Iron Man (vol. 3) #52
Jane Doe, Part 2
Iron Man (Tony Stark) arrived on the scene of a warehouse fire. After rescuing the firefighters trapped inside. Detecting another body in the basement, Tony went down to save them. He was shocked to discover that it is Abby St. Claire, a former sex worker that was living at Haven, a group home that Stark created to help women get out of that dangerous line of work. That’s when the roof collapsed on their heads.
Luckily, Iron Man was able to create a shield with his forcefield to smash his way to freedom. When he hands off Abby to the EMTs who have arrived on the scene, the charge on his mechanical heart has run down. However, this is remedied by a quick zap with the defibrillator. That’s when the paramedic treating Abby reports that she was dead. However, judging from the bullet wound in her chest, she was murdered before the fire.
Soon, detectives arrive on the scene and take Iron Man’s statement. Abby’s murder matches the motus operandai of sex workers that have turned up dead recently. However, the officers refuse to acknowledge that there is a serial killer targeting sex workers. When they refer to Abby as nothing more than a “drug addicted hooker”, Tony becomes furious with them. He tells them that Abby was cleaning up her life and was the survivor of a sexual assault, that she was a person with hopes and dreams. That’s when the cops notice that Iron Man was inadvertedly crushing their car with his hands. Tony has heard enough and leaves, telling the cops to send him the bill.
The following day, Tony Stark has to give another statement in his civilian identity. He tells them how Abby was turning her life around at Haven. She was working on her art and dreamed of becoming the next Georgia O’Keefe. Tony is still upset that the detectives haven’t changed their view of Abby since the night before. Even more outrageous is the fact that they are considering Stark a suspect and ask where he was at the time of the murder. Tony recounts that he was at a business conference until 11 pm that evening. He and his assistant, Pepper Potts, then went over contract drafts until 1 am the following morning. He confirms that the contracts were in the ones that he accidentally left at Haven and had Abby hand deliver to the conference.
Pepper is interviewed next and she confirms that Abby stopped by the conference between 10 and 10:15 pm that evening. They detectives then interview the other party attendees including Jean Claude du Beaubienne, Angiro Shigeta, Thomas Adkins, Randall Johnson, Sr, and his wife Helen. Neither of them offer any useful information, Beaubienne only noticed enough to remark about her appearance. Shigeta and Adkins on the other hand were dismissive of her. However, Thomas’ assistant, Mary Reilly, remembers everything vividly. She recalls that Tony introduced Abby to everyone and recalls how Tony mentioned her talents as an artist. She also corroborates what Tony told the detectives. After she gives her statement, her boss — Thomas Adkins — remarks that she would know details of people’s lives because she has one of her own. Although Reilly is regularly the subject of Adkin’s barbs, this deeply hurts her and she flees the room in tears. Helen berates Thomas for being such a dick to his assistant. Neither he, nor Beaubienne, or Shigeta understand how what was wrong.
This concludes the detectives interview, they tell Tony that they have concluded that Abby’s death is linked to her past as a sex worker. They have drawn this conclusion based on witness statements and ballistics that match the gun that killed Abby to other sex workers who have been murdered recently. Tony is still annoyed that they can’t look past the fact that Abby was more than just a sex worker and hopes that this doesn’t cloud their ability to solve the case. Later, the two detectives find themselves hard pressed to make any conclusions. Particularly since their commanding officer wants them to avoid stating that there is a serial killer on the loose targeting sex workers.
That evening, Mary Reilly is thrown out of the top floor of the office building she works. When the police arrive on the scene, they call everyone they interrogated earlier that day to get statements. Tony is questioning how this ties in to Abby’s case when one of the detectives comes out with a laptop. On it is a suicide note, allegedly written by Mary, saying that she ended her life because she couldn’t handle the constant abuse from her boss.
This strikes Tony as suspicious and he decides to do his own investigation. The first place he goes is to Abby’s parents. As it turns out, Abby had called them before her murder. They play back her final recording where Abby tells them that she is leaving the convention and returning to Haven to check on the new girl. There is no indication that there was anything wrong. When Tony goes to leave, Abby’s mother thanks him for everything they did for their daughter. Stark then goes to Haven and questions the cook. She remembers that Abby did return to Haven around 10:30. By that point, the new girl — Shelly — had already left. Abby then waited to see if Shelly came back. When she didn’t show after midnight, Abby headed for home.
Tony then goes upstairs to where all of Abby’s paintings are. When he sees all of paintings of half-remembered memories of Abby’s attacker, Tony wants to know who he was and smashes the photo. That’s when Shelly makes her presence known. She decided to come back to Haven after she heard on the street that Abby was murdered. Her death makes Shelly think that there is no escape from her life. Tony tells her not to believe that and promises that he will not rest until Abby’s killer is brought to justice.
That evening, Shelly is out on the streets again and is picked up by John. The man is driving a fast sports car and doesn’t give his name when she asks for it. She suggests they go to a fancy hotel in downtown Manhattan she uses. The man instantly recoils because that is the same hotel he is staying at. He starts getting physical when, due to the poorly lit street, the shadows fall on her John’s face in such a way that he resembles the man who attacked Abby years ago. However, the man doesn’t harm her for long as Iron Man arrives and rips the roof off the car. He instantly recognizes the attack as Randall Johnson, Sr.
Tony has managed to piece it all together and used Shelly as bait to catch Randall in the act. He started working backward from the murder of Mary Reilly. He figured that with her impeccable memory she would have noticed Johnson recognized Abby at the conference. Rather than reveal this, he figured she tried to blackmail Randall. Instead, Randall killed her and made it look like a suicide. From there, Stark compared Johnson’s world travel history with Interpol’s record of unsolved murders of sex workers. Iron Man was able to match Randall up with seventeen murders. After he tells Randall of this, someone corrects him, saying it was 30 victims.
When Iron Man turns to see who this is he is shocked to discover that it is Randall’s wife Helen. Worse, she has a gun to Shelly’s head. As it turned out, Randall wasn’t responsible for killing the sex workers, she was. Her husband’s sex addiction and his taste for young women put her dreams of becoming the First Lady at risk. In order to prevent a scandal or blackmail, Helen would murder every woman he slept with. In order to protect the Johnson family legacy, Helen she fatally shoots her husband. Iron Man uses this opening to rocket past Helen and pull Shelly to safety. Then, before Iron Man can stop her, Helen puts the gun to her head and pulls the trigger.
Recurring Characters
Iron Man, Pepper Potts, Randall Johnson, Jr., Helen Johnson, Jean Claude du Beaubienne, Thomas Adkins, Anjiro Shigeta, Mary Reilly
Topical References
Various characters use dated terms to describe sex workers in this story. Terms like prostitute, hooker, and whore. These are considered by many (particularly those in the sex work industry) as derogatory and dehumanizing. Since these are used by characters who view sex work in a negative light and are corrected, the usage here wouldn’t be considered topical as the purpose of this story is to highlight the dangers associated with sex work and humanize the victims of violence in that industry.
Abby St. Claire says that she wants to become the next Georiga O’Keefe. O’Keefe is a celebrated artist who died in 1986. She was considered a legend in 1920.
One of the detectives compares the killer in this story to Hannibal Lector. Hannibal Lector is a fictional serial killer who is a recurring character in a series of novels by writer Thomas Harris. He first appeared in the 1981 novel Red Dragon. The character was popularized by actor Anthony Hopkins who played the role of Lector in the 1991 film adaptation of the 1988 novel Silence of the Lambs. Hopkins has reprised the role in the film adaptations Hannibal (2001) and Red Dragon (2002).
The St. Claire family is depicted as having a physical answering machine. While you can still buy one of these, voice mail has become the dominant method of leaving messages. As this is a technology in decline its appearance here should be considered topical.
The hotel that Randal Johnson is staying at is identified as the Four Seasons Hotel in midtown Manhattan. This hotel has been in operation since 1993. However, this shouldn’t be considered topical as this is a real world brand of hotels.
