The Vampire Murders: 3/?
by Nan Smith
Previously:
"Something's fishy here," Clark said. "Two murder victims with no history to speak of and a homeless man. Where's the connection?"
"The only one I can see," Lois said, "is Cost Mart. Which one did they work at?" She shuffled the papers again, looking for the information. "Looks like the new one, over by Old Town. I guess we need to go over there next."
"They aren't going to talk to us," Clark pointed out.
"Sure they will," Lois said. She stood up and reached for her jacket. "If they want to look innocent, the last thing they should do is refuse to talk to the press. Let's go."
**********
And now, Part 3:
"Is that it?" Lois nodded out the side window as the SUV approached a large, box-like building, surrounded by a spacious parking lot. To one side, wooden barricades blocked off a section of the lot where torn pavement and piles of dirt indicated that there was some sort of construction going on. Several pieces of earth-moving equipment sat idle about the site, and men in hard hats were seated here and there, apparently eating their lunches.
"Looks like it," Clark said. "There's a parking spot," he added.
"I wonder what they're doing to their parking lot," Lois remarked. "They've blocked off half the parking spaces."
"Looks like they're digging up the pavement," Clark said. "Maybe they're adding on to the building."
Lois parked the Cherokee and cut the engine. "Well, let's see if we can talk to the manager and get his official take on the deaths of his employees," she said. "And I want to look around a little. It might not be a bad idea, in case we have to come back later."
"Are we coming back later?" Clark asked.
"Maybe," Lois said. "It depends on what we find out."
Inside the building, it was identical to the Cost Mart nearer to the Daily Planet, where Lois had shopped on more than one occasion -- a big, warehouse-sized, box-like store with an amazing variety of merchandise, ranging from massage chairs to cold pills to actual grocery items. Prominently displayed in the inner entrance walkway was a bright red Ferrari, along with a glaring sign announcing a drawing on the last day of the month for some lucky customer. Lois passed it without a second look and led the way to the service desk.
The customer service representative was a young woman, who smiled brightly at her. Her smile widened when she saw Clark, Lois noted, unreasonably irritated. "May I help you?"
"I hope so," Lois said. She produced her press credentials. "I'm Lois Lane and this is my partner, Clark Kent, from the Daily Planet. We were hoping for a chance to speak to your manager --" She glanced at the plaque on the wall behind the woman that listed the store officers. "Mr. Clarence Brunner?"
"Uhh --" The receptionist appeared slightly perplexed. "Why?"
"This is about the two Cost Mart employees found dead in Centennial Park," Lois said. "One was found last night, and the other this morning. They apparently worked at this store, and we were wondering if your manager might have any insight on the event."
The woman's eyes grew large. "Dead?" she squeaked.
Lois nodded in her most matter-of-fact manner. "I'm afraid so, and the deaths were a little unusual. My partner and I are writing a piece about it for the Daily Planet. A statement from your manager would be useful. May we talk to him?"
The woman swallowed. "I'll have to make a call."
**********
Clarence Brunner was a large, sleek man with a head of thick, shiny black hair, a broad nose and a thin black mustache on his upper lip. The instant Lois saw him, an image rose in her mind of one of the recurring bad guys in the old Dick Tracy comic strip that had been a feature in the Daily Planet when she had been a child. His broad shoulders and the thick cigar that smoldered in the gold ash tray on his desk only made the image more familiar. He smiled when his secretary escorted them into his office and extended a hand to Clark.
"Ms. Lane, Mr. Kent." He shook Clark's hand and turned to Lois. The handshake lacked enthusiasm, to say the least, Lois thought, but he ran his gaze over her from head to toe. She tried to ignore the sudden sensation of having ventured out on business far too lightly clad. "Delighted to meet you. I recognize the names, of course. What can I do for the Daily Planet?"
Lois smiled pleasantly and let her partner take the lead. If she was any judge, this guy didn't have a lot of respect for females.
Clark smiled as well, and if she hadn't known her partner well, she wouldn't have spotted the fact that the smile was just as insincere as the one Brunner had given them. "You may have seen the report last night," he said, "about the body discovered in Centennial Park. Another one was discovered this morning, not far from the wishing well."
"That's too bad," Brunner said, "but how does this involve me?"
"You've had no contact from the police?"
The man shook the ash off the tip of his cigar and took a deep drag. "No. Should I expect them to contact me?" He blew a cloud of smoke that made Lois want to cough.
"I'm surprised they haven't," Clark said. "Both men were identified as employees of Cost Mart -- specifically, this Cost Mart. Frederick de Mint stocked shelves. He was the man discovered last night. The other was a security guard here, named Thomas Baucus. He apparently worked the night shift as well. We were wondering if you might have any comment?"
"How very strange." Brunner's voice was a study in oily disinterest. "Still, since I've heard nothing of this, I'll have to say 'no comment' to your questions. If you'd care to return at a later date, after I've had a chance to review their employment records and to speak with the police, I'll try to have something for you."
Lois glanced at Clark. Her partner's face was impossible to read, but something about his expression raised red flags for Lois. She stepped in quickly. "Can you think, Mr. Brunner, why anyone might have killed two of your employees?"
The man shook his head decisively. "Absolutely not. Whatever happened, I doubt there can be any connection to Cost Mart."
**********
"I don't believe him for a minute," Lois said. They stepped out the main doors of the Cost Mart store and into the parking lot.
"Neither do I," Clark said. "He was lying."
"No kidding. But about what?"
"I don't know." Clark had tilted his head, as she had seem him do many times. "Do you hear a jackhammer?"
Lois paused, listening. Now that he had drawn her attention to it, she did hear something. "Where have all the workmen gone? It's barely one o'clock."
"Probably back to work." Clark was fiddling with his glasses again, she saw. "I wonder what they're really doing, digging in the parking lot."
Lois cast him a suspicious glance. "Do you know something I don't, Kent?"
Clark shrugged. "Not really. It just occurred to me to wonder if those two men, who both worked the night shift around here, saw something they shouldn't have," he said. "If Cost Mart is part of Intergang --"
"Which it is," Lois interjected.
He shrugged. "Yeah, probably. Maybe they came across something that their bosses didn't want them to see."
"Maybe," Lois said, "we should come back here tonight and see if we can find anything."
"Together," Clark specified quickly. "You won't come back here by yourself."
She cast him an exasperated glance. "Of course not. As long as you'll come with me."
"Oh, I will. Definitely."
She eyed him suspiciously. "Why aren't you arguing? You always argue."
Clark shoved his glasses firmly into place. "Because I know very well you're going to come back here whether I want you to or not, so I figure if I come along at least I'll be here to help if it gets dangerous. Besides," he added, "I think you're right. Something pretty nasty is going on here. I want to know what it is."
Lois opened the door of the Jeep and got into the driver's seat. "So do I. I guess you're learning things hanging around me after all, Kent."
Clark looked as if he were struggling not to grin. "You have no idea." He went around the back of the Jeep and got into the passenger seat. Lois started up the motor.
"One more thing," she added. "Be sure you wear stuff you don't care too much about."
"Why?" Clark asked.
"Well, it's probably dumb, but I want to see what they're doing with all that digging in the parking lot." She nodded at the signs of excavation beyond the barrier as she put the Jeep in forward. "It's probably nothing, but I want to make sure. They're probably just fixing the wiring or repairing the plumbing or something, but we won't know for certain unless we look. So we're going to look."
"Okay with me," Clark said. "I was thinking the same thing, myself. If Cost Mart is connected with Intergang, they could be up to anything."
"Exactly. And I still want to know more about victims two and three. But there's still victim number one, who didn't work for Cost Mart. There has to be a connection somewhere."
**********
"I got the background on victim number one," Jimmy was saying a short time later. "As far as I can see, there isn't any obvious connection to the other two guys except that he was killed the same way they were, and found in the park. Maybe the police will be able to tell you more than I can."
"Fat chance of that," Lois said. "Have you found anything more on the Cost Mart employees?"
"Nope." Jimmy shook his head. "It's as if they didn't exist before last year."
"Maybe they didn't," Clark suggested. "I mean, maybe they were using aliases."
"Both of them?" Lois frowned. "I guess it's possible, but if they were it wasn't an accident. Could they have been working together?"
"Maybe undercover police?" Jimmy hazarded.
"That might explain it," Lois said, trying not to sound excited. "If they were cops, and their bosses at Cost Mart found out --"
"I think we're jumping ahead of ourselves a little," Clark said. "They could have been police, I guess, but there might be other explanations, too. Did you get pictures of the two victims, Jimmy?"
"Yeah." Jimmy nodded at the folder of papers to the side of his computer.
"Do you think you could try to compare them to pictures of some of Metropolis's police officers? Say, Homicide, or some of their detectives?"
"I guess it can't hurt," Jimmy agreed. "I'll let you know if I come up with anything."
"You do that," Lois said. She glanced at her watch. "I think this thing has stopped."
Clark knew how she felt. Considering their plans for later this evening, the minutes seemed to be crawling by. However, he might be able to make some use of the time left ….
He glanced at his watch. "I'll be right back," he said. "I just have time to drop off the videotape I meant to return this morning."
Lois sighed. "I don't think I've rented as many videos in my life as the number you return," she said.
Clark managed to look contrite. Really, he had to think of some more convincing excuses to run off. The videotape thing was starting to get old. "I'll be right back," he said. "Then, since we've got that … stakeout tonight, let's drop by Martino's for some dinner before it gets dark. I'm paying," he added quickly as Lois opened her mouth to object. "I think I owe you for the last cab ride, anyway, so that ought to even the score."
He headed toward the exit before she could reply.
**********
Superman cut through the late afternoon air of Metropolis toward the Twelfth Precinct. Hopefully, William Henderson was in his office and would be willing to tell Superman more than he had told Clark Kent. Something was definitely not normal here. He had caught a short glimpse of that so-called excavation work in the Cost Mart parking lot today, and what he had seen called for a closer look.
The desk sergeant looked up as Clark, clad in the famous red and blue uniform, pushed open the doors of the office. "Hello, Superman. Can I help you?"
"Thank you, Sergeant. Is Inspector Henderson in?"
The man did something to the board in front of him. "Inspector, Superman's here to see you."
Clark heard Henderson's voice, somewhat distorted by static. "Send him back."
Henderson was seated behind his desk when Clark knocked on the doorframe, apparently reading something on the screen of his desktop computer. He looked up at the sound. "What can I do for you, Superman?"
"I needed some information," Clark said. "You seemed to be the one to ask."
"Oh? And what would that be?"
Clark stepped into the office. "The two men found dead in the park," he said. He hesitated. Henderson's face was expressionless, but he could hear the man's heartbeat speed up slightly. "By any chance, were they connected to the police department?"
One of Henderson's eyebrows slid up. "Now, why would you be interested in that?" he asked slowly.
"I have my reasons," Clark said. "I need to know."
Henderson regarded him for another long moment. "They were undercover officers," he said abruptly and very grimly. "I had the fun of informing their families that they weren't coming home."
Clark nodded. "I'm sorry," he said.
"I'm going to get whoever did this," Henderson said. "I don't buy the drained of blood explanation for a minute. Somebody murdered two of my best men."
Again, Clark nodded. "Is there any connection you know of to the homeless man who was found a couple of days before?" he asked.
Henderson shook his head. "We don't know. He was a former NASA employee who'd been living on the streets for several years. We're still looking into his background to see if we can make a connection, but there must be something. We'll find it, and when we do, hopefully it will help us identify the killer."
"Thanks." Clark regarded Henderson soberly. "I'm sorry about your men. If I find out anything concrete, you'll be the first to know. For the record, I don't believe in vampires, either."
"Don't tell me you came here out of curiosity," Henderson said.
"No, but like you, I don't know anything yet. All I have are a few guesses. At least you eliminated one question." He glanced at the clock on the wall of Henderson's office. "You'll be hearing from me, but I need to go. Thanks again."
**********
tbc
