PREVIOUSLY...
“And to think that I was actually starting to think that I’d misjudged you. God, I’m such an idiot. You’re not any better than the rest of the creeps out there. In fact, you’re worse. You will do anything for a headline. You destroyed one of the most honorable men alive. Do you feel good now? Does it give you some kind of cheap thrill to know that you destroyed an innocent man?”
“Lois,” he whispered. Although he said nothing more, the single word was an obvious plea.
It was the first time she’d ever heard him say her first name. And an involuntary shiver traveled down her spine. Tears suddenly sprang to her eyes. “Damn you, Kent. Damn you for making me care.”
Without another word, she turned and walked out the door to his apartment, slamming it hard behind her. She didn’t turn around, didn’t look back. Her legs felt like jello, barely able to carry her away from his apartment. She wasn’t sure why she suddenly felt so empty inside. All she knew is that if felt as if her heart had been ripped from her chest.**
AND NOW...
* * * * * * * * *
Chapter Eighteen
* * * * * * * * *
Clark’s eyes were shiny as he got out of his chair, kneeling down in front of her. “Come here,” he said softly.
She immediately moved into his arms. She closed her eyes and simply allowed him to comfort her. The memory of her fight with Clark was almost as painful now as it had been then. Suddenly, she understood why Clark’s parents had never heard of her. How could she have ever forgiven Clark after what he had done to Perry?
“Anyway,” she said after a moment, finally pulling back. Clark rose to his feet and settled back into his chair. “...the next morning when I got up... Well, that’s when I decided it was time to fight back. It seems I wasn’t the only one...”
**Lois Lane did not mope. She might have been fooled again by a handsome face and a slick talking tongue, but no one kept Lois Lane down. No. She’d spent enough time last night last night feeling sorry for herself. Clark Kent just wasn’t worth it.
It was time for her to get on with what needed to be done. And so, with her head held high, she marched up the steps to Perry’s house and knocked.
“Hi, Alice,” she said when the door was answered, wondering what kind of reception she was going to receive. She’d never been very good at offering comfort and support. But the place to start her investigation was by talking to Perry - if he was up to it.
Not only that, but it was awful early for a social call. But Lois wanted to get started on this as soon as possible. And since she hadn’t been able to sleep...
She was relieved when Alice gave her a warm smile. But a moment later, the words coming from Alice’s lips confused her.
“We were sort of wondering how long it would take you to get here.”
“You were expecting me?”
“We were counting on it. But Perry lost the bet. He was betting on you getting here first.”
“First?”
“Yes. They’re all in the kitchen. Let me take your jacket. Go on in. I’ll be along in a minute.”
They? What was Alice talking about? She watched for a moment as Alice stepped towards the closet to hang up her coat. But the sound of voices coming from further in the house soon caught her attention. Intrigued now, she began cautiously walking in the appropriate direction. Her eyes widened when, as she got closer, she heard laughter coming from the other side of the kitchen door.
She cautiously pushed open the door to the kitchen. Her eyes widened when she saw the people seated around the kitchen table.
“Hey, darlin’. About time you got here. I was starting to think you were at home moping or something,” Perry said.
“Yeah, Lois,” Jimmy said. “What took you so long? It’s almost six thirty.”
Huh?
“Let her alone,” Cat said. “She was trying to make an entrance. She can’t help it if she doesn’t know how.”
“Grab yourself a plate and dig in before these young bucks eat everything but the kitchen sink,” Perry said, ending the ribbing.
Lois didn’t follow his instructions immediately. Instead, she simply stood there, staring in disbelief at the sight that greeted her. Cat, Jimmy, Jack and Henderson had joined Perry and Alice and were now enjoying an old fashioned country breakfast. Pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage, rolls, toast, fruit, coffee and juice adorned the table. Everyone seemed to be having the time of their lives.
“What’s going on here?” Lois asked, feeling almost annoyed. They weren’t supposed to be having fun. Didn’t they realize how serious this situation was?
“Lighten up, Lois,” Cat said. “You’ve got to try these rolls.”
Alice walked in behind Lois.
“Alice, did you make these?” Cat asked.
“Just fresh this morning. Perry had a suspicion that we might be having company.” Alice took Lois’ arm and led her over to the table. Releasing Lois, Alice handed her a plate.
“Well, they’re wonderful,” Cat said around a mouth full.
“How can you guys act as if Perry getting fired is a reason for a party?” Lois demanded.
“Now just hold on a minute,” Perry said. “What do you think is going on here?”
“It looks like a wake to me. The only thing missing is the rum.”
“Wake hell! This is my war counsel. Now dig in and eat. No one talks strategy until they’ve had a big breakfast.
“But, Perry,” Lois objected.
“Sit!” Perry commanded. “Eat.”
Stunned, Lois sank into her chair even as Jack reached over and took her plate, piling it high with various items off the table before setting it back in front of her.**
* * * * * * * * *
**“Okay,” Perry said as Alice cleared the final dishes off the table. “So let’s get started. He got up and grabbed a newspaper. Has everyone seen this?” he asked, tossing the morning edition of The Metropolis Star on the table.
Lois stared at the headline. ‘Perry White: Planet’s Dictator Toppled. By Linda King and Clark Kent.’
“What the hell?” Henderson said, picking up the paper.
Lois wasn’t sure who had surprised her most by being at this morning meeting. Henderson or Cat. She’d had her fair share of run ins with both people over the years. To be sitting here, quite obviously on the same team, was a bit of a shock to her system. But both obviously thought enough of Perry to give up their free time to this investigation.
“Not much there in way of hard facts. It says, of course, that I’ve been let go,” Perry continued. “Other than that, there are a couple of interviews with Daily Planet employees. Rats off a sinking ship.”
“When I find out who did this,” Jimmy said even as he read the unflattering interviews. “They are going to regret it.”
“Hey!” Perry said. “None of that.”
“This isn’t about getting revenge, Jimmy,” Henderson said. “This is about proving that Perry is innocent. There are always going to be those who try to capitalize on this situation. Finding out who they are isn’t the priority here. Once Perry is reinstated, they’ll be back on side as if nothing ever happened.”
“But...” Jack began.
“No, buts,” Perry said. “Bill’s right. Reading that crap might be annoying, but it’s not why we’re here.”
“I think it’s Claude,” Lois said, ignoring her boss.
“Claude?” Cat asked. “What makes you say that?”
“I wrote a story yesterday, pointing out all the flaws in The Star’s story. He refused to run it. I think he sees this as his big break and I could see him giving an anonymous interview to The Star to drive the final nail in the coffin.”
“I doubt that’s the reason he didn’t run the story,” Perry said.
“Are you seriously defending Claude?” Lois asked in disbelief.
“Hell, darlin’. You probably pounded out some story that was high on emotion and light on facts. Do I have that about right?” He didn’t wait for her to answer. “Even I wouldn’t have run it.”
“But, Perry...”
“No. I saw Claude’s article about the firing in this morning’s paper. It was brief and unemotional. I have no doubt that he’s going to take full advantage of the opportunity. Hell, even if I get reinstated, if he does a decent job, he’d be a shoe in for an editing job at almost any paper in the country if he wanted it. But he’s right. If the Daily Planet comes across as too emotional about this issue, it could hurt its reputation. Besides, this could help us.”
“Help us?” Jimmy asked.
“Yes, help us. After all, if the Daily Planet appears to be neutral now, then when we get the facts to run the real story, it will be believed. So we leave the issue of who gave these anonymous interviews to the Star alone. They aren’t the issue.”
“I don’t agree that this story is irrelevant,” Cat said, pointing to the morning copy of the Star. “I think they do prove that The Star is out to get you. Any idea why?”
Perry shook his head slowly. “Carpenter and I have never even met. It could be Kent.”
Lois looked down at her coffee cup.
“After all, we had a bit of a run-in when he first came to town. This could be some kind of revenge. But right now, I think we should push that aside and get to the facts. Now, let me start by filling you in on what happened yesterday morning with the suits upstairs. When I arrived at the Planet at about six, a few members of the Board of Directors were already there.”
“Don’t they usually saunter in at about nine?” Lois asked.
Perry nodded. “That’s how I knew there was a problem - although how they knew about it before I did, I have no idea.”
“They must have gotten a tip,” Henderson said. “Tell me, Perry. The men who were there, were they the ones who before yesterday you would have trusted the most - or the least?”
“The least,” Perry said. “But them being there was not the worst part. Apparently, they’d already searched my office - including my safe. Once they found the envelope filled with fifty thousand dollars cash in my safe, I was pretty much toast.”
Lois sat up straighter. “So you did take fifty thousand dollars from Lex?”
Perry nodded. “Dumbest thing I ever did.”
Lois felt a sinking sensation in her chest. What if Kent’s article were true?
“Perry and I were at the Press Club the night before last when Lex came in,” Alice said, joining the rest at the kitchen table. “Perry had been phoning around, trying to raise money for the Metropolis Literacy Society. Lex was supposed to come by with a cheque. When he arrived, he gave us some story about how he was going to make his donation in cash because he wanted it to be anonymous. Then he handed Perry the envelope. We chatted for a minute or two and then he left.”
“I didn’t even count it. I figured it contained a few hundred bucks,” Perry said, picking up from where his wife left off. “I just stuck it in my pocket. When I got back at to the Daily Planet, I looked in the envelope. When I realized how much money he’d handed me, I put it in the safe. I figured I’d leave it there until I could give it to George. He’s the director of the Metropolis Literary Society.”
“Did you call George?” Henderson asked. “Tell him about the donation.”
“It was late. I figured I’d give him a call the next day.”
“There was something strange about the whole thing,” Alice said. “Who makes a fifty thousand dollar donation to a charity without wanting a tax receipt?”
“Hell, honey. We’ve talked about this already. Fifty thousand dollars for Lex is the same as five dollars for anyone else. I admit, I hadn’t expected quite so much from him, but obviously Lex thinks this is a worthy charity.”
“Was Kent there?” Lois asked.
“If he was, I didn’t see him,” Perry answered. “Of course, I tried to tell the suits upstairs what had happened. Even told them to call Lex. But they couldn’t get hold of him on such short notice. That’s when they asked for my bank records. Of course, since I had nothing to hide, I called a friend who works at the bank and had them faxed over. Alice, honey, could you hand me those?” He pointed at some papers sitting on the kitchen counter.
Once Alice had given them to him, he tossed them on the table. “Three fifty thousand dollar payments - just like the story said. Only problem is, I have no idea where they came from.”
“Someone put a hundred and fifty thousand dollars into your bank account without telling you,” Jack said. “Man, I wish someone would do that for me.”
Perry’s quick glare silenced the young man. “Anyway, I compared the bank statements the bank faxed over with the ones they had sent me over the past year,” Perry continued. “Everything is the same - except those three fifty-thousand dollar payments.”
“Couldn’t you take that to the Directors?” Jack asked.
Perry shook his head. “Who’s going to believe my copy of bank records over the ones coming from the bank. They’d just say I had altered the records. Besides, I don’t want to tip my hand until I know the whole story.”
“I could try contacting a forensic accountant,” Henderson said. “See if he can tear apart those bank records.”
“Let’s let Jimmy give it a shot, first,” Perry said. “What do you say son? You up to it.”
“Just try to stop me,” Jimmy responded.
“So this is some sort of set up,” Lois said.
Perry nodded. “Has to be. Only problem is... who?”
“Well, who would want to get even with you?” Lois asked.
“Honey, you don’t get to be editor and chief of the greatest newspaper in the world without making a few enemies along the way. It could be almost anyone.”
“Or more than one,” Henderson added.
“So where do we start?” Jack asked.
“Well, we start by you and Jimmy getting in to work,” Perry said.
“But, Chief...” Jimmy said.
“I don’t want you guys getting fired,” Perry said. “And you both have to work today, don’t you?”
They nodded. “Cat... Lois... what about the two of you?”
“Well, you know I don’t usually put in an appearance until about noon on the best of days...” Cat said.
“...given that you ladies of the evening mostly work nights,” Lois completed for her. But there was no heat behind the words.
“So I’m fine,” Cat said.
“Lois?”
“I’ve got today off.”
“I don’t have to be in until noon,” Henderson said. “So why don’t we get started on mapping out some sort of strategy.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Perry said. “So you two...” He looked at Jimmy and Jack. “...git. We’ll fill you in if we need anything else from you later.” Then his gaze softened. “Thanks, boys. Your support means a lot to me.”
“Hey, we just want to see you back at the Planet,” Jimmy said.
“Not me,” Jack said, grabbing one final roll from the platter still on the table. “I’m just here for the food.”
Even Lois had to admit, hearing Perry’s resulting laughter gave her hope. Maybe all was not lost, after all. She just had to find a way to put Clark Kent out of her mind for good.**
“But you know, there is quite a difference between mapping out a strategy and actually winning the war,” Lois said. “Not that we didn’t get a lot accomplished that first day. We decided that since someone had obviously messed with Perry’s records at the bank, we’d have Jimmy see if he could discover how they’d done it. After all, they had to have somehow messed with the computer records. Cat said she’d give him a hand with that.”
“What about Henderson?”
“Oh, right. Well, the angle Henderson was to follow up on came about completely by accident.”
“By accident?”
“Yeah.”
** “Hey, Lane,” Henderson said as they settled into the living room to discuss what areas of investigation everyone would pursue. “I wanted to thank you for telling your source to contact me.”
“What are you talking about? I forgot to call him yesterday.”
“Well, he contacted me. Offered to examine the bodies in order to try to identify the source of the radiation.”
“He did?”
“Yeah. He’s coming by the morgue later this afternoon. I wonder how he knew I wanted to talk to him.”
“Maybe he just read about it in the paper and decided to offer his assistance.”
“Maybe. Or maybe he had another motive.”**
“I don’t think we realized the significance of that conversation until later. Anyway, Henderson had to get into the station, so he said he would look into that - given that the allegations were that Perry had taken the money in order to run the story about S-126.”
“What about you and Perry?”
“Perry was going to contact his sources and see if they knew anything. He also wanted to contact a couple of the Planet’s board members - men he trusted. See what he could find out from them.”
“And you?”
“Well, I was going to contact my sources. I was also in charge of talking to Lex about the fifty thousand dollar donation and...”
“And...”
She shifted uncomfortably.
“Lois?”
“I was sort of in charge of getting my hands on anything that you and Linda had.”
“You were? I don’t remember talking to you about it.”
“That’s because I didn’t. Talk to you, I mean.”
**After putting out feelers to all the sources she could think of, Lois stared at the phone. She couldn’t put this off any longer.
Taking a deep breath, Lois picked up the phone and placed a call to The Star. Why had this assignment been given to her? Oh, she knew why, of course. Who else on their team had her experience at acquiring this type of information?
Of course, when the idea had been raised, Henderson had said he wasn’t listening. After all, it wasn’t exactly legal. Everyone else had just assumed that she would be the one to do it.
The problem was that she hadn’t been able to give a good reason as to why she didn’t want to be assigned this particular task.
“Metropolis Star,” came a woman’s voice from the other end of the phone line.
“Yes. I need to speak to Clark Kent.”
“One moment please.”
Music came on the line as she was put on hold. She almost slammed down the phone. But no. She had to be sure.
“Clark Kent here.”
Lois slammed down the phone, her heart pounding in her ears. Okay, one more call to make. She had to find out if Linda was working too.**
“Once I found out that both of you were at work, I went over to search your apartments. I did Linda’s first, hoping that I could find whatever evidence you had there. After all, I was desperate to avoid going back to your apartment, if I could.” Seeing the look on his face, she reached over, touching his arm. “Sorry.”
“Don’t worry about me, Lois. I’m fine.”
He wasn’t. She could tell. She moved back to his lap, giving him a kiss. Maybe things would get better again. Although, how that was possible, she wasn’t entirely certain. Still, there was nothing to do now but get on with the story.
“Anyway, a search of Linda’s apartment turned up nothing. So I had no choice but to break into yours.”
**Lois’ hands were trembling as she inserted her lock pick into the door to Kent’s apartment. Still, it wasn’t long before the door swung open. He really needed better locks. She’d have to mention that when...
No. No, she was never planning to talk to Kent again in her life. He would just have to live with his lousy locks.
She had just walked inside, closing the door behind her, when she was hit with the first memory. Walking over to him and pulling his shirt open. Buttons flying everywhere. That was when she’d had her first look at that astounding chest. No. It was just a chest. There was nothing astounding about it.
She took a step down the stairs into his apartment before coming to a halt when hit by her next memory. Their first kiss when he had stormed across the room, pulling her into his arms. The way her entire body had trembled at the first touch of his lips on hers. The way desire had coursed through her veins at having her body pressed up against his.
No! No! She wasn’t doing this.
She stormed down the remaining steps into his living room, coming to a halt when her eyes focused on the spot on his carpet where they had made out when she was under the influence of the pheromone compound.
She quickly pulled her eyes away from the spot. Now, where would Kent keep any evidence he’d found on a story? Because the only thing she knew for certain was that she wanted to get out of this place as fast as possible.
It was sometime later when she began to think she was never going to find anything. This search had been sheer torture. The first time she’d entered Kent’s bedroom, her eyes had been drawn to the bed. Images of them together on that bed had almost caused her to flee before finishing the search.
Only thoughts of how she couldn’t let Perry down had kept her going, searching through his dresser and closet. She was just about to close the closet door when she was distracted by the number of ties he seemed to have. He even had a tie rack. She reached out, running her hand over one of the more outlandish ties, fascinated by the blinding pattern. Did he actually wear this one?
Hearing a noise, she turned quickly, terrified that Kent was home. In the process, she accidentally pulled down on the tie rack. She felt it move under her hand and a click sounded. She froze. Her heart was in her throat as she waited to be sure that the noise was coming from people outside the apartment, before looking back at the closet. A small crack could now be seen in the back of the closet. Stepping closer, she pushed on the wall, only to have it swing open, revealing a secret closet.
The shelves inside the secret room were almost completely empty. Still, there were some photos - on top of which was a small cassette tape. Looking at the photos, she realized she’d hit pay dirt. Pictures of Lex handing an envelope to Perry. Pictures of the cash in the envelope - how had they taken that? Given the location of the tape, she suspected it was related as well. Unfortunately, she had not brought her tape recorder. That meant ‘borrowing’ the tape and then returning it at a later date - preferably before Kent realized it was missing. Or... sneaking back in again when she had a tape recorder. That way certainly made it less likely Kent would realize the tape was missing. On the other hand, it provided him with an opportunity to make the evidence disappear if he discovered that someone else was looking for the real story.
She hesitated for a second, considering her options, before sticking the tape in her pocket. The photos only showed what they already knew to be true, so they weren’t important. Hopefully, if Kent did realize the tape was missing, he’d think he misplaced it.
She was about to close the closet up when a couple of small pieces of paper on the back of one of the shelves caught her eye. She reached over picking them up, her eyebrows rising when she realized what she was holding. One was a picture of her cut out of the paper. The other was the note she’d left Kent when she’d snuck out of his apartment in the middle of the night. She was about to crumple them up and stick them in her pocket for later disposal when she stopped.
If she took these, it would be as good as announcing to Kent that she had been in his apartment. Still... She bit her lower lip for a moment before placing them back in the closet and closing the door. No. Safer to pretend she’d never seen them.**
“You know,” Clark said, “I can remember coming back to my apartment that day and thinking it smelled of you. But I attributed it to you being in my apartment the night before.” He shook his head. “At least if you had the tape, you now knew that Luthor was dirty.”
Lois shifted in her seat. “Not exactly. I mean, I intended to listen to it as soon as I got back to my apartment, maybe make a copy of it, and then sneak it back into your apartment before you returned home for the night. But as I was half way down the block, I spotted you walking towards your apartment. So I knew that I wouldn’t be able to put it back that night. And then, when I got home...”
**Depression had gripped Lois by the time she was driving back to her apartment. She hadn’t made nearly as much progress today as she would have liked. None of her sources had been of any help. Oh, they knew a lot of people with grudges against Perry.
Bobby had even heard a rumor that someone seemed to think that Claude would be easier to deal with than Perry had been. Lois had perked up at that piece of information. Unfortunately, not even Bobby had known who the mystery man was - or if it had anything to do with the mess that Perry was now in. He’d promised, however, that he would nose around, see what he could find.
Other than that, all she had was a cassette tape that might or might not be related to the situation. And to get it, she’d had to spend the past hour searching Kent’s apartment.
Finding that note and her picture in his closet... Why had he kept those?
The answer, of course, seemed fairly obvious. He had developed some sort of feelings for her. It was an impulsive, romantic gesture to keep things like that. Problem was that she had been starting to develop some of those same feelings for him - until he had destroyed everything by launching his campaign against Perry. Damn him. How could he have done that?
Still, he had. And that meant that she had to forget about Clark Kent. And she would, too. Lois Lane had never yet failed to do what she set her mind to. So forgetting about Clark Kent would be easy enough.
Her foot had just landed on the first step of her apartment building when a limo drove up in front of the building. She watched as the driver came around, opening the door for Lex.
Lois narrowed her eyes as she watched him approach. After all, Lex was the one who had apparently given Perry a fifty thousand dollars bribe. Maybe he’d been setting Perry up. Almost as soon as the thought came, she dismissed it. Perry was innocent, so Lex had to be innocent, too. After all, Perry had been expecting Lex to drop by the Press Club to give him that donation.
“Hi, Lex,” Lois said. “What are you doing here?”
“I’ve been trying to get hold of you since yesterday. When that story came out, I couldn’t believe it. I just wanted you to know that not a word of it is true.”
“I know that, Lex. I spoke to Perry.”
“Of course you did,” Luthor responded. “But I just wanted you to know that I had a lawyer draft an affidavit stating that the money I gave to Perry was a charitable donation for the Metropolis Literacy Society. I’m hoping that might help.” He handed her an envelope.
“Yes. Thank you. This will help.” She hesitated for a moment. She was tired. On the other hand, she really didn’t feel like being alone. Besides, he’d driven all the way over. “Would you like to come up?”
He smiled. “Unless you’d rather go out. We could go to some nice cozy restaurant for supper...”
Lois hesitated. The best way to get rid of one idea - Kent - was to replace it with another. Maybe it was time to take her relationship with Lex to the next level. Maybe that would help her to forget about Kent.
“Why don’t we just order in,” she said. She shrugged slightly. “I’m not much of a cook, but I can do a mean take out.”
Luthor’s smile when he accepted was dazzling.
Yes. She’d been dating Lex on and off for months now. And he’d been the perfect gentleman. Still, maybe it was time to take the next step. As Lucy had always said the way to forget one man was to jump into bed with another. Not a philosophy Lois had ever subscribed to. On the other hand, desperate times and all that. Maybe her attraction to Kent was nothing more than repressed sexual tension. So maybe it was a time to get unrepressed.**
TO BE CONTINUED...
