Part 17
Lois studied Clark as she sipped her morning’s cup of coffee. He was looking through the information that Lois had already collected on the Harrison murder case – forensics reports, police reports, depositions. It was obvious that he wasn’t happy at agreeing to give her forty-eight hours to make her case, but at least he had granted her that much of a concession.
On the drive back to the Planet the evening before, he had told her why he hadn’t come by after his self-defense class. His father had shown up unannounced, claiming that his wife of thirty years was having an affair with a younger man. As proof, Jonathan had brought along a painting he’d found hidden in the barn – a painting of Martha in the nude. Clark had actually blushed when he told Lois about it.
“That’s not exactly proof, you know,” Lois had pointed out.
“Tell that to my father,” he had said with a snort.
Jimmy dropped a pile of paper on the table. “Transcripts from the trial,” he announced. “I’d have more but the network’s on the blink.”
“Thanks, Jimmy. Nice work,” Lois told the younger man as she started to skim over the document. “Stay on Lena today, all right?”
Jimmy nodded and looked over at Clark. He was glowering at the world in general and Lois in particular as he picked up his own coffee.
She glared back. It was a game two could play. He lied to her.
“I'm sorry. I can't help the way I feel. Just because Eugene said Lena killed her husband, doesn't mean she did,” Clark said after a moment.
“Clark Kent... since when did you become such a cynic?” Lois asked, only half-joking. “I'm usually the one saying 'hogwash.' What happened to that bright-eyed bushy-tailed Kansas boy I once knew?”
Jimmy chuckled. “Maybe he's been hanging around 'Mad Dog' Lane too much.”
Lois turned her glare on him. He gulped and tip-toed away to safety.
“Or, maybe... he found out that his perfect little world isn't so perfect?” she commented, turning her attention back to Clark. “How's your Dad?”
“Okay. I hope.”
“You know my Mom and Dad got divorced when I was a teenager,” she told him. It wasn’t something she talked much about. It really wasn’t anybody else’s business.
“How'd you take it?”
She shrugged. “I pretended that it didn't bother me. A lot of the girls I went to school with came from broken homes,” she said. “But, it did. Bother me. Affected me. More than I thought.”
They fell into silence, each one with their own thoughts. When her own parents split up, it hadn’t happened overnight. There had been arguments, hateful remarks, reconciliations, promises made and broken. Then her mother fell into a bottle and her father had an affair. She was never sure which one was the final straw – her father’s distaste at coming home to a drunkard or her mother’s anger at being abandoned when her husband chose the bed of another woman. She had never forgiven Mrs. DiMarco for breaking up an already shaky marriage.
“Lois, I'm worried about you,” Clark said, breaking into her unsavory thoughts. “I'm uncomfortable with Eugene staying in your apartment.”
“I'm not going to turn him in. Not now,” Lois said firmly. “Lena Harrison is guilty and I intend to prove it.”
“I'm with you,” Clark told her. He made a show of checking his watch. “For the next 34 hours.”
-o-o-o-
Harritech Computers occupied a large converted warehouse on the outskirts of the city. The large parking lot was virtually empty as Lois drove past the empty security kiosk.
The inside of the building was also nearly empty. Light rectangles on the walls showed where pictures and awards once hung. The dark interior hallways where stacked with file boxes and computer hardware. There was one office with the lights still on – Harrison’s own office.
Seated inside was a middle aged woman in a dark suit, Henry Harrison’s personal assistant, Patricia Bird.
“No one knew Mr. Harrison better than I did. I was his personal secretary for fifteen years,” Bird explained. “He was a genius, you know.”
“We've interviewed several people who also say he was a tyrant,” Lois said.
“He had a company to run. It wasn't easy, starting his own line of software,” Bird stated defensively “And then, to find out that Lena and Eugene were... he didn't deserve to be two-timed.”
“There was some evidence that indicated Harrison was abusive toward his wife,” Lois told her.
“Nonsense. He loved her,” Bird scoffed. “He would never touch a hair on her head. In his will, he left her everything. All the stock...”
“The debts...” Lois added.
“That's not fair,” Bird protested. “All these accusations against Mr. Harrison. He's not here to defend himself.”
“No, he's not,” Clark stated pointedly.
“Henry Harrison had a heart of gold. One morning he found a homeless man sleeping in the generator room. He got him a cot. Brought him food. Does that sound like a monster to you?”
“Where is this homeless man now?” Lois asked “We'd like to talk to him.”
“I don't know,” Bird admitted. “Since the murder... I suppose I can't blame him for not wanting to sleep in that room anymore.”
“Well, thank you for your time,” Lois told her.
Miss Bird smiled. “You're welcome... I'm just straightening up... we're closing the doors tonight,” she said. “Look, I know it's part of your job to dig around looking for new angles on stories, but... Eugene Laderman killed Mr. Harrison. That's the real truth.”
-o-o-o-
Their next stop was Lex Luthor’s penthouse. Harrison had been let go from LexCorp. There was a chance that Luthor might remember Harrison.
Nigel St. John ushered them through the study to the balcony. Luthor was dressed in ‘hunting’ garb – a green and brown suede vest with padding on the right shoulder. He was shooting clay pigeons off the balcony. Lois watched as Luthor launched another pigeon and shot. The clay pigeon shattered. Clark had a bemused expression on his face as he walked to the edge of the balcony and looked down.
“What happens if you miss?”
Luthor shrugged. “Interesting question, Mr. Kent. Let's see… This clay pigeon weighs two ounces. We are on the one hundred and twentieth floor, approximately fifteen hundred feet above street level. Considering the G force and the speed... if the object hit the pavement, or some hapless passer-by, it would make contact at about two hundred miles per hour. My guess is that it would, unfortunately, kill him or her, instantly.” Luthor smiled. “I never miss.”
Luthor set aside his shotgun and kissed Lois on the cheek. “So nice to see you again, Lois.”
“Nice to see you, Lex,” Lois said. She hadn’t returned any of his phone calls and was hoping he had given up his interest in her. It seemed she wasn’t going to be so lucky. Being ‘hard to get’ simply piqued his interest. Lois caught Clark rolling his eyes at her interplay with Luthor.
Luthor seemed amused by Clark’s reaction but remained the perfect host, inviting them to return to his study. He motioned for them to sit as he moved to his desk.
“About Henry Harrison...?” Clark began.
“Yes, when I received your call, I requested that the head of the software division personnel pull his file,” Luthor said. He handed Lois a file. “I'm afraid there's not much there to help you.”
“Did you know him personally?” Lois asked.
“Oh, yes. He was quite an ambitious and talented man when I hired him,” Luthor said. “Great thinker. Ahead of his time.”
“Is it true he was fired only a month before he was eligible to retire on a full pension?” Clark asked.
“Yes. When we downsized the company during the recession, hundreds of employees were forced out,” Luthor admitted smoothly. “We made every effort to relocate them. But Henry decided he wanted to be his own boss. Shame about the murder... have they caught the man yet?”
“No, not yet,” Lois said. She tried to keep her voice even. She knew that Luthor had a gift for sniffing out weakness.
She caught him studying her. “Lois... is there some doubt in your mind as to the man's guilt?”
“Yes. A great deal of doubt,” she admitted. Luthor seemed to consider her statement as she and Clark stood to leave. “Thanks for your help.” Lois started for the door then turned back to Luthor. “Lex, have you ever heard of a software program called 'The Ides of Metropolis?' Something Harrison was working on.”
“Ides of Metropolis? No, I haven't,” Luthor said. “Sorry I couldn't have been of greater assistance.”
-o-o-o-
“Do you believe LexCorp let Harrison go simply due to downsizing?” Clark asked Lois on their way back to her car.
“Well, firing someone just before they’re eligible for full retirement is one way to save on personnel costs,” Lois said. “Brutal but undeniably efficient. However, given that Lex personally hired Harrison, I doubt it was anything as simple as downsizing.”
“Luthor described Harrison as ‘ambitious and talented,’” Clark said. “From what I’ve seen of LexCorp, that’s a dangerous combination. What’s in his personnel file doesn’t tell us anything except that he was team leader for a major software program code-named ‘Star City’ and his reviews were adequate.”
“Which tells us absolutely nothing.”
“Which tells us that either Harrison’s temper didn’t show while he was at LexCorp…”
“Or his reviews were whitewashed?”
Lois concentrated on traffic for a few moments. “Clark, didn’t LexCorp release ‘Gateway’ about the time Harrison was let go?”
“The operating system? Yeah, I think so,” Clark said. “Do you think that was the program Harrison was working on?”
“Hottest O.S. release ever,” Lois commented. “Even the Planet is using it. According to Jimmy it’s damn near bullet proof and the networking ability is simply unbelievable.”
“Uh, didn’t Jimmy also say the network at work was on the blink?”
-o-o-o-
“I don't believe it,” Lois protested as she and Clark watched the video tape Jimmy had brought in.
On the monitor, Lena Harrison, wearing a fur coat, strode purposefully across the lobby of the Lexor hotel. The camera drifted to catch a pair of long legs in a mini-skirt, then whipped back to follow Lena again.
“How'd you get this? And what about Reed?” Lois asked. “Weren't her men tailing Lena as well?”
Jimmy made a face. “Two guys in a car in front of the hotel. Some stakeout.”
On the screen, Lena walked toward the elevators. Suddenly, a man wearing a trench coat and a hat fell into step behind her. Just before the elevator doors opened, Lena and the mystery man kissed.
“So much for the grieving widow,” Lois announced. She couldn’t keep the triumph out of her voice.
Jimmy turned off the video player and turned to face Lois and Clark. “What now?”
-o-o-o-
Clark agreed to accompany back to her apartment. Laderman was still hiding out there. Lois surprised and more than a little annoyed to find Laderman working on her home computer. He looked up at her and smiled.
“I've straightened out your files, Lois. Gave you a simpler directory.”
“You... those were personal files, Eugene. I had a password.”
Laderman shrugged. “I know. ‘Superman’. Wasn't too tough to figure out.”
Lois was too embarrassed to check Clark’s reaction, but she heard a dry chuckle from his direction.
“Eugene, let's go over what happened the day Harrison died,” Lois ordered, shifting into reporter mode to cover her embarrassment.
“Well, like I said, I found this now program he was working on. It wasn't in the regular files, but I figured out his security bypass pretty quickly...”
“About the fight...”
“Henry asked me how much of the program I'd seen. Suddenly he was screaming at me, saying that I had stolen his wife and now the 'Ides Of Metropolis.'” Laderman told her. “I started yelling back at him. I said I'd kill him if he hurt Lena again.”
“So, Lena came to your apartment...” Clark prompted.
“I told her about the fight and she said she was going to the office, to have it out with him. When she didn't come back, I got worried, went to the office.”
“You smelled something burning, went into the generator room. That's when you found him...” Lois continued.
She was interrupted by a sharp knock on the door.
“Quick. In the bedroom,” Lois ordered Clark and Laderman as she headed to answer the door. It was Detective Reed and two uniformed officers. Reed pushed past Lois, looking around.
“I have a warrant to search the premises,” Reed announced, waving a sheet of paper under her nose.
“My apartment? Are you crazy?” Lois tried to keep from screeching. She knew she needed to buy time for Clark to find a way to hide Laderman – otherwise they were both in deep trouble, not to mention the trouble Laderman would be in as an escaped felon.
Reed grinned at her. “I don't think so, Ms. Lane. Call me wild, call me crazy, but I have a hunch that you're hiding something... or someone.” She nodded to the two uniformed officers who started moving through the apartment.
“Why don't you just have a seat on the couch,” Reed suggested. “This won't hurt much, and it'll be over real soon.”
As instructed, Lois settled onto her sofa. She tried to relax, to keep from showing Reed how tense she was.
After a few minutes the officers returned to the living room, shaking their heads.
Reed managed to cover her disappointment. “Ms, Lane. It appears I was mistaken... for the time being.”
“I hope you never find him,” Lois stated with false bravado. “Eugene didn't kill Harrison.”
Reed seemed amused. “Do tell.”
“Lena Harrison killed her husband.”
“Interesting theory. Unfortunately at precisely the time of Harrison's death, Lena was at a Neighborhood Watch meeting. She was seen by at least twenty people who positively identified her.”
But Laderman had said Lena told him she was heading to the office. “But why would a man set fire to the room the body was in to destroy the evidence, wait there for the police, then sign a confession? And why didn't he take the stand in his own defense when his attorney begged him to?”
Lois thought she saw a glimmer of something in Reed’s eyes. Curiosity?
“Good night, Ms. Lane. Remember to lock your doors and windows. We've got an escaped killer on the loose.”
Lois locked the door behind Reed and the two officers. A moment later Clark led Laderman back into the room.
“Talk about being out on a ledge,” Clark commented. Laderman looked shaken and headed into the kitchen. Lois was sure she didn’t look much better.
“Where did you guys hide?”
“On the ledge,” Clark said. “Eugene is afraid of heights. I guess the cops knew that. They didn’t even check the window.” He studied her more closely. “Lois? You okay? What'd Reed say?”
“Oh. Not much. Just that Lena Harrison has an iron-clad alibi for the night of her husband's death.”
“But Eugene told us…” Clark began.
“Exactly.”
-o-o-o-
The next day was relentless in its tedium, as Lois and Clark attempted to follow up on the reports they’d received the day before. Unfortunately, it also allowed them time to argue. Clark was being positively lunk-headed.
“Clark, men and women lie to each other all the time. It's a national pastime. Sometimes it's okay to lie.”
“It's never okay,” Clark stated.
“So, you've never lied to me?” Lois asked. She knew the answer, even if he didn’t know she knew.
“I didn't say that. I said, it's not okay. Besides, we're talking husbands and wives here,” he said, holding his phone to his ear. “Yes. I can hold.” He turned back to Lois. “I just happen to think that it's always better to tell the truth, get everything out in the open.”
“So, you're saying you'll never lie to your wife, assuming someone is crazy enough to say ‘I do' to you.”
“That's right.”
On her own phone, a live person had finally come on. “Transfer me to who? I've been holding ten minutes.... Ugh.” Back to Clark: “Okay, here's the scene. Your loving wife of twenty years has spent the entire day at the beauty shop. Dyed her hair red, got it cut... all to please you. Except she looks ghastly. She stands there when you open the front door, so hopeful... and says 'Honey, do you like it?' What do you do?”
Clark looked puzzled. “My wife would know I love her the way she is. Why would she dye her hair red?”
Perry strode past them on his way to his office and the conversation stopped. They both smiled at him and he smiled back. As soon as his office door was safely closed.
“Okay. I'd...” Clark continued. “Tell her the truth. That I love her. That I liked her hair better before, but that, if she's happy with it, that's the important thing.”
Lois was only half listening. “But I've already left a message,” she was saying to the person on the other end of the line. “Never mind.” She hung up and turned back to Clark. “Poor woman,” she muttered.
“Who?”
“Your wife. She's married to Mr. Right. Mr. Always Right.”
Clark just gave her a confused look. Perry’s door opened and he stuck his head out.
“Lois? Clark? A moment of your time?” he called. Lois detected a false cheerfulness in the editor’s voice.
Lois and Clark walked into Perry’s office and Clark closed the door behind them.
Perry peered at the two of them. “Is there something the two of you want to tell me?”
“No, not really, Chief,” Lois told him.
“Huh. Well... good,” Perry said. It was obvious that he didn’t quite believe her. “You sure now? Nothing you want to get off your chest, uh, chests?”
“We'd like to tell you, Chief, but we can't. It's better this way,” Lois told him.
“Better off not knowing,” Clark added.
“Well, I think it's a little late for that,” Perry told them. “I know.”
“You know?” Lois asked. She was certain she and Clark had covered their tracks. Even Reed didn’t know they were in contact with Laderman.
“What exactly do you know?” Clark asked.
“You know... about... him. Where he is.” Perry said cryptically.
“Oh. You do know.” Clark said, giving Lois a worried look.
“How do you know?” Lois wondered aloud.
“It's better you don't know,” Perry said. “'Course, I don't know officially. But, let's face it. If a man in my position didn't know, unofficially, then, well, he wouldn't be a man in my position.”
“So, now that you know, unofficially, are you going to tell anyone else that you, you know, know?” Lois asked.
“No. I just wanted you to know,” Perry said with exaggerated seriousness.
“Thank you, sir. I feel much better knowing that you know,” Clark told him. Lois wasn’t sure if he was joking or not.
“Me, too,” Lois agreed.
“There is something I'd like you know, though,” Perry added.
“What's that?”
“The minute you step outside that door, I no longer know. And I don't want to know anything else worth... knowing... in the future.”
Lois and Clark both nodded and Perry waved them out of his office.
“What just happened?” Clark wondered aloud.
“Well, he is a man in his position…”
-o-o-o-
The rest of the day was spent pouring over the trial transcripts. There was nothing there that looked helpful in clearing Laderman. Reed and the D.A. had done their jobs well, as far as preparing their case against Eugene. It was what wasn’t there, what Reed hadn’t looked into that Lois was interested in. Where was the homeless man Harrison allegedly befriended? And who had been in the clinch with Mrs. Harrison at the Lexor?
They finally called it a night, picked up two pizzas with salads at the local pizzeria.
Laderman was still sitting at Lois’s computer when they walked in.
“Thank God you're back,” Laderman said with a gush of relief. “You told me not to use the phone or go out, or...”
“What happened?” Lois asked. Clark set the pizzas on the table as he listened.
“Nothing happened. It's what's going to happen. I think.” Laderman said worriedly.
Lois had no idea what he was talking about and the quizzical look Clark was giving Laderman confirmed that she wasn’t alone.
“All the programs on your computer were sluggish today,” Laderman explained. “So I tapped into the Daily Planet’s network. They’re slowed down, too. So I traced it back as far as I could.”
“Eugene, there are more important things going on than a temporary computer slowdown,” Lois told him. She didn’t mention how annoyed she was that he was still playing with her home computer.
Laderman looked even more worried. “That file that Henry was working on... it wasn't a program. It was a virus. A polymorphic encrypted virus targeted at LexCorp’s Gateway O.S.”
“Come again?” Lois asked. He was talking gibberish. A ‘polymorphic encrypted virus’?
“The worst kind,” Clark said. “It can attack any computer system, taking on different shapes to avoid detection.”
“Makes sense,” Lois said thoughtfully. “The man was about to lose everything, might as well take everybody else's system with you. I’m betting he targeted LexCorp?”
Laderman nodded. “And most of the city uses Gateway’s default internet portal which is run by LexCorp.”
“Which means nearly every computer in the city has this virus,” Lois reasoned. “How bad could this make things?”
“Bad,” Laderman said. “Plus LexCorp is tied to the stock exchange, banks, you name it… it could mean... disaster.”
“What can we do?” Lois asked. What he was describing was a disaster of potentially biblical proportions, at least for people and businesses dependant on their computers. Assuming he was telling the truth.
“You have to break me into MUT,” Laderman told them. Clark gave him a blank look.
“Metropolis University of Technology,” Laderman explained. “I need a powerful mainframe system to work off of. I have to find the antidote. I teach a class there... my students can help.”
Clark beckoned Lois aside. “You're already harboring a fugitive, you want to add breaking and entering to your rap sheet?” he whispered.
“Clark. I don't know if he's telling the truth. But if he is... and the virus gets out...”
“Lois, all we have is a guy, a wanted guy, looking at a computer screen and telling us the nation's at risk,” Clark said grimly. “We need more proof.”
