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From Part 6:“Almost the perfect murder,” Clark mused. “You’re drugged, so you don’t know what you’re doing. He forces you into the lake - and persuades you to swim to your own death. At least, it would’ve been your death. He wouldn’t have expected someone like me to swoop down from the sky and find you! And even his footprints on the sand could be explained by following your prints to the water’s edge because he was looking for you.”
Lois nodded. “You... your doctor said I was very lucky to be alive. That... that I should have... have died of hypothermia within an hour.”
She was shaking, he realised. And her teeth were chattering. Reaction, as if the realisation that the man she’d trusted enough to marry her had almost killed her had finally struck her.
With one step, he was beside her. And, as the tears began to fall, Clark enfolded Lois Lane in his arms, holding her close and promising that he would never let anything bad happen to her ever again.
*********
Now read on...It was as if a dam had burst; Lois was sobbing uncontrollably, and all Clark could do was hold her, stroke her back and her hair and tell her that she wasn’t alone, that she was safe and that he was there for her.
Her tears made his heart wrench for her.
Lex Luthor was clearly no law-abiding business magnate. Whatever it was that he was hiding, it had to be illegal - and not just by a small margin, either.
Something else was nagging him, too, and it wasn’t just the fact that Luthor had been carrying a gun. Whatever his own views on the subject, many people carried guns for protection rather than for any criminal intent, among them the wealthy and the powerful. If he’d heard in circumstances other than this that Lex Luthor had a gun permit - even one for concealed carry - he wouldn’t have been particularly surprised. Although he had to wonder whether Luthor’s permit covered him in Canada. Probably not, he concluded; but that was beside the point.
No; what was nagging him was something Lois had said Luthor had said to her. That her actions were forcing him to do something he’d always regarded as a sign of failure.
Killing her was a sign of failure. Did that mean that he’d killed before? Or was he just talking in the abstract? That any murder signalled a failure to deal with a problem creatively?
Although an alternative explanation was possible, Clark felt convinced that his gut instinct was right: Luthor had killed before. He certainly seemed to have been cold-blooded enough about it, from Lois’s description. And that assistant of his - Nigel, Lois had called him - sounded ruthless in the extreme.
The reminder of what Lois had so narrowly escaped from made a pulse twitch in his jaw. She was safe, he reminded himself, and his arms tightened around her. She sobbed again faintly, and he murmured softly to her.
“It’s okay. You’re safe. I won’t let anyone harm you again.”
Her head burrowed into the space between his neck and shoulder, and her arm tightened around him. The knowledge that she felt safe with
him warmed him.
This situation was even murkier than he’d initially thought when Lois had said her husband had tried to kill her. Attempted murder, still, but there was clearly a lot more going on in the background - the question of what it was Lois was supposed to have seen, as well as whatever else Luthor might be up to.
Though did any of it matter? If Luthor could be charged with attempted murder, he’d go to prison anyway.
If.That was the big question. As Lois had pointed out earlier, it was her word against that of a very rich, powerful man, a man whose public reputation was as a philanthropist as well as an ethical businessman. She didn’t have any evidence to support her claims, he suspected; the glass he’d used to dope her had her own fingerprints on it, and Clark would bet anything at all that it had been washed thoroughly to remove any traces of drugs - but even if it hadn’t, he realised slowly, that wouldn’t matter. Luthor had got a doctor to go on record to say that he had prescribed Lois sleeping pills. That being the case, who would question traces of sedatives found in the glass she’d drunk from?
He’d seen the beach himself. Lots of footprints on the sand, true; but, as he’d said to Lois, those could equally well be explained by the search for her once she’d been discovered missing. He hadn’t seen any sign of a struggle, but from what she’d said they’d been at the water’s edge before Luthor had started to drag her in. Any tell-tale markings there would have been washed away hours before.
He grimaced. No, there was nothing to support Lois’s version of the story. And it would be very dangerous for her to walk into a police station in Metropolis, or northern Ontario, and accuse her husband of attempted murder. They would have to think of some other way to acquire evidence against Luthor.
Still, she could at least tell the story to a trustworthy police officer, he thought slowly. Rachel. He could give Rachel a call and ask her to come over...
The door from the kitchen opened suddenly and his mom entered.
“Clark -” She halted abruptly as soon as she saw Lois in his arms.
He waved apologetically at her to ask her to leave, thinking that Lois wasn’t up to further explanations right now. The look of concern on his mother’s face as she withdrew was accompanied by a wink, which made him roll his eyes. His mom, ever the romantic. Of course, she was right about his feelings for Lois, but the fact that he was holding her right now meant nothing. He’d have to make sure that he told her that...
“Clark?” Lois was stirring, pulling away from him a little.
“You okay?” he asked softly.
“I guess... Sorry I cried all over you.” She pulled a face, trying to step back.
He held on to her, giving her a reassuring smile. “Any time. Anyway, after everything you’ve been through, you deserve a darned good cry. I can’t believe how resilient you’ve been up to now.”
She shrugged. “Having someone try to kill me used to be all in a day’s work,” she said dryly.
“Yeah, but not the man who promised to love and cherish you,” Clark answered, a harsh edge to his voice. Unable to help himself, he hugged her again. This time, when after a few moments she pulled back, he released her.
She nodded, then took a deep, shaky breath. “I feel such an
idiot, Clark! I’m an award-winning reporter, and he played me for a sucker! All the time - at least from the time he proposed to me - he was
pretending! Telling me he loved me, being charming, acting like I meant everything to him - it was all a lie, and I never saw through it.” Furious at herself, she swiped the air. “And it’s obvious that he’s dirty. I don’t know what he’s done, but if he’d consider killing to cover it up then it’s got to be something he’d get put away for. I dated - I
married a criminal, and I never suspected a thing.”
“How could you have known?” Clark interjected sympathetically.
“I
should have!” Anger and distress warred in her tone. “You know when serial killers or paedophiles are arrested, and their wives always say they never even suspected? That their husband was such a nice, sweet guy? I always thought they had to be stupid or something. Either that or they were lying to protect a piece of scum. Now I’m the stupid one. He made a complete fool of me!”
Not knowing what to say, Clark just reached to her and squeezed her shoulder lightly. Luthor was clearly well-practised at hiding his true nature, but he didn’t think that Lois was ready to absolve herself yet.
“Yeah, well. I’ll get over it,” she muttered. “Once I get him put away for it - and for whatever else he’s been doing that he didn’t want me to know about.”
She was definitely recovering, Clark could see. Her distress was receding in favour of the anger, which was a good sign. Lois Lane, determined, award-winning reporter, was back.
“Yes. We have some investigating to do,” he agreed.
“We?” She raised her eyebrows challengingly at him, for all the world as if he were a rival reporter trying to muscle in on her patch.
“We,” he emphasised firmly. “Lois, you need me. First, you’re supposed to be dead - I guess you don’t want Luthor to realise that you’re alive after all before you’re ready? Second, wouldn’t you find it useful to work with someone who can see through walls or anything else you care to mention, hear anything from a long way away, and who can move faster than the speed of light?”
She stared at him. “You can do all that too?”
He nodded. “And more besides. So, still think you want to work alone?”
Her gaze softened. “I did say I’d like to work with you. So, Clark Kent... partners?”
“Partners,” he agreed, feeling a broad smile creep over his face as he returned her gaze.
And in that moment it felt as if they were back on the beach the previous afternoon. Clark felt his breath catch as he looked at her, saw the way her eyes shone as she watched him, felt her sway towards him...
She was going to kiss him, he recognised dazedly, then realised that he wasn’t even sure which of them had made the first move. Her lips were coming closer... his parted in anticipation... he could feel her breath against his face... his eyes closed and his hands slid up her arms to her shoulders.
Her lips grazed his, and the world stopped spinning in that instant.
And then his heart slammed painfully against his chest as he remembered.
With a groan, he pushed her gently away. “Lois, we can’t do this.”
Eyes dazed, she stared at him. “Why not?”
He closed his eyes briefly, part of him thinking that he had to be crazy to deny himself this. It was just a kiss, after all! “Because you’re married.”
“To a man who tried to kill me!” she reminded him indignantly.
“But you’re still married.” He stepped back, leaving space between them. “I know, you probably think I’m crazy. But... I just want to wait until you’re free, Lois. I want to wait until we can be together openly before I kiss you.”
Even if her husband was a potential killer. Even if the man deserved to be locked away in prison. Even if he’d shown by his actions that he repudiated the marriage - even if Lois was no longer wearing her wedding ring. Only now, he noticed that her left hand was bare, while she’d still been wearing the ring when he’d fished her out of the lake.
“And what if we can’t?” Lois demanded. “What if Lex finds me and... and finishes what he started? Or what if I can never prove what he did and he ties us up in legal knots for years? Do you still want to wait?”
“I promise you, I will not let him hurt you ever again,” he vowed, then added, spreading his hands in a gesture of promise, “And the only thing that would stop me waiting for you is if you told me you didn’t want me.”
He saw her swallow. “I want you.”
“Okay. Then we do whatever we have to to get Lex Luthor locked away,” he said, fierce determination in his voice.
“Deal,” Lois agreed, holding out her hand. He took it.
“Deal.”
**********
A short while later, he closed his bedroom door silently and headed back downstairs. He’d finally persuaded Lois to lie down and rest. Despite her determination to start planning immediately, she was clearly exhausted and still weakened. He’d noticed the white lines around her lips and the renewed shakiness in her stance, and had refused to do anything else with her until she took a nap.
“You still owe me an explanation,” she’d protested as he’d shepherded her up the stairs. “How is it that you can fly? And do all that other stuff? Who
are you?”
“Later,” he’d promised. “I’ll tell you anything you want to know, but only if you rest now.”
As he’d suspected, his parents were in the kitchen, and they both looked at him expectantly when he entered. “How is she?” his mom asked immediately.
“Asleep,” he answered. “Don’t worry - I remember what Jill said about waking her up periodically to check that she’s okay. But we should let her sleep for a couple of hours first.”
“Oh, sure,” his mom agreed. “That poor girl! Did her husband really try to kill her?”
Clark nodded grimly. “Problem is, we’re not sure that she can prove it. So she might need to stay hidden here for a while.”
“You know that’s not a problem,” his father immediately assured him. “You know, if you can prove this it’s going to shock an awful lot of people. Doesn’t Lex Luthor play golf with the President?”
“True. And his security company has lots of government contracts, as far as I know,” Clark commented. “Plus he’s been Man of the Year in Metropolis for at least the last four years. It’s not going to be easy to prove that he’s not what he seems, but it’ll be one heck of a news story when we do it.”
“We?” his mother questioned, a sly smile creeping across her face. “As in you and Lois?”
“Yeah.” He could feel himself blushing, much to his embarrassment. “We agreed to work together. I mean, we’re both investigative journalists. It makes sense.”
“And you’re in love with her,” his mother added, in the kind of matter-of-fact tone which, if he’d thought about it for just one second, he’d have remembered was designed to trip him up.
“Ye- uh... I...” He tried to recover, but the damage was done. The grin on his mom’s face told him as much.
“She’s a married woman, Clark,” his father said quietly.
“She’s married to a man who tried to kill her!” his mom retorted.
“She’s still not free,” his father countered.
“I know.” Clark sighed, running his hand through his hair and moving to sit at the table. “God knows, I want to just ignore it. That...
bastard doesn’t deserve any consideration - he certainly doesn’t deserve Lois’s loyalty. And by what he did he made it very clear that his marriage vows mean nothing to him. But that doesn’t change anything - she’s still married. I want to be with her, and she says she wants to be with me too, but I won’t do anything about it until she’s free.”
His father nodded in approval. His mom looked sympathetic and said, “It has to be hard for you both, honey, but you’re doing the right thing.”
“I know.” He sighed again. “It’s not just that she’s married, though, Mom. I don’t... She’s been through so much - really traumatic stuff. And she has to come to terms with the fact that the guy she trusted enough to marry did this to her. Plus, how well does she really know me? I don’t want to rush her into something before she’s ready. The last thing I want is for her to start something with me on the rebound and then realise later that she doesn’t want me.”
His mom reached across and patted his hand. “If it’s meant to happen, honey, it will work out.”
He smiled wryly. “I hope so.”
**********
Rachel Harris answered the phone herself when Clark called. Having an old schoolfriend as the town’s sheriff had its advantages at times, he was aware, and this was one of them. All it took was for him to ask her to come out to the farm, and she agreed without asking any questions.
He’d asked her to come in a couple of hours’ time - that would give Lois a few hours’ sleep before he had to wake her up to tell her story again. In the meantime, he could spend some time finding out as much as he could about Lex Luthor. Thinking again that he would have to persuade his parents to get on the Web at the farm, he set off for town in his dad’s pickup to use the internet at the library.
An hour and a half later, he was on his way back to the farm, not having learned very much. Luthor was a man of mystery - little was known about his background other than his date of birth and that he’d grown up in Metropolis. That in itself was puzzling: every other public figure had detailed biographies freely available. No authorised biography had ever been written of Lex Luthor; unauthorised volumes he’d read at lightning-pace in the library varied wildly in their speculation, from the lurid to the merely bland.
Who were his parents? Where had he gone to school? What had his first job been? How had he risen to become the third-richest man in the world? The only answers seemed to be guesswork; Luthor himself had confirmed nothing.
Lex Luthor seemed to be a man without a past - and Clark was beginning to suspect that this was truer than anyone else had thought. Was Luthor even his real name? Had he perhaps changed his identity? His appearance? That would explain the complete lack of information about him.
He’d have to ask Lois, Clark thought as he turned through the gates of his parents’ property. She’d married the man; she should know more about him than anyone else. Though that was probably assuming too much, he realised with a sigh. From Lois’s description of her marriage even before the last week, it was clear that Luthor’s idea of marriage was not Clark’s. The notion that marriage might be about sharing, about honesty, about partnership seemed to be completely alien to the man.
He rounded the corner then, coming within sight of the farmhouse, still a quarter mile away - and stared. Several cars were parked outside, including three state police vehicles, and a helicopter stood in the middle of his dad’s pasture.
This couldn’t be Rachel. She drove a sheriff’s car - and anyway, she was coming on her own. Something was wrong.
He braked to an immediate halt, flinging open the car door even before the wheels had stopped turning. Breaking into a run as soon as his feet hit the ground, he headed for the house.
Use your head, Clark! he yelled silently at himself, and engaged his special vision as he ran.
His parents sat in the kitchen, state troopers clearly keeping guard over them. The door to the rest of the house stood open; Clark, his heart in his mouth, scanned the area. Feet on the stairs. Another state trooper. An older man he didn’t recognise. Then Lois.
Lois!
He put on another burst of speed, switching from human pace to
fast, and burst into the kitchen just as Lois was ushered in, preceded by the trooper. The other man followed, and then a man carrying the distinctive black bag of a doctor.
Finally, Lex Luthor walked in.
How had Luthor found her? How on earth could he possibly have known that she was
here?
Clark’s gaze flew to Lois. She was breathing heavily, but her expression was determined. Belligerent.
“What’s going on here?” Clark demanded.
Lois opened her mouth to reply, but the older man walked up to Clark and held out a an official badge. Chief of police for the state of Kansas.
“I’d recommend that you stay out of this, sir. Mr Luthor has come to take his wife home. As I understand it, I could lay charges of kidnapping against you, but Mr Luthor has been generous enough to state that he won’t press charges as long as nobody tries to interfere here.”
His gaze flicking from his parents to Lois, Clark frantically tried to work out what to do. He could push the troopers aside and grab Lois and just fly her out of there to safety. But to do that would be to expose his secret - and to a man he had no wish to reveal himself to.
What did
Lois want? Her eyes were pleading with him. Was she asking him to save her... or not to take the risk? Should they take the chance and tell the police that her so-called
loving husband had tried to kill her?
“Lois,” he said urgently, ignoring the police chief. “Are you okay? What do you want?”
“Stay out of this,” Luthor rapped. “You’ve done enough damage already.”
“I want to know what Lois wants,” Clark retorted.
“My wife doesn’t know what she wants,” Luthor replied smoothly, an expression of deep concern on his face. Fake, Clark knew, and he racked his brain to try to figure out what the man was up to.
The doctor stepped forward and addressed the police chief. “As I hinted on our way over here, I believed Mrs Luthor to be emotionally unstable. My brief examination upstairs confirmed that. The sleeping pills, her odd behaviour over the past week, as the housekeeper testified, the suicide attempt - or faked suicide, as it now appears. And her wild accusations against her husband. I’m afraid that, as I’ve already suggested to Mr Luthor, she needs to be admitted for urgent psychiatric treatment.”
So that was Luthor’s plan. With his tame doctor on hand, no-one would believe Lois if she told the truth.
His blood chilled. Luthor would have her locked up in a secure facility somewhere. And then, in a few days’ time, probably - he wouldn’t be so foolish as to do it too soon - there would be another staged suicide attempt. And this time it would be fatal.
No. He wasn’t going to let that happen. Revealing himself to Luthor was a small price to pay to prevent that...
He began to propel himself forward. His father’s voice came to him as if through a mist - “Clark, don’t...”
He paid no attention.
And then Lois spoke, her voice cool and distant. “Stay away from me, Clark. I’m going with my husband.”
He halted, stared at her. Her face was impassive - and she’d linked her arm with
his. With Luthor’s. And the man who’d tried to kill her was looking down at her with the kind of patronising frown that an overbearing parent would give a recalcitrant child.
What was she
doing? Why was she...? She had told him the truth, hadn’t she? But he knew instinctively that she hadn’t lied. There’d been too much fear in her voice, her expression, her entire body posture.
Her eyes met his briefly. And the message in them was clear. She was doing this - going willingly with that monster who she
had to know would soon finish what he’d started - to protect him.
But didn’t she know that he’d willingly give up all his secrets to save her?
She shook her head very slightly, an infinitesimal movement.
No. She didn’t want him to do it.
He stared back, hoping that she could read the promise in his eyes.
I’ll come for you. He won’t do this to you.And then Luthor marched her forward, past him and outside the house. He followed, ignoring the troopers who tried to prevent him.
Two more men stood outside. As Clark watched, frantic and longing to disobey Lois’s injunction to do nothing, Luthor spoke to the doctor, who produced a syringe. “It’s just a relaxant, Mrs Luthor,” he heard the doctor say. “It’ll help you sleep.”
As the needle went into her arm, Lois turned and met Clark’s gaze again. “I said, leave me, Clark. I don’t need you.”
For her husband’s benefit, he knew. Because she was still protecting him and his parents. And herself too, he guessed. Because if she went willingly Luthor might not feel the need to rush to have her disposed of.
Then the two other men, who were obviously Luthor employees, stepped forward and took Lois from her husband, leading her towards the helicopter. She went, apparently willing, as Clark continued to fight with every instinct he had to rescue her.
Lex Luthor turned and fixed Clark with a ferocious, searing stare. "Stay away from my wife, Kent. Or suffer the consequences."
~ The End ~ To be concluded in Finding Freedom - coming soon.
