Hattie and the Main Street Bomber - Matchmaker Chronicles Volume 1C – O 8/9
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
Fifteen minutes later they were dropped off in front of the lab.
Approaching the front desk she introduced herself, “Hattie Kaplin, Daily Planet. Is Doctor Bernard Klein still in his lab?”
The receptionist laughed and said, “We have to practically blast him to get him out and make him go home, especially right now, with his assistant, Jon Kent away. Let me check.” She picked up a phone and called. “He’ll be right here.”
“Thanks.” Hattie paced as they waited what seemed like an hour, but which was probably more like five minutes. She spotted him as he came through into the lobby. She had met him several times at functions at the Kent house so she recognized him as soon as he came in.
She rushed over to him and said, “Doctor Klein, I hope you remember me, I’m Hattie Kaplin. I’m a friend of Lois and Clark, as well as Jon Kent and his brothers and sisters.”
“Ahhh, yes, I thought I had seen you before. How are they? I haven’t seen Jon since the wedding. Aren’t they due back from their honeymoon soon?”
“Yes, they’re due back this weekend.”
Giving her and JJ a second look he said, “Say, weren’t both of you in the wedding party?”
“Yes, yes we were.”
JJ supplied, “I’m Jon’s cousin.”
Dr. Klein was impressed and asked, “Well, what can I do for you?”
“Doctor Klein, is there a way to detect nitroglycerine?”
“I assume you mean by some way other than blowing something up with it.”
“Yes, I mean, if someone that worked with nitroglycerine were to handle something, would it rub off and if it did, could that residue be detected?”
“Of course, there are a number of analyses that can demonstrate the presence of nitroglycerine.”
“Can you detect it on paper?”
“Actually paper is an excellent media for soaking up nitroglycerine and it is easily extracted from it as well. What do you have?”
Hattie reached into her bag and pulled out a business card in a plastic baggie. She handed it to him and said, “I think you’ll find nitro on this card. Can we come and watch you while you check?”
“Sure, come right this way.” He led the way to his lab. Once inside he said, “Let me see.” He pulled out a reference text book and turned to the index. Found the page he was interested in and muttered, “UhHmmmmm. Okay.”
He put the book down and moved over to a lab bench. He pulled out some reagent and measured a quantity into a graduated cylinder. He poured this into a beaker and then opening the bag he used forceps to pick up the card and dropped it into the beaker. He used a glass stirring rod to stir the contents for a minute and then he let it sit while he moved over and turned on a machine.
Hattie asked, “What is that?”
“That? Oh, that is a liquid chromatograph.”
“What are you going to do with it?”
With the air of a magician preparing to perform a feat of legerdemain, he pulled on the sleeves of his lab coat as he said, “Observe. Watch closely now! Please note that at no time do my hands leave my wrists.” He was chuckling at his own joke as he moved over and picked up the beaker and brought it and a syringe over to the machine. He sobered and said, “Sorry, but sometimes analytical chemistry can seem like magic to the non-scientist.” He sucked up a measured amount of the reagent with the syringe and injected it into a port on the machine. When he did, he marked a trace coming from a recorder. The cross lines marked off seconds and minutes. They watched the tracing and suddenly the pen started wiggling back and forth across the paper. He said, “That’s the reagent. It comes through first. Now we wait for the active ingredient.” When it hit a certain time the pen deflected very strongly. He said, “There we go.” After some more time had elapsed the pen started wiggling again. “Ahhh, that would be the inks.” Less than a minute later, more wiggles, “That would be the sizing.” Noting their expression, he explained, “Chemicals used to bind the wood fibers together to make the paper.” Doctor Klein circled the main peak, checked the time to confirm it and said, “Yep, you’ve got nitroglycerine all right and a lot of it. How did you get this sample?”
Hattie smiled a self-satisfied smile and replied, “It was given to me, along with a splitting headache the other day. Thank you Doctor Klein. Can you give me something that says just what you found, where and how much?”
“Sure, I can document it right now. Keep in mind that I didn’t do a calibration so I can’t quantify what’s there. All I can do is say what we found. Hold on.” Doctor Klein used a standard analysis report form to document his findings, signing it with a flourish.
Hattie fished in the beaker with the forceps and pulled out the card. She blew on it to dry the solvent and once it was sufficiently dry, dropped it back into the plastic bag.
Looking up from what she had just done and taking the report that Doctor Klein offered, she said, “Thank you, Doctor Klein, you’ve just helped solve a big case. Let’s go JJ.”
“Where?”
“MPD Headquarters. We are handing them a bomber, on a silver platter.”
And now
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Chapter 08 –The Trial
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Universal Locator designation
Alpha 023 x Gamma 004 x Tau -120 Canon universe also called – Prime
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Before they exited STAR Labs, Hattie pulled out her earpiece and put it on. She tapped it and heard, "Say a command."
She said, "Call Metrocab."
After a series of beeps and buzzes she heard, "Metrocab. How can I help you?"
Hattie said, "Pick up at STAR Labs."
"Destination?"
"MPD HQ."
"Name?"
"Kaplin."
"The cab should be there within fifteen minutes. Standard rates will apply. Thank you for using Metrocab."
There was a click as the line was disconnected.
Hattie tapped her earpiece again to initiate another call. This time she said, "Call MPD."
Cardona had made it a point to be in the office since it was a Friday night in anticipation of yet another bombing. When the call had come in reporting an airborne detonation it surprised him, but only briefly. He was certain that one of the supermen of superwomen had prevented this latest bombing.
He was waiting for more details to be reported when his phone rang. Picking it up he said, “Cardona here.”
“Inspector, Hattie Kaplin. I think I have your bomber identified.”
“You what??? Do you know something about that airborne explosion? Who was responsible?”
“That, oh that was Ultra Woman. She saved me from being blown up.”
Cardona was shaken by her nonchalant attitude. As if he didn’t quite believe her he asked, “Ultra Woman saved you from being blown up? Are you sure it wasn’t a rocket someone had left over from the fourth?”
“No, I’m sure it wasn’t! That was a bomb that he had intended for a car, but decided to use to kill me.”
“He? He who?”
“The Main Street Bomber! Can we come in to see you?” She asked.
Cardona was shaken. “We who, you and Ultra Woman?”
“No, she had other things to do. Me and my partner, James Olsen.”
“Oh, your partner in crime. Sure come on in.”
“The cab should be here shortly.”
“Where are you? I’ll send a patrol car.”
“Wow, okay, we’re at STAR Labs. I think we have all the evidence you will need to get a search warrant as well as an arrest warrant for the bomber.”
“There should be a car there in less than five to pick you up.”
“Thanks, Inspector.” As she hung the phone up she tapped he earpiece again and said, "Call Metrocab."
When she was connected she said, "Cancel the pickup at STAR Labs. I got a better offer."
She couldn't help tweaking the cab company a little when the dispatcher asked, "How would you rate our service?"
"Inferior to the police."
Not knowing how to reply to that, the dispatcher simply repeated the tag line she was supposed to use, "Thank you for using Metrocab," and hung up.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
True to his word, less than five minutes later a patrol car pulled up in front of STAR Labs. The patrolman stepped out and asked, “You Kaplin?”
Hattie answered, “Yes and this is my partner. We need to get to headquarters as quickly as we can.”
“Climb in and I’ll see if I can’t accommodate you.”
Once they were in the back seat with their seat belts buckled he flipped a switch and they could see the red and blue lights reflecting off of the facade of the building. They could hear through the partition as he grabbed his mic and after keying it said, “Dispatch. Car 51. Please inform inspector 10-12. In route 10-19. 10-7.”
(He was sending, “This is car 51. Please inform the inspector that the visitors are present. We are in route to the station. I will be out of service.”)The radio squawked and they heard, “10-4”
(Message received.)With a screech of tires he took off and headed into traffic. As they approached each intersection he would briefly turn on his siren and once assured that the traffic was granting him the right of way he would speed through. It was a little under five minutes later that they pulled up in front of MPD Headquarters.
Again he grabbed his mic and this time sent, “Dispatch. Car 51. 10-19. 10-10”
(Car 51. We are at the station and I’m going out of service, for dinner.)The radio squawked and they heard, “10-4”
(Message received.) Hattie was frustrated that she couldn’t just jump out of the car, but there was no door handle on the inside and she had to wait for the driver to get out and open the door for her.
There was a need for haste; however there was no need for them to run into the building so they walked, quickly up the steps.
Cardona was waiting for them in the lobby and he led them directly back to his office.
Once they were in his office, Cardona asked, “Okay, what do you have for me?”
Hattie was anxious, still keyed up from her experience, and couldn’t sit down. She started pacing in front of Cardona’s desk as she fumbled around in her bag. Finally getting a grip on herself, she stopped pacing and put her bag on the corner of his desk. She delved into it, pulled out the report prepared by Doctor Klein and passed it over. She said, "Here, read this."
Cardona perused the document and asked, “How does this prove who the bomber is?”
“Inspector, would that be enough to get a search warrant?”
“I should think so. Whose place has to be searched?”
Reaching into her bag, Hattie pulled out the bag with the card in it and passed it to the inspector.
He read it and let out a low whistle. He asked, “Is this who I think it is?”
“One and the same.” She pulled out the documents they had gotten on Robbins’ financials. She laid them down on his desk as she continued talking, “These are the financial reports on Councilman Robbins."
Moving over and pointing to areas the he had highlighted, JJ added, "He was nearing bankruptcy. Donations to his campaign had fallen off and he was going to lose to his opponent in the next election cycle. Recently his war chest has been stuffed to overflowing by large businesses that would benefit by having outlets in the center of town with no competition from independents. In fact it has been overflowing into area where it is being used for functions other than his reelection effort."
Hattie picked up the narrative, "One area that the funds has gone to is hiring new staff … for instance,” she tapped the bag with the card in it, “Jack Crane, special assistant for special projects."
JJ picked it up again, "We tried to back track on him and it is truly amazing, he has no history until he started working for Robbins about five weeks ago.”
Pulling out some more paper, Hattie added to the pile in front of Cardona. “Out in the mid-west there was a series of unexplained bombings. The authorities didn’t pay all that much attention to them because they all took out underworld figures."
JJ added, "There was an op-ed piece expressing how relieved the people were that it was happening since their money was safer as a result."
Hattie resumed, "The local police wrote it off as a gang war. It appears as though the James Gang, not Frank and Jesse, but Ben and Jerry were at war with the Clanton Gang. Members of the Clanton Gang were being killed in mysterious explosions which were relieving the police of some bad actors and they only gave pursuit of the perp lip service."
JJ took his turn, " Those bombings stopped a few of weeks before Crane moved to Metropolis. The interesting thing is the weapon of choice … nitroglycerine.”
It was Hattie's turn again, “Approximately three weeks after Crane moved to Metropolis, we started having a problem downtown, in Robbins’ district.”
Hattie pulled out copies of the documents she had photographed in Robbins’ office and added them to the pile. She explained, “These documents outline a plan to skin millions from the income of the bond issue that Councilman Robbins is proposing to fund the work turning the downtown area into a walking mall, rerouting traffic and adding landscaping.”
JJ continued the narrative, "The plan was to see to it that the rest of the council would see it his way and vote for the legislation. The deaths downtown, being the result of vehicular traffic was used to push them in the direction that he wanted.”
Hattie pulled out the old map and laid it on top of all of the other documents. She pointed to the alley off of eighth. “Here is a manhole into a side tunnel from an old culvert system. The tunnel leads out under Main just short of the intersection with eighth.”
“The bomber carried the bombs into the tunnel. He waited until a red light stopped traffic and he would quickly lift the manhole cover and use a hook, which was part of the bomb casing, to attach the bomb to the undercarriage of the car sitting over the manhole after setting the timer to five minutes.”
“When I was checking out the tunnel he slugged JJ and then tried to kill me with the bomb he was going to use tonight.”
Cardona stopped her flow of words, “Pardon me for being so crass, but why aren’t you dead then?”
“At the last second I realized there was someone there and I ducked. He still clipped me, but not as hard as he intended. I was only stunned for a few seconds. When I came to he was talking and I recognized his voice. It wasn’t who I thought it would be.”
“Who was it?”
“Inspector, I think you need to get those search warrants issued. One for Jack Crane’s apartment. One for Councilman Robbins’ headquarters and the other for the Councilman’s home. Then arrest warrants for Jack Crane and Councilman Robbins. If nothing else he needs to explain the misuse of his election funds.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Inspector Cardona had to interrupt a dinner party that a judge was holding to get him to sign the search warrants as well as the arrest warrants.
Cardona and the judge had left the judge’s party and retired to his study. When the judge saw one of the names he had a number of questions.
Thanks to the briefing that Hattie had given him along with the evidence she and JJ had collected Cardona was able to satisfy the judge and the warrants were all issued, however reluctantly.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Hattie and JJ were invited to cover the story of the execution of the warrants and subsequent arrests.
When the story hit the streets the Daily Planet led the way.
”MAIN STREET BOMBER ARRESTED”By: Kaplin and Olsen
“In the early hours of Saturday, persons of interest were arrested in the Main Street Bomber case. Along with 98 counts of murder have been added two counts of attempted murder and conspiracy.
The information leading to the arrest was provided to MPD by members of the staff of the Daily Planet after a lengthy investigation.” Story on A2* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
A few weeks later
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
When the case went to court, Hattie and JJ were going to be witnesses so, contrary to protocol, one of the current editors decided to return to the reporter ranks and cover the case, thus, Lois Lane was in the gallery for the duration of the trial.
Lois Lane, at age 60, was still an extremely attractive woman and constantly turned heads. On the first day of the trial she wore a smartly tailored gray pantsuit which rather than conceal her womanly figure, complimented it. She wore a cream colored shell with a modest neckline under the jacket with a single strand of pearls. The gray of the suit matched the sprinkling of gray at her temples which didn’t detract from her beauty in the slightest; in fact it lent an air of distinction to her presence. The men in the courtroom all had their eyes on her as she moved, with stunning grace to a seat just behind the prosecution and took out her notepad and pencil.
Looking around at the assembly, Lois noted Peter Parker, the sketch artist near the back. She hoped that he lived up to his reputation and turned in some good drawings.
She nodded to Lorelei Kilbourne of the Metropolis Star. Lorelei smiled and nodded in return. When Steve Wilson, former Managing Editor of the Illustrated Press in Milwaukie left to take the reins of the Star, it wasn’t long until Lorelei followed him. Lorelei was a new addition to the Star, but she was a serious journalist that had worked for Steve at Illustrated. It was only because of that change in management at the Star that she was willing to work there. The Star had changed a lot since Steve Wilson had taken over and was less of a scandal sheet than it had been in the days when Lois had been an investigative reporter for the Planet. Lorelei was going to give Hattie some serious competition just as the Star was starting to give the Planet.
The first day of the trial consisted of testimony from the police forensics teams.
The DA, Mr. Reed, had been in his position for a fairly short time and was confident that with all of the evidence and witnesses that he had lined up that this case would go well. Convicting a political figure like this would be a feather in his cap. He was unusual for his breed in that he didn’t have political aspirations. He was satisfied with his job and managing to in some small way contribute to cleaning up the city was all he wanted to do.
After the head of the forensics team was sworn in, Mr. Reed started his examination: “Lt. Pearl, could you tell us what you found at the residence of Jack Crane and tell us exactly why you were looking for it there.”
Lt. Pearl: “When we entered the residence in execution of a warrant issued on Friday night we were looking for evidence of the manufacture of nitroglycerine. Based upon an analysis of materials provided by the suspect to one …” He referred to his notes, “Henrietta Kaplin the presence of nitroglycerine was verified by Dr. Klein of STAR Labs. What we found was a fairly complete lab setup and all of the raw components necessary to manufacture the explosive. They consisted of concentrated nitric and sulfuric acids and glycerin”
“We also found several two ounce containers filled with the finished product. As most people know, Dynamite is composed of nitroglycerine mixed with diatomaceous earth. A single stick of Dynamite will have far less than an ounce of nitro in the mix. That means that a two ounce container is the equivalent of many sticks of Dynamite, perhaps as many as ten sticks, even though it is a much smaller package.”
“We found a number of mechanical timers such as have been identified as being used in the bombs used by the Main Street Bomber along with detonation devices.”
“All items were properly photographed, bagged, tagged, cataloged and registered in the evidence room. Chain of custody has remained unbroken. There was one exception; the completed nitro was disposed of by the bomb squad. Regulations prohibit storage of explosives within the building.”
“Fingerprints obtained from the equipment were consistent with those obtained from the suspect using the name of Jack Crane. Subsequent inquiries regarding those fingerprints disclosed the name of James Draper.”
“Research into James Draper found that he was a chemist for a munitions firm in St. Louis, Missouri. He had been dismissed when it was discovered that project funds had been diverted for his personal use, gambling.
Checking his financials we found that he was heavily in debt to the James Gang through gambling losses.”
Mr. Reed: “Was this individual arrested as the suspect in the Main Street Bomber case?”
Lt. Pearl: “That is outside of my purview. I simply head up the Forensics Team.”
Mr. Reed: “Your witness”
The Defense attorney, Mr. Jacobs, was a hot shot youngster eager to make a name for himself as a defender and was willing to do whatever he could to win. During discovery he had been given access to the State’s evidence and knew that this was really a lost cause as far as his client was concerned. His only option was to try to introduce some doubt in the minds of the jurors.
Mr. Jacobs: “Lt. Pearl, was James Draper not arrested as the culprit?”
Lt. Pearl: “I cannot answer that question as it goes beyond the purview of my responsibilities as head of the Forensics Team.”
Mr. Jacobs: “But, as you said, his fingerprints were all over the equipment.”
Lt. Pearl: “That only proves that he used the equipment to manufacture the explosive. It does not mean that he delivered it.”
Mr. Jacobs: “No further questions.”
Judge: “Lt. Pearl, you may step down. Next witness.”
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