Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic Northern Lights -- Part Four

Part Four
Metropolis, New Troy

Clark shut down the computer and joined Lois in the living room.

"Anything?" she asked.

He shrugged his shoulders. "There really isn’t too much information. Basically, I’ve been looking for someone in the US who was adopted around May 1966." He shrugged again. "And then that really isn’t enough because the baby, if it even existed, could have been older or younger, or not even adopted. Look how obscure my papers are."

"So look for unaccounted super saves."

"I’m not sure that will help. My early saves went unreported."

"I’ll help."

"Thanks, honey." Clark moved closer to Lois, enfolding her in his arms. "I have to admit that I believe that the only other spaceship that landed was the one I found in China. I can’t understand why someone who also has the same, or even some of the same powers, wouldn’t have contacted Superman once he appeared. It’s been four years now."

"If it were me, I’d be curious to meet the person who was related to me. You’re probably right, but I think that you have to turn over every stone before you give up."

"You actually want me to obsess about something?"

"Sometimes, my love, obsession pays off."

"Like my obsession for you?"

"Exactly." She reached up and brought his face toward hers, luxuriating in the softness of his kiss.

The ringing of the phone separated them. Lois reluctantly got up from the couch, heading toward the phone. "It must be Jimmy."

Laughing, Clark reached for his wife’s hand as she picked up the receiver.

Lois’s end of the conversation was a series of single word replies and a final, "I’ll go with you."

"That was Shelley Hamilton," she explained to Clark. "Missing Persons called her, saying that a body of a man who fits Jeremy’s description was found in Canada. They’re not sure if it’s him, but she wants to go up and see what they have. I told Shelley I’d go with her."

"Do you want me to come along? I mean, if it’s Jeremy, then Shelley might need more help…"

Lois thought for a minute. "No. Don’t come up with us. I’ll call if I need you and you can..." She made a wave motion with her hand indicating their signal for flying.

"Are you sure?"

"I think that Shelley needs a friend and not a reporter right now. The trip will give us a chance to talk."

"All right. When do you plan to leave?’

‘As soon as possible. Shelley’s making arrangements for her kids."

"I’ll let Perry know. You go pack."

***************
Huntsville, Ontario

Early the next morning, Lois and Shelley, each carrying an overnight bag, walked into the local provincial police station. The officer at the front desk escorted them to a small office and offered them coffee after telling them that Sergeant McLaren was expected back soon.

Lois sat beside Shelley, holding her hand. It had been a while since they had spoken. Lois let Shelley sit with her grief, not sure if she wanted Jeremy’s body to be the one that they found or not. She wondered which she would choose: to know definitely that her husband was dead, or to live for months with hope that he could still be alive somewhere. It wasn’t an easy choice.

Lois looked around the room. It resembled many other police offices that she had seen. In the center of the small room, there was a desk with a computer. One comfortable chair rested behind the desk while two other chairs flanked the other side. Along one wall was a credenza piled with an assortment of papers and folders. Two filing cabinets were on the opposite wall. A Canadian flag hung limply in one corner. Several pictures were hanging on the wall: a group picture of officers in uniform, some newspaper stories framed with pictures of an attractive woman, about her age, wearing a police uniform. Lois assumed that was McLaren. Another wall held three citations for acts of bravery and two university degrees.

Lois leaned over and picked up a photograph from the desk. Unlike the ones on the wall, this one was a group shot of a family, the middle-aged parents flanked by their adult children. One female in the group stood out. Unlike the other members of the group who either had light brown or blonde hair, the woman had dark brown, almost black, hair that cascaded past her shoulders. Her olive complexion contrasted with the fair-skinned family.

Lois looked up and saw the same woman, this time wearing the uniform of the Ontario Provincial Police, her hair neatly controlled in a single French braid, walk forward, extending her hand to Lois.

"Anna McLaren," she said.

"Lois Lane, Daily Planet," Lois said, returning McLaren’s no nonsense handshake. "This is Shelley Hamilton."

Shelley looked up and reached for McLaren’s hand.

"I guess you want to know what we found, Mrs. Hamilton," McLaren said, not wasting any time.

McLaren sat down next to Shelley. She ignored Lois, focussing completely on the woman beside her. "The body of a man, Caucasian, six feet tall, approximately 200 pounds was found near the Loon Lake Road last week," she said, in a hushed voice. "The man, according to the coroner, has been dead since the middle of October of last year. He was hit on the back of the head by what appears to be a shovel. This blow to the head killed him. The coroner believes that the impact was so hard that death was instantaneous. There is no evidence that the body was moved so we’re assuming that he was killed there. "

While McLaren was speaking, Shelley sat rigidly, a few tears flowing from her eyes. The police officer handed her a tissue and then got up to pour her a glass of water. She waited a few seconds as Shelley sipped the drink.

"We’re not sure that this is your husband, Mrs. Hamilton. Identification of the body isn’t going to be easy." McLaren paused looking at Shelley and Lois. "It’s been out in the open for seven months so it doesn’t look like..." McLaren paused when Shelley inhaled. "Look, Mrs. Hamilton, I’m sorry but there’s no easy way to say this." She looked over at Shelley who nodded understanding. "It’s next to impossible to recognize the body as anyone. We’re going to have to look at the clothes that he was wearing or DNA..."

"Do I have to look at the b...at it?" Shelley asked in a tiny voice.

"Not yet. Maybe not at all."

"Can we get to the point here, Sergeant?" Lois interrupted. "Is there something that you have to go on or are you just..."

"No, Ms Lane. First of all, even though generally the body fits the description sent out by the Metropolis Police, it may not be him. So there are also some questions that I have to ask." She turned away from Lois. "Why would Mr. Hamilton be up here?"

Shelley looked at McLaren incredulously and shrugged her shoulders. "I...I...have no idea."

"Has he ever been in this area before?"

"Yes, a few times. The last time was a few years ago. We came up to Loon Lake Lodge for a week. We were talking about sending the boys up here to summer camp."

"Did your husband talk to you about visiting this area?"

"We talked about taking another holiday here."

"Why?"

"Because we liked the countryside, the peacefulness. It was so unlike the rush in Metropolis. Jeremy felt like he could slow down. He even wanted to buy a cottage on a lake here, but I didn’t want to. It was too far from home, too isolated."

"Did he have a specific cottage in mind?"

"No. He just wanted to be on one of the lakes."

McLaren paused as Shelley Hamilton wiped her tears, then she reached into her desk drawer and brought out an evidence bag. She placed it in front of Shelley.

"Do you recognize these?" she asked, her voice softer, more sympathetic than before.

Shelley gasped. Then the tears flowed unchecked. She attempted to get words out, but she only choked out incomprehensible sounds.

Lois, who had been standing at the side, approached Shelley and put her arms around her friend. The reality of Jeremy Hamilton’s murder and Shelley’s loss were visible in front of her, in the form of the evidence bag containing a man’s watch and a wedding band.

Lois heard McLaren quietly leave the office. In a way, she wished that the police officer hadn’t because she wasn’t sure how she could help her friend. So she just sat there and held her hand as Shelley’s tears rolled down her cheeks.

Later, when the first onrush of tears had slowed down, Shelley whispered hoarsely, "What am I supposed to do now?"

"I’m not sure. Let me go check." She left Shelley’s side, heading toward the door. "Or do you want me to stay?"

"No. Go find out. Please."

"You’ll be all right alone?"

"I guess."

Lois left the office and found Sergeant McLaren talking to another officer. When she saw Lois, she came toward her.

"Shelley wants to know what she’s supposed to do now."

"We’re not going to ask her to identify the body, but we’d like to do some DNA tests just to be sure it’s him. Either some hair follicles from a hair brush or a blood sample from one of the children…"

"She brought his hair brush just in case you needed it." Lois handed McLaren a baggie with the brush in it.

"We’ll also need to keep the body here until we’re sure, but Mrs. Hamilton can start making arrangements for the remains with our local undertaker." She handed Lois a business card. "There is also some paperwork that needs to be done."

She called a civilian worker over and quietly instructed the woman to make Mrs. Hamilton another cup of coffee and to help her fill in the forms.

"Sylvie, put a temporary flag on the file with Jeremy Hamilton’s name, and take this hair brush to the lab."

Lois turned back towards McLaren’s office.

"Ms. Lane," McLaren said, placing her hand on Lois’s shoulder, "before you go I’d like to talk to you."

"Sure."

"Are you here with Mrs. Hamilton as a friend or a reporter?"

Lois searched McLaren’s face to find the right answer to the question, but all she met was the police officer’s neutral gaze.

"I’m Shelley’s friend, but I’m also a reporter. I don’t see that one excludes the other."

"I’d like to ask you not to report on what has gone here, at least not right now."

"Why?"

"There’re too many unanswered questions. If information becomes public, it may hamper the investigation."

"But Jeremy Hamilton was murdered..."

"Ms. Lane, we’re not even sure that it’s Jeremy Hamilton...not until we’ve done some more testing."

Lois heard the polite veneer in McLaren’s voice leave as the woman slowed her speech and emphasized her words.

"But there’s a story here."

"Probably. But there are too many unanswered questions. If your suspicions become public, it may hamper my investigation."

"What I do in Metropolis, where this story probably originates, has nothing to do with you here."

"It has everything to do with what we’re doing here. I assume that you’d like to find out what happened to Hamilton and if there has been any wrong doing, the perpetrator found and convicted."

"Of course."

Even though McLaren was only a few inches taller than Lois, her solid frame made Lois feel as if the police officer loomed over her.

"Then once again, Ms. Lane, I’m asking you not to print anything."

"Are you going to be releasing the victim’s name?"

"The official statement will be that a body was found on Loon Lake. There will be an investigation into the death. At this point, the story shouldn’t be newsworthy in Metropolis."

"And if I write what we know at this time?"

"Then I’ll make sure that you aren’t privy to any more information."

"Shelley could fill me in on the details."

"She could if she knew any, but at this point she knows all that she has to. Anything else is a courtesy."

"Sergeant, I have a job to do and that’s to report the truth, not to cover it up."

"Do you always print everything, or do you keep some of the so-called truth covered up?"

"My editor and I decide what’s newsworthy and what isn’t."

"And I’m sure you know things that you don’t even tell your editor." McLaren’s eyes seared through Lois in a way that made her heart skip a beat. "This isn’t a cover up," McLaren said quietly. "This is a police investigation. Don’t get in the way, or I’ll arrest you for obstruction of justice."

"Haven’t you heard of the First Amendment? Of freedom of the press? You can’t shut me out of this story."

"This is Canada. We don’t have a First Amendment." McLaren turned abruptly and walked toward one of the other officers, dismissing Lois as she did.

***************

"You’re bristling, Lois," Clark said as he shifted the receiver to his other ear.

"Bristling? What does that mean? You’re in Metropolis. I’m 500 miles away in Nowheresville. How do you know I’m bristling?"

"Because I know you."

"Do you have a new power like supertelescopic vision?"

"No, honey." He chuckled amazed that her sense of the ridiculous was heightened when she came across a situation that set the hairs on her beautiful, long neck off in some direction. "I can hear it in your voice, the pauses, the way you described your talk with the police officer."

"She made me so angry," Lois said, a bit petulantly.

"What she said made sense...well, for a cop it did. Henderson would have said the same thing."

"I know that. It’s just..." She paused. "It’s just that she was so condescending. No. that’s not right. I just got the feeling that she knows something I don’t, and she’s not going to tell me. I don’t think I like her."

"About Jeremy’s murder? Do you think she knows why he was up there?"

"I don’t know. There’s this air about her that she’s laughing at me, and that I’ll never be let in on the joke. Like when she said there’s no First Amendment. There has to be. Canada is a democracy."

"Technically, Lois, freedom of the press is ensconced in their Charter of Rights and Freedoms. There is no First Amendment."

"Why that…She knew exactly what I meant." She lowered her voice. "Clark, I miss you."

"I miss you too, honey. The bed’s so empty without you."

"Mine, too."

"I can be there in two minutes if you want."

"I want, but don’t come. I’m sharing the room with Shelley...and as much as I need you, I think she needs me more."

"How’s she doing?"

"As well as can be expected. Dealing with the details has given her something to focus on rather than her grief. She hasn’t told the kids yet."

"How long can she keep quiet?"

"We’re flying back to Metropolis in the morning. She’ll tell them when they confirm it’s Jeremy’s body." She sniffled.

"Lois, honey, are you all right?"

"Yeah. It’s just that sometimes I can’t stop imagining how I’d feel if it were me, and you were missing, or even worse...Clark, I couldn’t survive without you."

"It’s not me. That can’t happen. Don’t worry about the impossible."

"In my head I know you’re right. It’s my heart." She sniffled again and took a deep breath. "I’m fine. I’ll see you tomorrow around noon. I’ll come directly to the Planet."

"I love you, Lois."

"I love you, too, Clark."

Each held onto the phone for a moment longer, listening to the other breathe. Then, they each hung up.

tbc