Title: The Butcher's Boy ( a sequeal to Shoot Low, They’re Riding the Shetlands, and Violet Noir)
Author: Kathy
Ratings: R for violence
Pairings: Chlex
Category: Mystery
Spoilers: AU, somewhere in Season 7, Lexana never happened, the Lexana wedding never happened, and Lex didn't kill Lionel.
Summary: Gabe’s thoughts on the Luthor family and dime store detective novels.
Disclaimer: This story is purely for fun and no profit. I don’t own any of the characters. The CW has that privilege. THOSE JERKS!
A/N: I decided to continue with this concept as a short story because I enjoy trying to write in a 1950’s, hard-boiled detective noir kind of way, and the I think it only works in these small doses. If I attempted a chapter fic with the characters talking in the hard-boiled slang, I think it would get real old, real fast. Please note that I borrowed a character from the film The Killers, and a line from a Mae West movie.
The Butcher's Boy
When Gabe walked into The Talon, he immediately went to the table the farthest from the door and waited.
It had been their prearranged meeting place for the past two years, and he was anxious to hear their thoughts on the latest chapter.
And he was also hoping to run a couple of theories past them regarding "the big news" Chloe and Lex were going to announce..
He didn't have long to wait because within 10 minutes, Lionel and Martha Luthor were seated at the table, delighted grins on their faces.
Gabe leaned forward in his chair. "So, what did you think?"
Dutch Costello was never what anyone would refer to as bright, so none of his cronies were too surprised when The Butcher and his thugs picked Dutch up by his shirt collar and dragged him out of the taproom, kicking and screaming for help. They all knew better then to interfere, so they were all resolved to finding his bullet-ridden body floating in the river in a few days time.
The Butcher scowled at the cowering man before him. "Didn't I tell you not to play the ponies, Dutch? You're already into me for 20 k, and after last night's race, you now owe me 30 grand."
Dutch nodded his head dumbly. "You sure did, Boss. I guess I just ain't lucky."
The Butcher sneered at the man's stupidity. "Luck doesn't have anything to do with it. You're just a sucker, plan and simple."
Dutch opened up his mouth to protest, but The Butcher's fist lashed out and caught the chump square in the jaw silencing him. "All I want out of you is when you are paying me."
The frightened man had to spit blood out of his mouth before he could speak. "But Boss, I don't have that kind of dough."
"Wrong answer, pal," The Butcher said grimly. He motioned to his two, no-necked companions and said, "Take this joker outside and 'convince' him to pay us."
Lionel grinned at Gabe. "The Butcher is superb! Finally a fictional character I can relate to!"
It had been a surprise for Gabe to learn that not only was Lex's father a fan of his hard-boiled crime novels, but that he was obsessed with them. Lionel would write out comments to practically every chapter of Gabe's books, complete with story suggestions, and he loved nothing more then to discuss the characters and their troubles.
It has been Lionel who encouraged Gabe to allow Duke Miller and Joe to form a bond not just for Vera's sake but because the men had developed a grudging respect for each other.
And he also asked that Joe's dad be allowed to enter his son and daughter in law's lives.
The Butcher, a.k.a. Leo Alexander, was Joe Alexander's dad, and Gabe doubted if a more badass character existed in the world of hard-boiled criminals, if he did say so himself. The Butcher was as smart and ruthless as Joe, but he was also a lot meaner and more violent, having grown up in The Bowery.
Gabe laughed out loud and turned to Martha for her opinion. "Yes, Leo is a wonderful addition to the Alexander family, but I really liked was that you gave him a romantic back story."
Just like his son, The Butcher had a soft spot for the ladies, but unlike Joe, Leo had bad taste in women, because the woman he fell for turned out to be a double crossing dame.
The broad's name was Blackie St. Clair and she was a burlesque dancer at The Can-Can Club, one of the Bowery's seediest dance halls.
She was a loudmouth drunk and an obvious gold-digger, but The Butcher liked her because she was the only one with the guts enough to call him Leo to his face.
The Butcher would just smile at her, and she'd ask if he had a present for her, and then he'd buy her furs, and jewelry and gin by the gallon.
Now Blackie thinks she's got him wrapped around her finger, and that he's gone soft on her, so she decides that instead of asking for what she wants, she'd just take it.
One evening, while she's on stage dancing, she had one of her friends slip him a mickey, and the next thing The Butcher knows, he's waking up in a gutter in Poluckaville, with nothing in his pockets by a deck of cards and some change.
Some of The Butcher's gang over heard Blackie laughing with her fellow dance hall girls. "Let me tell you about subtraction. Leo has 100 smackers, and after Blackie was done with him, he had two bits. Now that's subtraction!"
It took The Butcher a month to get back to The Bowery, but when he did, he made a beeline for Blackie's apartment.
After that, Blackie didn't dance again.
And no one tried to double-cross The Butcher, either. Unless he was screwy.
When both men gaped at her, Martha quickly amended her previous statement. "Yes, the romance with Blackie was tragic, but it helps to add depth to Leo and makes him more sympathetic."
Smiling fondly at his wife, Lionel took her hand and kissed it. Gabe watched the two of them, and couldn't help but think that they were perfect for each other.
When Martha and Lionel had eloped the previous month, all of Smallville, and especially Clark and Lex, had been stunned, but when they came back from Vegas, both beaming with happiness, no one could bear to scold them.
In fact, Clark and Lex were the first to congratulate them. The two men were working on maintaining their friendship because Chloe was important to both of them, and now they had another reason: they were step-brothers.
So Smallville had to get used to another set of Luthors running around.
Speaking of Chloe and Lex...
Clearing his throat loudly, Gabe waited for Lionel to tear his eyes away from his wife before he started to speak. "Do you have any idea what this "Big News" could be?"
Martha and Lionel exchanged quick looks and then Martha spoke. "Well, we know that it's not a wedding announcement because they've been married over a year now."
Lionel then chimed in, "And we know it's not a pregnancy because Chloe's already pregnant and due in about 5 months."
The three soon to be grandparents all looked at each other blankly. What could the announcement be?
~~~
When he arrived at the mansion, Gabe had every intention of broaching the subject to his daughter and son in law, but he found them both reading his newest novel.
He decided to push any non-noir thoughts out of his head for the time being, or at least until they both told him what they thought of the newest addition to his fictional family.
They both seemed to be taking forever to finish, but finally Lex spoke up. "The Butcher?!" he asked incredulously. "Why didn't you just come right out and call him The Killer?"
The Spaniard looked warily at Joe. "What's the job?"
Joe looked impassively back at the boxer. "You take a dive in the 8th round, and you walk away with a 1000 clams for your trouble. 500 bucks before the fight, and 500 after you've taken the dive."
The Spaniard nodded his head in agreement, and reached out his hand for his cut, when The Butcher and his thugs busted into the locker room.
"Fancy meeting you here, Joe," The Butcher said amiably. "How's tricks?"
Joe inclined his head politely, but kept his eye on The Spaniard. "Just swell, Pops, but I'm kind of in the middle of something."
But before Joe could even finish his thought, The Butcher's thugs had grabbed The Spaniard, pinned him to the ground, and tied his arms behind his back.
The Butcher began to pace in front of the immobilized man, and chose to ignore his fuming son.
"A little birdy told me that a boxer ratted to Moose Malloy that an ambush was coming. And I asked myself, 'what boxer would be stupid enough to cross me?' "
He turned and fixed The Spaniard with a dead eye. "Then I remembered the no account rat bastard boxer my boy was dealing with, and I knew I had my squealer!"
Before Joe could utter a shout, The Butcher had grabbed the rope and yanked it backward, breaking both The Spaniard's arms.
Chloe smiled gently at her dad, as she offered her own critique. "I really like the continued development your giving Vera and Duke Miller's father/daughter bond."
She glanced over at Lex out of the corner of her eye. "After all, even when a girl get's married, her dad still has a special place in her heart."
Duke had just finished reading Vera' story in the evening edition of the paper she wrote for, The Daily Mirror, and he couldn't be prouder.
Her headline blazed across the front: MASSACRE ON MASHER STREET
"Kid, that's one hell of a story, but why do I get the feeling we're not getting the full dope?"
Vera glanced around the coffee-shop, and then lowered her voice, and her dad leaned forward. "Word on the street is, a copper went crooked and tried to take out the Malloy gang on The Butcher's say so."
Duke slowly shook his head. "The Butcher's got a screw loose going up against Moose Malloy's gang, and now he's involved the cops? If it was anybody else, I'd say that was curtains for them."
He folded the paper so that Vera's headline was facing up, and then looked at his daughter. "What did I always tell you?" But before Vera could reply, Duke interrupted her. "Besides never draw on an inside straight?"
Vera smiled faintly in response and repeated the phrase that had been drummed into her head since she was small. "Never trust a flatfoot."
"Alright, thanks for the critique, but what I really want to know is: what's the big news?"
Chloe gestured to the couch and Gabe sat down, worry starting to twist his guts.
Chloe and Lex exchanged mischievous grins before she turned to speak to her dad. "We were going over names for the baby, and we wanted to know your opinion. Mugsy if it's a boy, and if it's a girl, Diamond Lil."
Lex laughed at Gabe's stunned look of disbelief, and went straight into gangster mode. "What's the matter, Duke? Did someone try and get fancy with you or something?
Chloe sat next to her dad, and smiled at his now relieved, yet annoyed expression. "Ah lay off, Joe! Can't you see the old man's been shot the works?"
Gabe silently shook his head as his daughter and son in law had a huge laugh at his expense. Reluctantly, he could feel himself start to smile, as a story idea started to formulate in his mind. He just might incorporate this into his next novel.
Double Trouble by Gabe Sullivan
Vera learns that she is pregnant with her and Joe's second set of twins, and at the same time, she was on the trial of a kidnapping ring. It doesn't take her and Joe to realize that they just might have Double Trouble.
