Disclaimer: This fanfiction is not written for profit and no infringement of copyright is intended.
Thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed. Hope you like this one; the plot thickens, as they say...
Chapter Six
The newsroom was eerily silent as she followed Jimmy inside. All the reporters were glued to MNN, where Skyler Johanssen, the network's newest anchorwoman, was describing the mood in the Metro Crime Lab. "Metropolis' criminologist community was shocked today by this unforeseen turn of events," the pretty blond reporter intoned darkly. "Top Metro pathologist Bethany Holmes is a mainstay of the law-enforcement team, and her colleagues are obviously deeply shaken by her disappearance. Miss Holmes, pictured here during the Mantiola court case-" the footage switched to Metropolis' central criminal court, where a wind-blown Holmes was giving an interview about her contribution to the prosecution's case- "had been working on the current high profile "Ice Sculptor," investigation, and while the MPD is quick to deny a link between that case and her disappearance, other sources within her lab have indicated that she was close to a break-through before her kidnapping."
Many of the reporters rolled their eyes at the insinuation in Johannsen's tone. Outside of Hollywood movies serial killers rarely if ever made an attempt on the life of the investigation team. And even of the Ice Sculptor was that cocky, taking down Holmes would not have been easy: she had worked her way through med school as a kick-boxing instructor, and the only criminal who had ever gotten close enough to touch her (the infamous Patrick McCluskey, of the equally infamous Shadyside crime family) had come away from the encounter with three cracked teeth and a broken nose. Holmes, most of the news desk knew, had been involved in a nasty custody battle with her former boyfriend over their baby daughter, and that was far more likely to be at the root of her disappearance.
Of course, since Superman had come to town, Lois was aware that "likely," was not a concept found in ready abundance in Metropolis. "Unlikely," "weird," and "physically impossible, but whatcha gonna do?" were far more regular visitors to the city now. And there was something about this which nagged at her famous intuition. She knew that it was unlikely Holmes' disappearance had any connection to the current hunt for a serial killer, but still…
Deep down, she doubted that Holmes' ex would have been able to take her without any trace of a fight. She knew a fighter when she saw one, and Holmes was it.
"Lois!" the Chief barked, breaking into her reverie "I need you and Kent on this." Lois looked up, unexpectedly panicked (C'mon Lois, you remember Clark, that person in the three piece suit that you laid into Superman for?) and felt her face begin to burn. A couple of people had snickered at the mention of her partner, who she noted was nowhere to be seen. She felt her jaw clench automatically, and inwardly winced. She might as well have left a message on the news desk notice board for everyone to see.
"Is there a problem?" Perry snapped, though she wasn't sure whether it was aimed at her or the idiots smirking around the table. She felt a wave of gratitude to her editor for putting a stop to the nudges and winks while they were on office time. "Clark's not here Chief," Gil Truman supplied, blanching as the Chief's eagle eye came to rest on him. He had been snickering the loudest.
"What tremendous observational skills you have, Truman," Perry drawled. "I can see that Kent's not here, but I'm reasonably sure he'll make an appearance at some point, and I trust that Lois will fill him in. Won't you Lane?" He eyed her balefully, making sure she knew that any disagreement with Clark would have to be dealt with outside of office hours: if the idiots didn't get to talk about any potential "situation," then Lois didn't get to shoot her mouth off either.
"Yeah, I can fill him in on anything," she nodded, forcing her voice even and strong as she leaned back against the doorframe. "But I'm not up to speed entirely myself, Chief: why don't you give me what we have?"
The older man nodded. "So far we only know the bare facts. Holmes never made it home from work last night, and her car was found in the parking lot of a SavvyBurger on Joliet Boulevard."
"SavvyBurger? That's the place with the pirate themed food, right?"
Perry nodded. "There were no signs of a struggle, and the car itself was clean of forensic evidence as far as the Crime Lab can tell. No blood, no GSR and a full tank of gas." It's enough to make me start believing in ghosts, Lois. She shook away Superman's voice. "The police are currently focussing on the ex-boyfriend, and while it's not sexy enough for television news-" here Lois smiled slightly- "I think that's where our focus should be too."
Lois opened her mouth to ask another question, but the sound of Clark crashing into the conference room drowned her out. He was wearing his overcoat and Lois knew, just knew, that everyone was waiting for him to take it off so they could check whether he was wearing the same clothes as the night before. "Sorry I'm late, Chief," he said loudly, goofily pushing his glasses up onto his nose. He looked around the room, eyes wide, as if he had absolutely no idea why everyone was staring at him. And to make things even worse, the sonofabitch had gone home and changed his clothes. So not only was he freshly showered (Lois sternly ordered her mind not to draw up that mental image) but he was wearing clean underwear and looking impeccable.
Lois knew being mad over the fact that he'd gotten to do that when she was the one who'd stormed out was irrational, but right now she honestly couldn't give a rat's ass.
"Nice of you to join us, farm boy," she drawled, her gaze boring into his, daring him to say anything in front of the news team. If he fancied himself an actor then let's see how good at play-acting he was. Part of her wanted him to answer her back, to snap or yell or something. To fight with her, even if he wouldn't fight for her.
"I overslept," he said quietly. Something in his tone meant nobody was tempted to snicker at his response.
"You've heard the news then?" Jimmy interrupted, trying as always to put everyone at their ease, to stave off a fight.
"No, no I had a bad- I had a bit of trouble getting in. I haven't heard anything." He looked up, suddenly worried. "He hasn't taken another one, has he? Because Sookie Tom hasn't been gone that long and if he's escalating-" There was no need to ask who "he," was. The Ice Sculptor had settled into a pattern of a victim every two weeks, and Tom had only been missing for ten days: they had been counting on more breathing room between victims.
"Your friend the pathologist is missing," Lois said bluntly. She wouldn't, couldn't be tender or kind with an audience.
"Bethany? When did this happen?"
"We think last night-" Last night. When he was with her. Oh great, another reason for regret. "There was no sign of a struggle, so she must have known her attacker. Either that or-"
Lois suddenly stopped. She had these moments every so often, when the facts of a case slotted together in her brain like a jigsaw puzzle. The newsroom stopped, holding their breath because they recognised the signs.
"Lois, do you want to share?" Perry asked quietly.
Clark leaned into her, holding onto her elbow, everything else between them forgotten for a moment. "What is it Lois?" he asked softly.
In the dark. His voice in the dark. She shook the memory away.
"Superman told me that Holmes said there was no trace evidence on the body. In fact, he said it was enough to make him start believing in ghosts. Now, I'm no expert, but leaving no trace evidence whatsoever, is usually the sign of a pro."
"But these aren't hits, Lois," Truman protested. "There's absolutely no connection between the victims-"
"She doesn't mean a professional killer, Gil," Clark snapped. It wasn't as shocking as it would have been a month ago. "She means that the killer must work in law enforcement. Maybe even be a criminologist himself, right?"
"But he could've have just watched too many true life crime shows, there's a lot you can learn from TV-"
Lois and Clark rolled their eyes at the same time, and Perry smiled a tiny bit. "Not this much!" Lois said exasperatedly. "Holmes is the best, everyone says so. A talented amateur would not have thrown her off her game that much."
"And you did say the cops believe she knew her attacker," Clark added. They were working together now, two intellects moving together like dancers in time. Everything for a moment forgotten in the thrill of the chase. "She knows everyone in the Metro CSI office; she sees them all in the course of her work."
"What if she got suspicious about somebody? What if she came across something she shouldn't?" Lois could feel the adrenaline beginning to build.
"But that still doesn't answer the question of where she is," Perry interjected. "Or who in the crime lab we should be looking for."
Lois paused, momentarily deflated.
"Uhm, guys?" Jimmy held up his hand. "I might be able to help with that."
The entire newsroom turned to look at him, and the young man paled. "Well?" Lois said tartly.
He sighed. "I have a friend in the Metro crime lab. Her name's Kaylee." His cheeks began to redden. "She owes me a favour, and I could maybe get a look at the duty rosters for the nights of the disappearances, see if a name pops out." Olsen was examining his shoes as he said the last part. Something told Lois that he and Kaylee were more than friends. There's a sucker born every minute…
"Okay, we'll look at the duty rosters if we can. Whoever's doing this has probably gotten themselves attached to the investigation." Jimmy nodded to Lois and got up to leave. Belatedly he remembered he should ask the Chief's permission but Perry waved him away. He would have said the same thing. "I have a contact at the 37th precinct, he might be willing to give us the names of the Ice Sculptor task force." She would definitely owe Scott Domidenko a favour if he came through on this one. Though it would not involve another date, since the last one had become the stuff of anti-romance legend around the office. Clark wouldn't look at her as she said it. Would he ever look at her again? she wondered… But this was not the time for thinking like that.
"Lois, we should also look into family and background history." Clark sounded unsure of himself again, though this time she suspected it was to do with last night. He looked scared to talk. "There must be a trigger for these killings."
"There is, he's a monster." No-nonsense Lane to the rescue.
"He's a killer with a type, Lois," Clark said quietly. "There must be a young woman in his background with long red hair. Maybe a mother or a sister. We should look into that too." He crossed his arms, and any other time she would have thought he was being stubborn. She was tempted to say no just to see if he'd dig his heels in, but she reminded herself sternly that this was too important. Holmes might be dying somewhere, and they seemed to be her best chance at the minute. Playing games could wait.
"Of course, you're right Clark." Damn but it had been hard to say that. "I'll see what I can find on family backgrounds. Nobody with a rap sheet would be allowed to join the Crime Lab, so whoever triggered this is someone else's victim, not the Ice Sculptor's."
A beat of silence.
"Well you heard her people," Perry barked. "Go!"
Within seconds the conference room was empty, even Perry retiring to his office. The adrenaline which had been coursing through Lois a minute ago seemed to evaporate. Suddenly she felt like she'd run a million miles, the reverberation of her heartbeat smashing through her body like it could shake her to pieces.
God she missed her equilibrium.
"I'm glad to see you here Lois," he said quietly, tightly. He wouldn't look at her, and she couldn't look at him. "I didn't know whether I'd get to talk to you today."
She wanted to tell him that of course she'd be here, that farm boys and their nasty, heart-breaking ways weren't enough to scare her out of the one place that felt like home to her. She wanted to scream at him that he was killing her, that he was nothing and nobody to her. She wanted to apologise, to forgive. She wanted to take this morning back and do it over again. But her days of believing in do-overs were long gone, and like so many times before, she had something else she should be focussing on.
At least saving the life of Bethany Holmes was a more worthwhile reason for running from her feelings than chasing after Superman.
"We should get to work, Clark," she said instead. Her voice sounded deadened, even to her. "We can talk more later. I-" She thought of Superman, and felt that jolt of panic as she imagined never seeing him again. "I think I've talked enough for one day." She knew she sounded bitter.
He sighed, still unable to meet her gaze. Maybe he knew that the chances of their ever really talking about what had happened were dwindling to zero. Maybe he wanted her to push him, since she was always the one who pushed.
Push me back, Clark. Fight me on this. Please.
She pushed the whining little voice away, her hurt already being overlaid with disgust at herself. Why should I do all the running? she asked herself. Even if I am the one in all this who always pushes, why can't he do it just this once? I know what he can do when he has a fire lit under him.
Aren't I enough to fight for?
Abruptly she picked up her jacket, unable to take the tension in the room anymore. "We'll talk when we catch this guy," she muttered.
"Sure Lois," he replied, his voice equally muffled. No honesty here in the cold light of day, she thought to herself. The only place she ever told the truth was in the dark. She'd thought they had that in common. Now she knew she'd been wrong.
God she hoped she wasn't wrong about Holmes too.
A/N There should be another update soon. Let me know what you think:-)