Previously...
“Bennett was found guilty but had the conviction over-turned on appeal. It turned out a subordinate, Ian Miller, had been laundering money, leaking company information in order to cash in on the stock market, and other illegal activities. Miller eventually killed a man who had found out about him and then framed Bennett for the murder.
“I was inexperienced. I should have looked into the case more thoroughly, I just didn’t… I just didn’t *do* enough.” Alice struck the coffee table in frustration, causing the coffee mugs to jump.
“Perry missed out on his promotion and was taken off another story he was working on at the time. The guy who got it ended up with a Kerth. It was a double whammy.” Controlling the frustration and anger she felt from reliving her greatest failure, Alice looked up from the table and looked Lois squarely in the eye.
“Now that you know why Perry didn’t tell you about Luthor,” Alice paused, staring directly at Lois. “What exactly is your relationship with Lex?”
Alice hadn’t missed a thing.
****************
And Now...
Stalling, Lois looked about the tastefully decorated apartment, taking in the many photos of the White family. Never would she have imagined her trip to Perry’s turning out like this. She certainly had not expected it would be Alice backing up Superman’s claims about Lex.
Lois’ emotions had taken a roller-coaster ride from being numb, shocked, humiliated, and finally full-fledged anger. She was the top investigative reporter for the biggest newspaper in the world… or had been. And yet that *rat* had completely fooled her! Well no more. That slimy, despicable, detestable, sleazy, lying, egotistical, pompous, two-faced, silver-tongue *snake* was about to find out what happened when they tried to make a fool out of Lois Lane!
Looking down at her notepad, filled with the information Alice had given her, a plan formed in her mind. To bring down Lex, Lois would need a place to start, and Alice presented an opportunity to do just that. Swallowing her pride, she answered Alice’s question.
“Lex proposed to me the day before the Planet blew up. I’m supposed to give him my answer today.” She felt sick. How could she have even considered it?
“Oh, Lois, I’m sorry. I knew you were dating him, but I didn’t think it was that serious, that you had feelings for him…. I should have kept my mouth shut. I’m not sure why I told you what I did. I haven’t told anyone about Lex since John died.”
“No, I’m glad you did.” Lois scowled, “I can’t believe I was fooled by that maniac! And to think I was even considering his proposal.” Lois shivered as she thought of what it would have meant to become Mrs Luthor. It was not a pleasant idea.
Refocusing her thoughts, Lois laid her hand on Alice’s arm and asked gently, “Who’s John?”
*******************
Alice considered Lois. Perry was always bragging about his top investigative reporter, not as openly as some might, but Alice knew Perry well enough to read between the lines. If half of what he raved about Lois was true, then she might just be the person Alice needed.
For years Alice had tried to find a way to stop Luthor, never with any success. Sitting here with Lois, a plan was beginning to form in her mind; this could be the opportunity she had been looking for.
Her mind made up, Alice plunged into a story no other person had heard before.
“John was my partner at the D.A.’s office six years ago. I had told him for years about my suspicions about Luthor, and he too could see the pattern. I had more legal experience in dealing with Luthor, but John had a much more personal knowledge of how Luthor worked.”
Lois nodded encouragingly, as Alice continued once again to revisit painful memories from her past.
“John’s wife was a secretary for one of Luthor’s scientific companies. She had seen some documents which worried her about the ethics of a study the company was undertaking. It was something to do with using children in an orphanage to experiment on some sort of new drug. John’s wife secretly made copies of the documents and showed them to John, hoping he could do something about it.
“He tried, but before anything could come of it, both he and his wife died in a car accident – failed brakes. All of the documents and notes were stolen in a break-in at the D.A.’s office. It was only by chance that I found some of John’s notes down the side of a filing cabinet. If not for those, then I would not have known about the company or the experiments. I had thought it was strange that John’s brakes would fail a week after being at the mechanics, but seeing those documents made me realise what lengths Luthor would go to protect his companies and himself.
“Unfortunately, other than give me a brief idea of what was going on, there wasn’t enough information in the notes to go after the company or Luthor. Since then I haven’t dared to tell anyone else about my suspicions. It’s just too dangerous.”
Alice put her hands around her empty mug in an attempt to stop her from shaking. It was a huge gamble she was taking. Not only from the possible physical danger she was putting herself and Lois in, but the emotional gamble of telling someone about her problems with Perry. This divide in their relationship, brought about by the Bennett case, and widened by so many little disagreements throughout the years of marriage had haunted her for so long. The hope of proving Luthor was a criminal, and thereby justifying her in Perry’s eyes, lingered in Alice’s mind. She loved Perry so much, but the years of having her judgement questioned, of the accusations of petty jealousy over Luthor’s money or success had worn her down. Why didn’t he just believe her, trust her? She had apologised so many times for being wrong about Bennett, why couldn’t Perry accept that she had made a mistake, one mistake? In a way her differences with Perry weren’t even about Bennett or Luthor, it was simply that she wanted, no needed someone to love and support her, no strings attached.
Sighing, Alice looked up from the dregs of her coffee cup.
Lois’ mouth was set in a firm line. Those who knew her well knew Lois was in her ‘Mad Dog Lane’ mode. No more weeping over broken hearts or caped men. Luthor had to be stopped.
“Alice, I need your help.”
