And the Truth Will Set You…
Chapter 13
L loved this beach. The green water splashing against the black beach was so relaxing. Together, the colors of the ground and water provided a perfect contrast to the orange sky.
Of course, no matter how beautiful the setting, it would be impossible to enjoy without her partner. She squeezed K’s hand and he immediately responded with a squeeze of his own. “We should spend some time here after this assignment,” she offered.
She felt more than heard a small laugh from her partner. “Are you so looking forward to the end of this assignment?” he asked. “I thought we were just getting to the good part.”
“Yes, we are,” she said. “Although for a moment it looked like this was going to turn out to be a very unpleasant cycle.”
“It worked out. But you’re right. I hate those assignments when we aren’t together.” She could feel the sadness radiating from him as he remembered those dreadful assignments.
“Those are hard on both of us,” she replied. “But they’re rare. We usually manage to find each other.”
“Yes,” he replied. L could sense his joy at the prospect of being together. Then he continued. “So, you don’t care for this assignment?” K asked.
He was teasing and they both knew it. “That’s not it,” she insisted. “I know how important this one is. And you’re right, we are getting to the good part,” she replied with a laugh of her own. “But it’s been nearly a hundred cycles since our last break. We need some time to ourselves.”
She could feel the amusement radiating from him through their link. When they were on assignment, their bond was what she missed most. Sometimes there was an echo, but it was no more than a pale shadow of the connection they shared in their natural state. Then L felt a change coming from K. “It’s time to go back, isn’t it?” she asked.
“I wish we could stay longer,” K mused.
“We were lucky to have this time. This was a very unusual circumstance,” L answered. “I doubt this chance will come again during this assignment. But we’ll be together.”
They shed the illusion of bodies and came together for just an instant before leaving this plane to return to work.
~~~***~~~
Lois woke up to the phone ringing. For a second she was confused. There was an image of a beach… and Clark was there, but it wasn’t exactly Clark. Then the phone rang again and the remnants of the dream disappeared. She picked up the phone. “Hello?”
“Ms. Lane, this is Dr. Klein.” Lois recognized his voice.
She was suddenly alarmed. “Did something happen to Superman?”
“Nothing bad,” he answered in a reassuring tone. “I just wanted to tell you that he’s gone.”
“Gone?”
“I’m sorry. I’m not saying this well. A few minutes ago Superman woke up and left the hospital.”
“How did he leave?” Lois asked.
“According to some of the staff, he walked into the stairwell and disappeared.”
He’d probably gone to the roof and flown away. “Do you know if his special abilities are back?” Lois asked.
“We know that some of them are. At his 2:00 a.m. check, the nurse found that his IV had worked loose. She tried to restart the IV, but the needle wouldn’t penetrate his skin. Based on the way he disappeared I would assume that the rest of his abilities are back as well.”
Lois’s mind was spinning. What to do? Should she try to contact Clark, or wait for him to come to her? Then she heard Dr. Klein on the phone. “Ms. Lane?”
“I’m sorry. My mind wandered for a moment.”
“When you see Superman, would you please ask him if he’d be willing to see me at Star Labs? If we could know more about him, we’ll be better prepared if he gets hurt again.”
“I’ll suggest it to him. Thank you for everything. And please give my thanks to Dr. Anderson.”
“I will.”
As Lois hung up the phone, her mind was in full spin. Smallville… his apartment… where would he go? But that was all silly. Once Clark decided to see her, he could be there in seconds. He’d almost certainly gone to Smallville to assure his parents that he was okay. If so, he’d probably call her at the office. She had work to do anyway, so she had her destination.
~~~***~~~
Lois glanced around the empty elevator as she rode up to the Star offices. The lobby had been almost, but not quite, deserted when she’d come in at 8:02 a.m. The calm Sunday morning environment would give her the chance to compose her thoughts and plan the next move of the investigation into Clark’s shooting.
Lois stepped out of the elevator to a nearly empty office. She paused only a second before starting for her desk. There were a few weekend staffers present, but no one had even bothered to look up. When her desk came into view, she was surprised to see a man in her chair.
For the briefest instant, she felt a surge of anger that someone would make himself at home at her desk. Then he looked up. It was Clark. Lois dropped her handbag and started running. He barely had time to stand before she reached him. Her arms flew around him. He felt healthy. He felt strong. He felt… wonderful.
It was only with a small part of her mind that Lois noticed that his arms had gone around her just as eagerly as hers around him. As the seconds ticked by Lois realized that the longer they stayed this way, the better it felt. Being with Clark felt so right. How had she missed all this? How had she almost let it slip away? Without loosening her grip in the slightest, Lois whispered softly, “I missed you.”
There was only the briefest pause before Clark responded, “I came as quickly as I could.” After another few seconds, she felt Clark shift as he said, “This is great, but I’d like to look at you.”
Lois relaxed her grip and they separated enough to look at each other, but not so far that they lost contact. She wanted to feel him, even if it was just holding hands.
Clark studied her face for a moment, then reached up and wiped away a tear that had started down her cheek. “You look tired,” he said, tenderly.
She choked off a giggle. “I haven’t been sleeping well. I’ve been worried about someone very dear to me.”
“Anyone I know?” he asked mockingly.
“Maybe,” she said in a teasing tone. Then she thought of Smallville. She leaned in close and whispered, “Have you told your parents that you’re well?”
He pulled her close. That felt so nice. However, the reason was to whisper in her ear. “I went back to Smallville to check in with them. I stayed long enough to shower and change clothes. Then I came right here. I wanted to see you as myself. I… I just had to.”
“I’m glad you came,” she offered. They’d managed to return to a hug. It felt just as good now as it had a moment ago. After another few moments she conceded that the Star offices were not the place to make up for all the time they’d lost in their relationship. Reluctantly she loosened her grip and stepped back. This time it was Clark that made sure they continued to hold hands as they separated. Maintaining physical contact was fine by Lois.
“Mom and Dad filled me in on what happened at the press conference. How’s your shoulder?” He almost sounded scared.
“Better every day,” she replied, trying to sound positive. “Today’s my first day without my arm in a sling. The doctors told me that I was exceptionally lucky and that the bullet did surprisingly little damage.”
“You could have been killed,” he whispered.
“So could you,” she replied. There was more Lois wanted to say, but for now just being here holding Clark’s hand seemed to be enough.
“So, Lois, are you working on Sundays now?” Clark asked. He was clearly trying to move onto a less personal topic. She could see in his eyes that part of him would prefer the more personal conversation, but all that would be better somewhere else.
“I am for now.” Lois answered as she reluctantly released his hand. She was about to sit down when she heard someone clear his throat. She turned to see the weekend editor offering Lois her purse. “Good morning, Lois. You dropped this.”
“Thanks, Jerry.” She indicated Clark. “Jerry, this is Clark Kent, my best friend and writing partner from The Daily Planet. Clark, this is Jerry Simms. He’s the weekend editor here at the Star.”
Jerry offered his hand. “Mr. Kent, it’s a pleasure to meet you. Naturally, I’ve seen your work. I’d just like to say that your piece on the Sarah Bernhardt Theater was some of the most moving writing I’ve read in a newspaper.”
Clark shook his hand. “Please call me Clark. And thank you. In some ways, that story was my first collaboration with Lois.”
Jerry looked at Lois. “I don’t remember your byline for that story.”
Lois snickered. “What Clark means is that he wrote the story after I refused the assignment. I still came out ahead on that deal. He got a job at the Planet and I got the best reporting partner ever.”
“So, Clark. There’s a rumor that you might be joining us at the Star.”
“Maybe,” Clark replied. “I’m hoping to talk to Mr. Petersen tomorrow. I’ve been dealing with some family issues in Kansas and just got back last night.”
“For a newsman you sure picked a bad time to be out-of-town. However, I know family issues don’t happen on a convenient schedule. Fortunately we had Lois here.”
“Lois is the best there is,” Clark provided. “And for the Superman stories that have dominated the last few weeks, you couldn’t have done better.”
“We know. Anyway, I have some work to do.” Jerry started to leave, but stopped and turned back to Clark. “Clark, this isn’t the Star of years past. We’re doing good things here and we’d love to have you. The Lane and Kent byline would add a lot to our paper and help get over the credibility hump that we put ourselves in from years past.” Then the editor started back to his office.
“He seems like a good man,” Clark said as he watched the older man walk away.
“He is. A lot of people here are excited by the prospect of being a quality news source.” Lois sat down at her desk. “So, are you going to give me a hand in my investigation?”
“Of course,” Clark said as he dragged up a chair. “We’re Lane and Kent. What are we investigating?”
“Our shooting,” she said quietly.
Lois spent the next ten minutes bringing Clark up to speed on the investigation. When she was finished Clark asked, “Do you really think there will be a loose end here?”
“My gut is telling me that this is our best chance. We know that the Boss almost never leaves loose ends. This time the whole operation went south and there are more loose-end opportunities than usual.”
“So what is our next move?” Clark asked.
“My plan was to go over all the information we have again. I want to see if we’ve missed anything. I’m hoping to hear back from Bobby or Sammy.”
Clark looked around and noticed that the desk adjacent to Lois appeared to be unoccupied. He pointed at the empty space. “Do you think I can use that desk for today?”
Lois glanced at the desk indicated. “Sure. All the desks here are for visitors and temporary assignments. Since I’m only freelancing, I don’t get a desk in the staff area. That one’s vacant, so go for it.” As he sat down Lois moved a pile of papers to the center of his desk. “Here’s the collected data from the shooting. Why don’t you go through this to get you up to speed? I need to spend a few minutes straightening up before I lose track of where things are.”
“Sounds good,” Clark said, as he reached for the papers.
While Clark was coming up to speed, Lois started cleaning off her desk. Today was a day of transition. Clark was back and she felt more confident than ever that together they would crack the case wide open. This was a good time to pause and make sure she had a plan for the rest of the investigation. The first step was to organize and categorize her evidence and leads. In simplest terms, that meant she needed to organize her desk.
She’d only just started putting some of the research in drawers when she spotted a rumpled piece of paper. It was in a middle drawer and only a corner was sticking out. If this had been the Planet where she had years worth of junk in her desk, she might never have noticed. But in this desk, with the drawers almost empty and everything new, the old, crumpled paper stood out.
Lois pulled it out and looked at it. There was a drawing of a mouse. This was from Sammy. The only other thing on the paper was cryptic, ’11:45 – same’. Sammy wanted to meet. But there was no date. Could he mean today? She’d have to go today just in case. Sammy might know that she was coming into the Star every day. It’s also possible that he would be watching for her to show up. In either case it didn’t matter, she was going today.
~~~***~~~
“I’m not sure I should be here,” Clark said as the clock passed 11:50.
“Clark, I told you. Sa… He knows you and he likes you. If he doesn’t come, it just means that the note was for tomorrow.”
“I hope you’re right,” Clark said softly.
“She is,” came a whispered voice from behind. “Hi, Kent. It’s good to see you back. Sorry I’m late, but there were some people at the edge of the park that made me nervous. I waited for them to clear the area before I came over.”
“No problem,” Lois said. “The fact that you left a note convinced me that this was going to be big.”
“I put some extra effort in on this,” Sammy said. “When you got shot, it became personal. Give me a minute to get clear, then look by your feet. And don’t open the bags. The phone should have prints.”
It was only a few seconds before Clark spoke up. “He’s gone.”
“He said to wait a minute.”
“Lois, my powers are back. No one is watching us and Sammy is already several hundred feet away.”
She reached to her feet and found two plastic bags. Inside the larger one was a note that said ‘Donaldson’ with an address. There was also a cell phone. The smaller bag contained only a note similar to the one in the other bag. This note had an address and the name of Sam Jacobson. As she stared at the contents of the two bags, the magnitude of the leads hit her. She turned to Clark who had also been examining the bags. “Who’s Sam Jacobson?” Clark asked.
“Sammy tipped me that he’s the guy that bombed the Planet building,” Lois answered.
Clark looked at the bags again. “So Sammy just handed the addresses of the Planet bomber and the… Superman shooter?”
“And the shooter’s cell phone,” Lois added, “…possibly with his fingerprints. Do you realize what this means?” she asked.
“Yes,” Clark answered immediately. “We’re going to owe Sammy favors forever.”
~~~***~~~
Clark opened the door then held it allowing Lois to enter first. It was nice to see that despite the time away, his apartment hadn’t suffered for his absence. During the days he was active as Superman last week, he’d stayed away from his apartment. Clark Kent had still been in Kansas and it simply wasn’t worth the risk of anyone noticing activity in his apartment when he was out-of-town.
After the meeting in the park, they needed some place to plan the next step. Fortunately, Clark’s apartment was only a few blocks from the meeting point.
“It feels weird to be home,” Clark said as he followed Lois through the door.
Lois turned to him in a sudden movement. She pointed at her eyes and ears then made a sweeping motion around the room. Clark couldn’t believe he’d forgotten to check for bugs. He’d just been so distracted at being home again that he didn’t think. A quick review of his apartment with his special vision revealed that no surveillance had been placed in his absence.
“We’re clear,” Clark said as he finished his scan. “But I’m glad you thought to remind me to check. I usually remember to look, but I guess I was distracted today.”
“It’s something I’ve learned since you found those bugs in my apartment,” Lois replied. “Always assume you might be under surveillance. By the way, would you please check my apartment again? It would be nice to be able to change clothes and not have to worry if Lex is watching.”
Clark’s expression turned dark. “I’ll make sure your apartment is clear before tonight.” Then he continued into the center of his apartment. Everything was pretty much as he’d left it. He did spot one difference. There was a note on his table that hadn’t been there when he’d left. Clark picked it up and read it quickly. The note from Lois touched his heart. Then he turned to find Lois watching him intently.
“I’m sorry that I put you through this,” he said, holding up the letter.
“I’m not,” Lois said. “I wish we could have found a better way to communicate sooner. But if you hadn’t done what you did, I’m afraid I’d have said yes to Lex. Based on what I know now, that couldn’t have turned out well.”
Clark set the note down. “We have our relationship issues to work out, but for right now I think we need to decide what to do about the evidence Sammy just gave us.”
Lois barely hesitated. “We search those places.”
He knew she was going to say that. “Lois, what do we want out of this?”
“What do you mean?” Lois asked.
“What’s our ultimate goal? Are we looking for a story or are we trying to take down the people that destroyed the Planet and planned that… assassination attempt?”
Lois started to reply, but stopped before saying anything. Clark knew that Lois’s first inclination was always to get the story. But this time there were far bigger issues at stake. After a few seconds Lois answered. “The story has to come second. We need to make sure that whatever we find isn’t just good enough for a story, it will need to hold up in a trial.”
“Exactly. Believe me, Lois, I’d love to go right to these addresses and see what’s there. But if we do that, we run the risk of contaminating evidence.”
Clark was expecting Lois to go on about him being too timid. To his surprise, she responded immediately in a completely different manner. “After our shooting I’ve been trying to work more closely with Bill Henderson,” she said. “I believe we have an agreement where if we take this to him, he’ll keep us in the loop.” Lois stopped for a few seconds. Clark could practically see the gears turning as she considered their next move. After a moment she continued. “I think you’re right that we should wait for Bill and a search warrant to enter those places, but do you think he’ll be able to pull a search warrant on the evidence we have?”
“I’m afraid not. Sammy gave us great leads, but I’m not sure it will be enough for a judge,” Clark replied flatly. “We’ll probably need more than just these scraps of paper for a search warrant.”
Lois thought for a moment. “I think we’ll be all right for Donaldson. If Sammy was right and Donaldson‘s prints are on the phone, then we have a link that should be strong enough for a search warrant. But for Jacobson... I’m afraid we’re going to need more than just that scrap of paper.”
“You told me Jimmy is working on this with you?” Clark asked.
“Yes,” Lois answered.
“We have these two addresses. We should see if Jimmy can do some of his computer research magic. There may be computer records…”
“I doubt it.” Lois said, cutting him off. “Clark, I’ve been around this city a long time so please trust me on this. There won’t be any records. If we had a few days, we might be able to dig up some more information on these addresses. Even then, it would be a roll of the dice whether or not we actually found anything.”
Clark barely hesitated. “I do believe you,” he said confidently. “Sometimes I worry when you act quickly or throw yourself into a dangerous situation, but usually your knowledge and judgment are spot-on.”
It looked like Lois was going to challenge him on the ‘usually’ part of that remark. He hoped she wouldn’t because the only error she’d made that Clark could think of at that moment was Luthor. Clark didn’t want to seem to be rubbing her face in that. Fortunately, after a moment, Lois said, “Fine. So, you tell me, what do we do now?”
“I think it’s time to give Bill a call.”
To be concluded...
Bob
