NOTE: Hey guys, it's great to see the stats and know there are so many people reading, but it kind of sucks to only have 2 or 3 people ever saying anything about what they thought. I'm really busy and it's kind of hard to have the motivation to keep writing when you're not even sure what people think of the story. So please consider taking a minute to review. It makes my job much more rewarding. Thanks! Now I hope you're buckled in because this is probably going a completely different direction than what you anticipated.
The Planet Bullpen was unusually, almost eerily quiet when Clark arrived. He strode between the desks with purpose, heading for the third window office on the left. As he walked, he loosened his tie to alleviate the feeling that he was suffocating. It didn't help. Getting away from Richard's visitation hadn't helped much, either. Clark was realizing that it would take more than running away to lift the heavy pressure he felt on his chest, his shoulders, his head every time that Richard's death was brought up. Staying away from Lois hadn't helped him, either, though he hoped it had helped her. The last thing she needed was to feel more confused about her life right now. But what Clark needed was to do something, to take action, to in some small way make up for what he had failed to do when it really mattered.
Clark stopped in front of the office door. The label 'Richard White' stared him in the face, and he quickly looked down to the doorknob instead. Glancing around to make sure none of the morose staff members were watching, Clark opened the door and quickly slipped inside.
The room was cloaked in a gray tone from the overcast sky filtering through the blinds. It gave everything an extra feeling of eeriness. Clark didn't dare turn the light on for fear that it might draw more attention. Luckily, the blinds over the window to the office were already drawn, providing him with some cover.
Quietly, Clark moved behind Richard's desk and opened the top drawer. He desperately hoped there might be some information on this Seung Dae. Clark knew Luthor was involved in this, but obviously he hadn't pulled the trigger himself. This interview had clearly been a setup. And if he was going to find Luthor, he had to follow the trail.
Unfortunately, a super-speed scan of all the documents in Richard's desk came up nil. Reluctantly, Clark switched on Richard's computer and waited for it to load. He was beginning to feel this was all very intrusive. But he had little choice. This couldn't be trusted to the cops, for a whole slew of reasons.
When the login screen appeared with the name "Richard White", Clark felt even worse. Still, there was no other way to get this information. And this seemed like the best route to bringing his killer to justice. Clark's hands hovered over the keyboard a moment before typing "Lois" and hitting enter. That was the wrong password. Clark bit his lip, thinking. Then he typed, "Jason" and hit enter. Richard's desktop immediately popped up.
Now Clark began typing furiously, clicking on files, scavenging through Richard's notes and logs to try to find everything he had on this Seung Dae. So engrossed was he in the pursuit that Clark failed to pay much attention to the sounds he could hear from outside the office. When the door opened and the lights flicked on, Clark snapped up, backing away from the computer.
But Lois had seen him on Richard's computer. And she could probably tell the items on his desk were in disarray, since Clark hadn't taken the time to replace them yet. He got a horrible sinking feeling in his gut as Lois just stood there, staring him down in disbelief. "Lois!" he exclaimed. "What are you doing here? I thought you'd still be at the church." As soon as the words left his mouth, Clark realized how they sounded.
Lois stepped inside, leaving the door open, and striding angrily towards Clark. "Oh, so you figured this was the perfect time then to go snooping through Richard's desk?"
"I-I was looking for something," Clark replied, scrambling to think of a way to explain this to Lois. He didn't want to tell anyone about the connection Luthor had to all of this. First of all, it would be hard to explain how he'd arrived at that conclusion seeing as Luthor hadn't been seen in almost a month. And secondly, since Luthor was behind this, Clark knew making that information public was only going to bring more backlash. This was clearly personal. Clark had to handle it on his own. "Lois," he said meekly, "please, don't be mad."
"Then tell me what on earth you're doing looking through Richard's private things," she snapped. "Don't you think you owe him a little more respect than that?"
That stung. Clark had thought it had been obvious from their exchange at the church earlier that he felt nothing but respect towards Richard and regret at not having done more to save him. Still, he could see why Lois was upset. "I was looking for some information on the person we were going to the docks to interview," Clark explained.
That seemed to calm Lois down a bit. But she was still clearly releasing a lot of pent up anger. "Don't you think the police can take care of that, Clark?"
"I can't tell them who it was. You know that," Clark said, regretfully. "I'm sorry, but I have to protect my source." He knew that Richard would have done the same. And that Lois had always been very stubborn about journalistic confidentiality. Still, Clark knew that didn't make his actions here any easier for Lois to swallow.
"I know that, Clark. And as much as I wish you could… I understand," she said, calmly for once. "But did you really have to break into Richard's office? Espionage doesn't become you."
"I'm sorry, Lois," he replied softly. "I can't really explain…"
"Well, you've got a lot more than this to explain, Mr. Kent," a voice from the doorway said. The middle-aged man had a commanding voice that filled the ghostly empty room. He reached inside his jacket and pulled out a badge. "Detective Stone," he announced. Gesturing to a younger man behind him, he said, "this is Detective Cortez." Clark noticed that younger man had his hand on the holster of his gun.
"Officers," Clark said, "Can I help you?" It was just his luck that the police would happen to show up when he was in an inexplicable situation. As if Lois being there wasn't bad enough. But Clark had already talked to the police. So had Superman. In fact, they'd talked to anyone and everyone at the Planet over the last three days. Clark just hoped this little incident wouldn't prompt them to ask him more questions about Seung Dae that he couldn't answer.
"Hands in the air where I can see them," Stone ordered.
Clark was baffled. "Sorry?"
Stone pulled his gun from its holster in one swift move. Cortez followed suit. "I said hands in the air, Kent!"
"Wait, Officers, Clark was just looking for something. There's no need to overreact," Lois said.
"Step behind me, Miss Lane," Stone said evenly. When Lois just stared at him in confusion, Stone repeated the command with more force. She did as told. Clark slowly raised his hands up to shoulder level. "Hands behind your head. Stay where you are," Stone said before nodding to his partner. Cortez holstered his gun, stepped forward, and quickly patted Clark down.
"I don't understand," Clark said, trying to stay calm, but utterly confused by the whole situation. Were they really overreacting this much to a little office snooping? Something was wrong.
"He's clean," Cortez told his partner.
Stone nodded, though his eyes stayed fixed on Clark. "All right. Cuff him."
"What?" Lois and Clark exclaimed in virtual unity. Clark was suddenly feeling much more concerned about this whole situation. "C-can I please know what is going on?" he stammered.
"Sure you can," Stone said, holstering his gun and stepping forward as Cortez tightened the handcuffs on Clark's wrist. "Though we both know why we're here." He stared at Clark icily. "Clark Kent, you're under arrest for the murder of Richard White."
