Hattie and Mr. X - Matchmaker Chronicles Volume 1 – P 4/11
By KenJ <ken.janney@kjanney.com>
This version is rated PG-13
Submitted
Disclaimers: Some of the characters in this story are property of DC, December 3rd productions and Warner Bros., except those I created. No copyright infringement is intended. I have just borrowed the characters for a short time.
Note::
This story takes place in the Matchmaker Chronicles universe. Hattie Kaplin has had a long standing relationship with Jon Kent and the entire Kent family; in fact she is almost part of the family. Recently she had been brought in on the family secret that the Kents are in fact the super family.
This story is a sequel to Hattie Kaplin and the Main Street Bomber – Matchmaker Chronicles Volume 1 - O
*denotes emphasis*
<denotes thoughts>
/” denotes telepathic communications.”/
Previously
JJ parked the car and they hurried into STAR Labs. As soon as they entered they spotted Jon. Hattie had called him and filled him in while JJ drove. She handed him the syringes of blood and followed him as he headed down the corridor to the lab.
When they entered the lab, Hattie spotted Dr. Klein and said, “Hi, Dr. Klein!”
“Well, if it isn’t Ms … “
“Kaplin.” She provided.
“Right, Ms Kaplin. You were in Jon and Jen’s wedding. So nice to see you again. Wait a minute, wasn’t it you that found the nitroglycerine that was being used in those bombs about a year ago?”
“That was me all right. How have you been?”
“Well, I’ve been busy helping this assistant of mine unlearn everything wrong he was taught in school. He’ll make a fine researcher one day.”
Jon was off to the side laughing at Dr. Klein’s little joke.
Dr. Klein spotted the syringes in Jon’s hand and asked, “What do we have here?”
Hattie said, “Dr. Klein, we need your help again. There was a robbery last night and the person that they say did it has no memory of the event or the entire night for that matter. I was wondering if you could check and see if there are any drugs in his bloodstream. We are looking for, I don’t know, Benzodiazepines or scopolamine or something like that. Can you find things like that?”
Bernie was intrigued. He started thinking aloud, “Hmmmmm, has to be non-destructive, qualitative, not necessarily quantitative. Have to separate them from other natural blood components. Most likely organic.” He seemed to come to a decision. “Jon, take an aliquot of this sample and dilute with normal saline solution. We have some of it in that cabinet over there. We were using it in those rat studies. Then inject it into the HPLC under standard conditions. Run the effluent through the mass spec. I’m going to process some of this and run an FTIR. Once you finish with the HPLC, take the same sample and run UV Fluorescence and also run a UV spectra. Pull up those standard spectra from that drug study.” He turned to Hattie, “Do you know the blood type?”
“No, I didn’t ask.”
“Jon, do a blood type analysis so that you get the right profile. Make sure you pull up the right type.”
“Will do, Doc.” Jon turned to his tasks.
Hattie asked, “How long will all of this take?”
Dr. Klein looked over at Jon and said, “I don’t know, it all depends on how efficient my assistant is.” He saw that Jon was moving at superspeed. He looked at Hattie and JJ and raised an eyebrow.
Seeing this, Hattie said, “We’re all family.” She hooked her arm through JJ’s and said, “We’re being married in just a couple of months.”
Bernie released a relieved sigh and said, “Okay, so you are in on the family secret. That’s a relief.” He had been concerned about Jon revealing what he could do.
In a relatively short time, short only because of Jon’s superabilities, they had the answers, at least a partial answer. Jon provided Dr. Klein with the reports that he had generated. Dr. Klein moved to his lab bench and after donning a hot mitt, picked up a beaker containing a steaming brownish liquid that had been sitting on a stand over a low burning Bunsen burner and took a sip. Seeing the shocked expression on his visitor’s faces he held it out and asked, “Coffee?”
Seeing what it was in Hattie thought that there was a danger of ingesting something other than that which was being offered and said, “Un, no thanks, Dr. Klein.”
“Your loss, Jon make a terrific beaker of coffee.” He took another sip and paced it back on the burner. He took a few minutes to look over the reports.
Once he had finished his analysis he said, “Okay, when we compare his blood to a sample of, let’s see, type O negative, from an earlier study I believe that I can see some traces of foreign substances. It looks like most of it has metabolized and there isn’t enough to get a clear analysis of the structure. It looks like a benzyl ring, some hydroxyls, could be a carbonyl some amines or amides. Hard to tell, but there definitely is something there. It’s a shame that the sample wasn’t taken sooner, then we might have had a better chance at a complete structure. You mentioned Benzodiazepines and there are structures that could indicate that something related to them is present.”
“Thanks, Dr. Klein. Could you write that up for me? If this happens to someone else, we can use your analysis to make sure they order a blood sample be drawn as soon as the individual is picked up next time.” Turning to JJ she said, “Let’s go JJ, we have to get this written up. Maybe he’ll be granted bail based on these findings. At least we can hope.”
And now:
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Chapter 4 – A Stranger Proposal
Thursday, March 01, 2029
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
That evening JJ took Hattie to Travaglini’s, their favorite restaurant. It was too cold to sit outside so they occupied a table in the rear. Since they were regulars, when JJ had called earlier to make the reservation he had been given a choice table.
After a delicious pasta dinner and half a bottle of Chianti each they were both feeling a little mellow.
Hattie, somewhat shyly asked, “JJ, did you really like what you saw last night? I mean, it wasn’t too much, too soon was it? I mean, the wedding isn’t until June and here I am enticing you. I mean, I have to be trying your patience. I mean, I saw your reaction, boy, did I see your reaction. You
were reacting to
me … weren’t you?” Her nervousness caused her to repeat the same phrase over and over.
He had picked up on her nervousness so to make her a little more comfortable with a smile he replied, “You’d better believe I was reacting to you. I’d have to be dead not to react to you. You’re gorgeous; you know that, don’t you?”
Smiling self-consciously at this praise she started to blush. “You’re just saying that.”
“What? No, no I’m not. It’s the honest truth. You are the most beautiful woman I have ever met. I can’t believe that you have actually consented to marry me. I have to be the luckiest guy in the world.”
Shyly, Hattie asked, “Do you really want to get lucky?”
Startled he asked, “Huh? What do you mean?”
“I don’t know about you, but I had a hard time sleeping last night.”
He snickered and said, “You and me both. I finally got up and worked on kata until I decided on a cold shower.”
Hattie laughed, attracting the attention of those at the tables near them. Seeing this she quieted and finally said, “Me too.”
Now it was JJ’s turn to laugh. After calming himself he asked, “What are we going to do about this situation? I guess we could just give up on sleep until after the ceremony, but I don’t want to fall asleep on our wedding night.”
“Neither do I. I’ve been looking forward to it too much. I just don’t think I can continue to go on this way though. We need to do something.”
“What do you suggest?”
Hattie was silent for a long time which was trying JJ's patience, but when she finally spoke, he was happy that he hadn't let his impatience show. “Well, this morning I called our super. I asked if there were any two bedroom apartments available. I figured we would be needing a bigger place once we are married and if there was one available we should go ahead and get it instead of waiting and maybe not finding anything.”
Trying to remain calm, JJ commented, “That was a good idea. What did he say?”
Hattie was relieved at JJ's response and pressed on, “There is a two bedroom that will be available next weekend.”
JJ was now becoming eager. He could see where this conversation was headed and couldn't be happier. “Wow, that soon? Which one?”
Hattie was pleased with how JJ was taking all of this, but now she was going to broach the most important question and her trepidation was returning. What if he didn't want the same thing? “It’s apartment 501. What should we do?”
“I think we need to grab it while it’s available. Maybe he’ll accept the security deposit from your current apartment for it since you will be moving from one apartment to another in the same building.”
Her feeling of relief was almost palpable, he hadn't outright rejected the idea, “I already did and he did.”
He was exuberant, but was careful not to appear too eager, still, “That’s my girl! Wow, we already have a new apartment.”
Now came the critical point, “That still doesn’t solve our problem. In fact it could exacerbate it.”
JJ shook his head as he asked, “What problem?”
Hattie smiled as she replied, “Sleep deprivation.”
Having a very good idea what Hattie was suggesting, JJ decided to play dumb, “Well, I don’t know. Do you have a suggestion?”
Looking down at her empty plate with a red blush moving up her neck and into her cheeks, she shyly said, “Well, you could give up your apartment at the same time. Between the two of us we could afford the increased rental and actually save some money, but only if we both only had the one apartment to pay for.”
As she had been speaking, JJ’s mouth had gone suddenly dry. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing, but there it was, right out there in the open. She was asking him if he wanted to move in with her. He stuttered, “You mean … you want me to … but … June …”
“Yeah, I know. I think that if either of us is going to get any sleep between now and then, it is going to have to be ... together.”
He was beside himself he was so happy, but decided to still play it cool, but not too much, “You want me to move in with you? Wow, this is so sudden! I’ll have to think about it. … That’s long enough, let’s start packing for the move.” JJ called for the check.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Silence prevailed during the entire trip back to the apartment house. They were each wrapped up in their own thoughts.
Once they arrived at Hattie’s apartment they went inside and sat side by side on her couch. JJ put his arm around Hattie’s shoulder; she leaned into him and snuggled in, getting comfortable. She was sitting on his right, so she took her left hand and reaching across intertwined the fingers of her left hand in his right. They sat that way for a time, just enjoying the contact. Finally JJ broke the silence, “What made you decide to check on apartments?”
She looked up at the ceiling and said, “Having you up there, so close and yet so far away … it was just too much. I just feel like I need you closer. That’s why you have to give up your apartment and move in. If you stayed in your apartment and I moved to 501 we’d be farther apart. That would defeat the purpose.”
“Do you still want to wait, for … you know?”
Hattie was blushing at the thought as she replied, “I think I’d still like to. It
is a
two bedroom apartment and we could still say goodnight and go to our separate rooms, but you’d be a lot closer.”
“If that’s what you want. I’m a very patient person.”
“Really? You could have fooled me last night. You seemed rather anxious.”
“Well, as long as you don’t parade around the apartment, nearly in the nude, I’ll do my best.”
With a wicked little smile, Hattie said, “No promises.”
JJ pulled back and looked at her with a shocked expression.
Hattie pulled him back into close contact and said, “I’ll try not to push you beyond your limits … but ….”
“But what?”
“I reserve my rights as a woman … to change my mind.” She craned around and gave him a kiss.
He shifted her around and deepened the kiss.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
March 02, 2029
First thing the next morning, Hattie went into Lois and Clark's office. Clark was blue penciling an article so Hattie addressed Lois, "I need to go down to HR and file a change of address."
"Oh? Where you moving to, Hattie girl?"
"Well, the wedding will be soon and we will need a bigger place. I found a two bedroom apartment in the same building.”
Lois had a thoughtful look as she asked, “You know that you are living in my old building, don’t you?”
Smiling, Hattie replied, “Yeah, actually I knew that. I figured that you had chosen it for good reason and I was right. It isn’t too far from work and the rooms are pretty nice.”
“What apartment will you be moving to?” Lois asked.
“I called the super to inquire and he said that 501 would be opening up.”
Lois started to smile while Clark threw down his pencil and burst out in laughter.
Hattie was surprised at this reaction and looked back and forth between the two.
Clark calmed himself and looking at Lois asked, “Is history repeating itself, or what? Next thing you know they’ll be moving to 344 Clinton!” Clark lost his temporary control and started to laugh again.
Hattie looked at Lois, a question in her eyes.
Lois gave in to her mirth and chuckled briefly before she said, “501 is *my* old apartment,” and started laughing again.
Hattie was stunned. She hadn’t been aware of this fact.
Lois controlled herself again and said, “I hope it brings you better luck than it did me. Even with all of the locks I had on that door it had nearly as much traffic as Grand Central Station. While I was in the shower one day an assassin let himself in and set up a bomb with a pressure plate. I had to keep moving on the pressure pad. If I stopped it would blow up. If I jumped off it would blow up and it was keyed to a metronome that kept going faster and faster. Just in the nick of time, Superman arrived and carried the bomb away. Then there was the time that the Mechanic jimmied my microwave to knock us out and then explode. Again, Superman arrived in the nick of time to save, not only me, but my parents and Clark’s folks. Dan Scardino let himself in the window one night. All I had was a kitchen spatula to defend myself. There was the time that Mr. Makeup came in disguised as the super. He was trying to kill me when Clark interviened. He was so sweet. Clark, I mean, not Mr. Makeup, he had been sitting up all night keeping a watch over me. Then, another time, Ching and Clark used my living room to train on the Drei so that Clark could fight Nor.”
Hattie was speechless. Finally she managed to say, simply, “Wow,” in a hushed tone.
Lois had a dreamy expression at the memory as she said, “Don’t worry, it wasn’t all bad. That living room was the first place that Superman took me air dancing,” and she sighed at the memory. Smiling she looked back at Clark. “That was a special night.”
Clark smiled as he also remembered. He moved over and put his arms around Lois’ waist as he said, “Yes, yes it was.” As he was finishing his statement, he kissed the side of Lois’ neck. As he did, Lois sighed and tilted her head aside to give him more room to continue. He was more than happy to oblige her.
After almost a minute he stopped, Lois finally opened her eyes and with a dreamy look, Lois added, “I almost always left the back window in the living room unlocked,” She looked over her shoulder at Clark again, “just in case a certain superhero wanted to stop by.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
A little later Hattie had a call, “Daily Planet, Kaplin”
“Kaplin, this is Boyce. We’ve had another one.”
Immediately, Hattie grabbed her notebook to take notes, “What do you have for me?”
“Young guy, no criminal record, robbed a liquor store. Caught him on the security cam. He had been a customer and was recognized by the clerk. We picked him up this morning. Per your request we had blood drawn immediately. We already sent it over to STAR Labs for analysis. I guess you can contact them.”
“Thanks, Boyce. We’ll follow up on it. Did you find out how it happened?”
“Nah, just like the other one, he claims not to remember anything.”
“As soon as we have the results from STAR Labs we will be in to do an interview.”
“I’ll make sure that he is kept in holding and not sent to the tombs.”
“Thanks, we’ll see you in a little while.”
Hanging up she said to JJ, “We’ve got another one. Let’s head over to STAR Labs. They could have the analysis complete by now.”
After grabbing his jacket and putting it on, he grabbed her coat and held it for her. She smiled her thanks and picked up what she called her ‘bag of tricks’. It was very reminiscent of Lois’ bag, but in Hattie’s case held various items such as lock picks, opera glasses, a strong little telescope, a telescoping wand or escrima and sundry other items. A few seconds later they were in the elevator headed down.
Upon arrival at STAR Labs they immediately went back to Dr. Klein’s lab. After they entered and the occupants knew who it was, Jon resumed his tasks at superspeed.
Half an hour later Dr. Klein was correlating the findings. “The samples we got this time were a lot fresher. We were able to identify a number of familiar chemical structures. I checked the structure of the class of drugs called Benzodiazepines and the individual structures we detect are all components of that class, however, there are some novel components such as lithium and an overabundance of oxygens. The oxygens could indicate an alcohol form, but the lithium has me stumped.”
Hattie asked, “Wasn’t lithium used in treating schizophrenia?”
“Oh? Let me check.” He pulled up a search and checked, “By Jove, you are correct. They have new treatments now, but lithium salts were used to treat bi-polar disorder, or schizophrenia.”
“What if this time the lithium is being used to create a schizophrenic episode?”
“I hadn’t considered that, but I suppose it could be possible. Someone in a schizophrenic episode would not necessarily remember what they did after coming out of it. If it were combined with a drug in the Benzodiazepines group it is conceivable that they could have a psychotic episode and be in a suggestible state as a result of the drugs administration. They could be told to do something and they would simply follow orders and then remember nothing after the fact when they come out of the psychosis.”
Hattie was exuberant, “All right, we know how it is being done!”
JJ pointed out, “We still need to find the source.”
“Right! Let’s go interview this new victim. Thanks, Dr. Klein. Thanks, Jon. You guys are the best!”
A short time later JJ and Hattie arrived at the Twelfth Precinct. As soon as they walked in Boyce spotted them and called them over. “Same drill as yesterday. You can wait in the room and I’ll bring him to you. If you don’t mind, I’ll be watching through the glass.”
“We don’t mind. We just need to get some background information from him. What’s his name?”
“Andrews, Archibald Andrews. Here we are. I’ll be back in a minute.” He closed the door and left, only to return a minute later with the latest victim.
JJ started it, “Mr. Andrews, My name is James Olsen and this is my partner, Henrietta Kaplin. We’d like to ask you a few questions.”
“Sure, go ahead, but please, call me Archie. Mr. Andrews is my father. I already told the police everything I know, which is nothing. Last night is a complete blank. It’s really strange, this morning I woke up in my own bed and I was still dressed in the clothes I had on yesterday.”
Hattie had pulled out her pad and recorder and started recording before he started to speak. She asked, “Did anything unusual or a special occasion occur yesterday?”
“Yeah, well, I got a promotion. I was assistant manager for a chain store. They just made me manager of another store that will be opening next week.”
Hattie smiled; it was all starting to fit together, “Did you go out to celebrate, Archie?”
“Sure, you have any idea how often promotions like this occur? Not very often, I can assure you.”
Hattie was closing in for the kill so she asked, “Where did you go?”
“Well, Jug, Betty, Veronica, and I went to ‘Stokes’. We all like the music and the drinks are reasonable.” When he said the name Veronica, he let out a sigh and got a wistful expression on his face. He obviously had a crush on her.
Hattie nodded her head. The last piece had fallen into place.
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