Again I need to thank my beta-reader
I hope you'll like this part
from Part 1: So Martha and Jonathan filled Clark in with the newest Smallville rumors. Lois and Clark on the other hand informed the older Kents of what was going on in Metropolis. On Sunday they watched a new play at the theater. It seemed to be a normal visit of the older Kents. All four of them were great pretenders, playing the role of the ever-happy family. Someone who didn’t really know them would have thought that everything was just fine. But it wasn't.
Silent Agreements Part 2 Monday On Monday, Lois and Clark went to work as usual, while Martha and Jonathan spent their time shopping in the big city.
The newsroom was as busy as ever. Perry wanted new stories and preferably at once.
Lois and Clark took turns in leaving their desks to get the news. They were waiting for Carla because both were very curious to find out what she knew. But hours passed and Carla didn’t show up.
“Lois, Clark!” Perry yelled. “Have you been at the court, yet?”
“Working on it,” Clark replied.
“Work a little faster, then. Great shades of Elvis! This newspaper is not going to produce itself,” he muttered.
Clark assumed that he had problems with Alice again. Since their son had reappeared, the two of them had spoken to each other once in a while. But their marriage was over and Perry had had problems with Alice for years before their breakup. It wasn’t likely that everything would be fine soon. Perry had gained new hope, though. But whenever things were working badly with the two of them, Perry’s mood changed quickly into something very unpleasant. Clark knew how much he missed his former wife. He wished him luck silently.
“Where is she?” Lois whispered, as she came over to Clark’s desk.
Since Perry’s mood wasn’t too good today, she didn’t want him to overhear their conversation. He was interested in stories. As long as Lois weren’t sure that Carla’s information would turn out to be a story she wanted to be careful. Clark seemed to think the same.
“I have no idea,” Clark mouthed and leaned back in his chair.
“Do you think that it might have been a joke?” Lois asked and sat down on the edge of his desk.
“I can’t imagine it being a joke, Lois. Why should someone from Germany fly to Metropolis to mock us? How did she know us in the first place? We’re not that international.”
“I don’t think, it’s a joke, either. I just wonder,” Lois answered.
“Hey, there, you two. If that’s a married couple thing over there, you better get back to work,” Perry remarked in a strained voice.
Clark gave Lois a glance, meaning *You have every right to wonder. How about investigating Ms. Seefeld?*
Lois smiled and nodded at Clark’s unspoken suggestion.
“Jimmy?” they shouted both at the same time.
Jimmy, who was already watching his friends, came over with a big grin.
“Someday soon, the two of you will need to explain me how you do this,” Jimmy grinned. “What shall I do?”
“Find out everything you can about a young German woman called Carla Seefeld.”
“You have already heard about it?” Jimmy asked surprised. ”I haven’t brought the news from the police upstairs yet. No wonder you two are the best reporters in Metropolis.”
“Police?” Clark asked confused.
“Yes, she was found dead in Centennial Park early this morning. The police thinks it’s murder,” Jimmy explained and handed them the note.
“We didn’t know that. Okay, Jimmy, thank you. I guess your research will be even more important now, ” Lois said, shocked by the news.
Jimmy mumbled something and went away, but neither Lois nor Clark really heard what he had said. They were lost in their own thoughts.
Carla was dead? She had been so full of life two days before. It was hard to deal with her sudden death, although Lois and Clark had only known her for a very short time.
They thought a lot about it. There were two major possibilities. Maybe it was just kismet, a strange coincidence. The murderer threw a dice and happened to choose Carla. But since everything that concerned Superman in the last years happened by anything but chance, they didn’t believe in bad fate.
Someone had killed Carla because she knew too much. Both Lois and Clark felt guilty because they had postponed their investigation for family matters. If they hadn’t, Carla might still be alive. Clark was not the only one blaming himself for the death of people. Lois was suffering as well. So they swore to find her murderer. Carla shouldn’t have died without reason.
While Jimmy was trying to find out whatever he could, Lois called the police. They wanted to find out who was investigating the murder. It was Inspector Henderson. Both considered that as a good sign. Henderson was the best in his job and had often helped them.
Clark stood next to Lois when she dialed Henderson’s mobile phone number. They waited for the inspector answer.
“Henderson.” The voice sounded impatient, not eager to answer another call.
“This is Lois Lane,” Lois replied as politely as possible.
“Not again. I have no time for reporters today, Ms. Lane. I’m still busy with the crimes of the last weeks.” Lois heard the inspector breathing out a heavy sigh.
“We met Carla Seefeld on Saturday afternoon,” Lois said before Henderson could end the conversation.
“Okay, that’s a reason for disturbing me. Meet me at the Metropolis Inn,” Henderson offered. Then he hung up.
Lois and Clark looked at each other, nodded and headed for the elevator. They didn’t say much on their way down, both wondering why Henderson wanted to meet them in a hotel. But the conclusion wasn’t too difficult to draw. It had to be the hotel where Carla had spent her nights in Metropolis.
* * *
The Metropolis Inn was very close to the Planet. Driving there by car would have taken a whole lot longer than just walking over. Within minutes they reached the entrance. Henderson was aware of the very short distance. He was already waiting for them in the lobby.
“Mr. Kent, Ms. Lane,” he greeted.
“Inspector. Nice to meet you.” Clark shook Henderson’s hand. Lois then did the same.
“So you knew the victim?” Henderson asked.
“We met her on Saturday for the first time. She wanted to come to the newsroom today,” Lois replied.
“What did you want from her?” the inspector continued the interrogation.
“Nothing,” Clark said. “She wanted to meet us. She said it had been an important reason for her travel. She had information concerning some kind of threat for Superman.”
“That’s interesting. How much did she tell you?” Henderson was obviously surprised.
“Almost nothing. She didn’t have anything concrete and I didn’t really believe her until this morning.” Lois felt uneasy because she hadn’t mentioned this in front of Clark earlier. But he didn’t seem to mind.
“Did she mention ‘p 53’?” Henderson wanted to know.
He looked closely at the two reporters searching for any hint of recognition. He didn’t believe that they would keep something from him, but his experience told him not to be sure.
“No, never heard of it,” Clark answered. “What does that mean?”
Henderson saw that Clark was telling him the truth and decided to answer the question. Maybe they had found out something that could help him with his investigation.
“We don’t know. We found this letter and the two numbers written on her hand. The question is, did she write it herself or did the murderer leave it there?” Henderson explained. ”Her hotel room was thoroughly devastated. The murdered must have been searching for something.” He added.
“What do you know about the woman so far?” Lois demanded.
“She was German and lived in a city called Cologne. Her plane arrived on Friday evening. She was a medical student. We are still trying to find her parents, but we haven’t been successful yet. This is all I can tell you for now. I have a lot of work to do.” Henderson turned around and disappeared into an elevator.
Lois and Clark left the hotel. The police wouldn’t be keen on having them strolling around and disturbing the investigation. Of course Clark might find out something with his powers, but he trusted Henderson. He would see the important things for sure.
Since they didn’t learned much at the hotel, the reporters hurried to return to the Planet. On their way back, Clark heard sirens and cries for help.
“Lois...,” he began, but she already nodded.
“Go, I’ll try to appease Perry,” she grinned.
Clark thanked her, brushed her cheek with a kiss and left, fumbling with his tie. He searched for a secure place and spun into his suit. A moment later he was flying above the city, following the cries. They came from S.T.A.R. Labs. Clark was worried. They had often been the target of attacks. One of the major reasons for this was that they stored Kryptonite there.
t.b.c. ....
