Ringing

Who: Lucas
Where: his desk at the Echo
When: early morning

For a moment or two the ringing sound laced itself through his dreams until the ringing actually pulled him from his dreams completely and Lucas woke up, finding himself asleep at his desk with the phone ringing next to his head. Sitting up a little he rubbed his face and let the phone ring twice more. That brought the grand total of rings he remembered to six, which meant only one thing.

"Mother," he greeted as he picked up the receiver, voice heavy with sleep. She was easily the only person in the world who would call at this hour and let the phone ring more than three times.

"I called your apartment first, you didn't answer. Did you sleep at work again?" she asked without any greeting. Looking around him Lucas managed to place his desk, the bottle of whiskey next to him and ashtray filled with cigarette butts.

"Maybe," he answered, looking down at his wrinkled shirt and undone tie. "What do you need mom?" She never called without a reason.

"Tonight. I need you to go to the art show the Walkers are sponsoring tonight." Lucas rolled his eyes and frowned.

"No mom, not happening. You go. I've got work," he told her sounded as annoyed as he looked. He was loyal to his family, but loyal didn't mean that he was supposed to spend all his time catering to her whims. He'd moved on from writing for the society pages, which meant he certainly didn't need to be there.

"I am going, but your father isn't. He's a got a business meeting. I need you to be my escort." Lucas knew what the meant about the business meeting. It meant his uncle wanted something and his father would obey. He opened his mouth to protest again, but she beat him to the punch. "You're going. I had a suit tailored and cleaned. It'll be by your place at five. The car will come around at eight." Without a goodbye she hung up, obviously not taking no for an answer.

Lucas looked at the receiver in his hand for a long moment then hung up once the dial tone kicked in. Apparently he was going to a family event tonight then. Rubbing his face he looked back down at the notes he'd fallen asleep on. He'd been investigating the murders his cousin was looking into. Before they hadn't entirely interested him, just a couple of dead bodies that were probably loonies escaped from the bin. It would serve as a good shocker piece but that was it. But now that there were O'Malley connections? He was interested. In fact he was hoping to take over the story from the guy currently working on it by out scooping him.

Leaning back in his chair he picked up the two day old paper with his cousin's name on it. Samantha Tyler. They kept waiting on her mother to bring her around it seemed, but the girl was still marching to her own drum. In a way he could appreciate that, but at the same time having her name tied to the raids on the docks a week or so before wasn't good for the family. Marching along wasn't as admirable when it put the family at risk. Smiling he set the paper down, lacing his fingers behind his head as he leaned back in his chair again. She might be at the event tonight and if he played his cards right he could possibly corner her and pry her for information. Or at least get her drunk. That part would be fun too.

Sighing, Lucas looked down at his watch. There was still had half the day to get things done before he needed to start filling obligations of his namesake and he still had at least another hour before the newsroom started to fill up. He tucked the whiskey bottle back into his desk drawer and pulled out another cigarette to light up as he went back through the notes he'd fallen asleep on.