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LAST TIME ON EMII:

Saxon gently rocked Katherine where they stood. It was too intimate a moment to share, and CJ felt like a voyeur. He tore his eyes away from them, wishing that he could escape the room altogether and let them share some privacy. However, they stood in the way of the front door, and it was not his place to explore the unseen rooms to the back.

He glanced at Lois and saw that she, too, was determinedly not looking in the other couple's direction. CJ and Lois nudged closer to each other on the sofa, and CJ lay his hand over hers.

Katherine's sobs eventually ebbed into silence. It was a long time before she asked timidly, "So what happens now?"

NOW READ ON...


CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE


Saxon turned towards Lois and CJ, looking to them for answers. Lois glanced at CJ and mouthed, "Go on."

His eyes widened fractionally and she knew that he was surprised that she had passed control of the situation over to him. However, to her, it made complete sense to do so. He, after all, was the lawyer; he should know how best to get Katherine Cox into the system.

He cleared his throat. "Well, we need to get you to the police. You'll need to make a statement and we need to find out what you can give us."

"And then what?" Katherine whispered.

"And then we'll see."

Saxon and Katherine looked at each other, then Saxon turned back to look at CJ. "And if that's not good enough? Can't you give us any kind of guarantees?"

CJ shook his head regretfully. "It's not as easy as that. If what you can give us is good enough, it's possible that you could be granted immunity from prosecution. In fact, as a prosecutor, it might even be in my power to give it to you. But I'd have to be able to defend any recommendations I make, and I can't just say to you here and now that everything'll be fine, because I honestly cannot guarantee it will be. As I said, it'll depend on what you've got."

"What I've got..." Katherine said so quietly that even CJ, with his acute hearing, had trouble hearing her. She glanced at Saxon, then she said at a more normal volume to Lois and CJ, "Can you give us a little privacy so that we can discuss this?"

Lois could tell from the way CJ's grip on her hand tightened momentarily that he shared her reluctance to leave the other couple alone. What if they tried to run out on them? Where would the investigation be then?

"It's okay," said Katherine. "We won't skip out on you. I promise." Beside her, Saxon nodded his head.

Lois looked at CJ and nodded infinitesimally to show that she was prepared to go along with their request. If it had been Katherine on her own, she wasn't sure that she would have been so willing to accommodate them. However, Saxon had proved himself to be trustworthy enough. If he gave his word, Lois was inclined to take it.

"Very well," said CJ. "We'll wait outside." With that he stood up. Lois, still holding his hand, followed suit. Together they walked over to the front door and let themselves out.

They walked down the steps and, dragged by some kind of homing instinct, wandered over to the Jeep. CJ leaned against the car and gazed off into the middle distance while Lois scuffed some dirt with the toe of her shoe and chewed on her lower lip. It was a long time before either of them spoke.

Finally, Lois said, "Do you think she'll help us?"

"Yeah," answered CJ. "Now that she knows she's got Saxon on her side, I think she will. I'm just wondering how helpful her help will actually be."

"How d'you mean?"

CJ turned to look at her. His expression was sombre as he said, "We know she saw Luthor shoot Taylor. But after all this time, if it's just her word against his..." He shook his head.

"Are you saying that we still might not have enough?" She kicked the ground viciously and snapped, "I am so sick of this, CJ! Nothing is ever enough! How can he get away with it? And how can you just stand there and accept it?!"

"I hate this as much as you do!" snapped CJ angrily and Lois realised immediately that she'd gone too far. "I've been fighting against this for years and it's why—" He broke off abruptly, but he didn't need to finish the sentence for Lois to know what he would have said.

She remembered the day their adventure had begun, the day he'd saved her life. He'd been angry enough to yell at her as the Allen case was adjourned. He'd told her things that he'd normally have kept bottled up inside of him, letting them fester, pushing him deeper into his depression. "Justice is not going to be done here, and it's gotten to the point where I'm fed up with even trying to see that it is!" That was what he'd said to her, back in the courthouse – back before his visit to the other world. She hadn't really understood what that meant for him then. Now, though, after encountering so many of the barriers he faced day in and day out, she could sympathise with his feeling of frustrated impotence.

She hated it.

And yet, in spite of everything, CJ was still fighting the good fight. Yes, he was wondering whether Katherine Cox was going to give them anything they could use, but he wasn't getting angry or despairing over it. He was just... wondering. And she'd chastised him for his lack of emotion. She hated herself for that.

Lois looked down at her feet and, miserably, murmured, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you."

"It's okay," he said. "I understand. It is frustrating. It's obvious from her reaction that she knows stuff, but that, on its own might not be enough. We need evidence, too. Good, solid evidence."

Lois moved over to him. They wrapped their arms around each other, drawing comfort from their closeness. "Don't you think it's weird," said Lois after a minute or so, "that Katherine and Saxon didn't talk about any of this before now? I mean, they seem to love each other, and yet they kept this really huge secret..."

"They were trying to protect each other, Lois. They each withheld knowledge that they thought might hurt the other."

"Do you... I mean... Would you ever keep anything from me, because it might hurt?"

Lois felt his laugh, a short rumbling quake in his chest. "You already know all my big secrets. I've only got little ones left, and I have no doubt that you'll discover all of those, too, given time."

"I'm serious, CJ."

"So am I."

She shook her head against his chest. "My parents... I haven't told you about my parents, have I?" It wasn't really a question; she knew she hadn't.

CJ answered anyway, knowing it was expected of him. "No."

"They kept secrets from each other all the time. My mother hid the fact that she was drinking. My father hid the fact that he was having affairs. And they were always so suspicious of each other. It was... terrible," she finished bleakly. "I don't like secrets, CJ. I don't trust them. And I find it hard to understand how those two in there could keep secrets from each other and do it out of love."

"When you put it like that, it is pretty hard to understand, but I guess it works for them."

"Will you promise me something?" she asked.

"Anything."

She felt stupid saying it and she hoped that CJ wouldn't interpret it as a lack of trust on her part, but she couldn't help herself. "Just promise that you'll never try to make keeping secrets work for us."

He wasn't angry. He didn't laugh at her insecurities. Instead he said seriously, "I promise."

Lois released the breath she hadn't known she was holding and hugged him tighter. "Thank you," she said. She hoped he could tell how deeply her gratitude ran.

They heard the opening and closing of the front door and pulled apart.

Katherine was holding a small weekend bag in one hand and Saxon's backpack in her other while Saxon, himself, was double-locking the door behind them.

"What...?" began Lois, nudging CJ and pointing. His only response was to pull a doubtful face.

The answer that she wanted was not long in coming, however. Saxon and Katherine walked towards them, stopping abruptly some five feet away from her. "We've made a decision," said Saxon abruptly. "We're coming with you. We're both sick of hiding. It's time for us to do what's right and for us to face up to the consequences of our actions."

"It'll be worth it," added Katherine. "For you, as well as for us."

"Okay," said Lois doubtfully, mindful of CJ's earlier concerns, which were now being joined by some of her own.

This was what she and CJ wanted but, she suddenly realised, they hadn't thought through any of the logistics. Going to the police was easy in theory, but less so in practice. Who could they take Katherine to? Who could they trust to do things properly?

The answer, when it came to her, was so obvious that she wondered why it had taken her so long to find it: Henderson. He had, after all, told her to give him anything useful that they found out.

*****

The journey back to Metropolis passed quickly. This was partly because, this time, Lois knew where she was going and didn't get lost. Also, the temperature had begun to fall, which made the Jeep a little more bearable than it had been on the way out. Mostly, however, it was because the conversation, such as it was, was fascinating. To say the least.

Katherine, having resolved to turn herself in, was remarkably forthcoming. She told them about herself, about how her husband had left her one stormy night in July 1994, leaving her with a mountain of debt he'd accumulated in her name, a house she couldn't afford, a car that was about to be repossessed and an urgent need to get a job. Any job, she said, so long as it paid well.

She'd quickly found herself a position at LexCorp, where she'd honed her skills as a secretary, displaying a flare for organisation that was second to none. She supposed it had been the result of her background, where everything had to be done quickly, neatly and efficiently. She'd been in the army, she explained, until she'd left to be with Mr Cox. She was a skilled firearms expert, and that, allied to her other skills, had quickly brought her to the attention of Luthor.

There was something about him, Katherine said, that made him next to impossible to say no to. It wasn't just that he offered his favoured employees high salaries, bonuses and perks. Nor was it that, behind everything, hovered the threat of retribution for any transgressions. Rather, it was something about him. He was charismatic, almost hypnotic in a way, commanding and receiving the ultimate in loyalty from his followers. He was irresistible.

"But you resisted," pointed out Lois. "You must have done, else you wouldn't have left him."

"It wasn't easy," she said. "And, if I hadn't met Peter, here, I don't think I'd have been able to do it."

"How did you meet?" asked CJ, craning around in the front passenger seat, so that he could see the couple in the back.

"Lex was being given a tour around the nuclear plant. It was still under construction then, of course. Anyway, Peter was there. And it happened, just like that. Love at first sight."

Saxon nodded. "Neither of us could believe it at first. Katherine had sworn off men – well, apart from Luthor, but she said he didn't really count, because love never really came into that. I'd just... Well, I was getting on a bit, and I'd more or less given up on finding that one special person. I didn't think that it was ever going to happen for me. And then..." He leaned over and kissed Katherine lightly on her cheek.

"It took a long time for us to decide what we were going to do about it all, though," said Katherine. "And then..." She hesitated. "And then I began to see what Luthor really wanted me for, and it wasn't to drive him around in a limo and check his appointments for him. He wanted a bodyguard, secretary and enforcer, all rolled into one.

"Even then, it wasn't too bad to begin with. Mostly it was just threats. Strong-arming people, you know?" Lois thought of Judith Myerson and nodded sombrely. Yes, she thought. She knew. "But everything changed when he went after Toni Taylor."

"What happened then?" asked Lois.

Katherine told them, in studiedly flat tones that didn't quite hide the echoing horror of the story, how Luthor had double-crossed the leader of the Metro gang. She told them how Luthor had manipulated Taylor into making a play for her brother's fiefdom, seducing her with hints of respectability and partnership. And then she'd told them how, once Taylor was in charge of the Metros, Luthor had tried to force her to sell out to him. When she'd refused, Luthor had killed her.

Katherine's account of the actual murder accorded with the one Tessa had given to CJ, but was more detailed. "To begin with, Luthor wanted me to kill her. I still wonder whether or not I'd have been able to go through with it. I hope not, but I... Sometimes I have nightmares about it. I see me pulling the trigger.

"Anyway, at the last minute, Luthor said that he wanted to do it himself. And he enjoyed it! He really, really enjoyed it! And that was when I knew I had to get out. I should never had let things go so far in the first place, but that was too much, even for me."

Lois wondered whether Katherine's story was entirely on the level. Were there other skeletons in the closet that she was still carefully keeping hidden, or had Taylor really been her first brush with murder? Lois found herself hoping fervently that the latter was the case. She didn't want to, but she felt an odd sort of liking for the woman. Lois didn't want to see that liking undermined in any way.

"Luthor told me to get rid of the gun. Only I didn't. I took it and hid it. That was my insurance against Luthor coming after me. And then I went straight to Peter. I didn't tell him why I'd left Luthor in a hurry, just that I couldn't stand to stay there any longer."

"We moved out here," Saxon finished. "And the rest, as they say, is history."

"And this gun?" asked CJ. Lois could hear the carefully reined in hope in the question. She felt it, too.

Lois glanced back in the rear view mirror and saw Katherine nodding. "I told you it would be worth your while," she said. "Ballistics can match the gun to the bullet that killed Taylor, and Luthor's fingerprints are all over it."

TBC