CHAPTER 5
"Bruce, there's something I need to talk to you about" Lois said upon coming back to the kitchen where Bruce and Clark were now sitting at the table while Alfred served them some tea.
Clark wrinkled his forehead, surprised and wondering if Lois would finally tell Bruce the entire story about the Lucchesis and The Duchess.
"What's up?" Bruce asked.
"Well," she started, looking at a distrustful Clark "I think you shouldn't go to Joe Chill's hearing tomorrow"
Bruce just smiled.
"I see that Rachel put some ideas in your head, huh?"
"No. It's not about Rachel--" Lois replied, firmly.
Suddenly, Clark's cell phone started to ring, and both Bruce and Lois stared at him.
"I'm sorry" he said embarrassed, picking it up. Then, he saw in its display that it was a call from Chloe. "Excuse me, it's my mom" he lied, standing up and going to the garden to have a private talk.
"Hey mom!" he said loud enough to be heard. "How are you doing?"
"Mom?" Chloe asked smirking, at the other end of the line.
"I couldn't talk in there." he explained, turning around to make sure he wasn't being overheard.
"How are the things with the hottest billionaire in the world?" she asked.
Clark smiled disdainfully. As if it wasn't enough to see Lois and Bruce's flirts, now he had to hear Chloe's jokes too.
"I just have one thing to say... I don't know how you convinced me to come" he answered.
"I didn't convince you, Clark. I just suggested you and Lois could work together, considering you two made a great team at Suicide Slums. But tell me... How hard are things there?"
Clark turned around to see Lois and Bruce talking and saw her gently putting her hand over his on the kitchen's table.
"You have no idea" he answered.
"I'm sorry" Chloe said.
Then, there was a small silence, and Clark finally asked: "Why did you call? Did you find out something interesting?"
"I have good news to tell you" she answered. "On second thought, it's not so good. In fact, I have good and bad news to tell you... What do you want to hear first?"
"C'mon Chloe, we don't have time for this" he answered, impatient.
"Fine, are you ready? Carmine Falcone has some enemies in Metropolis" she finally said.
Confused, Clark raised an eyebow.
"Okay. So what's the point?" he asked.
"I think there's a good chance that Joe Chill is involved in Bruce's murder attempt" she explained.
"I still don't quite understand" he said.
"A contraband shipment had arrived in Metropolis some weeks ago. A month to be more specific. Everything indicates that Falcone is the man behind all of the dirt. But all the merchandise was dumped in the Hobb's Bay. It was news for a week. Metropolis authorities have never found out who was behind it. I investigated the story deeper and I found out something else--"
"What?" Clark asked.
"Something quite similar had happened last year in Gotham. An abandoned and empty truck that was registered in Metropolis was found in the Narrows. Two days later, two unidentified bodies were found in the Finger River"
"How do you know the two incidents are related?" Clark asked.
"It's very simple. The truck was registered in the name of a deceased person--"
"A name used just to hide the real person responsible for the shipment" Clark said, following Chloe's reasoning.
"Right. In the weeks that followed, Gotham had the biggest number of drug trafficking cases. Gotham's District Attorney had tried to find out some connection between the abandoned truck with the help of Metropolis authorities, but Gotham's police closed the case"
"That really doesn't prove anything, Chloe" Clark said.
"Can't you see, Clark? Gotham authorities simply quit the investigations when Falcone's name appeared. Can't you feel something wrong? The strongest against the weakest? The power of money?"
"No place can be that dominated by crime" Clark replied, convinced that not even Gotham and its bad reputation could be like that.
"Well, Clark, I'm sorry to say this, but I disagree with you" Chloe said.
"Okay. So let me get this straight. Who's Falcone's enemy in Metropolis? The Lucchesis?" Clark took his chances.
"Um. The thing is that I have no idea who it could be. The Lucchesis are only the middleman, the go-between." Chloe answered.
Clark took a deep breath and turned around to see Lois and Bruce still talking in the kitchen.
"And what was the good news?" he asked.
"That was the good news" she said.
Confused, Clark raised both eyebows. "What did you say?"
"But wait!" she asked. "Before you hang up on me, even though I know you'd never do something like that, after all, Clark Kent is the most mild-mannered person I've ever met--"
"Chloe"
"--there's something that can still helps us"
"And now we have the bad news--" he said.
"Um. More or less. Let just say that there's something that only you can do" she finally said.
There was a brief silence on the line, and before Chloe could asked if Clark was still there, he asked: "Like what?"
"Good. Here's the thing... Gotham's District Attorney has a report with all the phone calls made by Joe Chill in prison--" Chloe said and before she could finished it, Clark interrupted her:
"No. No way" he said, wondering what she was planning. "I can't do that! Trespassing Luthorcorp limits is one thing, but a public building, and even worse, a Judiciary one--"
"C'mon, Clark! This is the only way we can find out who Joe Chill's contact in Metropolis is. I'm pretty sure he made a deal with someone over here to testify against Falcone. The Lucchesis are probably involved, but they're not at the top. There's someone else. Someone bigger. And only by accessing his calls we can have a name!"
"Chloe, if the Lucchesis are intermediate we'll only find calls from Chill to them" Clark deduced.
"We'll only be sure of that after seeing his phone calls' list" Chloe insisted.
Thoughtful, Clark wondered if he didn't have any choice. He turned back around again to see Lois and Bruce were still talking. Chloe was right. There wasn't another way to help Bruce. And he had to do that.
"Okay" he finally said. "I'll call you later"
Clark turned the cell phone off and looked at again at Lois and Bruce. They were so involved in their discussion that they'd never notice he was gone. Then he used his super speed and simply disappeared.
To be continued...
