Next part, at long last. Sorry for the delay, but I'll try to get the next part up as soon as I can. I'd like to finish this before years end! <g>
The Vampire Murders: 18/?
by Nan Smith
Lois rang for the elevator. Noting that the lighted number indicated that the elevator was on the ninth floor, Clark resigned himself to several minutes of waiting, and a question that had been circulating in the back of his mind surfaced. "Why didn't you ask the guy at the Precinct to get a message to Henderson?"
Lois shrugged. "We're talking about Intergang here. Remember what you said happened when you guys were investigating Lex last year. Henderson didn't tell anybody but the people he trusted 'cause he didn't know who might be on Lex's payroll. How do we know Intergang doesn't have plants in the police department?"
She had a point, Clark had to admit. When it came to the international crime syndicate, discretion was probably the safest course. He glanced at the indicator again. The car was now on the sixth floor. He shifted his weight and sighed. If Lois weren't with him, he'd take the stairs but Lois wasn't likely to go for walking from the underground lot up four flights of steps to the newsroom after all the running around they had been doing all day.
"What do you suppose that secret door in the closet was for?" Lois said.
"Good question. My guess would be to move stuff from one side to the other without going outside."
"Probably. I wonder who rented the house last summer."
"We can find out," Clark said. "Or, rather, Jimmy can find out for us."
"Yeah." Lois chewed on her lower lip, obviously still thinking. That, when they were involved in a complicated investigation, usually meant they were going to be doing something outrageous before long, Clark knew, but he said nothing. Lois wasn't going to change her mind just because he raised objections. He wondered, sometimes, why it was that most of the important women in his life tended to be Type A personalities. It just figured that Superman preferred high-maintenance women, of which Lois was a shining example. It was probably just as well that she didn't have super powers. He would never have been able to keep up with her. He barely managed as it was.
The elevator bell dinged at that instant and the doors slid open.
**********
Stepping out into the newsroom some minutes later, Clark could hear Perry's voice harassing the business editor, but he broke off at the sight of them. "Lane! Kent! In my office! Now!"
Clark glanced at his partner. "Here we go again," he remarked in an undertone. Lois rolled her eyes, but preceded him down the ramp, Clark trailing in her wake.
Their editor was already sitting behind his desk when they entered his office.
"Hi, Perry," Lois began. "I guess I should have called you last night, but I didn't know you were looking --"
"Clark called me this morning," Perry said, cutting directly to the point. "He told me some cock and bull story about a vampire in your apartment last night, and a lot of other things. Care to bring me up to date?"
Lois shrugged. "It's kind of a long story."
"I've got time." Perry fixed her with an uncompromising stare. "Why don't you sit down and tell me all about it?"
"Fine with me." Lois looked at Clark. "You need to take off and see if you can find Superman in the meantime. He needs to get hold of Henderson with that message as fast as he can."
Clark nodded. "I'll do my best. Excuse me, Chief."
Perry had opened his mouth to protest, but Lois spoke quickly into the silence. "I sort of ran into trouble over at Cost Mart. You know -- the one over by Mariner's Cove?"
"Yeah, I know. What were you doing over there?" Perry asked.
"Well, it had to do with those bodies that were found in the park," Lois said. "The ones that had been drained of blood."
"I figured that. I was there with Henderson when they found the manager, last night," Perry said. "The guy had been drained of blood, just like the ones in the park. If you've got any idea what in Memphis is going on, I want to hear it."
"All right, but it gets a little complicated. You remember, day before yesterday when they found the third body in the park --"
Clark slipped quietly out the door while Lois began the story of how they had decided to check out that particular Cost Mart, and made his way toward the stairs. The message Lois's rescuer had given them still needed to be delivered.
A bare minute later, Superman was touching down in front of the Twelfth Precinct. A quick scan of the building told him that William Henderson was just entering his office. He'd probably just returned from Wilson's Cove, Clark figured as he strode up the steps and opened the glass doors.
Sergeant West looked up from his study of a document on the desk before him. "Hello, Superman. Can I help you?"
"I hope so," Clark said. "Is Henderson here? I need to speak to him."
The sergeant didn't bat an eye. "I'll see if he's got a minute." He did something to the board in front of him and spoke. "Inspector? Superman's here. He wants to see you."
"Send him in." Henderson's voice was a trifle scratchy over the intercom, but perfectly recognizable.
The sergeant looked back at Clark. "Go on in."
"Thank you." Clark went past him, his red cape waving behind him.
Henderson looked up from his computer screen as Clark rapped lightly on his doorframe. "I guess this isn't a social visit."
"No. I've got a message for you."
"And?"
"I need you to come with me," Clark said. "The message is from the guy that rescued Lois, last night. He needs to talk to you."
Henderson got to his feet. "I've been wanting to talk to him," he said. "Where?"
"I'll take you there," Clark said.
**********
Henderson didn't answer, but followed Superman as the hero led the way out the side door of the building a short distance from Henderson's office.
Apparently, Henderson realized, the Man of Steel intended to fly him to wherever Lois Lane's mysterious rescuer awaited him. Evidently the man was unwilling to come to the Precinct in person, and considering the grisly deaths of the manager and his two subordinates the night before, he guessed he couldn't really blame him.
He had never flown with Superman before, although he knew from observation that Superman had transported literally hundreds, if not thousands, of people by air during rescues. He had seen Superman lift trucks and cars from the ground, and had even seen him land a jumbo jet, and once, on television, had witnessed the hero bringing in the Space Shuttle. He would rather have literally died before he would admit that the thought of actually flying with Superman made him nervous. If Lois Lane could casually accept a lift from Superman, Henderson wasn't about to allow anyone to know that the idea intimidated him.
"One thing," he said. "I'll go with you, but not like you carry Lane."
Superman's teeth flashed in an unexpected grin. "Don't worry."
He stepped forward, clamped an arm around Henderson and in an instant they were in the air, and Henderson was watching the Twelfth Precinct dropping away beneath him.
Henderson let out his breath. The sensation was unlike flying in any man-made aircraft. For one thing, there was no sense of acceleration, and no feeling of weight, either.
"Interesting," he said finally. "It's different than I imagined."
Superman gave a slight grin. "Different principles of flight," he said. "I cancel gravity, somehow, and control my direction mentally."
"How?" Henderson asked, curiously.
"I have no idea," Superman said. "I want it to happen and it does. Anyhow, that isn't what's important right now."
Henderson pulled his thoughts from the flight and back to business. "I take it Lois's rescuer doesn't want to be seen in public?"
"I assume so." Superman didn't seem quite sure. "When Lois and Clark talked to him he was more or less hiding in the vacation cottage the three of you were in last night. He says he has some information for you, and asked them to get a message to you. Hopefully he's still there."
"I hope so too. Maybe he can answer some questions.""
"Maybe." They were dropping toward the vacation cottage as Superman spoke. "I'm going to take you in fast, to avoid the Security patrol."
Henderson nodded and almost unconsciously braced himself for a burst of speed, but there was no such sensation. The scenery around him blurred for an instant, and Henderson found himself standing on the front porch of the vacation cottage where he had emerged from the tunnel the night before. Superman quietly opened the door on the right and gestured him inside.
"We were in the other side of the duplex," Henderson felt obliged to inform him in a low voice.
"I know. But he's in here -- or he was when Lois and Clark talked to him." Superman's voice was also lowered. "This way."
This side of the duplex was a mirror image of the one Henderson had been in last night, at least from what he could see. They progressed through a well-equipped kitchen and emerged into the hallway that had opened from the living room. Superman turned left and led the way past three more closed doors to the one at the end, which opened upon what must be the master bedroom. It was empty, of course, but Henderson noted where sliding doors apparently concealed a large closet, and a closed door to one side that must be the master bathroom.
Superman paused for a second, his eyes narrowing briefly, but then he crossed the bedroom and knocked lightly on the bathroom door.
There was a moment's wait and then the door opened on well-lubricated hinges, and Henderson got his first look at the man who had seemed to inject himself into this very odd situation for no reason that anyone knew.
He was short and slender in build, but somehow gave the impression of controlled power, even just standing in the doorway. His skin was brown, his eyes, eyebrows and hair so black that they had almost a blue tinge in the dimness of the room. He surveyed Superman and Henderson expressionlessly for several seconds.
"I see you have brought your officer of the law. I believe you are called Henderson, are you not?"
Henderson nodded. "Yes. And you are?"
The man's full lips twitched at the corners. "You may call me a friend. I wished to show you samples of the wares in which the men of Cost Mart traffic. Come in."
He stepped back from the bathroom door and gestured them inside.
Henderson's gaze was drawn instantly to the weapons lying in a long wooden crate against one wall. "They're bringing in weapons."
"And more." He gestured with one hand at the wrapped packages. "In there you will find more of the substance Miss Lane brought you last night. There is a great deal of it in the sub-basement of this Cost Mart. There is more waiting to be brought in after your men have withdrawn."
"Where?"
"A vessel waits off shore," the man told him. "It sails beneath the surface of the sea, and its cargo is death."
Henderson detached the tape holding the package shut and assured himself of the contents." If this is what I think it is, I'm holding a small fortune in heroin here," he observed.
Superman nodded, his expression unreadable.
"You say they're waiting for me to remove my men?" he asked the mystery man.
"Of course. They fear discovery."
"I'll bet," Henderson murmured. He carefully closed and sealed the package once more.
"This underwater craft will sail into the area you call Wilson's Cove," the man continued. "The third inlet is deep enough to allow it passage. It is there that they deliver their cargo to those who transport it to the basement of Cost Mart through the tunnel which you explored last night."
Henderson raised an eyebrow. "How did you know that? Did Lane or Kent tell you we were there?"
"I have my ways," the other man said. "Rest assured that no one else knows this, however. I leave the remainder to you, as you are the guardian of this place in this time."
That seemed like an odd way to express it. Henderson was silent, regarding the man a little warily. Something about the stranger made the short hairs on the back of his neck want to rise, and what he called his "detective sense" stirred. Still, he had no feeling of threat from the other, but there was something definitely strange about him. "Thanks," he said finally. "Can you tell me when the next delivery will be?"
"There will not be another until your men are withdrawn," the other said. "These men have limited fuel, however. If they cannot make their delivery soon, it may be weeks before they return."
"All right." Again Henderson looked him over, but he was just a slender brown-skinned man in a green Cost Mart T-shirt and jeans. The fact that he gave Henderson a mild case of the willies was probably no more than his imagination. "I'll deal with it. What about you?"
"I shall wait here for a short while, still," the dark man replied. "It will be dark soon and I may leave this place unremarked by the man who watches. It would not be well, otherwise. You will take this with you?" He gestured to the guns and packages of drugs.
"I'll get it," Superman said. "Where do you want me to put it?"
"Drop it in my office for now," Henderson said. "I'll take care of it when I get back to the Precinct."
"You got it." Superman and the smuggled merchandise simply disappeared. Henderson tried not to blink in surprise.
The dark man seemed un fazed. He simply stood, unmoving, waiting.
"Where are you from?" Henderson asked suddenly. "I don't recognize your accent."
"English is not my native tongue," the other man replied.
"I figured that part," Henderson said. "What I don't understand is how you're mixed up in this."
"That is not your concern," Lois's rescuer said. "I am not a part of this, but like you, it is my duty to interfere when evil threatens the innocent."
That was definitely a weird way of saying it, Henderson thought. He was about to speak again when Superman reappeared out of thin air. "All done."
"Yeah." Henderson looked thoughtfully at the stranger. The obsidian eyes met his and suddenly the lips split in a smile, revealing very white, straight teeth.
"Good evening, Inspector Henderson," he said. "And my wishes for good fortune go with you. Please tell Miss Lane that I hope she will suffer no ill effects from her adventure last night."
"I'll do that," Henderson muttered. He glanced at the frosted glass of the bathroom window, from which the indirect light of the sun had almost disappeared. Somehow their host seemed more solid and intimidating than he had a few moments before. The man opened the bathroom door and gestured, inviting them to exit. Henderson nodded to him and did so, followed by Superman. Their host followed them, shutting the door behind him.
Henderson followed Superman as they made their way to the hallway. The room was only very dimly illuminated now, with the dying rays of the setting sun reflecting indirectly through the shaded window in the opposite wall.
There was the faintest fluttering sound behind him and he glanced back, wondering if a bird had been somehow trapped in the building, but now there was no one and nothing there. Lois's mysterious rescuer had vanished as if he had never existed.
**********
tbc
