Testing A Theory
Folc4evernaday
Chapter 2
***
“All guards report to J-Pod! We’re on lockdown! Repeat! All available personnel report to J-Pod! Lock it down!”Clark sat up, pulling himself out of his wife’s arms as he focused on the alarm his super-hearing had picked up on. It sounded like it was coming from the Metropolis Men’s Prison.
He glanced at the clock. The alarm was set to go off in five minutes, and Lois always slept through it. “Lois?” he nudged her shoulder softly.
“Hmm?” her head nestled against his shoulder sleepily. He hated leaving her like this, especially after last night, but he had to go.
“Something’s going on at the prison. I’ve got to go.” He whispered, peeling himself out of her arms and climbing out of bed.
Her eyes fluttered open, and she gave him a nod, “Be careful.”
“I’ll be back as soon as I can.” He leaned in to kiss her before spinning into his Superman suit and flying out the window toward the Metropolis Men’s Prison.
***
Cat grabbed her to-go mug of coffee, pouring herself a cup from the coffee pot by the door. She looked around the hotel room, trying to find her things. She wasn’t a morning person. Never had been. Never would be. She slipped on her heels, grabbing her purse and keys as she headed out the door.
She needed to find a place. The apartment complex she’d called home for so many years had been sold and converted into a chain of condos filled with rowdy 20-somethings. Not the ideal living situation. She’d grown out of the party-girl phase when she started her clothing line two years ago. It required long and tedious hours, leaving no time for her to stay out all hours of the night.
She unlocked the door, preparing to head out when she heard her phone ring. She struggled to pull her cell phone out of her purse and groaned when she recognized the number.
“Not today, Sam.” She said, shoving the phone back into her purse.
She couldn’t help her cousin if she was constantly going back and forth between the prison and the Planet. She had to get a lawyer hired. She had to look into this Randy Goode and see what she could find out to help clear her cousin’s name.
***
Clark stared at the dark wool blanket that had been placed over the prisoner’s body, pacing in the cell, “When did this happen?”
“Lights out he was healthy as a horse.” One of the guards said in a dismissive tone. “Did morning roll call and found him like this.”
“No cell mate?” He asked, looking around the empty 2x2 cell suspiciously.
“Nope. He was supposed to be getting a cellmate later this week, but the paperwork hasn’t come through yet.” The guard responded with a shrug.
“And the riot?” Clark asked uncertainly.
“Broke out right after roll call this morning.” The guard explained. “Never did see who started it.”
Clark looked back at the wool blanket that covered the body of Randy Goode. The man had made his life a living hell. He’d tried to create a war between two countries in order to ruin his reputation as Superman and had subjected his wife and parents to ridicule and harassment. Despite all of this Clark couldn’t help but feel as if he’d let Randy Goode down.
Why hadn’t he heard a cry for help?
He looked up at the guards who seemed unaffected by the fact that they were standing a mere three feet away from the dead body of one of their prisoners. Something about the first guard unnerved him. The disregard with which he spoke of Goode’s death sent chills down his spine. He knew the guards had a tough job, keeping the prisoners under control, but this guard seemed almost smug about Goode’s death.
He knew from his experience in the past with the warden that no prisoner was without a cellmate in J-Pod. He also knew prisoners weren’t transferred to J-Pod until after their trial date had been set. Randy Goode hadn't even had his first court appearance yet. Something was wrong here.
Clark glanced at the guard’s uniform, taking note of his name and badge number that was printed on the right breast pocket of his uniform. It could be nothing, but on the other hand, he wouldn’t be a good reporter if he didn’t follow up on possible corruption inside the Metropolis Men’s prison, right?
***
Lois finished parking the Jeep, clicking the remote lock as she headed toward the elevator to take her out of the parking garage and to the street. She looked around, noting the extra security that was patrolling the parking garage.
“ID, Ma’am?” the guard asked as she approached the elevator. She pulled out her Daily Planet press badge for inspection, and he nodded, turning to press the call button on the elevator for her.
Once the elevator car arrived, she stepped inside and pressed the button for ground level.
The elevator hummed lightly as she waited in silence for the familiar ding. She’d waited as long as she could this morning for Clark to return but whatever was happening at the prison had kept him busy all morning. It was just a quarter after nine. Hopefully, Perry wouldn’t be too upset with her for being late. Now if she could just come up with a good excuse for where the other half of Lane and Kent was she’d make it through the morning without a lecture.
Lois stepped off the elevator, looking to make sure there wasn’t a camera crew nearby. She couldn’t understand why those Top Copy reporters wouldn’t just let it go about Clark’s absence at Superman’s press conference. Her patience was slowly wearing thin with all of them and…
“Guess who?” Two familiar hands covered her eyes.
She grinned, recognizing her husband’s voice. “Give me a hint.”
Her smile spread across her lips as his lips caressed hers, moving his hands from her eyes to gather his fingers in her hair. “Hi,” he grinned at her when she opened her eyes.
“Hi yourself.” She whispered, readjusting the crooked knot on his tie.
“We’re late.” He said, following her to the crosswalk.
“Yes, we are.” She sighed, leaning over to press the button for the crosswalk. The light changed, and she crossed the street with him to the Planet. “How’d everything go at the prison?” she asked.
“Not good.” He said, walking with her through the revolving doors of the Daily Planet.
“What happened?” she asked in concern, looking back at him.
“There was a riot this morning. Some guards were injured, but everyone’s okay.” Clark began cautiously. She noticed him looking around the lobby over the top of his glasses.
“What is it?” she asked, reaching over to press the call button to the elevator.
“Just checking.” He said with a half-smile, running his hand up and down her shoulders.
She grinned at him, “I told you, you were going to come in pretty handy.”
He chuckled, pulling her to him, “Checking for paparazzi is becoming second nature to me these days.”
“Don’t I know it.” She said with a huff, fingering the lapels on his coat. His hands moved to cover hers for a moment. She could tell something was still bothering him. Whatever it was he didn’t seem too keen on continuing their conversation in the middle of the lobby.
“They’ll stop eventually.” He soothed, running his hand up and down her arm once more.
“I hope so.” She said softly, looking up at him with a slow smile.
The elevator dinged, announcing its arrival. They pulled apart and stepped inside. Clark reached over to press the button for the newsroom floor. Lois waited for the doors to close before turning to face him, “What did you mean by ‘not good’?” she asked.
“Oh,” Clark frowned, looking down at his feet.
“You said the riot was taken care of without any fatalities so what was ‘not good?” Lois pressed.
“Randy Goode was murdered in his cell last night,” Clark said cautiously.
“What??” Lois gasped in surprise, covering her mouth in shock as the elevator’s soft chime announced their arrival on the mailroom floor. She moved to the side as the mail clerk wheeled his way onto the elevator car. She stood next to Clark uncertain how to respond.
“I can’t prove it, but I think there’s more to the story than what meets the eye.” Clark said in a low whisper.
Lois nodded mutely, looking at the elevator doors as they arrived on the second floor. “That’s me.” The mail clerk said, rolling the cart out onto the printing press floor.
Lois turned toward her husband, looking at him in concern. “Are you okay?”
“No,” he said in disgust, “He did a lot of horrible things, but he didn’t deserve to die for them.”
“I know.” She soothed, running her hand up his cheek.
“I want to look into the guard that was on duty and possibly the prison,” Clark added. “See if we can figure out what really happened.”
“Well, then I guess we better get to work,” Lois said, leaning in to kiss him as the elevator doors opened up to the newsroom.
***
Samantha hung up the phone, letting out a long sigh as she replaced the handset back on the receiver, counting to ten silently. The echo of complaints and disgruntled prisoners behind her rang in the back of her head. It was nearly lunchtime. She’d used almost all of her money on the calling card to try Cat on every free-time break she had and still nothing but Cat’s voicemail.
<<“Don’t be surprised when she stops returning your calls. You’ve been set up to take the fall of a very bad man. You can either take my help and get out of here or don’t and take your chances with the federal judges. The choice is yours.”>>Samantha pulled out a card from her pocket and began to dial, ignoring the protests behind her.
***
“Murdered?” Perry looked over Lois’ shoulder, peering at the article she and Clark had written on Randy Goode’s death. Clark sat in the chair beside her as they relayed what they’d learned that morning. The more they dug into Randy Goode, the more convinced she and Clark became that Randy Goode’s death had been an assassination.
“There’s no other explanation,” Lois said, pointing to the screen. No sign of self-mutilation or suicide according to the report we got from the prison’s coroner.”
“Superman was at the scene this morning helping out with the riot that took place. He said there was no cell mate for Randy Goode either…which is not a part of the protocol for the prison.” Clark added.
“What do you mean?” Perry asked confused.
“The prisoners are held in a secluded section of the prison to evaluate them and determine if they can join the general population. After the issues they had with attempted witness tampering and assassination they changed the rules and required all general population inmates have at least one other cellmate. No one in there should have a cell to themselves. No one.” Clark explained.
“I thought with the new changes implemented last year they weren’t supposed to go into the general population until after their trial date had been set.” Perry recalled, tapping his index finger against his chin.
“No, you’re right, Chief. After the escape attempts and the attempted assassination of several witnesses in the case against Bill Church Sr. they changed a lot of the rules there. How Randy Goode ended up in a cell alone in general population…it doesn’t add up.”
Lois nodded, “He hadn’t even had his first appearance in court yet. We were supposed to cover that this afternoon.”
“Well, now you’re on this.” Perry said, pointing to her screen. “Find out everything you can and let’s get to the bottom of this.”
“And the way the guards were acting…” Lois shot Clark a look, and he covered, “I mean, the way Superman described them to be acting was very suspicious. They seemed almost smug about there being a death on their watch.”
“What about an autopsy?” Perry asked. “Surely we can get some answers from there.”
Clark frowned, “It happened in prison. There won’t be one unless the state requests it.”
“And are they?” Perry asked.
“No.” Lois frowned.
“Sounds to me like the Daily Planet needs to weigh in on this,” Perry said solemnly. “Don’t get me wrong. I despise what that man did. I don’t condone it for a second, but I’d never wish death on him. If there is a cover-up going on, I’m sure you two will be able to sniff it out.”
Perry patted Clark on the shoulder before turning toward his office, “Get me what you’ve got on this and we’ll run it in the next edition with an editorial requesting a thorough investigation. ‘Corruption Behind Bars.’” He held up his hands emphasizing the headline over his head.
“Corruption?”
Lois looked up to see Cat approaching them in an admittedly smart business suit. The skirt was a little higher than Lois would have preferred, but the attire was much different than what she was used to seeing her formal rival in.
“Cat, nice of you to join us this morning,” Perry commented with a disapproving tone.
“I had some last minute errands to run,” Cat responded with a smile. “Apartment hunting isn’t as easy as it used to be.” Perry nodded then Cat turned toward Lois and Clark, “So what’s this about corruption?”
“Just a story we’re working on,” Lois commented, minimizing her word processor on her computer before Cat could have a chance to read it. She still wasn’t sure how she felt about Cat’s return and giving her any information on the first good lead she and Clark had had on a story wasn’t exactly how she wanted to welcome her back.
“Uh-huh,” Cat nodded, perching herself on the edge of Lois’ desk, simultaneously crossing her legs as she spoke, “You know I’ve always been the best at digging around and finding dirt on politicians.”
Lois pushed her off the edge of her desk, “That was then. You’ve been out of the game for the last three years, and I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Lane and Kent have brought down quite a few corruptions in the last few years too.”
“Yeah, I was reading up on some of the stuff you guys have written.” Cat smiled, smoothing out the wrinkles on her skirt, “
Superman’s been pretty busy, hasn’t he?”
Lois frowned when she noticed Cat looking toward Clark as she spoke. “We do cover stories other than Superman rescues.” Lois corrected.
“I know.” Cat smiled, “but you’ve gotta admit, that’s what you are known for. I mean, people hear the name Lois Lane and think, the first woman to….well you know.” She finished with a wink at Lois before turning her attention back to Clark, “I read that piece on the peace treaty being signed, Clark. Great stuff. Your writing style’s improved….very
super.”
“Uh, thank you,” Clark responded hesitantly. “Lois and I work well together.”
“Well, she finally found her
super guy,” Cat added with a smile. “I’ve got to run. I’ve got a dinner with Congressman Wallace I need to prepare for.
Ciao.”
Lois watched Cat leave suspiciously. There was something seriously odd about the tone of Cat’s voice. Why did she keep using the term ‘super’ to describe Clark and why was she looking at Clark when talking about Superman? Questions began to race through Lois’ mind just as Clark got a familiar expression on his face.
“What is it?” she asked.
“Bank robbery.” He whispered, getting up from his chair. “I’ll be back in a few.” He leaned in to kiss her before heading toward the stairwell. Lois noticed Cat turn to follow him, and she got up to stop her.
“Cat!”
Cat turned to her with an annoyed expression, “Yes?”
“Where-Where are you going?” she stammered.
“I was going to see where your husband was off to in such a hurry. I needed to ask him about something for my story.” Cat said, looking toward the stairwell.
“Oh, he’ll be back. He went to get...a…um...” She stammered, trying to think of a good excuse for Clark to use the stairs.
“Yes?” Cat looked at her suspiciously.
“A box of pencils.” Lois finished hurriedly.
“There’s a supply closet right there.” Cat pointed toward the supply closet next to the copy room across the newsroom.
“So there is!” Lois grinned, knowing full well Cat could see right through her. Lois bit her lip, trying to force her mind to focus on the present. “Silly me. I, uh, asked him to go get the supplies from the mailroom and there’s a closet right
here…”
She knew there was a supply closet in the newsroom. She’d drug Clark in there many a times over the last year and a half when she couldn’t resist the need to kiss him….touch him in ways that were inappropriate for the office. She felt a flutter in the pit of her stomach, recalling the small boxes on that back corner shelf that often got knocked down when she and her husband had lost control in that room. Bright red pens. Number two pencils...
“Mailroom?” Cat crossed her arms over her chest. “Why didn’t he take the elevator? It’s faster.”
“That’s a
very good question. And there is a very good answer…You see, he...likes to go to the boiler room to….think.” Lois finished lamely.
“Boiler room?” Cat asked in disbelief.
“Yeah, you can only get to it from the stairs.” Lois supplied hurriedly, “Didn’t you know that?”
“No, I …” Cat tried to reach for the door to the stairwell that Lois was blocking. “What is your deal? Why won’t you let me through?”
“You don’t want to go down there.” Lois shook her head, tugging Cat away from the door.
“I don’t?” Cat asked in disbelief.
“No. Rats and bugs and creepy crawly things.” Lois shook her head. “You don’t want to go down there.”
“Yet Clark goes down there to….think?” Cat asked.
“Well, he is a farmboy,” Lois said weakly.
“Uh-huh,” Cat said, pushing past her. “I just have a quick question for him.”
“Wait!” Lois tried to stop her, but it was too late. Cat had already opened the door. Lois sighed in relief when she saw her husband standing in the door with a box of #2 pencils in his hand.
“Clark?” Cat looked back at Lois, “How was the
Boiler Room?”
“Hot.” He commented, moving back toward his desk.
‘Thank God for super-hearing.’ Lois thought to herself.
“Here’s the pencils you needed.” He said, handing the box to Lois.
“Thanks.” Lois took the box and placed it in her desk drawer with the other half a dozen boxes he’d used as excuses whenever his disappearance from the newsroom didn’t go unnoticed. She looked over at Cat who was watching them suspiciously.
***
They mysterious blonde tapped her long fingernails on the table as she spoke on the phone through the double-paned glass window. “You’ve made the right decision Samantha. Allowing that evil man to let you take the fall for what he did is a crime in itself.”
“Can you get me out of here?” Samantha asked.
“I can,” she spoke with a glint in her eyes, “but first I need you to do something for me.”
“Wh-what’s that?” Samantha asked, uncertainly.
“Nell Newtrich.” The woman began slowly, “She has something that doesn’t belong to her, and I want it back.”
“What kind of thing?” Samantha stammered.
“A rock.” The woman said smugly. “A very special rock. It glows….red. I want it back. Get it for me and freedom is yours.” Before Samantha could respond, the woman hung up the phone and got up to leave.
“A
rock?”
***
“I think we need to try to call the warden and see if we can get in to talk to him this afternoon,” Clark explained, taking a seat on the edge of Lois’ desk. “I’m hoping he isn’t involved in any of this and can help us out.”
“Anything will help at this point,” Lois admitted softly. “You need to be more careful with your exits. I looked like an idiot trying to keep her out of the stairwell….looking for you.” She sighed, “What did she want anyway?”
“She said she wanted to know when Wallace’s divorce was finalized last year,” Clark said with a confused expression. He had to admit. Cat was acting out of character.
“Can’t she just search the Planet’s archives for that?” Lois asked.
Clark shrugged, “Apparently not.” He smiled, stroking her cheek and whispered in her ear, “Thanks for covering for me.”
“Anytime.” She grinned leaning up to kiss him on the cheek.
***
Cat Grant sat back watching as Clark took a seat at Lois’ desk, carrying on a conversation as he moved closer to her. He then leaned in to whisper something in Lois’ ear before the young woman turned to kiss him on the cheek. Lois’ behavior might as well have been setting off sirens that yelled,
'My Husband Is Superman!'She had been trying every trick in the book to keep Cat from going into that stairwell. Then when she finally did push past Lois Clark had been standing there with a box of pencils. The couple had shared a quick look and Cat had to scramble to come up with a plausible question to ask him for her story. It was lame, and Clark could probably see right through her, but she didn't care.
Something was definitely up.
Clark Kent was Superman, and she was going to prove it.
She smiled, imagining the look on Lois Lane’s face when she landed the biggest story of the century,
‘Superman’s Identity Revealed.’ ‘Let the games begin,’ she thought to herself.
***
TBC...
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