Home V: Obsession -- 6
by Nan Smith
Previously:
Lori looked up, as Connor slid into the seat opposite them. "Thanks for coming," he said without preliminary. "I need to talk to you. After what happened yesterday, I knew I had to find someone who could help me. You two are investigative reporters, and I need someone who understands this stuff."
"Are you talking about --" Lori began.
"I saw the article about the woman who was stabbed last night not far from the gym," Connor said, keeping his voice low. "Her name was Ginnie Talbot. The police were questioning me about her this morning, Lori. Since you wrote the article, you probably know she was one of my instructors."
Lori nodded. "I talked to the police today."
"What you may not know, however," Connor said, "is that there have been four other murdered women in the last three years, and all of them knew me! I'm a suspect, and I don't blame the cops a bit. The only reason I'm not under arrest is that for two of them, I was teaching a class and couldn't possibly have been the killer, but there's got to be some connection to me. It's too much of a coincidence otherwise. I need you to help me find out who's doing this and stop him before he kills anybody else!"
And now, part 6:
Clark glanced at Lori, then back at Connor. The body builder was looking pleadingly at them, and Clark could hear the man's pulse pounding fast and hard.
"Lori and I are investigative reporters, not police," he said. "We can try to find this killer for you, but we don't have their resources. And, of course, we have no proof that you're not somehow involved."
Connor nodded jerkily. "Yeah. I realize you don't know me from Jack," he said, "but I know *your* reputation, Mr. Kent. People say you're a straight shooter, and besides, Lori married you." He bit his lip. "If she trusts you, I do. Please, I need someone who can investigate and maybe find out some stuff that the police haven't. Whoever this guy is, he's killed five women who knew me. I don't know why, but I want it to stop. You guys have a reputation that won't quit, and a legitimate reason to hang around the gym. Will you help me?"
"When you put it that way, I don't see how we can say no," Clark said. "All right, tell you what. We probably shouldn't talk about this in a public place. Come over to our apartment after we eat and you can tell us everything you know about the murdered women and your relationships with them. We'll start from there."
Connor blew out his breath. "Thanks," he said. "I appreciate this."
"Don't thank us until you see what we can manage," Lori said. "I'll try to get the police reports on the killings by tomorrow." She lifted her head. "Here come our appetizers."
Connor raised his brows as the waitress set the nachos and breaded mozzarella sticks on the table before them and followed it with two cups of coffee. "Are you ready to order?"
Connor glanced at the food and then at Lori. "Still on your usual health food kick, I see." He looked at Clark. "I never could convince her to eat healthy food. Maybe you'll have better luck."
Lori gave a tiny smile and opened the menu. "I'll have the steak and fries, please, with green beans."
"Choice of bread?" the woman asked.
"Garlic bread," Lori told her. "And the milk, of course." She looked innocently at Connor. "See? I'm getting my calcium."
Connor rolled his eyes.
The waitress gave a cough that sounded suspiciously like a laugh and turned to the two men. "Are you ready to order?"
**********
"Well, I'd call this an interesting development," Clark said. They were flying through the chilly night air toward their apartment after bidding good night publicly to Connor. "Still, I don't blame him. If he's innocent, he certainly doesn't want women dying because of him." He saw her slight frown. "Personally, I think the probability is that he's telling the truth, but I have to keep the slight possibility in mind that he might not be."
"What could you tell about him while we were talking?"
"He was nervous," Clark said, "but that isn't exactly surprising."
"I could tell that myself, without super hearing or smell," Lori said. "What did he smell like?"
Clark grinned. "Nervous," he said. "I also think he was genuinely happy to see you."
"Yeah, that was kind of obvious. Connor and I were pretty good friends when we worked on the Clarion. I even dated him a couple of times, but there was nothing between us. He was just fun to be with, and I was too focused on my studies to let myself get involved with anyone. Lots of girls chased him while he was at New Troy State, but I don't think he took any of them seriously."
"Then I guess I don't need to worry," Clark said.
"Definitely not," Lori said. "There isn't a man on the planet who can measure up to you, at least for me." She cupped his jaw with her free hand and stretched up to kiss him. He responded with enthusiasm, and then had to correct his flight sharply as he nearly clipped the corner of a building.
"Oops!"
Lori giggled.
**********
"Nice place you have here," Connor said.
"Thanks." Lori waved him to the big armchair that sat at right angles to the couch. "Sit down. Can we get you anything to drink?"
"Sure." The body builder sank into the armchair. "This is nice. You have chairs for real people. Most of the time I'm afraid I'll break the chair."
"Herbal tea, right?" she asked.
"That's right."
On cue, Clark emerged from the kitchen with the teapot and cups. "Lori tipped me off in advance," he said, setting the tray on the coffee table. "Help yourself."
"Thanks." Connor did so.
Lori waited until he set the teapot back down and had settled back in his chair, then broached the subject. "So," she said, "what can you tell us about this situation?"
Connor cautiously sipped his herbal tea, seeming to gather his thoughts, then he set his cup down carefully.
"I've been trying to figure out exactly what happened," he said. "I dug out my old diaries ..." He broke off, looking embarrassed. "Yeah," he said, "I keep a diary. Don't spread it around, okay? Anyway, after it finally dawned on me that this somehow had something to do with me, I got them out and re-read what happened, trying to figure out what might have been behind it. You can probably get the police reports and everything, but I didn't know what else to do. It's no fun to have a friend killed like that."
"I know," Lori said.
"The diaries didn't really help," he said. "I mean, I can't see any connections, but I'm not a detective or --" he smiled briefly, "-- an investigative reporter. It doesn't make any sense, but I can't ignore the fact that it's happened, and the police are watching me. It's got to be stopped. Outside of the fact that I don't want to be arrested for something I didn't do, I don't want anyone else to get killed."
Clark could hear his heart thumping like a drum, and it was clear from his other bodily reactions that the man was genuinely distressed. If he was guilty of the crimes that Lieutenant Chow had told them about, then he was the best actor Clark had ever met. No, unless something very extraordinary had taken place, Connor Cooper was an innocent man.
"Why don't you tell us about your relationships with the murdered women," he said. "We can read the police reports, but that's still a long way from a personal viewpoint. Maybe you'll tell us something that will help without knowing it."
Connor gulped the remainder of the cup of tea and Lori refilled it without comment. "Okay, but if you can pick anything useful out of it, it's more than I can. The first murder happened just after I graduated -- about a month later, actually. I'd gone to work part time for a health club -- the Metropolis Fitness Center. One of my instructors at NTSU knew the owner wanted a couple of people who were looking for a beginning spot, who could do general cleanup and basic maintenance on the equipment, and help out teaching the occasional class. He recommended a couple of us, and the owner offered us a job. It didn't pay enough to live on really, so I worked part time at the Metro Quality Pre-Owned Air- and Groundcar Dealership, too."
"The ones that got busted six months ago for failure to meet minimum safety standards," Lori said.
"Yeah," Connor said. "I didn't know about that part, though. I worked as a detailer. Anyway, Dolly worked in Parts and Maintenance. We went out to lunch a couple of times. She was just a nice, friendly girl. Three weeks after I went to work there, she was apparently stabbed to death when she entered her apartment house. It was pretty bad."
"Did you have any reason to think she might be afraid for her safety?" Clark asked.
Connor shook his head. "No. She lived in a pretty decent part of the city. Not the best, but not the worst, either." He looked grim. "The day it happened, she'd come over to the gym after work. I'd been trying to talk her into taking a fitness class, and she was thinking about it. Whoever killed her was apparently waiting for her when she went into her place. The police called it a botched robbery attempt."
"You don't think it was?" Clark asked.
"I did then," Connor said. "Now, I don't." He gulped the liquid in his teacup, draining it. "I only started to wonder later, though. It just seemed awfully coincidental."
"So, what happened next?" Lori asked.
"Well, I'd quit work at Quality and gone to work flipping hamburgers at the local McFeegle's," he confessed. "I don't know -- I didn't want to work there anymore after Dolly was killed. Gave me the creeps. Anyway, her name was Mercedes Young. She was an assistant manager at McFeegle's. We actually dated a couple of times, but we were a long way from getting serious. She'd started working out at the gym -- trying to work off all those hamburgers, she said --" He smiled briefly. "Anyway, a couple of months after our second date, she was stabbed to death apparently when she was getting into her car. The police said she'd been stunned and then stabbed." He had begun to wring his hands, and stopped when he noticed what he was doing. "I was teaching a class at the exact time, subbing for another instructor who had called in sick."
"Had she said anything to make you think she was worried for her safety?" Clark asked.
Connor shook his head. "No, nothing. I just thought it was a horrible coincidence, but it kind of spooked me."
"It would spook me, too," Lori said. "Go on."
Connor nodded. "Nothing much happened after that. I'd kind of sworn off dating, anyway. I was wondering if I had some kind of curse on me, or something. I mean, I was friends with lots of people, but two women who'd dated me had been killed. I mean, how many people do you know that have had one friend murdered, much less two?"
"None," Lori said. "Except you, of course."
"Exactly," Connor said. "It scared me. Anyhow, I was working three jobs for a while. I didn't really have time for a social life. I'd always intended to start my own gym, you know, but I figured it was going to be years before I could actually do it." He shrugged. "Anyway, about a year later, I'd stayed at the gym to teach a class, like I always did on Thursday nights. Just as I was leaving, the police showed up, wanting to know where I'd been for the past hour. It turned out that one of the tenants in my building -- the woman who lived across the hall from me -- had been killed the same way as Dolly and Mercedes. I had plenty of witnesses who had seen me in the gym the whole time, and it obviously couldn't have been me -- but the police weren't really convinced."
"I don't see how they could have connected that one to you," Lori said. "Except by the fact that she was killed the same way as the others, that is."
Connor shrugged. "I couldn't, either," he said. "She and I had exchanged hellos when we passed each other in the hall a few times, but that was it. We barely knew each other."
"How about now?" Clark asked. "Any ideas?"
"Maybe, but it seems awfully far-fetched."
"Never mind how far-fetched it is," Lori said.
Connor shrugged. "Okay. There was one tenant there -- Mr. Whittaker. You know how gossips can take anything and turn it into a scandal? He used to watch everybody in the building, and had the wildest stories about all of us. As far as he was concerned, the whole apartment was a hotbed of scandal and illicit love affairs. One of them involved me and Mary Roberts. Everybody used to laugh at the whole thing -- until she was killed. The police picked up on it, of course -- but they couldn't prove anything, because there wasn't anything to prove."
"You're right," Lori said, "that's pretty far-fetched. You're sure there wasn't any other connection?"
"Absolutely positive," Connor said. "And, of course, I didn't put it together until much later. I mean, I knew about the rumor, but nobody in his right mind would have taken it seriously, any more than they took all the others the guy spread around seriously. Everybody knew Mr. Whittaker."
"Okay," Clark said. "And you weren't dating anybody at this time."
Connor shook his head. "I didn't have the time," he said.
"Okay," Lori said. "Go on."
"Well, about eight months ago," Connor said, "I got promoted to instructor at the gym and got a raise, so I was able to quit my job at McFeegle's. I got a job a couple of days a week at a convenience store to make ends meet, but I started spending most of my time at the gym. I worked a split shift lots of days -- three hours in the afternoon and three in the evening. I went to a nearby coffee shop to eat dinner a lot so I wouldn't have to go home and then come back, since I lived across town. The people there got to know me pretty well, especially one of the waitresses."
"I think I see where this is going," Clark said.
"Yeah. I used to look forward to seeing her on the days I worked the split shift, but I was careful to keep it casual. I didn't want her to be killed too!" Connor poured himself more tea and gulped it down in two swallows. "You can call me stupid, but I still didn't actually realize what was happening. I still hoped that the other killings had been some kind of horrible coincidence, but I was getting kind of superstitious about it, so I didn't ask Lily for a date or anything, although she was kind of hinting she wouldn't say no if I did. One day she didn't come to work. That evening, the police showed up to question me. She'd been stabbed to death in the parking lot behind the building while I was sitting inside, waiting for her. They said she'd been stunned first and then stabbed. I think the only reason they didn't arrest me then was that a couple of the staff were pretty sure I hadn't left the table during the window of time when she must have been killed. They wanted to; I could see that, but they couldn't find anyone who had seen me leave, and there was a time stamp on the bill." He shuddered convulsively. "I think they had me under surveillance for a while after that. I wish they hadn't given up."
"Why?" Lori asked.
"Ginnie Talbot," Connor said. "My Uncle Connor died suddenly five months ago. He didn't have any kids, and it turned out that he left me some money in his will. I was able to start my health club a lot sooner than I'd expected to -- we've just been in business a couple of months. When I set up the gym, I hired people I knew at college or had met while I was working at the gym. Ginnie was one of my best aerobics instructors. She left work last night as usual, but never made it home. She'd been stunned and stabbed. Naturally, the police immediately suspected me." He set his teacup with a clink in its saucer. "If they'd been watching me, maybe they would have been able to prevent it. Maybe they would have discovered whoever is doing this. Somebody is killing women who know me -- and I don't even know why. It has to be someone I know, someone who knows about my life. If the police had been watching me, maybe they would have discovered something. Maybe Ginnie wouldn't have had to die."
**********
"You know," Lori said, "this is a really weird case."
She reached for the toothpaste, dabbed some of the substance on her toothbrush and began to scrub her teeth thoroughly. Clark finished drying his face, leaned forward and proceeded to remove the five o'clock shadow that coated his chin. "I agree, it's weird," he said. "Whoever is behind it must have known Connor for a long time -- at least since he was at New Troy State. I suppose it could even be someone he knew there. An instructor, or maybe another student."
"Maybe," Lori said doubtfully. "Still, there weren't any murders while he was there. It started after he left."
"Yeah. Well, I guess we could hunt up school records and check out who his classmates were. Maybe we could interview some of them. It seems like a long shot, though." Clark slapped aftershave onto his cheeks and chin. "It could easily have been someone he knew that wasn't even in his class."
"Maybe. He and I were pretty good friends, but nobody tried to kill me. There was the mugging that night we met, of course, but that was eight months after Connor graduated, so I don't think there was any connection."
"Probably not," Clark said. "It didn't fit the pattern, anyway. The murdered women were all stunned and then stabbed."
"Yeah." Lori shivered slightly. "Whoever is doing this must be a real nutcase. Why do you suppose Metropolis has so many insane killers, anyway?"
"Well," Clark said, "in any population there are a certain percentage of people that are unbalanced. Metropolis is the biggest city in North America, and the second-largest in the entire world. If you take that into account, the same *percentage* of people are criminally insane as everywhere else, but in sheer numbers there are a lot more of them."
"I guess," Lori said. "It sure looks to me like one of them has targeted Connor, though."
"I think you're probably right," Clark said. "After this evening, I don't really think he's a killer."
"Oh? What made up your mind?"
"I was listening to his pulse while he was talking to us. He smelled scared, too, and -- well, a number of bodily reactions that normal people aren't aware of unless they use pretty sophisticated technology to detect it. Plus, I trust your judgement, and you don't think he's guilty."
"Oh," Lori said.
Clark put an arm around her and pulled her against his bare chest. "One thing, though, that I hadn't thought of before. Since we don't know why the killer targeted these particular friends of Connor's, did it occur to you that now *you* might be a target?"
Lori stared at his face, reflected in the mirror. "No, I hadn't. Do you really think someone would go after me just because I'm a friend of his?"
"A pretty good friend of his," Clark said. "Someone sure doesn't seem to like Connor's female friends."
"Yeah." Lori bit her lip. "I'm married, though."
"We don't know that being married matters," Clark said. "Promise me you'll be careful, honey."
"I will," Lori told him. "Believe me, I will."
**********
tbc
