Summary: Lana's continuing investigation into the Smallville High cafeteria food.
A/N: Hey, look at me! Back to trying to post once a day! Really, it's the Clark/Chloe one I left 'til the end, but I have 3 days to finish the next chapter! I think I'll be OK...
After a quick stop at the restroom to wipe off the more dripping elements of the sludge, Lana quickly ran to the Torch. She really didn't want anyone to see her in this state. She would have showered and changed in the locker room, but the girls' softball team had just finished their practice and Lana really didn't want to answer their questions.
Slipping into the Torch, she headed straight for the bag she'd left there. Thank goodness she hadn't brought it to the meeting. All of her homework and school books would have smelled and she would have been fined for damaging them. She pulled out the file she'd taken from Mr. Peterson's office and placed it on the desk beside her. She had two options. Either Mr. Peterson was doing something illegal or at the least underhanded or Christine was a disgruntled employee that had intended on feeding her lies to thepress, was discoveredand therefore fired. Lana tended to think the first option was right, but was willing to let the evidence she'd find speak for itself.
"OK, first we should look at Mr. Peterson's employment records," she muttered, tapping away at the computer. She got into the public records of the district office. It was quite possible that his resume was online… After all, it was public record. She quickly reached a website that showed his face but very little actual historical information. She briefly wished Chloe was there to help her hack into the system, but realized it was probably a good thing she was alone. She decided she could do this by phone.
"Smallville School District office. How may I help you?"
"Mrs. Smythe, please."
"Certainly. One moment and I'll transfer you."
"Hello?"
"Mrs. Smythe? This is Lana Lang."
"Lana, how are you doing? Was your interview with Mr. Peterson just awful?"
Lana smiled. This was going to be easy. "Actually, Mrs. Smythe, that's what I wanted to talk to you about. He said that he'd worked for other school districts before ours and I was wondering if I could get a fax of his resume for historical information."
"Are you sure, Lana? I wouldn't think he would be that interesting."
"Well, some discrepancies have cropped up and I wanted to do some cross checking."
"It sounds like it could beterrible for him." Laughter sounded through the line. "Give me your fax number and I'll send it to you in five minutes."
"Really?" Lana couldn't believe how easy this was. "Thanks a lot, Mrs. Smythe."
"Anything to get back at that man, Lana. Just keep my name out of it, okay?"
"You bet. Thank you so much!"
"Certainly. I'll see you around."
As they hung up the phone, Lana pondered where Mr. Peterson had gone wrong. If he had been pleasant to his coworkers, he would have made allies… and he would have been able to keep a secretary. Both of those things at this point would have either delayed or halted her investigation. Really, it was like his own fault for being such a scrooge. The fax machine rumbled into life on the other side of the room and Lana got up to get her document.
Mr. Peterson had been the food procurement officer in three districts other than Smallville... or at least that he listed in his resume. The real interesting point to that was that each position only lasted at the most 3 years. Lana thought about where to go from here. I could call each office saying I'm looking for references, but that would bring me to his attention if they happened to let him know I called. She decided to look through newspaper articles around the time of his departure.
All three towns had had some scandal about the food just after he had departed. Something about over-ordering. No charges were ever laid at Mr. Peterson's door, but it had been big news. So that's what he's doing. It worked out for him in the last three towns, why wouldn't it work here? She wondered how anyone could be so gullible as to hire him. Then it hit her. He looks for work just before the scandal hits so the references is called before he leaves. He must have this down to a science by now.
"So, how am I going to prove it? He's managed to get out of it three times before now. How can I possibly prove it?"
"Prove what?"
Lana shrieked and whipped around. Clark stood there very innocently, his eyes wide with shock at her reaction. "Clark! Don't you make noise when you come into a room, for crying out loud?"
"I thought I had," he said. Then he sniffed… and sniffed… and almost hurled. "What is that stench?"
"Me," she said wearily. "I wasn't careful enough."
"Dude, you should go home and shower." He backed away from her as quickly as he could. "I'll… ummm… talk to you later."
Lana laughed as the door closed. She'd never repelled a boy that fast in her life! She would have felt insulted if she didn't know it was totally justified. A shower sounded like heaven, but she needed to know one more thing before she left for the evening. Who was Mr. Peterson's supplier? He's talked to a James Knightley, but who knows where he was based.
When the solution came to her, she groaned in dismay. "I'm going to have to find the boxes that the food is delivered in. And that means… going into the dumpster." She laughed wearily. "Good thing I didn't shower after all."
Quickly she made her way through the halls of the school and back to the dumpsters. She was very relieved that no one was around. She looked around for something to stand on and found an empty trash can to assist her. She leaned into the dumpster, not willing to actually get inside, and started moving things around. Then she noticed the box. It was just beyond her reach, so she scooted her body deeper into the bin, but still with enough leverage to keep her mostly out of the trash.
Her fingers reached through the rotting vegetables and wasted food and grasped the edge of the box. She could almost read it. At this point, she teetered like a seesaw on the lip of the dumpster. She pulled but the force she used finally overcame her efforts to not take a swim in garbage. Her body flipped into the dumpster and food that had been mounted up practically buried her. "Yuck!" she yelled, thankful that she'd managed to maintain her hold on the cardboard so she didn't have to dig inside anymore. She surfaced from the garbage, pulling the piece of cardboard to the top with her. She sat there for a minute, trying to get her breath back. Finally she was able to look at the name. "Meals 'R Us," she muttered. "How clever."
She threw the cardboard out of the dumpster and pulled herself out of the box. She tore off the piece with the name of the company and noticed that just below name was a location. "Grandville, Kansas. That's not too far. I could go tomorrow night and check the place out." She looked down at her outfit. "But first I need to grab my bag and burn these clothes." She brought along her piece of evidence and quickly went home for a much needed shower.
A/N: I know I'd thrown garbage on her in her last chapter, but having her actually be in the dumpster... Well, how could I resist?
