The Ides of Metropolis - Matchmaker Style
Rated PG-13
* * denotes emphasis
< > denotes thoughts
As always comments are welcome. (ken.janney@kjanney.com)
Previously:
Later, at the Daily Planet some of the staff were gathered in the conference room around the conference table. On the table, prominently displayed for all to see was the front page of the Daily Planet. The headline read - "Convicted Killer Escapes!" Immediately below the headline were pictures of Eugene Laderman, the convicted killer, Henry Harrison, the victim and Lena Harrison, the victim's wife.
Lois and Clark were a bit nervous, knowing that Eugene was in Lois's old apartment.
All eyes turned toward her when Perry asked, "Lois, you doing a follow-up on Eugene Laderman's escape?"
In her distress, Lois had been looking at Clark for support and Perry perceived that she was distracted, but misinterpreted her look, "Lois, this is work time, not play time. Save that for when you and Clark are at home."
Realizing that she had to say something, Lois replied, "On it, Chief."
"All right then. Let's get to it people."
Before they had a chance to disperse, Clark said, "Lois is bummed out over the verdict."
Lois offered, "The man is innocent. He's no more a killer than I am."
Perry pointed out the obvious, "Man signed a confession, didn't he?"
Defensively, Lois retorted, "He was under duress when he signed it, didn't even have his attorney present."
This was the conversation that Clark had wanted to have with Lois, but she had been avoiding. In a reasoning tone, Clark offered, "Lois, the guy shot his boss, then set fire to the room to try and hide the evidence."
Jimmy started going through the evidence, "Fingerprints on the gun. His clothes had Harrison's blood on them. Not to mention that he and Harrison's wife were 'doing the deed.'"
Lois was itching for an argument, "Jimmy, it's okay to have an affair when your husband is a brutal sociopath."
Clark quipped, "No, it's not. It's not okay, but I guess I'm safe then."
Lois's argumentative mood was broken by his remark. She couldn't help but look at him and smile.
Clark asked, "Should we assume that it's true?"
Perry had been trying to follow the byplay, but was somewhat confused with how fast things were happening, "What's true?"
Clark explained, "That they were having an affair."
Perry couldn't help, but seize the opportunity to launch into an Elvis story, "Well, you know, when Priscilla left Elvis, February '72, she went straight into the arms of her Karate instructor, Mike Stone, also married at the time. The King was devastated -- he was the one who introduced Priscilla to Mike a year before."
Lois interrupted Perry, "Chief, forgive me, but I am not in the mood for another Elvis yarn. Besides, what does Elvis Presley have to do with an innocent man fighting for his life?"
Perry's face fell with her outburst, "You're not in the mood for an Elvis yarn?"
As if trying to explain to a five year old, Lois started to say, "Chief, Eugene and Lena …"
Lois was interrupted by a whistle from Jimmy and, "Speak of the Devil …"
Lois turned toward Jimmy and seeing this he nodded in the direction of the pit. Seeing this Lois turned in that direction and saw Lena Harrison entering. Lena Harrison was an attractive woman in her late forties dressed in a conservative pantsuit. Lois had seen Lena at the trial, but a thought crossed her mind, unbidden, <Why are they always blonds?>. Grabbing Clark's arm, Lois said, "Let's go see what she wants."
And now:
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Chapter 5
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Lois and Clark moved to the bullpen and intercepted Lena. Lois said, "Why don't we go into the conference room," and turning, led the way.
Once they were in the conference room they pulled out chairs so that they were face to face.
Lena was the first to speak, "I'm very worried. I haven't heard from him." Lena reached for and took one of Lois's hands. Speaking with sincerity in her voice, she said, "Jack wrote to me, told me how much he trusted you. You were the only one who believed in him. "
Lois was mystified and asked, "Jack. Who's Jack?"
Lena replied, "Oh, that. Jack is what I call Eugene. Most people called him Gene for short, but not me. To me he was Jack."
Lois and Clark exchanged a glance and then Lois asked, "What can we do for you?"
She released Lois's hand and pulled a hanky out of her bag. She waved it around as she spoke, "They'll find him. They'll track him down and kill him. Please write something in the paper. I know he'll read it. Tell him that if he really loves me he'll turn himself in. There's the appeal ... there's always hope." At that point Lena put her hanky to use as she broke down and tears started to flow.
Looking on, Lois was struck by this. To her it looked rather contrived. Blame it on her cynical nature, but it just looked faked.
True to his nature, Clark tried to offer her comfort, "Mrs. Harrison, I know this must be very difficult for you ..."
As fast as the waterworks had started they stopped when Lena interrupted Clark, "My husband was a violent and cruel man. There were nights, so many nights, that I thought ... God forgive me ... if only he were dead, then Eugene and I ..." Her flow of words stopped as if she were considering what to say. "He did it for me. And when I think about him, out there, alone, hunted ... I hope he's all right."
Just then, Perry stuck his head in the door and said, "Uh, Lois? Can I see you for a moment?"
Lena stood, took one final swipe at her tears and said, "I have to be going anyway."
Clark said, "We'll write the story."
Lena gave him a smile and said, "Thank you."
Perry stepped back, out of the doorway and allowed Lena to exit. Lois and Clark followed her out, but stopped near the doorway to talk to Perry as they watched her leave.
Lois turned to Perry and asked, "What was it you wanted, Chief?"
Perry nodded his head in the direction of Lois's desk.
Looking in that direction, Lois saw a woman sitting in her visitor chair with her back to them. This woman was intently watching as Lena left via the elevator. As soon as the doors closed she stood and turned around. When she did, Lois recognized her as Detective Reed, the detective that had arrested Eugene.
Lois gulped and sent up a silent prayer that she'd be able to avoid any difficult questions and started to walk in her direction. When she approached, she held out her hand and said, "Detective Reed."
The detective acknowledged the greeting, "Ms. Lane." She nodded her head in the direction that Lena Harrison had gone and asked, "Lena Harrison have anything interesting to say?"
On fairly safe ground, Lois replied, "She's worried about Eugene. She wants us to write an article telling him to turn himself in."
Detective Reed nodded in understanding and said, "Good idea." She looked back at the elevator as if to indicate who she was talking about, "We've been tailing her since last night."
Lois asked, "No sign of Eugene?"
With a shake of her head, she replied, "The fugitive is still at large."
Perry asked, "Is there something specific we can help you with, Detective?
Detective Reed weighed her next statements carefully before asking in her deceptively naive sounding down home south-western drawl, "Well, no, not really. It just seemed to me that during the trial, Ms. Lane and the escaped felon, became, well ... friendly-like.
Lois, trying to deflect, said, "I'm a journalist. I covered the trial."
Detective Reed demonstrated that her affected drawl was cultivated by her to give a false sense of security to those she was interrogating and hide the sharp mind hidden under her curls said, "Yes. And, of course, I'm
not a journalist, but it did seen to me that your articles seemed slanted toward proclaiming his innocence." She looked back and forth between Lois and Perry. When no reply was forthcoming, she continued, "I was wondering if you might have any information as to the whereabouts of Mr. Laderman."
There it was. Just what Lois had feared. She hoped that her fear wasn't visible, but she tried to maintain a stoic mask.
After waiting a second for her to reply, Reed pressed the point, "He hasn't called you, has he?"
Feeling back on safe and solid ground again, Lois was able to reply, truthfully, "No. He hasn't called me."
Reed nodded in acknowledgement. Based on the way Lois had replied, she accepted the truth of Lois's statement. She said, "Well, just in case, if you do hear from him, give
me a call, will you?" As she was saying this, she handed Lois her card.
After Lois took the card Detective Reed turned and ambled to the elevator. As she did, she said, over her shoulder, "Don't worry, Ms. Lane. I brought him in once, I'll do it again, dead or alive."
Lois had a shocked expression on her face as Reed was leaving and Perry picked up on her distress, but didn't say anything. Perry knew that Lois was always driven to be the best reporter there ever was and that carried with it a lot of passion. Passion for her job, passion for the story and fortunately for Clark, passion for her husband. He wasn't surprised to see Clark take her by the elbow and lead her to the conference room.
Once the door was closed he addressed her, "Lois, you have got to call Reed and tell her where Eugene is."
"I can't do that, Clark. Eugene trusts me and I believe him when he says, he's innocent."
"He was tried and convicted by a jury of his peers. The man is dangerous. He killed Harrison. He could kill you. Lois, you … we are harboring a wanted fugitive. The man is a convicted murderer. It doesn't matter that we aren't living in that apartment anymore. It's still in your name until Lucy assumes the lease."
"Oh, leave the truth and justice stuff to Superman, will you? Clark, I need you to talk to him yourself. With your special abilities you can tell if he's lying or not when he answers your questions. If you still feel that he's a murderer ... then you can call the police."
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Lois and Clark had stopped and picked up some lunch, enough for three, before heading to Lois's old apartment.
Eugene was just finishing up on his sandwich. He was sitting on Lois's sofa facing a skeptical Clark who was asking him some very pointed questions and pointing out flaws in his story. "You were heard having an argument the day before he was killed."
Eugene replied, "That's true, but …"
Clark interrupted his answer, "And you admit that you hated him."
Eugene replied, "It was the way he treated Lena."
Clark accused, "You were having an affair with his wife."
Shaking his head, Eugene replied, "It wasn't an affair. We were in love, but Lena didn't want to consummate it until ..."
Clark finished for him, "You killed him?"
Shaking his head in denial, Eugene clarified, "No! Until she left him." He looked back and forth between Lois and Clark before he finished, "You didn't know him. Lena would come to work with bruises on her arms."
Lois prompted, "Tell Clark about Henry."
Nodding, Eugene launched into the new topic, "He developed his own software and started his own company after he got fired from LexComp."
Clark's interest was instantly piqued, "He worked for Lex Luthor?"
Nodding as he replied, Eugene said, "For twenty years. He was fired a month before he was eligible to retire with a full pension." Again he looked back and forth between them, assessing how his next statement would be received, "His company wasn't making it. That's what I think drove Henry crazy."
Lois questioned, "What do you mean, crazy?"
Shaking his head he said, "You have to understand, he was a loose cannon. One day I found a program he was working on ... the Ides of Metropolis. When he discovered that I'd seen it he went berserk, threatening me, threatening Lena."
Clark challenged, "Why did Lena testify as a witness for the prosecution?"
Eugene replied, "She was subpoenaed. She had to tell the truth. And the truth was there was no way she could prove I
didn't kill her husband."
Clark replied, "She thinks you did it. She said so, today."
Eugene was shocked, "You saw Lena?"
Lois nodded as she replied, "She came to the Planet." She looked at Clark before she continued, "It's a good thing you didn't go to her house last night -- she's being tailed by the police."
It was as if Eugene had been struck with a baseball bat he was so shocked.
Lois stood and headed for the kitchen, "I'll make us some coffee."
Clark followed Lois into the kitchen. He had a troubled expression as he paced the floor. Finally he grabbed the phone and handed it to Lois. He said, "Make the call."
Lois was startled by this. She whispered, "Your super senses tell you he's lying?"
"Well, no. I can't be sure. His elevated pulse could be simply from fear. It's hard to tell."
"Then I can't call. If you can't be sure then he could very well
be innocent."
Clark still held the phone as he said, "Lois! We had a deal. I haven't heard a single thing that makes me feel he's less guilty or less of a threat to you."
Lois took the phone and hung it back up. "Clark. Please. I'm sure about this."
"Lois, you're always sure."
"Yes, I am and I'm usually right, too. Two days. Give me forty-eight hours. The man's going to prison for life."
Suddenly a noise from the side drew their attention and they both turned to see Eugene standing there, watching. The expression on his face could only be described as one of pain.
Lois noted his expression and asked, "Eugene, what is it?"
When he answered, his tone was one of disbelief, "Lena told you that I killed Henry?"
"She said you did it for her."
Eugene's expression was a mixture of disbelief and hurt as he turned away and made his way back to the living room.
Lois and Clark exchanged a look and then followed him. Lois watched as Eugene moved to the sofa and sat down. She moved over in front of him and said, "Eugene, I think you better tell us the truth."
In a dispirited tone, Eugene said, "Lena was right about one thing. I did do it for her."
Shocked, Lois blurted out, "You killed Harrison?"
Eugene looked up, but now his expression was that of a whipped puppy. "No. I originally confessed, then later, refused to take the stand to protect her." He put his head in his hands.
Disbelievingly, Clark asked, "Lena?"
Looking up again, Eugene said, "Yes. She's the one who did it. She killed her husband."
Lois and Clark were both startled at this declaration. Neither had expected anything like this.
"Eugene, are you saying that you were covering for Lena? That she was really the murderer?"
His expression was sad as he replied, "Yes. At least I think so. I didn't actually see it, but I believe that Lena was responsible. I thought that the case against me would be so weak that they wouldn't convict me. I didn't want to see Lena go to jail."
Clark had been listening to Eugene's heart rate to see if he was lying. Though some of his statements were subjective there was no indication that he was in fact lying. He could be a very practiced liar which would invalidate his conclusion, but Eugene didn't appear to be one of that ilk.
Lois looked at Clark. He nodded his head.
"Eugene, Clark and I are going to have to look into this. You realize that she is throwing you to the wolves by accusing you of the murder. Would she do that if she loved you? That's something that you have to think about."
Lois started to gather her things. "We have to get to the Planet. It'd probably be best if you didn't go out."
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