Testing A Theory
Folc4evernaday
Chapter 5
***
Jerry White waited in the small white room, staring at the cheap dirty tiles on the floor. The room had a stale odor to it and the air conditioner cranking sounded like a jet engine trying to take off while blowing back arctic cold into the already frigid room. The black door on the other side opened and a man in a navy suit and matching tie stood in the doorway, “Jerry White?”
“Yes?” Jerry stood to his feet, looking to the unfamiliar man for guidance.
He clicked his tongue for a moment, giving him a onceover before frowning and motioning with his index finger to follow him. “Let’s go.”
***
“So, he threatened you, eh?” Barry Dunning’s new executive ran a hand through his golden blond locks and smiled back at him. “We’ll have to make sure the public sees the full story on its favorite caped friend, won’t we?”
Barry felt a lump form in his throat. Too many executives had come and gone here at Top Copy. Too many reporters and most of them had been taken down by Superman or Lois Lane and Clark Kent. He didn’t doubt for a second Superman would follow through with his threat. Dianna Stride and Leo Nunk were just a few recent casualties in the media war against Superman. If he kept pushing he could be joining them, but William McCoy, Top Copy’s newest executive had insisted on continuing to stay on the Kents to discover the story they refused to tell. It seemed like a dangerous game to play given Superman’s recent press conference, but McCoy was persistent.
“What about Superman’s threat?” Barry ventured, pulling McCoy’s gaze back to him.
“You let me worry about that, Barry. We’ll give the Kents a 24-hour break and then come at them full-force. With any luck, Top Copy won’t be the only news circuit after them tomorrow.” McCoy responded with a menacing laugh.
***
‘Wait here.’Those had been the words Cat had said to Lois when she rushed to the front desk not even letting her park the Jeep before she’d bolted out. Whatever was going on had obviously shaken Cat. Letting her drive wasn’t an option but Cat sure tried to fight her on that. Arguing she was fine despite the physical signs that she was not.
No, something was going on.
Her eyes wandered over the almost empty waiting area. There was a young woman with two children about four and five talking with what looked to be her attorney. He sat across from her, handing her a tissue as she sobbed. Then there was a teenager in the other corner with what appeared to be her father, listening to the music with her headphones and drowning out her dreary surroundings. Lastly the three security guards at the desk.
She approached the desk, pasting on her best smile as she attempted to weasel what information she could from the guards, “Hi, I’m looking for a friend of mine. She came in to check on her cousin while I was parking.”
“I’m sorry, Ma’am, we can’t give out inmate information.” The guard apologized.
“Could you maybe just let me know how long she’ll be?” Lois asked, brightening her smile.
“What’s the name?” the guard asked, motioning for her to approach the side of the desk with the computer.
From her vantage point, she could make out the right side of the screen. “My friend’s name is Catherine Grant.” Lois supplied happily.
“Let’s see checked into the infirmary visiting area about five minutes ago.” The guard said, pulling up a screen.Lois’s eyes widened when she saw the mugshot on the screen with the corresponding name.
‘Samantha Grady.’ The guard clicked a few boxes and then turned back to her, “They don’t let visitors stay more than fifteen minutes at a time. Shouldn’t be too much longer.”
“Great,” Lois breathed, doing her best not to react to what she’d just seen.
Samantha Grady. Cat Grant was visiting Samantha Grady. The woman who had faked the photograph of her and Clark to create the scandal that had almost cost them everything. Cat was visiting her. Why? Was she really related to her or was that just a ruse to throw her off her trail? The more she thought about it the angrier she got. Cat’s sudden reappearance made so much more sense. She was working with her.
Lois glanced at the clock. Deciding she couldn’t sit here and do nothing anymore she got up to leave. Cat could find her own way back.
***
“Sam?” Cat nudged her cousin’s shoulder gently, “You gonna talk?”
“Have you found anything?” Samantha croaked out through her bloodied lip and swollen jaw. The left side of her face appeared to be swollen from the impact as well and her left eye was red from a burst blood vessel.
Cat sighed, running a hand through her auburn hair, “Sam, you know that’s not going to get you out of here.”
“Such a pessimist. They’ll see. They’ll see I was telling the truth and then...they’ll let me out.” Samantha argued before a coughing fit took over.
“No, they won’t,” Cat said, shaking her head. “I’ve scheduled a meeting for you to meet with your attorney tomorrow morning. Don’t send this one away.” She warned, standing up from her seat next to her.
“Cat…” Samantha argued, “That’s it? You’re just going to give up?”
“I don’t know what else you want me to do.” Cat snapped back at her angrily. “You won’t tell me what’s going on. You got yourself beat up and caught with over a thousand dollars and won’t tell anyone where it came from. I don’t know what to say.”
“I’m trying to do what I have to to survive.” Samantha shot back, “But what would you know about that?”
“A lot more than you’d think.” Cat snipped irritably.
“Would you two cut it out? Some of us are trying to get our work done.”
Cat looked back and spotted a blond woman in an inmate uniform, emptying the trashcan from one of the rooms across from Samantha’s. The woman’s face looked so familiar…
“I’ve got to go,” Cat said abruptly, rushing out of Samantha’s room.
“Boy, three years certainly doesn’t change much, does it?” the woman called after Cat.
“Do I know you?” Cat asked, staring back at her in surprise.
“We’ve met but I don’t think you’d remember.” She smiled back at her. “I was working an exhibit at the Daily Planet a few years ago. Sampling some….”
“Perfume.” Cat finished for her, recalling the connection. “Miranda.”
“In the flesh.” She announced proudly. “You know if she keeps messing with the Newtriches she’ll be coming out of here in a body bag. Those two are Intergang’s top dealers.”
“Newtriches?” Cat exclaimed in surprise.
“Hey, this isn’t happy hour. Get back to work.” One of the guards ordered, tapping at the glass outside the lobby.
“The human body is such an amazing thing, isn’t it? Impulsive and damaged yet capable of holding back until it can’t any longer.” Miranda teased, sauntering toward the next room. “At least that’s the story they like to tell.”
‘Impulsive.’An idea popped in her head and Cat turned to see Miranda moving to the next room. “Yes, I remember. You made a perfume called Revenge and drugged Metropolis for two days.”
“All that labor and it never worked on the one it was intended to,” Miranda grumbled.
“Who?” Cat inquired, watching Miranda shove another trash bag into the large bag in her cart.
“Why Metropolis’ Golden Boy—Lex. Who do you think?” Miranda scoffed. “Labor of love and I’m looking at twenty to life. Fair? I think not.”
“You did drug the city.” Cat pointed out.
“Yes, but sometimes things aren’t always what they seem.” Miranda shrugged, pulling her cart out, “Take your little cousin there? You really think she got beat up for nothing?”
“What do you mean?” Cat asked.
Miranda shrugged, pointing to the glass window with the guard pointing at his watch. “My time’s just about up, Ms. Grant. Till next time.”
Cat made her way through security, contemplating Miranda’s evasive hinting around and the current predicament her cousin was in. She had to figure out a way to help her, but the question was how. She glanced around the waiting room, looking for Lois and frowned. She stepped outside, looking around the parking lot and saw no sign of the familiar silver Jeep Cherokee. “Great,” She muttered to herself.
***
“It makes sense!” Lois paced in front of her husband in the Daily Planet conference room after updating him on what she’d discovered. “Why did Cat come back to Metropolis? She had a fashion empire and she’s going to go back to writing gossip? No, no, no…”
“We don’t know that’s the reason she’s back here and before you go jumping to conclusions we need to get the facts.” Clark pointed out, stopping her mid-pace and pulling her to him. “Honey, you need to calm down.”
“Do you remember what it was like last week with the paparazzi hounding us every two seconds?” Lois fumed, glaring up at him irritably.
“It could be innocent,” Clark whispered in her ear.
“Yeah right,” Lois grumbled irritably. “If it were innocent she wouldn’t have been trying to hide it.”
Clark let out a breath and said, “True, but jumping to conclusions isn’t exactly the best approach either. Let’s see what we can find out and then confront Cat once we have all the facts.” She still wasn’t sure if she could do that but it couldn’t hurt to wait. Make sure they had everything when they confronted Cat. Clark nudged her arm, “Lois?”
“Fine.” She scowled, still not happy with the situations, “Just be careful.” He gave her his best
‘Are you serious’ expression and she crossed her arms over her chest, “I’m serious. This is the same woman that helped orchestrate a conspiracy that almost got President Kasparov and General Navance killed. If Cat is working with her I don’t trust her as far as I can throw her.”
***
Jerry White allowed himself to be patted down by the FBI agents as hidden cameras were placed in various parts of his clothing. “So this is a big one, huh?” He did his best not to react as the familiar dark green jumpsuit was pulled out.
“We’ve got cameras on each layer of clothing and audio recording equipment so that if one goes out there’s always a backup.” Agent Rollins said, handing him the jumpsuit to put on. “Warden Baker’s been working closely with Bill Church Jr to continue the influence of Intergang within Metropolis Penitentiary's walls. We had a deal signed and in less than twelve hours our witness was murdered.”
“What do you need?” Jerry asked, buttoning the front of the jumpsuit.
“An admission. Something to connect the two.” Agent Rollins instructed.
“I’ll see what I can do,” Jerry said, taking a deep breath.
“We’ll pull you out if it gets too hairy.” Rollins reminded him. “Barnes can’t know you’re an informant so you’ll only have contact on the weekly visitations,” Rollins explained. “You understand that right?”
“Won’t be anything I haven’t done before.” Jerry shrugged. “Let’s go.”
***
“Storage locker 931826.” the clerk said, setting the box down on a table. He looked to Cat with wandering eyes, “You sure do ask for some peculiar favors, Ms. Grant.”
“Thanks, Hank,” Cat said, running her index finger down his chest seductively, “I just don’t know what I’ll do if I can’t find that perfume bottle. It was my grandmother’s.” She did her best ‘poor me’ expression, watching in amazement as the clerk turned to putty in her hands. After seeing her ride had deserted her curiosity got the best of her and she made her way to the police department to see what she could find out about Miranda’s case.
“I still can’t believe that Miranda character would take something like that.” He shook his head in disgust. He opened the box for her and winked, “Careful. The guys bagged up all the potions from her shop when they arrested her. had quite an ill effect on some people.”
Cat held up a scarf and smiled, “I think I’ll be fine.” She moved the scarf to her face and began rifling through the box. Hank turned to go back to his desk, seeming to accept that she wasn’t up to anything nefarious as she pulled out bottle after bottle until she found the one she was looking for-there sealed in a large plastic bag was the black perfume bottle with yellow tape across it marked ‘Revenge’ in bold letters. Beneath it was a large file that didn’t look like it had been touched since being confiscated from LexLabs.
Cat flipped the file open and found studious notes of test after test titled
‘Project Revenge.’ In it, Miranda referenced orders from ‘The Boss’ to continue the testing on animals for
‘Revenge’ and their reactions to different compounds. Throughout the entire experiment, each test result was sent up to LexCorp’s executive office. “How did Lois Lane miss this?” Cat wondered aloud.
***
TBC...
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