Dead or Alive pt 15
Clark left Dr. Friskin’s office. He had a lot to think about. But mostly he wanted Lois to just get off his case. At least that’s what he thought he wanted. If he was anything, it was confused.
He flew back to the office and emerged from the stairwell. Paying no attention to what was going on in the busy office, he headed over to his desk. The small ring box in his pocket jabbed into his leg as he bent to sit down at his desk. He pulled it out and dropped it on his desk while he turned in his chair to boot up his computer.
“Can you give me a hand with this, CK?” Jimmy was carrying an awkward stack of folders and a few books which were threatening to fall. Clark jumped up and caught the cascading pile before it touched the ground. “Thanks, CK.”
“No problem, Jimmy. Where do you want it?”
“Edwardo wanted this stuff, can you set that on his desk for me?”
“Sure.”
Lois was crossing the newsroom from the other direction when she heard the commotion. She watched as Clark and Jimmy headed away. As she neared her desk, she noticed the blue velvet jewelry box on Clark’s desk. Curious what he was doing with a jewelry box, she picked it up and opened the lid.
Her eyes opened wide as she saw the gold band in the box. Clark? What was going on with his life? She’d certainly not been following his life much in the past year. He was always about, mostly at his desk going about his work on his own. He didn’t talk much. Sometimes she’d wander over and chat with him. She knew he always had time for people and was a good listener. He was actually quite a decent person. She’d never seen him with a woman. She didn’t know if he were dating or anything.
She put the box back on his desk and headed to her own to sit down. Then she turned around, remembering all the things she’d seen on the tape earlier. What about that red kryptonite in Clark’s desk? She stole a glance at Clark over by Edwardo’s desk, then darted over to sit in Clark’s chair, pulling out one drawer after another until she found a small heavy metal box in the bottom drawer. She took it out and looked inside. After wiping a finger in the box, she withdrew it and looked at the red powder on her finger. She hastily returned the box to the drawer and closed it quietly.
Clark heard the activity at his desk and turned his head to find out what his ears were telling him. Lois was snooping in his desk. Leave it to Lois. He had nothing to hide from her, unless she was going to try to steal one of his stories. Of course he’d not been working on anything worth stealing lately, except perhaps the ring. The notepad was still in his jacket pocket, hanging on the back of his chair.
“Clark, could you look at something for me?” Jimmy was asking. Clark looked back at him, ignoring whatever Lois was up to for the moment.
She pulled the notepad out of his jacket pocket and flipped through it, reading the notes he’d made about the ring. She figured it was about the ring because he’d written Foster’s Jeweler’s on it along with the ‘all my love, Kara’.
So who was Kara? Was that Clark’s girlfriend? She flipped the pages and looked in amazement at the fingerprint sketches he’d drawn. How could anyone draw fingerprint sketches that would be anything near accurate?
She closed the notebook and pushed it back into his pocket before opening the ring box again. Sure enough, it said Foster’s Jeweler’s in the lid. She snapped it shut just as Clark arrived beside her.
“May I help you, Lois?” Clark asked, a trace of severity in his voice, his eyebrows raised.
“Uh, no, Clark. I was just curious when I saw the ring box on your desk.” She shrugged and gave a lame laugh, “You know, curiosity killed the cat; satisfaction brought it back!”
He bent his head slightly and looked at her beneath his raised eyebrows. “And?”
“And? And I'm satisfied, Clark.”
She reached out to pat him on the chest in her usual condescending way, but he caught her wrist before her hand touched him, moved it back towards her and dropped it at her side.
She turned on her heel with a quiet snort and headed across the aisle to her own desk. Clark sat down at his desk, unsure what he was about to do before Jimmy had phoned him. Now that his mind was on the ring, it was probably a good idea to go check it out. He picked up his jacket and shrugged into it, then pushed the ring into the front pocket of his pants.
He also picked up his briefcase, opened it and removed the manilla envelope, being careful not to disturb the contents. He looked around for Jimmy, then found him at his desk.
Instead of calling him over, he went to him. “Jimmy, can you take this to the lab and see what you can find out for me? I want DNA samples run. Be careful, the samples to test are the size of dust.”
“Okay, Clark. I’ll get to it in a minute. Rachael wants this info stat.” Jimmy looked up from the computer briefly and paused to take the envelope.
“Don’t let it tip, I’ve got two pieces of glass in here to hold the evidence in place.” He pulled the notebook out of his pocket and tore off the fingerprint pages. “Could you see what you can come up with on these prints as well?”
Jimmy looked skeptically at the sketches. “I’ll see what I can do, but I don’t promise much.”
“That’s fine Jimmy, whatever you can do is fine.”
With that, he headed to the elevator. Landing in the alley near Foster’s Jewelry store, Clark spun back into his street clothes, straightened his tie and gave the bridge of his glasses a push into place.
“How may I help you today, sir?” The sales clerk accosted Clark as the door bells rattled as it closed.
Clark pulled the box out of his pocket. “I wondered if you recognized this ring?” The clerk took the small box and opened it. She shook her head.
“Let me get the store owner, he probably knows his stock better than I do.” The middle aged woman headed into the back room with the ring. In a few moments a tall, stout, balding man came through the curtained doorway.
“Were you the man with this ring?”
“Yes, sir, Clark Kent.”
“Hello, Mr. Kent. Is there a problem with this ring?”
“Oh, no sir, I just wanted to know if you sold this ring.”
“Yes. If I remember correctly, I engraved it myself.” He pulled the gold band out of the box and tilted it. “Yes, that’s the same ring.”
“Can you tell me who bought this ring?”
“Well, I’d have to look up her name. It was a pretty woman. Curly red hair, quite stylish clothing. About 25, medium build. Quite a looker, really. Let me go get my receipt book to find her name.”
“Thank you, sir.”
In a few moments, the owner brought his receipt book out, opened to a page. “Kara Krete. That’s the name on the credit card she used.”
Clark nodded and thanked the man, wondering who in the world Kara Krete was. He’d never heard of her and the description didn’t ring any bells. Someone knew he was Superman, someone he didn’t know. Perhaps he’d never even met her, perhaps she’d seen him changing in an alley. Perhaps she’d compared his photograph with Superman’s. Did she actually know he was Superman, or was she just suspicious?
****
Dead or Alive 16.5
Clark was flying over Metropolis on his way back to the planet when he saw a man holding a gun above a woman lying bleeding on the ground.
He swooped down and wrapped the man in the stop sign, then scooped the woman up and flew her to the emergency room.
“Thank you, Superman.” She breathed wearily. “a bomb, my house, the daycare.”
She passed out as he carried her as he flew. At the hospital he asked the doctor if she had any identification on her. She didn’t.
He flew back to the scene of the crime and looked quickly around for her purse. It was over by the wall, open with the contents strewn about where it had landed. Clark rummaged quickly around trying to find her drivers license. It had her address on it. The police arrived to apprehend the man wrapped in the signpost. Superman had to unwrap it before they could remove and arrest him.
He flew over the city, looking for the street, Allard. When he found it, he hovered high above the street, x-raying the houses for any sign of a bomb. He located it in the basement of the house on the corner. The first floor was a daycare. He flew through the basement window and found the ticking explosive. He tossed it up into the air where it exploded. As the fragments fell back down, he gathered them up and took them over to the police precinct. There certainly appeared to be a connection with the victim and most likely the assailant.
After Superman landed back on top of the roof of the Daily Planet and turned back into Clark, he took a moment to look around at the view of the city and the surrounding buildings. This wasn't the tallest building around. Had he been seen landing here and changing into Clark Kent? Did Kara Krete see him from her office window? He looked at the spot where he usually changed. It was out of view, behind the air-conditioning unit. Perhaps the actual change wasn’t obvious, but it didn’t take much brains to look out the window when the sonic boom came, see superman landing and then see Clark Kent walk over to open the door to the stairwell. He was lucky more people hadn’t figured out his secret. Maybe they had.
He pulled his glasses down and telescoped in on all the windows that looked out at the roof of the building, no matter how distant. All someone needed was a powerful pair of binoculars. He’d have to leave this way, because he was usually in too big a hurry to wait for the elevator, but he could return via the alley and then come up the elevator or the stairs.
He didn’t see a woman with red, curly hair in any of the offices, but then perhaps she wasn’t working at this time of day.
Back at his desk, Clark typed ‘Kara Krete’ into the paper’s databanks. A photo of a woman with curly red hair popped up. He recognized her immediately. She'd kissed him on the cheek when he'd lain in state in Metropolis. She worked at State Farm Insurance, which was just down the street from the paper. It was in a tall building that overlooked his own. So that’s how she’d found out about him, by watching him land on the roof. She was about his age and looked like a nice woman. Perhaps he should meet her, at least to return the ring, if nothing else. But should he meet her as Superman or as Clark? The ring was addressed to Clark, but it was in Superman’s coffin. So Superman should return the ring.
Lois came over and looked over his shoulder. “Pretty woman, who is she?”
“Kara Krete.”
“Oh. A friend of yours?” Clark minimized the screen and brought up the article he was working on about the Superman rescue he’d just made.
“Is there something I could help you with, Lois?”
She looked at what was on his screen. “You’re writing about Superman!”
“Is there a problem?”
“Superman is MY territory. You have no business writing about him.”
Clark’s eyebrows went up. “Is that your rule, Lois or the official stand of the paper?”
Lois was fuming. Since when did anyone else get Superman stories? He was hers! Why hadn’t he phoned the story in to her anyway?
“Give me that story!”
“Lois, what do you know about this story? I was there, where were you?”
Silenced, she turned to demand that perry let her write the story.
“Darlin’ now sit down. What’s the matter here?” he looked past her to Clark’s desk.
“Clark is writing a Superman article. Superman is my territory.”
“Now Lois, I know you’ve pretty much had the market cornered on Superman stories, but my objective as editor is to put out a good paper. Did Clark steal your story? Were you already writing about it, or were you there covering the incident?”
“No, but…”
Perry held up his hand against the onslaught of emotion that was pouring out of ‘Mad Dog Lane’. “Leave Clark alone, Lois. Let him do his job.”
She got up and stormed out of his office slamming the door behind her. All eyes in the newsroom looked up to see her. They were used to her outrageous behavior and looked away lest they be the victim of her next tirade.
Clark had finished the story and sent it to Perry by the time Lois had returned to her desk. She sat in her chair and spun it around to glare at Clark’s back.
How’d he get the story anyway? Oh yeah, the Clark is Superman thing. She didn’t believe it, not for a minute. Well, maybe it was true. She thought back to what she’d seen on the video. How could it be true though?
She sat pondering things. If those clothes in the hallway had been Clark’s then they were probably still there. Could there be some identification on them? Of course, his wallet. He’d not been able to take his wallet into the vault drawer. He always had his wallet in his back pocket. She’d dragged him out of the office, so the wallet must have been in his pocket in the clothes.
She pulled her satchel strap up to her shoulder, stood up and left the newsroom. Clark turned to watch her go. He sighed. He’d not stood up to her before. It was a liberating feeling to hold his ground, however dangerous it felt. He’d felt the barrage of her anger and her hatred many times, but he’d always given in to her before. He felt himself wavering for a moment there. He really should change jobs, this was no way to have to deal with your associates at work.
Perry called Clark into his office when Lois’s elevator had arrived and she’d left the newsroom.
“Son, do you want to talk about it?”
Clark wasn’t sure what to say. “I'm tired of giving in to her, Chief. First as Superman, now she’d after me as Clark. I can’t live my life trying to keep her happy, it’s a no-win situation.”
“I'm surprised you’ve kept with her as long as you have. She’s like a pit bull when she’s mad.”
Clark nodded. “I'm just tired of her. I just want to be left alone.”
“Well you’ve done the right thing, standing up to her today. I’ll have a talk with her when she gets back. I can’t have a loose cannon like that disrupting the newsroom all the time. Maybe it’s time to teach her a lesson.”
Clark sighed, he really didn’t want Lois to be in trouble with her boss. He didn’t wish her any harm, he just ached for someone to love him the way he loved them, unconditionally.
He walked back to his desk with his hands in his pockets. Perhaps he would find out some more about this Kara Krete person. If she knew his secret, she was a force to be rekoned with. Perhaps she wasn’t though. Not everybody was a Lois Lane.
He opened the State Farm website. Sure enough there was a page with information about their employees. Kara had been with the company for two years. She was one of the top in her field.
How should he go about meeting her? Just bump into her somewhere or should he set up a meeting? What would he say, ‘Hi, you left me this ring in my coffin. I just thought I’d like to get to know you a bit better.’
She already knew, or suspected Superman was Clark Kent. Should Superman talk to her? No, he didn’t get involved with women who chased him. It wasn’t the first time someone had come on to him, he was the man in the tights after all.
So it should be Clark. He did have a policy with State Farm but she wasn’t his representative. The policy only covered his household effects, perhaps he needed to take out a life insurance policy, just to solidify that line that separated Clark Kent from Superman. But how could he make sure he dealt with her?
He went back to the website and looked at the write up on her. Perhaps she would be the person he’d be dealing with, she was assigned to his section of the city. Maybe she’d been looking into his file.
He turned from his desk and got up. “I’ll be back in a few,” he said to Perry as he passed him at the coffee station.
Perry was used to Superman’s sudden exits so didn't give it a second thought.
Clark took the elevator to the lobby and headed out to the street. The state farm building was about three blocks down the road. Traffic was picking up, it was getting to be rush hour. It was nice to be in the city. The people walking along briskly gave him a certain feeling of belonging as he stopped along with them as the light changed. Some were carrying brief cases and lost in thought, others were walking with friends, chatting amicably. He nodded politely at an elderly gentleman who was trying to get over to the curb to the bus stop. He paused to let him through, then reentered the flow of pedestrians.
At the State Farm building, he looked at the roster on the wall. Kara Krete’s office was on the 22nd floor. She could definitely see the top of the Daily Planet building from that height if she used binoculars.
An open coffee shop hummed with activity in the lobby. He glanced over, then thought he’d get something to drink. He sunk his hands into his pockets and found a bit of loose change. It probably wasn’t enough. He reached back to take out his wallet and remembered that he’d not picked it up from the hospital yet. He hoped he wouldn’t have to replace all his cards. He bought a coffee and was stirring it with a small stir stick when he heard a voice say his name.
He turned to look at the red haired woman facing him. She had a warm smile. “Clark Kent?” she offered her hand. “Kara Krete.”
“Hello, pleased to meet you, Ms. Krete.” He took her proffered hand and squeezed it gently. So this was the woman who wanted to marry him. Or thought she did. “How did you know…”
“You write for the Daily Planet don’t you? I’ve seen your picture with your work. I like the way you write.”
Clark relaxed a bit and smiled. “Thank you.” Noticing an empty table by the window, he motioned toward it, “Shall we?”
Her smile broadened. “Sure. Thanks.”
“So, you work here?”
“Yes, I’ve just come down for a break and some fresh air. You know those windows in these places, they don't open.”
Clark nodded, thinking about the large windows on the high walls of the newsroom. He looked around briefly, “It looks like a nice building to work in, do you like it here?”
She nodded, “Yes, you meet some interesting people.”
“I guess you would.”
“You must meet some interesting people in your work, too.”
Clark nodded, taking a sip from his Styrofoam cup. “All the time. Your accent isn't from around here.”
“No, I grew up on a farm in the Midwest.”
“Really? I did too, Kansas.”
She nodded, “I know, you’re one of my clients. You live in my district. State Farm, I mean.”
“Oh,” he smiled. “What sort of farm was it?”
“Dairy. My father milked 25 head of Holsteins.”
“Oh. Mine was mixed farming. We had a bit of everything. Mostly though we raised wheat. You know, big flat fields.”
She nodded. “All I remember was trying to get out of doing chores. It seems like I spent my whole life in the barn!”
“So you did the milking?”
“I helped with it. I did a bit of everything, throwing down the hay, bedding the cows, cleaning out the stalls, cleaning the milk room, washing out the lines, you know, regular chores.”
Clark nodded. “What’s it like for you to be in the city after that?”
“I like it. Sometimes I miss the stars. I liked sleeping in a hammock and watching the constellations move all night. Hercules. He was always my favorite. All summer long I’d see Hercules. But Orion was good too. I didn’t see him as much though because it was getting cold by the time he was showing up at night.”
Clark was amazed. Here was a really nice girl, not some lunatic out to get what she could from him. “I used to watch the stars too. My dad used to rename them.”
“oh yeah?”
“Yeah, I was learning all the constellations and I’d try to show him which stars were part of which ones but he’d always make up new ones. Garden hose, kite and earwig, those were his favorites.”
Kara laughed. “No way! He didn’t!”
“Yup. We’d be lying on the ground outside and he’d show me all his constellations. He was such a hoot.”
“I never learned them all. Just the big ones everybody knows.”
“Not everybody knows about Hercules.”
“Well, I had this thing for Hercules. I used to watch cartoons and I always loved the way he had all that power from his ring. He was kind of my hero. Then when I was reading somewhere and found out there was a constellation named for him, I was hooked!” she laughed again.
She had a nice laugh. Her hair wobbled around her face when she did. “I used to watch Hercules, too. He was pretty neat.”
“I liked the way that other guy could hold up the earth. What was his name?”
“Atlas, yeah. He was pretty neat. And Zeus.”
Clark nodded, remembering his childhood watching superheroes on television who could do some of the things he was able to do.
“I always liked Atlas,” Clark said wistfully, remembering how similar he’d felt to the man who had strength like he did.
He looked at his watch, a bit uncomfortable with his recollections in public. “Look, would you like to get together sometime, go out maybe?”
She blushed slightly and her heartbeat speeded up, “Sure. There’s a band I like playing at the Junction tonight, do you want to go?”
Clark grinned. “That sounds nice, shall I pick you up for dinner first?”
Kara was more than pleased, “Sure. Let me give you my address.”
She pulled her wallet out of her purse and fumbled around for her business card. Their eyes met as she handed it to him. “Seven?”
“Yes, that’ll be fine. Thanks, Clark. I'm looking forward to it!”
He returned her smile and got up. “I’d better get back to work.”
“Sure. See you later.”
Back out on the sidewalk, Clark was practically walking on air. He wasn’t, he assured himself, checking. What a nice girl. It wasn’t usually easy to meet people in the city. But she wasn’t from the city, perhaps that was why. He thought about what she’d said, doing chores. He’d done chores all his life, twice a day, right up until he’d moved to Metropolis.
He thought about what she’d said about the cartoons. They had really meant a lot to him. He’d rushed through his early morning chores to be able to spend Saturday mornings in front of the television with all of his superheros. He’d watched Spiderman, Batman, Popeye, Wonder Woman. She was a bit too racy for him though. But Hercules had always been one of his favorites. It came on every afternoon at four, just after he’d gotten off the bus.
Popeye was another of his favorites. He’d wondered at times if his strength had come from all the spinach his mother fed him from the garden. He’d never had spinach from a can like Popeye, though.
