The Vampire Murders: 21/?
by Nan Smith
Previously:
Someone knocked on the door and Lois looked past Henderson to see Clark peering through the glass pane set in the door at them. Henderson glanced over his shoulder and waved for Clark to enter. "Speak of the devil, here he is now. Kent, I'm appointing you her bodyguard until all this is over. It's obvious to me that somebody would like to get rid of a snoopy reporter. Stick with her whenever she's running around loose, would you?"
"No problem," Clark said. "Would you like to tell me what happened?"
"I'll let Lois do that. I want to see a little of the lay of the land." He smiled dryly at Lois. "And I used to think police work was dull." With that sardonic comment, he pushed the door open and went out into the chilly night air.
**********
And now, Part 21:
"So, I guess you're not a murder suspect?" Clark said, as the door swung shut behind the police inspector.
"I guess not," Lois said. "I think Schultz wanted to arrest me but Henderson vetoed the idea."
"Lucky for you that Henderson knows you as well as he does," Clark said.
"I was glad to see him show up," Lois said. At the expression on her partner's face, she hastily added, "But if you ever tell him I said that, I'll call you a liar to your face."
Clark grinned faintly. "Don't worry about it."
In truth, Lois wasn't worried. In the months since they had been tied up in the shuttle hangar at EPRAD, not long after Clark had come to work at the Daily Planet, she had discovered that Clark's ethics might be irritating, but despite the fact that she could sometimes talk him into a little breaking and entering, there were certain things upon which he could not be brought to compromise. If he made a promise, he kept it, sometimes going to ridiculous lengths to do so. And if he was given a confidence, he never broke it.
"So, what exactly happened?" Clark asked. "Superman said you might have seen the vampire in action?"
"Or something," Lois said. "To tell you the truth, I'm not sure what I saw. I can tell you what it looked like. What actually happened is anybody's guess."
"Well," Clark said reasonably, "tell me what it looked like, then."
Lois repeated the story she had told Henderson and Clark listened without comment until she had finished.
"And that's it," she said at last. "When we found the dead guys, I realized that our friend from Cost Mart was gone. He just vanished."
"Again," Clark murmured.
"Yeah. He's really good at the disappearing act."
"What time did all this happen?" Clark asked.
"Henderson asked me that, too. The sun was setting when I left the Daily Planet, and I went right home. It was pretty dark by the time I got there."
"And when you got around to the front of the apartment, you ran into your mysterious rescuer."
"That's right."
"Interesting that he turned up here just at that minute," Clark said.
"I suppose so," Lois admitted.
Clark was silent again, frowning at nothing. It wasn't an angry frown, Lois thought, but it seemed that Clark was working on something that puzzled him. "What?" she asked.
"One of the dead men said you had a date with a vampire," he said. "But it looks as if someone else had it in for them. Does it occur to you that someone rescued you?"
Lois stared at him. "Rescued me?"
"Well, something sure interrupted their attempt to kidnap you."
"Something is right!"
"Just as your friend rescued you from that room in the sub-basement of Cost Mart. And the three Cost Mart employees responsible for it wound up just like that pair."
"Do you really think there's a connection?" she asked. "He was here, but I don't see how he could have had anything to do with what happened in the parking lot. He'd have had to be in two places almost at once, or else be as fast as Superman. Besides, he looks pretty human to me. No elongated fangs or anything." But he sure had a beautiful set of teeth, she reminded herself. Not that the fact had any deeper meaning, of course. He couldn't possibly be a vampire, even if such things existed. He'd saved her life, and hadn't offered her any harm at all. Therefore, he wasn't a vampire. QED.
"You're right," Clark said. "But something doesn't add up here."
"I'll say!"
He gave a small grin. "I guess that's pretty obvious. Do you want to hang around here, or shall I escort you up to your apartment? Henderson appointed me your bodyguard, and I always take my responsibilities seriously I've got all the notes I need, and we can pester Henderson for a quote or two later if we decide we want one. We can write up the article and fax it in to the night desk if we hurry, so it'll be in the morning edition."
Lois got up quickly. "Great idea, but let's be *sure* Henderson hasn't found anything else before we send it in."
"I'll go out and ask him right now. Want to wait here where it's warm?"
"Not on your life! Let's go!"
**********
Henderson was talking to Sergeant Schultz when they located him. The lean sergeant gave Lois an impassive look when they approached and said something to Henderson that Lois couldn't hear. Henderson glanced briefly in their direction. "Now what?"
"We just wanted to ask for a quote," Lois said, almost meekly. Her own voice surprised her. "Do you have any theories about this situation?"
"Somebody's running a scam," Henderson said. "A lethal scam. There's a logical, rational explanation for all of these events, and I intend to find it. And no, we haven't figured out what really happened, and we haven't identified our victims yet."
Clark tugged at Lois's sleeve. "I think that will be fine, don't you, Lois? Let's go write the story. If we hurry, we can get it in the morning edition."
"When you find out who they were, could you give me a call?" Lois asked shamelessly. Henderson cast her a glance which she could have sworn was half exasperation, half admiration at her persistence.
"I'll consider it," he said. "Just stay out of trouble for twenty-four hours, will you?"
"I'll try," Lois said. "I really wasn't looking for trouble this time."
"I'm sure. But it found you anyway, like always. Go away, now, and let me finish here. I promised my wife I'd try to make it home in time for dinner. I'm already late."
**********
The sun was shining brightly when Lois opened her eyes. The window shade that protected her eyes from moonlight at night and sun in the morning -- on those rare days that she slept late -- had been imperfectly closed and a stray beam of sunlight lay across her pillow, and that, naturally, had awakened her. A glance at her alarm clock told her that it was past nine and she sat up sharply. She was two hours late, and Perry was going to have a fit!
Then she recalled the events of the night before and relaxed. She and Clark had called the office, after writing their article about the strange events in her apartment's parking lot last night. Since it was quite late, she had informed them that she wouldn't be in until afternoon. The fact that she hadn't wanted to tell Perry what she intended this morning, or where she was going had also played a part. Clark had looked disapproving, but had, as usual, said nothing.
She smiled at the memory. Poor Clark! Having her for a partner must be rough on his nerves, considering that it was usually she that led them both into sticky situations. On the other hand, her tendency to attract trouble -- and sometimes to stick her head into the lion's den -- had certainly broadened his horizons since Perry had partnered them up. It couldn't help but make him a better investigative journalist, she thought, although she had to admit privately that he was already pretty darned good. But he was, in her opinion, much too cautious. If he really wanted to be a successful investigative reporter, he was going to have to be more assertive, and Lois Lane was the one to teach him. He'd thank her eventually.
It was one of her secrets to the big scoops that she never mentioned to any of her colleagues. Most of them seemed to depend on tips from people on the inside, when there was some kind of scandal, or something shady brewing in government or business circles. It wasn't that Lois didn't have her circle of contacts and snitches, but her key to the big scoops was to go out and investigate, hands on. Never mind that it frequently got her into trouble. Many of her colleagues were just plain lazy, in her opinion. They didn't get their hands dirty, actually checking out the tips they got. Lois did, and so did Clark. They hadn't become the hottest team in town, as the Planet billed them, by warming their desk chairs.
She stepped around the partition that opened into the main room of her apartment, and stopped in surprise. She had gone to bed last night … well, actually, she didn't recall going to bed. She'd put on her pajamas, robe and slippers, and had been sitting on the sofa with Clark, working on the story. She remembered sitting back, sipping on the Oolong tea Clark had brewed up, and then she had awakened in her bed, and it was morning. And Clark was presently sleeping on her sofa, wearing the sweats that he'd loaned her weeks ago, after that assignment that had wound up with him dragging her out of Hobb's Bay.
She could smile about that episode now, considerably later, in a warm dry apartment, but it hadn't been much fun at the time. Councilman Slaughter had had them both dumped out there in thirty-five degree weather and left to drown, but Clark had somehow managed to stay afloat and had somehow gotten his feet loose. He'd had her lie across his body while he kicked, and they'd made it back to shore. Then Clark had used a piece of broken glass to cut the ropes on his wrists and freed her as well. They'd gone back to his place, since it had been closer, and changed. And then they'd proceeded to bust the Councilman, with Henderson's sardonic cooperation, naturally. His dry comments about her penchant for hanging over the jaws of death on a regular basis she had dismissed as irrelevant. Henderson wouldn't be Henderson if he allowed emotion of any kind to disturb his normally cynical worldview.
That had been one of their better scoops, although Lois's propensity for digging around in person had been what precipitated their abrupt descent into the coldest water she ever remembered being thrown into. It was just as well, she thought, that Clark had been in Boy Scouts as a child in Smallville. There might not be a mythical ocean there, but apparently there was pretty much everything else, for her partner was far from the hick she'd assumed that he must be when they'd first met. Of course, having a former Navy SEAL as his Boy Scout leader probably hadn't hurt. It was amazing how many strange things she'd learned about his past. If all country boys had acquired the knowledge he had, city-bred journalists wouldn't stand a chance. Lois Lane excepted, of course. Even Clark had to admit that.
Quietly, she returned to her bedroom and changed into her work clothes. Not work clothes for the Daily Planet, however. If she were to present herself in the newsroom this morning wearing slightly battered blue jeans and a heavy leather jacket Perry might not say anything, but that was only because he had already seen her show up there at odd hours, wearing some pretty outlandish things. Ralph, however, would make her life miserable for days about it. One of these days, she thought, he was going to go too far and wind up cold-cocked in the middle of the Pit.
As she entered the living room, Clark sat up, rubbing his hair and yawning.
"Good morning," Lois said. "How come you're here? I didn't invite you to stay, did I?"
"No, but Henderson said I was to guard you," Clark said. He swung his feet to the floor. "I didn't figure I could do a very good job of guarding you all the way from my place, so I borrowed my sweats and slept on your couch." He rubbed his back. "If I have to stay again, tonight, I think I'll sleep on the floor."
Lois couldn't repress a small twinge of sympathy when she glanced out of the corner of her eye at the sofa. How Clark had ever managed to sleep on that thing she couldn't fathom. It was too small for his six-foot frame, for one thing, and about as soft as a stone slab.
"If you do, I'll get out my hide-a-bed," she said. "It's kind of narrow, but it won't ruin your back. Why don't you get ready and we'll head over to Cost Mart."
Clark looked sharply at her. "Cost Mart? Why?"
She barely glanced at him. "Because we're going to take a look around again," she said. "Henderson's hands are pretty much tied by the law. Maybe we can find some evidence that he can use to get a warrant or something."
"Superman said that Henderson is withdrawing his men from Cost Mart," Clark said. "He wants to see what they'll do when they think they're not being watched anymore."
"You didn't tell me that last night," Lois said sharply.
"I forgot you didn't know," Clark said. "Henderson and Superman talked to your mysterious friend yesterday evening, and apparently he gave them some useful information. That's why Henderson is publicly withdrawing his men. He said he'd give us the exclusive if it pans out."
Lois shrugged. "If anything is going to happen, I want to be there for it," she said. "Hurry up and get dressed."
"I'm going to want to stop by my place to get something clean to wear," Clark said. "It'll only take a few minutes."
"Great. Then grab a Hot Pocket or something for breakfast and let's go. Every minute we waste, something big could be happening."
**********
tbc
