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Wrong Place, Wrong Time, Wrong Clark TOC can be found Here

Where we left off in Part 111 ...

Lois came in early to the newsroom on Monday morning. She wanted a chance to talk to Clark before the rush of their day began. Lex’s interruption of her discussion with Superman the previous morning had upset her. Had Clark been on the verge of revealing to her his secret? Superman certainly seemed as if he were about to kiss her, which she knew she shouldn’t have encouraged, but she had started it by kissing him first. Anyway, she doubted Clark would kiss her again as Superman unless he was going to tell her about his secret first.

Was she ready to tell Clark about her undercover operation with Lex? That was the big crux. She knew that they would argue about it, and Clark would do anything and everything in his insurmountable power to stop her. Lois wanted Clark to accept that, as a journalist, she took dangerous chances to get a story, just as she had by going to witness the Moskals’ ransom drop on Saturday night. She knew that Clark’s overprotective side would have difficulty with her walking knowingly into danger.

Lex had taken Lois out of Metropolis to his estate located halfway between Metropolis and Gotham City. It would have been nice to have a little head’s up on the length of their excursion. He had called ahead and had his staff, his servants, set up a romantic picnic brunch out in the gardens. It wasn’t the kind of picnic lunch that she would have had with Clark. For one, the picnic included a table and chairs, and a butler to serve it. It was a large old country house, which reminded her of the manor houses she had taken tours of during her semester abroad in Ireland. It was huge and rambling with more servants than she could count. Being that Lex had never mentioned the house to her previously, she was quite a bit surprised at the number of people he had employed there, as if he visited often. She liked that he was opening himself and his life to her, and letting her get to know the real Lex Luthor better. It meant that he was starting to trust her. Step one of her plan was complete.

Who knew that the way to attract a man such as Lex was to express as little interest in him as possible? She guessed that he constantly must have had women flinging themselves at him to gain access to his money. Lois had no interest in Lex’s wealth. She had no interest in getting to know the man any better than she did already. She certainly had no romantic designs on Lex. She had only one interest in him: she wanted to know his secrets, such as where he kept his Kryptonite and what crimes he had committed, and she wanted to bring him down for trying to kill the man she loved. Other than that, she had no interest in Lex Luthor at all.


Part 112

Lois dropped her briefcase off at her desk and approached Clark at his. “Hi. Did you have a nice weekend?”

Clark glanced up at her approach and leaned back in his chair. “Hi, Lois. I see you closed the kidnappings investigation without me. Thanks for letting me know.”

Clearly, Mr. Kent wasn’t happy that Ms. Lane had left Superman to clean up his mess at her apartment and had gone off with Mr. Luthor. “You snooze, you lose. You know that’s the way it is in cut-throat reporting, Chuck.”

“I thought we were partners, Lois. Would a telephone call have been too much of an inconvenience?” he replied.

Lois had called Clark late Sunday afternoon, but he hadn’t been at home. After her luncheon with Lex, she had a very important errand or two she had to run first. “It was the middle of the night after Superman had found Chris Moskal, and I typed up my story,” she explained. “Surely, you didn’t want me to call you then.”

“You could have called me first thing yesterday morning,” he said.

Except that he knew very well that she had been otherwise occupied. “Oh, yes, yesterday morning was quite an adventure,” Lois admitted vaguely. “I had brunch, which went longer than anticipated, and by the time I returned home you must have gone out for the day as you didn’t answer my call. Maybe it’s time to replace that answering machine tape that Detective Wolfe took after you were abducted.”

Clark’s brow furrowed as if this was the first he had heard of it. “Detective Wolfe took my answering machine tape? Why?”

“As evidence,” she said.

“Was there a message from the abductors on it?” he asked.

“You really had no idea it was missing?” Lois said, speaking her thoughts aloud.

“No.”

She placed a hand to her forehead in shame. “Oh, gosh, that’s right. You have no memories of those minutes prior to being abducted. You must have checked your messages and then called to leave that one on my machine just before Joe Rory stopped by. Let’s see, there was a message from Cat, and then a few from me. I think there may have been one from Martha, but I’m not positive on that. You should probably double check with Inspector Henderson. Oh! And one from the National Bank of New …”

Clark had been staring at her, his expression darkening. “What’s that?” he said, pointing at her wrist.

Oh, crap! She had meant to keep that hidden from Clark. “A watch,” she said, tugging down her jacket sleeve to cover it.

“I see it’s a watch, Lois. Where did you get it?” Clark asked.

“What does that matter?” Lois sputtered. “It’s just a watch, which tells time. Simple and functional with no fancy jewels or whatnot.” She had S.T.A.R. Labs double check to make sure it lacked Kryptonite after Lex had given it to her the previous day at brunch. They found nothing radioactive, although they did find a homing signal, so it seemed that Lex could track her whereabouts on it. She had S.T.A.R. Labs record the frequency, just in case.

“Lois, it’s a Rolex.”

“A what?” she said, wondering what in the world a ‘Rolex’ was. Of course, he would notice Lex’s name on her watch. “No, it’s not,” she said, glancing down at the face. “Well, actually, it’s a LoLex.”

“A LoLex? Of course, why doesn’t that surprise me? Luthor bought you a… LoLex watch?” he said, his voice rough with a mixture of emotions. Anger, sadness, and pain were the three most evident.

“He felt bad that I had lost the one my grandmother had given me for my graduation from Met U.,” she said, although Lex hadn’t learned from where she had gotten her previous watch until she had told him when he asked her about the coffee shop robbery. “It’s nothing.”

Clark’s expression told her that he didn’t agree. “Lois, when you accept such an expensive gift from someone as big and powerful as Luthor, someone on whom you report, it calls into question your lack of bias.”

That’s exactly what I told him when I refused the ruby and emerald encrusted one at Christmas, she wanted to scream, but decided it would hit too close to home. “It’s just a watch, Clark. He could’ve spent thousands of dollars to buy me a luxury watch, which he didn’t, and it still would’ve been nothing to him. It would be the equivalent to us picking up a cheapo watch at the corner drugstore. It means nothing,” she said. “To him, it was an inexpensive gift for a friend. To me, it’s a way to tell time. Nothing more.”

Clark stood, but before he could speak, Jimmy walked up. “The Laderman jury has come back with a verdict, Lois. Court will be back in session within a half-hour,” he said, handing Lois a note to that effect.

“Thank you, Jimmy,” Lois said, and then waited until he was out of earshot. “It means nothing, Clark.”

“It means something to me,” he replied, swiping up his mug and heading over to the coffee station.

“Clark,” Lois said, stopping him with a touch to his arm. “We’ll talk about this later; I’ve got to run.” She held up the note that Jimmy had given to her about the Laderman jury. “If you see Superman, could you please tell him that I need to speak to him?”

“What about?” he asked, his eyes narrowing.

“It’s private,” she replied, not wishing to rehash the Professor Daitch Nightfall data scandal on the newsroom floor where anyone and Perry could overhear them.

Clark’s expression turned thunderous. He really did this jealous of himself act well. “So, now I’m third on your list; below source and superhero comes partner. Thanks. That’s really being a team player there, Lois.”

Oh, don’t get me started on ‘team players’, Superman! Lois glared back at him. “Give me a break,” she grumbled. “I don’t have time for this.” She picked up her briefcase from her desk and marched off down the stairs.

***

Lois jogged down the courthouse steps to where her Jeep had been parked in two hour parking, and had been all morning and part of the afternoon thanks to Detective Reed and her endless questioning. Lois pulled a yellow parking ticket off her windshield and unlocked her door. “Terrific, another one,” she grumbled, tossing it onto the dash with the others as she climbed into her seat. She stuck her key into the ignition and turned to check her visibility for backing up when she saw a gun come out of the backseat.

“Drive,” Eugene Laderman said from where he crouched behind her, shaking the gun. He wasn’t really pointing it at her but at her front windshield.

“Eugene! What are you doing?” she hissed, glancing towards the street to see if anyone saw him.

“Just drive,” he pleaded more than insisted.

Lois decided to comply. It would be better to talk to Eugene away from the courthouse, where Detective Reed had the entire MPD searching for him. She drove a few blocks, and then pulled into an alley so that they could talk. “This isn’t going to work, Eugene. Everyone is looking for you,” she said, turning off the engine and facing him. She held out her hand. “Now, give me the gun before you get into any more trouble.”

Eugene handed her the gun. “I never would’ve.”

“I know that you wouldn’t,” she reassured him, sticking the gun into her briefcase.

“Ms. Lane, Jimmy Olsen said that if I ever needed any help that you’re the one I should turn to,” he said. “That he asked you to look into my case.”

Jimmy? Oh, right, Jimbo. Lois nodded.

“You know that all the evidence against me is circumstantial. You know I didn’t kill Henry Harrison,” Eugene continued.

“I believe you’re innocent, Eugene, but you’re also an escaped felon, now armed and dangerous. What are you going to do?” she asked. If nothing else, she sure had a banner headline for her ‘innocent convicted killer escapes’ story.

“I don’t know. Except I have to see Lena. Jimmy showed me those pictures he took of her at the Regency,” Eugene said, his head shaking in confusion. “She didn’t look at me during the trial, or visit me in jail, and now I’m wondering if it’s because she’s moved on.” His shoulders slumped.

“Well, you were just convicted of killing her husband,” Lois reminded him.

“I love her, and I thought that she loved me. She knows I’m innocent. Please, I have to talk to her. I need to find out the truth. Help me,” Eugene begged.

If there was one thing that Mad Dog Lane had a weakness for, besides chocolate and a certain superhero in tights, it was an innocent convicted killer with puppy-dog eyes. Unfortunately, his timing was awful. How was she going to sneak an escaped felon into her apartment when Lex was having her spied upon and tailed? She decided she was just going to take that chance. Eugene needed her.

***

Clark watched as Lois came into the newsroom. He wished he could concentrate on how attractive she looked in that red jacket and long black skirt, but all he could see was the watch on her wrist. Not only had she accepted what he knew had to be an expensive gift from that piece of dung billionaire, she had confided in Luthor that the watch that she had lost in the robbery had been a gift from her grandmother. She hadn’t even told Clark that until that morning. Then she had the audacity to ask him to set up an interview with Superman.

It’s private.

Not from him, it wasn’t.

Lois looked towards Clark, and he glanced away, so she wouldn’t know he’d been staring. She walked up to his desk anyway. Thankfully, someone called for help at that exact moment, so he had an excuse to leave.

“I’ve got to run, Lois,” he said, jumping to his feet.

“I can’t talk either, Clark,” she said, blocking his escape to the stairwell. “Nor am I going to have time to meet with Superman after all.”

His brow rose. That was a first. “Have a hot date?” he inquired, unable to stop himself.

“I wish. No, Eugene Laderman escaped from jail, and I need to write up the story,” she explained, glancing away, and then giving him room to pass.

Clark heard the shout for help again; otherwise, he would have probed further. Lois wasn’t meeting his eyes, and he knew she was hiding something. “That’s okay,” he reassured her backing out of the newsroom. “I didn’t have a chance to tell him about your meeting request.”

“It’s important, but it can wait until tomorrow,” she said, waving him off. “You better go. I wouldn’t want you to be late.”

He nodded and jogged towards the stairwell; half-way up to the roof he froze for a split second. He was running out on Lois, and she wasn’t angry about it or asking him to where he was off. She let him go, and easily at that. Yes, there was definitely something up in Camp Lane.

***

“Lois, are you doing a follow-up on the Eugene Laderman escape?” Perry asked the next morning at their staff meeting.

Clark glanced over at Lois across the table, waiting for her to answer the Chief. She wasn’t dressed as sexily as she had been the day before, he noted. Not that it mattered; all he could see was the damn Rol… LoLex watch. The faceplate might read “LoLex” on it, but Clark knew a Rolex when he saw one. Lana had drooled over them often enough. While Lois was busy at the courthouse the previous day, Clark had done some research and discovered that the Rolex brand didn’t exist in this dimension. It made him curious if the Lex Luthor of his old dimension had named his company Rolex, instead of LoLex, due to the naming laws which stated that products couldn’t be named after living people, not that “Ro” prefix changed anything. Additionally, had Lois worn that red and black outfit from the day before to divert him from noticing her new watch?

Last night, he had a nightmare about Lois in that outfit. Well, it hadn’t started out as a nightmare. It had started out with them back in the stairwell, kissing.

Lois had been in that outfit. She had unfastened that wrap-around black skirt and draped it over his shoulders as if it were a cape. “Be my Superman,” she had moaned into his mouth as he had propped her against the concrete wall.

“Always,” he had murmured, kissing down her neck and using his heat vision to zap off the threads to her red jacket’s buttons. It had fallen open, revealing a blue camisole the same color as his uniform.

“I love you, Superman,” she said, pulling open his shirt and running her hands down his uniform to undo his pants.

They had been in the throes of ecstasy when Lex Luthor had walked into the stairwell and interrupted them.

“Oh, Lois, how could you?” the billionaire had asked, sounding disappointed and annoyed more than anything.

Clark had noticed the gun in his hand just as Luthor had shot the watch off Lois’s wrist, which was no longer silver, but a hideous band of red and green glowing crystals. The crystals had exploded, sending shards flying.

He and Lois had collapsed to the floor. She slowly had bled out from the hole in her wrist, and Clark had been unable to help her, let alone get off her, due to the Kryptonite fragments, which had penetrated his body. Clark could still hear Luthor’s maniacal laughter when he’d awakened, drenched in sweat.

Clark swallowed, and pushed that nightmare back into the recesses of his mind, as he focused on Lois once more.

Her thoughts were a thousand miles away as she chewed on her thumb and doodled on her notepad. Evidently, what had distracted Lois from her private interview with Superman was still on her mind. He hoped it had nothing to do with Lex Luthor.

Perry dropped a copy of that morning’s Daily Planet on the conference room table and looked at his top investigative reporter. “Lois, are you with us here?” he asked.

Lois glanced up. “Uh… Yeah, I’m on it,” she replied, but Clark knew that neither he nor Perry believed her.

“Are you upset over the verdict?” Clark asked her, trying to figure out what was distracting her. Was it the brightness of the Chief’s deep turquoise new suit? Because that certainly was a distraction. Half the staff was staring at their boss in disbelief, and the other half were trying not to look at Perry’s new toupee. Clark winced. Oh, God. 1994. Perry’s fiftieth birthday. He should have known. His boss in his old dimension had gone through this phase as well with the most disastrous results.

“The man is innocent!” she exclaimed. “He’s no more a killer than I am.”

“Well, now. Wait a minute. The man signed a confession, didn’t he?” Perry asked.

“He was under duress when he signed it, and his attorney wasn’t even present,” Lois said, defending Laderman in her usual Mad Dog style. Yep, Eugene Laderman’s escape was definitely on Lois’s mind.

“Lois, the man shot his boss, and then set fire to the room to try to hide the evidence,” Clark reminded her.

“His fingerprints were on the gun,” Jimmy interjected. “His clothes had Harrison’s blood on them.”

Lois shot Jimmy a glare. “Jimbo and I think he’s innocent,” she growled.

“If I had a dollar for every time Jimbo was wrong…” Jimmy rebutted. “Anyway, Laderman and Harrison’s wife were doing the deed.”

“It’s okay to have an affair if your husband is a brutal sociopath,” Lois snapped.

Clark’s jaw dropped. That was a one-eighty from The Laws of Cheating by Lois Lane. It was okay to cheat on someone who was a brutal sociopath, but one kiss on the roof with a superhero was a felony offense? “No, it’s not!” Clark exclaimed. “It’s not okay. It’s never okay!”

Lois stared at him, her eyes widening in shock. “Never?” she scoffed.

“Assuming it’s true…” he murmured. Was Lois cheating on him with Luthor? Was that why Luthor was so sure of himself? Was that why he had given her the expensive watch? Was that why she was advocating cheating now?

“What’s true?” Perry asked.

Clark gazed down at his hands, unable to look at Lois’s reaction to his words. “That they’re having an affair,” he mumbled. Had he inadvertently caused his beloved to run into the arms of an evil, narcissistic, pyschopathic killer by not telling her the truth? Had Luthor lied to Lois and told her he had found something criminal in Clark’s past? Was she calling him a brutal sociopath? Not that Clark and Lois were married, or could ever be married, well… in the physical sense.

“Well, when Priscilla left Elvis in February of ’72, she went straight into the arms of Mike Stone, her karate instructor, also married,” Perry said.

“Forgive me, Chief, but…” Lois started before pausing, noticing Perry’s new look for the first time. A perplexing expression came over her face. “Is that a new suit?”

“Why, yes, Lois,” Perry said, beaming. “Yes, it is.”

“Left Elvis? Why would she leave Elvis? What did he ever do? He loved her,” Clark interjected, drawing the attention of the whole room and away from Perry’s horrendous new toupee. Was Luthor why Lois wanted to break up with him? To test the waters with the billionaire? Was she just stringing him along until she caught Luthor, and then she’d let Clark go?

“We weren’t talking about Elvis,” Lois said, slamming her notebook on the table. “We’re talking about Priscilla, and she definitely cheated on him. Facts are facts, Clark. You can’t change or bend them to suit your needs.”

“I see, you’re contending it’s still cheating even if she had dumped him first?” Clark returned, crossing his arms and glowering in her direction. “The Chief just stated that Priscilla left Elvis before going into the arms of Mike Stone. Or perhaps are you suggesting the Priscilla cheated first, and then left Elvis?”

“Priscilla claimed that Elvis two-timed on her first,” Perry said calmly, eyeing the two of them.

“Elvis would never cheat on Priscilla!” Clark exclaimed. “He loves her! Anyway, Elvis has never been nor will he ever be a brutal sociopath! Anyone who says otherwise is bonkers.”

The room was silent for several seconds before Jimmy started to giggle. “No, he certainly won’t be accused of that.”

“Uh, son, do you feel okay?” Perry asked, gazing at Clark.

Clark flushed, belatedly remembering he was in a dimension where Elvis wasn’t an adored and very much alive ex-President but a dead rock star. “No, sorry, sir, I just…” He cleared his throat. “I just like to think of Elvis back as he was in his glory days, before the drugs and his divorce and everything.”

Perry patted him on the shoulder. “I understand, son, but let’s not get carried away.”

“Yes, sir,” Clark mumbled, properly chagrined. He could say the same thing to his boss, but chose to let this phase run its course. At least, this Perry didn’t have a young Internet-software mogul encouraging him to run for mayor.

“Sir, Eugene and Lena…” Lois said, obviously trying to get them back on topic and away from Clark’s serious faux pas, for which Clark was eternally grateful.

“Speak of the devil,” Jimmy said, nodding towards the newsroom.

They all turned and saw that Lena Harrison was standing next to Lois’s desk.

“Excuse me, Chief,” Lois said, gathering up her things.

“I’ll come with you,” Clark said, wanting to get out of that room as quickly as possible and would take any excuse he could get.

Perry waved them both away.

“This is my story,” Lois said with a sharp look.

“And you’re my partner,” Clark reminded her. “Are you not?”

Lois rolled her eyes and didn’t issue any further complaints as Clark followed her out to her desk. “Mrs. Harrison?”

“Ms. Lane,” Lena said, shaking her hand.

“I’m Clark Kent,” Clark said, introducing himself as Lois wasn’t volunteering to do the honors. “Lois’s partner. Shall we go into conference room two?”

“I’m very worried,” Lena said, sitting down in the chair with her back to the door. Lois sat opposite her. “I haven’t heard from him.” She leaned forward and clutched Lois’s arm. “Eugene wrote to me, and said how much he trusted you. You were the only one who believed in him.”

Lois stared at the woman with incredulity.

Clark could tell she didn’t believe a word of what Mrs. Harrison was saying.

“Lots of people believe in Eugene’s innocence,” Lois mumbled. “What can we do for you?”

“They’ll find him,” Lena said, glancing over at Clark as she began to sob. “They’ll track him down and kill him. You must write something, insisting that he turn himself in. My husband was a violent and cruel man. There were nights… so many nights that I thought, God forgive me, if only he were dead then Eugene and I could…” She dabbed her eyes with a linen handkerchief. “He did it for me.”

Lois’s lips pinched together, but before she could speak, Perry opened the conference room door and cleared his throat. “Lois, can I see you for a minute?”

Lena stood up at the same time as Lois, placing a fake smile on her face. “I have to be going anyway,” she told them. She turned and walked out of the conference room without further comment.

“Perry?” Lois asked only to have the Chief point towards her desk where a woman sat with mousey auburn hair piled on top of her head, apparently examining her nails. Lois reached back, took hold of Clark’s hand, and quickly squeezed it. Then with a nod of her head, she approached the woman at her desk. “Detective Reed?”

Clark vaguely remembered that the detective was the one who had captured Laderman the first time.

“Ms. Lane,” Detective Reed greeted her with a friendly southern twang and nodded towards Mrs. Harrison’s departing backside. “Did Lena Harrison have anything to say?”

“Not really,” Lois said through pressed lips.

“She’s worried about Eugene,” Clark interjected. “She wants us to write a story telling him to turn himself in.”

Lois shot him a glare over her shoulder, and Detective Reed looked at him with interest.

“Is that so?” Detective Reed said, sitting down in the chair next to Lois’s desk. “Good idea. We’ve been tailing her since last night.”

“No sign of Eugene?” Lois asked, sitting down and flipping open her notebook as if the detective was there for an interview.

“Oh, no. The fugitive is still at large,” Detective Reed replied calmly, staring at Lois with curiosity.

Lois nodded and jotted down the detective’s comments. After a minute, she glanced up to find Reed still staring at her. The intensity of Detective Reed’s gaze seemed to make Lois uneasy for a moment, but only a moment. She crossed and then re-crossed her legs, scooting her briefcase further under her desk with a tap of her foot.

“Are you following Lena because you know you arrested the wrong man, so to speak? Because you realized that Eugene didn’t murder Lena’s husband, she did?” Lois asked point blank.

Well, that explains Lois’s reaction to our interview with Lena, Clark thought. And why she thinks Laderman is innocent. He couldn’t recall at any time Lois voicing this opinion in her articles during Laderman’s trial though. She must not have proof.

“Interesting theory, Ms. Lane. You believe that we’re following Mrs. Harrison to protect her from Mr. Laderman killing her out of revenge, and not to meet up with her for a romantic interlude,” Detective Reed said, twisting Lois’s theory into something else entirely. “I’ll be sure to keep that extra motive in mind.”

“Reed, why would a man set fire to the room with the body in it to destroy the evidence, and then wait for the police to show up?” Lois asked. “Can’t you see that Eugene is covering for Lena? He loves her. That’s the only reason he would confess to the crime, and then refuse to take the stand, against his attorney’s wishes I might add. Eugene doesn’t want Lena to go to jail and he certainly doesn’t want to kill her. He’s protecting her. Trust me; I have some experience with good men who are a tad overprotective.”

Clark shifted his stance as that remark hit too close to home. Once again, he wondered if Luthor had accused him, Clark, of some crime to Lois. It might explain her steadfast belief in Laderman’s innocence as well as her outburst at the morning meeting. Did she erroneously hope to establish Clark’s innocence by proving Laderman was too? He noticed that Perry was now looking at him as well, and Clark coughed, hoping that the Chief didn’t know that Lois had been referring to him.

“Well, Ms. Lane,” Reed drawled. “Unfortunately, at the precise time of Harrison’s death, Lena was at a neighborhood watch meeting. She was seen by at least twenty people, who positively identified her.”

Lois’s spine stiffened. “Then it must have been someone else, because Eugene is innocent. Perhaps Lena was three-timing Harrison.”

Perry set a hand on Lois’s shoulder, before interjecting, “Detective, is there anything specific that we can help you with?”

“Oh, no, not really. It’s just seemed to me that during the trial Ms. Lane and the escaped felon became, well, friendly like,” the detective said, giving Lois a big smile.

“Is that so?” Clark asked, looking at Lois for more information. Why was he always the last one to know these things?

Lois shot him a ‘Not now, Clark’ roll of the eyes, before refocusing her attention on Detective Reed. “If you must know, I hardly spoke two words to Eugene during the whole trial. His attorney wouldn’t let me,” she grumbled. “I’m a journalist. I covered the trial. I finally got permission to speak to him after the verdict, and he skipped out on me. So, I wouldn’t call that ‘friendly-like’.”

“I was just wondering if you had any information as to the whereabouts of Mr. Laderman,” Detective Reed asked specifically. “He hasn’t called you, has he?”

“No. He hasn’t called me,” Lois retorted snidely.

“Well, just in case he does,” the detective said, pulling a business card out of her jacket pocket and setting it on Lois’s desk, where she tapped it twice. “Do give me a call, will ya?”

Clark’s hand replaced Perry’s on Lois’s shoulder. “Of course she will, Detective.”

Detective Reed smiled at him and stood up. “And don’t worry, Ms. Lane. I brought him in once. I’ll do it again.” She studied each of them in turn, and then headed towards the elevators.

Lois shook Clark’s hand off her shoulder. “What was that? ‘Of course she will, Detective’? Are you looking for more justice butt to kiss?”

“Eugene Laderman is an escaped felon, Lois. I would hope you wouldn’t keep his whereabouts from the police,” he said. “He’s armed and dangerous.”

“No, he’s not, Clark,” she insisted, kicking her briefcase once more, before grumbling. “So, just butt out of my story, will you? I don’t need another bodyguard.”

Clark put up his hands in self-defense and backed away from her desk. “Fine. I’ll go back to working on my story.” Whichever story that might be, since Lois had stolen his Moskal kidnapping story.

“Chief!” Jimmy called across the newsroom.

Perry double finger pointed at him and said, “That’s brilliant, Jimmy!” before shaking his head and turning towards his office.

“But…” Jimmy mumbled. “I haven’t told you anything yet.”

Clark came over to him and patted Jimmy’s back. “Reap what ye sow, my friend,” he said.

“It seemed like a good idea at the time,” Jimmy said weakly.

Clark glanced back to Lois, sitting at her desk. “I know the feeling.”

Cat walked into the newsroom, donning another conservative outfit. This one had a matching beret under which Cat had hidden all her hair. She flipped her hand up. “Hi, all!”

“Hi, Cat,” Clark said with a sad shake of his head. When was Cat going to learn that she and Arthur Chow had nothing in common?

“How’s it going with the new you?” Jimmy asked.

“Terrific,” Cat said with a grin, and then groaned. She pulled off the dress, which apparently was held together with snaps, revealing a rainbow-colored skintight sleeveless dress underneath. “Ugh! But the old me needs to come out for some air.”

“You aren’t the only one with a new look. Have you checked out the Chief today?” Jimmy asked Cat with a nod towards Perry’s office.

Cat turned and she peered at her boss through his office windows. “Ooooh. I like his new look. It’s sexy.”

“Sexy?” Clark repeated skeptically.

Jimmy placed a hand to Cat’s forehead. “Mr. White? Sexy?”

Cat nodded. “Very. He’s always had that aura of power thing going, but now he’s mixing it up with a little style.”

“Okay-dokey,” Jimmy said, heading towards his desk.

Clark’s phone rang, and he went to answer it. “Clark Kent, Daily Planet.”

“I hear you want to know about that missing doctor,” a man’s voice said on the other end of the line.

“Dr. Brenda Muldoon?” Clark asked.

“Tall, red-hair, knock-out?” the man described the woman in the photo that Mrs. Dawson had shown him and Cat.

“That sounds like her,” Clark said. “Who is this?”

“It doesn’t matter who I am. What I’m telling you is the doc split. I don’t know where she was going, but she ain’t coming back,” the man said. “She burned that bridge.”

Clark’s brow furrowed, tapping his pencil. “Which bridge would that be?”

“Met Gen. They know she was stealing. They don’t want her back, and they don’t want any publicity about it neither,” the man said.

“What was she stealing?”

“Drugs. Bunches of them. She must have been selling them on the black market or something. That’s all I know,” the man said.

“Wait! Do you know the names of any of the missing drugs?” Clark said, writing down a list of hard to spell drug names as the man rattled them off. “Can you tell me who you are? I won’t put it in the article. Just in case I have any more questions?”

The man didn’t answer. A moment later, the phone clicked as he hung up. Well, it had been worth a shot.

Clark picked up the list and sidled up to Cat’s desk. Perry hadn’t been thrilled to pull Cat from gossip, so he insisted that Clark take the lead on the Muldoon disappearance. Cat could work on it as long as she didn’t leave Cat’s Corner in the lurch. Clark glanced at Lois, who was on her phone. He had never had a chance to tell her about Cat’s undercover role as “Lois Lane” on this assignment. He lowered his voice anyway, so she wouldn’t overhear. “I just got a tip on Dr. Muldoon from an anonymous source, who says that the doc was stealing drugs.”

Cat pinched her lips together. “Well, that’s disappointing. What kinds?”

Clark handed her the list, and she perused it.

“Nah, I’m not familiar with most of those. Penicillin, but who would steal that unless she was going somewhere she couldn’t get it over the counter,” Cat finally said.

“I’m going down in the stacks to do some research on what these different pills are used for,” he said. “Why don’t you see if you can find out from her sister anything about the good doctor’s financial status?”

Cat started flipping through her rolodex. “I’ll also call Dr. Muldoon’s office manager again, and see if there was something that she forgot to mention about her boss.”

Clark nodded, and headed towards the stairs with one final parting glance at Lois.

***End of Part 112***

Part 113

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Rolex, SA is luxury brand of watches created by Alfred Davis and Hans Wilsdorf in 1905, and is owned by the Wilsdorf Foundation. Neither this brand or company is in any way associated with Lex Luthor, in this or any other dimension. I just borrowed the similarity in name for this story.