"When I didn't feel like I was getting anywhere going through the companies on the San Francisco shipping company's list of customers," she began, "I decided to try going about this from your coast. I looked through Jimmy's research that you sent me and found out that the Metropolis shipping company is owned by a conglomerate that has their hands in a bunch of different kinds of businesses--power and phone companies, a few retail chains…and get this--a few art and antique galleries, one of which is in France."

Clark stared at her blankly. "I guess I'm not seeing the significance."

Lois's voice became more animated. "Because it's the same dealer that had the antique vase up for auction, the same vase we suspect Mesopotamia, Inc. claimed they had stolen."

"You're kidding!" Clark exclaimed, his eyes widening. "So you think somebody with Mesopotamia, Inc. arranged for the vase to be stolen, collected the insurance money, then had this other subsidiary company auction off the vase for them in their art house overseas?"

She reached down to trace the small scars near her wrist. "There was glass everywhere, and I ended up with a lot of stitches, a broken leg, a ruptured spleen, and some internal bleeding. The scar you saw on my stomach the other night was from the surgery I had the night of the accident. I was pretty beat up for a while there, but ironically, I was the luckiest. The doctors told me my parents died on the scene, and my sister died a short time after she got to the hospital."