Supercop II: The Black Knight -- 6/?
by Nan Smith
Previously:
Satisfied that he had found the perfect solution to his problem, he turned toward downtown. Going to a movie theater was probably a good idea, he decided, just in case the Knight did decide to check on him. He'd been wanting to see "Return of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre", showing at the Metro Gold Cinema, for a while, anyhow. It would be just as well to take the night off. He could go back to business tomorrow.
**********
And now, Part 6:
"Any luck on those prints?" Lois asked. She had just stepped off the elevator, and was fortunate enough to snag Jimmy Olsen as he contemplated the contents of the candy machine.
"Not yet." Jimmy said, studying the offerings on display. "Friends of mine are checking the print databases in the seven cities, but so far no one's gotten back to me. Whoever this guy is, it's possible he's got some kind of record. You don't just jump into being a serial rapist overnight. He's probably had trouble with the law before, one way or another -- probably fairly minor. But if it was something serious enough for him to be arrested -- even if no action was ever taken -- they'll have his fingerprints on file. If we can match them, we'll have an ID on our rapist."
"Kind of a long shot," Lois said, glancing at her watch. She needed to hurry. Bobby Bigmouth was expecting to meet Clark and her in the park in twenty minutes. Hopefully, Superman wouldn't delay him this morning.
"I know," Jimmy said, in reply to her comment, "but it's about the only angle we have, right now. My guess is that he was doing this where he was before, wherever that was. Maybe things were getting too hot and he decided to change locations, but whatever his reasons, I'm betting that he's had a run-in or two with the law for other things."
"You're probably right," Lois said. "Maybe he'll have been arrested for petty theft or something."
"You never know," Jimmy said. "I'll let you know if anyone gets back to me." He scowled at the candy bars. "You'd think they'd at least have Double-Crunch Fudge Bars or something."
"Nope," Lois said. "I order them by the box. The guys upstairs are too cheap to put any quality bars in this thing. They've even discontinued Clark Bars."
"Yeah, I know," Jimmy said, disgustedly. "Maybe I should just get a sandwich."
"Not out of that machine," Lois advised. "The last time I got a sandwich out of there, the bread was mildewed. If I were you, I'd go down to the lunchroom. It may not be gourmet, but at least you know you're not going to get salmonella. Besides, didn't you get breakfast?"
Jimmy shrugged, looking embarrassed. "I'm a little short this month. They cut off my power yesterday and everything in the refrigerator was -- well, you don't want to know, but I couldn't eat it."
"Why don't you ask Perry for a raise?" Lois asked. "You're a pretty good photojournalist. They can at least pay you a living wage."
"Thanks," Jimmy said, obviously gratified.
"Only the truth." Lois patted him lightly on the head and made a beeline for her desk.
The blinds to Perry's office were open, she noticed absently as she rummaged in her desk drawer for a tape recorder and a notepad and pen. Seated on the couch in his office, she could see a young, blond woman, who was surreptitiously shredding the edge of the latest edition of the Daily Planet that lay on the leather cushion beside her. Little pieces of newspaper confetti were scattered on the carpet all around her feet.
Clark wasn't around to chastise her for snooping. Lois trained her super-hearing on the office.
"I don't want to take advantage of our relationship, Uncle Perry," the blond was saying. "I'll get some kind of job. I've hidden long enough. I don't think he's going to find me, at least after all this time."
"Probably not," her boss's voice said kindly, "but you're already behind on your rent and bills. You need a job now, not later. This one will give you set hours so you'll be able to get something part time if you need to supplement your income for a while, just in order to catch up. Since you won't take a loan from me, this is the next best choice. You won't be freeloading, if that's what you're afraid of."
The blond nodded. "I swore I wouldn't take advantage of anyone," she said. "My dad was horrible that way, and I don't want to be like him."
"Mary," Perry said, "your dad was a bully and a freeloader. Nobody was happier than Alice and I were when your mom threw him out, but you aren't your dad. No one in the family ever thought you were. You're hard-working and honest."
"But my marriage came apart, just like Mom's," Mary said. "I tried to hold it together -- I really did. But I couldn't stay any longer."
"That's because Robert was a jerk," Perry said with unaccustomed venom. "No woman deserves to be beaten, no matter how angry a man is. You were smart to leave him. Now, are you going to take the job, or not?"
She hesitated. "I guess I don't have much choice," she said finally. "I just wish I didn't feel like I was getting this job under false pretenses."
"You aren't," Perry said. "This is a real job with real work to do. If you do your best, no one will think for a minute that I hired you just because you're Alice's niece. Now, I'll get Jimmy to take you down to start the paperwork. He's the best person you can ask about how to do the job, if you have any questions about it. He was the office gofer up to a few months ago. Now he's a junior photojournalist, and the office computer guru." Perry paused. "Don't tell him I said that, though. He won't mind helping you get started."
"I hope not." The blond woman's voice sounded very uncertain.
"Take it from me: he won't. Jimmy's a nice kid. He'll be glad to help you."
"You wouldn't be listening in again, would you?" Clark's low, amused voice asked. Lois nearly dropped her tape recorder, but caught it at the last second. She cast her husband an annoyed look.
Clark raised an eyebrow at her, but didn't add to his comment. Lois knew she shouldn't have been eavesdropping on the private conversation but her insatiable curiosity was hard to resist. She watched out of the corner of her eye as the door to Perry's office opened.
"Jimmy!" Their boss's voice cut easily over the hubbub of the newsroom getting into gear for the day. "C'mere!"
"New hire?" Clark asked.
"I thought you didn't want to know," Lois said. "That's Alice's niece. Her name's Mary. She's left her husband, who abused her, and needs a job but she doesn't want to sponge off her family. Perry's practically pushing her into the job."
"Oh." Clark glanced quickly at the young woman and away.
Jimmy hurried across the room in response to Perry's call and Lois turned back toward the steps that led to the elevator. Clark followed her with that bouncy stride peculiar to him. They had about ten minutes before they were due to meet Bobby Bigmouth. Maybe the best snitch in the city could give them some information.
**********
The day was bright and sunny as Bill Henderson climbed the steps of the 12th Precinct. He glanced at his watch and scowled. True to form, Sue was holding out to the bitter end. Her due date had been yesterday, but her doctor was making no promises. Henderson forbore to try to tell the man his job, but that line he'd quoted to the pair of them at yesterday's appointment had been annoying. "When the apple is ripe, it'll fall off the tree," he'd said, pompously, to Henderson's vast annoyance. And then, of course, after dinner at Mi Casa, Sue had gone through four hours of false labor. Talk about a letdown!
But, he reminded himself, it couldn't go on much longer. Sue had been even more disappointed than he was, but she'd lifted her chin and pointed out that one of these days the false labor would turn into the real thing. It was just a matter of time.
He could hear the TV chattering away in the back office again, and made his way toward the room. Dan, the janitor, was just hanging up his jacket on the coat rack behind the door as Henderson entered.
"Oops; sorry." Henderson caught the door before it collided with the man.
Dan grinned. "I've been telling the boss he should move this thing before somebody gets a concussion, but nobody ever listens to me."
"Me either," Henderson said. "Everything quiet?"
"Well, there was a fight between two drunks in the tank," Dan said. "Had to stick one in a different cell. Other than that, I guess it's been pretty quiet."
"Huh," Henderson said. "Sounds like the beginning of the kind of day I like."
He went on into the room. Norma Randall was drinking a cup of tea while seated in a folding chair in front of the small television that occupied one corner of the room. Harriet, the night dispatcher was gathering up her things preparatory to leaving.
"Morning," she said as he passed her in the aisle.
"Good morning," Henderson said. "Quiet night?"
"Pretty much," Harriet said. "Two of the guys in the tank tried to beat each other up."
"So I heard. What happened?"
"Beats me. They were yelling at each other and one of them took a poke at the other one. The other guys in the place were complaining they couldn't get any sleep with two drunk guys crashing around all over the place, so Johnson took one and stuck him in the cell next door. That pretty much broke up the fight."
Johnson always took the direct approach, Henderson thought approvingly. "I guess no sign of our Midtown Rapist?"
"Not a peep -- not that anyone's complaining."
"Let's hope the boyfriend put him out of commission for a while," Henderson said.
“Amen to that,” Harriet said. She picked up her purse. “Night all.”
“Night,” Henderson said absently. He moved toward Norma, who had finished her tea and was getting to her feet. “Can I speak to you a minute, Randall?”
“Huh? Sure.” Norma tossed her Styrofoam cup into the nearest trashcan. “What do you need?”
“In the hall,” Henderson said.
“Huh?” Norma looked slightly surprised, but followed him obediently into the hall. “What’s going on?”
“I wanted to pass along a word of warning,” Henderson said. “I had a short conversation with the Knight, this morning. Last night, when you left Mi Casa, there was a guy watching you from a car halfway down the block. The Knight got the license, and I’m going to run it for him first chance I get, but I thought you should know about it.”
“Who was he?”
“The Knight didn’t know. He chased the guy off, but wasn’t able to follow him. Whoever he was, he was real interested in you. You done anything recently to tick someone off?”
“Only the usual,” Norma said. She looked a little worried, but shrugged. “It’s probably nothing.”
“Probably,” Henderson said, “but watch your step anyway. Good cops are hard to replace.”
“Gee, Henderson, you’re all heart,” Norma said.
Henderson grinned sardonically. “I’ve got an image to preserve. Be careful, all right?”
“I will. Seriously, though, thanks,” Norma said.
“You’re welcome,” Henderson said.
**********
Norma left the Precinct a few moments later, trying to dismiss the slight feeling of something crawling on her neck. The strange incident of the previous morning flashed briefly through her mind and for a moment she wondered if there could possibly be any connection. The merest instant of consideration, however, told her how unlikely that was. After all, who on Earth could possibly be watching her, and why?
And almost as interesting, how had the Knight spotted him – and how likely was it that he would have been hanging around Mi Casa last night just when she and Neil had been leaving the restaurant? And if this person had been watching her from a car, as Henderson had said, how had the superhero spotted him? Surely he didn’t go along checking out the occupants of every parked car on the street.
Something didn’t quite add up here. Of course, it was possible that the Knight had spotted the guy completely by accident, but it seemed awfully coincidental. On the other hand, coincidences happened, didn’t they? The Knight had made it clear that he was on the side of law enforcement, but that still didn’t seem quite right. He had contacted Henderson and warned him, though. She figured she could be grateful that he had been around last night.
Her binoculars were tucked into the side pocket of the car door, she noticed when she got into her car. That brought to mind the memory of the last time she had used them: yesterday morning when she had trained them on the Black Knight while he was busy clearing up the accident on the expressway. Again, the thought crossed her mind that the man had seemed oddly familiar. Even in the jumpsuit, his tall, lean figure had a way of standing and moving that struck some chord of memory. The fact that he wore a mask, too, had always impressed her as slightly odd. Why should he wear that mask if he had nothing to hide?
Ultra Woman also wore a mask, and she had wondered about it the first time the superwoman had appeared. Why would one of the superheroes wear a mask unless he – or she – was afraid of being recognized?
She locked the door of her car and started the engine. Well, after all, why shouldn’t the Knight have a right to a private life? If she had possessed their incredible powers, would she spend her entire life flying around looking for people to rescue and disasters to fix? Of course not. The whole idea was laughable. She would make darned sure that people didn’t know what she could do, and she would bet her last dollar that the same was true of the superheroes. The Knight had to have a civilian identity, and one that it was possible that she knew. Ultra Woman probably did, too. So what *did* the superheroes do when they weren’t on duty?
The thought of the Black Knight or Ultra Woman living in a little brick house with a white picket fence was slightly mind-boggling, but the possibility was difficult to deny. Nobody could be on duty twenty-four hours a day. And if the Knight and Ultra Woman had civilian identities, Superman probably did, too, mask or no mask. But that was a theory that she wasn’t likely to broadcast. The superheroes deserved some down time, and if people were to find out who they were in civilian life, that down time would disappear. People would never leave them alone.
Oh, she would certainly pay attention the next time she saw them. If she knew the Knight in his civilian identity, she might just figure out who he really was. But it was just as certain that she wasn’t going to tell anyone about it.
When she walked into her house, forty minutes later, she was still thinking about her new and fascinating theory – so much so that she didn’t notice the blue car that was pulled up against the curb halfway down the block. But she did notice the small, tasteful bouquet of flowers sitting mockingly in the middle of her kitchen table – something that she was certain hadn’t been there last night when she and Neil had left.
She stared at it in shock for several minutes before she moved forward to open the folded note that lay beside it.
“Surprise,” she read.
There was no signature.
**********
tbc
