Superman Movieverse Forum

Title: Family Reunion
Author: Mr. Beeto
Rating: PG-13
Beta: htbthomas and Shado Librarian
Summary: AU Twist on Donner/Singer Movieverse: Tie the three films together into a cohesive whole, and provide a more credible and interesting reason for Superman to have returned to Krypton.

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Author’s Notes:
Thanks again to the remarkable beta team of htbthomas and Shado Librarian, a.k.a. dandello.

Chapter 24 – Connecting the Dots

Friday, September 29, 2006 1:30PM EDT
Superman soared high into the sky, reaching towards the mesosphere above Canada’s Nunavut province and pushing his old escape ship in front of him.  He’d retrieved it from the barn cellar in Smallville and reprogrammed it at the Fortress for a fuel collection mission.  However, there hadn’t been enough energy to perform the modifications there, so it would use the energy in the solar wind to implement the programmed design revisions during the first six hours of its mission.

At the upper reaches of the mesosphere, Superman adjusted his grip on his burden and hurled it beyond Earth’s reach towards its insertion point into solar orbit, eighty million miles ahead and slightly off-center from the sun.  He indulged in a relaxing sun bath as he monitored the ship’s progress and reflected on the day’s surprising events.  He quickly found himself preoccupied with Jor-El’s explanation of the ultimatum from six years earlier and his recent assurances that he would have explained the reasoning, had he been asked.  I wish I’d known, Superman thought.

From his perspective, sacrificing his powers hadn’t been a sacrifice.  Though grateful that he had been able to help as many people as he had, the powers had always been a barrier, separating him from humanity and forcing him into lonely isolation.  In fact, if he’d known it was possible to shed those abilities even before he met Lois, he’d have been sorely tempted.  Thus, when Jor-El had insisted on that as a condition for his planned marriage to Lois, he’d gladly accepted it without debate.  He never asked why or even allowed further discussion of the matter - it hadn’t seemed important.  Trading the powers for a life with Lois had seemed to be a win-win scenario, as far as he was concerned.

How much different would things have been if I’d thought to ask? he wondered.  Or if I’d included Lois on that discussion – she definitely would have asked.  Would we have thought to ask for confirmation of our alleged infertility, and nullified the need to be stripped of my powers?  Or would I instead have left a pregnant wife behind for six years, instead of a lover? And would anything really be that much different now?

He shook himself from his contemplation and ended his sun bath, dropping from the sky and zooming across the hemisphere to Metropolis.  Well, there’s no point dwelling on the past, especially when there is so much work to do, he admonished himself as he recalled the work waiting for him in Metropolis.  It was too late to join Lois at the Vanderworth interview, so he pushed his vision ahead through the walls of Metropolis police headquarters, quickly finding Bill Henderson at his desk.  Hope Bill doesn’t mind a doing a favor for Superman, he thought, and he allowed a sad smile as he accelerated towards his destination and anticipated the confirmation of his intruders’ identities.



Lois was in a coffee shop located a half mile from Star Labs, where she sat staring blankly into space and reflecting on the day’s events while waiting for her two o’clock appointment.  If only I’d known, she thought.  The lunkhead really should have told me, damn it! I wouldn’t have gone through hell wondering what had happened to him and my head wouldn’t have been so badly messed up…  How would that have changed things, I wonder?

“Am I interrupting?” Clark asked quietly.

Lois yelped at the sound of his voice.  “Jesus,” she complained.  “Stop sneaking up on me like that!”

“Sorry, I didn’t meant to startle you,” he apologized.

Lois rolled her eyes with a irritated sigh and asked, “Well, did you get your ‘errands’ taken care of?”

“For now,” he informed her.  “We’re expecting power to be restored up north by this time tomorrow.”

  “Any news on the break-in?” she inquired.

“Well, Henderson reluctantly agreed to scrounge up a fingerprint kit from forensics,” Clark informed her.

“Reluctantly? I thought he was on our side.”

“He is, but he wanted to send a forensic team in for a full investigation of the burglary.”

“What’s wrong with that?  Sounds like a good idea to me.”

“Why bother?  Given our suspect’s legal resources, there’s no way a burglary charge would stick, especially when nobody had been to the place in years.  They’d easily be able to argue that the place seemed abandoned.  Besides, it’s well outside of Henderson’s jurisdiction.”

“And what if some of the prints they’d collect turn out to belong to convicted felons, like the ones who ‘witnessed’ Gertrude’s new will?  Wouldn’t it be a parole violation if you could prove they were up there in Canada?” Lois asked pointedly.  “Parolees aren’t usually allowed to leave the state without prior permission, not to mention the country.  That might at least disrupt that lunatic temporarily and give us time to figure out what he’s up to…”

“…Assuming we can find him…”

“…and maybe even establish culpability if Luthor causes any harm with those crystals,” Lois added insistently.

“I’m still not convinced it would help…”

“…because you don’t want your other self to be seen as a victim,” Lois finished for him.   “It doesn’t fit with the carefully crafted image.  God forbid people think you’re like the rest of us.”

“Not so loud,” Clark complained in a loud whisper.  He sighed and was quiet for a moment before he told her quietly, “Lois, it’s not just about the image.  A lot of people have pinned their hopes on him, and he’d hate to disappoint them by revealing that he is as susceptible as they are to certain mundane crimes like this.”

“That’s a load of crap,” Lois whispered.  “He’s letting his ego get in the way of our investigation.”

“It’s not getting in the way,” Clark whispered back to her in protest.  “When the forensic team finishes processing those fingerprints, we’ll have all we need, since we can’t prosecute them for the intrusion.  Besides, we can’t arrest them for parole violations while they’re still AWOL.”

“Fine, but if it becomes an obstacle, you will let the forensic team do the full workup.  And don’t tamper with the crime scene in the meantime.”

  “I’m really not comfortable with the idea, but I’ll think about it,” he said quietly.  After a moment’s pause, he asked curiously, “So, how’d the interview with Vanderworth go?”

“It was a waste of time.”

“I thought they’d want to help us,” Clark replied in disbelief.

“They do, but there’s a gag order on the case, courtesy of Luthor’s legal eagles,” Lois informed him.  “Harold Junior’s lawyer stopped him from answering most of the questions I asked.  I got the impression that they were more interested in learning what we’d uncovered than helping with our investigation.  I almost forgot who was interviewing whom…  Anyway, the best I got out of him was that he ‘would not dispute’ the statements from the cops at the scene, and he was ‘encouraged’ by the M.E. reopening the case.  In fact, they’re going to file an emergency motion with the court this afternoon for an exemption to the gag order so that they can fully cooperate with the investigation.  They’ll even be including an affidavit from our favorite M.E. director, Tom Wallace.”

“That’s interesting…  I guess it shouldn’t be a surprise that Luthor doesn’t want publicity about this,” Clark concluded.

“It’s not, but it’s damned annoying,” Lois said irritably.  She looked at her watch and added, “Well, we’d better get going if we’re going to make it on time.  I can’t wait to hear what Faulkner has to say.”
 


“Clark.  Lois.  Thanks for coming,” Doctor Faulkner greeted the reporters cheerfully.  She guided them back to her office and added, “We’ve been scanning all morning, and just finishing the last of them.  Come on back.  Let me show you what we’ve got.  Just keep it off the record until I give the okay.”

“Does this mean that you’ve got all of the electron microscope images fully processed for damage ratios now?” Clark inquired.

“Not all of them, just the chips from the Verizon cell towers,” Doctor Faulkner explained.  “They have the highest density across the city, and each installation is virtually identical.  The only apparent variable is the distance from the EMP ground zero.  Unfortunately, that still leaves us with a big search area.”

“I’m anxious to see what you’ve got,” Clark stated politely.  The group finally reached Doctor Faulkner’s office, and the reporters followed her in.

Doctor Faulkner typed in a query at her desktop and brought up a report with the analysis results.  “We’ve categorized all the chips and sorted them by the damage ratio in descending order and identified which towers the most damaged chips came from.  If you map it out…”  She pulled a freshly-printed map from the top of a pile on the credenza behind her and set in on the desk between her and the reports.  The map showed a red semicircle drawn against the waterfront near the bottom of the map.  she added, “…the most damaged towers are inside this arc.”

“I guess you were right about it being in the southeast part of the city,” Lois commented.

“Actually, this area is just a bit north of that,” Doctor Faulkner explained.

“I’d like to try something,” Clark said eagerly.  “Do you mind if I mark this up?”

“Uh, sure.  I can always print another copy,” Doctor Faulkner replied.  “I should have a sharpie around here somewhere…”

  “You noticed something,” Lois stated certainly.  “What is it?”

“I’ll show you in a moment,” Clark promised.

Doctor Faulkner located a sharpie behind her keyboard and handed it over to Clark.   “Here you go,” she told him.  “What have you got up your sleeve?”

Clark drew a short line tangent to the curve at each end of the arc, and then drew a perpendicular line to the center of the circle at the edge of the water.  Lois pointed at the intersection of the two lines and asked, “Is that ground zero?”

“It’s not likely,” Doctor Faulkner answered.  “Clark, we don’t have uniform density on the cell towers, and that curve is an approximation, at best.  The data doesn’t support graphically identifying ground zero by locating the center of the arc.”

“That location is suspicious in its own right,” Clark countered.

“What is it?” Lois inquired.

“It’s One Vanderworth Boulevard,” Clark answered.

“The Vanderworth estate?  Oh, my God.  Luthor,” Lois said grimly.  Clark simply nodded.

“Luthor?  As in Lex Luthor?” Doctor Faulkner asked incredulously.  “Is there something you want to tell me about that?”

Clark and Lois looked at each other briefly before returning their attention to the physicist.  Clark sighed and said quietly, “Off the record, we’ve learned from a reliable source that Luthor may be in possession of some rather advanced…”

“…and stolen…” Lois added

“…technology that could have caused the EMP,” Clark informed her.  “However, the evidence is not conclusive.”

“It will be if a certain someone agrees to cooperate with the forensic team,” Lois stated coldly.  She didn’t notice Clark briefly glance over at her with an annoyed expression.

  “Well, the staff here’s already seen a good deal of the most advanced technologies, and we’re at a loss to explain what could have caused that EMP without a radiation signature,” Doctor Faulkner declared.  “I’d be a little skeptical of your source’s claims.”

“The source has been vetted,” Lois insisted.

  “I’ll need a little more than that if I’m to consider it in my report,” Faulkner responded.

“Could you excuse us a minute?” Lois dragged Clark into the hall.  After a short conversation of heated whispers, the two of them returned.  “We need your word that you won’t repeat what we’re about to tell you,” Lois informed her.  “It’s for your ears only.”

Faulkner nodded her head.  “You have my word.  We’ve worked together often enough over the years that I think we can trust each other… So, what’s this advanced technology your source thinks Luthor stole?”

“It’s Kryptonian,” Clark told her seriously.

“Just like our source,” Lois added.

“I didn’t think he was talking to you,” Faulkner muttered.

Lois huffed and said irritably, “Let’s not go there.”

“This is disturbing,” Kitty concluded.  “But I can’t pinpoint that address as ground zero from our data set, and I won’t skew the data to make it fit.  The best I can do is run some statistical analyses to try to narrow down the ‘probable’ zone to that neighborhood – if the data supports it.  Maybe that will be enough for the authorities to take a look there, considering how they tore through Donner Heights yesterday.”

Clark patiently asked, “Shall I assume that you haven’t released your results to anyone yet?”

“We’ve just barely finished mapping the data as you two walked in.  I haven’t even begun trying to write up the report yet.  Why?”

“I wouldn’t trust the feds with this yet,” Clark advised her.  “If they go trampling over everything like they have everywhere else, Luthor’s legal team will have a field day with it.  To put that lunatic away, we need for the charges to stick, which means the authorities need to go by the book and carefully preserve the evidence.  If you can, I’d like you to hold off sending your report to DHS but advance a copy to Maggie Sawyer at the Special Crimes Unit so that she can work the scene.  Oh, and send a courtesy copy to Bill Henderson, too.  He already knows about the Kryptonian technology theft.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem,” Faulkner agreed and her gaze fell to Clark’s markings on the map.  After a moment’s pause, she asked quietly, “What in the world is that madman up to?”



Friday, September 29, 2006 3:00PM EDT
Superman hovered ten thousand feet above the Vanderworth mansion and focused his vision on the building below, exploring every nook and cranny and methodically searching the structure from top to bottom.  He let out a startled gasp when his vision penetrated to the ground level and revealed the mammoth crystals penetrating the floor.  He pushed his vision through to the basement and took in a wide view of the crystalline creation, recognizing the Kryptonian design behind it.  He stared in disbelief for several minutes before finally resuming his search of the premises.  Every fingerprint was recorded to memory, along with every substance on the site, which he identified by its molecular structure.

Outside the front door of the estate, Lois leaned impatiently against her car, looking up into the sky and trying unsuccessfully to discern Superman where she knew he would be.  “How much longer is this going to take?” she muttered under her breath.

A few minutes later, she was distracted by the flashing lights from a MPD patrol car pulling through the gate, which came to a stop beside her.  Lois recognized officers Patrick Muncie and Vince Reynolds as they climbed out of their vehicle, and offered them a smile as she greeted them, “Hello, gentlemen.  Long time, no see...  Do you know if Maggie Sawyer will be here any time soon?”

“I wouldn’t know, ma’am,” Officer Muncie told her.  “We’re just here to make sure that nobody goes into the property.”

Lois rolled her eyes and reached through her car’s open window for her cell phone.  She punched in the number, and lifted the phone to her ear.  After two rings, and aggravated voice answered, “Sawyer.”

“Maggie, what’s going on?” Lois said pointedly.  “Why have you got a black-and-white keeping everyone out, and where are your guys with the forensics team?”

“Well, hello to you, too, Lois,” Sawyer said sarcastically.  She paused for a beat and added, “Are we off the record?”

“Sure.”

“Judge Jacobsen doesn’t think we have sufficient probable cause for a warrant.  She’s not taking chances with Luthor’s lawyers,” Sawyer explained.

“Whose side is she on?” Lois complained.

“Believe me, she’d like nothing better than to see that son of a bitch go down,” Sawyer informed her.  “She’s just not willing to take a chance that any evidence gets thrown out for an ‘improper search’.  All we have to go on right now is Faulkner’s report, which can’t pinpoint the mansion as ground zero, though it is in the probable zone.  It’s not enough yet.  Make sure the big blue Boy Scout understands that, too, if you see him.  We can’t have him compromising evidence, either.”

“Just what are you suggesting he’d do that’s improper?”

“When they overturned Luthor’s conviction, the appellate court ruled that Superman is subject to the same probable cause standard as us law enforcement officials, and the circuit court is bound by that precedent.  If the court finds out he’s been peeking into things, it could constitute an illegal search and invalidate the evidence found there.”

“You’ve got to be kidding.  He’s not a cop,” Lois complained.  “What’s he supposed to do?  Wear a lead blindfold?”

“No, but he can’t share the unauthorized intel with anyone in an official capacity.  I don’t want to hear a word about what’s inside that house from him until we have our search warrant,” Maggie explained.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Lois exclaimed.  “That S.O.B.’s really perverted the system if it lets him hide from justice like this.”

“Calm down, Lane.  It hasn’t gotten that bad yet,” Sawyer assured her.  “We’re exploring a number of options that could satisfy Jacobsen, and we will nail him - just not this afternoon.  So please make sure that you don’t go polluting my crime scene and don’t go tipping off our suspect with an over-sensationalized story, either.”

“The Planet is more responsible than that, and so are Clark and I,” Lois reminded her.  “If anybody’s going to over-sensationalize things, it’d be your significant other at the Star.”

“You know me better than that, Lane!  I don’t talk shop at home,” Sawyer complained.  “Now, please stay clear of the property and give us a chance to do our jobs.”

“You wouldn’t even be looking at Luthor right now if Clark and I hadn’t started the investigation,” Lois snapped.

“And we truly appreciate your efforts, but we have to do things our way if there’s going to be any chance of putting him away and keeping him there this time,” Maggie replied tersely.

“What do you think we’re trying to do?” Lois protested.

“You’re a reporter, not a cop.  Now please, don’t interfere and stay away from Luthor’s place.  Good-bye, Lois,” Maggie told her as she ended the call.

Lois sighed in frustration and lowered the phone from her ear.  “Ma’am?” Officer Muncie addressed her.  “We’re going to have to ask you to leave the premises.  This drive is technically part of the property – all the way to that gate back there.  You shouldn’t be on this side of it.”

Before Lois had a chance to respond, she heard the chirp that announced an incoming text message.  She looked at the display, and read the short message from Clark:  “Regroup at Office.  Meet you at corner.”

“Ma’am?” Officer Muncie persisted.

“I’m going,” Lois answered reluctantly and she climbed back into her car and pulled away from the mansion.  Clark was waiting for her at the corner just outside the main gate to the estate and she stopped to let him in.

“So what did you see,” Lois immediately asked.

“I didn’t go in past the gate with you, remember?” Clark gently reminded her.  “And if Superman had peeked inside, it would have been an illegal search, according to Maggie.”

“You’re saying Superman didn’t look inside?” Lois asked incredulously.

“Well, if he had looked inside, he probably would have noticed that there was nobody home, and that the missing crystals weren’t there,” Clark suggested.

“Uh-huh.”

“He also might have noticed a twelve thousand cubic foot mass of crystal growth in the basement,” Clark added.

“Crystals?  Like at the Fortress?”

“Similar, though it seems a bit… distorted, maybe?” Clark surmised.  “Obviously, Superman would have noticed fingerprints matching the ones that the intruders left at the Fortress.”

“Obviously,” Lois concurred.

“He might also have discovered a cornucopia of toxins in packaging with much more benign labels, and a plethora of other unexpected substances in similarly misleading containers.  Nearly all of that found inside a huge pile of trash in the garage.”

“How huge?”

“Judging by the contents, I’d say that they haven’t taken the garbage to the street since Luthor moved in,” Clark concluded.  “He probably fired Gertrude’s domestic staff…”

“…because they’d notice him poisoning her…” Lois interjected

“… and forgot to tell his flunkies to take out the trash on pickup day.  They just piled the garbage bags in the garage.”

“It’d be quite a find, if only the cops could get their search warrant,” Lois noted harshly.  “Maybe they’d have enough ‘probably cause’ if you let them investigate your break-in.”

  “I suspect that the M.E. review of Gertrude’s death will conclude that it was homicide, which should give the police all the probable cause they’ll need for a warrant.”

“Nobody’s going to be able to explain that crystal mass, though – not without a statement from Superman,” Lois insisted.  “And if he’s giving them the statement, he might as well allow the forensics.”

“He already discussed that with Henderson and they’ve reached a compromise,” Clark informed her.  “He’ll allow the forensics at the Fortress but it’s only to be used if it’s needed to prosecute Luthor for crimes involving the crystals.  If his other activities are enough to put him away for life, then the Fortress evidence never sees the light of day.  Same for his statement, which he really can’t offer to them until after they get their search warrant and discover that monstrosity.”

“When’s all this going to happen?” Lois inquired seriously.

“Superman’s taking them up to the Fortress at four-thirty,” Clark told her.

“Why wait?  Why not now?”

“Jurisdictional issues,” Clark explained.  “It’ll actually be a Canadian national police lab processing the scene.  Henderson knows someone up there who he swears can be trusted with this.  Anyway, they’ll expedite the lab analysis afterwards, so we should have the thugs ID’d no later than six, probably.  Though, I think we already know who two of them are going to be, since they witnessed Gertrude’s new will.”

“We’ll continue the deep dive with those two goons as soon as we get back, and do the others when the lab results come in,” Lois decided.

Clark nodded absently, and quietly commented, “You know, we’re just seeing the tip of the iceberg so far.  The deeper down we look, the more disturbing this will probably end up being.”

“Yeah, I know, and we’ll try to trace it all back to Luthor somehow… Still, it kind of feels like he won this round,” Lois complained.

“It’s a temporary victory,” Clark assured her.  “We’ll get him in the end.”



Friday, September 29, 2006 5:45PM EDT
Luthor allowed a satisfied smile as he considered the plans that were coming to fruition.  After careful consideration of the Harvard Museum and it’s personal, he devised a brilliant plan to collect the kryptonite that he needed to take out the alien.  He’d also revised his alpha scanner design ahead of schedule and expected to have it on-line in two days time.  Excellent! he thought.  Just a little while longer and the historic Luthor reign will finally begin.  He was disrupted from his thoughts by the sound of Kitty Kowalski’s heels stalking across the ballroom floor.  “The caterers have dinner set up now,” she informed him.

“Are they still on board?” Luthor asked casually.

“No, Stanford sent them away as soon as they finished putting out the food,” Kitty informed her.

“Good.  Please tell Riley to escort our ‘guest’ to the dining room for dinner,” he commanded.  He pulled a shoulder length red wig onto his head and inspected it in a small mirror.

“What are you going to do with her?” Kitty demanded.

“Once her husband delivers our merchandise, we’ll let her go,” Luthor lied.  Kitty doesn’t need to know that this security guard and his wife will be disposed of after I have what I need, he decided.

“Why did you have to grab her?” Kitty asked irritably.

“Efficiency,” Luthor answered condescendingly.  “I don’t expect a small mind like yours to understand.”  You wouldn’t understand the necessity of controlling a reluctant recruit, he thought.  The only way to truly control someone like that is to find out what they love and take it from them.  They’ll do nearly anything you ask of them to get it back, especially if they’re foolish enough to invest all of their hopes on a completely replaceable woman.

“What do you want with that stupid rock anyway?” Kitty persisted.

“You’re still here?” Luthor asked in mock confusion.  “Did I forget to tell you to have Riley escort out guest to the dining room?  No?  Then why am I forced to repeat myself?”

“To hear yourself talk?” Kitty suggested.

“Kitty!” Luthor warned.

“I’m going!” she shouted, turning on her heel and stalking back out of the ballroom.

Luthor rose from his desk to follow her out, but stopped when the cell phone vibrated on the desk.  He picked up the phone and viewed the display.  After identifying the caller as his lawyer, Albert Morrison, he switched on the phone and irritably stated, “I hope this means that you’ve finally done what I asked.”

“Unfortunately, no,” Albert informed him.  “We’ve had some surprises this afternoon.”

“What kind of surprises?” Luthor asked slowly with barely contained anger.

“The medical examiner’s reopened the investigation into Gertrude’s death, citing irregularities with the original investigator’s work.”

“What are you talking about?  They already issued the death certificate.” Luthor inquired impatiently.

“Apparently, the cause of death listed by the original investigator wasn’t legitimate,” Albert explained.

That bitch! Luthor thought.  If she wasn’t already dead, I’d strangle her!

  “The medical examiner’s office has declared the original death certificate invalid and they’re starting the investigation over from scratch,” Albert continued.

“And you never cremated the old hag, like I asked you to,” Luthor stated furiously.

“The body’s still on ice at the morgue,” Albert confirmed.  “Nothing has changed on that front since we last spoke.   The Vanderworths’ have very talented representation.”

  “The will leaves everything up to me.  Cremate the damn body!” Luthor hollered.

“We can’t do that, especially not now.  Her children’s lawyers filed two motions this afternoon, one of which the court had already granted before we even saw it.”

“What!” Luthor complained.  “That bitch judge can’t do that!”

“Actually, she can, and she did.  Motions that enable cooperation with authorities and their investigations are considered routine are practically rubber-stamped,” Albert explained.  “It’s extremely difficult to block in the best of circumstances, and since opposing counsel didn’t deliver a copy of the motion to our offices until four fifty-nine, there wasn’t time to file an objection before the court shut down for the weekend at five.”

  “What’s the damage?”  Luthor demanded to know.

“The first motion, which the court granted, modifies the gag order to allow the Vanderworths to freely discuss the case with authorities investigating Gertrude’s death.  The second motion asks to suspend the probate case until after the medical examiner’s finished their investigation and after any potential police investigation that would follow, should it not be ruled a natural death.  Fortunately, that motion will follow the usual process and won’t be considered until after we file our response…  I suspect that was a ploy to delay consideration of our motion to transfer the estate’s assets to the far more stable international markets and to keep those assets locked in escrow.”

“Why are we still talking about the asset transfer?” Luthor hollered.  “That should have been settled a month ago!”

  “Mister Luthor, as I explained when we started this case, probate cases can sometimes take a very long time to settle.  The Anna Nicole Smith case, which appears to closely parallels yours, took more than eleven years, though I don’t expect this to take nearly that long–” Albert reminded him.

“It had better not!  You won’t have that much time,” Luthor angrily interrupted.

“We’re doing our best to speed things up and we have the precedents from the Smith case on our side,” Albert assured him.  “We’re already working on our response motions, including a demand for sanctions against opposing counsel, which we’ll file with the court first thing Monday morning.”

“Sue the coroner, too,” Luthor insisted.  “It’s too ‘emotionally distressing’ to re-experience Gertrude’s death with them digging everything back up like this.”

  “I’ll try to find case law that supports that, but I wouldn’t hold out too much hope,” Albert informed him.  “The courts grant tremendous leeway to the M.E. when they call a cause of death into question.”

“Find a way!” Luthor screamed and he immediately ended the call, hanging up on his lawyer.  He lowered his head and rubbed the bridge of his head as he considered the unfortunate developments.  That’s my money!  I won’t allow them to keep it from me like this! Luthor thought.

After a couple minutes in thought, he walked around his desk and punched the intercom button. “Stanford!”  he hollered.  “Get down here and bring Grant and Brutus with you.  I have an errand for you after our trip to the museum tonight.”

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