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LAST TIME ON EMII:

"And I thought being a lawyer was all about living the life of the urban underbelly one step removed. I never realised that you got to experience it all first hand."

"Now you're teasing me."

"Just a bit," admitted Lois. "But now that we have a possible connection between this law firm and a murder victim..."

"Can you make a note of any other meetings between Benton and Carnes? Then I'll check them against the court diary when we get back to the Planet."

"Will do," said Lois, who began taking pictures.

Five minutes later, CJ looked up from yet another file as she spoke again. "CJ. Benton and Carnes have got a meeting scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. If we can be there... This could be exactly what we need."

NOW READ ON...


CHAPTER TWENTY


CJ found it difficult to sleep that night. He tossed and turned, his thoughts filled with the enormity of what he and Lois had done. It wasn't just, or even mainly, because of their encounter in the corridor, although there was enough material in that to fuel any number of insomnia-inducing fantasies.

No, it was because he, CJ Kent, proud upholder of the law, had committed a crime... and he'd enjoyed it. He hadn't expected to. He hadn't wanted to. But the fact remained, snooping around Benton's office had given him a buzz better than any roller-coaster ride he had ever been on.

It was a pity that the paperwork had yielded nothing useful. In fact, the paperwork was so meticulous, CJ thought that it had yielded a suspicious amount of nothing useful. He'd found client accounts that, if they were to be believed, wouldn't have even begun to pay for the cherub's pinky finger.

No, wherever the real accounts were, they were carefully hidden.

At least they'd found the diaries... The evening hadn't been a complete waste of time.

And he had enjoyed it, as much as he hated to admit it, even to himself.


*****************
Wednesday 7 May, 1997
*****************


On Wednesday morning Lois and CJ arrived at the Planet to find Perry White lying in wait for them, wanting an update on their progress.

Sixty-five minutes, several cups of coffee and a lot of explanations later, Perry firmly decreed that: "This has gone far beyond anything the paper can handle on its own."

"But Perry—!" protested Lois.

"Don't you 'But Perry' me, young lady," said Perry, sounding for a moment like a curmudgeonly high school principal. "I know how your mind works. I know you want to deliver all the evidence in a Planet exclusive, all wrapped up and delivered with a nice pink bow, and making Metropolis' finest look like flat-footed fools in the process, and usually I'd be right behind you. But not this time. This time we've got to do this right. We've got to do this by the book, you hear me?"

Lois's mouth opened again, and it was obvious that another "But Perry" was on the tip of her tongue. However, CJ forestalled her with a "He's right, Lois."

To CJ's surprise, Perry shot a grateful look in his direction. "Listen to the lawyer, Lois. I don't remember ever being this close to Luthor before, and I'll be damned if I'm going to let you screw this up because you want to keep all the glory. You know the paper's going through hard times at the moment. I'd like nothing better than to get Luthor off my back, but all it would take is one good lawsuit to finish us. You get this wrong, and Luthor'll crucify us."

"So you're telling me to drop it?"

"No. I'm telling you to be very, very careful. I want kid gloves here, Lois, not your usual bull in a china shop act."

Lois bit down on her lower lip, looking for a moment like a petulant five-year old, but then she recovered herself. "You're both right, of course," she said, shrugging away her disappointment. "This is bigger than any of us. So what do you suggest, Chief?"

To CJ's surprise, Perry didn't answer. Instead, Perry turned to him, and asked, "Kent? You know the law. If we want this case to stick like chewing gum on a sidewalk, what do we need to do?"

"Well... If we're going to do this properly, we'll need access to equipment we haven't got. We need someone to stake out the meeting between Carnes and Benton, and we need it all to be done legally. So... I guess what we need most urgently is an honest and discreet policeman."

Lois laughed sarcastically. "Honest and discreet, CJ? Here in Metropolis? Who do you suggest?"

It wasn't CJ who answered. Before he could think of a reply, Perry said, "I'd suggest you start with your pal, Henderson."

Lois opened her mouth a few times before any sound could come out. It seemed to CJ that Perry had somehow hit a nerve, and he wondered why. When Lois finally managed to speak, he began to get some slight insight into the problem. "But Henderson hates me!"

"Lois, everyone in the Metropolis PD hates you, because either you—" and he began counting things off on his fingers— "step on their toes, accuse them of being on the take, expose them for being on the take, or make them look like flat-footed fools."

CJ couldn't help himself. He laughed and earned a potent Lane glare as a result.

"And," continued Perry, "seeing as, as far as I know, Henderson only hates you for the first and last of those reasons, I'm betting he's your man."

Lois rolled her eyes and protested some more, but was eventually forced to agree.

*****

The precinct building in which Henderson worked was a left-over from the pre-depression 1920s. Solid and ostentatious, it was almost attractive. Once it might even have been intimidating, but design styles and cultural attitudes had moved on over the subsequent decades, making it more of an architectural curiosity than a temple to law and order. CJ remembered having read somewhere – probably in one of the Sunday supplements – that a preservation order had been slapped on it a few years ago, and it now had the distinction of being Metropolis Historic Landmark number seven hundred and... something. Commentators had been complaining ever since about the building's obsolescence, and the need to demolish and rebuild.

The collection of police cruisers, uniformed officers, and the occasional hooker or informant trying to slouch away unremarked from the station, added clutter and noise to its forecourt, and CJ and Lois had to work their way through it all to get to the steps that led up to the front door.

CJ couldn't help but notice a makeshift ramp, a creaking affair of bent and battered metal, that obviously served as disabled access to the premises, and he found himself wondering if the commentators might have had a point.

Inside the building, disorganisation ruled supreme. There were people jostling with each other, all trying to get somewhere fast, but getting caught up in the human gridlock. There was a frenzy of activity but it didn't appear to be achieving very much.

Two voices cut through the general buzz, catching his attention and activating his super-hearing. "Well, will you look over there! There's a match made in hell, if ever I saw one."

CJ glanced around, pinpointed the source of the conversation as the first speaker's companion – his partner, most likely – attempted to talk around a mouthful of doughnut. "What?"

They were uniformed cops, CJ saw. The first speaker was older, with a pronounced belly that cascaded over the top of his waistband and a grey moustache that needed trimming. The second officer was skinny with gaunt cheeks and claw-like hands. If the way he was devouring doughnuts was anything to go by, he hadn't eaten in about a week.

The sergeant was talking again. "Lois Lane and ADA Kent." He jerked a thumb in CJ's direction, and CJ quickly averted his eyes, not wanting to be caught staring at them.

It was interesting, he thought, that the cop's vitriol was split evenly between Lois and him. He'd already learned that nearly all cops hated Lois, but the only ones who bore him a grudge were ones working for Luthor; nobody else had reason to. And that automatically made both the paunchy sergeant and the walking skeleton suspect.

Lois, heedless of the exchange, had walked up to the high counter that served as a reception desk and was now leaning across it, trying to get the duty officer's attention. "I want to see Bill Henderson."

The officer, a huge black man, whose blue shirt stretched tightly across rippling shoulder muscles, pointedly ignored her, and picked up a ringing phone.

Lois scowled, turned towards CJ and mouthed, "You try."

CJ nodded silently and leaned against the counter. He waited, aping patience, while the officer completed the call and hung up. Then he said, "Is Inspector Henderson in? We'd like a word with him, if he is."

His conciliatory approach worked better than Lois's more bombastic one – or maybe the desk jockey simply liked the look of CJ more. Whatever the reason, after staring at CJ for a few seconds and weighing up his options, the officer answered in a deep voice, "I'll see."

He was just at the point of tapping in the number for Henderson's extension when Lois said, "No need. There he is." And she was off, weaving her way through the morass of people, retracing her earlier steps, heading towards the entrance.

CJ threw a hurried thank-you at the officer, then followed after her. By the time she got to Henderson, CJ was again at her side.

Henderson didn't look too thrilled to see Lois, but he did at least acknowledge her, albeit with only a laconic "Lane" that was barely more articulate than a Neanderthal's grunt.

"Can we have a word?" Lois asked, waving a hand vaguely in CJ's direction to make it clear just who the "we" referred to.

Henderson looked CJ up and down with well-concealed surprise, then turned his attention back to Lois. "What is this? A citizen's arrest?"

"What?" she asked impatiently.

"What other reason would you have for bringing him along? After all, I seem to remember reading somewhere – in the Daily Planet, maybe – that Kent's just about as crooked as they come." For one nasty moment, CJ thought Henderson was being serious; then the faintest whisper of a wheezy chuckle told him otherwise.

Lois's cheeks reddened, and CJ wondered whether she had caught on to the fact that Henderson had been joking. "Yes, well... I... I mean the Planet... has had a change of heart about CJ."

Henderson's eyebrow's rose at the use of the nickname.

"And they did print a retraction," interjected CJ.

"Huh. Guess I must have missed that." Henderson narrowed his eyes balefully at Lois and said, "Okay, so what do you want?"

Lois perked up at his question, glad to be approaching the purpose of their visit. Before they got down to business, however, she had to ask, "Is there somewhere more private where we could talk?"

*****

CJ didn't know Henderson well, although he'd put him up on the witness stand once or twice. The impression he'd always had of the policeman was of a lugubrious and jaded individual. CJ had long suspected that Henderson's propensity towards cynicism was fed by an acute awareness that the world was disinclined towards fairness. What CJ had never quite been able to work out was whether Henderson was using that fact to his own benefit, or whether it genuinely frustrated him.

Now, meeting him with Lois was providing him with a range of new insights. First, Lois clearly antagonised Henderson in a way that CJ had never been able to do. Then again, CJ knew first hand that Lois could have that effect on people; he'd simply been fortunate to get past that stage.

Henderson hadn't been happy to see Lois, but it had taken remarkably little effort to persuade him to listen to her, and he seemed to treat everything they had to say with all due seriousness. He'd quickly shown them into his office, wanting to take them away from any prying eyes or ears, and had offered them coffee. Lois had declined, but CJ had accepted. Now, as he held the resultant plastic cup and sipped on a black, oily substance that seemed to have nothing in common with coffee whatsoever, he devoutly wished that he hadn't.

Henderson's office was a small and depressing room about the size of a broom cupboard and had a view of a brick wall. The furniture was battered and there was only room for one guest chair, so CJ spent the entire conversation propped up against a dented metal filing cabinet that had a bent key permanently stuck in its lock, and which, consequently wouldn't close properly. Although he repeatedly tried to nudge it shut, one of the lower drawers kept drifting open, jabbing irritatingly into his leg.

CJ decided to let Lois take the lead in the conversation. He listened as Lois and Henderson sniped at one another and quickly came to see that, while it was obvious that no love was lost between them, they nonetheless valued each other's opinions. They didn't like each other, but their mutual antipathy was tempered with a healthy respect and trust and CJ found himself reasoning that if Lois trusted Henderson, that was recommendation enough for him.

Lois started by saying, "We came across some evidence that—"

"Came across, how?" CJ thought it interesting that Henderson knew enough about Lois to need to ask that question.

"Does it matter?"

"And the fact that you've just asked me that suggests to me that you... found... this information at the bottom of a locked filing cabinet in a locked office somewhere."

Lois looked at him but remained tactfully silent.

"I'll just take that as a yes, shall I?" asked Henderson. He huffed. "I expect that kind of behaviour from you, Lane, but I'd have thought a lawyer would know better." He glanced pointedly at CJ, who opened his mouth to reply, then thought better of it, and shut it again.

CJ couldn't help but recognise the irony of the situation, though. Henderson didn't seem too happy about Lois's rather idiosyncratic attitude towards the rule of law. Until recently he would have shared Henderson's misgivings – perhaps he still did – and yet, here he was, tarred with the same brush as Lois.

"Oh, come on, Henderson! Just hear us out, and then if you don't like what we've got to say, you can bawl us out. Okay?"

Was that a twitch of Henderson's lips? CJ wondered. It could almost be described as the beginnings of a smile. "Seems to me," the detective said, "that you're the only one talking. Kent doesn't seem to have much to say." He sighed. "Oh, very well. Tell me what you've got. But it had better be good."

Lois grinned. "Oh, it is. Believe me." She explained about Tierney, and the defence attorney's recent change of moral heart. She glanced once or twice at CJ to check that he had nothing to add, but he preferred to leave her to blur the edges of the truth. She didn't lie, but by leaving out certain details, she left room for interpretation. If Henderson believed that their leads had come directly from Tierney, then neither he nor Lois would contradict him. It did cross CJ's mind, however, that the astute detective might be choosing to interpret the facts that way.

Lois went on to talk about Monica Carnes, about how a woman fitting her physical description had been implicated in the rigging of the Allen trial, and that the same Monica Carnes had a meeting scheduled for that afternoon with one Barbara Benton.

Henderson pointedly did not ask how Lois and CJ had chanced upon that particular bit of information. He did, however, ask whether either of them had any inkling as to what the meeting might be about.

"None," admitted Lois. "But since they also met around the time of at least one other trial that went wrong, I'm betting that it won't be a social get together."

"But it could be," suggested Henderson, adopting the role of devil's advocate.

Reluctantly, Lois agreed. "Yes, it could be." She paused, then added, "I don't think so, though. If they were friends, there would have been other entries in Benton's diary—"

"Stop!" Henderson held up his hands. "You've looked at Benton's diary?"

CJ saw Lois hesitate then start to nod. Henderson stopped her before she could even complete the first downward tilt of her chin. "I don't want to know!"

Henderson stood up and tried to pace, a task rendered impossible in the tight confines of the office. He gave the attempt up as a bad job, sat down again, and settled for drumming his fingertips on the desktop instead. The resulting staccato rhythm grated on CJ's nerves.

Finally Henderson said, "So what, precisely, is it that you think I can do?"

"Stakeout," said Lois immediately.

Henderson looked sceptical.

"Look, Henderson, we can tie this woman into bribery, threats, perverting the course of justice... I'm sure CJ could give you a list of the proper names for all these crimes—"

"No need for that, I'm sure," said Henderson dryly.

"Wouldn't you like to get her for some of these? And who knows what else she's up to? Word on the street is that she works as some kind of enforcer for Luthor. Wouldn't you like to know what he's up to?"

Henderson looked resigned as he capitulated in the face of Lois's onslaught. "Okay," he said grudgingly. "A stakeout it is. Is there anything else you want?"

CJ sensed that the conversation was about to draw to a close, so he shifted his weight so that he was standing upright. However, he had reckoned without Lois.

"Yeah," she said.

"What?" grunted Henderson.

"I want in."

"No," said Henderson firmly.

"It's my tip," protested Lois. "I deserve to be there and I will be, one way or the other! After all, the meeting is in a public place and I—"

"You deserve to be in the holding cell!" snapped Henderson. "But short of that..." He rubbed his hands across his face then said, "I'll not have you jeopardising the operation. If we're going to do this, we've got to do it right, and I don't want you ploughing straight in to the middle of a delicate situation."

"What? Are you related to my boss? Because you're beginning to sound just like him!"

"Do I look like an Elvis-loving southerner to you?"

CJ watched, fascinated, as Henderson and Lois stared each other out. He wasn't particularly surprised when Henderson broke eye contact first. "Okay, Lane. I'll do you a deal. You can come with me, but you do exactly what I say, when I say it. One false move, and I'll have you clamped in irons faster than the speed of light."

Lois smirked, satisfied. "And CJ?"

Henderson shook his head. "One of you is bad enough, and I'm only going along with that so that I can keep my eyes on you. So, do we have a deal?"

"Deal," she said and held out her hand to shake on it.

Henderson shook perfunctorily as if it was the last thing he wanted to do. "Now," he said, "before I throw you both out, is there anything else I should know about?"

CJ took both Lois and Henderson by surprise when he spoke. "Yes," he said. "I'm assuming that you'll have a team working on this stakeout?"

"Of course," said Henderson.

"Then do us all a favour, and make sure that these two guys aren't anywhere near it," and he proceeded to describe the two officers he'd overheard earlier.

This time, when Henderson laughed, there was no mistaking it. "Oh, I know about those two!" he said.

"And they're still working here?" asked Lois incredulously, beating CJ to the question by the shortest of margins.

"At least I know those two are bent," said Henderson. "If I got rid of them, Luthor'd just get someone else to do his dirty work. I like knowing who I have to look out for."

The sad thing, CJ thought, was that what Henderson was saying made complete sense.

TBC