Part Twenty-Three
“Monsieur Daae, the Coq au Riesling is prepared; all you need do is warm it when your wife returns.”
“Merci Cozette, bonsoir.”
Only minutes after the cook departed, a gentle knock was heard on the heavy red oak door of the fashionably appointed townhouse of Lana and Gregory Daae.
“Entrer!” Daae called out, thinking it was Cozette who might have forgotten something. He walked to the door and ignoring the security panel opened it. Arianna Luthor stood before him wearing a salmon colored pantsuit and a very contented expression on her face.
“Mon dieu!” He muttered darkly.
Ignoring his remark, she walked past him, trailing a cloud of Chanel No. 5 perfume and said, “Don’t concern yourself Gregory; this is a business meeting … for the most part. After all, I can’t very well be seen at DMG, now can I?”
“So you come to my home?” His tone was cool, but there was an edge to his words.
She sniffed the air with appreciation. “Ah, Cozette has not lost her touch.” She turned and with a false smile said, “Yes, it is the perfect place for us to meet. So much has happen since the last time I was here.”
She spoke in a flippant tone that annoyed him. The last thing he needed right now was for Lana to arrive home early and demand to know what Lex’s wife was doing here. The first months of their marriage had been an adjustment, but it was a pleasant adjustment, even surprisingly so. The untimely arrival of his former lover would disturb that peace and he realized that was something he preferred not to have happen.
Arianna entered the living room and noticed several changes in the décor, most notably; the bar was replaced with a handsome maple wood bookcase filled with well-thumbed volumes on Roman and French history and archaeology. One shelf was reserved for two photographs in expensive, carved wooden frames, both of Gregory and Lana. In one they are standing in front of an antique blue fountain, Lana wore a knee-length white lacy dress and clutched a simple bouquet of roses. This must have been in Zurich on the day of their wedding. Another was taken with Gregory wearing a classically tailored black tuxedo and Lana in her sheath wedding gown, obliviously taken at the Lexor on the day of their Reaffirmation ceremony.
In both pictures the bride and groom's smiles radiated happiness. Their blissful expressions like a knife in her heart, which confirmed what her mind knew all along. Any thought or plan she devised to end this marriage was doomed to failure. However, she would broach that subject with him once their business was concluded.
She continued speaking, but not in the haughty manner with which she had began. “I see Lana has made some much needed updates, this is no longer the home of a confirmed bachelor. Nonetheless, I am so glad to see the red leather couch is still here.” So saying, she walked over and gracefully sat down upon it.
Daae’s cold blue eyes narrowed suspiciously behind the steel wire frames as they followed her and said, “Do not get comfortable. State your business. I would assume Jasper is still providing weekly updates on the number of LexCorp stock he has purchased?”
Arianna studied his face and said, “Yes, the dear man has been very prompt sending over those reports. He always makes certain neither Lex nor Nigel is around to intercept them. At the current rate you – or rather DMG - will own fifty-four percent of LexCorp in a few short weeks. Congratulations. Our goal is getting near.”
The faintest hint of a smile played over his thin lips, “True, DMG’s takeover of LexCorp would have happened, but not as quickly without your ‘cooperation’. Mr. Templar has also been a considerable … asset.
“That is exactly the reason why I am here; to discuss the second half of my payment.”
Daae sat on the chair opposite the couch. “Oh? As far as I know you have not received the first half.”
“I have been mulling over what would hurt him the most and serve me best.” She pulled off one of her gold teardrop earrings and began rubbing it between her hands. Gregory remembered that this was a nervous habit, one she had attempted to control, but with limited success. “Of all of the companies and corporations Lex has under his control, none are as significant to him as LNN. Once he realizes LexCorp is no longer his, I want to inform him that I own the controlling interest in LNN.”
“Plunge the jagged dagger in, to the hilt, and then turn?” He wanted to add ‘Lady Macbeth’, but did not dare.
Her large brown eyes crackled with excitement and she said, “Exactly.”
With a dry chuckle he responded, “My dear, it is a miracle Mindy Church survived your wrath.”
The beautiful face became cold and hard, her small hand formed into a tight fist around the earring, “That brainless strumpet did everything in her power to humiliate me. If she wishes to continue breathing, returning to the state of New Troy would not be in her best interest.” Arianna took a moment to compose herself and then continued, “So, do we have an agreement?”
Daae nodded, she could have the controlling interest of LNN, but he would be the power behind the woman.
“Excellent, I want that in writing.” She reached into her bag and procured a thick sheaf of papers.
Daae cocked an eyebrow, but again controlled his expression and said, “You don’t trust me?”
“No, of course not, this little transaction shall be nice and legal. I have not survived five years of marriage to Lex without learning a thing or two.”
Without saying a word, Daae took the papers and studied them carefully. “A contract of this complexity cannot be just signed and handed over to you. Who wrote up this agreement? The last thing we need is for our ‘arrangement’ to become common knowledge, - the legal complications could lead to federal prison … for you.”
She ignored his comment and said, “Don’t worry; Sheldon knows how to keep his mouth shut.”
“Ah Bender, that maggot gives lawyers a bad name. Nonetheless, allow me to go over these papers in detail and if they meet with my approval, only than, shall I sign them.”
Arianna stood up, signaling the meeting was coming to an end. “Very well, but that is my price for brokering this deal.” She walked over to him, as she had done months before, but not with the stride of a seductress, she was gathering strength for some momentous exertion and said. “One last thing ...”
Daae quickly looked at the clock over the mantelpiece; Lana would be home any minute. “Yes?” he said with more than a hint of impatience in his voice.
“I am sorry all those years ago for causing you pain. As a person in my profession, it is my job to look beyond the façade to the person beneath. Anyone can see how much Lana means to you. Never, in the future, shall I try to meddle in your relationship with her. If I hadn’t been so thoughtless this could have been my home rather than hers, bon après-midi, dear Gregory.” With that she turned, posture erect, head held firm and high like a goddess and exited the house.
Stunned, he watched as she stepped into her limo, closed the door and drove away without a single backwards glance.
“Au revoir, ma cherie,” he whispered, certain that a once joyous element of his life had finally ended.
Ten minutes later Lana entered the house. She called out, “Gregory! I’m home! Something smells delicious! Thank goodness, because I am ravenous. Cozette is worth every penny we pay her!”
Her husband appeared in the foyer, a welcoming smile on his thin lips.
“Good evening, leibling. Dinner will be served in a minute. Please, join me in a glass of wine?” He handed her a chilled glass of white zinfandel.
Gratefully Lana took the glass and sat down on the couch, sipped the delicate wine and allowed the cares of the workday to fade into the background. Suddenly her nose detected a scent of perfume; she knew it was not hers or Cozette’s. Gradually she remembered on whom and when she had last smelled that scent, it was during a private dinner at the Luthor’s. She sat up straight and said, “Gregory, who of our acquaintances was here this afternoon that wears Chanel No. 5?”
***
Lois weaved around the tables and patrons of Café Americana’s dinner hour. The insistent grumbling of her stomach was a signal that could not be ignored. She was starved, but filed the thought away when she saw Clark’s smiling, handsome face. He was sitting at a table close to the back, obliviously not eager to have people see him with Lois. Since the legal talent on both sides of the case might think they were in collusion. She couldn’t care less about that. How were they going to prove his innocence if they didn’t work together on this?
Lois came over; she barely gave him a chance to speak before she started babbling, “Clark, it is so good to see you! Now tell me, where have you been? Back home visiting Uncle Wayne?”
He stood to greet her, gave her a hug and when they sat down he answered, “Yeah, it would have been great, but since I’m on - suspension, the old wallet can’t handle the cost of a round trip plane ticket to Kansas right now.” He winced internally, at the mild deception. He had visited Uncle Wayne twice since his departure from the Daily Planet. If he could not get there on his own, it would have been foolish to strain his funds.
Remembering her friend’s situation, Lois flushed slightly, mumbling, “Sorry, I forgot.”
Before Clark could answer a familiar voice piped up. Uncle Mike said,
“Clark, my niece told me to expect you. It’s been awhile since you and your friends were here. What are you eating? I know Lois is going to have a Cobb salad.”
“A Cheeseburger with steak fries would be great Mr. Lane.”
Nodding he said, “Yeah, I knew that was what the order would be ... don’t even have to write it down. You need to slow down eating this kind of food all the time. It’ll catch up with you one of these days!”
Clark’s face colored, but wisely he said nothing.
“Thanks Uncle Mike, he needs to be reminded at least once a day. Where’s Aunt Rita?” Lois asked looking for her favorite aunt.
“Oh, someone is moving into the old consignment store across the street. Her name is Grace Chen; she’s opening up a yarn shop, calling it Rhapsody Knits. Rita went over to drop off a basket of baked goods and some chai tea for Grace and her husband.”
Lois shook her head in wonder, the long brown hair moved gently around her face, “She’s amazing, always thinking about others.”
“Yeah, that she is. Get comfortable, I should be back in a few minutes with your orders.”
Mike hurried away to fill their orders. Lois turned to her companion and said, “So you come here often?”
Her question was rewarded with one of Clark’s heartbreakingly beautiful smiles. Lois thought to herself how much she missed seeing that each day in the newsroom. “Actually yeah, Pete, Skip and I used to come here on Friday nights for dinner before heading out to see a game. The food’s great and your uncle and aunt treat their regulars like family.”
“For a guy who cooks as well as you do that’s a compliment.” Lois was suddenly nervous, this felt more like a date than getting together with her former partner. From the sounds of it, Clark needed to find work; unemployment definitely could not be covering all of his expenses. Metropolis was one of the most expensive cities in the state of New Troy. But with the information Stacy and Jack had managed to dig up, that situation might change very soon. “Listen Clark, if you need any money, I can loan you some until you get back to the bullpen.”
Touched that she would make such an offer but embarrassed that she felt the funds were needed, Clark responded kindly, “Hey, things aren’t that bad! It’s only been a few days. Everything will be OK. Now wasn’t there something about note comparing we had to do?"
Lois breathed a mental sigh of relief – she needed him to get back to the bullpen - and dived into her briefcase and pulled out a manila file. Heedless of the glasses and silverware she opened it and yanked out a few pages. “Stacy and Jack earned their pay this week! See, this is a list of companies owned by DMG some of them are real companies while others are shells. This one,” Lois pointed to a spreadsheet on the bottom of the second page. You see TresAx is a company that is owned by Sterling Securities which is a shell company for …”
“DMG!” Clark said in surprise.
Pleasure lit up her brown eyes, “Exactly! Gregory Daae found out about your sources after Ralph hacked into your computer and used that information to get all of you fired. I’ll bet Guerin really was doing all that illegal tax stuff, but somehow found a way to bury the information.”
“If Stacy and Jack can find out about this, so can Preston Carpenter.”
Lois’s face lit up, this is why she had gotten into investigative reporting, to bring the truth to light. “That’s not all I discovered, Sylvia Nygaard is an alcoholic and she’s guilty of everything from embezzling funds to lying to you about what was going on in her department. She threw herself in with Sylvester and his partner thinking if she turned state’s evidence all her other crimes would be forgiven.”
Never one to be gleeful about the downfall of a person’s life, Clark shook his head sadly, “Sorry to hear that.”
His partner nodded in agreement. “Yeah, you three have to distance yourselves from her, she is bound to taint your case. We need access to some of TresAx files. Any good lawyer would throw out the fact that TresAx is owned by DMG. Let’s face it, that’s a pretty thin line.”
Clark suddenly became very still, his brown eyes normally so honest and trusting were hurt and sorely troubled. The pain reached deep inside, when he spoke the attempt to hide the bitterness failed. “Not as thin as you might think. Daae is doing his best to discredit me; after all, I did date his wife. I was even planning on asking …”
His partner broke in and particularly growled, “No. Don’t you get it Clark? He’s doing this to get at us!”
“Maybe,” Clark said, “but I don’t think so. Although there was someone there on the day Todd was fired, Jasper Templar …”
Her brows knitted in concentration, “Templar? Why does that name sounds familiar? Maybe I should have Stacy and Jack do a little research on him, see what over lizards slitter out from under that rock.”
“No! Don’t get them involved. Templar is dangerous and plays for keeps.
Lois was surprised by the anger and fear in Clark’s voice. She was about to question him when a waiter set their food in front of them.
***
“Arianna Carlin-Luthor.” Lana blinked in surprise. She’d suspected as much, but to face the reality was frightening.
“But … why would she be here? Did she have some papers to give you from her husband?”
A humorless laugh which sounds more like a bark erupted from Gregory, “For all of Lex’s faults, he would never ask his wife to act as a messenger regarding LexCorp business matters.” Gregory stared into his wine and for a moment seemed to have shut out his wife’s obvious concerns. He weighed matters and decided a half-truth was better than drawing her irrevocably into his ‘murkier’ business affairs.
“Arianna and I had personal enterprise to discuss.”
His wife’s eyes widened, thinking about the French word. “What sort of enterprise did she have to discuss that could not take place in your office?”
“Cheri, she and I were once amoureux.”
“Lovers? Once?” Lana said softy.
“Oui, it was a long time ago. She chose her husband over me. Sweet Lana, there is nothing to fear. Arianna has known for many years that my heart … my affections are no longer hers. Now they are directed elsewhere and are only for my wife.”
The expression on his face was one of pain and deep regret, she wondered if he was regretting losing Arianna and being married to her. Lana sat on the couch; the wineglass in her hand forgotten. Marrying Gregory so quickly was mad, impetuous, but her desire for the good things in life had outweighed any sense of responsibility. Clark, old friends, yes even her parents had silently questioned the wisdom of marrying a stranger. But their fears and concerns were unfounded; over the past few months she had come to genuinely rely upon Gregory and their relationship was gradually shifting from one of convenience to one of fondness.
There was more at work here than her providing him with an heir and his funding of an archeological dig.
Now that relationship was facing its first test of fidelity.
She sighed and responded, “Trusting you is simple Gregory, but not her. Promise me to limit your contact with the Luthors in the future?”
His eyes, normally devoid of emotion sparked something cool, yet amusing. As if he was concealing a private joke. “I can promise you that soon, very soon, before we return to Zurich, the Luthors will not be a problem.”
A long breath escaped from the depths of her lungs that she did not realize she was holding in, Lana put down the wineglass, stood up, walked over to her husband and wrapped him in her arms.
***
Once the waiter had placed the food before them and departed, Lois raised the question. “Who is this man Templar and why are you so afraid of him?”
Caught off guard by the directness of her question, Clark fired back a little too quickly, “Afraid? What makes you think that?”
“Oh I don’t know, maybe because the simple mention of his name has your eyes darting about the room like an escaped felon! Honestly Kansas, you’re studying every diner - like we were being watched!"
Clark lowered his voice and said in a tone that brooked no argument,
“Jasper Templar is a dangerous man. What’s worse is he’s a dangerous man who is a close associate of Gregory Daae. That alone should make us cautious. Stacy and Jack are just kids that don’t need to be in his sights.”
Although somewhat taken aback by Clark’s vehemence, his partner backed down. Besides, he was right. Since this man worked with Daae … who knew just what he was capable of? “Look, Jack and Stacy won’t step outside their cubicles to run a search on this man. They know how to track somebody down without being detected via computer. They want you back at the bullpen as much as I do. So this isn’t just about you. We are all in this together! Daae will do anything to bring us and the Daily Planet down! After researching his methods for three years it’s painfully obvious his perfectly manicured hands are all over this! Manipulation of the media to further his ends is a Daae trademark.”
The two stared at each other. They were working together again. Lane and Kent against the bad guys, just as it should be. Clark smiled, how he missed this! “Okay, so where do we go from here”
“First up: Ralph Lombard. We catch him handing over my bogus files. To whoever is handling him.”
“But I thought he was in jail? Clark said in surprise.
“No, Perry was adamant about catching him in the act. Proof, cold hard facts that’ll stand up in court, no matter what tricks that slick lawyer Sebastian what’s-his-name tries to pull. Most important of all: we need to clear you name.”
The noise of the restaurant, even her words died away as Clark studied the beautiful woman sitting before him; as the passionate energy of her convictions ignited a brilliant flame from within. How he wished that energy … that passion was directed toward himself. Even though their professional relationship had been shattered by outside forces, Lois Lane was battling to regain that partnership. He resolved that as soon as this nightmare came to an end he would open his heart to her as he had never with a woman before...
“Kansas! Hey Kansas, are you listening to me?”
“What?! Oh of course Lois … Perry. Cold hard facts.”
She gave him an odd look then continued. “Yeah, like I said, we covered our bases. Jack caught him on camera going through my computer. Ken knows exactly what files were removed and Henderson is having Ralph’s phone at work bugged. You should have seen how fast James Olsen signed the paperwork to have all that done! Boy, I tell you, he was ready to go down there and fire that sewer rat personally!”
“Hopefully this will be done soon so I can get back to work. Maybe the others can get on with their lives as well.” He said this sadly.
Noticing his downcast look, Lois decided to change the subject. With a mischievous smirk she said, “You know, it was fun to have Superman come over and ask me to help.”
Clark caught the look and said nervously, “Do … do you like him?”
Catching a hint of jealousy Lois countered with “Uh, no, but I thought it was sweet of him to want to help. He’s a good friend Clark, to you and maybe in the future - even for me. Right now, with this investigation we need all the help – super-powered and otherwise - that we can get.”
Across the street a man wearing a Metros baseball cap pulled low over his face and a woman with long blonde hair and sunglasses observed them with eagerness. They turned to each other and smiled.
The woman said wistfully, “Watching them brings back so many memories.”
“Yeah, honey it does. Let’s hope he doesn’t make the same mistakes.”
He could sense the woman beside him was rolling her eyes in exasperation and he could not help but smile.
