Notes : Well, combining the minimal response with the last response, I'll probably take the hint and write this experience off as a nice idea left unfinished :). insert subtle attempt at wry sarcasm here Please… forgive me if I profaned the review functionality by responding to MaK's comments, I'm not a local and I didn't realize the natives had taboos =O end of subtle attempt at wry sarcasm Any community time I've spent on the web has always been in forums where lack of acknowledgement is actually fairly impolite. If anyone does want me to continue then please, drop a comment, if not I'll simply post the last portion of the first chapter in it's current state and say goodbye.

Shadows : Chapter 1c (last part of chapter 1)

Chloe kept her voice cheerful and friendly with a healthy dose of inquisitiveness thrown in for spice. Smallville wasn't quite so tiny that everyone knew everyone else, but it was close, and in this case she'd known who she needed to. The owner of the relevant hotel was a friend of her father's and had been more than happy to break up a long and stressful day with a phone call from Gabe's charming daughter.

He'd been very helpful, a true fountain of information. The police had apparently questioned each and every guest in the hotel, and Mr. Finn had overheard them giving out instructions to stay in town. His satisfaction at that had been almost palpable, while the situation was stressful it had also become profitable and he needed the money. The police had also spent a long time checking out the bus but had, apparently, left the crime scene intact. Another interesting point was that one of the officers had rented a room facing the parking lot and Mr. Finn hadn't seen him since.

Bait? Chloe wondered if they really thought the killer would go back to check out his handiwork. She was fairly sure criminals were only that incompetent in movies. Then again it was Smallville; home to lots of meteor rock weirdness but very few conventional mysteries. Movies might be all they had for inspiration.

A knock on the door prompted Chloe to quickly end the conversation. She felt a brief flash of guilt before turning around. Of course she had every right to ask questions, that's what reporters did, but on the other hand she had specifically told Clark that she would wait.

It wasn't Clark who had knocked. That brought both relief and disappointment.

Relief… uh oh, snap out of it Chloe, Clark won't be mad at you just for a phone call. He's a puppy dog, remember? Or maybe a cross between a puppy and a big German shepherd guard dog… No, that image didn't work at all…

"Hi Chloe. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…" Lana Lang stood just inside the door and watched Chloe's attention shift from phone, to internal contemplation, to Lana in only a second. It was actually fairly impressive. "Is now a bad time?"

Chloe blinked. "Um, no, Lana come in. You just caught be by surprise." She paused for a second, took a breath, and started over. "Hi Lana, what can I do for you."

"I was actually looking for Clark, I needed to talk to him about something. I thought he might be here." Lana felt slightly hesitant, after what she'd seen at the Talon she figured that Chloe might be in possessive mode. Lana really couldn't blame her if she was. She'd been fighting off those kinds of feelings herself and she didn't even have a right to them.

Chloe processed the information in a series of discrete steps. Lana needed to talk to Clark. No need for panic, they were friends. She probably just wanted to talk about Whitney and his father. Clark had been spending lots of time with Chloe recently but that was no reason for her to expect him to just abandon Lana completely. Statistically a large percentage of relationships were ruined by clinging tendencies and she didn't want to go there. Right?

Chloe wondered briefly where exactly her brain had dug up that particular 'statistic' but decided that, in the scheme of things, it really didn't matter.

"Um, actually he must not be out of class quite yet. He told me he'd come here right after last period." Chloe congratulated herself, definitely good work. Convincing and without any claws, she could have a relationship and still not succumb to any of the multitude of horrific girlfriend stereotypes. She made a closer assessment of Lana and noticed that she looked a little upset. "Is everything ok?"

The concern was real, even Chloe had to admit that Lana was impossible to dislike. She didn't have a mean bone in her entire body.

"No, I'm fine. But thanks." Lana made an effort to smile, hoping for increased credibility. "Can you tell Clark that I need to talk to him?"

"I'm sure he'll be here any minute if you want to come in and…"

"No, I have to get going. Talon, work, responsibility… If you can tell him to stop by when he has time I'd appreciate it. Thanks Chloe."

And then she was gone.

Chloe silently added 'Lana acting strangely' to her mental list of things to figure out at a later day and time.

Skimming the notes she'd taken while talking to Mr. Finn she began to look for any oddities she might have missed. Police… interviews… hotel guests told to stay in town… could she find a way to get hold of Mr. Finn's guest list? She doubted trying to interview them directly would go over very well.

"Hey Chloe… was that Lana I just saw leaving?" Clark walked in without ceremony and dropped himself into the chair beside Chloe. He then took several seconds to just look at her. She'd been working, he could almost see the thoughts running around inside her head. The pen in her hand look recently chewed on and she had a notebook sitting on the desk in front of her.

And she was flashing him that adorable smile she kept sending his way lately whenever he first saw her, like usual he couldn't help but return it.

Or was the smile really new? Hadn't he seen it before? Recent introspection had convinced Clark that he'd really never spent enough time just looking at her. It was easy to get used to someone, to see what you expected to see simply because it was what you had always seen. But then you started to miss anything that was new. He'd made a resolution to put actual effort into looking instead of remembering, not just with Chloe but with everyone.

Maybe he could convince her to drop the previous night's mystery in exchange for some simple rest and relaxation combined with one of his Mom's highly prestigious home cooked dinner's.

"Yah, that was Lana, she wants you to stop by the Talon when you get the chance. She has something she needs to talk to you about." Chloe didn't give him a chance to ask anything else; even she had limits. "So, ready to go dig up the truth about Smallville's latest unusual happenings?"

Guess not.

Clark looked pointedly at the pen in Chloe's hand and the notepad on the desk, then looked back in time to catch the briefest flash of defensiveness pass over her features.

"I just called Mr. Finn to get a head start Clark…"

"It's ok Chloe. What did he say?" He could be paranoid or he could make every effort to enjoy the evening's upcoming sleuthing. Chloe was obviously already getting right into it and despite his wariness he had to admit he wanted answers too. It was a surprisingly easy decision.

Guilt eliminated, Chloe began enthusiastically relating every detail she'd plucked from Mr. Finn's memory.

A short time later, deep in conversation, the pair left the Torch office and set out to solve a mystery.