TITLE: Double, Double, Love & Trouble? – Chapter 19
WRITTEN BY: Heather Ferguson (fergus80)
RATING: PG-13 (NC-17 where applicable will be separate)
SUMMARY: Rewrite from the end of the episode 'Unsafe.'
SPOILERS: Everything!
DISCLAIMER: All Smallville character belong to their respective whatever, the WB, etc. etc.
FEEDBACK: Always makes me smile:)
DEDICATION: To all the fellow Nuns, writers, reviewers, and readers at NWP, and of course Jensen!
RANT: Another short one, but it's up!
For being a large mansion, with tons of security, the place was surprisingly easy to get into. The room was dark except for the light coming from the laptop computer. Jason's fingers nimbly glided over the keys, as he searched through the logs of LuthorCorp's intranet. He didn't know if it was just luck, or stupidity on Lex's part for having forgotten to log off the last time he used his own computer. But he wasn't going to questions the gods of fate, as he continued to look and make his way to Lex's email.
Finding a message from one Bridgette Crosby, he clicked on the message, and began reading. Moments later the door opened. His eyes looked up to find Lex. He didn't move, and he didn't even try to explain his appearance there. Both men knew what was going on.
"Find anything interesting," Lex asked as he walked towards his desk.
Jason nodded, "Yeah, as a matter of fact, I did."
"You've crossed the line, Jason." He said calmly, "I take my privacy very seriously."
He sat back and the chair and looked at the older man, "And I take murder very seriously. It says here that you sent e-mail to Bridgette Crosby."
"I never denied I knew her."
He stood up and walked towards him as he continued, "Confirming a meeting between the two of you here at the Luthor mansion on the same morning she was found face down in the dirt."
"Well, Miss Crosby never showed up for that meeting," he said as he walked over to his bar and poured himself a drink.
"You mentioned an item in your e-mail. I assume you're talking about an artifact. What were you gonna do? Were you gonna buy it from her? Or were you gonna take it with force?"
Lex took a drink, and then, "I don't need to explain myself to you, Jason."
He shook his head, "No, but you're gonna have to explain it to the police."
"Look, I have no interest being in the middle of a murder investigation I had nothing to do with. Not to mention the media circus that comes with it."
"There was a dead body found on your property, Lex. It's kinda hard to ignore."
He swallowed another bit of the amber liquid, "Trust me, I'm not."
Jason looked at him for a moment, trying to figure it out. "Who are you trying to protect? You? Your father?"
"Burying bodies in the backyard isn't exactly a hobby of mine, Jason."
He smiled back at him, very doubtful of that. "Yeah, well, covering up a homicide isn't exactly a hobby of mine. I think I'll go have a chat with the sheriff." With that he left the study and headed to his car. Pulling out his cell phone he called Sheriff Adams as he sat in his car. "Hello, Sheriff. Yeah, this is Jason Teague. Ummm… I think there is something you need to see at the Luthor Estate."
A couple hours later she was there and the two of them were walking through the dark trees towards the spot he had seen the body. His flashlight moved over the ground to the area. "Over here, Sheriff." But there wasn't anything there. "Wait a second. The body was right here. It was right next to this rock." He looked up at an old-looking gazebo. "They must have just built this gazebo."
She looked at a map of the grounds, "Well, according to the county records, the gazebo has been on this property before the Luthors bought it."
He shook his head, "Sheriff, I know what I saw!"
"Uh-huh, the dead and decaying body of one Bridgette Crosby." She sighed, "Mr. Teague, I'll level with you. A good murder mystery is just the kind of thing I could use right about now. The thing is, you can't have a murder without a victim, and see, this Bridgette Crosby, there's no record she ever existed."
He did a double take, "This is crazy. Of course she existed."
"Before I came, I did a search. Every government database from the IRS to the PTA happens to disagree with you. I even went on one of those Google searches. It kept asking me if I meant 'Bing' Crosby."
"The gardener. The gardener found the body. Did you question him?"
"I questioned the entire landscaping staff."
"It's Lex. He's paid them off or he's intimidating them."
"Or you're yanking my rope. Mr. Teague, the next time you say there's been a killing, I better see a stiff."
He shook his head at her, and then looked back at the gazebo. He didn't know what to say. He just followed the Sheriff back to their cars and watched her drive away. He got into his car as he pulled out his cell phone. He had one last place to go for some answers, and he really didn't want to.
He sighed as she picked up, "Hello, mother." He decided to try and see what she would say. "So, it looks like Lex took care of the body you left for him. My only questions was when you might have wanted to fill me in on this." He heard the pause, and his fists clenched. Why did he have to be right?
"Jason… listen…" she started.
"I don't want to listen!" He was outraged, "You will do ANYTHING to get these stones won't you?"
"Our safety…"
He closed his eyes. "You have it. The stone Bridgette had. Don't you."
"Jason… please…"
"DON'T YOU!" It was more of an accusation then it was a question.
"As long as we have one, we'll be safe. And once we get the other two…"
He shook his head, "See. That's just it. You aren't happy with just one. One to be safe. You want them all too." He shook his head and hung up the phone. He took a deep breath. So his mother had one, not two. Which meant she didn't have the one that was stolen from Lana. He hated the idea that his mother had one. But at least, if she had it, he knew someone didn't have all of them.
"That manipulating… that…" She was his mother. But he actually wished he could turn her in for it. Oh, he was sure she didn't do it herself. That wasn't her style. But, who would believe him? The sheriff obviously wouldn't. He didn't trust Lex or Lionel.
He took a deep breath and started up his car. He needed to talk to Lana about this. Maybe together they could figure something out. He looked at his watch. It was getting late. The dance would be starting to slow down. Then a small smile crossed his face. Maybe it was late enough that he could sneak in, and catch a dance with her. His smile grew at the thought, as he tried not to think about everything else that was going on.
Her feet were killing her. The punch was… well, it wasn't spiked. If it was, the party might have been more enjoyable. The music left much to be desired. And her date… she sighed. Farm boy… could… not… dance. Oh, he could sway like the best of them, but that was it.
She was beginning to think that this really was not as good of an idea as she had originally thought. The music was too loud for her to talk to him and try and weasel the location of the one stone out of him. But she stuck with it. Because at the very least, she was getting him to trust her, and feel secure with her. He'd have to give in at some point. Using her powers just did not work on him. And there was still the possibility that he was the only one that knew where it was, so him being dead or unwilling to tell her, did her no good at all.
Isobel sighed, and leaned her tired head against his shoulder. The very least he could do with all this dancing his support her tired frame. She really just wanted to go home. She smiled and gave a contented sigh at the thought of later. Maybe she could get Jason to give her a massage. Mmmmmmm, her mind wandered as her and Clark swayed to the loud yet slow music.
What she didn't see, and what she didn't notice was the person of her thoughts coming in through the gym doors and looking out into the crowd. He scanned the tables for the girls. Since it was a slow song, he highly doubted they would be dancing out there together. But catching Chloe and Lois sitting at the table alone, his eyes moved to the punch bowl and food. Surprisingly empty. He then looked over the dance floor, and he swallowed.
There she was, dancing with Clark. He could have dismissed her dancing with him, they were friends after all. But, it was the way they were dancing that tore at his heart. She had her head on his shoulder, their arms around each other. And it was NOT friendly. It didn't help that Clark was resting his face on the top of her head either. Not to mention the dopey, yet happy expression he wore.
A huge part of him wanted to storm over to both of them and ask what the hell was going on. But he couldn't do it. He couldn't do it here, to her, with everyone around. No, instead he'd he would head back to her place, and wait. Wait for her to explain. Wait and see if she would bring Clark home or not. Wait and see what would happen on that front porch. With that he left the gym, telling himself again and again, that it was 'just' a 'dance.'
Just a dance…
To be continued