A/N: Hello my dear readers. Finally, I can upload the first chapter of my new story. It is a 10-chapter story. I couldn't wait after the final of 2.13 to start with this one, but wanted to finish my other story T.s.t.o.s. first, therefore the delay. Anyway! I hope you'll like it. As I said, it starts after Lucifer had left, to be precise, when he comes back, but with some flashbacks in the beginning of each chapter, so you know what happened in between that time.
Speaking of flashbacks. This story is rated M for violence, language and sexual content. And if you're uncomfortable with that, or from the fainted heart sort, or get triggered very easily then don't read any further! For all others, I hope you like this little story.
This chapter was beta-read by Daemon. You're awesome! As always! All remaining mistakes are my own.
Enjoy!
A glimpse of hell
o ~ o
The dull sounds of her boots on the hard floor echoed loudly through the empty penthouse when Chloe made her way over to the bedroom, taking careful steps. She'd desisted from switching on the light to not scare the darkness away which had become a calming friend to her. Exhausted and worn out, she lay down on the big king size bed with the black satin bedsheets, closing her eyes as the familiar silence welcomed her back. She took a deep breath, and the ghost of Lucifer's fragrance lulled her to sleep.
This place had been her shelter, her safe haven, whenever the job got too stressful and she couldn't face home yet, or the people that surrounded her. She was tired, from too little sleep during the past six weeks. Back then, when she could have afforded the rest, her body declined her. On every free minute, her mind always drifted off to Lucifer, her partner, her friend, her... maybe something more, and to the day he'd left. The day he'd disappeared out of her life so suddenly, right after he saved her, leaving her behind with nothing but confusion, worry, and sorrow. In her mind, she tried to picture him somewhere happy, safe and sound, having found what he might have been looking for. But each time it hurt inside of her heart a little more; it hurt so badly, that sometimes she could barely breathe when she cried herself to sleep. Why did he have to leave without an explanation? Without even saying goodbye? She wanted to hate him for what he'd done to her, but she couldn't. The longing for him overpowered every other feeling, and the hope she carried deep within her, that one day he would come back to her.
But lately, it was a different reason her body denied her to rest. There had been two victims, found at an interval of two weeks. Both had been raped, beaten, and left behind to die on their own. The first woman did survive for a couple of days, hanging onto dear life while she was lying in a coma. But the damage to her brain was too deep, and eventually, the doctors decided to take her off the machines. The procedure the murderer had used was the same on both victims; they had been disfigured, marked as if they were nothing but a piece of meat. Everything pointed in the direction that those were the doings of a serial killer, and if this truly was the case, then they were running out of time. Two weeks had passed since the last murder, and that meant soon another person could become a victim. She couldn't afford to rest now. She couldn't afford to even close her eyes for just an hour. But she felt the fatigue in her bones. She needed to catch some sleep to be able to continue work with the same quality she expected from herself, the same quality everyone expected from her.
That's why she came up here. Because only within these walls, when she was snuggled into the cosy bed sheets, with his scent lingering all over them, she was able to fall asleep. Only here she could pretend that Lucifer wasn't gone, but had just left the room; that her partner was still there to help her fight evil.
Today she hadn't even bothered to wrap the blanket around herself. She only held fast onto the pillow that had become the lifeless version of him, and snuggled deeper into the soft material, breathing in his scent once again before she completely drifted off.
When the bed began moving around her, she woke up again. It was difficult to use her senses as her mind was still trapped between dream and reality, and her limbs didn't obey her will yet. She felt someone slowly approaching her, and she smiled to herself, thinking – hoping – that it was Lucifer who had finally come back to her. The lids over her eyes were still too heavy to be lifted, but her body got lighter, and she turned herself onto her back, moving her head in the direction she assumed his face to be. "Lucifer?" she softly called for him. But there was no reply. Only a low chuckle accompanied hands that pressed down into the mattress on both sides of her, and something heavy moved across her and pinned her down.
In that moment, all her inner alarms went off. Her eyes sprang open and she startled at the sight of the stranger who looked back at her with a wide, frightening grin that instantly sent a shiver down her spine. "Who are you?" she voiced, appalled, and tried to get up, to get away from him, but his hands quickly grabbed her and held her back. "You are my dream come true!" the man cajoled, and Chloe lifted her legs to ram them into him, using everything possible to get him off of her. He dodged her moves with ease, hitting her across the face with his fist in reply, while his other hand pressed down onto her ribcage, making it almost impossible for her to expand her lungs. With the last breath inside of her, fuelled by the mixture of fear and anger she repeated, screaming, "Who are you?" This time, his dark voice answered back, "I am your biggest nightmare!" His free hand went around her throat, and the more she tried to get free, the more he choked her. Still, she wouldn't give up, she would die fighting! She scratched across his face, punched him, kicked him, but it seemed as if her blows didn't do anything to his body. He dodged away from her, counter-striking her attempts with even more forceful hits. "Get off me!" Chloe croaked, and slowly desperation won over. She felt blood coming out of her nose, her left eye had already swollen that much that she couldn't see properly any longer, she tasted iron on her tongue from where her lip had split open, and she could hear how one of her ribs cracked before the pain numbed her senses. Without slowing down, he kept on beating her. She was dodging his blows and striking back as much as possible, but his beating drove her to exhaustion. With no strength left to keep her hands up, she collapsed down on the pillow, his piercing eyes and his sickening grin were the last things she saw before her lids shut close as well. Was this her time to die?
The expected final hit didn't come. She was about to gain new hope when she suddenly heard it: The distinct sound of metal clapping against metal, and a zip being pulled down. And it dawned on her who it was she'd found herself with. "No!" she uttered, her lungs too empty to properly voice her words. She took further breaths, as much as she could through the tight grip of his hand on her throat, and she shouted out, "No!" Her hands, fuelled by the new adrenaline rush, tried to force him back, tried to keep him from coming closer, but all her efforts were futile. "Nooo!" she cried out her last word before his hand covered her mouth and muffled further screams.
o ~ o
Chloe was exhausted, to say the least. Simply exhausted. There hadn't even been anything spectacular at the precinct. No reports of murders had come in for the last couple of days; not that she would have been allowed to work on them, but at least she could sneak a peek into her colleagues' files. She knew they didn't really like interference from outside, but since that night she kind of had a special status. Not in the sense that everyone was still walking on eggshells around her – she hated that part to no end – but her colleagues came to her for advice when they had run into a dead end, to have a fresh pair of eyes looking at their cases, or simply get a third opinion. And she was eager to help. It distracted her, gave her back some sort of normality. Some colleagues even made an effort to have real conversations with her, something she only had dreamed of back then, when the Palmetto case was still fresh. And for her the most probably best part was, whenever she got into one of her moods, everyone was just giving her space so she could calm down again, without the looks, without the snide remarks. In short, the precinct was really a workplace one, who had experienced such a... nightmare would have dreamed of.
Still, this all caused a huge amount of stress to her. Sometimes it got so extreme that people in her surroundings couldn't even take a low breath without her to freak out innerly. Then she needed a long walk around the block to calm herself down again. But during the last couple of days, her body seemed to be unable to relax. She found herself in a constant state of tension as soon as she left the house. And the smallest things like smells or sounds sent fireworks through her brain and everything came rushing back into her mind like a tidal wave. Even Linda recommended to her to take a couple of days off, relax somewhere, just her and her daughter. But instead, she went to her boss, asking to increase the four-hour-shift she'd done the two weeks before by two hours, hoping this would help her to get her mind off of these things.
It was supposed to get easier by the time, but lately, it seemed that everything went worse. Especially today had been rough. She'd worked her shift rather poorly, had only done the necessary things with the double amount of time spent on breaks. And still, when she came home, she was so stressed up, that not even the long, hot bath could ease her up fully. At least she'd calmed down that much that she could enjoy the book she was currently reading, sitting on the couch, snuggled up in her blanket.
So when suddenly the doorbell had rung, she was anything but delighted to be forced to leave her self-made hideaway. For a moment, she thought about simply ignoring it, but then again, she feared the person outside would ring the bell again and eventually wake up Trixie. Therefore she walked over to the door, with a rather grumpy announced "coming!" to make clear that there was no further need for audible disruption. With the two last sentences from her book still in mind, she opened the door.
"Hello, my dear," Lucifer greeted her with an extra toothy smile and sparkling eyes, taking a small step closer.
Chloe froze. Her eyes got so big that only her visual nerves seemed to prevent them from falling out of their sockets. Shocked, startled and simply out of reflex, she threw the door back close again, missing his face by a mere inch. 'Am I hallucinating?' it went through her head and her heart pounded loudly in her ears while further thoughts came rushing in. Had she fallen asleep on the couch and was just dreaming about him? Or was it really him who stood there, out of the blue, after all those weeks?
"Come on!" she heard his slightly miffed sounding voice from the other side of the door. "You can't be mad at me that much."
'Not that much?' it echoed through her mind. Did he really just had the gall to tell her how mad she should feel about him leaving her so suddenly, vanishing without a trace? Chloe felt rage inside of her boiling up. Something she normally had hated whenever it happened during the past couple of weeks, but right now, that emotion came more than in handy. "Go away!" she yelled loudly through the door, releasing a bit of that anger. "I'm done with you!" she added in a normal tone but not any less angry. She turned around and walked back to her couch, while her inner self did a little victory dance at her fortitude. All those weeks after he'd disappeared, she had wished for him to come back to her, had imagined how he would suddenly stand in front of her and she would jump into his arms, holding tight and telling him how much she'd missed him. But this time was long gone. She wasn't a princess in a fairy tale, waiting for the prince to come and rescue her. No! She'd rescued herself. She'd cut off the dragon's head and had stood her ground. He had no right to come back now! And smile at her with those lips! she silently added.
"Who was it, mummy?" Trixie's sleepy voice suddenly piped up from her open bedroom door, and the little girl stepped out into the living area, making a bee-line to her mother.
"No one!" Chloe snapped and got startled by herself. She quickly kneeled down, cupping her daughter's face and kissing her dearly on the cheek. "Sorry," she mumbled against the soft skin only a child could have and repeated her words with more gentleness, "No one important, monkey. Go back to bed." She stood back up, waiting until her daughter made her way over to her room again before she jogged up the stairs to her own bedroom. If she didn't want to lose it right here, she needed to get a grip on herself. Fast!
Lucifer still stood outside, perplexed about her behaviour. "Chloe!" he shouted through the door, impatiently knocking against the wood with his closed hand.
Before Trixie even had the handle of her bedroom door in her hand, she heard his call and quickly turned around, heading back to the front door. "Lucifer?" she questioned cautiously, wondering if she really had heard correctly. "Yes, small human, it's me! Can you open the door?" Came it promptly from outside, and Trixie quickly turned the handle. "Lucifer!" she shouted out with joy and beamed all over her face. She was about to lunge forward and hug him as tightly as her small arms would allow, when suddenly her mother's frantic voice yelled from upstairs, "No, Trixie! Don't let him in." Trixie pursed her upper lip to a thin line, slightly pouting her lower lip in disappointment. "Sorry, I'm not allowed to let you in," she apologised to her friend.
"I've heard that, child," Lucifer replied to her, visibly irritated, and questioned cluelessly, his voice a tad higher than usual, "What's up with your mother?"
Trixie stared at him as if he had two heads. She was about to answer him when she suddenly felt her mother's arms on her shoulders, which gently shoved her to the side.
"Come on, babe. Go back to sleep, please," Chloe ordered her softly and watched her daughter walking back to her room and disappearing behind the door. Then her head quickly wheeled back around and she glared at him with fierce eyes, spitting, "What?"
"Oh," he mumbled, bewildered about her rage, and tilted his head to the side. "Not quite the nicest way of yours to welcome an old friend back," he remarked snidely and hid his wonderment under a smug grin.
"Well, Lucifer," she sizzled his name like a snake, and reproached him angrily, "Old friends don't just disappear without notification and then, all of a sudden, come back after 13 weeks and act as if nothing has happened."
"But Chloe," he started in a wailing tone but was instantly cut off.
"It's Detective Decker for you!" Chloe scolded and glared at him with her sea blue eyes that appeared almost black by the dim light from outside.
He was taken aback. "Very well, Detective," he corrected himself, emphasising her name. "I've just arrived today. I thought we could talk," he suggested in a nonchalant tone.
"No!" Chloe shook her head and almost chuckled scornfully at his comment. "You didn't want to talk to me back then. You simply decided to go. So, stay gone!" she huffed and gripped tighter around the door handle to keep herself from leaping forward and throwing her fists against him.
Lucifer rolled his eyes and sighed. But he silently admitted that she did have a point. "Can I explain myself then?" he questioned calmly, sending her a hopeful look.
"Whatever it is, I don't want to hear it!" Chloe replied sternly and shook her head again. "And I'm not saying this again: Leave. Me. Alone!" she emphasised each word and without further warning, stepped back from the door and, once more, threw it into his face. She quickly locked the door so he wouldn't be able to get inside, and only then she noticed how strongly her hands were actually shaking. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down, but the emotions inside her had already started their roller-coaster and were about to break through the surface. She didn't want to break down. Not here in the middle of the living room, possibly startling her daughter, and definitely not now, after what had just happened. As quickly as she could, she ran back up the stairs, one hand at her eyes to keep the tears from falling.
Lucifer was thunderstruck. It took him a moment to realise that the white wooden door had been long closed and that Chloe wasn't coming back to open it again. 'What's wrong with her?' he silently asked himself and narrowed his eyes in worry. Turning around, he walked back to his car, his footsteps slow from his heart that weighed him down.
"Lucifer, wait!" Trixie's anxious voice called out as she closed the garden door and came running towards him. She'd sneaked out of the back door after her mother went upstairs, determined to stop him from leaving again. Even if she was only nine years old, she knew she could make a difference. She'd learned it in school, about the little boy David who fought down the giant Goliath. Although neither her mother nor Lucifer were giants or evil, they needed help. They needed each other. And even if they couldn't see it, she could, and she was resolute to help.
Lucifer stopped in his track and turned around, the faint smile he sent her did merely lift his cheeks. "What is it, small human?" he questioned, providing her with enough time to catch her breath.
Trixie wrapped her arms around his legs, holding tight onto the fabric as she looked up at him, pleading with big puppy dog eyes, "Please don't go! She didn't mean what she said," she apologised for her mother's action and explained to him, "It's just, she's hurt. That's all. She's so badly hurt, she sometimes gets angry without meaning it." Her lower lip pouted and she snuggled her chin into his legs, pleading him once more, "Please stay."
His sad face lifted a bit, and he sighed, exhaling the sorrow. With an appreciating pat on her head, he told her softly, "You better go back inside." He pointed towards the direction but kept his sight fixed on the little girl in front of him.
"Promise me you stay?" Trixie asked beseechingly, and her eyes filled with hope.
Before he was even able to form an answer, his thoughts were abruptly interrupted by a loud outcry.
"Trixie?" Chloe shouted, appalled, and ran out of the garden, heading for them as fast as her bare feet carried her. When she reached her daughter, she squatted down, pulling her away from Lucifer and wrapping her in a tight hug. "Don't run away from me like that!" she scolded her as gently as worried she was and kissed her on her head in relief. Straightening herself back up, she secured the grip around Trixie and sent a brief glance towards Lucifer. Without further words in his direction, she turned around and walked back, holding her daughter tight.
"You scared the life out of me, monkey." Lucifer heard her mumbling to her child and watched them disappear into the garden again before he as well turned around and continued his walk. While his feet led him back to his car, his mind was filled with the look of Chloe's eyes. They weren't angry or hate-filled like he would have expected after her behaviour from at the door. All her eyes revealed was a huge sadness and little sparkling teardrops at their corners. He sighed again. He had imagined their reunion differently, a lot better, to be precise. Whenever he'd thought about it, his mind painted it with many smiles, nice words and hugs, sometimes even a kiss. If he was honest with himself, he could have even handled it if she was simply angry at him. After all, he did leave her without saying goodbye. But what he couldn't handle at all was to see this sadness in her eyes. As if she was broken... and he was the cause.
/-/
Chloe came rushing down the stairs, taking two at a time, and almost tripped over her feet as she hurried to her desk. Out of the corners of her eyes, she saw Dan approaching her and interrupted him before he even had the chance to speak up. "I know, I'm late," she excused herself and quickly put her keys and phone onto her desk.
"Where have you been?" asked Dan, not hiding his concern. "I tried reaching you all morning."
"Had a late visit that kept me up all night," she explained swiftly while stripping out of her jacket. After hanging it over her chair, she turned around, facing her ex, and got sight of his bewildered look. "Not what you think!" she countered, her eyes narrowed in a reproachful way, and added wearily, "I just couldn't find sleep, that's all."
Dan nodded understandingly and went on in a hushed tone, "I tried covering for you all morning. Ella also helped, but I think the Lieutenant knows."
Chloe sighed, silently cringing at that piece of information. Coming late would definitely not help her get back her full job. "I know. Thanks, Dan," she appreciated his efforts and caringly stroke across his upper arm.
As if on cue, the door to the boss's office sprang open and Monroe peeked out of it, loudly calling for her two Detectives, "Decker! Espinoza!"
"Shit," Chloe cursed under her breath and instinctively duck her head. She glanced up at Dan, who apologetically shrugged his shoulders at her, and took a deep breath, calling herself to order. With her head held high and Dan on her heels, she made a bee-line to her boss. When both were inside the office, and Dan had closed the door, she blurted out, "I know, Lieutenant. I was late. I'm tremendously sorry. It won't happen again."
Monroe silenced her with a wave of her hand. "I didn't call you inside for being late," she informed her, deadpanned.
Chloe pricked her ears and stared at her superior. "OK," she stated warily, her eyebrows raised in surprise and curiosity.
"They found a dead body inside an abandoned church," Monroe went on without missing a beat. "The forensics aren't hundred percent sure, but it might be murder." After a pause to let the information sink in, she attentively looked at Chloe and offered, "The case is yours if you want it."
"Yes! So very much yes," Chloe eagerly affirmed, her eyes shining brightly. She innerly did a somersault. Considering how it had started, this day couldn't get any better. Her first case since she'd been back in the precinct, three weeks ago. And this meant one step further into getting her life back!
Monroe looked at her Detective with a wary eye. It was true, Decker was one of her best Detectives, and she'd shown remarkable strength and willpower since the attack; to put this whole rape and attempted murder so seemingly easily behind herself and come back to work after just four weeks of recovery was something Monroe wouldn't think she herself would be capable of. She didn't know many people who had such a strong will to survive. It seemed that this Detective could accomplish anything she wanted. But she couldn't quite get rid of that feeling inside of her that it was too soon. That some day, when everyone was least expecting it, this whole load would come crashing down on her employee. And she wasn't a good Lieutenant if she would let that happen. She couldn't look into the future, and she definitely couldn't wrap her Detective in cotton wool. So only time could tell if or when this worst-case scenario would happen. She, as the superior of the precinct, could only take certain precautions: Like calling Decker's psychiatrist, for instance, and talk that step over with her. And Dr Linda had approved of it, albeit only under tight monitoring. "Look, I know it's been difficult for you over the past weeks-," she started but was quickly cut off.
"I can handle it!" Chloe ensured her boss. "I promise, Lieutenant."
Monroe raised her finger to keep her Detective from interrupting her again. "I wouldn't have offered you the case if I had thought differently," she assured her objectively. "Still, your doctor hasn't cleared you for field work yet, and therefore I'll give you Detective Espinoza for support. He will officially lead the case, but unofficially it's yours." Her sight wandered over to Dan, who nodded his understanding. Turning her attention back to the woman in front of her, she added with a cautious reminder, "If anything goes out of hand, if you feel uncomfortable with something, overwhelmed, or anything, then please tell me."
Chloe nodded vehemently. She knew exactly what was on the line, not only her own job, also Dan and her boss would put theirs in jeopardy if she would mess up. And she didn't intend on risking that. "Thank you, Lieutenant. I really appreciate your trust."
Monroe acknowledged her with a firm nod. "Alright. I'll let everything pass on to you. The body has already been sent to the pathology," she informed her further.
"I'll take over from here, Lieutenant," Chloe reaffirmed her once again.
Monroe nodded again and dismissed her with a wave of her hand. Before Dan could leave the room as well, she beckoned him over to her. "Keep a close eye on her!" she ordered when he was within earshot.
Dan nodded assuringly. "Always!" he promised sincerely and left the office.
/-/
Chloe and Dan stood in the middle of the deserted church. Long plastic layers were hanging from the ceiling, covering some of the windows, some others were boarded up, and the largest one right behind the altar was even missing. The pews were shoved towards the backside of this rather large room, the front rows of them were broken down, either by the course of time or wilfully. Some of the equipment was lying on the ground as if they'd just been pushed over by a huge fight that had been taken out inside this building if it wasn't for the big layer of dust and dirt on top of everything, that rather indicated that this church had been abandoned for months, maybe even years.
Chloe looked around, the paint was crumbling off the walls, some even had big holes. But apart from the white drawn outlines of the body right underneath the gallery, no one would have assumed that a dead person had been found here. She stepped closer to the edging and looked up. It really did fit. Half of the railing on the gallery was broken and lying on the ground. Everything hinted towards a tragic accident.
She sighed. This wasn't the way she'd depicted her first case in her head.
"It really seems like it was just an accident," Dan called down to her from the gallery, keeping himself from leaning against the railing nearby to not fall himself.
Chloe looked up, sceptically. "I don't believe the drop height could cause a broken neck."
"If he'd landed unfavourably?" suggested Dan with a shrug of his shoulders.
"We'll see," she replied, rather to herself than to her ex. She turned around and walked over to the area near the altar that currently wasn't occupied by the forensics team. Something had caught her eye when she stood in the middle of the church, but she'd wanted to inspect the alleged site of crime first before she would turn her attention to this part of the building. She came to a halt in front of the little organ on the left side and crouched down. The spot that had stood out to her had a different colour than the grey stone floor: It was dark brownish, and with a little fantasy, one could think of it as a puddle of blood. Snapping her fingers, she called one of the forensic science technicians over. "Did you already take a sample of this here?" she questioned calmly when the man was within earshot.
"No," he denied, shaking his head. "It's on the complete opposite side of where the body was found. And this looks too old to be related to our case. If it's even one," he added with a slight shrug of his shoulders.
"Take some samples nevertheless, please," she ordered him in a friendly manner. Her guts told her that this might be of importance, maybe even the reason why the man had been found here in this abandoned church in the first place. She nodded thankfully at the technician and stood up, walking back to Dan, who waited for her near the exit.
"Sorry, Chloe, I don't see a case for you here," Dan apologised when they stepped out of the church. "Maybe he was inside the church for shelter and fell off the gallery."
Half her mind was already at full speed, processing the scene and evidence, and Chloe shook her head. "There would be no reason for this man to have gone up onto the gallery. It was too small and too dirty to lie down. The pews would have been more suitable if he wanted to sleep inside. The only reason I see at the moment is that he stood there to observe something... or someone." She turned around, going along the walkway.
"There are no surveillance cameras inside or around the church, so we will never know," Dan mentioned absent-mindedly and followed his former wife.
"Not quite," Chloe disagreed and a light smile settled down on her lips when she stared at the street camera above them. "From the angle, it could be possible that they've also recorded the church's entry." She quickly took out her mobile and called the particular authorities, asking for the footage, before she made some further notes in her notebook and then walked back to her car, getting inside to head over to the pathology.
/-/
"Hey, any new information on the dead in the church?" questioned Dan the forensic pathologist when he and Chloe walked into the room. The body was lying on a table in the middle, already cut open, and he quickly took a step backwards, to not let the remains of his sandwich rise up his throat again.
The pathologist nodded confidently and beckoned both over before he began with stating the facts he'd gathered so far from the autopsy. "The cause of death was a break of the neck by almost 180°," he announced soberly. "The head was literally turned around," he rephrased with an impressed smile and went on, his hands pointing at the respective body parts, "He'd landed on the back of his head, with the front of his body on the ground as well. There are burst blood vessels in the outer layer of the back of the skull that reconfirms he'd actually fallen down."
"So it might be an accident?" Chloe interrupted him.
The man shook his head, contradicting, "There has to be a huge force on the neck to break at such an angle. A simple fall wouldn't be enough." He raised his hands in front of his body and stated, "Someone broke this man's neck! Since there were no other indications, like bruises on the neck as they would normally occur when someone put their hands or arms there, I searched for fingerprints across the whole upper body part." He looked at Chloe, reconfirming himself that she was following his words before he turned his attention back to the corpse. "The only prints I've found were on his chin: two fingers, one on each side. I've already sent them over to the precinct," he added, and summarised, "I highly doubt that anyone has enough strength to break someone's neck by just grabbing their chin and turning their head around, but this man here definitely didn't die accidentally."
Chloe nodded at the pathologist, signalling him that she had fully understood everything. She was glad that her instincts hadn't played her a trick, and that this man had indeed been murdered. She looked over at Dan, asking him, "Can you tell Ella to take care of the fingerprints?" Dan nodded, taking out his phone to instantly text Ella the information. Turning her attention back to the pathologist, she questioned interestedly, "When exactly did this man die?"
"Between four and five in the afternoon of the previous day," he answered right away.
She scribbled it down into her notebook, thanked the examiner, and left the pathology with Dan in tow, heading back to the precinct.
/-/
"Hey guys, the surveillance footage from the street in front of the church that you've ordered has already arrived," Ella informed them when they entered the precinct. "I've already spoken to Ravi about your case," she started but was interrupted by Dan.
"Who's Ravi?" he questioned cluelessly.
"The medical examiner who performed the autopsy on your dead man from the church," she quickly explained and leant a bit into Chloe and Dan to keep her voice low when she questioned curiously, "So it's a murder then, huh?"
"Everything points into that direction," Chloe answered her sparsely. "Did you get a match on the fingerprints yet?" she wanted to know.
Ella wrinkled her nose and sceptically shook her head. "Not that easy, guys. The prints were neither full nor clear. I have to do some magic on them before I can match them with our databases. But I promise, I'll do my best," she ended, smiled and gave them a thumbs-up.
"Thanks!" replied Chloe, glad that Ella would take care of it while she and Dan were checking the footage.
They went into the technical room and took seats in front of the monitor. Knowing the approximate time of death now, Dan selected the tape of the previous day and fast-forwarded to the afternoon before hitting fast-mode-play. The angle of the camera was set optimally and clearly showed the entrance of the church. It didn't take long and both watched a very familiar figure exiting the run-down building.
"Is that... Lucifer?" questioned Dan, flabbergasted. He hastily stopped the footage, rewound back to before he came out of the church, hit play again, this time at normal speed, and leant forward to have a better look. Indeed. His eyes didn't play him a trick, he thought at the reconfirmation. This was Lucifer Morningstar exiting the church. Dan glanced over to Chloe, surprised that he hadn't heard any comment from her so far. When he saw her straight face and her half-squeezed eyes looking at the monitor, he questioned baffled, "Wait! Did you know he's back?"
Chloe shrugged her shoulders. It bugged her that out of all people, Lucifer had to cross her path in her first case. "It was him who showed up on my doorsteps last night," she muttered and took a deep breath, exhaling the frustration about the man who entered her life twice in such quick successions.
"And you wanted to tell me that exactly when?" Dan scolded her. He was upset that she'd kept that piece of information from him. When Chloe silently sent him her 'don't give me that'-look, he went berserk. "Chloe, this man left you without saying goodbye! And after all this time he suddenly comes back, right at your doorsteps, and you don't think it's necessary to tell me this?"
"We're not married anymore, Dan," she countered without a wince.
"I know that!" he retorted and paused to get his anger back under control. With a calmed-down voice, he went on, "I just thought we're still friends."
Chloe stared at him, shaking her head in silence and sparing a reply. Whenever he was at his wit's end, he used that to get under her skin. But not this time! She didn't owe him anything. And who she'd talked to or who'd visited her, was no one's business but hers.
Dan shirked from her glare and turned back to the footage with a low sigh. He knew it was useless to press further on that when she was in this state. Hoping he could get them both back into work-mode, he calmly suggested, "I'll get him into the precinct. He might know something."
Chloe shook her head, contradicting him. "Just look at the timestamp. Lucifer exited that church at three in the afternoon. The medical examiner said that the victim's time of death was between four and five."
"So?" he asked her, shrugging his shoulders. "Maybe he came back. Maybe he's even the killer."
"Lucifer is not a killer!" she denied right away, and her tone made very clear that she was serious. "He would never do such a thing!" she defended him further. She knew him. He might be selfish, arrogant and childish, but there were two things she was dead-certain about him: He never lied, and he never killed.
"Maybe he has changed," Dan calmly interrupted her thoughts and stared at her intensely.
Chloe saw the light rebuke in his eyes and knew that those words were meant for her. She had changed; a lot since... that night. And she didn't know what Lucifer had been through during those weeks of absence. Still... She shook her head again. "You stay here. I'll go and talk to him."
"He's a suspect!" Dan reminded her without any emotion in his tone.
"No, he's not!" she countered decisively, and turned around, adding as she went for the exit, "He's a witness, at most. I'll talk to him."
Before she was out of the door, Dan called after her in a warning tone, "Don't let this man cloud your judgement, Chloe!"
Chloe stopped and turned back, scowling at him. "Whatever you mean!" she riposted and darted off.
/-/
The talk with Dan still vividly in her mind, Chloe drove straight to LUX. She hadn't set a foot into this building for the past seven weeks, but where else would he be, if not in his penthouse. She had no other choice than to go up there and find out on her own. Nodding reassuringly to herself, she entered LUX, went directly to the elevator and pushed the button. It didn't take long for the lift to arrive with a ping, but she already felt her hands tremble. Ignoring the beginnings of her fear, she stepped inside and pressed the penthouse button like she had done so many times before. This time it felt strange, frightening even. Automatically, her hand went to her holster and grabbed the hard plastic of her gun to reconfirm that it was still there; that it hadn't been taken without her noticing.
The ping resounded again, announcing that she'd reached the floor, and for a moment her thoughts went wild. How did it look now? She quickly reminded herself that after the forensics, Maze had gone up here to clean everything, to let the evidence of this crime done to her disappear. If only her memories could be wiped out that easily as well. She sighed, composed herself, and with a steady foot, she walked out of the elevator and into the entrance area. "Lucifer!" she called out and listened attentively. She startled as suddenly a woman showed up in front of her, looking down at her from a height that wasn't only achieved by the high heels she was wearing.
"Who are you?" the woman questioned warily, with an almost hostile undertone.
Chloe quickly pushed the fear and the distressing feelings to the back of her mind and put on her stern police mask. "Detective Decker, LAPD," she introduced herself, straight-faced, and retorted, "Who are you?"
The woman's dark features quickly turned into a friendly smile and she commented with a delighted voice, "A police officer, how nice." She visibly relaxed and stretched out her arm in greeting, introducing herself, "I'm Candy, Candy Morningstar."
"Morningstar?" That she managed to repeat the name without stumbling over the letters was a mystery to herself, and Chloe stared at the woman in disbelief before she narrowed her eyes and searched for any familiar features in the other one's face; because any other possibility than being a sibling or cousin was simply... impossible.
"Yes!" Candy answered the question with a wide smile, bringing Chloe out of her gaze.
"You're... related to Lucifer?" she questioned and for a moment her heart stopped beating as she imploringly awaited the answer.
"Luci?" Candy called out in a sing-song voice, making Chloe innerly cringe at that nickname, and added proudly, "He's my husband."
The word cut through Chloe's chest like a razor-sharp knife. And while her heart was slowly bleeding out, she forced herself back to order, taking a low, controlled breath, and hiding her true emotions behind a stern expression. She was about to question where said... husband... was, as suddenly clear steps resounded from the dressing room and made her turn her head.
"Chloe!" Lucifer jovially called her name and quickly walked over to her, closing the cuffs on his sleeves, while his half buttoned-up shirt presented a direct view of his chest. "What a surprise to see you," he greeted her and smiled all over his face.
Chloe swallowed the lump in her throat and sent several prayers heavenwards to let her voice come out steadily, to not give him the recognition that this moment had been a glimpse of hell for her. "It's Detective Decker for you!" she dryly reminded him, her narrowed eyes fixed on an invisible spot in the room while she waited for him to come closer.
"Detective," Lucifer repeated with a sad sigh. He didn't like it that she still insisted on that title. After all, they were way beyond that. At least before he'd left L.A. it felt as if they had taken that one step further towards a more intimate relationship. Even her messages she'd left him on his voice mail pointed in that direction. He didn't want to take that step back. He didn't want to have only a professional relationship with her again. He didn't want to give up on her, to give up on what they could have had. He wasn't ready for that! "Well, to what do I owe the pleasure?" he quickly broached the subject, hoping their conversation could keep him away from the distressing thoughts in his head.
She wanted to leave. She wanted to scream at him, turn around and flee that place as fast as possible, but she was a Detective. And she was right in the middle of a case. And he was a witness. She had no other choice than to endure this moment, with him standing so close to her, and his... Chloe couldn't bring the word over her lips, not even in her mind. Clearing her throat and, once more, pushing the emotions back down, she quickly replied, "You need to answer some questions."
No, he didn't! Lucifer thought, determined. Right now, talking to her about why he'd left her was the last thing he wanted to do. "Well, this has to wait, I'm afraid," he declined in a friendly tone and buttoned up his shirt completely. "I'm about to go out for lunch with my wife, Candy." Hiding his uneasiness behind a smug grin, he enquired, "Did she already introduce herself?"
"Yes, she did!" Chloe answered and huffed. Narrowing her eyes, she briefly glanced over to Candy, before her attention went right back to Lucifer. "And, no, this cannot wait!" she contradicted decidedly. "You're answering me now, or I'll bring you down to the precinct," she stated and took a step towards him, to make clear that she was serious. If he wouldn't come with her voluntarily, she would drag him out of here in handcuffs. Chloe's attempt to appear intimidating was rudely interrupted when suddenly Candy stepped in front of her, blocking her way.
"You've heard my husband! Come back later," Candy countered with a warning glare. She didn't like that woman! Hearing that name from Lucifer, together with his behaviour, made very clear that this woman was the Chloe from his phone. And Candy couldn't stand that thought. She was barely able to keep down her anger when she had to share her precious husband with that voice back then in Las Vegas. But to have her here now, in person... She pretty much preferred that this Chloe had remained artificial like that Siri. She grabbed Chloe by the shoulder and pushed her a step backwards. When Chloe immediately slapped her hand off and squinted her eyes at her, Candy directly mimicked the gesture and glared back.
Without stopping in his task of pouring himself a drink, Lucifer addressed his wife, cautioning her, "Candy!" Out of the corners of his eyes, he saw her turning her head back to him, slightly nodding her understanding and taking a step back. "Look, if it's about yesterday-" he started and turned his head, his eyes fully on Chloe, but not missing the surprised look on his wife's face about that unknown piece of information.
"No!" Chloe quickly cut him off. Getting reminded of last night was the last thing she wanted right now. "It's about a murder," she quickly informed him. "And you need to answer some questions. You might have seen something."
"Oh!" he exclaimed, surprised, and instantly got delighted. "Well, under those circumstances, I'm eager to help you out, Detective," he purred and quickly poured another glass. Taking both into his hands, he pointed towards his couch. "Come on, then," he invited her over and held one glass towards her. "You want a drink?"
Chloe folded her arms, tilted her head and narrowed her eyes, annoyed. "No, thanks!" she declined, not hiding her vexed mood. He knew damn well she would never take a drink while on duty, so what was it with this demeanour of his; not to mention that the daggers this woman named Candy shot at her when she thought she wasn't looking didn't really make the situation any more comfortable. "I'll question you at the precinct," Chloe announced and walked back to the elevator, quickly pressing the button. The doors slid open right away, and she hastily stepped inside, adding before the doors closed shut, "I'll meet you there, asap."
"Wait, Chloe!" Lucifer called after her, jumping a step forward in the attempt to stop her, but it was too late, the doors had already closed and he heard the familiar sound of the lift moving down. He groaned in frustration and looked with narrowed eyes at the closed doors, before taking a sip of his drink to soothe his nerves. Stepping back, he placed the untouched glass back onto the counter.
Candy shrugged her shoulders and grinned superciliously. She stepped towards him, grabbed the glass and took a sip, mumbling when she lowered it back down, "I don't like her." She had barely ended the sentence, when suddenly Lucifer's tight grip was around her neck and he pushed her back against the wall. Frightened, she dropped the glass and it shattered on the floor. "Luci!" she yelped, but his dark, glaring eyes quickly silenced her.
"You touch her one more time," Lucifer warned her in a threatening tone, "and I'll end you!" He tightened his grip on her throat once more and questioned dangerously calm, "Is that understood?"
She hastily nodded her understanding. "Yes, Lucifer!" she croaked, confirming him. When he let go of her again, she gasped for air, grasping at her neck and rubbing away the pain. She watched him place his own drink onto the counter, walking over to the couch and grabbing his jacket, and asked, perplexed, "Where are you going?"
Lucifer looked up and smiled at her as if nothing had just happened while he put on his jacket. "Duty calls," he informed her nonchalantly, walking back to her. "You'll have to go out for lunch yourself, my dear. I'll see you later." He pecked her on the cheek, and stepped forward to the elevator, pressing the button. When the doors slid open, he went inside, not bothering to turn back to her.
A/N: That was the first chapter! I hope you liked it. Please let me know how you feel. And for those who like to have a little more specific question: What was your most favourite part? And what was your least favourite part?
Have a nice day!
:o)
