PREVIOUSLY IN THE PORTRAIT:
Lois has returned from the dead, but to Clark’s dismay, her conduct does not match what he expected from his fantasy woman in the portrait. She realizes he is right when he rejects her for cold-heartedly letting everyone believe she was dead, but Scardino once again persuades her to forget about her family and friends and concentrate on their investigation. She is reluctant to enter a trust relationship with Clark when they hardly know each other. Lois has become engaged to Lex Luthor in order to get evidence against him, but Inspector Henderson unexpectedly derails her plan by taking Scardino and her into custody for questioning. Learning a humbling lesson, she finally cooperates with the Inspector, but her spirit remains indefatigable as she goes off to meet Lex Luthor.
AND NOW:
To write the story of Lois’s resurrection and subsequent arrest for the Daily Planet special edition, Clark needed to talk with Henderson to get the official police position on her miraculous return. After three calls with no response, he realized that the detective was retaliating for being kept in the dark. He went looking for help.
Poking his head into Perry’s office, Clark said, “Chief, Henderson isn’t returning my calls. I can’t write this story without knowing what he’s found out, or at least what Lois told him.”
“All right, son. I’ll give him a call. He’s probably thinking you should have told him Lois was alive. He’ll talk to me.”
After a few minutes on the phone, Perry reported, “Henderson’s let Lois and Scardino go. They told him the dead woman was Diane Goodman, but they haven’t notified her family yet, so we can’t print that. Looks like the story is that load of feathers she gave you in the beginning. Nothing substantial in it whatever, but that’s the way you’ll have to write it. We can’t let on that we know more than the police. Do what you can with it, Clark.”
The reporter went back to his desk and wrote up the preposterous tale Lois had first told him, even though he wondered how many people would actually believe that she had been so out of touch that she hadn’t read, seen or heard the news that she was dead. The complete fabrication wasn’t easy for him to write, but he wrote it as objectively as he could, reporting only what she had said and what Henderson had said without any hint that he didn’t believe heir statements. Even though he hadn’t been a part of the lie, he still didn’t like it, but he understood the reason for the deception, and supposed that, eventually, when the killer was caught and Luthor was exposed as Mr. Big, the truth would be printed. Just about the time the Daily Planet special edition hit the street, Henderson was holding a news conference announcing to the rest of the press the fiction that was temporarily passing for fact.
Clark, knowing that she and Scardino had been released, tried to call Lois, but all he got was her machine. Calling her pager produced no better results. Hurrying to her apartment in case she was there and just not picking up, he noticed a long black limousine waiting in the street when he arrived. A knock at her door produced Lois herself.
“What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to talk to you. You wouldn’t answer your phone or your pager.”
“We don’t really have anything to talk about, and I’m in a hurry right now.” She went into the bedroom. He followed.
“Lois, I just want to be sure that you know that I didn’t tell Henderson anything. In fact he’s shutting me out because of it.” On the bed, he saw luggage that she was apparently packing.
“I know, Clark. Henderson found out everything by using old-fashioned police work. He told Dan and me at the station house. You’ve been completely straight with me since I’ve known you, and I shouldn’t have jumped to the wrong conclusion. We’ll talk about it later, okay?” She closed a suitcase. “Right now, I have to go.”
“Go where? What are you doing?” Suddenly it struck him. “Is that Lex’s limo outside? Are you moving in with him now that you’re engaged?”
“Yes, that’s Lex’s limo, and no, I’m not ‘moving in’ moving in with him. He thinks it would be a good idea for me to stay in his penthouse for a few days, until the police find out who tried to kill me.”
“You don’t call that moving in with him?”
“Why don’t you ever believe what I say?”
“You don’t exactly have a great track record in that department.”
“We’re working together now; I’m telling you the truth.”
“Really.”
A brief cloud of hurt misted her eyes; then she lowered her lashes and raised her prickles. “Never mind. Think what you like; I don’t have time to argue. I have to get going.”
He shook his head. Her morality was not his business, but he didn’t want her to get hurt. “Do you know how dangerous this plan of yours is? If Lex is Mr. Big, do you think he’d let a little thing like your being engaged stop him from getting rid of you? He’d have a perfect out; he could blame it on whoever killed Diane. Don’t do it, Lois. There’s got to be another way.”
“This is what I do, Kent. I go after the story any way I can, so don’t try to stop me. A hack from nowheresville like you wouldn’t understand, but I’m a professional. Danger is my business.” She picked up the bags from the bed and strode toward the door.
“Go ahead, then, get in bed with the devil! I hope you can live with the consequences.”
She was gone. He looked around for something to put his fist through. He saw the portrait still on the mantle above the fireplace and was tempted, but he couldn’t do it. It was her likeness, and he wouldn’t hurt her in any form. He would have to figure out a way to protect her, even if she didn’t want him to.
++++++++++
Lois spent a comfortable night in the guest room of Lex’s penthouse suite. He had made overtures about something more intimate, but she spun him a tale of waiting to make their wedding night special, and he had acquiesced.
She didn’t think she would have gone that far anyway, and she couldn’t get Clark’s words out of her head. She had wanted to keep his good opinion of her; his leap to judgment had hurt. Now, she felt powerful and sure of herself, certain that she could roam at will, discover what she would, and arouse no suspicion.
After breakfast, when Luthor announced that he had to attend a LexMed Board meeting, she decided to take a look in his study for files or a computer to break into.
She’d been there before. He’d very proudly shown her the walls with their rarities, pointing out particular favorites and explaining their histories. She’d shown proper appreciation for his expensive collections. Now she wanted to look into his desk for something that had to be hidden not displayed.
When she entered, something about one wall seemed out of kilter, but she had no time to think about it. Nigel had not accompanied Lex, and she knew she wouldn’t have long before he would be looking for her. She had always felt that he didn’t like or trust her, and she was certain he would be watching her closely.
++++++++++
That same morning at the Daily Planet, Jimmy brought more research to Clark. It included an article about Lex Luthor and some photographs taken in his study. There was a particular shot of Lex leaning against the credenza in front of the wall of weapons. Clark glanced at it, put it aside and read the article, which emphasized Luthor’s charitable beneficence, the writer drawing a contrast between his concern for humanity and his interest in weapons of destruction.
Clark looked at the photograph, again and suddenly realized that it was different from his recollection of what he had seen when he was interviewing Luthor. The weapons on the wall were arranged with precise symmetry, as was everything else in the room. The paintings, the cigar box and lighter on the desk, the crossbow, the books neatly categorized and alphabetized by author, all spoke of a man who demanded order and symmetry. Yet the wall of weapons he had seen during the interview had not been symmetrical. Something had been missing from it.
Clark looked at each weapon in turn, comparing it with his photographic memory of what he had seen on the day of his visit. When he reached an unusual gun at the bottom corner of the photo, he realized that it hadn’t been there when he had seen the wall.
Lowering his glasses, he zoomed in on the firearm in the photograph. It was a small double-barreled shotgun, breech loading with twin triggers and a manual hammer behind each barrel. Unlike anything he had ever seen before, the weapon with its short barrels would be particularly vicious at close range. He was certain he was looking at the gun that had killed Diane Goodman. He started. Lois! She had willingly walked into the murderer’s lair.
++++++++++
Lois could find nothing in Lex’s desk. The drawers opened easily but held no interesting or unusual items. She found a laptop computer on a pull-up shelf in the desk well, but she couldn’t access anything without a password. Where was Jimmy? There was one locked drawer, large enough to hold files, but she couldn’t find the key. Where would Lex keep it?
She began to investigate the room, methodically looking for the key. She looked under the accessible desk drawers to see if it was affixed to the bottom of one of them. She examined the cigar humidor, inside and out, turned the lighter upside-down and around. She found nothing. She surveyed each of the weapons to see if the key was fastened to it in some way. Nothing. She tried to look at the back of the credenza to see if the key was taped there, but it was too heavy for her to move. She had a fleeting thought that it would be nice if someone like Clark were here to help before she went on to peer behind each of the paintings. Nothing.
She had resorted to removing books from the shelves, hoping that one of them might be false with a hollowed out interior, when she became aware that there was someone else in the room. Looking over her shoulder she saw Nigel standing in the doorway.
“May I help you find something, Ms. Lane?” he enquired in the creepily menacing manner he reserved for her.
“Oh, hi, Nigel. N-o-o-o. I’ve just been admiring Lex’s collections,” she replied coolly. “He has such wonderful taste. I just love this room. Was there something you wanted?”
“Mr. Kent is here to see you. He says he has no appointment. Shall I send him away?”
Might as well get things clear right away. She wasn’t going to let Nigel, or anyone else in this household, bully her. “No, show him in here, please.”
A few moments later, Nigel ushered Clark into the room and lingered in the doorway. “Thank you, Nigel. I’ll call you if I need anything. Close the door behind you as you go.” Nigel silently melted away, and Lois and Clark were alone.
“What are you doing here? You’ll blow everything.”
“You should thank me for being here. I came to keep you from getting blown away. Look at this.”
He held out a file folder, which she took and opened. Inside was the news photo of Lex in front of the weapons.
“I see it. I can also see the real thing right here. I don’t feel like thanking you yet.”
“Look carefully at the picture and then at the wall. There’s something missing.”
She looked at the wall and remembered her earlier feeling that there was something odd about it. Then she looked back and forth from the wall to the photograph. It only took her a few seconds to see it.
“There’s a shotgun missing,” she acknowledged.
“A shotgun, Lois. A shotgun with a short barrel. It’s the kind of weapon the police believe someone used to kill Diane.”
“You’re saying Lex tried to murder me with a shotgun from his own collection? He isn’t that stupid.”
“It isn’t so stupid. Nobody’s thought to look for something missing from his collection. And I’ll bet you it’ll be back up on that wall before long with some plausible explanation as to why it’s been gone. The question is, where is he hiding it now?”
She regarded him with admiration. “Nice work, Kent. This could turn into a good partnership. Tell you what. Why don’t I ask Lex where the gun is when he gets back? He should be here soon.”
“You're crazy! I thought you were to try this stunt in the first place, and now I know it. How long do you think you’ll last once he knows you know the shotgun’s missing?”
“You said he’d have a plausible explanation. Let’s see what it is, and we can check it out.”
Befuddled, he stared at her. She made it sound so reasonable, that he found himself almost agreeing with the logic and falling in with her suggestion. Did she have some kind of magic spell that clouded men’s minds and made them unable to stay focused? Or was he just particularly susceptible. She was certain to get herself killed; he had to stop her.
“Lois, I came to get you out of here. You can’t stay with your murderer!”
Prickles engaged, she regarded him with hostility. “Look, I said you did some good work, and I may be...glad...” She said the word reluctantly. “You’re here, but that doesn’t give you the right to tell me what to do. Henderson knows what I’m doing and he’s ready to step in as soon as I get something on Lex, so don’t push it. Help if you can and save the big hero man posturing for one of your corn country sweeties. I’ve got a job to do.”
A frontal approach wasn’t getting him anywhere. Maybe he should be a little more subtle. “Have you found anything incriminating yet?”
“No, he’s too clever. I can’t get into his computer without the password, and I can’t find the key to the locked desk drawer. I’ve been looking, but it’s almost time for Lex to come back from his board meeting, so I can’t poke around much longer.”
“Where’s the computer? Maybe I can figure something out. If we have to stop what we’re doing, we can always come back later.”
“We? When did you sign on? I thought you were against this whole thing?”
“Lois, if you won’t be reasonable and get out of here, then I’m going to hang around to help and maybe keep you from getting hurt. Now show me the computer.”
He expected to hear the usual litany, ‘I do not need you to protect me’, but all she said was “Oh,” forgetting her prickles for the moment. She took him behind the desk to point at the pull-up shelf in the well. He maneuvered the computer up to desk level and turned it on. It immediately asked for a password.
“See. You can’t get anything until you know that damn password.”
“Okay, what do you think Lex might use for his password?”
“How should I know? It could be anything. Jimmy might be able to figure it out, but I can’t.”
“Come on, think about it. What’s important to Lex? What would it please him to type every time he turned on his computer?”
“A lot of things are important to him. How would I know what he’d like most?”
“And you’re about to marry him!”
“People can get engaged without knowing everything about the other person. Anyway, you know why I’m engaged to him. That doesn’t mean I’m about to marry him.”
“Right. You’re just willing to live with him.”
“You listen to me, Clark Kent. I am *not* living with him. I’m his guest until the police catch my murderer...Diane’s murderer.”
“Yeah, and I can just imagine how Luthor expects you to show your gratitude for his hospitality.”
His distrust and disregard for her word really hurt this time, and her prickles bristled. “You are a low-minded, insensitive pig. I’m not going to explain anything more to you or apologize for something I’m not doing. Just concentrate on getting into that computer or get out and let me do what I have to do.”
He cringed at her description of him. It wasn’t the impression he wanted to make, and it certainly didn’t fit the way he thought of himself. She could really bring out the worst in him with her stubbornness. They would never become close at this rate. He vowed to control his reactions and, he admitted to himself, his jealousy of Lex.
He returned his attention to the computer.
“Sorry. Let’s just move on. How about this? Does he love you so much he’d use your name for the password?”
He typed it into the space. “Password not accepted,” the computer blinked back.
“Well, so much for his feelings about you.”
“Very funny. How about ‘the third richest man in the world’? He likes that description a lot. It infuriates him if people get it wrong.”
Clark dutifully typed. The result was the same. “How about just ‘money’. That’s something he likes to flaunt.”
That didn’t work either.
Clark said, “Have you ever noticed how he likes to put his name on everything?”
She nodded. “Yeah, I get a little sick every time I hear ‘Mrs. Lex. Luthor.’ But what name would he apply to his personal computer?”
“Lextech,” said Clark, pinging to Lois, who ponged back,
“Lexdata.”
“Lexonline.”
“LexNet.”
“LuthorEther.”
“This is ridiculous,” howled Lois, laughing.
“Anything is possible,” said Clark, and tried them all, but they didn’t work. Lex’s ‘Open, Sesame’ continued to elude them.
“Maybe we’re making this too hard”, said Lois. Pointing to the weapons wall, she went on. “Lex loves to feel superior by hiding the obvious right under everyone’s noses.”
“And too specific,” said Clark, gesturing around the room. “He thinks in much grander terms.”
They looked at each other silently for a moment. Enlightenment passed over their features as they shouted simultaneously.
“Power!” said Clark.
“Control!” said Lois.
Clark tried ‘power’. Refused. Then he tried ‘control’. Refused. He looked at her. “Well, together, we came up with these, so let’s try them together. He typed in “Power and Control”.
They had found it. They were in.
“Hey, we make a pretty good team,” Lois noted. “I guess Perry was right after all.”
Clark smiled up at her and nodded his agreement. “See, I told you I’d grow on you.”
For a brief moment, she regarded him with thoughtful surprise. He *was* beginning to grow on her. Then she urged, “Come on, Let’s see what’s in those files.”
Just as he was about to access the directory, Clark heard the door of the penthouse open and Lex speaking in low tones to Nigel.
“The problems remaining at LexMed have been removed, Nigel. What has the lovely Lois been entertaining herself with? Snooping, I presume.”
Clark quickly turned off the computer. Lois shrieked. “What are you doing?”
He pushed the computer shelf back under the desk. “Lois, I heard something. I think Lex is back”
“How could you hear anything?” she said looking around. “This room is soundproof.”
“Then call it a hunch. I’m sure Lex is back. He’ll be in this room any minute. Come on; show me the first editions.” And he dragged her to the book wall.
“A hunch! Now you’re a paranormal?”
He answered, with a strange smile on his face. “Yes, Lois, I guess you could say that. I’m a paranormal.”
“Okay, I’ll introduce you to Star. She says she has unusual powers, too.”
He looked uncomfortable. “Paranormals have different kinds of powers, Lois.” He added, dryly, “I doubt if hers are the same as mine.”
“I don’t believe a word of it. What are you up to?”
++++++++++
“Ms. Lane is entertaining an unexpected guest, sir. Clark Kent arrived about half an hour ago.”
“You left them alone in my study?”
“I had no choice. Ms. Lane is not amenable to suggestion. She ordered me to leave them alone.”
“Yes I’ve noticed that she prefers to follow her own inclinations. That will have to change once we’re married.”
“It will not be easy, sir.”
“Yes, but the sport is in the challenge, is it not? Now, you say they’ve been in there for half an hour?”
“I believe that is accurate, sir.”
“This does not bode well, Nigel. It’s one thing for Lois to go poking around alone, but the two of them together just might find something we don’t want them to know about. I’ll be going to LexLab to complete expunging the evidence of our foray into experimental drugs. I’ll tell Lois and Clark that you are accompanying me, but you’ll actually remain here. Watch them closely and don’t let them leave. Lock them in, if necessary.”
“I understand, sir.”
“Now. Let’s go see what my lovely Lois and Clark Kent are up to.”
++++++++++
