The money Lex gave her extended to that month's rent for her and her mother, what she owed already, a trip to the salon, and a few moderately priced outfits. Taking her mother's advice, she forced herself to save the rest. Of course the story spread through The Bobcat, and Eve was forced to make up more and more details as she found herself becoming the subject of an urban legend. She had heard so many stories that it wasn't hard to come up with some convincing lies about how much Lex loved her and was willing to spend money on her just for making him happy.
Three weeks later, the phone rang in the apartment. She let Lyds pick it up, since her mother only called at night, and no one else called at all.
"Hey, Evie, it's for you! Some guy called Philip or something. Sounds cute."
"Oh, great!" Eve jumped up and grabbed the phone. "Hey, Philip, how are you?"
"Hi, Miss Teschmacher. Um, Mr. Luthor wanted to arrange a meeting with you, and, um, he wants to meet you at the park in forty-five minutes. By that cute little duck pond. You know, with the fountain thing."
"I know what you're talking about, Philip" she laughed. "Sounds fine—I'll see him there."
"All right, Miss Teschmacher. I'll tell him. And…uh. Well, you…you have a good day, okay?"
"Okay, Philip. 'Bye." She hung up the phone with a little laugh.
"Sounds like this Philip guy has a crush! Is 'Miss Teschmacher' like a kinky thing you two have?"
"No, no, it's nothing like that. He works for Lex."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah, I'm meeting him in a little bit!" She instantly turned towards the closet and searched for an appropriate outfit.
Eventually, she settled for a short white dress with black stockings, cream sweater, and a beret perched atop her professionally done curls. She dashed over to the park and stood by the duck pond. Lex arrived right on time, of course, elegantly dressed as always.
"Hi, Lex!" She grinned and waved when she saw him approaching. "Gosh, you look wonderful!"
"Why, thank you, Miss Teschmacher." He said with no hint of embarrassment at her exuberant compliment, making part of her want to take it back. "you look, um, very comfortable."
"Thanks, Lex" She tried to sound enthusiastic. "You have another job for me?"
"Yeah, it should be a cinch for you. There's a particular technology company called Meli Inc. that I-"
"Ooh, Lex, can you buy me a lemonade?" She pleaded when they passed one of the many vendors.
"Excuse me, Miss Teschmacher?"
"Come on, Lex, think about it. If we just walk around the park together, we might look suspicious and people might wonder what we're saying. But if you get me a lemonade, people will just think that we're a cute couple and they won't care what we say."
"Miss Teschmacher, that is a completely absurd mental leap."
"Well, maybe I can't concentrate when I'm thirsty."
"All right, Miss Teschmacher." He begrudgingly made the purchase. "Now are you ready to listen?"
She nodded; if they had just talked about a job, it would have been business, but since he got her a lemonade, it was a date. "There's a tech company"
"Yes, now, I have the feeling that Kenneth Meli, the president of the company, has a lot of information that could be useful to me. However, I obviously don't have access to his office."
"You want me to flirt my way in?"
"Exactly, Miss Teschmacher. And when you do" he reached into his pocket and handed her a small, metallic object "I want you to stick this under his desk. That way, anything he says will get transmitted right to me."
"Ooh, you're gonna bug him? I saw a movie that was like that once. But I think someone was on a boat, and there was this guy who..."
"Yes, thank you, Miss Teschmacher, your commentary is riveting."
She rolled her eyes and put the bug in her purse.
"So, where am I meeting him?"
"Tomorrow at 7:00 sharp. He goes to Delilah's coffee and pastries on 48th Street every day. Just make sure you catch his attention, and flirt until he takes you to his office. Then you place the bug under his desk."
"Then what?"
"Then you do what you want with him, and leave."
"I mean, how much are you gonna pay me?"
"For something as simple as that, fifty, especially since I'm not making any direct monetary gain from it."
"Lemme see his picture."
He showed her, taking a crumpled newspaper clipping from his pocket.
"Seventy-five."
Lex laughed and looked at the picture with her. "Yeah, that seems only fair."
As he put the picture back in his pocket, she seized the opportunity to link arms with him. He didn't seem to mind, though, and they kept walking through the park.
"So Lex, how does someone become the greatest criminal of the century?"
"Hard work, brains, dedication, intimidation."
"Well, yeah" she attempted to rest her head against his shoulder, "but I wanna know how you did it. You know, like how you started out and all."
"Miss Teschmacher, why do I suspect this is a ploy to get me to talk about my childhood so that you can claim to understand me?"
"Very funny." She tried to think of something else to say, but couldn't, since he was completely right.
"All right, Miss Teschmacher, since you're being so agreeable. I spent my childhood dirt poor living in the middle of nowhere. My parents and I didn't exactly see eye-to-eye on most things, so I left home as soon as I reasonably could, and of course came to Metropolis. I was quickly able to get some odd jobs with the men who owned the streets, then pretty soon I was one of them, and just a few years later, here I am."
"Wow." She tried to sound impressed at the little information he gave her. "Did your parents ever find out?"
"No, they're not around anymore."
"I'm so sorry" she cooed. "I'd just about die if anything happened to my mother." She clutched his arm as a thought occurred to her, "They weren't killed by some other gangster, were they? You didn't kill them, did you?"
He only smiled and continued walking. "One of those options is exceedingly likely."
Her eyes widened, and he tightened his grip on her arm. It was like watching a horror movie; the idea of it was so awful that it made her feel a little thrilly.
"Lex, you are sick. You are really sick."
He smiled and inclined his head in agreement.
"I just can't believe it sometimes, how anybody could be so awful when it comes to other people's…"
He cut her off by lightly kissing her, and instinctively, she responded, lightly easing her tongue into his mouth. When he pulled away just as abruptly, she remembered how horrified she was by him.
"What was that for?"
"Someone was coming, and I didn't want them to overhear our conversation. Besides, you were the one who wanted us to look like a couple."
"God, I hate you sometimes." She pressed her body up against his, and he accepted the unspoken invitation to put his arm around her shoulder.
"And what about you, Miss Teschmacher. How does one become one of the most thoroughly mediocre strippers of the century?
"It's not that exciting" she answered, too used to his jibes to care. "My dad left when I was nine. My mother was great, and everything, but still, puberty hit and I started looking so, you know, um, well, you know how look, and guys started liking me, and I liked the attention at first. But by the time I realized I wanted just one boy, all the nice boys had started avoiding me, and there was no one left but the creeps. And then when I got older, I realized that I'd never get married to the kind of guy I liked if I stayed in Hackensack, so I came here to become a secretary and marry my boss. But you can see how that turned out. So, here I am, eight years later."
"Do you have any clue what you want to do in the future?"
"No, I mean, I try to save up, but honestly, I still think marriage is my best option" she pushed her body closer to his.
"I have an appointment" he disentangled himself from her. "I'll get in contact with you after the job."
"Oh, okay" she waved plaintively as he walked away before finishing her lemonade.