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Chapter Two - Show Miss Lane Out
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Lois wheeled her car into a parking spot outside the round white stone building located in an industrial park on the outskirts of Metropolis. On top of the building, a large sign in script letters read: "Forever Loved."

Lois entered the glass double doors and flashed her press pass to a young looking man dressed in a dark blue three piece suit. The man looked up from the reception desk as Lois said, "Hi. I'm Lois Lane with the Daily Planet. I'd like to speak to someone concerning the death of your treasurer last night. Is there someone who can give me a statement?"

The young man had a slightly amused look on his face as he said, "I'll ask Mister Franklin to speak with you." He picked up the phone on his desk and pressed two buttons. After a brief pause he said, "Mister Franklin, there's a reporter here wanting to talk to someone about Mister Blair's passing."

"Thank you," Lois said as she put away her press pass.

"You're welcome," said the young man. "It was a terrible thing, him getting shot in his own store. But what else can you expect in a bad neighborhood like that?"

Lois said she didn't know, and took a seat in one of the five chairs in the waiting area. She noticed a small display area with urns, brass plates, and other memorial items similar to what she'd seen at Permanent Memories. She'd been seated only few moments when an older man in a dark blue suit came out through the heavy wooden double doors.

She stood as he said, "I'm Robert Franklin, Vice-president of Forever Loved. And you are?"

"Lois Lane of the Daily Planet. I was hoping to get a quote from an officer of the company concerning the death of Mister Blair last night."

Lois thought she saw a look of contempt flash across Franklin's face, then his expression flattened. He stuck his right hand in his trouser pocket and lowered his head as he said, "Yes, that was very sad news. Extremely tragic. A great loss. He'll be missed."

Lois nodded in acknowledgement. "I thought I would write a small article about his business and stuff. You know ... to show what the community lost. What could you tell me about Mister Blair?"

Franklin gestured in the air with his left hand. "Fine upstanding gentlemen ... cared about people ... will truly be missed."

Lois jotted down a note or two, then pointed at Franklin with her pen. "Did he have any family?"

Franklin shrugged his shoulders. "None that I know of, Miss Lane."

Lois smirked. "Is that how you became the new owners of the store?"

Franklin's face froze. "Ah ... now the truth of why you're here comes to light. You reporters are all the same, looking for dirt where there is none. You want to know if we killed Mr. Blair to take over his store." He started to walk away from her, took three steps and said, "Miss Lane, follow me." He led her past the double doors. The wooden doors had glass windows cut in them so one could see who was approaching from the other side. Franklin led her to the second office on the right side of the hallway.

He walked behind a large redwood desk and motioned for her to have a seat in front of the desk. As she sat down, he handed her a paper from his in-basket. "Miss Lane, have your lawyers read this," he said as he sat down behind his desk. "This says that once a member of our co-operative becomes unable or unwilling to conduct business, he agrees that his assets will be inventoried and any items purchased through Forever Loved will be returned to the organization headquarters for re-distribution to other association members. The store owner will be paid his original purchase price minus a small handling fee for the inventory removed."

He paused. "This helps us keep our costs down. You see, Miss Lane, we don't own the store ... just the inventory. It's all perfectly legal."

Lois glanced at the document, folded it and stuck it in her purse. She smiled demurely. "Sorry. I guess that came off a little sharper than I intended. Who is going to be the new treasurer now that Mister Blair is gone?"

Franklin pushed a button on his phone and stood. "I imagine I'll temporarily assume those duties until our next board meeting." He looked at his watch, then took another sheet of paper off his desk and handed it to Lois. "Here. This press release tells you all about our association, who our officers are and so on. I'm sure it will answer all of your questions. Now Miss Lane, you must excuse me. I have pressing matters to attend to."

As Lois took the paper, she heard the office door behind her open. A heavyset woman entered rapidly and came next to her chair. Lois stood as Franklin said, "Mattie, show Miss Lane out." Then Franklin turned his back to her as he said, "Good day, Miss Lane." The large woman said nothing as she signaled Lois with her fingers to follow her. Lois quickly sized up the woman, sighed, and followed her out of the building.

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(2 A.M. Thursday morning)

Clark had been in his apartment about ten minutes. He'd caught the criminals who'd set off the bank alarm and turned them over to the police. Then he responded to a six point two earthquake outside of Mexico City. He'd stayed long enough to ensure that local Government personnel had a handle on the recovery before he departed.

He glanced at the clock, noting that it was too late to call his parents, but he made a mental note to call them this weekend. It took him less than thirty seconds to change into his pajamas, brush his teeth (some things he couldn't do at the speed of light), make sure the apartment door and all the windows were locked, place his glasses on his night table, turn the light out and slip under the bedcovers.

He'd just drifted off to sleep when his phone rang. He yawned as he answered, "Hello."

"Mister Kent?"

It was a woman's voice. Clark sat up. "Yes?"

"This is Gala Party from Permanent Memories. We talked earlier today, I mean yesterday, remember?"

"I remember, Gala." He paused and looked at his alarm clock. "It's two in the morning. How did you get my home phone number?"

I called the number on the card you gave me and told the operator that I had important information about a story you were working on and he connected me to you."

Clark looked at the clock again. "I hope this is important."

"I think so. Mister Jones showed up at the store tonight, I mean last night, with a court order just as I was closing the store. He took the store keys and told me I could pick up my check for two months' salary tomorrow at ten o'clock at his place. He told me he would inventory the store and told me to go home because I was fired. He said the store was closing permanently."

Clark heard considerable bitterness in her voice. "I'm sorry you lost your job, but I thought you expected that," he said.

He heard her breath catch before she answered. "No. I didn't expect it. First off, I was supposed to get five, not two months' salary." He heard her take a deep breath before she continued. "Secondly, you're a reporter. You tell me, why would the President of Forever Loved show up here and personally close the only really profitable store in the ten store association?"

Clark nodded to himself. "Okay. Good question," he replied. "I guess it deserves a good answer."

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(Skyline Motel - outside Metropolis)

"You'll help me, Mister Kent? That's wonderful ... Look, could you maybe show up before ten? If you're there like at nine then maybe he'll think about possible bad publicity and pay me the five months he promised. Can you do that? ... Oh you are such a darling ... Thank you, Good night, Mister Kent." Gala hung up the phone on the night stand and slid under the bedcovers.

"Do you think he brought it?" the man asked as he got into bed next to her.

"Hook, line and sinker, Frank," she replied as she turned to face him. "He'll be there tomorrow at nine and you'll be running everything in two days."

Frank smiled. "If Blair hadn't got so nosey looking at the association's books, we might have been able to embezzle money for years." Frank paused. "I know you liked him, but he was going to tell Jones - and I couldn't let that happen. When you told me about those reporters showing up at Blair's place, it gave me an idea how to take over the company."

Gala inched a little closer to Frank and ran her fingers along the side of his face. "So tell me, kind sir, is this the kind of conversation that most newlyweds have on their honeymoon? Do they talk about murder and business takeovers?" She batted her eyes at him.

"I doubt it," Frank snorted. "I believe, dear lady, that most honeymoon conversations are of the: 'You have too many clothes on' variety. But I'm pleased to say you are wonderfully underdressed, Mrs. Howard."

"Your choice in apparel pleases me as well, Mister Howard," she said as she kissed him. "And I think if Mister Kent does his part, that will please us both."

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