Previously
“You run?” Again, Clark was confused. “Is this verb conjugation? I run, we run, he, she, it runs?”
Another infectious laugh. “No. In the morning, I run for exercise. Keeps the mind sharp and gives the ability to climb crates in dilapidated warehouses. I feel like running right now, but I can’t in these shoes and this suit. I also practice climbing on the wall at the local MegaSports. Bet I can climb faster than you.”
This time it was Clark who laughed whole-heartedly. “No way, lady. I can climb faster than you.” He couldn’t remember when he had enjoyed walking with someone so much. Lois filled his senses in a way that no one else had. Her smell, her voice, the sense of her movement beside him filled him and seem so right. They continued to the park, Lois providing running commentary on local sights since Clark was new to the city.Chapter 9“So I guess you don’t live in Metropolis? Everyone here knows Centennial Park. It’s where
everything happens that’s notable.”
“No, I’m from out of town.” - ‘Way out of town.’ - “I rent an apartment near Independent Hill in Virginia. It’s near Quantico, where the FBI lab is. I was a Lab Rat for two years. This was my first field assignment.”
“Your first? Wow, I wouldn’t have guessed.”
Her comments warmed Clark’s heart and her presence walking beside him sent a heat wave through the rest of his system.
“Yep. Our lab coats had signs on the back; capital L, lower case a and b, capital R, lower case a and t.”
“You’re kidding.” Lois’ laughter pealed forth.
“Yep.” Clark gave her his megawatt smile. “I am.”
Too soon, the park came into view. It was a shady place with many park benches and the promised hot dog truck labeled “Camino Real.”
“Strange name for a hot dog truck,” Clark mused.
“Yeah. ‘Royal Road.’” Lois answered.
“You speak Spanish?” Clark asked. Of course, he did, in many varieties; Castilian, American Spanish and Catalan.
“Nope.” She answered and turned and smiled at him, “But my sister Lucy lives in Los Angeles. Does that count?”
They reached the food truck and perused the choices. “Oh, Polish knackwurst with sauerkraut. Yes!” Clark exclaimed, but he politely waited for Lois to order.
Lois stepped up to the truck and said, “Hot dog and diet soda please. And a Polish with kraut for the gentleman. What kind of drink do you want, Clark?” She proceeded to pass a $20 bill to the vendor.
“A regular soda. But I asked
you to lunch. This is my treat,” Clark protested.
Lois shrugged. “I buy you lunch, you give me a story. Seems like a fair deal to me.”
They got their order and dressed their respective dogs, a little mustard for Lois and a lot for Clark. Personally, Lois thought it would be a miracle if he could eat that and not get something on his suit.
As they carried their food and drink carefully to a nearby bench, Lois asked “Too macho to let the lady pay, big boy?”
Clark gently shook his head so as to not dislodge any food or drink. “No, not that. But I asked you to lunch. After all you helped me with the case.”
“Well, that wasn’t the original plan,” Lois stated.
“What was the original plan?”
“I was there to get the first one on one interview with Lex Luthor, that was all.”
“That fact wasn’t in your statement.”
Lois had set her drink on the bench and waved the free hand dismissively. “Wasn’t germane to the case at hand.”
Clark tried to keep his features neutral and his voice even. “Why do you want to interview Lex Luthor?”
Lois snorted a very unladylike sound. “Because he is the second richest guy in the world and a great philanthropist in Metropolis, if not New Troy or the nation.”
She turned to him to change the subject. “So what are you doing this afternoon?” As soon as it was out of her mouth, she realized that perhaps that was a little too forward. “If you can tell me, that is,” she finished for a recovery.
Clark was relieved at the change in topic. “Hunting for an apartment. I lived at the Apollo.”
The change in Lois was instantaneous. Her eyes widened in horror. “You did? And it burned down last night.” She touched his knee in sympathy.
Clark nodded freely, having successfully eaten his wurst and kraut without damage to his person. “Well, I was living there for the cover. That was a good thing, because Toni Taylor visited me there to check me out.” Clark stumbled to a stop. “Wait, that didn’t come out right. She was there to check that I was who my cover said I was.”
Lois was now suppressing laughter and removed her hand from his knee. Clark felt the sudden loss.
“I think your first statement is more correct than you realize, but I understand. After all, this is 2003 and a new age. Well, she said she was mad at the Toasters for torching the Apollo. Maybe that was why.” Lois’ eyes were twinkling.
Lois finished her dog and neatly wiped her hands on the napkin, turning to Clark. “O.K. You’ve read my statement about what happened. I want to know your side; what happened to you?”
“So this is the interrogation, the price for the food?”
“Yep.” Lois wiggled her fingers, hand palm up. “Gimme.”
“Greedy much, are you?”
A thought appeared to suddenly hit Lois. “Hey, did you see how that water tank on the top of the building got spilled right over the Toasters?”
“You saw that?” Clark almost squeaked.
“No, I saw the Toasters hopping around in the sparks from their wet weapons. What did you see?” Suddenly she waved her hand dismissively. “Wait, I’ll get confused. Start from where you left me after telling me to get out of the Metro Club and
promised me a story later.”
Clark took a deep breath. “O.K. I was going backstage after your ‘Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered’ number and I heard through the hole into Toni’s office that the news was saying the Apollo was on fire. I just had to go see if I could help and maybe get some of my stuff.” He shrugged with what he hoped was a guileless look on this face.
To get attention back to Lois, Clark said, “I have a question for you that wasn’t in your report. What made you decide to follow Toni down to the Riverfront? You just said you did it, not why.”
“Well, after you left, I looked through
our spy hole and saw Toni watching the report of the fire on LNN. She smiled and looked quite happy about it.”
Clark held up a hand to stop Lois. “Wait, Toni was
happy about the Apollo being torched?”
Lois nodded. “Yep, that’s what her expression said. Or maybe more satisfied. But later she chewed out the Toasters for starting the fire. But maybe it was because she didn’t order it.”
“Suddenly I don’t feel so bad about arresting her.” At the look from Lois, he continued, “Not that I really ever did. Feel bad, that is. Go on with your story.”
“Toni then went into the office restroom and changed into pants and started throwing money into a suitcase. I figured it was payola time for someone and I decided to follow her. So I got my tennis shoes on and waited outside in the dark for her to leave.
Then I followed her.”
Taking up the story at the common point, Clark continued. “Well, when I got back I found Toni was gone and Maurice came looking for you, so I assumed you had left as a result of my warning. Foolish me! Then Lou rushed up looking for Toni and he asked me to help him. I was supposed to start working for him for more pay. I was hoping that was an in to find out what was going on, but it turned out to not be necessary.”
“So Lou said he knew where Toni was going and had me drive him down to the Riverfront. We got to the burning cars and had to walk from there. I went ahead since Lou doesn’t walk very fast.”
“So did you see how that water tower came down and soaked the Toasters? As I said, when I got there, they were all hopping around soaking wet and mini lightning bolts were going off.”
“Yeah, that was quite a sight,” Clark smiled broadly. “But I didn’t see the tower come down. Maybe one of the fire departments did something.” He hurried on before she could question him further.
“Anyway, I ran on by and got to the warehouse and released Toni. She admitted she was in charge of the Toasters and I told her the cops and fire departments were rounding them up. Then Lou finally made it to the warehouse and came in.”
“Yes, I saw him walking down the street. But I didn’t see you earlier.”
Clark shrugged then shook his head in dismay. “I never should have believed Lou when we were in the car. He said Toni was like a daughter to him. That sure isn’t consistent with what he did in the warehouse.”
“I almost followed Lou back to the warehouse, but an officer sent by Henderson pulled up and offered me a ride to the station. So what did Lou do?”
“Lou came in and pointed his gun at Toni. She was surprised, let me tell you! Funny thing was, Lou was crying while he did it. So clearly he had mixed feelings about the deed.”
“Oh, my.” Lois had a hand to her mouth in amazement. “Did he shoot?”
“Yep. But he missed, fortunately. The bullet went somewhere in the crates.”
“Maybe he missed on purpose? You said he was crying. Did he explain why?”
Clark shrugged. “He gave a rambling explanation about being loyal to Toni’s Dad and that Johnny was still in town ready to take the Metros back.”
“Maybe when he said she was like a daughter to him, he meant she should be in her limited obedient daughter role, not trying to run a big organization.”
“Wow. That’s a good thought. I didn’t think of that. Toni had big plans to go legit and make the Metros the foundation of a real corporation.”
“Well, you’re not a woman. You wouldn’t naturally think of that.”
Clark grinned again. “I’m glad you noticed that I’m not a woman. But I always thought I was enlightened. My sister would kill me if she thought I was acting like a chauvinist pig.”
“You have a sister too?”
“Yep. Same age as me. I’m her foster brother.”
Clark snapped his fingers and pointed at Lois. “You left your stuff from the Metro Club locker on Henderson’s desk.”
Lois waved her hand dismissively. “Henderson will give it to Murphy and I will pick it up when I get my car. What made you think of that now?”
“Shoes”
“Shoes?”
“My sister Rita
loves shoes. We’d hit all the shoes stores in Wichita and Kansas City every time we went shopping. She has a closet full. And she would love those shoes you wore with the white and crystal beaded dress you had on last night.”
“Wichita and Kansas? I thought you lived in Virginia.”
“I do. But I was raised in Smallville, Kansas.” Clark nodded, “Yes, I’m from Kansas. I’m a graduate of the University of Kansas.” He flashed his KU ring on his right hand. “There. My official KU ring.”
“University of Kansas is abbreviated KU? Why?”
Clark leaned over to her as if imparting a great secret, plus it was an excuse to get closer to her. “We don’t really know. We think that it is because “UK” might lead to inappropriate nicknames. But really, ‘UK’ is the University of Kentucky. They got there first, I guess.”
Just then Lois was startled to see Clark suddenly jump off the bench and snatch a toy football from midair. She watched in fascination as he changed his grip and threw it expertly to a kid running toward them to retrieve the errant ball. She was surprised at how much she enjoyed watching him move in action. He threw and expert spin with a crummy toy football.
The kid’s worried look changed to one of glee as he saw the ball being passed to him and he caught it. “Thanks, man,” he called as he went back to the scrimmage of kids toward the middle of the Park.
“Wow. We could use you on the MetJets team. They’re in the toilet now.”
“I know. But they don’t need my help. I’d rather chase the bad guys. I spent two years in the forensics lab at Quantico learning just how mean, nasty and dirty humanity can be.” Clark gave her a rather intense stare.
This really meant something to him. Like her penchant for trying to put the bad guys behind bars with her hard-hitting journalism. Lois shook her head as if to clear it. “So back to last night. What then?”
“I had enough evidence, so I identified myself and arrested both of them. I handcuffed them and took them out to the street and got a ride to Henderson’s precinct.”
“I was there talking to Henderson. We must have just missed each other!”
They sat on the bench facing each other and looking into each other’s eyes. Clark blinked first. What was it about this woman that fascinated him so, he wondered. Everything about her entranced him like no other he had ever met.
Lois broke eye contact. “Well, this has been fun, but I need to get back to the Daily Planet and find a new story. In my business, you are only as good as your last story.”
Clark stood and held out his hand to help her stand up. “Well, in my business you’re only as good as your last crime investigation. Maybe we’ll work on something together again. Thanks for showing me the way to Centennial Park.”
Clark was reluctant to let her small and dainty hand go, but he knew he had to.
They began to walk together back to the precinct, talking about nothing in particular, but enjoying each other’s company.
Finally they reached Lois’ Jeep and she propped her large purse on the hood. “Hold up a minute.” She started fishing around and pulled out her business card holder. Taking out her business card, she pulled her pen from her story notebook and wrote a phone number on the back. “Here’s my home phone number. Give me a call when you get settled in and we’ll do lunch.”
Clark held his breath. Somehow her ‘we’ll do lunch’ didn’t sound meaningless and pro forma at all. He looked at the silver card case with the initials “LL” engraved on it and commented, “Nice card case there.”
Lois smiled. “A gift from my Dad when I got hired on at the Daily Planet.”
“Lois, I, unh, don’t have a card, local phone or an address here at the present, but I intend to shortly.” He fixed her with his large brown eyes. “Give me another of your cards and I’ll give you my phone number in Virginia. You can leave a message and I can pick it up remotely.” ‘Or when I’m there at night now.’
Her smile got bigger. “Great idea!” She gave him another card and he wrote a phone number on it and handed it back. “Sorry, it’s a long distance number.”
“Doesn’t matter. I’ll call from work.” She looked up at him then and said softly, “Or maybe not.”
Gathering herself, she started to walk to the precinct front door. “I’ve got to get my stuff from Murphy.” She waved a farewell and began walking, feeling that if she didn’t go now, she might never want to.
Clark stood transfixed as she left and then sighed and went to his company car. He had to apply to the local FBI office and then find a place to live in Metropolis. For now he could commute at night, flying himself to his apartment on Dumfries Road.
*+*+*+*+*+*+
On the highest floor of Lex Towers, Lex Luthor was in his office with his loyal factotum, Nigel St. John. Lex was standing next to his gleaming model of LexHarbor, his design for the Riverfront area near Hobbs Bay.
Nigel had just brought the news that the Riverfront had burned down from the Toasters actions.
Lex queried Nigel to be sure of his facts. “Every parcel on the list is destroyed? That is most excellent. There is nothing like a little firestorm to lower prices on real estate. We’ll move directly to phase two. I'd like to break ground on LexHarbor sometime next month.”
Nigel’s suave tones asked, “But sir. What about Toni Taylor. Won’t she, shall we say, ‘spill the beans’ on your giving her the flamethrower weapons the Toasters used?”
Lex shook his head. The action did not move a hair on it. “No, I wouldn't worry about that. Toni Taylor and I have an arrangement. Things haven't worked out exactly the way she hoped but she won't spend much time incarcerated. When she gets out, she knows I'll be properly grateful for her silence.”
“But sir. What shall we do with the weapons?”
“Destroy them. The plans for them, too. Should we ever need to revive the Toaster technology, it'll be easy enough.”
“Yes, sir. I will get to that quickly.” With that, Nigel left the room via the private elevator.
“ I know you will. That's what I pay you for,” Lex said to himself softly after the elevator doors closed. He looked at the LexHarbor model like a proud father, already looking into the future, envisioning the reality.
-------
tbc
Artemis
