<<< Chapter Sixteen >>>
Deputy Chief Roberta Jean Thompson had a strong sense of justice. Unlike some television law enforcement officers, she would never deliberately place a suspect in jeopardy, nor would she permit someone in her custody to be endangered so she could close a case. She believed very strongly that under the American justice system, the only place to establish guilt or innocence was a court of law. And the only body to mete out justice was that same court. She always went by the book and never bent the law to increase her conviction rate. She relied on law and proper procedure to guide her professional life, not some nebulous gut feeling or unreliable sixth sense.
But the book wasn’t quite clear on what she was supposed to do with Lois Lane.
She leaned back in a desk chair in the squad room and thought about the case. On the one hand, the preliminary medical examiner’s reports on both Dr. Carlin and Mr. Luthor supported the Lane woman’s story of finding the dying man in his apartment and then defending herself against Dr. Carlin’s attempts to kill her. There were a number of empty cartridges of the same caliber as the bullet which had slain Mr. Luthor, and of the four people in the apartment that evening, there was gunshot residue only on Dr. Carlin’s hands. The twenty-five caliber pistol which had been fired into the furniture and the walls of the apartment also had only Dr. Carlin’s fingerprints on it.
The damage to the victim’s wrist and the fatal wound on her neck could only have been produced by someone skillfully wielding a long wooden stick or rod, and Asabi’s escrima sticks fit the wounds. One even had blood and hair from Dr. Carlin on it. The medical examiner said that the other bruises and contusions on Dr. Carlin’s body were inflicted on her immediately before she’d died, so the story of the fight with Lois seemed to check out, including the bruises on Lane’s knuckles and the bandaged cut over her cheekbone. And even though Lois Lane had a long history with the Metro Police, she’d never done anything technically illegal without having a valid reason for it, nor had she ever been convicted of any crime. Having Bill Henderson in her corner didn’t hurt her case either.
On the other hand, the crime scene investigation team hadn’t found enough spent nine-millimeter bullets to match up with the number of casings scattered around. Lane’s story was a little spotty about how she’d gotten the larger pistol away from Carlin and how it had fallen off the balcony to fall to the street below. Three other witnesses, the building’s security officer at the front door and a couple walking past the entrance at the time, all substantiated Asabi’s claim that he’d been on the street until the pistol had fallen through the limousine’s windshield, so any thought of an ambush set up between Lane and Asabi was out of the picture. But Roberta was still puzzled as to the exact sequence of events.
The details of the story didn’t quite fit together. And Roberta knew that details often tripped up the most innocent-looking criminal.
She pushed open the interview room door and sat down across from Lane. The other woman was obviously unhappy, but Roberta didn’t sense that she was angry at the police, but rather that she was unhappy with the situation. And that actually made sense.
Maybe it was time to put all the cards on the table. Maybe Lane would reciprocate and ease Roberta’s mind about the case.
Roberta pushed her glasses up on her nose. “Ms. Lane, I want to thank you for bein’ so patient with us. And I want to say how very sorry we are about your loss.”
Lois met Roberta’s eyes for the first time. “Thank you,” she whispered.
Roberta tilted her head sympathetically. “We just have a few more questions to ask, and then you can go. I know this has been a very difficult time for you.”
Lois nodded once but didn’t speak.
After a moment, Roberta continued, “As you know, Dr. Arianna Carlin died of a severed spinal cord after being struck with what appears to be an escrima stick. You ever study escrima, Ms. Lane?”
Lois shook her head. “Taekwondo, a little Wing Chun, a couple of judo lessons, but no escrima.”
“So Mr. Asabi struck Dr. Carlin and killed her?”
“Yes. But only because he knew she was trying to kill me.”
“And you’re absolutely certain of that?”
“That Asabi knew she was trying to kill me?”
“No. I meant, are you absolutely certain she was trying to kill you?”
Lois crossed her arms and frowned. “You ever play ‘Marco Polo’ in the swimming pool?”
“Yes. One person closes his eyes and calls out ‘Marco.’ Anybody who answers ‘Polo’ gets chased. It’s kind of like a game of water tag.”
“Uh-huh. Arianna Carlin was trying to tag me with her pistol. Permanently.”
“I see.”
Lois shuddered. “I doubt I’ll ever be able to hear any kids playing it without seeing her creep along with that little gun in her hand, calling out ‘Marco’ while she hunted for me to shoot me.”
“I totally understand, Ms. Lane.” Roberta took off her glasses and tilted her head sympathetically again. “That had to have been a very scary moment. And I understand if you can’t tell us why our crime scene technicians can’t find all the spent bullets from Dr. Carlin’s nine millimeter pistol.”
“Tracking all those bullets really wasn’t my priority at the time, no.”
“Of course not. We just need to cross all of our I’s and dot all of our T’s before we close this case. You understand, I’m sure.”
“Cross your I’s and dot your T’s, huh?” The Lane woman stared straight into Roberta’s eyes. “I understand a lot, Chief Thompson. I understand that you’re at least twice as smart as you try to appear. And I understand that your sweet Southern accent combined with your charming smile and deliberate errors in speech disarm most people.” She leaned forward and spoke almost fiercely. “But I’m not most people. I didn’t kill Arianna Carlin. I’ve told you everything I can tell you about that night. And I’m ready to go home. Unless, of course, you want to arrest me for something.”
Roberta slowly put her glasses back on. So much for putting the cards on the table. Her bluff was called and she had no option but to watch this witness walk out. There was no legal basis for arresting her. And the woman didn’t feel like a criminal to Roberta.
“Very well, Ms. Lane, you’re free to go. I can arrange for a ride for you wherever you want to go. As long as it’s within the city, of course.”
“Of course. That would be nice, thank you.”
Roberta tried her most winning smile. “It’s absolutely no problem. There’s a ladies’ room around the corner to the right if you’d like to wash up before you leave. One of my detectives will be waiting for you right outside this room.”
“Sounds good to me.” Lois pushed back the chair and stood. “Please don’t take this the wrong way, but I hope I don’t see you any time soon, at least not about – about this case.”
Roberta stood and opened the door. “Of course not. I completely understand.” She led Lois out of the room and pointed toward the bathroom, then called out, “Sergeant Michaels? Please wait for Ms. Lane right here, and when she comes back please take her wherever she wants to go.”
The tall, slender black man nodded. “Yes, ma’am. Anything else?”
Roberta turned to see that Lois was out of sight in the bathroom. “No. Just come on back as soon as you let her out wherever she wants to go. We still have a lot of paperwork to finish on this Luthor case.”
He nodded and moved to stand beside the conference room door.
Roberta walked back to her office, thinking about Lois Lane. The woman was under a lot of stress, of course, but she didn’t appear to be exhausted, just monumentally frustrated. And she wasn’t behaving like someone who’d just had the love of her life die in her arms. She was saddened and upset by the man’s death, but she wasn’t stricken. Of course, she might just be someone who didn’t believe in letting her grief out among strangers.
Or there might be a great deal more to the story than Roberta knew at the moment.
Whatever. She had dozens of open cases, and the city of Metropolis averaged more than two murders a day. There was more than enough work for her to do without going after a woman who was so obviously not guilty of killing anyone.
But she’d keep her eyes and ears open anyway. One never knew when one might learn something useful.
*****
It was well after dark when Lois unlocked her apartment door and turned to the officer who’d brought her home. “Thank you. I can take it from here.”
Sergeant Michaels flashed her a charming grin. “Yes, ma’am. Take care, now.”
She didn’t answer as she opened the door and stepped inside.
Lex was dead. Arianna was dead. Asabi was under investigation for Arianna’s death, although Lois didn’t think he’d be tried for any crime, and hopefully not even arrested. What would happen to LexCorp and the associated companies was too much to think about for the moment. If Lois were lucky, she wouldn’t be arrested either. And her powers weren’t anywhere near full strength yet, assuming they ever did come back all the way.
Asabi had placed Arianna’s lead kryptonite box up high on one of Lex’ bookshelves, positioned so that it looked like it belonged there. If her powers came back, she’d take the box and get rid of it permanently. If not, she’d ask Clark to do it.
This was a total, utter, complete train wreck of a day.
She leaned her forehead against the door and closed her eyes. She was so focused on herself that the sound of the locks being fastened didn’t rouse her for a moment.
But that meant that someone else was here. That meant that she could talk to that someone, maybe even cry on that someone’s shoulder. Maybe that someone was Clark.
Two thin arms embraced her around the shoulders and a young woman’s voice said, “Oh, Lois, I’m so sorry.”
She turned slowly to see Lucy’s tear-streaked face. For a brief moment she was furious that it wasn’t Clark holding her. She was angry at Clark for not being here. She was livid at Lucy for not being Clark.
Then she realized that he wouldn’t invade her home without her permission, and that he was probably working on the story of Lex’ death even now. And she also realized that Lucy was here, was willing to share her grief, and that she needed to let it out to someone she trusted.
She almost smiled when she realized she trusted her sister with her grief.
Lois let her head sink down on Lucy’s shoulder. Her arms went around the younger woman’s waist and she squeezed her eyes shut as the tears came again.
Lois cried for Lex, for the loss of a man she counted a good friend, for the loss of a man who had loved her even if she couldn’t return that love, for the hole he’d leave in her life, and for the pain she knew Asabi felt and would feel for the rest of his life.
She sensed Lucy leading her to the couch, where they awkwardly flumped down with Lois all but falling into her sister’s lap. After a long moment, Lois sat up and wiped her face with one hand.
Like a stage magician, Lucy pulled a clean dish towel out of a pocket in her slacks. “Here, Sis, use this. It’s more absorbent than your skin.”
Lois chuckled through her tears and took the towel. “I – sniff – I guess you know that from experience, huh?”
“Well, I have drowned a few of these in my time.”
Lois didn’t answer, but did utilize Lucy’s thoughtfulness to dry her face. As she pulled the towel away, she realized that her makeup was now all over the towel. “Better here than on my clothes, I guess,” she muttered.
Lucy stroked Lois’ hair. “Can I get you anything, Sis? Are you hungry or thirsty?”
Lois sniffed again. “Not hungry, but a soda would be nice.”
“Coming right up.”
As Lois took the glass, she said, “I suppose the phone’s been ringing off the wall non-stop.”
“No. I turned off the ringer and turned down the volume on your answering machine. You’ve got about a gazillion messages from all sorts of people.”
“What? But I – “
“No! You sit down right here. You can listen to the messages tomorrow, after you’ve had a good night’s sleep.”
Lois leaned back and sighed. “Okay, yeah, I am pretty wiped out right now.”
“Good. I did take a message from Mr. White, and he told me to tell you to call him at the office on Monday whenever you got up and the two of you would figure out what to do from there. Oh, I also got a message from Clark Kent just before I turned off the ringer. He said that he’s going to drop by in the morning after you get some sleep, and that he’s available to talk or listen or skip rocks in the stream any time you want.” Lucy frowned. “I didn’t quite understand that last part, but I have to assume that you do, because you’re almost smiling right now.”
Lois shook her head. “Yeah, I understand. Clark’s a really great guy.”
“Ah. Well, maybe you – no, forget that.”
“What?”
“Nothing. Forget I even breathed, okay?”
“Well – okay, if you – “
“Hey, I know you said you weren’t hungry, but I was and I had a big pepperoni pizza delivered about an hour ago and I can heat it up if you want something to eat. Or I could run out to the video store and pick up a movie. The Three Stooges, maybe? Or a sci-fi movie? Or a romantic comedy, one where Hugh Grant courts the female lead and makes her fall in love with him even though he’s a total jerk?”
Lois laughed softly. “No movie, no thanks. But a couple of slices of pizza actually sound good right now. You did get the deep dish crust, didn’t you?”
“What? No way! That’s just bread with sauce on it. Real pizza has thin-thin crust.”
“Like a cracker with sauce on it? Come on, Luce, you need to learn to eat real Metropolis pizza.”
They stood and walked into the kitchen together, still smiling at each other. “If I want a toasted open-faced pepperoni sandwich I’ll make one myself,” retorted Lucy.
“Yeah? Well, if I want a sixteen-inch Ritz cracker with tomato sauce and cheese on it I’ll make it myself.”
“Make it yourself? You can’t boil water without burning it!”
“I’ll have you know that I’ve learned to make a few meals since we lived together!”
“And they all come in plastic trays with microwave instructions on the box, too!”
Lois leaned back against the counter and laughed, then started crying again. Lucy ran to embrace her. “Oh, Sis, I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean it, honest!”
Lois returned the hug. “No, Luce, it’s okay. Really. I just – I’ve missed having you around and I didn’t even realize it. I’m so glad you’re here.”
Lucy smiled and kissed her on the cheek. “Then I’m glad I’m here too. I’ll just pop this pizza in the microwave and let it heat up, and while that’s happening I’ll refill your soda. Then we’ll sit down and I’ll tell you all about my classes and the crazy professors who teach them.”
Lois stroked her sister’s hair. “Sounds like a plan to me.”
As Lucy bustled about the kitchen, Lois realized that as bad as the day had been, there were still thin beams of light shining through the dense clouds. Maybe not blindingly bright beams, but there was light. And maybe her life would go on after all.
Lucy was there for her. Sweet, crazy, unpredictable, unreliable Lucy had grown up while Lois wasn’t looking. Somehow she’d morphed from a crazy teenager with no thought for the next day to a mature young woman who was someone Lois could rely on for help. It was totally unexpected, but welcome as cool water on a hot summer’s day.
Lucy wasn’t the only great person in her life, either. After all that had happened to her, Perry was still the best boss a woman could wish for, Jimmy was as much a little brother as she’d ever known, and Clark was still part of her world. Even if the closest relationship she’d ever have with him would be as best friends.
She wouldn’t want it to be enough, she knew. But it was better than chasing him away or making him so uncomfortable around her that one of them would have to pull away.
She’d make sure it was enough. It was a small price to pay to keep him around.
