PREVIOUSLY...
Still, there was not much she could do to make things right while staking out Bill Church’s hospital room. Besides, there was something going on here, something more than just Mayson’s moral scruples about Superman. Lois could feel it. What she couldn’t quite get a grasp on was what exactly was going on. Was it just that Mayson really was acting out as the woman scorned? Possibly. She didn’t know Mayson well enough to know for sure. But there was one thing of which Lois was certain - by the time this was all over, she would get to the bottom of it.
Still, there wasn’t time to worry about that now. She needed to get the transmitter and tape recorder ready in time for Church’s return. Now... she only hoped this worked because she doubted she’d get back on Church’s floor again without causing a commotion. AND NOW...
It took her a moment to set things up. Once she did, however, she could hear two women talking, clear as day.
“I don’t know, Mindy,” the one woman was saying skeptically. “I think he’s just a dirty, old man.”
“But you miss the point,” Mindy said. “Dirty, old, rich men need love, too.”
The two women laughed.
“Besides, you didn’t think I intended to stay stuck in this dead end job forever, did you?” Mindy asked.Lois cringed. If the Mindy she was listening to now was the same one who had been with her a few minutes ago, the woman had to be... well, no older than Lois, probably younger, and if she was suggesting what Lois thought she was suggesting... Oh, gross!
Lois quickly rewound the tape to start again. She hardly thought Mindy Black’s gold-digging ambitions were important to her attempt at nailing both Mayson Drake and Bill Church with this little venture.
Once everything was in place, Lois made herself comfortable, certain it was only a matter of time before she had what she’d come for. And given the amount of dust in this room, it seemed obvious that her hideout was secure. On the other hand, with the voice activated tape recorder ready to pick up every word, she could also come and go as she pleased, confident that she wouldn’t miss any of the good stuff.
* * * * * * * * *
“Clark?”
Clark turned in his desk at the sound of Eduardo saying his name.
“I’m not sure if you know, but Perry gave me the Superman story,” Eduardo continued, sounding somewhat tentative.
“He told me,” Clark confirmed.
“Okay, well, Lois gave me some names to follow up on,” Eduardo said, surprising Clark. “One of them, a Dr. Scott in Smallville, has refused to give me any information unless you sign a release. So I was wondering...” His voice trailed off, knowing that he’d said what needed to be said.
Clark hesitated. He didn’t think Dr. Scott would say anything that could hurt him. But he was concerned about the precedent. If he agreed to this, what would others insist on knowing about him in the future? And if this claim by Mayson that he was Superman stuck, there were sure to be other such requests.
“I’m not really comfortable with that,” Clark told his colleague.
“I understand,” Eduardo said. “How about an interview?”
Clark shook his head.
“I suspected you’d say that,” Eduardo said, a wry smile in his voice.
“Sorry, Eduardo,” Clark said and then listened thoughtfully as his colleague walked away. Maybe he should have agreed to an interview.
Problem was that the he knew without a doubt the first question would be, ‘Are you Superman?’ And answering no to that question... He knew Lois was right. He’d lied daily for the past couple of years. Even the glasses were a lie. But never had he told so direct a lie. And if this whole thing didn’t blow over and it became publically accepted that he was Superman, his lie would be firmly on record. And what would that do to Superman’s credibility?
Well, he didn’t have time to worry about this now. If Mayson wouldn’t tell him what he needed for his story, he had to find another way to get the information.
He picked up the phone before setting it back down again. No. Henderson was more likely to be forthcoming if asked in person. The only problem was... From his desk, he could hear the crowd of reporters milling around outside the Daily Planet just waiting for him to show.
He rose to his feet, intending to take off from the roof of the Planet. Except... He sank back down onto his chair. Given the coverage outside, was it possible that they had people with high powered cameras watching the roof - in hopes that they might catch him doing something super. That was what he would probably do in their position. It was certainly what Lois would do.
Damn. He should have thought about that last night before taking off from the roof of the apartment building. Or before returning there this morning. He could only hope that no one had thought of that yet.
He thought he’d been alone. But how could he really know? When he’d had his eyesight, he’d been able to see much further than the most powerful camera. And although he could still listen for people who might be watching, with all the noise of the city, he couldn’t be certain that he would hear someone filming him from afar.
Until this whole situation was resolved, he needed to put a moratorium on all of his super activities. Even reheating his coffee was out.
So then... how did he get out of the Daily Planet?
“Jimmy?” he asked, hearing the young man rushing past. “I need your help.”
* * * * * * * * *
Lois wasn’t certain she’d ever been as bored in her entire life. Listening to Bill Church Sr. sleeping wasn’t exactly exhilarating. Well, there had been Mindy Black’s ridiculous giggly flirting while she was taking his readings and administering medication. Senior was not as talkative. He pretty much just grunted softly, although admittedly receptively, in response.
And all this spare time was not what Lois needed at the moment. It gave her too much time to think about her fight with Clark the previous night. Lois was just about to pack up and leave - she could collect the tape later - when she heard the door in Church’s room open.
“Hey, dad. You awake?” Junior asked.
A soft grunt was Senior’s reply.Lois could hear the door close, and settled down herself. This could prove to be interesting, after all.
“‘Suppose you’re wondering how I got out of jail,” Junior said. “Well, seems there’s no evidence linking either you or me to the room where the men were found. And the men found guarding the room claim they were working for Leit and that as far as they knew, Leit was working on his own. Of course, that rental agreement showing that Leit had rented the room and thereby keeping us at arm’s length from Leit was the crowning touch. No evidence means no charges.”Not a ringing endorsement of their innocence, but not an admission of guilt either. Damn.
“And the guards?” Senior asked very softly.
“I’m not worried about them. Between their desire to be accepted into our guaranteed early release program and our retirement package when they’re released, it’s not in their interest to incriminate anyone. Besides, Snell was a pretty effective warning.”There was a brief pause and it sounded as if Junior was getting comfortable.
“Oh, and don’t worry, they didn’t find the operations center. So we’re still in business,” Junior said after a moment.Whatever response Senior might have wanted to give, was interrupted by the door opening and a nurse sticking her head in to tell Junior that his father needed to sleep.
“I’ll just be one more minute,” Junior said before the door closed again.
“Don’t worry, Dad,” Junior said when they were again alone. “I’ll take care of things while you’re here. Oh, and I spoke to the doctor about getting you a new heart. I’m sure one of our dead men will be a match. I’ll make sure we start looking for a suitable donor today.”With those final words, Junior took his leave. Lois thought about his words for a long time. There was a lot in there - most of which she hadn’t understood. One thing she had understood was that the operations center for Intergang must be in the CostMart, but apparently the police hadn’t found it.
Other than that... What did Church mean about their ‘guaranteed early release program?’ She could imagine what ‘retirement package’ must mean. A payout. But why would the guards be so sure Church could get them out of prison? Surely the men behind an attack on City Hall would be looking at life sentences.
And what did Junior’s comment about finding Senior a new heart from among one of their dead men mean? Obviously, it meant that the doctors had told Church he needed a heart transplant. But there were waiting lists for that sort of thing. And who else would a person get a heart from other than a dead man?
Well, there wasn’t much more happening here at the moment, so maybe it was time for her to head back to the Planet. She could always return to find out if Church received a visit from Mayson Drake later. She quickly replaced the tape in the recorder so that she could take the first tape with her, and got ready to leave. After she typed up the conversation between the Church men, she wanted to take another look at the files they’d recovered from Snell’s storage facility, see if she could find anything interesting there.
* * * * * * * * *
“We’re here.”
Jimmy’s voice as he pulled his car to a stop in front of the police station brought Clark out from beneath the blanket he’d been curled up under in the back seat. Shadow immediately licked his face, relieved that his master was no longer doing something so incomprehensible. Humans were so weird sometimes.
“Do you want me to wait for you?” Jimmy asked as Clark and Shadow climbed out of the car.
Clark stopped and thought about that for a moment before shaking his head. He wasn’t sure he’d actually have to sneak back into the Planet. After all, the only problem with walking through the reporters out front was likely to be facing more questions. Not pleasant, perhaps, but not unmanageable for the short time it would take to get from the cab to the building. And it wasn’t fair to Perry for him to hold onto Jimmy just because between his blindness and the throngs of reporters wanting an interview, he couldn’t manage everything he needed to do by himself. No. That was the very thing he’d promised Perry wouldn’t happen.
“No. Why don’t you head on back?” Clark asked. On the other hand, if he did walk back into the Planet, it would have the reporters out front questioning how he’d gotten out unnoticed. “But I might give you a call later to help me get back inside, if that’s okay.”
“Sure, no problem,” Jimmy said before shifting the car into drive.
“Before you go...” Clark said before Jimmy could drive off. “...could you point me towards the steps to the police station?”
“Oh right,” Jimmy said, putting the car back in park so that he could climb out.
* * * * * * * * *
Lois could hardly believe that Clark was still not present when she arrived back at the Daily Planet. But... had he been here? If not, it was time to get seriously concerned. Her eyes swept the newsroom, finally landing on Jimmy sitting at his desk on the far side of the bullpen.
She approached quickly.
“Scientific America, Jimmy?” she asked when she arrived at his desk and saw what Jimmy was reading. “What happened to the Dirt Digger? I thought that was your magazine of choice.”
“Well, given the number of mad scientists we seem to have in Metropolis, I thought I should improve my scientific knowledge if I’m going to work here.”
“Good idea. You can be our resident science expert.”
“Right!” Jimmy sputtered. “I’m not much of an expert. I can’t even understand the job postings. Here’s an ad for an early stage researcher in quantum nanoelectonics. The only thing I can understand from this ad is that it’s a full time job. Listen to this: ‘Its scientific objective is to improve our conceptual understanding of quantum electron transport at the nanoscale if needed or enabling the emergence of ‘Beyond C-MOS’ nanoelectronic devices.’ What the hell does that mean?”
“It implies a combined effort in the topic of spintronics molecular electronics single-electronics, quantum dots, nanowires and nano-cooling,” Lois said. She gave her head a shake, not minding the leak quite as much after what had happened at MGH earlier. “Anyway, I’m just wondering if you’ve seen Clark.”
Jimmy nodded. “Yeah. I just got back from dropping him off at the police station to talk to Henderson.”
“Henderson,” Lois repeated. She nodded. “Did he have problems getting out of the Planet?”
“He hid under a blanket in the back of my car. Boy, those guys staking out the place really think he’s Superman, don’t they?”
“There are idiots everywhere,” Lois said. “Did he say when he was coming back?”
Jimmy shook his head. “But he did say he might give me a call when he was ready.”
“Let me know if that call comes in. I’ll go get him.”
“Sure thing. Guess this means you’re not mad at him anymore, huh?”
Her eyebrows rose.
“Right. None of my business.”
* * * * * * * * *
Clark had known that if he wanted to talk to Henderson, he was probably going to have to wait. But today the waiting was a little more difficult due to the fact that he kept worrying that at any second someone was going to shout out, ‘Hey, it’s Superman.’
“Come on, Sarge,” an unfamiliar voice said to the desk Sergeant. “Just tell Henderson that a DEA agent needs to talk to him about the Mayson Drake case.”
Clark’s ears instantly perked up. DEA? Now that was interesting.
“I told you. He’s busy at the moment.”
Clark inched closer, hoping the man would give a name. But it seemed the man must have already given his name.
“All I’m asking for is a little professional courtesy here.”
Clark could tell the man was trying to sound charming, but the tone of the Sergeant’s response made it obvious that he wasn’t charmed.
“You’ll just have to wait until the Inspector’s available.”
Clark let out a breath. Chances were that Henderson would talk to a fellow officer before granting time to the press. Still, maybe there was an opportunity here.
As he heard the DEA agent step away from the counter, Clark approached. “Excuse me,” Clark said. “Did you say you’re a DEA agent working on the attempted murder of Mayson Drake?”
“Who are you?” the man asked suspiciously. “Wait a minute? Aren’t you...”
Clark tensed.
“...Clark Kent,” the man completed.
“Yes,” Clark responded, attempting to recover from not being called Superman.
“You’re one of the reporters who were at the scene during the attempt on Drake’s life, aren’t you?”
“Uhh... yes.”
“I saw a picture of you in the file. The Daily Planet was my next stop. I wanted to talk to you and your partner, find out what you could tell me.”
“And you are?”
“Agent Daniel Scardino. But, please, call me Daniel.” There was a moment of silence before Scardino continued, somewhat awkwardly. He must have offered to shake Clark’s hand. “Oh, sorry. Didn’t see the dog. I hadn’t realized you were blind. Guess that limits what you saw that night, huh?”
“You’d be surprised how much you can pick up without your sight,” Clark said, feeling unexpectedly defensive.
“Well, given the fact that the report I read said that you were the one who saved Drake’s life, I guess that’s true. Good job, by the way.”
“Thanks,” Clark responded, suddenly finding Scardino somewhat less grating. “So what’s the DEA’s involvement here?”
“Nothing, really. I’m not here in an official capacity. In fact, my boss sort of suggested I keep my distance on this one, but I’ve never been very good at following orders.”
Clark smiled. “You sound like my partner,” he confessed.
“That would be Lois Lane?”
Clark nodded.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Scardino said. “You’re probably here to talk to someone and I’m holding you up. Still, if you’d be willing to meet with me when you get a chance...”
“I’m waiting to talk to Henderson, too,” Clark said. “So I’ll tell you what. You answer my questions and I’ll answer yours. I’ll even introduce you to my partner. Can’t promise she’ll be quite as forthcoming, but...” Clark shrugged.
Scardino laughed. “I had a partner like that once,” he confessed.
Clark smiled. He could really like this guy.
“But we probably shouldn’t talk about this out here,” Scardino said. “How did you get here?”
“Uhh... a friend gave me a ride.”
“I came in from Washington today so I have a rental. What do you say I give you a lift back and we can talk at the Daily Planet? Well, when you’ve finished up here.”
Clark nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”
His attention was diverted from Scardino when he heard Henderson speaking to someone on the far side of the lobby.
“So I told her you were coming,” Henderson said. “She said she’d see you right away.”
“Thanks, Inspector.”
Clark knew that voice, too, but it took him a moment to make the connection. “Eduardo?” he asked as he began walking towards the two men.
“Hey, Kent. You waiting for me?” Eduardo asked.
“No, actually. I was hoping to speak to Henderson. What are you doing here?”
“Nothing I’m prepared to talk to you about,” Eduardo said, but the touch of humor in his voice took the sting out of his words.
“Oh,” Clark said.
“What are you doing here, Kent?” Henderson asked as he followed Eduardo over.
“I wanted to talk to you about the attempted murder of Mayson Drake,” Clark said.
“Sorry, Kent. The Chief is keeping a tight lid on this one. No press. Now... if you were Superman...”
Clark froze, not quite sure how to respond or how to keep the color from draining out of his cheeks.
“Too bad you’re not,” Henderson continued with barely more than a pause.
Clark started breathing again.
“You’re Inspector Henderson?” Scardino asked.
“Yes.”
“Agent Daniel Scardino. DEA. I was wondering if I could talk to you about...”
“Sorry, Scardino. Your boss already called. You’re off this case.”
A moment later, both Henderson and Eduardo had left the lobby, leaving Scardino and Clark standing alone.
“So...” Scardino said. “Feel like letting me give you and the pooch a ride back to the Daily Planet since it seems neither of us are going to have any luck here.”
Clark nodded. “Just one thing... Do you have a blanket in your car? ‘Cause I sort of need to sneak back in.”
Clark laughed at what he could imagine was the expression on Scardino’s face. “I’ll explain on the way,” he said. “An article was published about me yesterday that... Well, I assume you haven’t seen. If I’m seen entering the Daily Planet, I’ll be bombarded with questions from reporters that I’d rather avoid at the moment.”
“I don’t usually pay much attention to local happenings in Metropolis,” Scardino said. “But I find it interesting that reporters would hound another reporter. What did you do? Kill someone.”
“Not exactly,” Clark said. He sighed. He was going to have to figure out how to deal with people following this story coming out eventually. Maybe he should consider this practice. Well, and maybe, until he figured out how to deal with this on a more permanent basis, he could practice his non-denial denial. “Remember that ‘well, unless you’re Superman’ comment Henderson made a couple minutes ago,” he said as he, Shadow and Scardino walked towards Scardino’s car.
“Yeah?”
“Well, that article I mentioned... It claims I’m Superman.”
For a moment, Scardino was silent - and Clark tensed, ready to hold his glasses in place if he sensed Scardino making a grab for them.
“No offence, Kent,” Scardino said, his voice amused. “I saw Superman once. And he’s a lot taller than you. Besides, can’t he see?”
* * * * * * * * *
It was the third file that had Lois most intrigued - although she couldn’t articulate exactly why this file had captivated her attention. A number of drug trials. All apparently done by reputable labs. All completed.
So what was it that had captured her attention? It was some of the names of the drugs, she suddenly realized. Although no descriptions of the purpose of the drugs was provided, with names like Nirvana, Dreamer, Retribution and Resurrection, it was hard not to be curious. Intergang sure was great at coming up with drug names.
Nirvana almost sounded like a street drug - perhaps something along the lines of Ecstasy. But it appeared to have been created and tested by Omnicorp - a well respected drug company. The president, Charles Knox, had recently appeared on the cover of Billionaire Exclusive Magazine as one of the newest inductees to that select club.
Resurrection, however, was particularly interesting. It had been invented by a Dr. Stanley Gables.
It took her a moment to place the name. He’d been responsible for testing some drug... She couldn’t remember what. Maybe she’d never known. ...which had gone horribly wrong. People had died. He’d been discredited. Then he’d been shot and killed by someone. The police suspected a grieving relative of one of the people who died in the study although nothing had ever been proven.
Sort of ironic. To be killed while inventing a drug called Resurrection.
But could the name be taken literally? Probably not. Surely if someone had invented a drug that could raise people from the dead, it would be big news - even if testing was not complete. Maybe it was nothing more than some sort of pep pill - designed to revive someone who was dead tired.
Still, there was something here, something tugging at the corner of her mind that she couldn’t quite get a grip on.
One thing, though, although the file didn’t tell what the drugs did, it did give the scientific formulas for the drugs.
She searched her own mind, trying to find some reference to these drugs in the information provided by the Faraday device. But either she still didn’t know how to access the information in spite of today’s incident at the MGH, or that information wasn’t included in the information she’d been given. Either had an equal chance of being true.
She stared at the chemical compounds for a long time, trying to see if they provoked a response, but there was nothing there either.
Finally, she sat back in her chair. Who did she know who might be able to answer her questions? Almost as soon as the thought had come, she knew the answer. Picking up the phone, she placed a call to Dr. Bernard Klein at Star Labs. If anyone could answer her questions, it was he.
A few minutes later, she was faxing the formulas for the drugs of most interest to her over to Dr. Klein - who had promised to get to them as soon as possible.
* * * * * * * * *
“Talk about crazy,” Scardino said as he and Clark rode up in the elevator to the Daily Planet newsroom. “When you said there’d be reporters, I thought a couple local guys hanging around the front door. But that was a lot more than some locals. I think every news network in the world must have been represented. I don’t think I’d even known there were that many cameras in the world.
“And they weren’t the only ones,” Scardino continued. “I’m not sure who were scarier the groupies with signs wanting to have Superman’s baby or the ones who were shouting ‘Alien go home.’
“I couldn’t believe it when we had to be rerouted by that police officer because the crowd was blocking the street,” Scardino said. “At first, I thought there must be something else going on. To find out it was because of some story claiming that you’re Superman... If I hadn’t seen it, I don’t think I’d have believed it. Has the whole world lost its mind?”
Clark had lost interest in this conversation some time ago and was hardly listening. Although, he had to admit that the crowd hadn’t gotten tired and gone away during the course of the day - the way he’d hoped they would in some small corner of his mind. If anything, it had grown as the story gained traction..
But through the cacophony taking place outside, he’d picked up Lois’ heartbeat. Normally, other noises made the softer, gentler sounds impossible to pick up. But Lois’ heartbeat was loud and strong in his ears.
He hadn’t spoken to Lois since the previous night... and he had to admit that the things that were currently unresolved between them had him feeling off-balance. What he wanted most was to grab her and Shadow and fly away to a corner of the world where no one had ever heard of Superman. There must be somewhere like that - although at the moment, he couldn’t say he knew where.
‘Well,’ he thought to himself resignedly, ‘at least things can’t get any worse.’
In that assumption, he was entirely wrong.
* * * * * * * * *
Lois rose from her desk and picked up her coffee mug. She was just about to head over to the coffee machine when she heard the ding of the elevator.
Something deeper, more primal than even instinct, caused Lois to look towards the elevator. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw Clark step out. He paused briefly, almost as if he felt her eyes on him, before beginning to tap his way down the stairs and towards his desk.
She let out a slight sigh when she noticed his tie. His ties were always a little on the wild side, but this one actually clashed with the rest of his outfit. Obviously, he’d had some problems getting dressed without her.
She set her coffee mug back on her desk and stepped over to his. She opened one of the drawers, quickly locating the spare tie he normally kept there. Pulling it out, she looked back at him. This one at least wouldn’t clash.
She returned to her desk and sat on the corner as she watched the remainder of his approach. So caught up was she in this activity she almost missed the man walking next to him - although with his leather jacket only partially hiding a bright Hawaiian shirt it was hard to believe that was possible. Some abstract part of her mind noted that he was good-looking only to be pushed aside as her heart took her eyes back to the man next to him.
* * * * * * * * *
Clark’s feet came to an abrupt halt when the man walking beside him stuck his hand out to the side, striking Clark in the gut.
“Please tell me that’s your partner,” Scardino said.
“Who?” Clark asked, not knowing where Scardino was looking.
“That Greek goddess over there. The one sitting on the corner of a desk holding a tie.”
“Uhh...” Clark began, still not knowing who might be the object of Scardiino’s desire - although he suspected from the pain developing in his gut who it might be. Or at least he didn’t think Scardino was strong enough to cause him this type of pain with a simple hit to the stomach. “I can’t exactly see where you’re looking.”
“You mean you have more than one goddess working here?” Scardino said. “The one with the dark hair, a body to die for and legs that seem to go on forever. Even if she’s not Lois Lane, you have
got to give me an introduction.”
The turmoil in Clark’s stomach got worse. He could only hope that Scardino was closer in looks to Ralph than to Mel Gibson. What had ever possessed Clark to suggest breaking up with Lois last night?
No. No. His fear of losing Lois to someone like Scardino couldn’t keep him from giving Lois a way out of their relationship. After all, she hadn’t agreed to the public attention that would undoubtedly come from being romantically linked to Superman in the public’s eye. No one deserved that. Especially not the woman he loved.
He pushed down his sudden desire to grab Scardino and strong-arm him out of the newsroom and instead pasted a phony smile on his face as he resumed his trip into the bullpen.
* * * * * * * * *
Lois frowned. She’d been watching the two men approach, seen them stop and witnessed the exchange. She couldn’t hear the conversation which had taken place, but by the way the other man’s eyes had never left her, she suspected she was the current topic under discussion. And from the false smile now gracing Clark’s face, it was obvious he was not happy with the direction the chat had taken.
She narrowed her eyes, now viewing Hawaiian shirt man with suspicion.
“Hi, I’m Daniel Scardino,” the man said as they approached. “Please make my day and tell me that you’re Lois Lane.”
“And what if I am?”
“Then I have to ask you if those eyelashes are real.”
“Of course they’re real.”
Scardino smiled. “Boy, they sure are pretty.”
Lois felt slightly off balance. Her eyes darted over to Clark, instantly feeling unaccountably guilty. She’d done nothing to encourage this flirtation by Scardino, but something felt wrong about Scardino flirting with her in front of her boyfriend. On the other hand... Clark, his free hand now shoved deep in his pocket, was standing back slightly, almost as if he didn’t think he had any right to interfere.
What the hell was that all about?
Still, it did explain why Clark’s mood had suddenly changed half way down the steps. Scardino must have said something about her and Clark had obviously chosen not to enlighten him as to their relationship.
“Would you excuse us for a minute?” Lois asked Scardino before taking Clark’s arm and leading him into the conference room, closing the door behind them. As soon as they were alone, Lois released Shadow from his halter before beginning to pull off Clark’s tie.
“Uhh...” Clark said, one of his hands coming up as if in an attempt to protect his modesty.
“Your tie clashes,” she said as she continued removing his tie. “What’s going on, Clark?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
Lois let out a breath as she dropped his tie on the table to pick up the other one. “Casanova out there...”
“What about him?”
Lois let out another breath as she draped the new tie around his neck. “Nothing, Clark,” she said, suddenly deciding to change tactics. She began knotting the tie as she spoke. “Look, I know we both said some things last night that we didn’t mean...”
“I meant what I said, Lois. I really do think we need to think seriously about whether or not I should move out - at least for the time being.”
Lois growled. “Okay, fine! Maybe now isn’t exactly the time to get into this! So just tell me about Casanova. Who is he and what is he doing here?” She pulled the knot tight.
Probably a little too tight because Clark’s hand instantly came up to loosen it.
* * * * * * * * *
“Okay, Wayne. Just a bit more and I think we’ve got it,” Jonathan said.
Wayne Irig pulled the tractor a little further into the road.
“Perfect!”
After turning off the gas and removing the key, Wayne got down from the tractor before he and Jonathan stood back to observe the results.
The road that came out to Martha and Jonathan’s house was a dead end, and Wayne was their closest neighbor. So although they might not get rid of all the reporters who had started arriving earlier in the day by blocking off the road, they could, at least, cut down the number who could simply park out in their vehicles to photograph the house with their the long distance lenses.
Rachel and the boys had come out about half an hour ago and chased a bunch of them off. Since the road was on private property, she’d been able to exert some pressure - and had promised that if any of them came back, they’d be spending the night in Smallville’s jail. Problem was that given that they only had a two cell jail, that might get full awfully quick. Not that any of the reporters knew that, of course.
Rachel had suggested to Martha and Jonathan that they might want to go somewhere until the hubbub blew over. Martha and Jonathan had thought about it before deciding on trying this as an alternative.
“Yeah, that should do it,” Wayne said, observing the vehicles that they’d managed to scrounge from a number of neighbors for blocking off both the road and the ditch on either side. “Now at least those bothersome reporters will have to hoof it up the road for the next mile if they want to waste their time botherin’ you and Martha. And just give us a call if you’re plannin’ to go somewhere and I’ll move the tractor. If me and Nellie are out, you know where the key is.”
Jonathan nodded. “Thanks, Wayne. I’ll let Rachel know, too, in case she or the boys need to get out here.”
Wayne nodded. “Damn nuisance, them reporters. Should drop them all off the end of the earth.”
Jonathan clasped Wayne’s shoulder in a friendly manner and smiled. “I might opt to keep one or two of them.”
“Well, your boy’s okay. So’s that girl of his. The rest...” Wayne shrugged. “Don’t they got something more useful to report?”
“Guess the news business must be slow today.”
“Guess so. Why can’t they all worry about things that matter? Like figurin’ out how to predict the weather.”
Jonathan laughed. “Or getting us our sports’ scores.”
“Damn straight. Should we put up the signs now?”
Jonathan nodded and pulled the signs out of the back of his pick-up - signs Martha had made up earlier in the day. ‘Park At Your Own Risk.’ ‘Private Property - No Parking.’ And then there was Jonathan’s favorite, ‘Any Car Parked Here Will Be Deemed To Be Abandoned And Treated Accordingly.’
“Thanks, Wayne,” Jonathan said when he and Wayne finished pounding in the signs.
Wayne looked for a moment at the signs. “Anyone who does ignore the signs might come back to find their car being used for target practice.”
Jonathan laughed as he walked back to his truck - the only one on his side of the barrier.
“Oh, and just to let you know,” Wayne continued before Jonathan could climb inside. “I let Alvin out into the field. Figured he could use a little exercise.”
Jonathan laughed again, wondering what those reporters who decided to cut across Wayne’s field might think if they came face to face with what Wayne liked to call ‘the cussedest bull in all Kansas.’
* * * * * * * * *
“So my partner tells me you and he made a deal - to tell each other what you know about the attempt on Mayson’s life,” Lois said when she arrived back at her desk.
Clark flinched slightly at the way she made ‘partner’ sound like a swear word.
“So what do you know?” Lois asked.
“You show me yours and I’ll show you mine,” Scardino responded, a definite sexual undertone evident in his voice.
Clark’s eyes narrowed, even though he kept his mouth firmly shut.
“I don’t think so,” Lois said coldly. “You talk first. After all, what if you don’t have anything worth knowing?”
“Well... I know who made the bomb used in Drake’s car,” Scardino said. “Does that qualify as anything worth knowing?”
* * * * * * * * *
“He’s a con by the name of Sean Mallory,” Scardino said once he was settled in the conference room with Lois and Clark, Shadow curled up on the floor at Lois’ feet. “Mallory was responsible for a series of drug related bombings in the late eighties. I lost someone very close to me in one of those bombings.”
With the final sentence, his eyes settled on Lois - and for the first time she saw something more than a third-rate Casanova. He was a man who had experienced some real pain in his life.
“Who?” she asked.
“My partner - Jenna.”
She’d been more than just his partner. That was obvious. Lois bit her lip, her eyes involuntarily moving over to rest on Clark. If something ever happened to him... She gave her head a quick shake, unwilling to let her mind dwell on that possibility for even a moment.
“Didn’t I hear that Mallory died in prison?” Clark asked.
“So they say,” Scardino responded. “The attempted murder of the D.A. says otherwise. I know Mallory’s M.O. like the back of my hand. I was the one who put him in prison. Somehow he’s out there again.”
“So your idea of solving the attempt on Mayson’s life is looking for a dead man?” Clark asked.
“I guess you could say that,” Scardino said.
* * * * * * * * *
Although she couldn’t say she was impressed by Scardino’s theory about the case, Lois had agreed to tell him what she’d seen and heard when Mayson’s car had exploded - appropriately edited, of course.
His ‘evidence’ that he knew Mallory’s M.O. like the back of his hand was simply not believable in the light of the grief he still quite obviously felt over his partner’s death. No wonder his bosses had told him to keep his distance on this one.
Still, that grief demanded a certain amount of respect - and it was Clark’s story now, after all. So if he was willing to give Scardino what information he had, who was Lois to say otherwise?
By the time they had finished up, it was pretty close to quitting time.
“So where is good to eat around here?” Scardino asked as they walked out of the conference room.
“The Roma Cafe is good,” Lois said. “And it’s close by. It’s fairly casual, but the food is great.”
“One of your favorites?” Scardino asked Lois.
“Yes.”
“Good. Then why don’t you join me?”
“I don’t think...”
“Why don’t you go, Lois?” Clark said. “I want to type up my story about Ata before I leave. I’ve been feeling guilty about not typing up that story yet.”
“Clark...”
“Go. It sounds like fun.”
Her eyes narrowed momentarily. “Fine. Then, Dan, I’d love to.”
* * * * * * * * *
TO BE CONTINUED...
ML
