill pressed his lips together in thought, rocking on his heels. “I wouldn’t call them ‘friends’ per se, more like business associates, blackmail victims, and people who owe him favors.”

“And people whose pockets he’s lined in green,” Perry added.

“You have proof of that?” Bill asked, as an eyebrow rose.

“Unfortunately not,” Perry grumbled.

“Well, then, let’s keep to the facts, White,” Bill suggested. “What have you brought to the party, Catherine?”

Cat dug inside her purse and pulled out the printouts from her investigation into Lex’s lovers. “It seems that Lex is a womanizing control freak. Big surprise, right? From what I’ve been able to ascertain, he seduces women to get inside information, either about the companies he’s planning on taking over or about his competitors.” She passed her first list to Perry. “This is a rough list of women Lex has gone on dates with, has been rumored to have been involved with, or personally spotted together leaving a function, over the last couple of years. The yellow highlighted ones are major players in companies LexCorp eventually bought. The green highlighted ones work for a competitor of one of Lex’s companies. The orange highlighted ones are employees of LexCorp.”

Perry and Bill sat down next to Cat at the table, and Jimbo stood behind Perry gazing at the papers from over his shoulder.

“Wow,” Jimbo whistled. “Who knew Luthor was such a player? Well, for an old dude.”

“When did you start investigating this?” Perry asked, shooting a glare over his shoulder at the young man.

“Last summer,” Cat admitted. “After Clark told me he suspected that Lex and Antoinette Baines knew each other. She was that EPRAD scientist, who somehow got into a helicopter, which just happened to have a fuel leak, causing it to explode shortly after take-off.”

“And shortly after trying to kill Jimmy, Lois, and Clark,” Jimbo reminded them. “Jimmy said she was a real...” He glanced over at Perry and coughed. “Um… piece of work.”

Cat pulled out another sheet of paper. “This is a list of all the women who’ve died, disappeared, went insane, and/or went to jail in the city of Metropolis during the past year.”

Bill looked skeptically at her thin list. “That’s it?”

“Oh, sorry,” she apologized. “No, not all of them, but I narrowed it down using my own reporter’s instinct. These ladies either were on that previous list or had a connection to Lex or LexCorp in another way, such as Toni Taylor, temporary head of the Metro Gang after Johnny took early retirement. Lois and Clark saw Lex drinking with her, and I have sources who told me that it wasn’t his first trip to the Metro Club.” Not to mention that he purchased Lois for a night of his pleasure. “After her arrest and the Metros demise, Luthor was able to go into the Westside and purchase everything at fire sale prices. Literally.” She gave the guys a meaningful look. “Very convenient, huh? Unfortunately, without evidence lawyers can brush that aside as good luck. I’ve never been able to tie anything concrete to him regarding any of these women; otherwise, my story would have written itself.”

“This is some nice circumstantial trails though,” Bill said with admiration.

“And here…” Cat laid out her last paper. “I’ve combined those two lists. The women who happened to own a silver Gucci watch, which may or may not have been received from Lex, have been highlighted in pink.”

The men stared at her in bafflement. “What does that have to do with the number of sequins on Elvis’s jumpsuit?” Perry asked.

Cat slid across the table the envelope that Lois had given her at the beginning of her investigation. “What Clark was most adamant about receiving from me when I talked to him last night.”

Bill tore open the envelope. “What’s this?”

“Lex has put a tracer in the watch he gave Lois, so he could follow her and know where she is at all times. She had a friend of hers at S.T.A.R. Labs write down the transponder number, so that Superman could find her should she ever disappear,” Cat explained. “She gave it to me for safe keeping.”

“You’ve been working on this?” Perry sputtered. “With Lois? But she hates you.”

“Granted,” Cat conceded with a shrug. “But we both love Clark, and her investigation started with her looking into who was trying to kill him.”

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend?” Perry responded with a nod.

“Something like that. She chose me, because I was the least likely person Lex would suspect that she would trust, and, therefore, I’d fly under Lex’s radar.”

“So, Luthor gave Lois a silver Gucci watch?” Bill inquired.

Cat shook her head. “No, hers was different. I suppose it’s because Lex is obsessed with her, so he gave her something extra special,” she said, rolling her eyes.

“Yeah, it was a lumpy one with red and green jewels,” one of the teens said from behind her. “It was a Christmas present.”

They all turned to look at the teens. Frankly, Cat had forgotten they were there.

Bill spoke first. “You saw Lex Luthor give Lois Lane a red and green jeweled watch?”

The younger kid squirmed. “Um… yeah. I mean, I didn’t really see it. When Mrs. Cox was passing out our Christmas gifts, Mr. Luthor took Lois to the side of the room and gave her something. As I said, I didn’t see it up close, but when she opened the box it kind of glowed red and green. It looked like a bracelet, but it could have been a watch. Then, when he tried to kiss her, she pushed him away and returned the gift. I didn’t see anything after that, because the line moved.” The kid coughed. “I kept thinking I needed to tell Jack about it, because he’d say it was just like Luthor. Giving us kids the bare minimum, while dressing his girl in jewels.”

“Sounds about right,” the older teen said.

Cat pointed at them. “How do you know Lex Luthor?”

“Cat, this is Jack and Denny Miner. They used to live at the Luthor House for Homeless Children,” Perry explained. “Superman rescued Denny here from a fire set there this morning.”

She had heard something about a fire at a children’s home, which was why she hadn’t expected Clark until lunch. “You mean there really was a charity?” Cat replied. “I mean, I knew Lex threw that White Orchid Ball last year in support of it, but I never realized he had actually used the money to help kids.”

“Trust me, lady,” Jack said. “He didn’t.”

“But Lois threw out that watch, didn’t she, Catherine?” Bill asked.

“Yeah, she told me that she dumped it in Hob’s Bay during Christmas,” Cat replied, turning back to the men at the table. “Lex gave her another watch with the tracker in it after she was robbed at that coffee shop. It was a silver one, like the Gucci watches, but it was a brand I’d never heard of before: LoLex.”

“Like Lois and Lex?” Jimbo asked.

Cat grimaced in disgust. “I could see that. Sounds just tacky enough for Lex to think it was romantic.” She shivered, happy the creep had set his sights on Lois instead of her. She pulled out the crime scene photo of Miranda’s death. “Anyway, as you can see from this photo, Miranda has one of the Gucci watches. I was also able to confirm from their next of kin that both Monique Kahn and Antoinette Baines had similar watches. Toni Taylor didn’t admit it straight out, but she did accuse me of robbing her personal storage bin when I showed her a photo of one of the watches.”

“Was this why you wanted me to give you access to the evidence from the helicopter crash which killed Antoinette Baines?” Bill asked.

Cat nodded. “Her sister thought Dr. Baines may have been wearing the watch at the time of the crash. I wanted to have it checked to see if it too had a tracker in it.”

Henderson leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. “Why didn’t you just tell me that? I’ve been looking into the attempt on Kent’s life, too. Linking it to Dr. Baines and Miranda’s deaths would have blown this investigation wide open months ago.”

Cat rubbed her wedding and engagement rings with her thumb. “I was still looking for more hard evidence. Anyway, I got distracted.” She smiled, thinking about running into Phil after the hostage situation at the Planet. “Toni Taylor told me about Lex’s secret underground parking garage and I went to check it out to see if that’s how he snuck…” Her brow furrowed as she recalled what happened in that garage. She had seen two Lex Luthors. One who drove off in that expensive sports car and one who left with Lois in the limousine.

“Cat?” Perry asked with a nudge.

She shook her head. “What do you know about Lex Luthor’s family and history?”

Bill and Perry exchanged a glance.

Perry cleared his throat. “Not much. He told Lois some cock and bull story about his father murdering his mother in a drunken rage before killing himself, but we haven’t been able to verify any of it.”

“Hmmm,” she said, biting her bottom lip. “Did he mention any family? Brothers, or sisters, or children?”

“Not that I know of,” Perry answered.

“None are mentioned in his unauthorized biographies,” Jimbo said.

“Why do you ask?” Bill probed.

“Oh, it’s not important. I must have been mistaken,” she said, rubbing her belly. It was possible that Lex had moved the sports car around to the front of the building and then changed his mind and decided to go in the limousine, but then why not return the sports car to the garage. She had meant to tell Clark about it, but then there were the crazy people with guns holding everyone hostage, Lex had been shot, and Phil had reappeared. She had plumb forgotten. Damn pregnancy brain.

Bill stood up. “Well, I’m going to get the ball rolling on having Dr. Baines’s and Miranda’s watches checked for tracking devices.” He checked his watch. “We can try to get the warrant issued tonight, but I doubt we’ll have any success before the morning.”

“We need to warn Lois,” Cat exclaimed.

“What? Why?” Bill asked. “White, you said that Luthor has her under twenty-four hour surveillance. If we let her know, then Luthor could get wind of it.”

“Cat’s right. Lois is planning on going on the run tonight. If she does that, Luthor will know something’s up. She needs to stay undercover until the wedding tomorrow,” Perry agreed.

“How is she planning to escape?” Jack asked.

Perry pressed his lips together. “Kent didn’t tell me. Apparently, he has a foolproof way to sneak her out of the city undetected.”

Superman. Duh! Cat scoffed looking up to the ceiling. Sometimes, she thought that idiot best friend of hers walked around carrying a sandwich board announcing his secret identity to the world.

The Chief glanced at his watch. “I’m sure Kent’ll be back before then.”

For a man who was constantly late, disappeared at a moment’s notice, and was well known for not showing up at all, Clark’s absence rubbed her raw. Something wasn’t right. This was too important for him not to show up. Unless something had happened this afternoon to change his mind to extract Lois early, he should have contacted one of the people in this room. So, why hadn’t he?

***End of Part 174***

Part 175

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The Andrew Lloyd Webber musical The Phantom of the Opera is based on a novel by the same name writen by Gaston Leroux. Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Charles Hart, with the book written by Richard Stilgoe.

I forgot to include a link to the song in the last part, so here’s one from the movie version: Phantom of the Opera