Lex faltered momentarily, shocked by her appearance.
"Lana," Lex regained his composure and addressed her in his usual, cool tone. He abandoned his game, and walked around the pool table to place his cue stick back in the wall rack.
"I had a meeting scheduled with you for tomorrow," he said, as Lana walked further into the room, looking around.
"Looks like you've kept with the same décor you had at the mansion in Smallville," she observed.
"I arrived in town early," she added, "So I thought I'd stop by, and save you the trouble of traveling to Smallville, I know you're busy," she said with a hint of sarcasm.
Lex gave her a somewhat false hint of a smile.
"I stopped at Luthorcorp and was informed about your father, I'm sorry," Lana was sincere in her condolences.
"Thank you, Lana," Lex replied as he motioned for her to take a seat. Lana sat in one of the armchairs. Lex took a seat across from her.
They looked at each other for a moment. Lana shook her head slightly and wondered why she was here. She knew Lex would not apologize for his abhorrent behavior last year. Lana could tell by the way he was watching her, like he was expecting something from her. He had changed from last year that much she could see. It was amazing what a year away could do for her perspective. Now she didn't know why she had insisted on meeting him.
Lex also watched her closely; he could tell her mind was working. Lex planned to wait patiently, and allow her to lead the path of the conversation.
"Would you like a drink?" He asked her, playing the polite host and moving to stand up.
Lana shook her head no, and Lex relaxed back down.
"Lex," Lana started, as she took a deep breath, "I know you won't apologize for your behavior last year."
At this Lex raised his eyebrows slightly, curious as to why Lana showed up if she thought he wouldn't apologize. He raised his hand to his chin, and watched Lana as she tried to articulate why she came.
"I guess what I want to know is why?" She asked him.
"And not only that, but how? How could you behave towards me like that, and against your supposed best friend?" Lana asked, her eyes pleading for some sort of answer.
Lex just stared at her for another moment. Lana's face, open with emotion, started to close up. She was losing patience with his silent stares.
Why wouldn't he just talk to me like a normal person, she though angrily.
"Lana, does it really matter anymore?" Lex asked, some amusement in his voice.
Lana narrowed her eyes.
"I thought it would matter to you. You claimed Clark to be the best friend you'd ever had-like a brother in fact-but you destroyed that relationship in one night, and did nothing to try and salvage it!" Lana raised her hands, "I don't understand."
"You don't have to understand my behavior. I have moved on with my life from that night. I'm in a good place right now. Clark and I were close, but now we're not. I can't say that I miss his constant judgements about me and my decisions," Lex stopped himself.
He was allowing his weakness for Lana to dredge up old feelings and emotions better left buried in the past. Lex regained control of himself, flipping the proverbial switch in his head, separating his actions and thoughts from his emotions. It was a useful skill he'd developed while in Smallville, and in dealing with his father.
Lana stared at him, unbelieving.
"You really have changed. I guess my friendship must not mean much to you either then," she stood up.
"I can see I have no reason to stay, so I'll see myself out," Lana spun on her heels and walked out of the room.
For a moment Lex wanted to call out for her to stop, to say that he was sorry he had ruined things a year ago. But the moment passed quickly, and Lex just watched with growing, detached interest as Lana left.
Chloe sat at her desk that afternoon, trying to piece together the bits of information she'd gathered thus far; the timeline of events, and how each person fit into the story of Lionel Luthor's last months on this earth.
She had papers strewn around her desk, her notebook in the center, Lionel's name in the middle of the page, and off Lionel were the other people seemingly involved, and each of those people connected by a relationship of one sort or another as well. It was a somewhat complicated web, and Chloe was developing a headache trying to decipher who did what to whom, and when…
Chloe had deduced Lionel had hired Dr. Mason Hines first. Following the Luthor tradition of looking towards scientific minds who liked to push the ethical envelope, Lionel had confronted Dr. Hines after he had been discovered doing experiments mixing human tissue, with robotic technology; cybernetic research. Dr Hines received human remains from various places, all bodies with no identities, and no one who would miss them.
Chloe once again scanned over the article she had discovered. The article she had shown Clark and Lila. It was three years old, and from a paper in Western Canada, near the U.S. border. It covered Dr Mason Hines history as a rogue researcher, taking huge risks where others wouldn't. His projects, considered unethical in the eyes of most of the scientific community, were kept very low-profile until a family member appeared. Someone wanted to take possession of a body Dr. Hines had already assimilated into his ongoing cybernetics research. Dr. Hines had no friends high enough to cushion the fall, and he found himself without a job, without a friend, without a colleague. He also found himself homeless.
Chloe could only assume that sometime between his complete fall from grace, and two and half years ago when he was hired at Luthorcorp, Lionel had found him and made him an offer he couldn't refuse.
Lila had filled in a few of the blanks, having told Chloe and Clark how when she was hired, it was because of her background in the most up to date interactive computer programming, and her main task was to update and build the system that Dr. Hines had preliminarily designed. They worked together a little bit, but mostly Lila designed and built the system, giving Dr. Hines the instructions on programming. He had hired a crew of top notch programmers from all over the world to assist, and Katherine Trumpet, who already worked for Luthorcorp, was reassigned to help as well.
This was where the trail got very cold. Chloe found very little to show for Lex's involvement in the whole project, and until Lionel went missing, Lex hadn't been around much at all. Chloe had called in one of her favors from the Metropolis Police Dept, and had received the phone dump that was executed from the Mansion in Smallville, the penthouse apartment, and Lex's Cell. There were two calls from Lex to Lionel the night he had disappeared, which must be why the FBI focused so hard on investigating Lex. Though he'd had an alibi, and claimed to never have made those calls, he was still their prime suspect. But no other evidence was ever found, and no other suspects were ever named.
Chloe wondered why Lex hadn't pursued widening the investigation, but she also figured that since Lex had gained complete control over Luthorcorp, he wasn't too concerned with finding the father who had never given Lex what he wanted, which Chloe still remembered with pity, was to be loved.
"What am I missing?" she said under her breath, once again focusing on the diagram she'd created.
The only three scenario's that made any sense involved either Lex kidnapping and murdering his own father, Katherine doing the deed for some revenge for being dumped, or else Dr Hines was involved somehow. Chloe couldn't make any reasonable leap to believe Dr. Hines would kidnap and then murder the man who brought him back from the very edge. And as much as it could possibly be true, Chloe just didn't figure Lex for the type to murder his own father.
"Not unless he had another breakdown," Chloe mumbled. But that wasn't the case. Lex's mental history was well known to Chloe, as Lois had been there for every part of it for the last year-which covered the six month kidnapping/murder window.
"What are you mumbling about over there?" Lois glanced to Chloe from her own desk, trying to give Chloe a hard time.
Chloe shook her head, "It's nothing," she added. She couldn't talk to Lois about this. As much as she wanted too, she couldn't trust her cousin not to tell Lex. iLois had fallen hard for him/i, Chloe thought, iand she trusted him too/i. She hoped with all her being that Lex wasn't involved, as it would destroy Lois.
This left Chloe with one possibility, that Katherine Trumpet had somehow arranged for Lionel Luthor to be kidnapped, and murdered, and dumped in a city hundreds of miles away, with no real evidence to any of the illegal acts. Chloe also found this hard to believe, but Katherine had been pushed aside by Lionel; put on the back burner while he had wined and dined Lila. Chloe placed a question mark next to Katherine Trumpet's name, and continued to study the diagram.
Clark and Lila returned to the office at The Planet after about a half hour.
Lois was still typing on the story she was working on, a piece on the Metropolis City Orchestra, and the discovery of a hidden crypt in the basement of the concert hall. Lois had offered to cover it, which surprised Clark. It was a little, well, boring for Lois's tastes. Clark thought her writing the story probably had to do with Lex. He'd always been fascinated with artifacts and history.
Chloe was at her desk, her brow furrowed, still deep in thought. She glanced up when Clark and Lila came back in the room. A few minutes later Clark's computer was beeping, indicating a new email message. Clark clicked on his email server, and there was a message from Chloe. He looked over at her, and she motioned with her eyes to Lois. Clark understood that what was written was not for Lois to see or hear.
He read the email:
From: Chloe Sullivan ch.sullivanThe.Daily.
To: Clark Kent cl.kentThe.Daily. need to talk about the situation Lila is in, regarding Lionel. I have found some more information and it's important that we go over it ASAP.
Chloe Sullivan
The Daily Planet
000-555-3245
Clark looked up at Chloe and nodded. He motioned with his head towards the door.
"Lila-we need to go," he said quietly, and she nodded.
"Does anyone know of another word for treasure?" Lois asked suddenly. She was completely unaware of the unspoken communication going on around her. She looked up to find Lila heading out the door, Clark preparing to leave, and Chloe packing her stuff as well.
"Try riches, or plunder," Chloe suggested, as she put on her light-weight jacket, "I'll call you later Lo'."
Suddenly the office was empty.
"Was it something I said?" she asked herself as she stared around the empty room.