Tomorrow Night

"Margot" smiled. It wasn't the answer she wanted to hear, though. Coming back tomorrow would increase her risk, and do absolutely nothing to sate her curiosity tonight.

"But the boss is going to want to sample the goods tonight," the old womantold her, looking Lois in the eye.

The reporter's spine stiffened. "I don't do free samples."

The words came out automatic, a bit more low-class accent slipping through. Just as a professional whore might, if she was determined not to be taken for a ride.

The old woman tapped the cash register. The door pulled open. She pulled out a sheaf of bills.

"Nobody said you'd be working for free. Boss likes a cut of the merchandise, is all. Wants to make sure all the product at Madame Alexa's is the highest quality."

"Margot" felt the weight as the madame dropped two thousand dollars in her palm. This was all suddenly feeling very...real.

"Through the curtain. Left. All the way at the end. He'll come for you when he's ready."

Lois swallowed, nodded, pocketed the money. She moved over to the curtained doorway...then paused, looked the old woman in the eye.

"Anything I should know?" She asked suddenly.

The old woman looked her in the eye. Lois imagined what she looked like, right then. A professional looking for a tip? Or a young woman who realized it was too late to have second thoughts? The look in her eyes was unreadable. Contempt, compassion? This woman had probably been whoring longer than Lois Lane had been alive. She'd heard and lived every sob story out there. Yet she did say something.

"Margot" smiled, nodded, went through the curtain. She carried those words with her down the corridor, which was set up like a high-class hotel. All the way to the suite at the end, the security door clicking open as she approached.

The words that were about to determine her future.