Lex paced up and down in the hallway outside of Smallville General's
emergency room. The ambulance had taken both he and A.J. here, but Lex had
refused any medical attention. Except for a ringing in his ears and a
bruised back from where he had hit the sidewalk, he felt all right.
The doctors had refused to let him stay with A.J., and the last time he had seen his brother the emergency room staff had been cutting away his shirt and fastening a heart monitor and an IV to his inert body.
A.J. hadn't regained consciousness yet, but the paramedics had told Lex he was still breathing on his own, a good sign.
As he paced he periodically glanced over to where Catherine sat. He had had Clark call her as soon as they'd reached the hospital, and she'd been there only a few minutes later. As she came through the doors of the waiting room she had given Lex a look of such loathing that he hadn't attempted to say anything to her. The doctor's hadn't allowed Cate to be with her brother-their brother-either. She sat now in one of the uncomfortable waiting room chairs. Lana sat next to her, speaking softly.
Clark was deep in conversation with one of the sheriff's deputies. Lex had given his statement, but it had been brief: all he could remember was that he and A.J. had been having a friendly argument about who would get to drive. Lex had relented and tossed his brother the keys to the Porsche, which was why A.J. had been closer to the car when the bomb had gone off. Both of them had been far enough away to be thrown clear of the blast itself, but A.J. had struck his head on the concrete curb.
Did he know of anyone who'd want to hurt him or Mr. Carter? The deputy had asked.
Lex hadn't been sure how to answer that. He could think of quite a few people, actually, starting with the EDAL and ending with their father. But he didn't tell the police officer about Lionel. The deputy had promised him they were looking for Rich Erickson and whichever members of the EDAL might still be around, for questioning.
What remained of his Porsche would be towed to the police impound lot in Metropolis, to be examined by experts to determine what had caused the blast. Lex wondered if whoever had set the bomb had remained nearby to watch his or her handiwork. If so, then he or she knew the attempt had failed. Which could only mean there would be more.
"Lex?"
He looked up to see Lana holding out a styrofoam cup. "It's not exactly a latte, but it's hot."
He accepted the cup, and stared down into the murky brown brew. "Thank you." He nodded in the direction of Catherine. "How is she holding up?"
Lana sighed. "She's surprisingly calm. I'm not sure if I was any help, though; I couldn't tell her much about what happened. But I guess, being a doctor, she knows better than we do what's going on in there." She gestured towards the closed emergency room doors.
"I suppose." Lex took a sip of coffee, and winced. "It's definitely hot, I'll give it that."
Clark came to stand beside them. "Deputy Ruthers is going now, but they want us to stay put until the sheriff talks to us." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Lana, you should call Mr. Sullivan, let him know where you are. And I should call my mom and dad."
Lex handed Lana his cell phone, and as she crossed the room in search of better reception Clark looked at Lex sympathetically.
"Lex? How are you feeling?"
"I feel fine, Clark."
"But you're worried about A.J." Clark supplied. "I am, too."
Lex shook his head. It wasn't the same, and Clark knew it. Lex had lost two family members in his lifetime-first his baby brother, and then his mother. He wasn't sure he could go through that a third time.
Above anything else in life Lex hated feeling helpless. He supposed he had inherited that from Lionel, who always coped with crisis by burying himself in his work rather than confronting the problem head on. As a sickly, socially inept child Lex had felt helpless most of the time. It was that feeling that, when his mother was dying of heart failure, had driven him to devote so much time to searching for new doctors and new treatments that he hadn't spent enough time with her before the end. He had that same feeling now, wanting desperately to do something, anything. The difference was, now he was old enough to know it was out of his hands.
"It wasn't your fault, Lex."
For a moment Lex thought Clark was reading his mind, but then realized he was referring to A.J., not Lex's mother.
"Whoever set that bomb was trying to get me, Clark. Not A.J." Lex said quietly. "I put him in danger."
"But you didn't mean to," Clark countered.
"But I did."
A white-coated young man appeared in the doorway. "Dr. Carter?"
Catherine glanced up. "Yes?"
"I'm Dr. Newburg; I'd like to speak to you about your brother."
Lana closed Lex's phone and handed it to Clark. "We'll wait outside."
As the two young people left, the doctor looked expectantly at Lex, but Lex refused to move. Instead he looked at Catherine, who finally sighed.
"It's all right-he can stay. He's sort of.family."
Lex wasn't quite sure what to make of that grudging admission, and it was obvious the doctor was puzzled as well.
"First, the good news. Andrew has a broken collarbone and a couple of cracked ribs. The x-rays show no signs of spinal cord injuries, so we've removed the cervical collar to make him more comfortable. The cat scan also appears to be normal."
"What's the bad news?"
"The bad news is that he's still unconscious. We're concerned, given the force of the impact, that he might have a contusion to the brain or possibly bleeding inside the skull."
"Have you done an MRI yet?"
The doctor smiled at Catherine. "No, that's our next step. That should pick up anything the CT scan missed."
Lex unconsciously laid a hand on Catherine's shoulder. It was better news than they could have hoped for, but still.
"And if you find something on the MRI?"
"Let's cross that bridge when we come to it, Mr. Luthor."
Lex wasn't surprised the doctor knew who he was-everyone in town did, whether Lex had actually met them or not.
"Can I see him?" Catherine asked.
"Of course, but only for a few minutes." He stood and led them back through the double doors into the emergency room. It was late afternoon on a weekday, and all the beds were empty except A.J.s.
Dr. Newburg pointed at the monitors. "As you can see we're monitoring his heart rate, and his respiration-they're both normal. The IV is giving him saline to prevent shock."
A.J. looked better without the plastic cervical collar around his neck, but he still looked pale. Bruises had already appeared along the left side of his face, and a patch of gauze covered his left temple.
"Five stitches," the doctor explained.
Catherine gingerly took one of her brother's limp hands in her own. "Hey, kiddo," she said softly.
Feeling as if he was intruding on a private moment, Lex turned back to the physician. "Dr. Newburg, I'm sure you're providing excellent care, but perhaps A.J. should be transferred to Metropolis General. I can have any specialists we need brought there."
The doctor frowned at him, but it was Catherine who sent him a withering glance.
"Not now, Lex. They're doing everything that can be done."
Lex knew better than to push his luck. "We'll talk about it later," he told the doctor, who managed to smile smoothly.
"Of course."
Dr. Newburg left, and Lex went to stand on the other side of the bed.
He frowned down at the brother he'd known only a few weeks.
"Can he hear us?"
Catherine shrugged slightly. "Depends on the kind of head injury. But I'm assuming he can." Tears stood in her blue eyes, but she managed to smile.
"Hey, A.J. Bet you didn't think you'd be back in the emergency room at your age, did you?" She then smiled faintly at Lex. "He spent a lost of time in them as a kid: he was always falling out of trees or running into something on his bike," she explained. She turned her attention back to the boy. "The doctors think you might have a concussion, or maybe some internal bleeding, but as soon as they knew for sure they'll fix you right up. I'm not going to call Amber just yet-you know her, she'd hop on a plane and be here pestering you and trying to spoon-feed you Jell-O before you knew it. We shouldn't make her worry, right?" Catherine wiped her eyes with the back of her sleeve.
"Lex is here, too," she added, turning to look at him again. "Do you want to say something to him?" She asked.
Lex shook his head.
"No. You do the talking."
But while Catherine kept talking in her low, soothing voice, Lex took hold of his brother's free hand and held on to it tightly. *****************************************
"This whole thing had gotten ridiculous," Pete groused to Clark as they sat sprawled on the old couch in the Torch office. Clark had just finished relating the whole story of the day before to Pete and Chloe, from the time he'd arrived at the Talon to when his parents came to pick him up from the hospital.
"The good news is I talked to Lex this morning and the doctors think it's just a bad concussion. A.J. opened his eyes a little bit late last night, but he's still pretty out of it. They're keeping him in the hospital a few more days just to be sure."
"I'd be pretty out of it, too, if I got body slammed into a chunk of concrete." Chloe chewed her lip. "But I am glad to hear he'll be ok."
"Worried about your boyfriend?" There was still a bit of an edge in Pete's voice, one that Chloe instantly picked up upon.
"I've had enough out of you, Pete Ross." She stuck her hands on her hips, a sure sign of anger. "Just because I meet one nice guy out of this whole creep-filled town and hang out with him a few times you two assume I must be madly in love with him. Well, I'm not."
"Hey, I didn't say anything," Clark protested feebly.
"Just because you two see me as Velma doesn't mean other guys can't see me as Daphne."
Pete rolled his eyes, but looked apologetic. "Chloe, I'm sorry. I was out of line." Pete scrunched his shoulders uncomfortably. "I guess this whole thing has got me wigged out a little. Mom's still getting nasty letters from people, saying must be sorry she let LexCorp off so easily now that Mr. Jasper is dead, too."
Clark, who knew his dad had spent the day before helping Mr. Ross repaint the frame around the Ross' newly repaired picture window, nodded. "Everyone's jumpy, Pete." He looked at Chloe sharply. "And we're worried about A.J., too, you know, Chloe. Nobody deserves to get hurt just because they're in the wrong place at the wrong time."
"That kid must have had horseshoes in both pockets," Pete nodded.
Chloe, however, shook her head. "I don't think it was luck that saved Lex and A.J., Pete. I talked to my contact at the impound lot and he said the bomb squad thinks the bomb was deliberately triggered to go of when it did."
Clark frowned. "That would mean whoever destroyed Lex's Porsche didn't mean to kill him."
Chloe nodded. "I think it was meant as a warning to Lex."
"You mean, like, 'Next time it'll be you blown to smithereens?'" Pete asked.
"Something like that. The problem is, Rich Erickson was in Metropolis giving an interview to the Planet when it happened. That's a pretty airtight alibi. When the sheriff questioned him he had nothing to say about it, and they couldn't hold him."
"But we know he's gotten away with it before," Clark shook his head. "He shouldn't be able to get away with it this time."
"Guys, you know I don't like the Luthors, and I don't like Lex," Pete began thoughtfully.
"Oh, gee, really, Pete? I hadn't noticed," Chloe teased.
Pete ignored her. "But I'm pretty sure it was Erickson or one of his minions who busted out our window the other night. If they're upping the level of violence against the Luthors I can't help but think my family might be next."
"Minions?" Clark repeated.
Pete sighed. "You know what I mean. I wonder what Lex is going to do?"
"I don't think there's anything he can do, not unless the police come up with some proof it was Erickson who set the bomb and hurt A.J." Chloe leaned against her desk. "But this all comes back to Mr. Winters' death. That's what started this whole thing. If we could just figure out what happened to him, and why, I think we'll be able to unravel this whole mess."
"I agree."
The three of them glanced up to see Catherine Carter in the doorway. She looked grown-up and businesslike in a dark suit, and for a moment Clark's heart sunk into his shoes. But then she smiled slightly.
"It's all right, I'm not bringing any bad news. In fact, my brother is awake and being annoyed by a neurologist as we speak. As long as there aren't any complications from the concussion they said they'd let him go the day after tomorrow."
Clark took a deep breath. "That's a relief."
Chloe smiled. "How can we help you, Dr. Carter?"
The older woman stepped into the room, pausing before Chloe's Wall of Weird. "Actually, I've come to help you. I agree with what you were just saying, Chloe. I think the police and the coroner didn't dig deep enough into what happened to Mr. Winters. I think, maybe, if they had, Mr. Jasper might still be with us." She raised her eyebrows questioningly.
"I agree," Chloe nodded. She grabbed a stack of papers off her desk. "Before he got hurt A.J. suggested you might be willing to tell us anything you know about Arthur Jasper's death. And I have a copy of Mr. Winters' autopsy report, but I don't really know how to read it." She held out a sheaf of papers, and the other woman accepted it.
"Where did you get these? You know it's illegal to gain access to another person's medical records, even autopsy records, without their family's consent."
"I have a source," Chloe said simply.
Dr. Carter pulled over an office chair and sat down, reading through the report carefully. The three young people waited patiently while she did so. After several long minutes Catherine sighed.
"Well, it doesn't say much that hasn't been made public. Jim Winters appears to have died of some kind of massive cellular breakdown. What was left of his major organs were macerated, almost as if they were being eaten away by something. He suffocated in the excess fluid."
Pete winced at her description. "How long would something like that take?"
"Without knowing the mechanism that caused it, it's hard to say." Catherine rested her chin in her hand. "I don't know of anything that could cause that kind of damage."
"We do." Chloe nodded at her research wall.
"Meteorites? Well, you're not the first person to suggest that, but where would he have come into contact with them?"
"They're all over Smallville." Chloe hastily unpinned the map outlining all the local strikes.
"And then there's Level 3." Clark explained what little they knew about LuthorCorp's experiments at the plant.
"OK, so Winters' may have been exposed to something-meteorite or otherwise-at the fertilizer plant. I'll buy that. But what about Mr. Jasper?"
"Well, that's where our neat theory breaks down," Chloe sighed. "Arthur Jasper never worked for LexCorp, or LuthorCorp; I had my dad check the personnel records."
"Dr. Carter, you were there when we found Mr. Jasper's body. Do you think what killed his son in law killed him as well?" Clark asked.
Catherine was thoughtful. "It's possible, Clark. The black liquid you saw around his mouth and nose would seem to be consistent with what the coroner describes here." She tapped the autopsy report. "And he was blue, consistent with suffocation. Which is what I told the coroner, who wasn't very happy I'd taken an interest in the case and shooed me away from his office. I do know this time they've sent the body to Metropolis, so we can't expect a reports any time soon."
"What about the tissue samples they took from Winters' body?" Pete asked. "Couldn't those tell us something?"
"Those are probably still sitting in a lab some place." Catherine shook her head. "I'm sorry to say most Metropolis labs take their sweet time unless someone lights a fire under them."
Chloe, meanwhile, had spread out the map on the worktable.
"See, Dr. Carter, this is Plant 3, over here." Chloe tapped this spot with her pen. "Here's Jasper's farm, about ten miles further out. And here's the Winters' property. You can see there were strikes near all of these locations."
Dr. Carter leaned closer. "This is pretty impressive, you guys."
"Two years worth of work," Chloe grinned.
"What's this big red circle here?"
"That's the old quarry. They used to take granite out of there. When they were done they filled it with water; it was a popular swimming hole before the meteor strike."
"It got hit pretty heavily," Clark added. "It's been off limits ever since." He didn't bother to mention that he'd never been able to go anywhere near it, but Pete looked at him knowingly.
"Chloe, do you have any other maps? Maybe one that shows the topography of where we found Mr. Jasper's body?"
"Hang on." Chloe went to the filing cabinet and dug through the top drawer. "Here's one."
"That girl never throws anything away," Pete smiled.
"And aren't you glad I don't?" Chloe retorted. She laid out the new map over the old one.
"We found the body just about here," Clark pointed to the new map.
"Hum, nowhere near the LexCorp plant. And the plant's on ground lower than the Winters' place anyway."
"Yeah, the whole area kind of slopes down to the highway." As he spoke something in the back of Clark's mind nudged at him, but he couldn't quite figure out what it was.
"Well, I guess there's no answers there." Chloe rolled the map back up. "What should we do next?"
Catherine glanced at her watch and sighed. "I need to get back to the hospital. But first thing tomorrow I'll get on the phone with the coroner's office and see if I can find out where those lab tests ended up."
"We'll keep our ears to the ground and see what else we can find out," Pete promised.
"Good. But be careful, please." The doctor shook her head. "One kid in the hospital is enough."
******************************************
A.J. shoved away the tray containing his hospital food as his brother came through the door. "Hey, Lex. I don't suppose you smuggled in a hamburger for me."
Lex smiled. "Sorry. Maybe tomorrow." He glanced around the sterile but spacious private room and sat down in the chair next to the bed. "How're you feeling?"
A.J. winced. "Like I have a concussion. I'm still pretty dizzy--took me ten minutes to sit up. But as long as I don't move too fast it's not that bad."
"Where's your sister? I thought she'd be with you."
"She was, but she had some errands to run. She should be back any minute."
"Good. The doctor tells me you can go home Wednesday."
A.J. grinned. "Only two more days of hospital food, then. I guess I can hack it. Do the cops have any leads?"
"No, not yet. But that's what I wanted to speak to you about."
A.J. sighed. "I'm really sorry about your car, Lex. That was one sweet ride."
Lex shook his head. "The car doesn't matter, A.J. I can buy another one. What matters is that you're all right. And I want you to stay that way."
"Of course I'm all right; I have a tough skull," A.J. laughed. As he took in his brother's serious expression, though, his smile faded.
"What is it?"
"A.J., I want you to go back to Metropolis with Catherine. It isn't safe for you to be here."
A.J. looked at him incredulously. "Look, Lex, I know you're still a little freaked out, but, c'mon. I'm ok."
Lex rubbed his eyes. "A.J., listen to me. We were both really lucky this time. But I can't take the risk of you being nearby if there's another attempt on my life. That's why you have to go home."
The boy folded his arms across his chest, revealing the large scrape across his right elbow. Lex winced at the sight.
"Lex, like I said before, I want to stay here. You need my help to get to the bottom of all this."
"No, A.J., I don't. What I need is for you to be someplace where I won't have to worry about your safety every minute of the day and night."
A.J. opened his mouth to protest, but when Lex forestalled him he settled on scowling. "There's no point in looking so hurt," Lex warned. "I'm not changing my mind."
"Lex, I don't get you, man. I'm your brother."
"Which makes it all the more important for you to leave." Lex stood abruptly. "What do you think would happen if news of that got out? You'd be just as big a target as I am-maybe bigger."
"I can handle."
"No, you can't handle this, A.J. I'm sorry."
The younger man was silent for a long moment. "Catherine put you up to this, didn't she?"
Lex sighed. "No, A.J., I haven't even spoken to her about it yet. But I know she'll agree with me."
A.J. stared fixedly at the wall opposite his bed.
"Fine. If you feel I'm in the way I'll leave. No problem."
Lex could tell by the set of A.J.'s jaw-so like their father's-that he was angry. But Lex had made up his mind, and refused to be moved.
"Fine."
Catherine pushed open the door to find the two of them glaring at each other.
"Hey, sorry I'm late. What did I miss?"
"Nothing. Lex was just leaving," A.J. said stiffly.
Lex reminded himself he was acting in his brother's best interests, and nodded.
"I was. I just dropped in to say hello. A.J., I'll come and see you tomorrow."
The boy only grunted in response.
Catherine looked at Lex, clearly puzzled at her brother's odd behavior.
Lex laid a hand on her arm. "I'll call you later," he explained. She frowned, but nodded.
He was careful to shut the door firmly behind him as he stepped out into the hospital hallway. No doubt A.J. would soon be protesting vehemently against being sent home, but Lex was confident Catherine would agree with his decision. He was sorry to see his younger brother angry, and to know he'd hurt him, but he'd make it up to him.
He'd very nearly lost his brother yesterday, and he wasn't about to take that chance again.
*******************************************
"You've dried that same plate for the last ten minutes," Jonathan Kent said to his son. "You've probably rubbed off the pattern by now."
"Huh?" Clark started and looked down at the dinner plate in his hands. "Uh, sorry, Dad." He plunged his hands back into the now-tepid water and retrieved another one, rinsing it quickly under the tap before rubbing it dry.
Jonathan was not fooled. "Want to come clean, so to speak?"
Clark glanced over at the living room, where his mother was pouring over the faxes that arrived daily now that Mr. Luthor was out of town. It was funny: a few months ago all they'd had was a phone and one out-of-date computer; now the Kent home boasted a fax machine/copier, a state-of-the- art laptop, and his mom's PDA. All courtesy of Lionel Luthor. Apparently he'd even wanted his assistant to get a second phone line installed, but Jonathan Kent had drawn the line at that. Clark still secretly hoped for a high-speed Internet connection, but he wasn't holding his breath.
"You've been pretty subdued since you got home from the Torch, son," Jonathan reminded him.
"Yeah, I guess. I've got this weird feeling, like there's something important I need to remember, but can't. It's driving me crazy."
"Usually if you focus on something else it'll come to you," Jonathan advised, taking the clean, dry dishes and stacking them back in the cupboard. "I talked to Ethan this morning: he says they're just about done with the investigation out there and Molly and Brody can move back in if they want to."
After Mr. Jasper's body had been recovered, the sheriff's department had surrounded the Winters' property and home with crime scene tape and posted a deputy in the driveway.
Clark sighed. "And I'll bet they didn't find anything."
Jonathan sat down at the kitchen table with a fresh cup of coffee. "Didn't sound like it."
Clark sat down as well. "Do you really think Mrs. Winters will want to go back to that house?"
"I don't know, Clark." Jonathan rubbed the stubble on his jaw. "She'll want someplace for her and Brody, though. She's worried about him-he's refused to back to school and she doesn't know how he's spending all his time. But at least he's at the hospital with her every morning."
"Is she getting better?"
"A bit, I guess. But she's never been a strong woman, and without Jim and Arthur to care for her.that's an awful burden for a young man like Brody to take on."
"Dad, were you sorry when you had to stay home and take care of Grandpa?" Clark knew that his father had given up his football scholarship to Metropolis University when his own father had become ill. He sometimes wondered if Jonathan regretted giving up so much.
"No, Clark, I don't. He was family. I never gave it a second thought. But that was my decision-it's not for everyone. It's hard to care for other people."
"I think Lex is finding that out. You should have seen him when A.J. got hurt. He looked like he wanted to kill somebody." Clark shook his head at the memory.
"It's going to be hard for those two to carve out some kind of relationship after all these years. I'm sure Lex cares for his brother, in his own way, but they're still virtually strangers."
"I was a stranger when I came here, but you and Mom said you loved me right away," Clark reminded his father, who smiled.
"Fair enough, son."
Clark grabbed a soda out of the fridge. "Y'know, if Mrs. Winters does decide to stay I could help out. Maybe Brody could go back to school if we helped keep the place up."
Jonathan nodded approvingly. "Maybe so, son. In any event it's kind of you to offer; I'll be sure to let Molly know. I just thank god that place isn't a farm; then Molly would be in real trouble."
Clark, who knew first hand the amount of heavy labor it took to keep a farm going, nodded. "They could farm it if they needed the money, though, couldn't they?"
"No, son. That's why Jim was able to afford that parcel in the first place, even with LuthorCorp driving up land prices all over the county. It's too rocky, and the drainage is bad. That down slope from the old quarry keeps the soil waterlogged most of the year, and in the summer I reckon it would be too dry."
Clark set down his soda can with a thump, and his father regarded him curiously.
"Clark, what is it? You look like you've seen a ghost."
"You were right, Dad." He regarded his father with wide eyes. "I've just remembered what's been bothering me all night."
"Is it something important?"
"It might be. I need to call Chloe."
The doctors had refused to let him stay with A.J., and the last time he had seen his brother the emergency room staff had been cutting away his shirt and fastening a heart monitor and an IV to his inert body.
A.J. hadn't regained consciousness yet, but the paramedics had told Lex he was still breathing on his own, a good sign.
As he paced he periodically glanced over to where Catherine sat. He had had Clark call her as soon as they'd reached the hospital, and she'd been there only a few minutes later. As she came through the doors of the waiting room she had given Lex a look of such loathing that he hadn't attempted to say anything to her. The doctor's hadn't allowed Cate to be with her brother-their brother-either. She sat now in one of the uncomfortable waiting room chairs. Lana sat next to her, speaking softly.
Clark was deep in conversation with one of the sheriff's deputies. Lex had given his statement, but it had been brief: all he could remember was that he and A.J. had been having a friendly argument about who would get to drive. Lex had relented and tossed his brother the keys to the Porsche, which was why A.J. had been closer to the car when the bomb had gone off. Both of them had been far enough away to be thrown clear of the blast itself, but A.J. had struck his head on the concrete curb.
Did he know of anyone who'd want to hurt him or Mr. Carter? The deputy had asked.
Lex hadn't been sure how to answer that. He could think of quite a few people, actually, starting with the EDAL and ending with their father. But he didn't tell the police officer about Lionel. The deputy had promised him they were looking for Rich Erickson and whichever members of the EDAL might still be around, for questioning.
What remained of his Porsche would be towed to the police impound lot in Metropolis, to be examined by experts to determine what had caused the blast. Lex wondered if whoever had set the bomb had remained nearby to watch his or her handiwork. If so, then he or she knew the attempt had failed. Which could only mean there would be more.
"Lex?"
He looked up to see Lana holding out a styrofoam cup. "It's not exactly a latte, but it's hot."
He accepted the cup, and stared down into the murky brown brew. "Thank you." He nodded in the direction of Catherine. "How is she holding up?"
Lana sighed. "She's surprisingly calm. I'm not sure if I was any help, though; I couldn't tell her much about what happened. But I guess, being a doctor, she knows better than we do what's going on in there." She gestured towards the closed emergency room doors.
"I suppose." Lex took a sip of coffee, and winced. "It's definitely hot, I'll give it that."
Clark came to stand beside them. "Deputy Ruthers is going now, but they want us to stay put until the sheriff talks to us." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Lana, you should call Mr. Sullivan, let him know where you are. And I should call my mom and dad."
Lex handed Lana his cell phone, and as she crossed the room in search of better reception Clark looked at Lex sympathetically.
"Lex? How are you feeling?"
"I feel fine, Clark."
"But you're worried about A.J." Clark supplied. "I am, too."
Lex shook his head. It wasn't the same, and Clark knew it. Lex had lost two family members in his lifetime-first his baby brother, and then his mother. He wasn't sure he could go through that a third time.
Above anything else in life Lex hated feeling helpless. He supposed he had inherited that from Lionel, who always coped with crisis by burying himself in his work rather than confronting the problem head on. As a sickly, socially inept child Lex had felt helpless most of the time. It was that feeling that, when his mother was dying of heart failure, had driven him to devote so much time to searching for new doctors and new treatments that he hadn't spent enough time with her before the end. He had that same feeling now, wanting desperately to do something, anything. The difference was, now he was old enough to know it was out of his hands.
"It wasn't your fault, Lex."
For a moment Lex thought Clark was reading his mind, but then realized he was referring to A.J., not Lex's mother.
"Whoever set that bomb was trying to get me, Clark. Not A.J." Lex said quietly. "I put him in danger."
"But you didn't mean to," Clark countered.
"But I did."
A white-coated young man appeared in the doorway. "Dr. Carter?"
Catherine glanced up. "Yes?"
"I'm Dr. Newburg; I'd like to speak to you about your brother."
Lana closed Lex's phone and handed it to Clark. "We'll wait outside."
As the two young people left, the doctor looked expectantly at Lex, but Lex refused to move. Instead he looked at Catherine, who finally sighed.
"It's all right-he can stay. He's sort of.family."
Lex wasn't quite sure what to make of that grudging admission, and it was obvious the doctor was puzzled as well.
"First, the good news. Andrew has a broken collarbone and a couple of cracked ribs. The x-rays show no signs of spinal cord injuries, so we've removed the cervical collar to make him more comfortable. The cat scan also appears to be normal."
"What's the bad news?"
"The bad news is that he's still unconscious. We're concerned, given the force of the impact, that he might have a contusion to the brain or possibly bleeding inside the skull."
"Have you done an MRI yet?"
The doctor smiled at Catherine. "No, that's our next step. That should pick up anything the CT scan missed."
Lex unconsciously laid a hand on Catherine's shoulder. It was better news than they could have hoped for, but still.
"And if you find something on the MRI?"
"Let's cross that bridge when we come to it, Mr. Luthor."
Lex wasn't surprised the doctor knew who he was-everyone in town did, whether Lex had actually met them or not.
"Can I see him?" Catherine asked.
"Of course, but only for a few minutes." He stood and led them back through the double doors into the emergency room. It was late afternoon on a weekday, and all the beds were empty except A.J.s.
Dr. Newburg pointed at the monitors. "As you can see we're monitoring his heart rate, and his respiration-they're both normal. The IV is giving him saline to prevent shock."
A.J. looked better without the plastic cervical collar around his neck, but he still looked pale. Bruises had already appeared along the left side of his face, and a patch of gauze covered his left temple.
"Five stitches," the doctor explained.
Catherine gingerly took one of her brother's limp hands in her own. "Hey, kiddo," she said softly.
Feeling as if he was intruding on a private moment, Lex turned back to the physician. "Dr. Newburg, I'm sure you're providing excellent care, but perhaps A.J. should be transferred to Metropolis General. I can have any specialists we need brought there."
The doctor frowned at him, but it was Catherine who sent him a withering glance.
"Not now, Lex. They're doing everything that can be done."
Lex knew better than to push his luck. "We'll talk about it later," he told the doctor, who managed to smile smoothly.
"Of course."
Dr. Newburg left, and Lex went to stand on the other side of the bed.
He frowned down at the brother he'd known only a few weeks.
"Can he hear us?"
Catherine shrugged slightly. "Depends on the kind of head injury. But I'm assuming he can." Tears stood in her blue eyes, but she managed to smile.
"Hey, A.J. Bet you didn't think you'd be back in the emergency room at your age, did you?" She then smiled faintly at Lex. "He spent a lost of time in them as a kid: he was always falling out of trees or running into something on his bike," she explained. She turned her attention back to the boy. "The doctors think you might have a concussion, or maybe some internal bleeding, but as soon as they knew for sure they'll fix you right up. I'm not going to call Amber just yet-you know her, she'd hop on a plane and be here pestering you and trying to spoon-feed you Jell-O before you knew it. We shouldn't make her worry, right?" Catherine wiped her eyes with the back of her sleeve.
"Lex is here, too," she added, turning to look at him again. "Do you want to say something to him?" She asked.
Lex shook his head.
"No. You do the talking."
But while Catherine kept talking in her low, soothing voice, Lex took hold of his brother's free hand and held on to it tightly. *****************************************
"This whole thing had gotten ridiculous," Pete groused to Clark as they sat sprawled on the old couch in the Torch office. Clark had just finished relating the whole story of the day before to Pete and Chloe, from the time he'd arrived at the Talon to when his parents came to pick him up from the hospital.
"The good news is I talked to Lex this morning and the doctors think it's just a bad concussion. A.J. opened his eyes a little bit late last night, but he's still pretty out of it. They're keeping him in the hospital a few more days just to be sure."
"I'd be pretty out of it, too, if I got body slammed into a chunk of concrete." Chloe chewed her lip. "But I am glad to hear he'll be ok."
"Worried about your boyfriend?" There was still a bit of an edge in Pete's voice, one that Chloe instantly picked up upon.
"I've had enough out of you, Pete Ross." She stuck her hands on her hips, a sure sign of anger. "Just because I meet one nice guy out of this whole creep-filled town and hang out with him a few times you two assume I must be madly in love with him. Well, I'm not."
"Hey, I didn't say anything," Clark protested feebly.
"Just because you two see me as Velma doesn't mean other guys can't see me as Daphne."
Pete rolled his eyes, but looked apologetic. "Chloe, I'm sorry. I was out of line." Pete scrunched his shoulders uncomfortably. "I guess this whole thing has got me wigged out a little. Mom's still getting nasty letters from people, saying must be sorry she let LexCorp off so easily now that Mr. Jasper is dead, too."
Clark, who knew his dad had spent the day before helping Mr. Ross repaint the frame around the Ross' newly repaired picture window, nodded. "Everyone's jumpy, Pete." He looked at Chloe sharply. "And we're worried about A.J., too, you know, Chloe. Nobody deserves to get hurt just because they're in the wrong place at the wrong time."
"That kid must have had horseshoes in both pockets," Pete nodded.
Chloe, however, shook her head. "I don't think it was luck that saved Lex and A.J., Pete. I talked to my contact at the impound lot and he said the bomb squad thinks the bomb was deliberately triggered to go of when it did."
Clark frowned. "That would mean whoever destroyed Lex's Porsche didn't mean to kill him."
Chloe nodded. "I think it was meant as a warning to Lex."
"You mean, like, 'Next time it'll be you blown to smithereens?'" Pete asked.
"Something like that. The problem is, Rich Erickson was in Metropolis giving an interview to the Planet when it happened. That's a pretty airtight alibi. When the sheriff questioned him he had nothing to say about it, and they couldn't hold him."
"But we know he's gotten away with it before," Clark shook his head. "He shouldn't be able to get away with it this time."
"Guys, you know I don't like the Luthors, and I don't like Lex," Pete began thoughtfully.
"Oh, gee, really, Pete? I hadn't noticed," Chloe teased.
Pete ignored her. "But I'm pretty sure it was Erickson or one of his minions who busted out our window the other night. If they're upping the level of violence against the Luthors I can't help but think my family might be next."
"Minions?" Clark repeated.
Pete sighed. "You know what I mean. I wonder what Lex is going to do?"
"I don't think there's anything he can do, not unless the police come up with some proof it was Erickson who set the bomb and hurt A.J." Chloe leaned against her desk. "But this all comes back to Mr. Winters' death. That's what started this whole thing. If we could just figure out what happened to him, and why, I think we'll be able to unravel this whole mess."
"I agree."
The three of them glanced up to see Catherine Carter in the doorway. She looked grown-up and businesslike in a dark suit, and for a moment Clark's heart sunk into his shoes. But then she smiled slightly.
"It's all right, I'm not bringing any bad news. In fact, my brother is awake and being annoyed by a neurologist as we speak. As long as there aren't any complications from the concussion they said they'd let him go the day after tomorrow."
Clark took a deep breath. "That's a relief."
Chloe smiled. "How can we help you, Dr. Carter?"
The older woman stepped into the room, pausing before Chloe's Wall of Weird. "Actually, I've come to help you. I agree with what you were just saying, Chloe. I think the police and the coroner didn't dig deep enough into what happened to Mr. Winters. I think, maybe, if they had, Mr. Jasper might still be with us." She raised her eyebrows questioningly.
"I agree," Chloe nodded. She grabbed a stack of papers off her desk. "Before he got hurt A.J. suggested you might be willing to tell us anything you know about Arthur Jasper's death. And I have a copy of Mr. Winters' autopsy report, but I don't really know how to read it." She held out a sheaf of papers, and the other woman accepted it.
"Where did you get these? You know it's illegal to gain access to another person's medical records, even autopsy records, without their family's consent."
"I have a source," Chloe said simply.
Dr. Carter pulled over an office chair and sat down, reading through the report carefully. The three young people waited patiently while she did so. After several long minutes Catherine sighed.
"Well, it doesn't say much that hasn't been made public. Jim Winters appears to have died of some kind of massive cellular breakdown. What was left of his major organs were macerated, almost as if they were being eaten away by something. He suffocated in the excess fluid."
Pete winced at her description. "How long would something like that take?"
"Without knowing the mechanism that caused it, it's hard to say." Catherine rested her chin in her hand. "I don't know of anything that could cause that kind of damage."
"We do." Chloe nodded at her research wall.
"Meteorites? Well, you're not the first person to suggest that, but where would he have come into contact with them?"
"They're all over Smallville." Chloe hastily unpinned the map outlining all the local strikes.
"And then there's Level 3." Clark explained what little they knew about LuthorCorp's experiments at the plant.
"OK, so Winters' may have been exposed to something-meteorite or otherwise-at the fertilizer plant. I'll buy that. But what about Mr. Jasper?"
"Well, that's where our neat theory breaks down," Chloe sighed. "Arthur Jasper never worked for LexCorp, or LuthorCorp; I had my dad check the personnel records."
"Dr. Carter, you were there when we found Mr. Jasper's body. Do you think what killed his son in law killed him as well?" Clark asked.
Catherine was thoughtful. "It's possible, Clark. The black liquid you saw around his mouth and nose would seem to be consistent with what the coroner describes here." She tapped the autopsy report. "And he was blue, consistent with suffocation. Which is what I told the coroner, who wasn't very happy I'd taken an interest in the case and shooed me away from his office. I do know this time they've sent the body to Metropolis, so we can't expect a reports any time soon."
"What about the tissue samples they took from Winters' body?" Pete asked. "Couldn't those tell us something?"
"Those are probably still sitting in a lab some place." Catherine shook her head. "I'm sorry to say most Metropolis labs take their sweet time unless someone lights a fire under them."
Chloe, meanwhile, had spread out the map on the worktable.
"See, Dr. Carter, this is Plant 3, over here." Chloe tapped this spot with her pen. "Here's Jasper's farm, about ten miles further out. And here's the Winters' property. You can see there were strikes near all of these locations."
Dr. Carter leaned closer. "This is pretty impressive, you guys."
"Two years worth of work," Chloe grinned.
"What's this big red circle here?"
"That's the old quarry. They used to take granite out of there. When they were done they filled it with water; it was a popular swimming hole before the meteor strike."
"It got hit pretty heavily," Clark added. "It's been off limits ever since." He didn't bother to mention that he'd never been able to go anywhere near it, but Pete looked at him knowingly.
"Chloe, do you have any other maps? Maybe one that shows the topography of where we found Mr. Jasper's body?"
"Hang on." Chloe went to the filing cabinet and dug through the top drawer. "Here's one."
"That girl never throws anything away," Pete smiled.
"And aren't you glad I don't?" Chloe retorted. She laid out the new map over the old one.
"We found the body just about here," Clark pointed to the new map.
"Hum, nowhere near the LexCorp plant. And the plant's on ground lower than the Winters' place anyway."
"Yeah, the whole area kind of slopes down to the highway." As he spoke something in the back of Clark's mind nudged at him, but he couldn't quite figure out what it was.
"Well, I guess there's no answers there." Chloe rolled the map back up. "What should we do next?"
Catherine glanced at her watch and sighed. "I need to get back to the hospital. But first thing tomorrow I'll get on the phone with the coroner's office and see if I can find out where those lab tests ended up."
"We'll keep our ears to the ground and see what else we can find out," Pete promised.
"Good. But be careful, please." The doctor shook her head. "One kid in the hospital is enough."
******************************************
A.J. shoved away the tray containing his hospital food as his brother came through the door. "Hey, Lex. I don't suppose you smuggled in a hamburger for me."
Lex smiled. "Sorry. Maybe tomorrow." He glanced around the sterile but spacious private room and sat down in the chair next to the bed. "How're you feeling?"
A.J. winced. "Like I have a concussion. I'm still pretty dizzy--took me ten minutes to sit up. But as long as I don't move too fast it's not that bad."
"Where's your sister? I thought she'd be with you."
"She was, but she had some errands to run. She should be back any minute."
"Good. The doctor tells me you can go home Wednesday."
A.J. grinned. "Only two more days of hospital food, then. I guess I can hack it. Do the cops have any leads?"
"No, not yet. But that's what I wanted to speak to you about."
A.J. sighed. "I'm really sorry about your car, Lex. That was one sweet ride."
Lex shook his head. "The car doesn't matter, A.J. I can buy another one. What matters is that you're all right. And I want you to stay that way."
"Of course I'm all right; I have a tough skull," A.J. laughed. As he took in his brother's serious expression, though, his smile faded.
"What is it?"
"A.J., I want you to go back to Metropolis with Catherine. It isn't safe for you to be here."
A.J. looked at him incredulously. "Look, Lex, I know you're still a little freaked out, but, c'mon. I'm ok."
Lex rubbed his eyes. "A.J., listen to me. We were both really lucky this time. But I can't take the risk of you being nearby if there's another attempt on my life. That's why you have to go home."
The boy folded his arms across his chest, revealing the large scrape across his right elbow. Lex winced at the sight.
"Lex, like I said before, I want to stay here. You need my help to get to the bottom of all this."
"No, A.J., I don't. What I need is for you to be someplace where I won't have to worry about your safety every minute of the day and night."
A.J. opened his mouth to protest, but when Lex forestalled him he settled on scowling. "There's no point in looking so hurt," Lex warned. "I'm not changing my mind."
"Lex, I don't get you, man. I'm your brother."
"Which makes it all the more important for you to leave." Lex stood abruptly. "What do you think would happen if news of that got out? You'd be just as big a target as I am-maybe bigger."
"I can handle."
"No, you can't handle this, A.J. I'm sorry."
The younger man was silent for a long moment. "Catherine put you up to this, didn't she?"
Lex sighed. "No, A.J., I haven't even spoken to her about it yet. But I know she'll agree with me."
A.J. stared fixedly at the wall opposite his bed.
"Fine. If you feel I'm in the way I'll leave. No problem."
Lex could tell by the set of A.J.'s jaw-so like their father's-that he was angry. But Lex had made up his mind, and refused to be moved.
"Fine."
Catherine pushed open the door to find the two of them glaring at each other.
"Hey, sorry I'm late. What did I miss?"
"Nothing. Lex was just leaving," A.J. said stiffly.
Lex reminded himself he was acting in his brother's best interests, and nodded.
"I was. I just dropped in to say hello. A.J., I'll come and see you tomorrow."
The boy only grunted in response.
Catherine looked at Lex, clearly puzzled at her brother's odd behavior.
Lex laid a hand on her arm. "I'll call you later," he explained. She frowned, but nodded.
He was careful to shut the door firmly behind him as he stepped out into the hospital hallway. No doubt A.J. would soon be protesting vehemently against being sent home, but Lex was confident Catherine would agree with his decision. He was sorry to see his younger brother angry, and to know he'd hurt him, but he'd make it up to him.
He'd very nearly lost his brother yesterday, and he wasn't about to take that chance again.
*******************************************
"You've dried that same plate for the last ten minutes," Jonathan Kent said to his son. "You've probably rubbed off the pattern by now."
"Huh?" Clark started and looked down at the dinner plate in his hands. "Uh, sorry, Dad." He plunged his hands back into the now-tepid water and retrieved another one, rinsing it quickly under the tap before rubbing it dry.
Jonathan was not fooled. "Want to come clean, so to speak?"
Clark glanced over at the living room, where his mother was pouring over the faxes that arrived daily now that Mr. Luthor was out of town. It was funny: a few months ago all they'd had was a phone and one out-of-date computer; now the Kent home boasted a fax machine/copier, a state-of-the- art laptop, and his mom's PDA. All courtesy of Lionel Luthor. Apparently he'd even wanted his assistant to get a second phone line installed, but Jonathan Kent had drawn the line at that. Clark still secretly hoped for a high-speed Internet connection, but he wasn't holding his breath.
"You've been pretty subdued since you got home from the Torch, son," Jonathan reminded him.
"Yeah, I guess. I've got this weird feeling, like there's something important I need to remember, but can't. It's driving me crazy."
"Usually if you focus on something else it'll come to you," Jonathan advised, taking the clean, dry dishes and stacking them back in the cupboard. "I talked to Ethan this morning: he says they're just about done with the investigation out there and Molly and Brody can move back in if they want to."
After Mr. Jasper's body had been recovered, the sheriff's department had surrounded the Winters' property and home with crime scene tape and posted a deputy in the driveway.
Clark sighed. "And I'll bet they didn't find anything."
Jonathan sat down at the kitchen table with a fresh cup of coffee. "Didn't sound like it."
Clark sat down as well. "Do you really think Mrs. Winters will want to go back to that house?"
"I don't know, Clark." Jonathan rubbed the stubble on his jaw. "She'll want someplace for her and Brody, though. She's worried about him-he's refused to back to school and she doesn't know how he's spending all his time. But at least he's at the hospital with her every morning."
"Is she getting better?"
"A bit, I guess. But she's never been a strong woman, and without Jim and Arthur to care for her.that's an awful burden for a young man like Brody to take on."
"Dad, were you sorry when you had to stay home and take care of Grandpa?" Clark knew that his father had given up his football scholarship to Metropolis University when his own father had become ill. He sometimes wondered if Jonathan regretted giving up so much.
"No, Clark, I don't. He was family. I never gave it a second thought. But that was my decision-it's not for everyone. It's hard to care for other people."
"I think Lex is finding that out. You should have seen him when A.J. got hurt. He looked like he wanted to kill somebody." Clark shook his head at the memory.
"It's going to be hard for those two to carve out some kind of relationship after all these years. I'm sure Lex cares for his brother, in his own way, but they're still virtually strangers."
"I was a stranger when I came here, but you and Mom said you loved me right away," Clark reminded his father, who smiled.
"Fair enough, son."
Clark grabbed a soda out of the fridge. "Y'know, if Mrs. Winters does decide to stay I could help out. Maybe Brody could go back to school if we helped keep the place up."
Jonathan nodded approvingly. "Maybe so, son. In any event it's kind of you to offer; I'll be sure to let Molly know. I just thank god that place isn't a farm; then Molly would be in real trouble."
Clark, who knew first hand the amount of heavy labor it took to keep a farm going, nodded. "They could farm it if they needed the money, though, couldn't they?"
"No, son. That's why Jim was able to afford that parcel in the first place, even with LuthorCorp driving up land prices all over the county. It's too rocky, and the drainage is bad. That down slope from the old quarry keeps the soil waterlogged most of the year, and in the summer I reckon it would be too dry."
Clark set down his soda can with a thump, and his father regarded him curiously.
"Clark, what is it? You look like you've seen a ghost."
"You were right, Dad." He regarded his father with wide eyes. "I've just remembered what's been bothering me all night."
"Is it something important?"
"It might be. I need to call Chloe."