Confluent

by Jack-El49

Clark and Lois are the rock-steady power couple of the comic book universe. But both traveled very different paths that shaped them, helped define their hopes and dreams of finding love, and brought them into each other's arms. In three parts, Confluent tells their stories from a different perspective before and after they met, beginning with their teenage years.

20. Part Two, Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Metropolis – 2017

The LexCorp helicopter circled gracefully and landed gently on the rooftop helipad of the LexCorp building in Metropolis. Lois Lane watched and waited in the weatherproof room with Lex Luthor and his assistant, Mercy Graves. Once the rotors had powered down and were not generating rotor wash, she followed Lex as he moved from the glass enclosed roof access door to the helicopter. Mercy followed behind. Six weeks earlier following a call to his office, Lex invited Lois to dinner at Luthor manor. The mansion was located in rural Kansas about seventeen miles from the town named Smallville, the town, Lois knew, where Clark Kent grew up.

"I've asked Mercy to join us on the trip," Lex began. "She won't be dining with us, but she has some things to attend to and she accompanies me when I travel to the mansion. I hope you don't mind."

"Not at all. The fact that you invited a chaperone is very reassuring to me," Lois quipped, drawing a quick smirk from Lex. They boarded the helicopter and Mercy moved up front, sitting next to the pilot. Lex and Lois sat in the area designed for executive passengers.

They put on headphones to deaden the noise and be able to speak to one another without shouting. "Without tractors, combines, or corn harvesters on the road, it's about a two and a half-hour drive from the city to the mansion." He looked down to the road below. "But there seldom is a time when you don't encounter farming equipment being driven down the roads at about twenty miles an hour, so I just about always travel here by helicopter," Lex told Lois. "It reduces a three-hour drive to just under 40 minutes. That is," he added, "when the weather cooperates." He looked toward the cockpit. "It's cooperating today," he reassured her.

"God, it's so flat!" she exclaimed. They had reached the end of winter and the weather was growing unsettled as the Springtime storms had begun to rip through the South, Oklahoma, and Arkansas, and including parts of Kansas, Missouri, and southern Illinois in the process. "I imagine when these fields are planted and growing, it's an amazing sight. But right now, you can barely see any green at all. It looks kind of dead to me."

"It is amazing how quickly it changes. In about three weeks, it will look like a bright green blanket stretched about as far as you can see," Lex replied. "But right now, yes, it's a very austere view." He was distracted by something and pulled out his phone and looked at the screen. "Excuse me while I take this call," he said and turned off the intercom.

Lois casually looked out the window and then sensed a stiffening of Lex's body. She looked out through the cockpit window and in her peripheral vision, noticed Lex had turned slightly away from her. Letting her head turn almost imperceptibly toward Lex, she noticed his jaws had tightened and he was having a very serious, but controlled response to the caller. He did not look in Lois's direction but looked at a spot where the bulkhead met the deck of the helicopter, said something quickly and snapped off the call lever on the controller and returned to the intercom. Lois then looked in his direction, smiled nonchalantly.

"I apologize for the interruption."

"No apology is necessary." She smiled disarmingly. "I'm used to having to interrupt my conversations to take a call. As you can imagine, my father demands his calls be taken post haste."

"Ah yes. Time waits for no man and neither does a general, correct?"

"Not if you value your life," Lois replied with a slight grimace that elicited a rare wide smile from Lex.

"I guess we have that in common, Lois," he replied. She shrugged and nodded but said nothing and Lex changed the subject. "Let me ask you something. I was informed that after our interview, you were attacked on the street. Is that true, Lois?"

She frowned a little and cocked her head to one side. "It's not untrue, but 'attacked' is probably a little overheated."

"Oh, how so?"

"I wasn't attacked so much as I was accosted. There were five young men who were menacing me, but the full story is that I took out three of them right away. The remaining two got on opposite sides of me. I initially disabled the fourth guy but the fifth got me pinned up against a wall for a second. Once that happened, the fourth one got back on his feet and helped pin me to the wall too."

Lex shook his head and smiled admiringly. "I'm genuinely impressed, Lois. It takes incredible self-control and skill to do that. I would not have expected that…not that I believe you're incapable of defending yourself but five young men? That's almost impossible for anyone."

"Thanks. Special forces unarmed combat trainers got me through four of those guys and an intervention from Gangbuster got me the rest of the way. He showed up out of nowhere and took the fifth one out as well as the fourth one before I could finish him off."

"Gangbuster? How did he know you were in distress?"

"I have no idea, Lex. You know, I never asked him that." She paused, frowned and thought about it. "I want to say he just happened to be in the area because he said there is a lot of gang activity spreading there."

"Well, when I heard about it, I was told that you were relatively unharmed, and I was thankful for that. But frankly, I was also very angry about it. I'm glad you're not traumatized by the incident. I would hate to think the only objective reporter at the Daily Planet would reconsider Metropolis or journalism because of an incident like that."

"That's very nice of you to say, Lex."

"I mean every word of it." He paused. "I know I have a reputation as cold and uncaring. As a businessman, I must be focused on things that don't always translate to warm and caring. People think because I'm wealthy, all I care about is making money. But believe me, I don't want to see bad things happen to good people in Metropolis. Not just Metropolis, I hate to see anything like that happen to any decent person anywhere in the world.

"I'm not in a position to make public policy or enforce laws. I might be someday," he added, almost wistfully, "but not now. So, all I can do is donate to causes I think reduce suffering or make life better for people." He paused and considered that maybe he had said too much, so he added, "That's the truth, Lois, whether you believe it or not."

She searched his face for signs of deception and did not find them. Was he being completely honest? She was not sure but one thing she was certain of, Lex Luthor was not the conniving ogre that her fellow reporters at the Daily Planet had been portrayed him as.

Lois narrowed her eyes. "You know, Lex; I do want to believe that."

"Ah…but you also want to remain objective, correct?" he said, recalling their prior meeting.

She smiled. "Yes, always. But I can certainly do both if I'm convinced."

Lex nodded slightly and a vague smile appeared. "Then I will try to work on that during our dinner tonight."

Luthor manor was a magnificent structure that reflected its European roots. It was stately and constructed from hewn blocks of stone that were carefully laid and set. The architecture and furnishings were extremely masculine and lacked female touches. A large roaring fireplace in the great room cast a golden hue on furniture, sculptures, suits of armor, and weapons that adorned the mansion and its walls. Stained glass, heavy drapery, and Persian carpets added to its medieval vibe. "It's breathtaking, Lex," Lois proclaimed as she stepped inside the home and surveyed it. "It truly is. Will the jousting begin before or after dinner?" she quipped, and Lex gave an enigmatic smile. "Seriously, it works for a bachelor, but it could use a bit of a woman's touch if you plan on doing much entertaining here," she added. "There's enough testosterone in this décor to get someone pregnant just by looking at it for too long."

"Then perhaps we should move along to the dining room." He led her out of the large great room and into a hallway that contained what appeared to be an office on one side and a library on the other. "My mother was gone before she could do anything with this home and my father was happy to leave it this way and focus on the corporation," Lex explained as he continued to move forward. "But someday, if there ever is a Mrs. Luthor, she will have free reign to make changes to its décor since none of it is family heirlooms or has sentimental value."

The hallway led to the dining room which was massive. A long table with twenty heavy chairs sat on a Persian rug. The walls were paneled walnut, floor to ceiling. A large chandelier hung in the center and small spotlights shone on either end. Two places were set, not at opposite ends of the table but in the center across from one another. More stained glass, heavy drapes, and oil paintings adorned the room but there was no weaponry, no suits of armor, nor bronze statues in the room. There was a small fireplace that added a pleasant glow along with warmth. "This is us. It's not too warm in here for you, is it?"

"No, not at all. This room is beautiful, too, Lex. This is more like an Emily Bronte novel."

"Wuthering Heights, perhaps?" Lex posed. "I hope you don't see me as Heathcliff," he quipped.

Lois just smiled. She had worried initially about traveling to Luthor manor for dinner instead of a local venue where she could make a quick retreat if needed. But those worries were allayed when she realized Mercy Graves was brought along for the trip. She had made a point of informing Lex when she accepted the invitation that she expected to be home that evening. So, when Curtis, the helicopter pilot, remained in the kitchen having his dinner, she relaxed knowing that Lex's offer was truly 'only dinner' and she would have a conveyance back to Metropolis afterwards.

The dinner was exceptionally plutonic and friendly. They discussed world events, Metropolis events, and assorted national current events as they viewed them, and she was mildly surprised to find that his view on many things was not too different from hers. When the talk moved to business, Lois eventually asked about his knowledge of the burglary at the riverfront warehouse where his submarine was at.

Lex frowned. "I think you mean the break-in there, not a burglary. I was briefed that the recovered unmanned sub stored there had apparently not been touched and they suspected some junkie or homeless person had forced his way in looking to get out of the weather. Are you saying the police called it a burglary?"

Lois remained silent for a moment and then asked, "Lex, who briefed you about the incident?"

"Several different people provided me information. I was initially notified by the salvage company chief operating officer and then one of his attorneys provided Mercy a more complete briefing. She briefed me." Lex peered at her quizzically. "Why?"

"Just curious," Lois replied. "Do you know if anything of value was removed from the warehouse?" she asked.

"No, but your questions seem to imply that you believe there was. Was there?"

"Lex, a burglary means something was stolen, as I'm sure you're aware. This was more than a break in by a junkie or homeless person."

Luthor pulled out his phone, punched in a number and a second later, "Mercy, come to the dining room, please." He ended the call and put his phone away. "We'll ask Mercy together," he said. Mercy appeared moments later, and Lex said, "Mercy, regarding the warehouse break-in about seven or eight weeks ago, do you recall what was stolen?"

Mercy Graves frowned and cocked her head. "Nothing was stolen, it was just a break in. The inoperable submarine is still there and as I recall, it was untouched. I went there and saw it myself."

"And you received this report from whom?" Lex asked.

"An attorney on staff. One moment and I'll provide his name." She looked at her phone and scrolled for a moment. "It was Simon Obermeyer, the attorney assigned to the ASC Salvage and Recovery company."

"And you're certain that Mr. Obermeyer said that nothing was removed from the warehouse?"

"Unquestionably certain," she replied without hesitation. "We have never even heard from the police."

"Thank you, Ms. Graves; that will be all," Lex said, and she left the room. He looked at Lois. "Did that answer your question?"

"It answered one of them," Lois replied coyly. Her eyes danced, knowing that she had facts pertaining to his company that Lex did not.

"Why Miss Lane, you look like the cat that ate the canary! What are you not telling me?"

"That you need to have your most trusted investigator conduct an internal investigation, Lex. The police never spoke with you because they wanted to get their story straight first and I think they're still working on that. But there was something taken, and it was far more valuable than the sub, from what I've been told."

"And that was?"

She considered telling Lex what she learned but decided against it. "I'll leave that to your investigator. He or she won't be blocked by a salvage company lawyer if they're doing an internal for you." She paused, "I'm not trying to be coy; I only believe it's best that you find out through an internal investigation without any preconceived notions about what it may be and who is involved. But I'll tell you this, Lex, someone is hiding something from you. And who knows what else may be hidden."

Lex seemed appreciative of the tip that Lois had given him, even though he was seething at the idea that someone was keeping him in the dark within his own company. The evening ended on an upbeat note for him, though. Lois agreed to have dinner with him again but this time in Metropolis and without a chaperone.

Mercy Graves accompanied her back to the LexCorp building to make sure that no one in the security shift gave her trouble. Graves was quite reserved and spoke little and Lois did not feel obliged to make small talk. They walked in silence to the exit doors of LexCorp and a waiting limousine to take Lois back to her apartment.

Overall, she had a very enjoyable and stimulating evening, and that was a treat for her. Lois valued good conversation and a good meal and with Lex, she had both. She had grown to feel a sense of connection to Lex that surprised her. It was not a romantic feeling but a one of professional trust and support. Lois knew that Lex had layers she had not yet uncovered. But she believed that once she had peeled them back, she could see herself having a closer, more personal relationship with him.

Something else she enjoyed from the evening was proving a measure of worth to him by informing him that all was not what it seemed at the ASC Salvage and Recovery company. That was important to her. Being young and attractive was great to attract the attention of men and women. But being far more worldly than most 23-year-old women, Lois had to rise above doubts others might have about her ability to comprehend complex situations and recognize subterfuge because of her age. She was savvy and what she lacked in years of experience she made up with in years of being forced into an adult role long before her time and traveling the world amid the rough and tumble environment of the Army. The lead she provided to Lex was going to make a believer out of him, she suspected.

Impressing Lex was important to Lois, and between the five gang members and ASC Salvage, she had done that twice. But more urgent to her was finding an answer to the gnawing issue of Clark Kent and what the ongoing mystery of their spark meant.

She texted Maggie the next morning telling her that she might hear about some fireworks coming from the ASC Salvage and Recovery company. Maggie called her for some clarification, and they decided to meet for lunch at the Greek restaurant that was near Lois's apartment.

Lois arrived first and sat at a secluded table she requested. She got Maggie's attention and waved her over as soon as she entered. The two sat and made small talk while waiting for their food. It was not crowded, and Maggie carried a valise with her that Lois suspected contained reports and interview notes. Once their food arrived, they began to eat, and Lois offered what she had found out at Lex's home. She explained that Lex had been very angry about being kept in the dark at the burglary. His staff had only indicated it was a break-in, not a burglary and it appeared to Lois that neither Lex nor his personal assistant were aware of any antiquities or items of value that had been stored in the warehouse.

"And you believe him?" Maggie asked and Lois nodded. "If true, that meant the conspirators were limited to those who knew the alleged artifacts had been plundered and it was kept from Luthor." Maggie said she did not pity the person who would be left holding the bag when the investigation was finished but that she assumed he or she would end up wishing they had never been born. "I imagine Luthor has some pretty extreme ideas when it comes to punishment." Lois didn't reply.

Then, Maggie shifted the topic to Lex Luthor. "What was it like spending the evening with him?" she asked Lois. "He always seems so stiff and buttoned up to me, I can't imagine trying to talk with him. Interrogate him; perhaps. Make social banter; hardly."

"He is definitely wound a little tight," Lois began, "but in private, he's very different from his public persona. I doubt he'll ever win a 'life of the party' award but he's interesting on a cerebral level and much more sociable in private than he appears to be in public."

"He would just about have to be," Maggie replied. "He seems cold as ice to me."

"Wait! Do I hear a Foreigner song?" Lois teased. "Sorry. Who doesn't love those 80's hair band power ballads, right? I remember my mom playing them almost nonstop when she was alive.

"And what about your inquiry? Have you found anything out about police involvement in it?" Lois asked.

"Yes, but it doesn't appear to be anything we can do other than maybe lightly disciplining a couple officers. They didn't break the law; they just violated protocols by leaving their assigned patrol areas when Alvin Mickler contacted them."

"And he was contacting them during their shift because?" Lois pried.

"I guess the easiest way to describe it is for security at the warehouse. And it wasn't just during their shift. We learned that Mickler was doing more than watching the place, Mickler was allegedly selling the items stored in the warehouse to interested parties. Apparently, the stuff was valuable enough for Mickler to be concerned about his safety. He either carried the items out or met the person who purchased the item at the warehouse and Mickler wanted police presence." She paused. "He paid the officers in cash for their presence afterwards." She added, "I wanted the patrolmen charged with receiving unlawful compensation, but our HR attorney met with the police union rep and that charge got booted for lack of evidence." Maggie sighed. "Cash is still king when it comes to hiding illegal activity."

"So Mickler was selling items out of the warehouse!" Lois exclaimed. "To whom?"

"That's unknown right now and I'm not sure we'll ever know. They probably aren't suspects in the burglary anyway." She sighed. "To prove that whoever bought them knew the items were illegally recovered would have been a high bar to clear and for what? There was no victim that has come forward to claim a loss, really. Mickler just claimed they were priceless, but he never said the items belonged to him."

Lois casually asked, "What about the hooker that was at the warehouse during the burglary. Ever get an identification on her?"

Maggie reached into her valise and pulled out a case file, laid it on the table next to her and opened it. "We think so. We think it was the college student that you saw on the tape."

Lois frowned. "How? I saw that girl at the Daily Planet Christmas Party. She was at the registration table, handing out nametags."

"Yes, she was. There were several people that placed her at the university banquet hall that afternoon and then from about 7:30 PM to about 8:45 PM. After that, no one saw her," Maggie explained. "My guys talked to the security detail and some of the catering staff that night. The security detail members provide the best source of information. They are specifically there to watch and note what goes on, and they are generally the most reliable."

"Did she say that it was her at the warehouse?" Lois asked.

"No. She said she went to her room because she was not feeling well. The campus was pretty empty by then and the security shift was focused on the event mostly. One of the detail members did recall seeing her walking towards the dormitories after leaving the banquet hall." Maggie paused and then added, "My guys pressed her pretty hard, too, because she was a person of interest rather than just a witness."

Maggie looked at reports. "Yeah, approximately 8:50 PM was the last time she was seen. And she's a very pretty girl so it's not unexpected that she would attract the attention of one of those poon hounds on the security detail."

Lois massaged her forehead and frowned. "So why do you suspect she was the girl at the warehouse?"

"Because of Mickler's recording that you gave me," she answered. "My guys looked at the whole thing. She was spotted at the warehouse two more times in those recordings after being recorded snooping around with her boyfriend in late October that you found." She looked up at Lois. "That's not really a popular hangout for college students."

"What about the boyfriend in the video?" Lois asked, which was the main question she had been concealing all along.

It had been over four months since they met eye-to-eye and she still felt the need to talk to him. The feeling grew stronger as time went on and she needed to find a reason to speak with him and believed this case was the best way to do it without it being awkward. When she was alone with her thoughts, she wondered if he thought about those moments as well?

She shook her head. "His name is Clark Kent. He's the quarterback for the Met U football team. He was at the Christmas Party too, but he was seen there until late in the evening."

Lois tried not to show any more interest in Clark than she did in the girl. She casually followed up with the question, "So, your guys interviewed them both?"

"No. Just the girl; Lori Lemaris. There were two security detail members that reported him being at the party until late that evening and would not have been involved. He wasn't on the recording that night or on any other recording except the one time. His girlfriend denied being there and we can't prove she was, so there was no real reason to talk to him at this point." Maggie closed the case file. "There isn't a whole lot more we're going to do with this case unless something comes up."

Lois cocked her head. "You aren't? Why?"

Maggie closed the case file and pushed it down into the valise on the floor next to her chair. She looked at Lois. "We've already spent too much time on this one," she replied.

"First of all, there's really no victim. The guy who made the complaint is not cooperating and won't provide any detailed descriptions of these allegedly priceless artifacts. The videos don't capture any clear image although they do point to something happening that evening. We can't even prove for sure if anything of value was actually removed. Just the altered recording and Mickler implies something happened. And, as you know, the ASC Salvage and Recovery company denies that there was anything missing. The only thing we got from them is that Mickler is kind of a nut and that they recovered a small, unmanned sub belonging to LexCorp, stored it on that warehouse, and it's still there." She leaned back in her chair and shook her head. "Look, something happened and someone's hiding something. Most likely, the salvage company recovered more than the sub, but they don't want LexCorp or authorities knowing that. We know that. But whatever it was…priceless artifacts or junk…they don't want any investigation and they are more than irritated with Mickler for reporting the burglary than they are in helping to find who may have stolen the stuff out of the warehouse."

"So, Mickler reported it to cover his ass?" Lois asked.

"That's the conclusion we came to."

Lois paused and thought about it. "And, you're closing the case?"

"Yes. It's closed pending receipt of any additional information that warrants reopening it. We have too much going on to spend any more time with it." She lowered her voice to nearly a conspiratorial whisper. "When the brass realized that Lex Luthor was not the victim nor involved in any way, shape, or form, they were happy to wash their hands of it and move on." Maggie paused. "So am I," she added.

"How so?"

Maggie chuffed. "If Lex Luthor wanted a resolution, it would have become a shitstorm. We would have had to spend a ton of resources on it and whoever pulled it off was a professional. We might never have been able to solve it and with Luthor or the brass breathing down our necks, it would have been a very high-pressure situation.

"In cases like that, there's such a need to resolve the case that it often ends up in a faulty outcome and the wrong person is charged." Maggie gave a quick shrug. "As it is, we can show a good faith effort at resolving it but given the uncooperative nature of the complainant and lack of corroborating evidence that supports the claim of priceless articles being stolen, there's not much more we can do. This case is the proverbial pile of dog shit and I feel like we've luckily sidestepped it."

Lois scooped a bite of baba ghanoush with a piece of pita bread and popped it into her mouth. She rocked her head back and forth thinking as she chewed. She was not concerned about the burglary. She was not concerned whether there were some moldy artifacts plundered that should have been reported. The dark web sale of those antiquities that no one else would ever have seen did not bother her. She was, however, intent on finding a plausible reason to interview Clark Kent because since the moment that they made eye contact four months ago, she had not been able to erase him from her thoughts and she desperately needed to know why. "So, there's no problem if we want to look further into it?"

"No," Maggie replied, but followed it with a defeated expression. "Hey but do us all a favor and make sure if you find something, it's something we can use to conclusively reopen and solve the case. Just don't stir up a hornet's nest and cause the brass to force us to reopen the case. Can you do that? Please?"

"Of course," she said quickly, almost dismissively. Lois smiled.

The following week, Lois did not see John Corben until Tuesday, May 2nd, and he was anxious to find out what Lois had learned from her evening with Lex Luthor. He materialized in front of her desk. "So," he began. "What did you find out during your date with Lex Luthor? Was he involved and in what way if so?"

"Yeah, good morning to you, too, John," Lois said sarcastically and sipped her coffee. "Nothing, no, and not applicable." She waited for that to process and took another sip of her coffee. Then she followed up with, "Since we're playing twenty questions, where were you yesterday; dancing around a maypole or standing on a corner waving a red flag with a hammer and sickle on it yelling, 'eat the rich'?"

"Good one," he replied and moved to his desk. "I was under the weather all weekend and getting it under control yesterday. Springtime allergies."

"Right," Lois replied. "I've had those kinds of weekends too. They usually coincide with an 80's hair band concert or a monster truck rally nearby." Before Corben could respond, she continued with, "I met with Detective Sawyer on Saturday. They're closing the case. And it seems that the only people who actually knew what was going on are those who work at ASC. Even Lex Luthor was unaware that there was anything in that warehouse except for a small, unmanned submarine." She paused. "Imagine the reaction of their company CEO when Lex calls him and tells him he's opening an internal investigation and he's sending an investigator to talk to him about what was taken from the warehouse that he knew nothing about." She looked up from her computer screen. "He'll probably have one of those kinds of weekends, too," she quipped, raising one eyebrow.

John Corben was frustrated by Lois's quick wit but all he could do was smile. He had badly underestimated young Lois Lane and realized that she could be a real asset to him. "So that's that!" he proclaimed. "I guess I'll move on with something else."

"Well, hold on," she began, "there's going to be fallout from Lex's investigation and maybe you should keep an eye on what's going on with the management there. It may give you a clue as to what was taken."

"Artifacts. That's what my source at MPD said they were. Mickler alluded to that too."

"There's more to it and I found this out on Saturday. Mickler was apparently selling the items out of the warehouse on the dark web. Buyers were rich collectors, apparently. Some came to the warehouse and some met him elsewhere to complete the transaction. Mickler would call on two patrolmen to be at the warehouse when he made a transaction there or to follow along if he met the buyer elsewhere. The cops would provide some security and he'd pay them in cash."

She paused making sure she told John just enough to keep him interested but not so much that he could interfere with her efforts to use the incident to contact and speak with Clark Kent. "They found a spot on the recording that Mickler gave police where a video patch from the night before had been inserted over the live stream." She dug a thumb drive out of her purse and handed it to Corben. "This has the feeds from the nearby warehouses that have security cameras active. It shows the lights coming on in the warehouse at around 9:45 or something. They go off around 11:30 PM and Maggie believes that was when the burglary occurred. She also told me that her guys think the girl at the Daily Planet Christmas party that was checking people in was somehow connected to the burglary. There's a hooker or something on the thumb drive recordings and they think it was her based on being ID'd during a previous traffic stop in the area."

John plugged it into his computer and after a moment, brought up the video player. He ran the video ahead to the moment where the lights came on and then forwarded it until he found the girl emerging from behind the row of warehouses.

"They interviewed her for quite a while, I was told. She didn't give them anything and they couldn't prove conclusively that she was even there." Lois paused and then added, "I told them that I saw her at the Christmas party and so did a bunch of other people. Detective Sawyer said that she told the detectives that she left around 8:50 PM because she wasn't feeling well and went back to her dorm room. I guess one of the security shift members confirmed seeing her walk to her dorm building.

"Why did they single her out again?"

"I guess Mickler must have seen her on the video apparently rattling doors on the warehouse. It must have set off a motion alarm and Mickler had one of his patrolmen go out there. They got her student identification and a pretty clear image of her." Lois realized that she had not told John about the recordings Mickler had given her. "Mickler made some copies of previous security camera recordings and the police matched a clear shot of this girl with the grainy hooker photo from the night of the burglary."

"I don't know how they can make any definitive ID from the nighttime recordings," he judged.

"I think they were just throwing a Hail Mary to say they tried," Lois replied. "If they're closing the case, then it's probably done for a review purpose. You know, so they can say they interviewed all persons of interest and so forth."

"Yeah, maybe," Corben said. "I'm going to see what Nat Sellers knows about it. We'll go from there."

"You'll go from there," Lois corrected. "It's your case, remember?" She watched him pick up the phone. "Also remember that they closed the case," she added. "They wouldn't want to have to reopen it based on conjecture, if you know what I mean."

"Got it," he replied and started dialing. He spoke with Detective Sellers for a while and Lois lost interest and went back to her assignment. He hung up. "It's closed and he didn't give me much more than what you told me." He fumbled through his notes. "He did talk with the girl and mentioned that she was in a photo taken from the security camera in October. She was there with her boyfriend and apparently rattled doors or something that set off the intrusion alarm. Police responded and stopped her and her boyfriend and got their ID's. The guy that checked me in to the party was with her on that day in October and I remember seeing her at the party too." He paused for a moment. "What a coincidence."

He remained silent and went through his notes as Lois was putting some final touches on a story Perry had assigned her the day before. Corben finally looked up and leaned over toward Lois. "Maybe we should talk to those two. If the police thought she had something to do with the burglary, it might be worth checking out while I wait to see what happens at ASC."

Lois tried to conceal her excitement. "Okay, I'm getting done here. Maybe we can go tomorrow once Perry clears this. We should talk to them separately to see if we get a different story from them," she suggested.

"No," John replied. "We'll go together but I'll talk to the girl, you can talk to the boyfriend afterwards. Having another woman there might be more reassuring to her, and she'll be more willing to talk to us. If she closes me down, you can be the 'good cop' that she'll talk to if she has anything to say to us. Kind of like the way we handled Mickler. But I'll want to talk to her first and maybe talk to the boyfriend afterwards."

The way we handled Mickler. Lois did not like the way he handled Mickler and maybe it would be better that she did accompany him. Good cop. She wanted to protest that approach, but she had been chastised by him earlier for trying to do it. If she did that now, she risked being excluded and she would have to find another reason to interview Kent. It was not the perfect answer that Lois would have liked but doing it his way would open the door for her to see Clark Kent face-to-face and give her a justifiable reason for interviewing him. Then, Lois thought, she can see what happens this time and if it seems to happen again, maybe figure out why and what should come next.