I'm sorry to take so long between posts but, as you can see, I'm not giving up. I just have a lot of very unpleasant Real Life taking up my time.
Comments very welcome.
Supercop II: The Black Knight -- 5/?
by Nan Smith
Previously:
"Yeah, that was me, all right," Henderson said. "During the Quigley trial."
"Now I remember," Neil said. "You seem to lead exciting lives down at the station."
"Only occasionally," Henderson said. "We prefer it dull."
"That's for sure," Norma said. She turned to Sue Henderson. "I heard that you were supposed to be having a baby soon. Is this your first?"
"Yes," Sue said. "We're kind of in a holding pattern right now. The doctor told me that we could easily go another week, though."
"Well, if your husband doesn't show up at work some day soon, we'll know where to find him," Norma said. "Congratulations, sir."
"Thank you," Henderson said.
"Henderson, party of two," the loudspeaker announced, abruptly.
"That's us," Henderson said. "Enjoy your dinner. I'll see you in the morning, Randall."
"Hopefully not," Norma said, and Sue laughed.
After the Hendersons had disappeared, Neil glanced around and went to select one of the take-out menus from a rack on the wall. "While we're waiting, I guess we can check over what's available. Too bad you can't have a glass of wine, honey, but I guess it wouldn't be a good idea."
"Not tonight," Norma agreed. "I'm on duty in a few hours." The faint feeling of uneasiness that had led her to lock her door this morning before going to sleep had returned. "I hope it's a quiet night."
"So do I. Try to stay out of trouble until the end of the month," Neil said. "Then you'll be on the day shift."
"Don't think I'm not looking forward to it," Norma said. She reached out to take a second menu for herself. "Let's see; what should I pick ...."
**********
And now, Part 5:
The fingers of his left hand hurt where that woman's boyfriend had cut him. He owed the guy something for that. The watcher shifted his position slightly to ease the ache of muscles in his right arm as he held the binoculars to his eyes. His mission this morning had been a bust. The boyfriend shouldn't have been there. He'd thought the guy was supposed to be out of town for another day, but he'd come back early and interfered with the plan.
He lowered the binoculars after another moment. It looked as if Norma Randall was going to be a while. He could wait. Judging by the bags that she and her husband had loaded into her car, he was going on a trip of some kind. That was convenient. It would help make up for last night.
He absently twisted the wedding ring that he still wore. If only his hand didn't hurt so much. And the whole side of the first finger had no feeling. The bandage that he had applied one-handed was clumsy and bulky, covering the thumb and forefinger of his hand, but the whole digit had a disturbingly numb feel to it. The knife must have sliced the big nerve there, but he didn't dare go to the hospital for treatment. The police would be looking for someone seeking treatment for a cut hand. He would just have to take care of it as well as he could. If the woman had been alone like she was supposed to have been, this wouldn't have happened. He could have completed his business and gone on his way. Now he'd have to make Norma Randall pay in the other woman's place.
He'd seen her enter the house a short time after he'd managed to get away from the boyfriend, and had approached the car in the faint hope of finding something to identify her. In common with many cops, she had left her door unlocked and he'd taken advantage of the error of omission to check the envelope lying face down on the passenger seat, and from that he'd found her name and address. That had been a stroke of luck that he hadn't expected. He'd located her house, intending to scout out the premises, but the door had been locked when he tried it, and before he could jimmy the lock, that guy across the street had come out to work on his garden. He'd departed casually, reasonably certain that he hadn't been noticed, but then he'd sat in his car, pretending to read the paper, waiting for her to come home so he could be certain that she was the one.
He'd been lucky, too. She'd shown up barely fifteen minutes later. Stupid woman. A cop, no less, he thought derisively. Women in positions of authority annoyed him. Women always tried to tell a guy what to do. His mother had been a big, domineering woman who had run his life until he'd left home. He'd been determined that no woman was going to tell him how to live once he was on his own, but, he reflected, just try to start up any relationship with a woman and she always seemed to think she could give the orders. He'd made up his mind that it wouldn't be that way for him. He was going to give the orders. No woman was going to push him around ever again. He'd be the boss in his own home, and if his wife tried to take over, he'd know what to do about it.
He'd finally found a quiet little woman who seemed to know her place, but, as might have been expected, she'd gotten too sure of herself and started to make demands. Take out the trash. Hang up your coat. Put your glass in the sink. When he'd shown her who was boss, the neighbors had called the cops! He'd spent the night in jail and then gone home with a warning when Mary had refused to press charges in spite of her two-day stay in the hospital.
He thought that over for several moments, his gaze fixed on the entrance to Mi Casa. Mary must have thought that he'd learned his lesson, he thought grimly, but the next time had been easier. He'd shown her. He'd put her in the hospital again, but she'd still refused to press charges.
He still couldn't believe that the woman had had the stupidity to defy him after that. And when the cops had let him go the next time, he'd gone home to wait for his wife to return home, determined to have it out -- but she didn't return. And when he'd gone to work the fourth day after her release from the hospital, he'd come home to find her things gone.
Women were worthless, he thought. They needed to be taught a good lesson. Especially women in positions of authority, like that woman last night. He'd first seen her in a local Cost Mart, where it turned out that she was some kind of supervisor. He'd seen her scolding one of the cashiers and that was when he'd chosen her as his next target. He'd tracked her for days, mapped out her schedule, and learned that her boyfriend was going to be on a business trip for two nights. Only the guy had come back too soon.
He'd come back to her later, though, once she thought she was safe. The female cop was a better choice for now, anyway. A female cop had been the one who had nearly caught him in Albany. She'd actually pulled his mask off. He'd managed to get away, but things had been getting too hot for some time, so he'd decided to change locations to Metropolis. Mary was as likely to be there as anywhere else. He seemed to recall her saying once that she had a relative -- a cousin or something -- in Metropolis, anyhow, so it was just possible that she was someplace in the city. It was too bad he'd never listened much to what Mary said, and he didn't remember what the name was. In any case, however, Metropolis was a big city; even bigger than Albany. It was easy to be anonymous here.
He raised the binoculars to his eyes again. No sign of the cop, yet. That was all right, though. He could be patient. Patience was a virtue, he'd always been told. He hadn't made sure of his last target. This time he would. He needed to be certain that this time there would be no interruptions.
**********
By the time Bill and Sue Henderson left Mi Casa, a light rain had begun to fall. Bill unfurled the umbrella he had brought along just in case the weather forecasters were right for once. "See, sometimes it's a good thing to be prepared," he remarked.
Sue conceded the point with a small grin. "Well, even a stopped clock is right twice a day," she observed. "Since when have you started listening to weather forecasters?"
"I haven't," Henderson said, glancing around as they approached the crosswalk. "But I didn't want the evening ruined by coming back soaking wet."
"Hmm."
The light in their direction turned green and together they stepped out into the street. Henderson glanced in the direction of the stopped traffic once more, out of his usual distrust of Metropolitan drivers on a wet night. People tended to overestimate their visibility as well as their driving skill far too frequently on a night like this. From the darkened interior of a car half a block up the street, the glint of light reflecting off glass caught his eye. Instinctively curious, he trained his enhanced vision on the reflection, and saw that it was coming from the lenses of a pair of binoculars. The man was leaning forward in the driver's seat, resting his right elbow on the steering wheel and holding the device one-handed, apparently watching the entrance to Mi Casa.
"What is it?" Sue asked. She always seemed to know when he was using his super powers, Henderson thought, wondering how she accomplished the feat. Sue was one of the most observant people he knew. She'd been a witness to a robbery the day they had met, and he recalled wishing that all witnesses had the keen ability for observation and attention to detail that she did.
"There's some guy sitting in his car up the way, watching the restaurant with a pair of binoculars," he said. Well, he supposed there was nothing illegal about what the man was doing, but it was always possible that he was a lookout for a robbery or something. Henderson took note of the man's face for possible future identification and then the license. Then, if it turned out there actually was a robbery at the place, he would at least have some idea where to start looking.
"Write it down as soon as we get in the car," Sue advised, and he almost laughed at the realization that his pretty wife knew exactly what he was thinking. Sue was a smart lady, he thought again, but then he'd known that for a long time. If he were the sort to tolerate law breaking, he'd have been tempted to thank the guys who had held up that jewelry store for doing him a favor. If it hadn't been for that, he might never have met her.
Following her advice, as soon as they'd shut the doors he located the notebook that always stayed in their car in order to record gas mileage and scribbled down the license number and a brief description of the car. The plate was from New York, he noted. If the guy was here to rob a restaurant, it seemed like a long way to go but, as he was well-aware, accounting for the things people did was a useless endeavor.
"What's he doing now?" Sue asked.
"Still watching the restaurant. You know, maybe the Black Knight should have a word with this guy."
"Maybe," Sue agreed. "If he's not doing anything illegal, it won't hurt, and if he's up to something, it might make him think twice. That's better than having some employee of the restaurant get hurt." She raised an eyebrow in an exact imitation of him. "Well, go on. Let's see some black armor."
"It's not armor." Henderson felt it necessary to correct her. "It's a jumpsuit."
"Maybe, but you're still a knight -- and you might as well be wearing armor. Move it, Sir Bill."
Henderson grinned and stepped out of the car. Casually, he sauntered toward the nearest alley, which his x-ray vision had already told him was empty of human life. As he made his lightning change to his other identity, he wondered peripherally if his wife's choice of his name -- the Black Knight -- had anything to do with the fact that cops were sometimes called knights in blue. He was a cop, even though he no longer wore a uniform, so maybe she had quietly slipped a double meaning into his moniker.
Exiting the alley straight upward, he made his descent to the street directly behind the car in question in time to see the occupant lean forward suddenly, tension in every line of his body. Listening closely, he could hear the man's heartbeat accelerate and wondered for a second if the fellow had noticed him. But no; his attention seemed to be on the couple exiting the establishment, and Henderson took an instant to glance in the direction that the binoculars were trained, noting that the apparent objects of his interest were Neil and Norma Randall. That was interesting, to say the least, he thought.
Instead of immediately making himself known to the observer, he stood unobtrusively where he had landed, watching to see what would happen. The man followed the couple's progress as they headed for the lot where their car was parked, then laid down the binoculars and reached for the ignition.
"Hey! It's the Knight!" someone's voice said loudly.
"Cool!" Several people in their late teens converged on the car, and Henderson saw the car's occupant glance back with an expression of complete shock on his face. He heard the man's heart give a sharp jolt and begin to pound more loudly, and the engine of the car started up with a roar. He couldn't peel away from the curb, however, because of the teenagers that were now rushing toward Henderson. Bill stepped forward, making his way effortlessly through the gathering crowd, and leaned toward the window. After a moment of hesitation, the driver seemed to make up his mind and rolled it down.
"Can I help you?" he inquired. The voice was completely calm. If not for his super hearing, which detected the racing pulse, Henderson was quite sure he would have been fooled.
"Is there a particular reason you're sitting here with binoculars, watching the entrance of that restaurant, sir?" Henderson inquired mildly.
"Uh -- not exactly," the man said, but Henderson heard his heart rate increase again. The guy's pulse must be nearly two hundred, he thought. Something was definitely wrong here.
"I see. Well, I noticed you a while ago," he said "and you've been watching the doors for some time. I have no authority, of course, but unless you have important business here, or are waiting for someone, I'd suggest you go someplace else to observe Metropolis's night life." He paused. "A word to the wise, sir."
"Uh -- sure," the other man said. "Sorry."
"No problem," Henderson said. He turned to the crowd of teens. "Please move away, and let the car out," he requested.
Obediently, the crowd parted. One of the girls in the group was extending a small notebook and pen toward him. "Could I have your autograph?" she inquired with the breathless eagerness that Henderson was beginning to recognize. The young lady was one of his groupies.
With a certain amount of resignation, Henderson took the notebook and signed his alias with his left hand. Fortunately, due to a particular incident several years ago that had left him with several broken fingers and the necessity of wearing a cast for several weeks, he was adept at writing left-handed. He figured that, and the fact that he wore gloves, was a reasonably sufficient disguise for his handwriting if anyone ever tried to identify it. Besides, how likely was it that the Black Knight's handwriting would be compared to that of a police inspector's, anyway?
Several other of the teens were also thrusting forward scraps of paper for him to sign. He did so, watching from the corner of his eye as the driver of the blue sedan pulled away. As he handed back the last autograph and lifted gracefully off into the slowly increasing drizzle, he made a mental resolution to run a check on that license plate. Something about the whole situation gave him an uneasy feeling. It wouldn't hurt to find out a little more about the car's owner.
A few seconds later, Inspector Henderson was getting back into his own car. Behind him, the car belonging to Norma Randall and her husband pulled out of the parking lot and turned left. Within seconds, their taillights had also disappeared into the traffic that filled the streets of Metropolis even on a night such as this.
"What happened?" Sue asked.
He told her as he started the car, checked over his shoulder and pulled carefully out into the slowly moving traffic. Sue listened without comment until he had finished.
"That was weird," she said finally.
"Yeah," Henderson agreed. "Something wasn't right; that's for sure. I'm going to run a check on the license in the morning."
She nodded. "I think that's a good idea. Why would a guy be watching Norma?"
"I don't know, but I don't like it," he said.
"Maybe she gave him a ticket or something," Sue suggested. "Could he be a stalker?"
"Anything's possible," Henderson said. "Cops have been stalked before by people with a grudge."
"That's kind of scary." His wife's hand crept over his on the gearshift. "It's too bad a bunch of your fans showed up just then. Have I mentioned before how happy I am that you have Superman's powers? At least I don't have to worry about some nut trying to take revenge on you."
He smiled at her. "Even if I didn't have the powers, I have every intention of seeing this baby grow up," he said. "I've got too much to live for to let myself get killed. How are *you* feeling, by the way?"
"Same as always," she said. "Let's get home as soon as possible, though. I need to visit the restroom again."
"I guess that's another thing you won't miss once she's born," Henderson said.
"Don't tell me you peeked," Sue said. "You know what we agreed on."
"Nope. Cross my heart," he said. "I just think it's going to be a girl, that's all."
"Oh," she said, slightly mollified. "Don't you want a boy to carry on the family name?"
"My brother's got four boys," he pointed out. "The family name isn't in any danger of dying out. Anyway, I don't really care which it is as long as it's healthy."
"I'm glad," Sue said. "My dad was always disappointed that he had three girls. When my brother was born, he just about forgot we existed."
Henderson snorted. "I don't want to say anything bad about your dad," he remarked, "but that's a lousy attitude to have. The human race would be in really bad shape if we stopped having girls. Besides, I'm pretty glad you're here. I just somehow wouldn't have the same attitude about you if you were a guy."
Sue giggled. "I'm happy about that!" she said.
**********
The watcher drove aimlessly around the city for nearly an hour, following his unexpected encounter with the Black Knight. The whole incident had thoroughly shaken him. It hadn't occurred to him that anyone was likely to notice a guy just sitting in a car in the dark, but obviously he had underestimated the vigilance of the city's super heroes.
The presence of the three super-powered beings had never really worried him before. Metropolis was a very large city and as long as he made an effort to avoid being noticed, the chances of it happening had seemed slight. During his little ventures as a crusader for personal justice, he'd always made certain that the women that he chose for his lessons were unable to make any noise or in any way draw attention to the situation until it was much too late. Until last night, when things had gone completely wrong, it had worked perfectly. And then the Black Knight had seen him, tonight.
Why had the Knight noticed him? The man certainly didn't fly around checking out all the parked cars on the streets every night, he thought. It would be a ridiculous waste of time. Somehow, something must have drawn his attention, but it was very likely just bad luck. His dad had always told him that bad luck ran in threes, so he would just have to be extremely careful for a while, he decided. At least the Knight hadn't connected his activity with the cop. It didn't really matter if he followed her for the rest of the evening, anyway. She'd be at the 12th Precinct tonight, and would return to her home in the morning. He could wait.
For an uneasy moment, he wondered vaguely if the superhero was tracking him, flying above him in the dark to see where he went, but after a moment he discarded the notion. At the worst, the guy had probably thought he was casing out the restaurant for a robbery or something, and was undoubtedly congratulating himself on stopping it before it went any farther. When nothing happened, he'd probably forget entirely about the incident. After all, the guy broke up crimes of one sort or another practically every day. Why should he remember a robbery that didn't happen?
Satisfied that he had found the perfect solution to his problem, he turned toward downtown. Going to a movie theater was probably a good idea, he decided, just in case the Knight did decide to check on him. He'd been wanting to see "Return of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre", showing at the Metro Gold Cinema, for a while, anyhow. It would be just as well to take the night off. He could go back to business tomorrow.
**********
tbc
