Well here's my revision of part II. The changes are in all caps again. They are also in mixed in the old dialogue, so look for them closely.
If you can't find them, let me know.
Like I had said before on this chapter, it has some history reaserch in it. I took a lot of it out (thanks Desiree!), but let me know if you're still lost.
Despite the changes I'm making in this story, I understand a lot of readers have problems with it. Therefore, if this revision does not work, I will continue to write it, but I will not post.
As much as I would like to share my story, I can't force people to read a story that doesn't work anymore than you can force me to
sacrific the plot I want to write.
However, I also know that there are readers who don't give feedback, because I used to be one. If you would like me to continue to post this story, or you think it could work with minor changes, you need to let me know.
Once again I am looking for HONEST feedback. Don't tell me you like my story just because you feel sorry for me if you don't really mean it. (In case you haven't noticed I have a pet peave about people saying things that aren't true just to make others feel better.)
Thanks to Desiree and Labrat again.
P. S. For those of you who don't like the story, I hope you will keep an open mind about me. I have some other ideas that are very different from this plot.
Lois and Clark nodded and walked to the jeep. Without noticing it, they both grabbed the other’s hand, drawing comfort from each other. “Let’s do this. Let’s search for the Daily Planet. Let’s find out where this lawsuit is coming from and why it exists. Let’s bring the Daily Planet back.” Lois was finding her determination again, her will to never give up. “Bobby Bigmouth?” Lois asked.
“Definitely,” Clark replied. “No! Wait! He told us he would be out of state for a couple of months, remember?”
Lois sighed. “That’s right. How are we supposed to solve this mess with our best informant out of commission? At least we don’t have to worry about feeding him, considering we don’t have salaries. Well, who else can we contact?”
“What about that Dave guy we met a few months ago at the Ace O’ Clubs? His information was accurate.”
“Sure,” Lois replied. “Why not?” They headed for the bar. “Darn, I don’t see him. I thought he told us this place was his second home or something.”
“Well, maybe he will be here in a little bit. Let’s wait for a minutes. This is our only lead.” Clark could hear what sounded like their source from the distance. “I’ll have a coke, please,” he ordered. He didn’t like to drink very much. Not that it actually had an effect on him, but he didn’t want people noticing alcohol on Superman’s breath. Besides, if he drank too much, people would wonder why it had no effect on him. Still, if they were going to meet a source in a bar, he would have to order something.
“Same here,” Lois added. She was also uncomfortable drinking, particularly in a bar. Alcohol always reminded her of her mother. She used to drown herself in liquor, particularly after her father left. Of course, Ellen Lane rarely drank in a bar. She usually preferred the lounge chair. But the smell of liquor was very strong in the bar. She shuddered.
Clark looked at her, concerned. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah, let’s just get a move on this.” They grabbed a table and sat down to wait. A few minutes later, Dave appeared. He was a dark – haired man, wearing jeans and a blue shirt. “Dave,” Clark called, “do you think you could talk to us for a while?” Dave looked thoughtful for a minute and then agreed. He quickly ordered a scotch and sat down next to the reporters.
“Well, the Daily Planet is being sued by Spin Mini – Mart. Apparently something very negative was printed about it, even though Perry doesn’t remember anything about it. He has a memory like a hawk.”
“And their suing us out of nowhere!” Lois continued. “None of us had any warning that this was happening, until today. I’m not a legal expert, but something here feels like it wasn’t done properly.”
Just then, their drinks appeared. Dave became more interested in his scotch than anything else for a few minutes. “Yeah”, Dave replied. “I’ve heard about it. Tough break. Well, the word on the street is that the mini – mart wants the Daily Planet closed, so they can have access to the building.”
“What!” Lois exclaimed. “They want our newspaper building, our Planet, to make another place to buy towels and hardware?!”
“Well…….” Dave paused. “Actually it seems the owner has some kind of vendetta against the Planet Building. Something about some guy named Dragon Eddgy?”
Lois and Clark both gasped. “Dragonetti?” That smooth talking bootlegger from the twenties that Perry had told them about when the Planet was held hostage.
“Well,” Dave said, “I guess you’re familiar with the name. I’ve never heard of it, but whatever.”
Clark nodded. “That’s all we need for now. Thanks.” They both got up.
“Hey”, Dave called, “what about the rest of your drinks?
“You can have them.” Clark replied.
“Just don’t over do it”, Lois muttered, remembering all the times her mother had “overdone it.” But, of course, Dave wouldn’t care. They looked for him at the bar for a reason, after all. It was a good thing it was early enough for him to remember things.
They walked back to the Jeep. “Well, it looks like we’ll have to see Perry and the library, like the others, in our next ‘search for the Planet.’ AFTER ALL, EVEN IF MR. STERN AND THE JUDGE ARE INVOLVED, WE STILL NEED TO KNOW WHY THIS IS HAPPENING, SO WE CAN BETTER DEFEND OURSELVES. WE DON'T WANT TO INVESTIGATE THE JUDGE UNTIL WE KNOW WHY THIS IS HAPPENING AND HOW SHE'S INVOLVED. IF WE LOOK IN THE WRONG PLACES THINGS COULD GET WORSE THAN THEY ALREADY ARE. ” Clark commented. Just as he was about to get in, he heard a cry for help. “Um…Uh….I just remembered I have to pick up some pills for Aunt Opal. See you later.” With that, he dashed off to a nearby alley.
“Why does he always do that?” Lois wondered to herself. Honestly, Clark was a wonderful man, but seriously… her thoughts trailed off. She needed to go to the library, so she could ‘search for the Daily Planet.’
Fortunately for Clark, all Superman had to do was stop a truck without breaks. It didn’t take more than a few minutes and when Lois arrived at the library, he was there as well. It was a three – story building, with a children’s section in the basement, a general reading section, and a research section on the top floor. The ground floor held current issues of magazines and newspapers, as well as microfilmed editions of all the old editions. It also had several tables for group meetings. They easily found Perry and their colleagues sitting at one of these tables near the microfilm machines.
“Well, kids, this is what we have on Spin Mini – Mart so far for the past year. A few advertisements, one letter to the editor about how their prices are too high, and one article about all the new items that they have shipped from Alaska. The only ‘negative’ printing there was that letter to the editor, and that wasn’t even written by our reporters! This is crazy!”
“Well, Perry, one of our sources told us the Mini – Mart just wants the Daily Planet shut down so they can have the building. And something about that bootlegger you told us about, Dragonetti? Maybe they thought there was more money hidden in the Planet Building or something, and they just wanted free rein to look for it.”
“We need you to tell us again what you remember about that man, Perry. And then we’ll have to do some research on this guy. See if we can find a connection between a man that’s been dead for over fifty years and a mini – mart chain from today.
“Great Shades of Elvis! Perry exclaimed. Didn’t we deal with the legacy of that man already? How many villains are going to come back to haunt us?”
Lois and Clark exchanged a small smile. It was good to hear Perry talking about Elvis again, even if it was just ‘great shades of Elvis.’
“Well, like I said, he was a smooth talking gangster who ran an illegal real estate business and a speakeasy in the Daily Planet Building, with the help of a few lieutenants. He used a laundry business as a front.”
“Maybe this is related to one of his other lieutenants. I mean, Willy was only one of the men who Dragonetti had done business with, right? Let’s see if we can find the names of some of the others,” Clark said. He began to read all the Daily Planet microfilmed newspapers from the 1920s. Clark was careful not to let anyone know how fast he went threw the film. He sighed. There was a guy named Murphy, but he was killed. He remembered Willy telling the story of how he was framed for his murder.
Lois, meanwhile, went upstairs and accessed the business directory from the 1920s. She was looking for the laundry business Perry mentioned. Lois figured that his illegitimate business would not be listed on something that was sent to the government, although she would keep an eye out for anything in Metropolis with Dragonetti’s name.
She skimmed through. Murphy…that was the guy that Willy said Dragonetti killed and had him framed for, wasn’t it? Well, then he wasn’t alive anymore, so it was unlikely he was involved. How many of these was she going to have to look at anyway? Lois preferred the active part of investigating, like interviews and breaking and entering. This was so boring! Where was Jimmy when you needed a researcher, anyway? Oh, yeah, Perry had decided that Jimmy should help look for the so – called negative information on Spin mini – mart. Wasn’t Jimmy supposed to be at her beck and call? She sighed. That was unfair. Jimmy wasn’t really hers to command, she knew that. They were all working toward a common goal, to bring back the Daily Planet.
“Wait a minute! What’s this? Reidman’s Automobiles, owned by Jack Reidman, Tim Monteyton, and Pokey Dragonetti! 1926!” So he did have another legitimate business, or at least a front for one. They needed to find out more about these partners of his, and about this automobile business. She headed back downstairs to discuss her findings with the others.
“I found a few people worth checking out”, Lois said as she rejoined the group. She explained about Reidman’s Automobiles.
“That’s funny, I was pretty sure Dragonetti only had the Daily Planet building to do his ‘business’,” Perry remarked.
“Perry, I bet he was like Luthor, you know? He wanted to have other places so he could have more money and power”, Clark replied. “So”, he turned to Lois. He quickly grabbed her hand and squeezed it gently, knowing she was uncomfortable talking about Luthor. “How do we find more about these fellas? I highly doubt we will be able to find much from the old newspapers, because I would have read about them already. Dragonetti probably wanted to leave that relationship a secret.”
“Well…if we can find some letters or something of theirs, or even their contemporaries, that would be ideal, but I wouldn’t hold my breath on finding them. Birth and Death certificates would tell us if they ever changed their names. What about marriage certificates? Maybe the owner of Spin mini – mart, Jacob Taylor, was related to one of them by marriage. And we should look at property, too. Like houses and stuff, I mean. The only thing is, for a lot of that stuff, you need to visit the courthouse. I don’t want to see inside a courthouse for a while. Where else can we find the information we need?” Lois was becoming nervous again. How were they going to get out of this mess?
Clark noticed her anxiety. Under these circumstances, he found humor to be the best medicine. “Well, at least we’re still trying. Still dancing.” He chuckled.
Lois laughed as well. It was nice to relax in such a tense situation. “Why don’t we look upstairs? At least we may find some letters or something by their contemporaries, if we’re lucky.”
Clark’s super hearing kicked in. “Eight – car pileup on the freeway. Three people already injured,” he heard from the distance. Clark groaned. This was going to take a while. Lois, I need to …um…see a neighbor. I think she wants me to fix something.” There, that should buy him enough time. He ran off.
Lois bristled. What could be more important than searching for answers and hence saying the Daily Planet? And did he just say SHE? He was running off to spend time with another woman! Well, she would show Clark. She didn’t need him. She’d found some of Dragonets’ lieutenants all by herself, hadn’t she?
She went back upstairs and searched for letters and diaries of Metropolitans from the 1920s. Two hours later she grumbled. Nothing! Lois couldn’t find anything at all. Now what was she going to do? She was getting hungry. Maybe she should run to the deli nearby and get a sandwich. They had to have something on the menu for her new budget.
A half an hour later she returned to the library. Just as she was about to open the door, Clark appeared. “All set. It’s all set.”
Lois bristled again. “Whatever, Clark. I’m sure you had a nice little time with your neighbor. What’s her name, anyway? I’m sure she’s pretty. After all, you obviously jumped at the chance to spend time with her,” she commented super cheerfully.
Clark sighed, suddenly realizing his mistake. In his rush to help with the pile – up, he needed an excuse that would allow him a few hours. Helping a neighbor fix an appliance sounded perfectly reasonable to a gentleman like himself. But of course, what Lois had heard was that he had left to spend time with a woman. That was not what Lois wanted to hear, particularly when she still seemed unsure about dating occasionally. “Lois, all I did was fix her sink because she asked me to. She needed help. And, for the record, Mrs. Johnson is at least 70!”
She sighed and calmed down a little. Lois was still upset that he’d left her to research herself, but he had obviously not left her to spend time with another woman. Helping an elderly neighbor would seem natural to her boy scout partner. It still didn’t answer why he had left so quickly, though. Whatever.
“Anyway, I couldn’t find any letters or diaries in the library from Dragonetti’s contemporaries. Maybe we should look at another library.”
“Well, maybe we should look at the microfilm section again. Sometimes they have that kind of stuff over there. So they did. They looked over everything for another hour. They were just about to give up again when they noticed something in the far corner. It was labeled ‘Metropolis Records.’ “Clark could this be the birth, marriage, and death certificates we were looking for. Come on let’s take a look.”
Clark followed, glad that Lois seemed to have forgotten about his ‘neighbor’, at least for the time being. They began to look through the microfilm, but Lois quickly noticed the print was much too small to read, even with the magnifier in the microfilm machine. “We need a magnifying glass to read any of this!” She complained. “How are we going to use any of this information if we can’t read it?”
Clark knew he could read if he just used his telescopic vision. But how did he explain that to Lois? “Um, Lois why don’t you let me look at that. I have a really strong prescription, so sometimes I can see things others can’t. Why don’t you look up some information on Reidman’s Automobiles? Even if the newspapers didn’t write about he and Dragonetti’s secret partnership, it probably wrote about the business in general.”
“Sure, fine.” Lois replied. They both began the tedious job of looking through years of newsprint and records, trying to find more information on these people.
“John Reidman born October 2, 1879……….hmmm” Clark continued to peer through his glasses to look for the information.
Lois, meanwhile was finding that Reidman’s car shop was one of the most popular in Metropolis at that time. He was supposed to sell ‘Ford’s with a smile’, as the huge advertisements claimed. There were also several articles about them extending their lot and adding a mechanic. They would have to be popular to afford all that. Although she had to wonder how much of it came from selling cars and how much came from Dragonetti’s illegal gin money.
“Timothy Monteyton, born February 21, 1885…Well, at least we know they were still using their real names. Let’s see what else we can find.” He began searching for marriage certificates, starting with about 1900. That was about the age that either of the men would have been the age to marry, if they wanted. After the next hour, he still wasn’t any closer to finding the connection between Reidman, Monteyton, and Talyor, assuming that there was a connection. Maybe they were looking at the wrong lieutenants. But wait! Did they have any brothers or sisters? Maybe it was their marriages he should be looking for.
Clark looked as far back as 1850. He could find Reidman’s and Monteyton’s, but they didn’t have the same parents as the other two. He started with 1900 and looked forward. There! Calvin Monteyton, born May 23, 1903, with the same parents! Did he get married? He began looking at about 1920, which would be the appropriate time for Calvin to consider marriage. Yes, in 1924 to Tina Baccaks. Okay, did they have children? He looked for about ten minutes before he found a birth certificate for a Nora Monteyton. Good! A girl, that’s just what he was hoping for, because she would have changed her name when she got married. Now he was getting somewhere! So if she got married, say in the late forties or early fifties…Yes! Yes! Yes! There it was, Nora Monteyton married a Benjamin Taylor. Benjamin Taylor was John’s father; most everyone in Metropolis knew that because he went to all John Taylor’s charity events. So John Taylor, the owner of the Spin Mini – Mart chain, was descended from one of Dragonetti’s lieutenants.
He quickly reported the information back to Lois, and she explained what she had found about Reidman’s Automobiles. The both agreed this didn’t prove that Taylor knew about Dragonetti and his legendary millions hiding inside the Daily Planet, but it was a fair possibility. The information on the auto business also didn’t establish that Monteyton used Dragonetti’s illegal money, but it was a fair possibility. They needed to get some more information on this character and what kind of business he did with Dragonetti. Lois and Clark would have to look at his property records and his brother’s. They needed to see whether either or both of the brothers lived beyond their means or if they shared property with anyone.
However, as Lois and Clark looked at the time, they realized that they were probably going to have to wait until tomorrow. The library would be closing in a few hours, and any of the other places that they would be able to find property records would already be closed. Besides, they needed to explain everything they had found to Perry, so he would know how they were coming on getting the Daily Planet back.
“Well, kids”, Perry announced, “We should probably try to rap things up. None of us found much negative information on Spin Mini – Mart. Just more of the same stuff I had mentioned earlier. We’ve been making copies of them. I figure we can use them as evidence in court.” Perry spat out the last word. “So what did you guys find out about Dragonetti and his lieutenants?”
“Well”, Lois replied. “He was one of the partners on Reidman’s Automobiles, along with Tim Monteyton. We found out that auto business did quite well back then, so they probably got illegal money from Dragonetti, but we would like to look at that tomorrow.”
“And”, Clark added triumphantly, “We found the connection between Dragonetti and his lieutenants and Spin Mini – Mart. It seems Monteyton’s brother was John Taylor’s grandfather.”
“Good work, kids. I guess we’d better go home.”
Everyone gathered their things and prepared to leave the library. Lois and Clark walked out together, holding hands without even realizing it. “You know, with all this stress, I could really use a couple of double fudge crunch bars. But with no salary for who knows how long, should I bother?” Lois wondered. “I suppose I could ask my father for money. Some of his research pays off pretty well. But I’d rather do almost anything than that. It will just prove to him what a disappointment I am.” She sighed.
“Lois none of this was your fault, remember? And we will get the Daily Planet back soon. Look at all the leads we got already! This lawsuit is worth nothing, we all know that. And, Lois I think I can spare a dollar to get you some chocolate.”
Lois smiled gratefully at Clark
