Chapter Four – The New Case
“Miss Sullivan please have a seat,” said Lex, dragging his eyes from hers. She took the offered a chair and Lucas took the one beside her.
“My name is Lex Luthor, and this is my brother Lucas,” he said by way of introductions. “Now why don’t you tell us who is missing.”
‘Please be a brother, please be a brother,’ ran like a mantra through Lucas’ mind. Chloe sat facing Lex so he took the opportunity to study her profile, and he found himself very much liking what he could see. Lex glanced at his brother and saw the way he was staring at Chloe. ‘Not again,’ he thought, although he refused to acknowledge the sick feeling that suddenly appeared in his stomach at the thought of his brother getting involved with Chloe. ‘Snap out of it Lex,’ he told himself, ‘you’ve only just met the girl.’
Chloe could feel both men checking her out. She had to admit they were both very attractive, and the younger one, Lucas, had a definite air of mischief about him. But the other, Lex, there was something about him something almost…dangerous to her heart. Covertly she glanced at him, wondering what had happened to his hair, for his scalp looked far too smooth to be just shaved. Not many men could carry off the baldness but boy did he. If anything it only increased his allure.
‘For goodness sake Chloe,’ she thought, ‘Whitney, you are here about Whitney.’
“Well Mr Luthor,” she said addressing Lex, “I’m not actually sure he is even missing.”
“Why don’t you tell us when you last saw him?” said Lucas. “And why you think he might be missing?”
“Yesterday evening was the last time I saw him, just before the show. He was to meet me afterwards. I waited for an hour but he never showed up. So figuring he blew me off for someone else I headed home. I headed to the club this morning and he wasn’t there. Clark, his business partner, said he hadn’t seen him since last night either. I checked his apartment but found nothing. I went back to the club and took one last look around the office. When once again I found nothing I decided that he had either taken off on a vacation at very short notice or he was just avoiding me. But just as I was leaving the office I found this on the floor.” She reached into her bag and took out the handkerchief and handed it to Lex.
He opened it and saw the bloodstained chain. “And you found this in the office,” he said.
Chloe nodded. “It could still be all innocent,” she continued, “but I have this feeling that something is wrong. So I left the office and asked around about where I could get a good detective, and you two were recommended.”
“Ok, what is this man’s name? Where does he work? How do you know him? Who is this Clark?” asked Lucas. ‘Are you single? Can you and I get naked…like right now?’ he added silently to himself.
“His name is Whitney Fordman. He is part owner of the club Babylon. I work there. Clark is Clark Kent, he is the other owner,” she replied answering his questions.
“Babylon,” exclaimed Lucas.
“I see you’ve heard of it,” said Chloe, turning to face him.
“Who hasn’t,” he replied, “it’s the hottest place in town.”
“I know, that’s why I don’t think Whitney has just taken off. He loves the club too much,” she said.
“And…and what is *your* relationship with him?” asked Lex.
For some strange reason Chloe didn’t want to tell him. “We…as in Whitney and I…are sort of…involved,” she explained. “It’s nothing serious or anything like that,” she added quickly, wondering why she was explaining herself to him.
‘Damn it,’ thought Lucas, ‘although she did say it wasn’t serious. Anyway when have I ever let the fact that a woman is involved with someone stop me?’
Lex caught his brother’s eye. “Very well Miss Sullivan,” he said, “we’ll start asking around and see if Mr Fordman is indeed missing. And if that is what’s going on, we will take your case.”
“Thank you,” said Chloe, smiling at him. She took a small card out of her purse and handed it to him. “This is where you can contact me, most of my time is spent at the club. Oh one other thing, if you do take the case what are your charges?” She did some quick calculations wondering if she could afford them. She did pretty well out of the club but these guys looked like they took in some serious cash.
“We normally don’t charge money per se,” said Lucas with a grin. “It sort of depends on the client.”
“We don’t actually need the money Miss Sullivan,” explained Lex, “if a client is wealthy we get them to donate to some charity or such. Or we’ll call in a favour from some others.”
“That’s rather an unusual way of conducting business,” said Chloe.
“Well we are unusual guys,” replied Lucas with a grin.
“So what kind of client am I?” she asked, the question coming out with more innuendo that she had intended.
“That’s undecided at the moment,” replied Lex, smiling at her.
‘Good lord, he looks good when he smiles,’ she thought. “Well gentlemen, I need to get back to the club,” she said standing up. Both men stood as well and they all shook hands.
“We will be in touch soon,” said Lucas, escorting her to the door.
“Again thank you,” she replied, and left with Pamela who showed her out. Lex and Lucas stood at the window and watched as she left the building and hailed a cab.
“So what do you think Lex?”
“Not sure yet, she seems sincere, but this guy could just be married and she’s the bit on the side,” he replied.
“Yeah but some bit,” said Lucas, “wouldn’t mind…”
“Lucas,” warned Lex, “leave her alone.” He glanced down at the bloodstained chain on his desk. “Let’s find out what we can about Whitney Fordman and Clark Kent.”
“I’ll give Kyle a call,” said Lucas, “see what he knows. And you might want to get out the glad rags Lex, because a visit to Babylon will definitely be in order.”
--------------------------------------------------
All the way back to the club in the cab Chloe found her mind drifting back to the Luthors especially Lex. She always prided herself on not letting her heart rule her head and she didn’t believe in love at first sight or anything like that. Lust at first sight but not love. But there was something about him, and she wasn’t quite sure what it was. And that bothered her.
“Here we are miss,” said the cab driver.
“Thank you,” she said and got out, she gave him the money and headed into the club.
“Hey Pete,” she called out as she walked towards to the stage. “Hey darling,” he replied with a wink, “you all set for tonight?”
“As always,” she replied with a grin, “Pete have you seen any sign of Whitney today?”
“I haven’t seen him since yesterday,” replied the pianist, “but Clark is in the office maybe you should check with him.”
“Yeah maybe,” she muttered and headed towards her dressing room. When she got there Clark was waiting for her.
“Comfortable,” she asked as she walked in.
“Where have you been?” he asked.
“Just out and about,” she replied, “I do have a life outside the club. Have you heard from Whitney?”
“You are our star Chloe,” said Clark standing up to leave, “it would be terrible if anything where to happen to you.” He left the room, closing the door behind him.
“What was that about?” she muttered “And who the hell do he think he is talking to me like that? Still mumbling to herself she set about getting ready for the show.
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