Chloe Decker walked towards the Lieutenant's office carrying a stack of files. Her long blonde hair was twisted up out the way in a no-nonsense bun and she wore dark trousers and a pale business shirt with flat, sensible, shoes. Her ex, Detective Dan Espanoza, was close at her heels and held the door for her. He was a few inches taller and wore a brown, suede jacket over a grey t-shirt and dark skinny fit jeans.
"I'm just saying, you're the one who wanted planned family time" He said as he followed her into the room.
"I'm sorry. I'll make it up to both of you but if I don't get these reviews done by the end of the week the Captain will have my ass" she replied in an exhausted tone.
"I know, but you've been so caught up in work I thought you could do with a break" Dan added.
"And I appreciate it. You and Trixie go. She'll love it." She knew he meant well but she didn't really have time for this right now.
"You're sure? Roller Derby has always been yours and Trixie's thing" Dan pointed out as Chloe dropped the paperwork on the edge of the desk. It was scrupulously neat with everything laid out in the most efficient manner. The name label read 'Lt Chloe Decker' and was made of no-nonsense wood rather than the fancy glass example Pierce had owned.
'Cain,' she reminded herself, 'his name was Cain and he was an immortal from the Bible.'
She pushed the thought away, not for the first time, and took a deep breath to clear her head. As she looked down, she saw a takeout coffee sitting next to her name plate. A tiny wisp of steam showed it was still hot and the barista's scribbled handwriting declared it to be a tall, non-fat, almond milk latte with sugar-free caramel drizzle for 'The Detective'. She picked it up and immediately threw it in the trash, rather forcibly. Dan looked down tactfully.
"That from Lucifer?" he asked but Chloe didn't answer and instead sat down at her desk. "He's got you a coffee every day since your promotion" he pointed out.
"And if I ever find out how he's getting it in the building I'll arrest him for it" she snapped. She'd given orders to the front desk, desk sergeants, janitors and everyone else she could think of that no one, under any circumstances, was to deliver her coffee without her express permission and still one turned up every day. She never drank any of them.
"Or you could talk to the guy" Dan suggested.
"No!" She surprised herself with her knee jerk reaction but the idea of so much as standing in the same room as Lucifer made her shiver. 'He's the Devil. It's all true.' The thought can unbidden and she gave a cough before continuing more calmly. "No, after everything that happened with...Marcus. I can't, Dan, I just can't" She could still see it when she closed her eyes: walking down the steps and seeing Marcus, Cain, bleeding on the floor with Lucifer standing over him. Then he had turned around and she had seen...she shuddered and pushed the memory out of her mind. Dan saw her reaction, even if he didn't know what it was really about, and nodded.
"Ok, let me know if you need anything" he offered. As he turned to leave, Chloe picked up her messages and started to read through them.
"Hey, Dan" she called as he got to the door.
"Yes" he paused, hope evident in his voice, and turned back towards her.
"New case came in. You may as well take it" She held out the paper to him. His face fell slightly as he came back across the room and took it from her.
"Right, of course, work" he muttered and headed out.
"Come on, Dan, she's still getting the hang of things. Can you really blame her for being so busy?" Ella asked as the two of them walked towards the main gate of the city dump. The Medical Examiner's van and a police cruiser were still parking up behind them.
"It's not that" Dan said as he took a look around. Garbage trucks made their way into the landfill site and he wrinkled his nose at the pungent smell. "Chloe would always throw herself into work when we were having problems. But after a few days she'd calm down and things would go back to normal. It's been months and she still hasn't stopped. I'm getting worried"
"Well, there was a lot to sort out after she and Lucifer took down Pierce, then after all the evidence that he was a fraud came to light" She pointed out. Dan stopped and put his hands on his hips. Once Pierce had been confirmed as both the Sinnerman and dead, dozens of cops had been revealed to be in his pocket. Some came forward of their own free will, claiming they were being blackmailed, whilst others were caught when they no longer had anyone to cover for them in exchange for favours. I.A. had had their work cut out sorting one from the other and Dan knew they were all lucky not to have been caught in the cross fire.
"I know and I'm proud of her. She deserved the promotion for the way she handled everything and I'm happy Down Town just wanted the whole thing swept under the rug. But it feels like she's pushing everyone else away" he lamented.
"Don't worry. I'm here for you buddy." Ella stepped over and gave him a quick hug "I'm sure Chloe will be back to normal once she's got a handle on all the Lieutenant stuff. I'm just sad Lucifer isn't around anymore" She said with a shake of her head. Lucifer was still technically a consultant for the department but he hadn't been to the station since he gave his final statement following Pierce's death. Chloe hadn't asked for him and he wasn't answering anyone else's calls.
"You know, that part I don't mind so much" Dan said as they broke apart and Ella frowned slightly as they continued walking.
"You guys LAPD?!" The heavy-set man wore an orange safety vest and a hard hat as he stepped out a low building by the gate.
"Yes, that's us. Report said you found a body?" Dan replied and the man nodded.
"One of my guys ploughed it up this morning. This way" He pointed over his shoulder and headed off towards the giant mountain of garbage.
When they finally got to the scene, Dan was extremely grateful the call had come in before he'd had a chance to eat. The body of a woman was caught between the teeth on the front scoop of a bulldozer and was held up like some demented scarecrow. One arm was broken and twisted at an extremely unnatural angle and the other was still buried in the stack of garbage the truck had been trying to move when it made the gruesome discovery. By her clothes she looked like a club goer with her hair and face still recognisably made-up for a night out. Her dress was skin tight and seemed to be made of some shiny gold fabric, although it was hard to tell under all the grime. The one leg he could see, and really hoped was still attached, was sporting a six-inch stiletto heel.
"What happened?" Dan asked the Foreman as Ella and the Medical Examiner got out their equipment to begin their examination.
"All yesterday's deliveries got dumped out in this area. This morning the dozers came in to flatten it off and found her" The man replied, and Dan tried not to look behind him as the M.E. skewered the corpse with a giant thermometer to try and get a liver temperature but he still heard it. The slight squelch of sharp metal penetrating dead flesh always sent a shiver down his spine no matter how many crime scenes he saw.
"So, you think she was in one of the garbage trucks?" Dan asked as he strived to keep his attention on the conversation.
"Well she sure as hell didn't walk up here" the Foreman pointed out and Dan had to agree with him.
"Even so, we're gonna have to take a look at your security footage" He said as Ella moved on to taking pictures of the victim.
"Be my guest but it only covers the front gate" The Foreman told him.
"It that all?" Dan asked, slightly surprised, and the man waved his hand to indicate the site.
"Not like people are clamouring to get in here" he said.
"Fair point. How about the trucks that unloaded here last night, do you know where in the city they picked up from?" he asked instead.
"All over. I can get you the log?" the man offered.
"That would be very helpful, thank you" Dan managed to keep the disappointment out of his voice. He had really hoped that would have narrowed it down to a specific neighbourhood. It looked like this one was going to involve a lot of leg work. He turned back to see the M.E. and his assistant lifting the body out of the trash pile whilst Ella was placing what looked like random garbage into evidence bags.
"What have we got?" he asked and she stepped back.
"Female, early 20s, multiple contusions and broken bones but hard to tell if they were pre or post mortem till we get her cleaned up" She paused as the body was removed and lent in to take multiple pictures of the trash around where she had been wedged. "Not much blood on, well, anything so she was probably killed someplace else then dumped here. No pun intended" she added the last quickly after Dan tilted his head at her.
"Time of death?" He asked.
"Hard to tell but initial assessment is sometime in the last 24 to 48 hours" she told him as she zoomed her camera in to get a shot of the stained bulldozer teeth.
"Really, you can't be more specific than that?" He was surprised. Normally Ella could give them a much tighter window. She gave him a sideways glance.
"Patience. The impossible we do at once, miracles take longer" She said to which the M.E. smiled. "Body has already cooled so you'll have to wait for the autopsy report" Dan took the chastisement with a slight smile.
"Well how about cause of death?" he asked instead as he took another look around the scene.
"Until we know how much is from the bulldozer we can't tell you that either. No obvious bullet or stab wounds" She bent down to inspect the body again and the M.E. pointed to the woman's throat. "Oh, do you think it's deep enough?" she asked and the two had a mumbled conversation until Dan coughed.
"Oh, right, sorry. Ligature marks on the throat. Possible from a chain. Looks to be pre-mortem but won't know for sure till we get all the dirt off. Well, I mean, hopefully it's just dirt. Who knows what could be in here" She continued extrapolating all the disgusting substances they could be standing on right that second but Dan wasn't listening. He was looking over her shoulder at the other half of the garbage mound the bulldozer hadn't flattened yet. He waited for the sun to come back out from behind a cloud and was rewarded with the same glint that had drawn his attention in the first place.
"Hold on" He said as he held up his hand to Ella without taking his eyes off the spot. As he walked forward he made out a large sequined purse with a chunky gold chain as a shoulder strap sticking out between two garbage bags. It seemed a little big for a night out but the style matched the victims outfit and it clearly wasn't trash.
"Good eye" Ella commented as she snapped a picture so Dan could pull it out and open it. "Wow, this thing costs more than my car" she said as she saw the designer label on the inside. Dan found a wallet and Ella's eyes widened "And that's my rent!"
"Even with the garbage juice?" He asked with a smile as he handed her the bag so he could check the purse for ID. He pulled out a Californian drivers licence and read out the name. "Brittney Johnson, 23. Cash and credit cards still here." he said as he checked the rest of the purse then held up the ID for a closer look.
"At least we have a name" Ella said.
"It's fake" he announced.
"What? You sure?" She asked as he rubbed his gloved fingers over the plastic again and tilted it to catch the light.
"Yep. It's pretty good but there's no way this is real" he confirmed.
"So we just need to find some other was to ID our victim" Ella said, determined as ever, as she looked through the rest of the bag. Lipstick, make up compact and a hair brush all seemed pretty standard but a confused look crossed her face as she pulled out the only other item. It was wrapped in napkins, likely the reason it had remained intact, and was surprisingly heavy for its size. Ella unrolled it carefully to reveal a single glass tumbler.
"Ok, that's weird" Dan said. It wasn't exactly a normal item you'd expect to find in a woman's handbag. There was a slight yellow residue in the bottom and Ella gave it a cautious sniff.
"Whiskey, I think. I'll know more when I get it back to the lab" She turned the napkins over to inspect them too. "Um, Dan" she sounded concerned and he looked up from the purse. She held up one of the napkins so he could clearly see the emblazoned 'L' that was the logo for Lux. The two of them took a long, silent, look at the dirty whiskey glass.
"What are the chances..." Dan started.
"Absolutely no chance" Ella interrupted.
"But can you get prints off that, right?" he asked.
"Of course" She handed him back the bag and walked over to her kit. Neither of them said anything as she carefully dusted the outside of the glass, took a photo with her phone and uploaded it. "It'll take a while to go through all the databases so..." He phone pinged a reply before she could finish and she opened the attached search results. She stared, dumbfounded, at the screen and held it up for Dan to see.
'Lucifer Morningstar, 94% match'.
Alongside the name was Lucifer's picture from when he's had to get his consultant credentials and ride-along clearance, the smug smile looked more like a Hollywood head shot than a police photo.
"How could Lucifer's prints be on a glass in a dead woman's purse?" She asked but Dan only shook his head sadly.
"We have to tell Chloe"
