Hattie and the Main Street Bomber - Matchmaker Chronicles Volume 1C – O 2/9
This version is rated PG-13
This story is a sequel to Hattie Kaplin - Reporter – Matchmaker Chronicles Volume 1C - N
By KenJ <ken.janney@kjanney.com>
* * denotes emphasis
< > denotes thoughts
/ denotes telepathic communications./
Previously
When she was finally connected she said, “Inspector, Hattie Kaplin. How are things?”
“Kaplin, are you going to be a thorn in my side like all of the others on the Main Street Bomber?”
“Inspector, you’ve read my stuff. I report hard news, but I report factually and fairly and you know it.”
‘Yeah, I’ll give you that much. I saw your article on Saturday’s incident. By the way, I heard what you did. Congratulations. From what I heard, you probably saved his life. Okay, what can I do for you?”
“I was wondering if you had anything new on the bomber that you could give me.”
“I wish I did. We have hit a brick wall. We’ve got nothin’ to go on.”
“Have you been able to get a better handle on the explosive used?”
“No, it looks like a home lab produced nitro. Whatever container it was packed in, in each case, is completely destroyed. If it was a pipe bomb there would be metal shrapnel. If it was an anti-personnel bomb it would use metal pieces, nails, nuts and bolts, ball bearings, something like that to cause additional injury, but there’s been none of that. The bomb has simply destroyed the car carrying it, killing the occupants and people in the immediate vicinity. In the case of the guy you saved, his leg was cut by a piece of the car.”
“Have you been able to determine any links between the victims?”
“No, as we said the last time, the victims appear to be chosen at random.”
Hattie mused out loud, “There has to be some connection, there just has to be.”
“Well, if you find one, I’d appreciate it if you would let me know what it is. At this point I’ll listen to any theory you may come up with.”
“If I come up with anything, you’ll be the first to know.”
“Thanks, Kaplin. We’re grasping at straws here.”
“If the victims are truly random, perhaps there is still something common.”
“How do you figure that there could be something common to a random selection of victims?”
“Doesn’t sound too logical, does it? The way I see it, there has to be a pattern, even to the randomness. We just have to figure out what the actual pattern is. It would make it so much easier if there was an apparent motive. What is this guy after?”
“It looks like we are dealing with someone that is simply insane, choosing victims at random. There isn’t a discernible pattern.”
“Maybe we’re just not looking at it the right way.”
“What other way is there?”
“I don’t know, just yet. I have to think about it for a while. I’ll get back to you, Inspector, when I have this figured out.”
“I hope you can. So far we’ve had almost one hundred fatalities in just under three weeks. I’d like to catch this guy before he kills any more people.”
“I’ll do my best Inspector.” She hung up her phone.
And now
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Chapter 02 – Hattie and Lois
Monday night
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Universal Locator designation
Alpha 023 x Gamma 004 x Tau -120 Canon universe also called – Prime
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After most of the staff had left, Hattie joined Lois in her office.
Lois asked, “Find anything new yet?”
“Nah, I’m hoping that Graham will have something for me. This guy, the bomber, has really racked up a large number of kills in a short time. The first bomb was totally unexpected. The second bomb went off while we were all at Jon and Jen’s wedding reception. Numbers three, four and five were last weekend when Superman and Ultra Woman were dealing with the aftermath of another earthquake in Japan. Ultra Woman 2 now protects LA and Kam-El was otherwise occupied.” Looking around so that she was sure that no one could hear she asked, “What about Sean and Celeste and Jess? Why haven’t they been covering downtown?”
“Actually, Sean and Celeste have. They have both been on the evening shift in the ER at MetGen. They are both doing their ER rotation, so they haven’t been able to get away and have had to deal with the injured when the medics have delivered them.(6) Jess has been studying in Paris. It’s a shame that we can’t be everywhere at once, but once the rest of the kids are ready, they will be joining the family business. They just aren’t ready yet. Jimmy needs a lot more practice and the rest can’t even fly yet.”
“I look forward to the day when there are enough to go around. It’s a shame that JJ, his brothers and sisters don’t have powers.”
“Yeah, they are Lucy and Jimmy’s children so they don’t have superpowers.” Lois replied, as a doubtful expression came over her face. “How many will be enough? We know that Jen and Mike will be super soon, but do we want to risk bringing them out into the public eye? What effect would that have? People could start thinking that New Krypton has invaded again and start to be fearful. We’ve discussed this at length and we decided to go slowly. We have to check the public’s acceptance of additional super powered individuals one or two at a time.”
Nodding in agreement, Hattie responded, “I guess you’re right to be cautious. Who knows how the people will react, let alone the military.”
Lois had a faraway look as she said, “You don’t know just how right you are. There was one government agency that was a real problem. They saw Superman as a threat and tried to kill him. They almost succeeded too. It was a close call. Years later when New Krypton, well, actually a criminal element of New Krypton, invaded and tried to take over the Earth, the military used Kryptonite laced gas to kill the ring leaders and almost killed Superman along with them. That was another close one.” Lois looked at her watch and noting the time said, “I think we just have time to go grab a bite to eat and make the meeting. Let’s hit Travaglini’s for dinner, my treat.”
Smiling, Hattie replied, “You don’t have to ask me twice. Let me grab my bags. I’ll meet you at the elevator.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
At seven p.m. Lois and Hattie were in Lois’ Jeep sitting in the shade of a warehouse on pier 34. Two Styrofoam containers were resting on Hattie’s lap. They had arrived a few minutes early and were sipping a couple of coffees while they waited.
Lois asked, “Could the presence of Superman, Ultra Woman or one of the other superheroes have made a difference in these bombings?”
“I really don’t see how. The bombs are somehow, magically appearing in these cars and suddenly they go off. They’d have to scan every car and even then since we don’t know what the bomb looks like, what would they be looking for? I talked with Cardona, but he had nothing for me. I’m hoping that Graham will have something.”
Suddenly, from the back seat a voice was heard, “Sorry to disappoint you, but what I got has nothin’ to do with the bomber.”
Lois and Hattie were both startled by this sudden appearance. Hattie was a little less startled than Lois. She was more used to Graham’s arrivals. Lois must have been concentrating on the conversation because she hadn’t heard him with her superhearing.
With an accusation in her eyes and tone Lois said, “Your pop has to be Bobby Bigmouth. He did that to me and Clark all of the time.” Lois suddenly realized why even Clark had been surprised by Bobby. He had been paying attention to her and not so much what was going on around them. She started to smile as she thought just how sweet that was, that she had been the total focus of his attention.
With a chuckle and some barely disguised pride he replied, “Guilty as charged. Somebody had to carry on the family business. I hadn’t expected the editor of the Planet to be at a meet with a source.”
“Hattie has told me so much about you that I just had to meet you. If only to satisfy my curiosity on that point. How’s your dad?”
“He’s doing fine. He moved into management at the food court, that’s why he retired from the information business. He ran out of time for information gathering. That’s why he turned the business over to me. At first we weren’t sure if it would work out then we saw her name on articles when you moved to the editor’s office. We took a chance and contacted her. The rest, as they say, is history.”
“Well, your father taught you well, I must say. You managed to sneak up on us the same way he could.”
“I’ll tell Pop that you approve.”
Hattie was becoming impatient at all of this small talk so she jumped in and asked, “What do you have for me?”
“I know that you want info on the bomber and as soon as I have something, I’ll call you, but I don’t have anything on that. What I have is on Councilman Robbins. You know what district he represents?”
“Yeah, downtown.”
“Right, well I think you’ll find that he has been receiving kick backs from a consortium of big business in exchange for legislation put forward that will prevent independents from operating businesses downtown.”
‘What do you have as proof?”
He laughed, “That’s your problem, not mine. I gave you the tip. Now you need to investigate.”
Lois laughed, “Just like Bobby.”
Hattie passed over the lasagna dinners.
Graham said, “Pleasure doing business with you.” He exited the car and quickly disappeared into the shadows.
“Okay, now I have two things to work on. I think I need to give priority to the bomber. I want to get him before he kills again.”
“What leads do you have?”
“That’s the problem, there is nothing. I’m going to have to create something. Force a break.”
“How do you propose to do that,” Lois asked.
“Well, for starters I’m going to go over the scenes of the bombings. Maybe I can find something.”
As she was reaching for the key to start the Jeep, Lois asked, “Want me to drop you at your place?”
“No, if you don’t mind, I’ve got my bag; could you drop me off at the Dojo?”
Smiling, Lois asked, “Mind if I stay a while and watch?”
Smiling back Hattie said, “Actually, I’ve got a spare gi if you want to join in. You can come as my guest.”
Smiling and nodding, Lois said, “Sounds like fun. Let’s do it.” Lois put the car into motion.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Later that evening Lois dropped Hattie at her apartment. As usual Hattie was wearing a loose cover up over her spandex workout gear. She stepped into the bathroom and stripped while the shower heated. She took a quick shower and then with a Kelly green towel wrapped around herself she took her workout gear and gi to the washer.
As she finished adding the detergent there was a knock on the door. She moved over and checked through the peep hole to see who it was. Looking through the lens she was surprised to see a shock of red hair and recognized it as that of her partner, Jimmy junior, JJ. She shouted, “Just a sec,” and started undoing the locks. Shortly she was able to open the door.
When she opened the door she stood back so that he could enter.
At sight of her, he stood there rooted to the spot with his eyes practically bugging out of his head.
It wasn’t until she looked down at herself that she realized she had forgotten that all she had on was her towel, that it barely covered the essentials and gapped open where it overlapped on her left side revealing her creamy flesh from her thigh to a level above her belly button just under her breast. With this sudden realization came a blush and she stammered out, “Uh, yeah, JJ, come on in and uh, make yourself comfortable. I guess I need to put some clothes on. Be right back.” She hastened into her bedroom giving JJ a tantalizing view of her pert lower derriere and her long shapely legs in the process. She dressed in sweats, emerging to find JJ in her kitchen making coffee for them both.
When she joined him he asked, “I didn’t expect to see you today. How did the move go?”
“It went well, in fact I finished earlier than I expected. Had anything to eat?”
Nodding, Hattie replied, “Yes, Lois and I had dinner at Travaglini’s.”
He shook his head and said, “Shoot, and I ordered pizza. Would you still like a slice?”
She replied, “Sure, I’m easy.” Realizing just what she had said, she tried to correct, “I mean about what to have for dinner. I’ve never really been easy … you know … that way.”
JJ was laughing at her discomfiture and said, “I never thought you were.”
She started to blush as she said, “The way I greeted you at the door could lead to another conclusion.”
“Hattie, I would never think that of you. I think I know you well enough by now. We have been partners for a couple of weeks now and we were paired up at the wedding, not to mention all the times we were together at Aunt Lois And Uncle Clark’s place.” Spotting a couple of pictures on a shelf nearby, of them as a couple and the other of the entire wedding party, at the wedding reception, he said, “I must say, we made a handsome couple. I need to remember to thank Jen for having a rainbow wedding. That powder blue Bride’s Maid gown you wore was perfect for you. Since I had to match I had on a tux of the same color and it complimented both of our complexions since we’re both redheads.” Pulling down the other picture he said, “Such a large wedding party. All of my cousins, you and me. Lara was Matron of Honor and Mike was Best Man. Sean with Celeste wore pastel red, Jessica and Jimmy wore yellow, Lucy and Sam wore green and we wore blue. Colorful!” He put the picture back in its place, handed her a mug of coffee and then after they had each taken a sip, continued, “I tried calling earlier, but you didn’t answer. Since my new apartment is here in the same building I thought I’d run on down and see if you had gotten in.”
Smiling at the memory, Hattie said, “Lois and I had a meet with Graham and then we went to the Dojo together.”
“You and Aunt Lois are thick as thieves. How do you get any work done?”
Hattie laughed and said, “You know her better than that. She’s as driven as ever, even though she has moved to the editor’s office. She wanted to meet Graham and prove her pet theory that he’s Bobby Bigmouth’s son.”
“Well, is he?”
“Yep, when Bobby retired from the information business he passed it on to his son.”
“What did this meeting cost?”
She was still laughing as she replied, “Two lasagna dinners.”
“What’d he have for us?”
“Councilman Robbins, kickbacks for legislation.”
“Nothing on the bomber?”
“No and I spoke to Cardona this morning and the MPD don’t have anything new either.”
There was a knock on the door. JJ answered it and after accepting the delivery and giving the boy a tip he closed the door and holding up the pizza said, “Dinner is served.”
The coffee forgotten, Hattie retrieved some soft drinks from the fridge, they sat on the sofa and opened the boxes.
Over pizza they discussed what they had on the bomber, which wasn’t much. They kicked around ideas as to how to proceed. No plan was developed so after a while JJ said goodnight and returned to his own apartment.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Tuesday morning
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The next morning JJ once again knocked on Hattie’s door. This time when she answered she was fully dressed and ready for work, the strap of her bag over her shoulder. She handed him a coffee she had prepared and locked her door before going with him down to his car. She dearly missed her Jeep, but until the insurance company came to a decision she was stuck car pooling.
When they arrived at the Planet and moved to their desks, Hattie saw that Lois and Clark were already in their office sipping on a couple of coffees. Lois looked up and catching Hattie’s eye raised her coffee cup in salute. Hattie returned the gesture.
Just then Lois apparently had a thought and gestured for Hattie to join them in the office.
As she was putting her bag on her desk, Hattie said, “JJ, I think Lois wants us.”
JJ draped his jacket over the back of his chair and as they were walking over to the office he was rolling up his sleeves.
After they were in the office, Lois said, “I’ve been giving the bomber some thought. Do you think there’s any way to find the location and source of the bombs?”
“According to the MPD, they’re homemade.”
“That’s not what I mean. Where are they on the cars? Did they bring them with them or did somebody give them to the drivers to take with them. The drivers might have thought they were doing someone a favor, carrying a package or something. I really don’t think that is feasible because that would presuppose that every one of the cars that blew up had someone inside that knew the bomber. What would be the odds against that being the case?”
“That sounds like something that we will have to check into. Thanks!”
“Don’t mention it. See what you can come up with.”
They headed back to their desks.
JJ sat in the chair next to Hattie’s desk. He asked, “What do you want to work on, Robbins or the bomber?”
“Why don’t you work on Robbins?”
“Okay, I’ll start with his financials. See if there is any unusual unexplained influx of funds or expenditures and if there are, who they’re from.”
Hattie was deep in thought as he was saying this and made no comment. JJ said, “Penny for your thoughts.”
“Huh? Oh. What Lois suggested got me to thinking. Where were the bombs placed? An oven timer or an egg timer will only count down so many minutes. Most will go up to an hour. What if the timer was always set to a particular time? I need a map of the city.” Looking around and spotting the gofer she shouted, “Frank! I need a city map, large format, in the conference room in five minutes!”
With a stricken look Frank looked around as if lost and because he knew how Hattie could be, said, in a tremulous voice, “I’ll try.”
“Don’t just try – do it!”
JJ asked, “What are you going to do?”
“Find out just where these bombs are coming from.”
“Okay … I’ll start on Robbins and then join you in the conference room.”
“Right. I have to get some stuff together.” She picked up her bag and threw the strap over her shoulder, the file she had on the bombings, some markers, a sticky note pad and some sticky arrows. Once she had everything she headed for the conference room. The first thing she did was make a do not disturb sign for the door then she laid out the file and started looking through the contents.
It was actually closer to ten minutes before Frank had the map and brought it to the conference room. When he dropped it off, Hattie said, “Thanks, Frank. Now, could you be a dear and bring me a cup of coffee?”
Happy that he had satisfied Hattie he smiled and said, “Be happy to,” and headed out of the conference room on his errand.
Hattie used magnets to stick the map to the white board on the wall. As she finished this task, Frank returned with her coffee, placing it and a donut on the conference room table.
Spotting this Hattie smiled and said, “Thanks, Frank. That’s sweet of you. I’ll be sure to call you if I need anything else.”
“Anytime, Ms. Kaplin.” He turned and left.
By the time he had closed the door, Hattie had taken the report from the first bombing in her free hand as she sipped the coffee. Setting down the mug, she took a sticky pointer and placed the head at the location that the bomb had exploded. She ran through all of the reports, marking the locations of all of the explosions and then she stood back and took it in while she nibbled on the donut and had another sip of the coffee.
Setting the coffee down again, she picked up the first report a second time and wrote the time of detonation on that arrow. She did the same thing with each arrow. Then she took a white board marker and made a table of the detonation times. When they were laid out in tabular format it was easy to see that all of the detonations occurred within just a very few minutes of each other and the differences could be accounted for by differences in the setting of the watches of the observers. She thought <If I assume that the witnesses could be wrong then all of the bombs went off at the same time.>
Just then JJ came into the conference room. Walking up beside Hattie, with a slight chuckle, he asked, “Do you have it figured out yet?”
Hattie didn’t take her eyes off the map as she answered, “Not yet. I need to add more data.”
Walking up to the map, JJ pointed at a couple of the pointers and said, “Except for a few, like these, all of the bombs detonated on Main Street within just a few blocks.”
Hattie said, “Let’s assume that those bombs failed in reaching their target. What’s on Main Street …” checking the street names she finished, “between tenth and fourteenth?”
“That’s easy, that’s the theater district. Movie theaters, a playhouse, some boutiques and restaurants.” JJ pointed out.
As if that had slipped her mind briefly she said, “Yeah, that’s right. Okay, let’s assume that the theater district was the target. Why?”
“Maximum damage. Lots of people in a confined area,” JJ offered.
“There has to be more to it than that. What’s playing?” Hattie asked.
“It can’t be related to that because the features change too frequently and these bombings have covered a span of several changes.”
“Okay, if it isn’t a particular movie, what about the stage?” Hattie asked.
“The playhouse is between shows. They are tearing down sets and creating new ones for the next production. Actually that might be working to our benefit, fewer people in the area. How do the explosions match up to show times?”
“If we discount variations in memory or how far off a watch is then the bombs all detonated at 7:30 p.m. That would be show time for at least half of the theaters. People would be lined up on the sidewalks.”
“That supports my theory that they’re timed for maximum damage.”
With a negative shake of her head, Hattie said, “I don’t buy it. There has to be another reason.” Hattie stated emphatically. “I keep waiting for an ultimatum of some sort, perhaps a ransom note like downtown is being held hostage. Okay, they were all timed to go off at the same time. How were they delivered?”
“How can we figure that out?”
With a sly smile Hattie replied, “I’ve got an idea.”
comments go here TBC
(6) “First Love – Matchmaker Chronicles Volume 1 D – 1L”
