Chapter XIII
This Plan Stinks!
Sunday morning was an exact duplicate of Saturday morning, as far as Lex could tell. Same loud Kents, same disgusting singing, same ungodly early hour of the morning -- the only difference was what song.
"Morning has broken, like the first morning. Blackbird has spoken, like the first bird...."
Clark was attempting to sing way too high for his voice. It was awful. "Clark!" Lex yelped.
"Oh, sorry, Lex," Clark whispered. "I'll try to be quieter." Absurd booted tiptoeing ensued.
"This is insane," Lex fumed, giving up and rolling out of bed. "We have to catch these guys so I can go home!"
"I'm sure Chloe will have more information for us," Clark reassured him.
"Anyway," Lex continued grumbling, "aren't you people supposed to be having a day of rest or something?"
Clark laughed at him. "Us people? Don't know if you've ever noticed, but my family doesn't actually go to church."
Lex was a little startled to realize that was true. Now he was curious -- was this one of the things he wasn't able to ask about? Stupid Kents and their stupid secrets.
Fortunately, Clark volunteered information. "I think my dad may have slugged the minister once."
Out in the hallway, a voice was raised in song. "Praise for the singing, praise for the morning, praise for them springing, fresh from the word." At least Mr. Kent was in the right key.
Lex muttered to himself the whole time he was getting dressed.
By the time he got downstairs, Mrs. Kent had scrambled some Kent Organic eggs and cooked quite a few pancakes. Clark and his dad were almost done eating, and nearly ready to go outside and get to their work.
"Good morning, Lex," Mrs. Kent greeted him in a friendly voice. "Did you sleep well?"
Lex swallowed the retort he wanted to come out with at first, and instead replied. "Yes, thank you, Mrs. Kent. It's very nice of you to have me."
"Don't be silly, Lex; we're always glad to have you stay. And call me Martha."
"Thank you, Martha." Lex started his breakfast.
Clark and Jonathan finished up and went out to tend to the farm. "I'll be back really soon, Lex," Clark said. "Then we can get over to town."
Lex nodded and drank coffee. Awake would be a better way to face this. Mrs. Kent finished her own breakfast and started on the day's orders of baked goods.
By the time Clark came back into the house, about 7:30, Lex was more alert and more agreeable. He'd checked his messages, and he knew that his bank had been alerted to any possible fraud. It was nice to hear that professional bankers agreed that the transactions he'd thought looked peculiar were actually suspicious. Lex was a skilled man of business, and probably a genius, but he was still only twenty-two, and though he never let anyone see that he was unsure of anything, sometimes he was.
Clark kissed his mom good-bye on the cheek. Lex tried to conceal how much he envied his young friend for still having a mother. The boys checked over Lex's car and drove to the Talon.
Chloe was already there, defending a booth from all comers and drinking cup after cup of coffee. "Hi, guys!" she said loudly as soon as Clark and Lex came in.
"Morning, Chlo'," Clark responded. Lex just nodded his greeting as the boys slid into the booth. "Where's Pete?" Clark asked.
"His mom signed him and some of his brothers up for a thing at their church," Chloe told them. "I guess he's not in on this today."
"That's too bad," Clark said, as Lex signaled the waitress to bring them more coffee. "Did you find out anything?"
"Sure did," the caffeine-addicted reporter told him, holding her cup out for Lana's friend Chelsea to pour her more coffee. "Mrs. Hakes was taking a shipment to Glenwood Springs, a special order. The plane went down somewhere in Colorado, west of Denver. Civil Air Patrol volunteers searched all the likely places, but there was no sign of the plane or of her. The interesting thing is right here." She pointed at a pile of printouts she had laid out on the table. "Guess who one of the CAP volunteers was?"
The boys looked at her blankly.
"John Rankin!" Chloe exclaimed. They still just looked at her. Chloe got exasperated. "John Rankin, Mr. Johnson's friend from Gotham who got the pilot job at Hakes because the only other applicant's car got crashed into? Remember?"
"Wow," Clark said. "That's very suspicious."
"Ya think?" Chloe retorted snappishly. When Clark blinked at her in surprise, she apologized. "I'm sorry, Clark. I was up all night finding this stuff, and my dad caught me still awake at 5:30 a.m. and got all mad. We had a fight, and I'm under strict orders to go home and go to bed no later than 9:00 this morning. So I won't be able to be in on today's sleuthing, either."
"You've already done so much, Chloe. We really appreciate it, don't we, Lex?"
Lex looked up from Chloe's papers. "Yes. This is first-rate work. What was in Mrs. Hakes's last shipment, anyhow?"
"Meteor rocks," Chloe replied. She didn't notice Clark's quickly stifled look of alarm, but Lex did. "Somebody who gave his name as Vincent Carruthers ordered a bunch of meteor rocks from Hamilton Geologic Specimens, to be flown directly into Glenwood Springs by Hakes Air Transport. I can't find any such person in Glenwood Springs. I haven't made a thorough enough search to be sure, but it is another suspicious thing."
"Do you know which area Rankin was searching?" Clark asked.
"It's all in there." Yawning hugely, Chloe waved her hand at the sheaf of papers in Lex's hand. "Excuse me. Until Dad grounded me, I was thinking the thing to do would be to go up in a plane and re-search the places Rankin did. Probably he found the crash and didn't tell anyone. I bet there might be clues in the wreckage."
"That's pretty much what I was thinking," Clark responded.
"I do know a pilot," Chloe added. "Andy passed everything yesterday. He can take passengers up now, and he's all checked out for mountain flying."
Clark and Lex looked at each other. As it happened, they were both afraid of heights.
Lex swallowed. "Put his phone number on one of those pieces of paper. We'll give him a call and arrange to go out on a search."
He hated this plan.
This Plan Stinks!
Sunday morning was an exact duplicate of Saturday morning, as far as Lex could tell. Same loud Kents, same disgusting singing, same ungodly early hour of the morning -- the only difference was what song.
"Morning has broken, like the first morning. Blackbird has spoken, like the first bird...."
Clark was attempting to sing way too high for his voice. It was awful. "Clark!" Lex yelped.
"Oh, sorry, Lex," Clark whispered. "I'll try to be quieter." Absurd booted tiptoeing ensued.
"This is insane," Lex fumed, giving up and rolling out of bed. "We have to catch these guys so I can go home!"
"I'm sure Chloe will have more information for us," Clark reassured him.
"Anyway," Lex continued grumbling, "aren't you people supposed to be having a day of rest or something?"
Clark laughed at him. "Us people? Don't know if you've ever noticed, but my family doesn't actually go to church."
Lex was a little startled to realize that was true. Now he was curious -- was this one of the things he wasn't able to ask about? Stupid Kents and their stupid secrets.
Fortunately, Clark volunteered information. "I think my dad may have slugged the minister once."
Out in the hallway, a voice was raised in song. "Praise for the singing, praise for the morning, praise for them springing, fresh from the word." At least Mr. Kent was in the right key.
Lex muttered to himself the whole time he was getting dressed.
By the time he got downstairs, Mrs. Kent had scrambled some Kent Organic eggs and cooked quite a few pancakes. Clark and his dad were almost done eating, and nearly ready to go outside and get to their work.
"Good morning, Lex," Mrs. Kent greeted him in a friendly voice. "Did you sleep well?"
Lex swallowed the retort he wanted to come out with at first, and instead replied. "Yes, thank you, Mrs. Kent. It's very nice of you to have me."
"Don't be silly, Lex; we're always glad to have you stay. And call me Martha."
"Thank you, Martha." Lex started his breakfast.
Clark and Jonathan finished up and went out to tend to the farm. "I'll be back really soon, Lex," Clark said. "Then we can get over to town."
Lex nodded and drank coffee. Awake would be a better way to face this. Mrs. Kent finished her own breakfast and started on the day's orders of baked goods.
By the time Clark came back into the house, about 7:30, Lex was more alert and more agreeable. He'd checked his messages, and he knew that his bank had been alerted to any possible fraud. It was nice to hear that professional bankers agreed that the transactions he'd thought looked peculiar were actually suspicious. Lex was a skilled man of business, and probably a genius, but he was still only twenty-two, and though he never let anyone see that he was unsure of anything, sometimes he was.
Clark kissed his mom good-bye on the cheek. Lex tried to conceal how much he envied his young friend for still having a mother. The boys checked over Lex's car and drove to the Talon.
Chloe was already there, defending a booth from all comers and drinking cup after cup of coffee. "Hi, guys!" she said loudly as soon as Clark and Lex came in.
"Morning, Chlo'," Clark responded. Lex just nodded his greeting as the boys slid into the booth. "Where's Pete?" Clark asked.
"His mom signed him and some of his brothers up for a thing at their church," Chloe told them. "I guess he's not in on this today."
"That's too bad," Clark said, as Lex signaled the waitress to bring them more coffee. "Did you find out anything?"
"Sure did," the caffeine-addicted reporter told him, holding her cup out for Lana's friend Chelsea to pour her more coffee. "Mrs. Hakes was taking a shipment to Glenwood Springs, a special order. The plane went down somewhere in Colorado, west of Denver. Civil Air Patrol volunteers searched all the likely places, but there was no sign of the plane or of her. The interesting thing is right here." She pointed at a pile of printouts she had laid out on the table. "Guess who one of the CAP volunteers was?"
The boys looked at her blankly.
"John Rankin!" Chloe exclaimed. They still just looked at her. Chloe got exasperated. "John Rankin, Mr. Johnson's friend from Gotham who got the pilot job at Hakes because the only other applicant's car got crashed into? Remember?"
"Wow," Clark said. "That's very suspicious."
"Ya think?" Chloe retorted snappishly. When Clark blinked at her in surprise, she apologized. "I'm sorry, Clark. I was up all night finding this stuff, and my dad caught me still awake at 5:30 a.m. and got all mad. We had a fight, and I'm under strict orders to go home and go to bed no later than 9:00 this morning. So I won't be able to be in on today's sleuthing, either."
"You've already done so much, Chloe. We really appreciate it, don't we, Lex?"
Lex looked up from Chloe's papers. "Yes. This is first-rate work. What was in Mrs. Hakes's last shipment, anyhow?"
"Meteor rocks," Chloe replied. She didn't notice Clark's quickly stifled look of alarm, but Lex did. "Somebody who gave his name as Vincent Carruthers ordered a bunch of meteor rocks from Hamilton Geologic Specimens, to be flown directly into Glenwood Springs by Hakes Air Transport. I can't find any such person in Glenwood Springs. I haven't made a thorough enough search to be sure, but it is another suspicious thing."
"Do you know which area Rankin was searching?" Clark asked.
"It's all in there." Yawning hugely, Chloe waved her hand at the sheaf of papers in Lex's hand. "Excuse me. Until Dad grounded me, I was thinking the thing to do would be to go up in a plane and re-search the places Rankin did. Probably he found the crash and didn't tell anyone. I bet there might be clues in the wreckage."
"That's pretty much what I was thinking," Clark responded.
"I do know a pilot," Chloe added. "Andy passed everything yesterday. He can take passengers up now, and he's all checked out for mountain flying."
Clark and Lex looked at each other. As it happened, they were both afraid of heights.
Lex swallowed. "Put his phone number on one of those pieces of paper. We'll give him a call and arrange to go out on a search."
He hated this plan.