For the previous parts, go here: http://www.lcficmbs.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=6;t=000780
Supercop II: The Black Knight -- 12/13
by Nan Smith
Previously:
"If you're ready," Henderson added, "I'll give you a lift, since you don't have a car here this morning."
"Thanks, but you don't have to --"
"We've still got the problem of Mr. Owens to deal with," Henderson said. "I'd rather you didn't stay at your house today. Besides, Sue was having more false labor this morning. If anything happens, I'd feel better if someone were with her."
Norma gave a faint sigh. "You do know how to stop an argument before it starts don't you. All right; let's go."
**********
And now, Part 12:
Robert Owens sat quietly on a bench across from the police station. He had waited in the same spot the night before for Norma Randall to arrive, and had been surprised to see her do so in the company of the same man that he had seen at her house the previous morning. He must be a colleague, Owens thought. A friend, or a superior. It was obvious that all the activity at Randall's house yesterday meant that the local cops had become suspicious and Randall's superiors were taking steps to protect her.
He had access to the Internet from his tiny hotel room, and after several hours of research involving police cases reported in the local Metropolis newspapers, he had identified the man that he had seen with Norma Randall. The fact that Police Inspector William Henderson had apparently taken an interest into the break-in of Norma Randall's home worried him a little.
However, Henderson couldn't know who he was. As far as the police were concerned, he was just an anonymous figure in the great city of Metropolis. Even his place of work didn't have his real name. Still, it was just as well that he had decided to lie low for the night and allow them to let down their guard. No more flowers, he thought, and no hang-up phone calls, either. There was no sense in taking unnecessary risks or giving unnecessary warning.
But he had no intention of giving up. Officer Randall had a debt to pay him for the harm that her sisters had done him. Besides, it would be a way to show the police and the superheroes of Metropolis that they were powerless to stop him in his quest for justice.
He shifted, lowering the paper to peer over it at the doors to the Precinct. The woman would soon be heading home for a day's sleep. The chances were good that she was scheduled for duty tonight. It was Saturday, and Halloween, and the police presence this evening would be heavy. There would be trick-or-treaters, Halloween parties, and a thousand events -- most of them involving costumes and masks -- in every part of town, which translated into droves of anonymous persons all over the streets. They might figure that if someone was stalking her, tonight would be a perfect opportunity.
But he had no intention of waiting until tonight. Norma Randall might spend her day somewhere other than at her house. That was a distinct possibility, considering what had happened yesterday. He wasn't worried, however. All he needed to do was to follow her. If she went home, well and good. If she went to wherever her sanctuary yesterday had been, he would find out. It simply required patience and persistence. He had both.
**********
Norma Randall paused in the little entranceway of Henderson's home. The house wasn't large, but it was very cozy and welcoming. Sue must have the soul of a homemaker, she thought, although she knew Henderson's wife was a physical therapist at Metro General. That figured. For some reason, lots of cops married medical personnel of one sort or another. A number of the officers that she knew were married to nurses. In any case, she liked Sue Henderson.
Sue was seated on the living room sofa, watching the morning news and sipping a glass of orange juice. An abandoned piece of partially eaten toast on a saucer sitting on the coffee table attested to a half-hearted effort to eat breakfast.
William Henderson closed the front door behind them. "You know where the guest room is," he told Norma. "Get yourself some breakfast if you want. Tonight's going to be a busy one." He crossed the living room to sit down next to his wife. "How do you feel, honey?"
Sue grimaced. "More false labor."
Henderson frowned. "Are you sure that's all it is?"
His wife shrugged eloquently. "Well, I don't know for sure, of course, but it's the same as it was last night. Irregular contractions, and they're all in the front." She smiled at him and patted his hand. "Believe me, the minute I think it's the real thing, you'll get a call."
Norma had to hide a smile. This was a side of Bill Henderson that his colleagues didn't see very often. He deliberately cultivated his cynical, unflappable image at work and it was in its own way reassuring to know that very little could rattle the man. He always seemed to have everything under control, but under his hard-bitten, professional image was another Bill Henderson who genuinely cared about his fellow human beings. Well, she knew that. Look at how he'd gone out of his way to help her in the past couple of days. The City of Metropolis could do with more cops like him.
"If anything happens, we'll call you right away," Norma said. "It's got to happen *some* time, after all."
"Yeah," Henderson said. "I'll drive by your place on the way back to the Precinct, just to make sure everything's all right." He turned back to his wife. "Don't worry about any housework today," he told her. "I'll take care of it when I get home."
Sue gave him a patient smile. "Yes dear." She heaved herself up from the couch and stood on tiptoe to peck him on the cheek. "Now *you'd* better get back to the office before you get in trouble. Norma and I will do fine."
Henderson glanced at Norma, who made a point of looking around the hallway in every direction but the living room. He leaned down quickly to kiss his wife briefly on the lips. "I'll see you this afternoon."
Norma gave him a reassuring smile as he opened the front door. "If anything happens, I have your cell phone number on my phone's speed dial for now, sir."
Henderson nodded. "I hadn't thought of that. Thanks, Randall."
"No problem. And, sir --"
"Yes?"
"Thank you for what you're doing for me. I appreciate it."
He gave the faintest of smiles. "You're welcome," he said.
Norma watched him leave, frowning a little. Something about the way he had answered her had struck a note of familiarity, but she couldn't put her finger on it. Finally, she turned to Sue, who was picking up her saucer and glass.
Sue started for the kitchen with her burden. "I'm not very hungry," she said. "Do you want some breakfast?"
Norma shook her head. "I had coffee and a doughnut this morning. I think I'll just go to bed. Like Bill said, tonight's going to be a busy one."
"We don't normally have much trouble around here on Halloween," Sue remarked. She disappeared into the kitchen for a moment and re-emerged without the food. "This is a neighborhood with mostly young families and small children. Most of the trick-or-treating goes on before the sun goes down. I'm going to drive down to the corner grocery and pick up a pumpkin. I've been intending to carve a Jack o' Lantern for the last couple of days, but I just never seemed to get around to it."
Norma grinned. "If you haven't carved it by the time I wake up, I'll help you," she said. "I haven't carved a pumpkin in years."
"All right," Sue agreed with a smile. "In the meantime, I'll put up the decorations. Nothing fancy, but it doesn't seem like the beginning of the whole holiday season without at least a little bit of decorating."
Norma nodded, watching her thoughtfully. It seemed to her that Sue was getting awfully ambitious all of a sudden for a woman ready to deliver her first child. The information she had read as part of the first aid training that she had received when she became a police officer came to mind. Was it possible that Sue was experiencing the burst of energy that occurred a short time before labor commenced?
Well, sure it was possible. As she had pointed out to Henderson, it had to happen *some* time. And if it did, she'd call him as she had promised. In the meantime, that bed in the guestroom had begun to seem more and more attractive. She turned toward it, with a little yawn. "Enjoy your shopping trip. I need to get some sleep."
Sue opened the hall closet and removed her coat. "I'll try not to disturb you when I come back in," she said, sliding her arms into the sleeves. "Good night, Norma."
**********
Bill Henderson left his house and glanced around the neighborhood before he made his way toward his car. It was just past nine o'clock, he saw, glancing at his wristwatch, and the neighborhood was quiet. Many of the neighbors were probably sleeping in, he thought, feeling mildly envious. The sprinklers at the Murphy family's residence, he saw, were overwatering their lawn, as usual, and a stream of water was running over their driveway and down the gutter. Cars were parked in driveways all the way up and down the block, and a large, yellow cat was sunning himself atop the hood of Ed Dalton's pickup. A teenager was riding his bicycle halfway down the street, headed in the opposite direction, and a man from the Metropolis Power and Light Company was reading the meter for the MacPhearsons' home, two doors down from his. A crow, perched on the telephone line, cawed hoarsely as he opened the door of his car, and somewhere a dog barked but other than that he could see no sign of anything moving on the entire street. The rain of last night had passed and the sun shone down brightly, dispelling some of the chill in the crisp late autumn air. The leaves of the big oak trees that lined the street were definitely turning, he noticed, and a fair number of them were already collecting on the street and sidewalk. The faint smell of wood smoke floated on the morning breeze.
He started up the engine of his vehicle and pulled away from the curb, aware of a distinct sense of unease, of having missed something important. It was probably just the natural nerves he felt about Sue, he thought. Her due date had come and gone two days ago. It could happen any time, and he sure as heck didn't want to be involved in some situation where he couldn't get away if his wife needed to get to the hospital in a hurry. On the other hand, he couldn't hang around the house waiting for it to happen. Outside of the fact that he would be using up the vacation days that he planned to use after the baby was born, his colleagues would think he was nuts. Still, he couldn't quite convince himself to relax. Too many things were happening at once.
He pulled up to the stop sign on the corner of his street and noticed two children in ghost costumes playing on the sidewalk. Halloween was off to an early start, he supposed. Well, it was Saturday, after all, and the kids always wanted to get into the fun a little early. Across the street an older kid, probably in his early teens, was made up like a zombie. In a distinct un-zombie-like manner, he was eating a hamburger as he strolled along the sidewalk, listening to the music of a Walkman as he progressed.
At last he left the quiet of his little neighborhood behind and made his way onto the main streets of Metropolis. The traffic was lighter than it would be on a regular workday, but not by much, and that was underlined a moment later by the sound of muted screams from somewhere ahead. When he focused in his hearing, he could hear the voices of men issuing curt orders. With a sigh of resignation, he pulled his car into a parking lot behind a gas station and cut the engine. It sounded as if the Black Knight was needed at Franco's Jewelry Emporium, again. Something about the place seemed to draw the would-be robbers. Maybe the owners should hire a few big, beefy security guards, he thought. It might tend to discourage some of Metropolis's criminal element. A moment later, The Black Knight was on his way.
By the time he arrived, the two holdup men -- wearing Dracula masks -- were exiting via the back door of the shop, and three cop cars were screeching to a stop on the street in front of the place, their sirens winding down into dying gurgles. Henderson apprehended the suspects and marched them around to the front to hand them over to the responding officers.
He was just getting back into his car when the realization hit him. He was in the air, changing from Inspector Henderson to the Black Knight as his feet left the ground. The sonic boom marking his departure rattled windows across Metropolis as he traced his way through the air in a streak of black, back toward his home, hoping desperately that he wasn't too late.
**********
The guestroom was attractively furnished and decorated. This morning, unlike yesterday, as Norma undressed for bed and hung up her uniform in the small closet, she took the time to look around.
The bed stood against one wall. In one corner, a padded chair was positioned at an angle to the rest of the room and beside the bed was a matching nightstand with a digital alarm clock. On the right wall, beside the closet, was an antique dresser and next to the dresser a pair of bookshelves was built into the wall itself. The top shelf, some inches above her head, held several china knick-knacks. The lower shelf was set at about the level of her shoulders and on it was a row of novels, held in place by a chunk of decorative quartz that evidently served as a bookend. Beneath her feet, a thick, round rug covered a large part of the polished, hardwood floor, and the single window on the opposite side of the room let in the light of the morning sun.
Norma lowered the blinds and pulled the curtains, darkening the room in preparation for sleep. From the vent above her bed, she could feel the soft draft of faintly warm air. Sue must be running the heater.
In the hall outside she could hear motion, and then the front door closed as Sue Henderson departed for the corner grocery.
Norma climbed into bed, sliding down between lavender-scented sheets, aware of a vast fatigue. It had been a tense few days and a busy night, and it wasn't going to be any easier tonight. But after that she had Sunday, Monday and Tuesday off, before she started her day shift. She only hoped that they found Robert Owens soon. The thought of being stalked for days by a man who was almost certainly a psychopath was not particularly attractive. At least, here in the Hendersons' house, she was relatively safe. There was no way the guy could have traced her here.
She turned over, yawned and snuggled down beneath the blankets.
**********
The faint sound of the latch on her door turning brought her wide-awake.
She couldn't have been asleep more than twenty minutes, but the muzziness of suddenly interrupted sleep was shocked away by the ice-hot jolt of sheer adrenaline that shot through her bloodstream.
The room was dark, but she heard the latch as it was eased back, and then the muted light of the hallway without was suddenly visible in a line as the door swung slowly and gently inward an inch and paused.
Someone had turned out the light in the hallway, she thought, and Sue Henderson was very unlikely to be attempting to sneak into her room in this stealthy manner. The faint line of pale light was partially blocked, and Norma's mind went bright with terror.
But not panic. She had faced danger to life and limb before. Last night she had barely escaped with her life simply because the Black Knight had shown up when he did.
The door crept open another inch, but Norma was already moving. Silently, she slid out of the bed. In two steps she had crossed the room to flatten herself against the opposite wall. The motion of the door ceased for a second and she held her breath, afraid that whoever was opening it might have heard her move.
Her revolver was in the holster of her uniform, and that was hanging in the closet. Did she dare to risk opening the closet door to get it? If he detected her movement, he would have the door open and be beside her in split seconds. If he was armed -- and the previous victims of the Midtown Rapist had reported that he had threatened them with a knife -- she could very well be dead before she reached her own weapon.
The door eased slowly open another fraction of an inch. The faintest squeak of a hinge made the hair stand up on her neck. Holding her breath, she looked right and left in the darkness for anything that could be used as a weapon.
On the shelves to her right she remembered seeing several books and a heavy chunk of quartz that was evidently used as a bookend. Norma slipped a half step to the right and felt behind her on the shelf.
At first it seemed as if the thing had moved, but then her hand slid over it and she gripped it tightly. Slowly, she removed it, easing the books down to lie on their sides so that their sudden collapse wouldn't alert whoever was in the hall that she was there.
The gap between the door and frame widened again, more quickly this time, with another very faint squeak. She could see the silhouette of a man now: a small man, backlit by the filtered illumination from the living room windows -- windows where the blinds had been pulled. Softly, the intruder took a step forward, and Norma saw the faint reflection of the light from something metal in one hand.
The door came suddenly wide open, and the pale illumination from the hall revealed the empty bed. He spun toward her, and in that same instant, Norma heard the rattle of the lock on the front door open. Sue was coming home!
The intruder heard it too, and half-turned. Norma sprang, swinging with the chunk of quartz for the knife hand.
He twisted sideways, and her blow missed the knife, impacting against his ribs instead. "Sue, run!" she shouted. "Run!"
She felt him grip her by the hair, and without warning the knife was coming at her face. Norma caught his wrist with one hand, striking at the side of his head with the quartz.
The hand released her hair and grasped her wrist. For an instant they strained against each other, but it was obvious that her assailant was considerably stronger than she was. Norma released the resistance against his knife hand suddenly, turning her face sideways at the same instant. The knife went past her face and she felt the blade barely graze the skin of her jaw.
She didn't have time to worry about it. Her opponent was thrown off balance by her move, and she took full advantage of it, stepped closer to him and seized him by the throat, pushing him further off-balance.
Thrown sideways, her assailant released her right wrist, grabbing at anything to regain his balance. Norma pushed the flailing hand across his body, dropping the quartz. It hit the rug with a muffled thump, and abruptly she was aware of Sue Henderson behind her opponent and the sound of breaking crockery. The man staggered backward, and Norma saw him swing wildly with his knife at Sue.
A blast of wind filled the room, followed almost instantly by an explosion of sound that nearly deafened Norma. A sonic boom, she realized belatedly. There was someone else in the room, holding the intruder despite his frantic struggles. Suddenly everything was quiet, except for the residual ringing in her ears.
"I've got him," the deep voice of the Black Knight said grimly.
Sue had stepped to the doorway and now switched on the light. Norma Randall found herself looking at the face of Robert Owens, his dark eyes blazing with fury as he struggled futilely in the iron grip of the superhero. The knife lay on the rug, and the Knight kicked it aside. He looked directly at Sue. "Are you hurt?" he demanded urgently.
Sue shook her head. Norma saw that her face was white, but she appeared calm. "I broke the vase Bill's mother gave us," she said, irrelevantly, and looking down, Norma realized that shattered pieces of pottery lay all over the rug. Sue must have grabbed the first object available and come to try to help.
The Knight's lips twitched faintly. He looked at Norma. "Are you hurt, Officer?" he asked. "You're bleeding!"
Norma felt along her jaw line and her hand came away lightly smeared with red. "I don't think so," she said. Her voice was shaking, and this time she didn't try to control it. "He just grazed me."
The man jerked furiously against the Knight's grip on his wrists. The effort was useless. The Knight's lips tightened momentarily. "Why don't you give this gentleman his rights, Officer," he said neutrally, but somehow Norma had the impression that underneath that controlled façade lay an entirely different emotion. "Mrs. Henderson, I'm sure you know the number for Detective Wolfe at the Twelfth Precinct. Why don't you give him a call." Owens jerked against the Knight's hands again and at last the superhero reacted. He shook the man lightly. "Don't worry, Mr. Owens," he said. "There'll be someone along very shortly to take you to more comfortable quarters. In the meantime, I suggest you cool down."
The man pulled uselessly against the steel fingers holding him. Sue glanced at the ordinary-looking little man and shuddered.
"How did you know?" she whispered, looking up into the masked face of the superhero. She cleared her throat and spoke again, more clearly. "How did you know he was here?"
The Knight flicked a finger of his free hand at the shirt Owens wore. "The employees of Metropolis Power and Light don't usually work on weekends unless someone has an emergency." he said, very dryly. "He was reading your neighbors' meters. I don't think that qualifies."
Norma looked sharply at the Knight, struck by the tone of voice. There was something very familiar about this man, about the way he spoke. He was definitely someone she knew, she thought, and more than just casually.
"Thank you," she said. "I seem to be saying that a lot to you lately."
The Knight nodded slightly. "You're welcome," he said.
He sounded exactly like Bill Henderson. But it couldn't be, could it? Bill Henderson didn't have super powers.
Except that he did. Now that she knew what to look for, she had no doubt at all.
Norma glanced down at herself, clad in her flannel pajamas. This was hardly how she wished to appear to her fellow officers when they arrived, but disturbing the scene of a crime wasn't something she wanted to do, either. With a mental shrug, she turned to Robert Owens. "You are under arrest," she stated. "We can probably start with breaking and entering, and assault with a deadly weapon. I'm sure we'll find other crimes to charge you with when we really get into this thing. In the meantime, you have the right to remain silent ..."
**********
tbc
