Home V: Obsession -- 16/?
by Nan Smith
Previously:
"Calm down," Lori said. "What's happened?"
"Jake Prince just took a high dive out the upper window," Connor said. "He's on his way to the hospital. They don't know if he'll make it."
Lori stared at Clark. Jacob Prince, the assistant instructor for their maternity fitness class? "Is there any reason you can think of that he might be connected with this business?" Lori asked.
"Well -- you said that the killer could be a woman or a gay male. Jake is gay," Connor said. "I admit it's a stretch, but --"
"Call Lieutenant Chow," Lori said. "No, scratch that. I'll call her. And stay with a lot of other people. Clark and I will be there as soon as we can."
**********
And now, Part 16:
"Prince is in surgery right now," Velma Chow told them sometime later. "We're treating it as a suspicious accident, considering the circumstances." She turned to Connor, who was clearly restraining an urge to pace. "Who was in the gym at the time, Cooper?
"I can give you the schedule," Connor said. "We've also got a computer register for the members to check in at."
"That should help," Velma said. "Was there anyone on your staff present that wasn't scheduled?"
Connor shrugged. "I don't know, Lieutenant. People come by at all hours and just kind of drift in and out. They only clock in when it's their shift. Any of them could have been here."
"Were you here?"
He nodded. "I'd just clocked in when I heard somebody outside scream. After everything that's been happening, I ran outside to see what was going on. Jake was --" He stopped and swallowed convulsively. "Somebody said they saw him fall."
"Who?" Velma asked immediately.
"I don't know. The officer who first took the report would have the name. One of our members, I think."
"All right." Velma nodded at one of the two men who had accompanied her. "Go with him and get a copy of the record." She glanced at her other subordinate. "Find out who took the initial report and get me a copy."
"Yes ma'am." The second man, a very young member of the force, looked oddly at Lori and Clark and then moved several steps away.
Lori glanced up the steps. "Would it be all right if Clark and I looked around, Lieutenant?"
Velma shrugged. "Go ahead. I don't have to tell you not to touch anything. When we're finished here, I also want a report on your little adventure this morning."
"Who told you about that?" Lori asked, slightly surprised.
"I happened to run into Superwoman about an hour ago and she gave me a synopsis of it," Velma said.
"Oh. I was going to report it to you, but things kind of got away from me," Lori said. "Sorry."
"Don't be sorry, just be careful, Lyons," Velma said. "Somehow you've managed to tick somebody off in a big way, without even trying. I'd like to know how you manage that."
"It wasn't intentional," Lori said. "I don't need to be a killer's target right now, believe me."
"I imagine not," Velma said. She glanced at Lori's midriff and her expression softened slightly. "Is it a boy or a girl?"
"We don't know," Lori said. "I want to be surprised."
Velma nodded and gave a one-sided smile. "Don't blame you," she said, unexpectedly. "All right, go ahead, but if you see anything even slightly suspicious, call me, you got it? Even a bodyguard the size of Kent here isn't much match for a stunner."
"You think Jake Prince might have been ..."
Velma shrugged. "I don't know anything yet. The doctor I spoke to said Prince has a fighting chance, but he wouldn't make any promises. If he lives and wakes up in time, maybe he can tell us."
"Velma," Clark said suddenly, "did your people ever manage to find the weapon used to attack Carla in the parking tier last night?"
Velma shook her head. "No, and that's bothering me. We searched every crevice of the place, and so did Superman. Nobody leaving the building had anything on him that could have been a knife; that's sure. We had metal scanners in place in minutes."
"Could she have gotten out before the police arrived?"
"I suppose it's possible," Velma said. "There was that short interval of time between the actual stabbing and the time Superman called us, but she would have had to move pretty fast. By the way, there are three green Meteors in the parking lot now. None of their licenses start with a Q or an O, so that's a flame-out, at least for the present."
"Yeah. We'll be back in a few minutes," Clark said. "Come on, Lori."
**********
The small upstairs room of the warehouse from which Jake Prince had taken his fall had apparently been adapted to act as a changing room for the instructors. A bank of lockers sat against one wall, and two wooden benches in the middle of the room held an assortment of towels, athletic shoes and one pair of gym shorts. The area around the window had been cordoned off with yellow plastic tape, and the window was closed. A police vid technician was moving around the room, apparently making a record of the crime scene.
"That must be where he fell from," Lori said, nodding at the window.
Clark was standing with his hands shoved into his pockets, but she saw him looking slowly around the room and knew that he was meticulously scanning the premises with his enhanced vision.
"Anything?" Lori asked softly.
"Those shorts have the initials JP on the inner side of their waistband," he said, keeping his voice equally low.
"JP -- as in Jacob Prince?" Lori asked.
He nodded. "Unless they have another instructor here with those initials. I'm sure Velma's people wouldn't have missed that."
"I'm sure they didn't. They're probably there for the record." She inclined her head at the technician. "So if Jake's shorts were over here, what was he doing standing by the window without them?"
"Good question. Another one is why a window would have been open far enough for him to fall out on a day with this much snowfall. I think the possibility of a suicide attempt is a little bit coincidental, considering the circumstances, don't you?"
"Just a bit. Somehow I can't see a guy taking all the trouble to come here, start to change, and then suddenly be seized with the impulse to dash over to the window, throw it open and jump out in his skivvies," Lori said. "How about the lockers? Are his clothes in any of them?"
"The one on the bottom right," Clark said, nodding toward one of the metal doors, firmly secured with a combination lock. "His wallet's in the pocket of his jeans."
"Suicide's looking more and more unlikely to me," Lori said. "I think our killer has struck again."
"I don't want to jump to conclusions, but I suspect you're right," Clark said. "Maybe she was trying to throw off suspicion by doing it this way. Besides, carting a bloody knife out of here might just possibly draw attention, and hiding it on the premises wouldn't be very smart, since the cops would be here going over the place with a fine tooth comb." He paused, and Lori saw him staring at the bank of lockers again. "Paul Brown's stuff is in the next one up, and there's some gym clothes with CC on the waistband of the gym shorts, so I'd say those are Connor's. Hmm --"
Lori waited impatiently. "Anything else?" she asked finally.
Clark shook his head. "The one at the top left has a roll of black electrical tape in it," he said. "There's a bottle of hypoallergenic shampoo in the next one. That's it."
"I think we've seen enough here," Lori said. "Velma's not done, is she?"
"I don't think so. I overheard her calling the Precinct a minute ago. She getting a full Forensics team here. Let's go downstairs. I want to look at the Meteors in the parking lot."
The technician glanced at them from the spot where he was readying his vid recorder for another shot. "Could the two of you hold your secretive conversation somewhere else?" he asked ironically. "I need to shoot the section you're standing in."
"Sorry about that," Lori said. "We'll get out of your way."
Velma was examining a sheet of hardcopy when they returned. She glanced up as they paused in the office door. "Done?"
"Could we get a quote for the Planet?" Lori asked hopefully. "We still have a job to do, you know."
The police detective made a face. "Only that we're investigating the apparent accident," she said. "Will that do?"
"I guess so," Lori said. "I guess you're not done yet, are you?"
"Not a chance. I'm waiting for a search warrant to go through the lockers, and I don't want anyone removing things in the meantime. Before you go, do you think you could give me a synopsis of what happened to you this morning?"
"Sure." Lori gave Velma a quick description of her morning's adventure.
Velma looked more sour than ever. "I don't suppose you could tell by the hand whether it was a man or a woman."
Lori shook her head regretfully. "All I could see was the stunner and the knuckle of a finger wrapped around it. It could have been either one."
"It's amazing to me how this nutball manages to move around practically in plain sight, and yet nobody sees him," Velma said. "All right, you can go, but try to keep out of trouble."
"We'll do our best," Clark said.
They passed through the exercise rooms where various persons were working out, and Lori saw a woman who must be one of the instructors she had not yet met supervising a teenager in the correct technique for lifting a weight. Connor was at the receptionist's desk, and Lori could see that he still looked shaken. She stopped.
"Are you all right?" she asked.
"I guess I am. I just called the hospital, but no one will give me any information about Jake, or Dee. Whoever this person is is a monster, Lori. Jake never hurt anyone in his life, and Dee's just a nice girl trying to get a start in her life. I don't have any romantic interest in either of them."
"You don't have any in me, either," Lori pointed out, "but that hasn't stopped me from being a target. Connor, none of this is your fault. It's the fault of the person who's stalking you. Speaking of which, stay within sight of as many people as possible today. She obviously hasn't stopped, and you could easily be a target. Apparently she thinks you and I are having an affair. She sent my boss an email, and among other things says you sneaked into my place last night. She must have been watching either you or the apartment house. She may decide you're cheating on her and take steps."
Connor nodded wordlessly.
"One last thing," Clark said. "Do you have some kind of record of who uses which locker in the changing room?"
Connor shrugged. "Not really. Everybody just uses whichever locker happens to be available."
Lori gave her husband an odd glance, but he returned her look expressionlessly. She turned back to Connor. "Hang in there," she said. "I'm pretty sure it won't be much longer."
**********
"I hope he absorbed that," Lori said to Clark after the door closed behind them.
"So do I," he said. He took her elbow. "Let's take a stroll through the parking lot before we head back for the Planet, shall we? Velma said there were three green Meteors here right now."
"She said none of them have licenses that start with a Q or an O, though," Lori said.
"I know. I'm working a theory. Something occurred to me while I was looking over the lockers."
"Okay," Lori said. "Anything you say."
They proceeded through the blowing snow to the parking lot. The clouds of flakes had lessened somewhat, Clark noted. Hopefully the storm was beginning to die down. It would be a distinct improvement for tonight if it did. Although he and his super-powered descendents could see through the stuff with their special vision, ordinary people couldn't, and it made it all too easy for someone with deadly intentions to sneak up on one of her victims, unseen until it was too late.
The parking lot was sparsely populated. Only a few of the hardiest and most dedicated souls had ventured out to the gym today. Clark kept one arm around his wife, acutely aware of their exposed position in the lot. True, the killer had so far only dealt with stunners, knives, and if he was right, a shove out the window, but that didn't mean she wasn't capable of getting hold of something more long-range to use on a victim as difficult to attack as Lori had so far proven herself to be. No one knew better than Superman how easy it was to lay hands on lethal weapons in the city if you just knew how.
"Do you see the Meteors?" Lori asked. "I can't see anything much."
"This way," Clark said, leading the way through the lot. The first car was only feet away.
It loomed suddenly out of the snow. Clark walked around to its rear to check the license.
It was a New Troy plate, and the orange and black license read KLB114TZ. Well, this one certainly didn't back up his theory. The next-closest Meteor was three spaces away, diagonally in the opposing row. Clark squeezed between the cars and as before checked the plate.
TGT568BH, it read.
"Nope," he said. "If it's not the third one, then my theory's all wet."
"Where is it?" Lori asked.
"Across the lot in the corner."
"Can't you just read the plate from here?" Lori asked.
"Angle's wrong," Clark said. "This will just take a minute. Are you cold?"
"A little. I'll be fine."
Clark pulled her tight against him and lifted a few inches off the ground to glide quickly in the direction of the third Meteor. As soon as he came within view of the license plate, he knew that his theory was right.
CMP138WP it read. He lifted his wrist talker to his lips. "Daily Planet," he said. "Editor's office."
John's voice answered within seconds. "Olsen."
"John, it's Clark," he said quickly. "Can you have a license number traced quickly? It's important."
"Give me the number," John's voice said.
"It's a New Troy plate," Clark said. "One of the old ones." He read off the number to his boss. "I need the name and address of the owner. Lori and I will be there in a few minutes."
"I should have it for you by then," John said.
"Thanks," Clark said. He signed off, scooped Lori up in his arms and rocketed straight up into the clouds of snow, not even bothering to change into his Suit. If anyone could see him in this, it would be a member of his family anyway and it wouldn't matter.
"I hope," Lori said, "you're planning on clueing me in on this."
"Sure. It was the electrical tape that started me thinking. Take a little black electrical tape and you can make some pretty effective temporary alterations to a license number. CMP138WP could easily become OMR188WR, or any of several other combinations, without much effort, if you wanted to be reasonably certain that no one would be able to give your license number to the police."
"You're right," Lori said. "I hadn't thought of that, and I probably should have."
"It's an old trick," Clark said. "Car thieves used to use it before the advent of built-in homing devices. The practice has kind of died out what with police detectors, but for a temporary, effective measure, when you're tailing someone, it's pretty good."
"Do you suppose it's as simple as that?"
"Maybe," Clark said cautiously. "We'll see soon enough."
**********
They dropped to the surface of the slidewalk half a block from the Planet. There were few occupants of the moving walk today, and in the blinding snow, Lori was certain that no one could have seen them, much less noticed them. The walk carried them past the dark bulk of the tall parking tier, and they disembarked directly in front of the main doors.
The snow wasn't quite as dense, as it had been earlier she thought, as they entered the building. With any luck, the snowstorm would have passed by tonight. She glanced at her wrist talker, a little surprised to see that it was already past three. My, how time flew when you were having fun. So to speak.
The floor was slick with tracked-in mud and snow that was rapidly melting in little puddles on the marble tiles. One of the cleaning bots was sliding madly about, dodging obstacles in its path as it competed desperately with the traffic that came in from the street, tracking more snow and ice on its clean floor. They crossed the lobby to the bank of elevators, and Lori could have sworn the little robot looked reproachfully at her with its sensor, which was ridiculous, since it didn't even have eyes.
The doors of one opened at their approach, revealing an empty, lighted interior. Clark let her enter first and followed, interposing his body between her and anyone outside until the door slid shut again.
"Do you really think there's that much danger?" she asked quietly.
"Probably not," he said, "but one miscalculation and I could be without you. I'm taking no risks."
Lori reached out to take his hand. "I'm not taking any more risks either, Clark. Not now. There's too much at stake."
"Humor me," he said, slipping an arm around her and pulling her to his chest. Lori wrapped her arms around him and felt both of his enfold her tightly.
The elevator slid to a noiseless stop and the doors opened. Slowly, Clark released her, but not in time to escape the eagle eye of Greg. He gave a piercing whistle. "Floor show!" he announced. There was a ripple of applause. Greg added, "I guess it figures, though, with that watermelon you're growing, Lyons."
Lori exited the elevator with pink cheeks and a faint smile. Clark followed her out with a smug grin on his features. "Hey, she's *my* wife, Barker. I plan on capitalizing on that as often as I can. You guys can eat your hearts out!"
The comeback produced more chuckles and a scattering of applause, and someone -- Lori thought it was Andrea -- called, "Right on, Clark!"
John stepped out of his office. "Clark, Lori, may I see you in my office, please?"
When the door of the editor's office closed behind them, John produced a sheet of hardcopy for them. "Here's the stuff on that license. I hope it's helpful."
"So do I." Clark read it over and handed it to Lori. "Honey, do you think you could find the addresses of any of the employees of Connor's gym and compare them with that?"
"You bet." Lori took the paper. "I don't recognize the name, but I suppose that doesn't mean anything. 1256 Willow Street. That's two streets over from Unger. This could be what we need." She exited back into the newsroom and headed straight for her desk.
She had email waiting for her, she saw, which wasn't surprising, since she had barely had time to look at her computer today. Quickly she glanced at it, trashed the spam and checked the remaining five. Anything that wasn't absolutely top priority was going to have to wait.
It was Carla's email that caught her eye, and she opened it at once.
"Dear Ms. Lyons," Carla began with surprising formality, considering her usual buoyant attitude, "here are the preliminary results of my search. I checked the employees of the gym first. I'll email you back with any other information about the members later, if I find any. (See list below).
"The employees of the Hobs Fitness Center that were previously employed by the Metropolis Fitness Center are:
Connor C. Cooper -- no record of arrests.
Paul Harper Brown -- two speeding tickets in the past 2 years. One misdemeanor charge for underage drinking. Fines paid, no follow-up action.
Jacob Warren Prince -- one ticket for littering last year. Fine paid. No follow-up action taken.
Marcella Persephone Evans -- Arrested four times in her teens for shoplifting. Records sealed." Lori lifted her eyebrows at that. She definitely had to get together with Carla. The girl had unexpectedly good hacking skills. Maybe even better than her own. "Arrested at age 17 for setting fellow student's clothing on fire. Record sealed." She and Carla *definitely* needed to get better acquainted, Lori decided. "Arrested for assault on department store security guard during shoplifting incident. Charges dropped for unspecified reasons. Record sealed."
Lori pursed her lips in a low whistle. Below was Marcella's address. 1256 Willow Street. She jumped to her feet, half-ran to the door of John's office and yanked it open without bothering to knock. Both men turned in surprise as Lori burst in, waving the hardcopy. Clark took one look at her face and got to his feet. "What is it?"
"Carla came through." Lori had to consciously struggle to keep her voice level. "We have a match."
**********
tbc
