Chapter 12
Metropolis – 2017
"Miss Lane, Mr. White would like to see you and Mr. Corben immediately," Sally Winfield said. "Can you please relay the message to him?"
Lois acknowledged the message, thanked Sally, and hung up. She swiveled around in her chair and stood up. "Corben! Chief wants to see us in his office ASAP. Let's go."
The two had been preparing to travel to Metropolis University in order to find Lori Lemaris and Clark Kent. Corben had been working since Monday to determine their class schedules so that they could intercept them somewhere once their classes ended for the day and before they disappeared to wherever they might go. John was convinced that if they waited until later in the afternoon, they would be able to locate them with some degree of accuracy.
"What's he want?" he asked Lois.
"To see us," she replied with snark. "Beyond that, I have no idea unless you've been using your enhanced interrogation techniques on other people."
He chuffed. "Enhanced interrogation techniques. You just wait and see what I get with pressing these two." He joined her and they headed for the elevator. "You might just learn a thing or two about breaking a story wide open."
Lois resisted the urge to teach him a thing or two because she still needed his angle to get to Clark Kent. Had it not been the case, there may have been a workplace violence report originating at the Daily Planet, she mused.
Overnight, she replayed his comment, 'You can be the good cop she can talk to', over and over in her head. Lois fluctuated between irritated and agitated by it and she wondered if Perry really knew what he had brought on board at the Daily Planet. Lois had made up her mind that after meeting up with Clark Kent again, she was determined to speak to Perry about John Corben and ask that he get someone else to partner with him or there would be real trouble in the bullpen. Throughout the night, the thought of playing 'good cop, bad cop' with these students made her more testy the next morning than she normally would have been. Her short-fuse temper would have led to a quick beat-down if she had not desperately wanted to resolve the question she had about the moment she met Clark Kent face-to-face.
Revisiting the spark she felt that night could divert her attention from her growing contempt for Corben and his bullying people to get information. That need to find the reason for their 'moment' was strong enough to derail her train of thought involving Corben.
The need. What was it? After four and a half months, she still could not definitively put her finger on it and it was not for lack of trying. The need could be stowed away during the day when the hustle and bustle of the newsroom made it impossible to daydream about mysterious personal events that remained unsolved. But at night, when Lois was alone in her apartment and had only her thoughts to keep her company, the sense of need entered her consciousness like a SWAT team making a forced entry into a barricade situation. This pathetic story that Corben had gotten wind of almost four months ago still offered the best opportunity for her to see if the spark she felt was a singular event or something more. The need to clear the air had not diminished over the months since their strange moments at the Christmas party and this dog of a story was only valuable to Lois as a means to an end.
It was strange to her. She had repeatedly looked at images of Clark Kent online and felt nothing different than she felt looking at pictures of other handsome men. He had a warm, pleasant smile and with it, a set of eyes that seemed to light up when he smiled, not unlike other good-looking men she had seen. It was eye contact that made the difference and her chance to investigate the reason behind it was at hand. Soon she would be able to put to rest the question of the spark, as she liked to think of it.
"Go in," Sally said, motioning to an open door as they entered their Editor's outer office. "He's waiting for you."
Lois led the way and Corben followed. "Good morning, Chief," Lois said as she entered the room.
"Good," Perry replied. "I caught you before you went any further on this story. I knew you were heading to Met U today but I need you to stand down."
"No, wait," Corben protested and Perry loudly cut him off.
"I said stand down, damnit. Not no, not wait. I got a call early this morning from an Inspector Henderson at MPD who told me there has been a development and they don't want any of the reporters messing with the people involved in the incident until they sort it out."
"What sort of development, Perry?" Lois asked and sat in the chair across from his desk.
"The man who made the complaint that opened the burglary investigation…"
"Alvin Mickler?" John asked.
Perry shot Corben a hard glance and the Daily Planet's newest staff reporter took a seat. "Yes, Mr. Alvin Mickler, was found dead in his home. He was murdered, apparently, and until they finish the crime scene processing and determine the time and manner of death and all that, they don't want anyone remotely connected with the case spooked. That includes the two students at Met U." He shifted his glance back and forth between Lois and John. "You got that?"
"Absolutely, Chief," Lois replied, and Perry detected a tone that almost sounded like disappointment.
Corben nodded his head. "Yes, sir," he replied.
"Lois? Is there something troubling you about this?" Perry probed.
"No Chief. I was just looking forward to closing the books on this one since the police had," she replied. "This just got far more interesting than what it began as though."
"I don't know what the girl at the university and her boyfriend has to do with this. We just wanted to talk to her about the night of the burglary," Corben said, dejectedly. "But I don't want to step on the cops' toes in this town," he added quickly.
"That's right," Perry replied, "You don't. The Daily Planet has a great working relationship with Metropolis PD and I don't ever want to see that ruined. But that doesn't mean you can't talk to your sources and see what they have going on now."
Lois nodded. She knew she could get some good information from Maggie while Corben would likely get squat from Detective Sellers. The thought of that made her happy. Maybe she should suggest John try pressing Nat Sellers for information and she suppressed a smile.
"So, get out of here, you two, until we get the 'all-clear' from MPD." Lois rose and John eased his feet beneath him. "Go!" Perry barked. He looked at Lois and saw that she had a slight smile on her face before she turned and moved smartly to the door.
John caught up to her as she reached the elevator. "Well that sucks," he grumbled. "I thought the First Amendment meant we decided what we should report on."
Lois raised an eyebrow. "Yeah. You're right! You should go back in there and ask why he's kowtowing to the police; remind Perry about a free press and the First Amendment. Tell him I agree." As soon as the elevator door opened, Lois stepped through and turned around to face Corben. "I'll have a box next to your desk waiting for you when you're finished," she said with a smirk on her face.
He said nothing but stepped into the elevator car before the door closed. "People have a right to know," he mumbled and said nothing more, but Lois knew he was seething.
She was content to let him stew in his own juices, as her father would say, but at some point, there would be a conversation and if she set the agenda, it might be easier to take. "I'll call Detective Sawyer when I get back to my desk. Are you going to touch base with Detective Sellers?"
"It seems that would be my only play at this point," he replied sullenly. "At least until we know more about what happened to that fucking worm, Mickler."
"Jesus!" Lois exclaimed. "The man was murdered, John. I'm sure that whatever his involvement in the stolen antiquities was, no one would think that he deserved that."
He turned and faced her. "The fact that he was murdered proves that at least one person thought he deserved it." He felt his ego reclaimed after that remark. He chuffed as the elevator door opened. "Too bad Gangbuster wasn't around to save him."
Lois recognized the attempt to insult her, but she did not feel insulted at all. "He wouldn't have needed Gangbuster unless there were at least five scumbags on him," she replied as she stepped through the open door and headed to her desk.
Picking up the phone, she dialed Maggie Sawyer. "Maggie, this is Lois. What's going on with Mickler? We were going out to talk to the two college students today, but Perry told us to stand down. Can you give me any background?"
"Hey Lois," Maggie replied. "Yeah, this has turned into a shitshow. Really, it's not much more than any other murder, other than the fact that he was a complainant on the burglary case but the truth is, we'd closed that investigation so at this point, we don't have any clue to the motive behind his murder."
"Can you tell me when it happened and how?"
"Okay, but this is off the record until I tell you otherwise; got it?" Lois consented to that. "It apparently happened sometime before the weekend; either Thursday or Friday night. Mickler had begun to rot when they broke the door down early this morning so back that up about four or five days. It has been warm, so decaying wasn't slowed down by cool weather so closer to four than five. The medical examiner will give us a more precise time of death once he's done.
"He was face down on his living room floor, we believe asphyxiated with a plastic bag duct taped over his head; his hand and feet were hogtied with tape behind his back."
"Who called the police in the first place?" she wondered.
"A patrolman went to Mickler's home this morning to return the USB drive that contained the warehouse security video from late December to mid-January. He gave them the drive at the beginning of the investigation and asked them to return it when they were done with the case. When the patrolman went to the door, he could smell something rotting. When Mickler didn't respond to his knocks, he called it in."
"Any signs of other violence or torture?" Lois asked.
"It's too soon to know," Maggie replied. "I've only gotten an initial call from the scene once my team got there. The word I got was that the house didn't look like it had been tossed so we can probably rule out burglary as a motive. The target was Mickler."
"Any initial hunches who may have done this?"
"If I had to guess, it was someone hired by the salvage company. They were the ones who had the most to lose if he talked. They already lost however much those antiquities were worth."
Lois agreed. "Yeah, that was my thought as well." She paused. "Those college students; you don't suspect they had anything to do with it, do you?"
Maggie scoffed. "Definitely not. This was a professional hit. I'm not sure the girl had anything to do with the burglary, if I'm being totally honest."
"And her boyfriend?" Lois pried.
"He was even more peripheral. He's a big-time college quarterback. He's got the NFL written all over him. Plus, from what the guys tell me, he seems like a pretty upstanding guy. There's no reason for him to be involved with the likes of Mickler. The girl either for that matter. From what I've been told, she'll probably be representing us at the next summer Olympics."
"So why are you embargoing all contact with those two?"
"I'm not; the boss is. He doesn't want anyone remotely connected to the burglary to be contacted by media until we have a chance to talk to them. He doesn't want them spooked."
"Can we at least report the death?"
"I suppose. Just leave all details out of the story, okay? Simply say he was found dead in his home and, you can quote me on this, 'any unattended deaths must be investigated'." She paused. "Things are a little stupid right now but maybe later on this week, we can grab lunch or dinner?"
"I'd like that," Lois replied. "Dinner would be a nice change. Do you think you'll have the decks cleared by Friday?"
"Friday it is," Maggie replied. "I'll text you the location and time if we don't talk before then. See you then, Lois," she said and hung up.
She doodled on a sheet of lined paper while Corben was speaking with Sellers. She was frustrated with the delay, and she needed a distraction. Who killed Mickler and why? she jotted on the page under her doodling. Professional hit, was the next thing she listed. Tortured? she added and that was an important question. Killing Mickler could have been out of revenge or to shut him up about something. If he was tortured, it was likely he had information he was not willing to divulge easily and that made it more intriguing. She drew a line from top to bottom and on one side wrote 'Facts' and on the other side 'Theories'.
Under 'Facts' she listed everything she knew about Mickler. She listed his murder as a fact and 'Professional Hit' as one too. She listed 'no burglary'. Under 'Theories' she began to list prime suspects in her mind who might want Mickler dead. ASC Salvage company executives. A wealthy buyer. Cops on the take. Then, another thought came to her that sounded foolish but could not be abjectly dismissed. She wrote, Lex.
She left space for more names and about halfway down the Theories column, she drew a horizontal line and beneath it wrote, 'Why?' She listed some early theories. Revenge - Punished. Knew too much. Knowledge of buyers. Rage – anger.
"What are you doing?" Corben asked and it shook her out of her thoughts.
"Just theorizing, organizing my thoughts, I guess," she replied. "What did you find out from Sellers?"
"Probably no more than you did. Mickler was killed sometime before the weekend. The manner of death is unknown until the ME arrives and makes a determination. He was hogtied with duct tape. They have no suspects yet, but the forensics team is in the home now and they hope to find some DNA evidence if nothing else."
She frowned. "I asked Maggie about the college students and if she thought there was any chance they were involved and she nearly laughed me off the phone. But I was thinking, have you heard any more about the fallout at ASC when Lex learned that they had likely plundered an cultural site? I know he wasn't particularly happy not knowing something other than his submarine was recovered."
"I heard heads rolled but nothing specific. That was from one of the maintenance people that service their building. He said names were removed from doors and there were some empty offices."
She nodded. "Yeah, I bet there were." She narrowed her eyes. "Do you think someone got their revenge on Mickler?"
"Sounds quite plausible to me," he replied. "It sure as hell wasn't the college students so I'm not sure what we're going to ask them when the embargo is lifted." Corben paused. "Unless she knew more about the antiquities than she was letting on. Maybe someone was using her as an intermediary or something."
"Stop! Before you go any further, let me run to the break room and find some tin foil to make a hat for you," Lois said, rolling her eyes. "C'mon John. That's ridiculous."
He leaned forward in his chair and rest his forearms on his desk. "It is? Do you think Mickler would say that if he could talk right now? Don't take anything for granted, Lane."
Lois made a face. "So, the cops think they have zero role in this but you want to interview them about what? Maggie told me that she even doubts the girl had anything to do with the burglary."
Corben sat back in his chair. "I know it's a long shot, but my gut tells me that she knows more than she's letting on. Granted, I doubt she has anything to do with Mickler's murder, but I don't believe in coincidences. She was snooping around the warehouse in October. She leaves the Christmas party early and disappears but someone who looks like her and is wearing a cocktail dress and a winter jacket is seen coming out from behind the warehouse while it's being emptied. You honestly can't believe it's all a big coincidence."
Lois said nothing and remembered Maggie mentioning her being there four times and that was three times more than she originally thought. Corben might be right but if she resisted, she would not have the opportunity to take to Clark Kent. She cocked her head. "Maybe. Maybe not." She paused. "It still doesn't clear the way for us to go interview her or him, for that matter."
"Can you talk to Perry? Ask him if he'll call that Inspector and get clearance for us. Didn't you just say that Sawyer thought it was absurd to think she is involved?" He leaned back in his chair. "Perry will listen to you without biting your head off."
"Sure," she said. "Oh, and a fun fact, here at the Daily Planet, we don't interrupt our Editor in Chief with an outburst when he's giving guidance." She smiled and cocked her head. "So, after he's done lighting me up, I'll tell him you want to talk to him about the First Amendment. Deal?" She gave an exasperated sigh, grabbed her notepad, and headed for the elevators.
Surprisingly, Perry calmly listened to her about getting clearance to interview Lemaris. He was not fond of halting a story on a moment's notice and Perry did in fact call the inspector at her behest. When he hung up, he told Lois that the inspector gave him the go-ahead to talk to the two students but only about the closed burglary case; they were not to ask them anything about the murder. Perry had reassured the inspector of that and made Lois repeat it back to him and that she needed to make sure that Corben knew that limitation as well.
"Thanks Chief!" she said as she left his office and made her way back to the bullpen. She related exactly what Perry had set as the limitations on the interviews. Lois also called Maggie back and let her know. "I didn't want you to think that I went over your head. I know it wasn't your decision and Perry made the call, I wouldn't do that to you."
"Okay, Lois," Sawyer replied. "Thanks for letting me know. The fact that you did tells me that you wouldn't do that. So we're still good for Friday night, right?"
"Absoutely," she replied. "I'll see you then."
"Thanks, Lois," Detective Sawyer said and hung up.
Three hours later, they were at Met U looking for either one or both of the two students they wanted to speak with. Clark was easy to spot. His height and build made him stand out among most of the other students. Lois spotted him and pointed him out to Corben. He told her to wait and see if Lemaris met up with him. They watched from a distance as Clark went to the dormitory and expected his girlfriend to appear momentarily. After waiting twenty minutes, Corben suggested they go into the dorm and locate him. Lois was anxious and had to hide her excitement.
They found his room and knocked on the door. They heard movement and the door opened but Clark was not there. "Hello?" Pete said. "Can I help you?"
"Hi," Lois began. "I'm Lois Lane and this is John Corben. We're from the Daily Planet and we're here to talk with Mr. Kent." She tried to look around Pete and into the room but saw no one else except a young lady that was not Lori Lemaris. "Is he here?"
"No," Pete replied. "You just missed him. He went to Outlook Park, by the bridge. He and his girlfriend go there often. You should be able to find them there."
Lois dug out a business card and handed it to Pete. "If we can't find him, would you mind giving this to him when he returns and asking him to call me, please?"
Pete shrugged and took the card. "Sure. No problem." Lois thanked him and turned to leave. Before she did, he asked, "Can I tell him what this is about?"
"Journalism," Corben said curtly and then smiled. If they had been sitting, Lois would have kicked him under the table.
"Ah. Okay," Pete replied, and closed the door as they left.
They walked out of the building and Corben said, "Well, at least we know where they're at." He looked at his watch and it showed 2:10 in the afternoon. "We should have plenty of time to locate them if they are there. Do you know where it is?"
"Yeah," Lois replied. "It's on this side of West Metropolis River, right at the base of the Hobsneck Bridge."
"That's the bridge that goes over to Suicide Slums area, right?" John asked and Lois nodded. "Okay," he said as they reached their vehicle in the visitor's parking area. "I know how to get there."
The park was bit larger and more heavily wooded than they thought and after about ten minutes of walking around, they decided to split up to more quickly locate one or the other student. Lois said nothing but hoped that she would find them before Corben did so that she could avoid his drama for at least a little while. She noticed her heart beating and she knew it was not because of the walk in the park, it was her nervous anticipation of seeing Clark Kent again. It seemed the closer she came to contacting him face-to-face, the more excited she was becoming and so was her heart. She would soon find the answer to the question that had plagued her for four and a half months.
The park was thick with trees and flowering shrubs. There were open areas, playgrounds, and paved exercise trails that ran through the densely vegetated parts. In the open grassy areas, couples and individuals lay in the sun on blankets or beach towels, soaking up the warm sun or getting a tan. The path wound through the open areas amongst spots of vegetation. Lois estimated there were between fifty and sixty people in the park that day, spread among the eighty-five or so acres of the oldest and second-largest park in Metropolis.
After fifteen more minutes of walking and looking for Kent or Lemaris, Lois wondered if they should have just sat in the parking area and waited for the two to come out of the park. She spotted a building with vending machines, restrooms, and water fountains. Not having any change for the vending machine, she opted for a water fountain and went to the side of the building marked as the women's bathroom side. She took a few mouthfuls of water, stood back up and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. She stood for a moment, took her cell phone out of her pocket to see if Corben had texted, and began to walk along the side of the building to the corner in order to return to the path.
At the very moment she reached the corner, a figure turned the corner and nearly collided with her. She stopped abruptly, put her hand up to stop her and the figure's momentum, looked up from her phone and directly into the eyes of Clark Kent.
"Oops! Excuse…," he started to say. He too had reacted to keep her from running into him and caught her raised hand in a movement that was so fast it was hardly visible. They stared at one another for what seemed to be a long time. A smile began to spread across his face and that caused one to spread across hers. He let go of her hand. "You!" he declared, recognizing her immediately, "you're Lois Lane from the Daily Planet, right?" She nodded but continued staring back. "I remember checking you into the Christmas party. I'm…"
"Clark Kent," Lois finished. "Uh…I…um… hi!" she managed and smiled awkwardly which quickly became a grimace.
"Hi," he replied with a widening smile at her awkwardness. "It's odd to see you here," Clark began, eyes locked with hers. "I thought if you were going to a park, it would be Centennial Park. It's pretty close to the Daily Planet building, isn't it?"
Lois continued to look into Clark's eyes but had regained her composure. "It is. But actually, I came to speak with you and Miss Lemaris," she began. "Is she around?"
"I am looking for her too," Clark replied. "I thought you might be her," he said without thinking. He suddenly realized his faux pas and added, "From a distance, you look similar. You and her are about the same height, build, and hair color."
"Well, I guess it was fate because my partner is looking for her, too." Fate? Partner? Really, Lois!
"You mean the guy you were with at the Christmas party?" Clark asked.
"No!" she exclaimed, adding a forced chuckle. "He was more of an escort than a date." She shoved her phone into her pocket. Jesus, Lois. An escort? Are you kidding? "I mean, not like a paid escort or anything," she added and chuckled again nervously. "I don't need to hire an escort, I needed to take someone to the party, that's all. An acquaintance is all he is." God Lane, I'm embarrassed to be you.
Clark suppressed a wider grin. "Shall go find a bench or something?"
"A bench?" she asked. "Oh, to sit and talk!" Or maybe a big fucking rock for me to crawl under. "Yes, that would be great." Her phone vibrated in her pocket which could only mean that Corben had located Lori Lemaris and was calling her. She reached into her pocket and silenced the call, sending it to voicemail.
"There's a bench by the tree line," Clark said, motioning toward the path. "We can sit and talk over there." He led the way to a bench that was just off the path and nestled among trees. "What did you want to speak to us about?"
By the time they sat, Lois had regrouped and was more in control. The spark that she felt at the Christmas party had not been a fluke. She felt it now and it felt more powerful than before. There was something about this guy and all her internal alarms were going off at once, but she did not know exactly if it was a warning or a celebratory alarm, like a nuclear reactor meltdown warning or the jackpot on a slot machine was won. "A few things, really," she began. "John Corben, the other reporter looking for your, um, girlfriend has an interest in a burglary that occurred in December. He's new to the Daily Planet so I'm helping him follow up, and from some photos taken from security videos, we know you and Miss Lemaris were at the warehouse back in late October." And she was there no less than three other times, maybe four.
Clark nodded. "We were out for a walk along the riverfront, there," he said. "I think I recall it was nice weather and that was a weekend that I had a bye week so I had no game that Saturday. I know the riverfront isn't the nicest place in Metropolis but it costs nothing to go for a walk there." He paused. "The Metropolis police already asked her about it."
This is ridiculous, she thought. You need to ask the real question. "That's what I figured and in fact, that's what I told Mr. Corben but he was determined to speak with you both. I am helping him to get acclimated and oriented to Metropolis." A text vibrated her phone. Corben. He wants you to join him. You don't have much time left.
"You said there were a few things," Clark said, mercifully changing the trajectory of the questions. She was about out of questions to ask regarding the burglary.
Lois sat there collecting her thoughts and nerve. "This is going to sound a little odd and is probably wildly inappropriate," she began, which she told herself was an absurd way to begin, "but I have to ask you something that has been on my mind since I met you in December. When we met at the desk outside of the ballroom, did you…" The phone in her pocket vibrated and she silenced the call once again. "Sorry," she said. "What I was going to ask was…"
"Yes," Clark said. "Something peculiar happened the moment when we first met," he added. "I felt it and I believed you did too. I can't describe it very well though."
Lois exhaled loudly. "Me neither," she replied. "I don't know what to make of it."
He frowned but maintained a smile. "I've often thought about it since then," Clark began. "The only way I can describe that moment is to compare it to the stories you hear about twins separated at birth and never knew they had a twin sibling. It's like the strong connection they feel the instant they meet even though they have no idea they're related." He paused. "Does that sort of describe the feeling you had?"
She nodded enthusiastically. "That's it exactly. I never thought about it like that but you're right." She wrung her hands and looked down. "It's hard to ask someone you just met something like this without leaving the impression that you're a stalker or a lunatic! I wasn't sure I could even ask the question." Lois chuffed. "And I'm a reporter, even!" She paused and looked at Clark. "If I'm being totally honest, for the last five months, I've felt a very strong need to ask you about it and try to figure it out." They sat in momentary silence once again, staring at one another and trying to make sense of the moment. Her phone vibrated again. "I'm sorry, I have to take this." She dug in her pocket and pulled her phone out.
She looked at the text message but it was not from Corben, it was from Maggie Sawyer. What the Hell? she thought and read it. Lois, change of plans. Need to hold off interviewing Lemaris. Possible connection to Mickler's current status. Please confirm. Lois texted the reply. Roger that. Confirmed.
Lois looked at Clark and he immediately saw her change of disposition. "Is everything okay?" he asked.
"I don't know," she replied, and saw a missed call from Sawyer and a missed call from Corben. Maggie's had included a text and his included a voicemail and a text. She stood up. "Excuse me while I check this." She turned away from Clark and took a few steps and listened to the voicemail. She held the phone close to her ear.
"Lois, I've found her. Come to the corner of the park nearest the bridge. I see her coming this way and I'm going to talk to her now and would like your backup."
She turned back to Clark. "Sorry, I have to go," she said, "Mr. Corben needs my assistance." Lois did not want to leave but after the text from Maggie, she knew she had to intervene. "Thanks for talking…I enjoyed it and maybe we could continue it," she said and started to rush off to where John was at. "Soon," she called out as she passed by Clark, who was now on his feet.
With her phone still out, she checked a last text from Corben. Where are you? No more than four minutes had passed since that text. She tried to text but could not at the pace she was moving. She slowed, typed 2 min and then sped up.
Lois reached the part of the park where John Corben said he was but she did not see him in the park. She heard a woman's voice cry out, "Get away from me," and looked to the bridge and saw John with Lori Lemaris. As Lois looked, she saw Lori walking up the bridge trying to get away from Corben but he stepped out into the road and sped up in front of her. As she tried to sidestep him, he blocked her.
"Oh shit, this is not good," Lois muttered and began running as fast as she could to intervene. As she started up the slight incline of the bridge, Lori turned back around away from her tormentor and began to quickly head back down the bridge toward the park in her attempt to get away from Corben. "Miss Lemaris," Lois called as she closed the distance. "Wait!" she said. "Lori, stop!" she called out, now no more than thirty yards from the distraught woman.
Corben nearly caught up with Lori and barked, "Answer the question, Miss Lemaris. It's us or the police," he said.
As Lori stopped, Lois slowed and tried to catch her breath. She held out both hands to signal the young woman. "Lori, please just hold up," she called, now about ten yards away. She saw that Lemaris was crying.
"Listen to my partner," John barked.
Clark blurred into view. He stopped at the foot of the bridge. Lori saw him, they locked eyes and stopped too. "I'm sorry, I have no choice," she shouted. Knowing that he could hear her, she whispered, "We'll see each other again," turned to the railing.
"Lori…no!" Clark yelled to her and began running normally toward her.
"No Lori. Stop!" Lois screamed.
She looked to him, yelled, "I love you, Clark," and vaulted over the railing and into the West Metropolis River forty feet below.
"Nooo!" Clark yelled and ran to the railing.
"Oh, God!" Lois screamed and ran to the railing near the spot from which Lori had jumped and where Corben stood looking on.
"Jesus!" he exclaimed. He looked at Lois. "If that's not guilt, I don't know what is."
"Oh my God, John," she said staring at him with disbelief. "Call 9-1-1, you asshole!" Lois barked and continued to look in the water for Lori. "This is all on you, you son of a bitch!" she hissed.
Clark had stopped about twenty feet from them and was looking down in the water. Even with his x-ray vision, he could not find Lori. As long as she survived the fall, he thought, she should be okay. But that's a long way down.
When police arrived not three minutes later, John stepped out into the street and showed his press credentials and began to explain what happened. Lois was numb, standing on the bridge looking down at the water.
Lois saw motion in her peripheral vision and turned to see Clark moving toward the police and Corben. When he reached them, he grabbed Corben by the lapels of his jacket. "You did this! You!" he repeated angrily. The patrolman tried to break Clark's grip on Corben but could not. Clark pushed Corben against the police cruiser. "She jumped because of you," Clark he said menacingly. "She's gone because of you," and pushed Corben harder against the vehicle, causing Corben to cry out in pain.
"Take it easy, buddy," the patrolman said. "Let him go," he ordered.
Lois attempted to intervene. "Mr. Kent, don't. It's not worth it, you're only going to hurt yourself," she pleaded.
Clark let Corben go and swiveled around to face Lois. "And you were part of this," he said accusingly. "This is your partner. Your job was what…keeping me occupied while he harassed her? Distracting me so I couldn't protect her? Is that why you are here?" Clark said, seething at the deception he felt.
Before Lois could reply, Clark returned to the railing and looked into the water, again seeing if he could spot Lori but he could not. He wanted to tear the railing off and fling it into the water. He fought the urge to grab Corben and toss him into Metropolis Bay. He let out an anguished scream, turned, glared at Lois and then at Corben. "You did this," he said ominously. "Both of you," he added.
He decided that before he acted rashly and did something that he would regret, Clark turned and began walking back in the direction from which he came.
The patrolman called out, "Sir! I need you to stay. I need your information and a statement from you of what happened."
Clark stopped and turned around. "My name is Clark Kent, officer. You have two Daily Planet reporters, right there. They're renown for their fairness, honesty, and integrity," he said contemptuously. "You don't need me when you have them."
"Yes Sir, I do!" the officer called out, but Clark turned and began to pick up his pace until he reached the foot of the bridge. He stopped, look out again at the river, staring into its murky, churning water for any sign of Lori. After nearly five minutes of staring and hoping to find a glimpse of her, he turned and ran to the park. Once he was out of sight, he disappeared.
Lois realized that she had tears in her eyes and was not sure exactly which circumstance caused them, the horror of witnessing a young woman's suicide and knowing exactly why it happened, the anger and disgust she had for John Corben and what he had driven the poor girl to do, or the feeling of guilt from the seething contempt she saw in Clark's eyes. Perhaps it was all three things or maybe it was the realization that something special was just taken away from her and the knowledge that she could have stopped it all from happening long before they went to Met U that day.
The two reporters remained at the scene as Metropolis PD recovery divers were summoned and appeared just before dusk. They did a cursory search for Lori's body but could not locate it. An undercurrent could easily have swept the body out into Metropolis Bay and could conceivably carry it onward into the Mississippi River and into the Gulf of Mexico. Somewhere along the route, authorities knew her body would surface.
Lois called Perry to notify him of the situation. She did not give him details with the policeman there but wanted desperately to tell him everything. She refused to speak with Corben when he attempted to make conversation. Once the police divers had left the scene, she hailed an Uber to take her back to the Daily Planet building where she collected her belongings and left. When she arrived home, she cried for some time, and then sat at her laptop and composed a letter of resignation that she said was effective immediately and emailed it to Perry White.
After a sleepless night, Lois got up and made coffee with a sickening empty feeling in her stomach. She felt like her whole life had collapsed in one brief moment and she was not certain she could ever recover it. Her cell phone rang and it showed Perry was calling her. "Perry," she said, her voice cracked and she got choked up.
"Lois," he began, "Honey, I'm not accepting your resignation. I need you to come in and see me. I want you to tell me and our legal people exactly what happened yesterday. I need to know if the paper might be facing a potential lawsuit." He paused. "I want our HR chief to be involved as well."
Lois cleared her throat. "As long as that bastard is in that building, I'm not returning. No disrespect to you, Perry, but I cannot even look at that man for fear that I may do what Clark Kent wanted to do to him yesterday. I don't want to be fired, Chief." She broke down and wept.
Perry waited for her to regain her composure. "Don't you worry about that. You just come into the office, darlin'," he said with his thick Southern drawl, "I put Corben on administrative leave last night when the story came in. He won't even be here."
She collected herself enough to acknowledge her editor's request and said she would be there within an hour. She slugged her coffee down, showered and got dressed and went to the Daily Planet building. Instead of going into the bullpen, she went directly to Perry's office.
Lois met with Perry, the chief legal advisor, the director of human resources, and a stenographer who took notes. She described the events that led to Lori Lemaris throwing herself from the Hobsneck Bridge into the West Metropolis River and never resurfacing. The legal advisor opined that the paper could be held culpable if there was no evidence that the young woman was involved in the events that culminated with the death of Alvin Mickler. The lawyer wondered aloud why the reporter was acting like a cop who interrogates people rather than a reporter who interviews for information? Without prompting, Lois unleashed a stream of vitriol concerning John Corben and his practice of what he referred to as 'pressing' those he believed may be connected with a story and had more information than they had revealed. She recounted the times that she had intervened and had been later chastised by Corben for doing so. Lois had also said it was her intention to inform Perry of what she felt was unprofessional and dangerous practices by John Corben once they concluded their interviews yesterday. Then, she admitted felt partly culpable for the tragic events by not informing Perry of John Corben's behavior sooner.
When the meeting had concluded, the lawyer left with the intention of developing a strategy to protect the Daily Planet. The human resources director remained behind and informed Perry that he had grounds to terminate John Corben on the spot and that although Miss Lane was young and relatively new to the Daily Planet, she should have taken action to inform the editor of the troubled employee's behavior the instant she noticed his unprofessional behavior. The director suggested Lois be suspended for a seven-day period without pay for her part in the incident.
Lois listened and said nothing. She hung her head and nodded her acceptance of the suggested punishment.
The human resources director told Lois directly that he was sorry to have to suggest it but was in fact protecting the paper and her from any retribution by John Corben and the family of the young woman once her body was recovered. She told the HR director that she understood and took responsibility for her inaction without complaint.
Perry patted her on the hand. "Take the time off to get over this. It was tragic, Lois, but it was hardly your fault," he said. "I had heard that Corben could be a wildcard of sorts when it came to doing the job. I should have put him under Ron instead of burdening you with him." He paused. "That's my fault in all of this," he concluded. "I should have used better judgment."
Lois went back to the bullpen, got a cup of coffee, sat at her desk and collected some materials.
"Lois," a voice called softly to her from behind.
"Not now, Cat," she said solemnly.
Cat Grant appeared at her side. She crouched down and looked Lois in the eyes. "I heard what happened. Most of us have," she said. "I'm so sorry it happened to you. We all are," she added. "You got a shitty deal in this one and we all feel terrible. I just want you to know that if there's anything we can do for you, just let me know."
Lois turned to her. "You just did, Cat. Thanks," she said, sniffed, and stood.
Cat stood and patted Lois on the shoulder. "Okay." She started to walk away but stopped. "This doesn't mean we're friends now," she added with a slight smile.
"No," Lois replied. "Don't lose any sleep worrying about that, Cat."
When she got back to her apartment, Lois began thinking about Clark Kent. She desperately needed to tell him how sorry she was, that it was not her intention that Corben would badger or coerce his girlfriend and certainly not prompt her into taking her own life, that she was devastated by the whole event and wanted him to know that. She wanted to tell Clark that she did not expect him to forgive her but that the meeting and the talk that they shared was not a ruse or diversion.
With a week off, she suspected that she would wait a few days before she went to Clark's dorm room to apologize to him, if he would even allow her to say anything before slamming the door in her face. She thought about it and given the look in his eyes the last time they looked at one another, she decided that he probably wanted nothing to do with her and nothing from her. Whatever was between them had died with his girlfriend on the bridge that day, she thought.
Instead of hoping to get him to listen to her apology, she instead sat at her laptop and constructed a very long letter of apology. It was very personal and very heartfelt. It took her twelve revisions and half again as many spelling corrections until she was satisfied with it. She folded the letter and put it in an envelope, determined to take it to him personally on Friday, giving him one more day to cool down and begin to heal.
In truth, Lois was not physically afraid that Clark would cause her any injury. She feared looking in his eyes once again to find the spark and their connection gone, replaced with indifference and revulsion.
But Clark was not the only fence that needed mending and she knew she would get an ear-full from Maggie but made the call anyway. The detective was terse at first, and Lois could tell from the start she was not happy with Daily Planet reporters. Luckily, she was back-briefed by Nat Sellers about John Corben and that helped. Lois did not have to dance around the subject of Corben and his misconduct.
"Do you know why we tried to pull you two off the interviews?" Maggie asked.
"No. I just thought that maybe Henderson had a change of heart or had second thoughts. Was there a development?" Lois asked.
"There was. One of Mickler's neighbors gave a description of a man that recently began showing up at Mickler's home. That description closely matched the man that was in the video with Lori Lemaris back in early December. The neighbor was shown the picture and said 'it looks like him'. We know Lemaris would have been able to give us the name of the man instead of a John Doe," Maggie stated.
"So now my name is Mudd with MPD, right?" Lois asked.
"I had even more colorful names for you, Lois. I've calmed down now," she replied. "We know from the jughead on the scene that it was Corben being an ass-wipe that caused the girl to jump. Still…"
"Well, shit," she replied. "I guess I can be thankful for that. Are we still on for dinner…hopefully at a restaurant without sharp utensils?"
"Of course we are," Maggie replied. "But as you've probably guessed, I'm always packing so sharp utensils are not your biggest concern!"
Friday came and Lois paced the floor of her apartment and stopped in front of a full-length mirror she had by her front door. "You can do this, Lane," she told herself aloud. "You're going to apologize and if it means you take some lumps and losing some self-respect, take them because they won't begin to compare to the ones he's taken and what he's has lost."
She drove to the visitor's parking lot and walked to the dorm room. She listened at the door and heard faint murmuring beyond it. Taking a deep breath and clenching her jaws, she knocked on the door.
The door opened and Pete Ross stood there and a moment later, recognized her. "Clark's not here," he said tersely.
"Oh," Lois said, "Can you tell me when he will be back?"
He frowned. "I don't know when he'll be back. At this point, I don't know if he's ever coming back."
"Where is he? I need to talk to him if I can," Lois said, quietly.
A girl appeared next to Pete. "No. What you need is to leave. You've done enough already. You reporters really have some nerve," she said. "You helped destroy one of the kindest, most decent guys I have ever met. And for what?"
Pete backed from the door and his girlfriend occupied his space.
"I know what you must think of me," Lois began, "but I had no idea things were going to turn out like that. No one imagined that his girlfriend was going to comm…to jump. I was as…"
"Girlfriend!" Tracy Healy interrupted excitedly. "That wasn't his girlfriend, it was his future. Clark was going to propose to her in less than two weeks from now. She wasn't just some dorm ho he was hooking up with, she was his future wife and you people took that future away from him. You are nothing but garbage people to us."
Pete reappeared and took Tracy by the hand and gently pulled her back from Lois. He reached out and had Lois's business card in his hand. "Here," he said. "I don't think he'll be interested in calling you anytime soon. In fact, if I were you, I'd hope he wasn't."
Swallowing hard, Lois took her card from Pete. "I understand. But can I ask one thing of you?" Pete did not reply but did not move. "Would you please give him this," she asked and handed him the envelope with the letter in it. "I didn't think he would want to talk to me, but I wanted him to know how terribly sorry I am that it happened. Can I please ask you to give this to him when he comes back or put it with his belongings so he'll find it when he does return? I know you owe me nothing," Lois added. "But I'm trying to do the decent thing and I want him to know that I am devastated by the way things turned out."
Pete saw tears pooling in her eyes and took the envelope. "I'll make sure it's somewhere he will find it," he said. "But I can't promise you when he'll return or if he'll read it, but I'll make sure he knows it's here." He paused. "If he's not back by the end of the semester, I'll drop it off with him on my way home."
"Thank you…?"
"Pete. Pete Ross. I've known Clark my whole life and we're best friends." He was going to emphasize how despondent Clark was at Lori's suicide but decided that Clark could tell her if he was interested in her knowing. Instead, he decided to end their conversation before more hurtful things were said.
"Goodbye Miss Lane," Pete said and pushed to close the door.
"Wait," she said, putting her hand on the door before it closed. "Why wouldn't he be back before the semester is over? Doesn't he have final exams?"
Pete looked at her. "He was here in Metropolis until he got a call from his mom late last night. His dad had a heart attack and he left work immediately."
"Oh my God," she exclaimed dejectedly. "Will his dad be okay?"
Pete shrugged. "I haven't heard from him since he left. For Clark, the hits just keep coming." He paused. "Goodbye Miss Lane," he said again and closed the door.
Lois made it to her car before breaking down completely. She sat in her overheated car with the windows rolled down just enough to let the cloying hot air out. With the engine cranked and the air conditioning on, she expected the car to change but it did not feel that way. Her face burned and her eyes followed suit. Her breath caught in her chest and she leaned her head on the top of the steering wheel and wept as the moments kept replaying in her mind.
That wasn't his girlfriend, it was his future.
She was his future wife and you people took that future away from him.
You helped destroy one of the kindest, most decent guys I have ever met.
For Clark, the hits just keep coming.
She doubted that she would ever see him again and she imagined that if he saw her, he would probably cross the street to avoid her. Just when you find someone you connect with, Lane, you find a way to drive a stake in his heart, she thought. She had steeled herself for a possibly rough time with Clark, but what she had learned in the last few minutes was worse than she ever imagined.
For Lois, the tears just kept coming.