Home: Murder By Earthlight -- 17/?
by Nan Smith
Previously:
The knife fell to the carpet. Lori lunged forward and caught Stephanie's hand, clamping down on the other woman's wrist with all her strength. Clark whipped the handkerchief from his pocket and wrapped it around the wound. "Call Security!" he barked at the appalled spectators, while he lowered the shrieking woman to the floor.
The next few minutes were complete chaos, but Security arrived quickly. One man bent to slip a pair of handcuffs onto Stephanie's wrists, confining them in front of her. Another took over the task of applying pressure to her hand and the third man bent to lift the hysterical woman lightly from the carpet. He glanced quickly at Clark and the bloodied tear on his dinner jacket. "Are *you* all right, Mr. Kent?"
"Yeah," Clark said. He reached into the inner pocket of his jacket and withdrew his palm computer. "The knife hit this." He saw Lori give him an odd glance, and then a little smile.
The Security man shook his head. "We'll need everyone to come down to the Security office," he said. He glanced respectfully at the slim little computer. "Some of us were born under a lucky star."
"That's for sure," Lori said.
**********
And now: Part 17
"I didn't think I'd be seeing you again this soon," Detective Brown said. He eyed Lori sardonically and then turned to Clark. "You're Kent?" It wasn't really a question.
Clark nodded.
The detective looked him over thoughtfully and Clark suppressed the impulse to squirm uncomfortably.
"You know," Brown said finally, "I may get called out on a case once or twice in a week. Most of them involve things like somebody's Moon bike got borrowed without permission. Once in a while we actually have something like a break-in. Do you know, there are three detectives on the entire Luna City police force, and we double for an Earth police department's Homicide Division? I've been a detective for nearly ten years and there hasn't been a murder since one of the inmates from the Lunar mines beat another inmate to death with a rock -- and the who, what, where, when, why and how weren't in doubt for that one. But you two show up here and within a couple of days we have two murders and an attempted one. I'm guessing that you aren't popular with the police force in your city."
"Actually," Lori said, "we're on pretty good terms with our local police department."
Brown's sardonic expression deepened. "I wonder why. Well, want to tell me what happened this time?" He glanced at Clark's torn and bloodied dinner jacket. "Do you need any medical attention, Kent?"
"No." Clark removed the palm computer from his breast pocket once more. Brown examined the scratch that Clark had put on the front of the little machine with one fingernail, back in the hotel hallway, when he had transferred it surreptitiously from his hip pocket to his breast pocket in order to explain his lack of injuries to the hotel's Security men.
"You were pretty lucky," Brown said. "You could have been killed." He returned the computer. "Go ahead."
Clark gave a brief description of the events leading up to Stephanie's attack on him and the detective listened, frowning. "Any reason for her to have expected you to leave your wife for her?" he inquired, in a mildly curious tone of voice when Clark finished.
"None," Clark said firmly. "If you'll contact Peter Swanson of the Queenstown Courier, you'll discover that Ms. Brooke has a prior history of stalking men. At least she didn't try to kill him."
"I'll do that. It might not be a bad idea for you to get a court's restraining order against her."
"The last time I looked," Lori said ironically, "court orders don't do well deflecting knives. She tried to kill Clark!"
"It's all right, honey." Clark put a hand over hers. "I'm not hurt."
"No thanks to Stephanie," Lori said. "If somebody doesn't bring attempted murder charges or *something* against her, we're going to sue for assault with intent to commit grievous bodily harm, and every other possible charge our lawyer can find to tack on to that. It's not her fault that she didn't kill you! The next time she loses her mind and goes after some unlucky guy it might not turn out as well!"
Clark wasn't sure but he thought Brown was trying to hide a grin. The man's deadpan voice was just the slightest bit unsteady when he spoke again. "I'm sure the Luna City DA will take this case seriously, Ms. Lyons. I'll have to speak with the other witnesses, of course, but I doubt there will be any more trouble over this." He glanced at Clark. "In case you're worried, Ms. Brooke is being held in the psychiatric wing at the Sally Ride Memorial Hospital for the moment. I've got a statement for you to sign and then you and Ms. Lyons can go."
"Thank you," Clark said.
**********
Clark triggered the door of the hotel room that he and Lori shared and stood back to let her enter first. Lori hesitated. "I guess you checked first, right?"
He nodded. "There's no one inside."
"Good." Lori preceded him into the room, turned and wrapped her arms around him almost before the door closed.
"Are you all right, honey?" Clark pulled her close, somewhat surprised at her reaction. True, Lori had her weak points, as everyone did, but somehow he hadn't expected her to be particularly upset at Stephanie's sudden breakdown.
Then he became aware that her hand was tugging at the seal of his slacks. "Of course I'm all right," she said. "But I figured that I'd better drag you into bed right now before the little green men from the outer moons of New Krypton land or something and we get interrupted again!"
"Oh." He discovered that he was grinning. Even after three years of marriage, his wife could still take him completely by surprise. "Well, in that case --" he pulled off his bloodstained dinner jacket. "I guess I'm going to have to replace this."
"The Planet can reimburse us," Lori said, kicking the jacket aside. "They got a story out of it, didn't they?" She tugged his shirt free of his slacks and unsealed the front while Clark was busily opening up the back of her dinner dress. As he was pulling off the shirt and stepping out of his shoes, the room's vidphone chimed.
"Great," Lori muttered. "Screen block on. Yes?"
"Clark? Lori?" John Olsen's voice said.
"We're here," Clark said. "Things have progressed since we talked last."
"Yeah. The company rep just called us. They've taken Marilyn off suspension. What happened?"
"They didn't tell you?" Clark asked. He almost jumped as Lori's fingers slipped into the waistband of his shorts.
"No. They said that the Luna City Police have the stolen information and that circumstances indicate that Marilyn couldn't have had anything to do with it."
"Not unless she took a shuttle to the Moon, murdered Johnson and got back, all without getting caught," Lori said.
"*What*?"
"The Luna City Police didn't get hold of you?"
"No," John's voice said. "Are they supposed to?"
"Well, Superman gave them your name," Lori said, "but I guess they decided to contact Genie instead. Edgar Johnson was murdered yesterday. Clark, Zeb and I found his body."
"Who killed him?"
"We don't know for sure," Lori said. "We have some suspicions but no proof -- yet anyway -- and I found the stolen stuff. It was in Johnson's bag, which he'd ditched at Heinlein's Cave."
"And he was murdered?"
"Yeah. And there was another murder, which is probably connected. We'll give you all the details tomorrow," Lori said. "It's nearly midnight here, and we just spent the last two hours with the cops -- again."
"Because of this business?" John asked.
"We aren't sure," Clark said. "Stephanie Brooke -- from the Times -- tried to stab me."
"*What*?"
"We sent the story to Kyle," Clark said. "It's complicated." Kyle Edmond was the Planet's night editor.
"I'm beginning to realize that," John's voice said after a brief pause. "You're all right, aren't you, Lori?"
"Yeah. I was walking behind Clark."
"Oh," John's voice said. "But why did she try to stab Clark?"
"We'll go into that when we figure things out," Lori said. "Like Clark said; it's complicated."
"One thing," Clark said suddenly. "Can you find out for us if Jason Decker has checked in with his bosses? That's the name of the investigator they sent."
"I'll see what I can do," John said. "They're closed right now, but I can call them in the morning. Why do you need to know?"
"Just a theory we're working on," Lori said. She stepped out of her evening gown and stood up in her nearly transparent undies. Clark's lips pursed in a silent whistle. "By the way; they've extended the convention for another day because of the meteor strike, so we'll be back a day later than we planned, too. Now, Clark and I have some long-delayed business before we go to sleep, so we'd better say good night."
"Oh," John said. There was the impression of a smile in his voice. "All right. Good night, then."
"Good night," Clark said. He spoke to the vidscreen. "Close. Now," he added to Lori, who struck a pose before him in her filmy lingerie, "about that unfinished business --"
**********
The hotel café was about half full when Lori and Clark arrived for breakfast the next morning. Quite a few of the diners were members of their convention, and Clark heard a number of interesting conversations come to an abrupt stop when they made their appearance. Vane Williams was seated at a table near the door, along with two other male journalists and a woman that Lori recognized as "Mona", the woman who had been walking with Stephanie when they had encountered her on the first day of the convention. Vane got to his feet so quickly that his chair skidded backward several feet, courtesy of the light Lunar gravity. "Clark! Man, I just heard! Are you all right?"
"Fine," Clark said. "Why?"
"It's all over the hotel this morning that Stephanie was arrested for trying to kill you!"
"She was," Lori said.
"What the devil happened?"
"She's been having delusions about Clark and her," Lori said shortly. "She pulled the classic 'If I can't have you, no one will.' Only she hit Clark's palm computer instead of him."
"The rumor is that she tried to stab you," Vane said.
"She did," Lori said. "Vane, do you mind if we get some breakfast? I really don't want to talk about this anymore."
"Lori's kind of upset about what happened," Clark explained.
"Yeah; I don't blame her a bit," Vane said. "I guess Steph has been giving the two of you kind of a hard time the last few days."
"You could say that," Clark said. "Talk to you later, okay?"
"Sure," Vane said. He went to pick up his chair and resume his seat. Clark saw him lean forward to speak to his breakfast companions as he and Lori continued their interrupted progress.
"At least we don't have to worry about Stephanie showing up with a pair of my shorts this morning," Clark said. He pulled back her chair for her. "Is something wrong, honey?"
Lori shook her head, and then sighed, leaning toward the table screen that displayed the breakfast menu. "I'm not sure. I just have the feeling that something's going to happen. Did you ever feel like something's hanging over your head and is just waiting for you to drop your guard to lower the boom?"
"More times than you can count," he said. "Most of the time it was a false alarm, though. It's been a rough sort of few days, hasn't it?"
"Yeah. And it's not over yet. There's still Tal's murder, after all, and whoever the guy in our room was."
"Yeah," Clark said. "At least Stephanie's out of the way for now."
One of the servers approached the table. "Mr. Kent?"
Clark turned. "Yes?"
"I have a call for you, sir." The man presented a courtesy phone.
"Thank you," Clark said, accepting the instrument. "Clark Kent."
"This is Detective Wilson Brown," Detective Brown's voice said.
"Yes, Detective," Clark said, completely at a loss to account for the faint feeling of dismay that seemed to settle about his head and shoulders.
"I thought it was important to warn you," Brown's voice said, "that we have a slight problem. Ms. Brooke --"
"What about her?" Clark asked, the sense of dismay enveloping him more tangibly.
"What?" Lori asked.
"She's escaped from the hospital," Brown's voice said, sounding deeply chagrined. "Our entire force is looking for her."
**********
"You know," Joanna Prescott said, "I think the next time I'm slated for a convention, I'm going to call the Planet and find out if you two will be there."
"Funny," Pete Swanson said, "I was thinking the same thing."
"Why?" Lori asked. She and the other two journalists were munching snacks set out for the convention attendees during the first break in the morning's presentations.
"So I'll know whether to expect an ordinary convention with plenty of partying, or one with meteor strikes and murders," Joanna said. "Then maybe I can bring along my handy dandy detective kit and get in on the action. Have they found out anything about who killed Tal yet?"
"Not to my knowledge," Lori said. "Last night they were still going over the room with a fine-toothed comb but I don't think they'd bother to let us know, even if they did find anything."
"No, I guess not," Joanna agreed. "The police have never been too keen on letting journalists in on the action. And no sign of Stephanie."
"They haven't said anything," Lori said. "They'd probably let us know about that, at least."
"Yeah, probably, since she went after Clark once, already," Joanna said. "Do you two have this sort of thing happen often? I mean, you probably surprised the guy that killed Tal. Aren't the police worried about that?"
"I don't know," Lori said. "My light flashed across his face when he charged me out of the dark and knocked me down, but it happened so fast I couldn't tell what he looked like. Besides," she added, "it might not even have been the killer. Suppose it was somebody else? I admit that it isn't likely, but it could have been."
"You didn't tell us that last night," Pete said slowly. "That changes the situation a bit. Didn't anything seem familiar about him at all? I'd think you might have run into him before if he killed Tal in your room. He must have had a reason for that."
"I know," Lori said. "All I could tell was that it was a man. I didn't get a clear enough look to identify him."
Joanna looked troubled. "But he knows you saw him. Do you think he's going to take the risk that you won't remember after a while?"
"I don't know," Lori said quietly. "I've tried to remember his face but I can't. I didn't see enough."
"But he doesn't know that," Joanna said. "I'd hate to see something happen to you. If I were you, I'd stay around other people for as long as we're here."
"I'm going to," Lori said.
"Where's Clark?" Joanna asked.
"He went to take a call from our boss," Lori said. "He should be back in a minute. Nobody's going to bother me in here with so many people around."
"That's true," Joanna said. "Just don't go off by yourself."
"Not on your life," Lori said. She examined the nearest table, where delicate little open-faced sandwiches had been artistically displayed by the hotel staff, and helped herself to several. "I really don't want anyone to try to kill me again."
"Again?" Pete inquired. "You mean someone has tried before?"
"A couple of times," Lori said uncomfortably.
Joanna raised her head and sniffed the air. "It smells like something's burning," she remarked. "Maybe the chef scorched the hors d'oeuvres."
Lori glanced at her curiously and also sniffed. Joanna was right -- there was the faint odor of something burning in the air. "I don't think it could be coming from the kitchen," she said. "The air filtration system for the hotel is pretty efficient."
Pete also raised his head and sniffed. "Doesn't smell like burning food," he said. "Don't they have a fireplace in the lounge? Maybe somebody started it up for atmosphere's sake."
"It's a gas fireplace," Joanna said. "It doesn't put out smoke. This smells more like --"
"It smells like somebody's burning plastic," Lori said. "Or maybe insulation."
At that moment the fire alarm went off.
"What's going on?" someone shouted, his voice almost swallowed in the chorus of screams and the shrilling of the alarm.
"Fire!" half a dozen voices shrieked. Someone made a rush for the exit that led toward the lobby. Several others apparently had the same idea, for they met in the doorway and a struggle to get out ensued.
"Ladies and gentlemen!" a loudspeaker boomed. "Please exit the hotel immediately! There are fire escape tunnels on every floor. Proceed at once to the nearest exit in an orderly fashion! Do not attempt to gather valuables!"
On one side of the room, a wide, previously concealed door slid aside and Lori saw a lighted tunnel beyond. From a ventilator on the wall above her head, she could see a faint haze of smoke drifting into the room.
"Please proceed immediately to the nearest exit," the voice boomed again.
There was an immediate rush to obey. Lori looked frantically around for her husband.
"Come on!" Pete ordered. He grabbed Joanna's arm with one hand and Lori's with the other and propelled them toward the exit in the wake of the crowd of pushing, shoving people.
"Clark!" Lori shouted. "Where's Clark?"
"Here!" Clark appeared out of the crush of bodies behind her. "We have to get out of here."
Pete let go of her arm and shoved futilely at the unmoving mass of bodies that strained toward the exit. Lori glanced at Clark, wondering how long it was going to take for the crowd to become a panicked mob. "What's going on?"
"Fire," Clark said grimly. "I want you out of here. Eclipse is on his way, and Superman will be needed to evacuate people. Once we're out, stay with Pete and Joanna, all right?"
Lori nodded. "What happened?" she asked.
"I don't know." Clark's voice was pitched too low for anyone who wasn't listening to catch his words. "It seems awfully coincidental, considering what happened yesterday." He glanced quickly around. "This isn't working. Don't move."
In an instant he had vanished and just as quickly Superman appeared in the exit. In the mass of frightened humanity, Lori doubted that anyone noticed or realized what had just happened. "Everyone form a line," he ordered in a voice, while not raised to a shout, could still be heard throughout the entire room. "Trying to force your way through is slowing everyone down." He cleared the jam of bodies at the exit by main force and pushed the first person in line, Brad Wexler from the London Intelligencer, into the tunnel. "One at a time. Quickly now!"
It was amazing, Lori thought, how fast Clark had gotten the situation under control. She followed the crowd that hurried into the tunnel, and encountered a look from her husband as she went by. "Remember."
"I will." Lori followed Pete and Joanna, hoping that no one in the stone tunnel would lose his head. A stampede in a space as confined as this one was bound to result in someone getting trampled.
The tunnel slanted upward. Lori kept pace with the crowd, wondering how a fire could have possibly started in a place like the Luna Hilton. True, the walls were of stone, but many of the other parts weren't. Somehow, it seemed, no buildings were ever built by man that didn't have something in them that was flammable, although what that might be this time she didn't know.
In any case, how likely was this to be a coincidence? Maybe, although she doubted it. No less than Clark did she think that this situation was unlikely to be accidental, although why someone would set the hotel on fire was anybody's guess. Destruction of evidence, or an attempt to kill her, perhaps. She had to take that possibility into account, and she was sure that Clark would as well. The best thing she could do, she knew, was to stay in the presence of a number of people. It wouldn't serve the murderer's purpose for forty people to see him try to kill her, after all. Nevertheless, she was aware of her heart beating uncomfortably hard in her chest at the thought that there might be someone nearby who would very much like to see her dead.
**********
tbc
