Sunbeams flooded the bedroom. Empty glasses, bottles, clothing, high heels and pillows were strewn all over the marble floor. A woman staggered out of the room toward the elevator, barefoot and carrying her clothes in her arms. The party was just about to end on a peaceful Thursday morning.

Lucifer sat up on his bed and yawned heartily, his conquests to the left and right of him still slept off their intoxication. Strange… the night had been wild. It was definitely more extreme than his last party, but he wasn't quite satisfied with all of it, and that disturbed him deeply. Lately there had been an uncomfortable feeling, a void that felt like it was spreading from his chest to the rest of his body. A void that he couldn't fill with whatever he usually did. This pervasive void troubled him whenever he was alone with his thoughts.

Maybe he needed something even more spectacular, with a greater thrill for distraction? New ideas… anything... He wouldn't allow that the only reason he felt this way was because of his burning desire for the only woman on the planet who gave him a challenge. The Detective was, truthfully, no ordinary woman.

Well, annoying things first. His damn supernatural metabolism had long ago eradicated all evidence of alcohol and drugs in his body. He pushed the woman to his left away and grabbed a bottle of wine from the floor.

At that moment, the elevator opened its doors and he heard quick, purposeful steps on the way to his chamber. Lucifer rolled his eyes and greeted his new guest with a cold-hearted undertone: "Maze." There she stood at his doorframe and watched him with a serious, meaningful expression.

"Bad news?" Lucifer guessed correctly and he obviously wasn't happy.

"Get out of here. We have to talk," ordered Maze with sharp words. What a Spoilsport. Lucifer didn't miss the chance to flirt with every woman and man for one last time as Maze quickly grew impatient and dragged him outside.

"Come on, Maze. Let me first freshen myself up," Lucifer said, emphasizing his spent appearance and freed himself from her grab. "You know, I'm full of sweat and fluids."

"Fine," surrendered Maze, because she couldn't stand his awful whining.

Of course, he let her wait longer than usual just because he could. Showering and dressing appropriately were of utmost importance after all, and this took some well-thought-out time. When he finally decided to go back to the lobby, Maze was sat on a bar stool. She had served herself a drink and raised her glass of scotch with a slight smile. Maze knew his silly games all too well and was unimpressed by his defiant behavior just because there where crucial things to discuss and he didn't like those talks.

"What is it that you could possibly want to tell me so urgently?" asked Lucifer, annoyed.

"You know what," she said. She gently pushed the package beside her and it landed directly in front of his feet. She folded her arms with a dead serious glare.

Lucifer raised an eyebrow, but s second later he was sure about its contents without even opening it. "Let me guess," anticipated Lucifer and wrinkled his nose, "What is it this time? A finger? An ear? Our blackmailer's really quite unimaginative, don't you think?" An amused chuckle left his mouth.

"Lucifer, that's not funny" Maze replied, irked. "In this damn package are the remains of the mortician Neil Monroe. For five years, he gave you your identity and now he is dead. Coincidence? I bet not, because people are dying out there, who have important connections to you. Christ, Lucifer. This is the fourth package. This blackmailer is mocking us!"

"Stop talking. Dispose of the package as always and it's done. That simple." Lucifer refused to take her seriously. "It's just a cry for attention. I mean, our hardworking blackmailer can't kill the whole of L.A. if he wants to kill off all of my connections." He smirked confidently.

"Somebody is after us, Lucifer!" she growled at him. "Give me the order and I'll hunt him down. Oh, please let me torture and kill him already," she said, enraged, but Lucifer interrupted her outburst immediately.

"Na, na, na, Mazie. Watch your tone," he lifted her chin gently and examined her beautiful face, which was full of anger and disbelief. "There is someone who wants my attention desperately. If I don't give him that said attention he will surely loose interest sooner or later. Besides, I have far more interesting things to do, like meeting the Detective today."

A snarl escaped through her clenched teeth. For one second, Lucifer believed that she would finally swallow her pride but well, she was a demon after all. "These are warnings," she hissed and pulled his hand down. "I can deal with it without you if you are too busy."

"Deal with my decision," he demanded now much more imperious. "Don't do anything rash without my permission." The king of Hell had spoken. At that moment, she just wanted to beat clarity into his head but his eyes went too deep under her skin. He waited for her next militant response but she backed away reverentially.

"Well. If this is all you wished to talk about, I'm going to go now," he ended her conversation and smiled proudly at her. "Work calls!"

"Work," Maze found her big mouth again and shuddered with disgust. "You run after her like a goopy pet."

"Now, now, Mazikeen. Don't be jealous," Lucifer remained calm as he left her and her silly statement behind, and headed straight to the elevator.

The precinct

"Good morning, Detective! What a lovely, carefree day, where nobody is going to get on someone's nerves," he shouted happily through the whole department as he went to her desk. "The best way to start the day is with a little brekkie! Here is a sandwich for you and a pudding for me."

"You're in an extremely good mood today," she greeted and took the sandwich, which he held up right in front of her face. "Thank you," she added politely. She enjoyed that first bite.

"You forgot to eat, didn't you?" he noticed with sharp eyes. He sat down on a chair and opened up his pudding. "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, Detective. You have offspring, you should know that."

"Yeah, but it was a bit stressful this morning," Chloe replied. "I had two cups of coffee and I'm feeling ready."

"Ready for a new case?" said Lucifer in excitement, leaning towards her file to sneak a peek.

"I've got a case, actually." She nodded but her relaxed facial features changed and she hid the file. "But first of all, I have a bone to pick with you before I let you on another case of mine."

"Why do all the women in my life want to talk to me today?" he frowned sarcastically.

"Well, this woman wants to clarify that you won't leave her hanging next time, because, I quote: "Bingo at a retirement home was less boring than this case" is that correct?" she scolded him.

"Oh come on, Detective. If the cause of death is stupidity, it is boring," Lucifer justified himself without being aware of his guilt. "I need a good gun fight or a hot, good-looking model killed by her jealous friend-zoned childhood friend. That's thrilling and what I want! Not a murder that wasn't a murder but a death by someone's own clumsiness."

Lucifer left Chloe stunned by his words and she slowly shook her head. "So, that's what you want?"

"Exactly," he agreed.

"Shocker, Lucifer, but you have to play under my rules if you want to continue to help me out with my cases. Don't leave me ever again or this… odd… partnership is gone," she effortlessly destroyed his point of view.

"You can't treat me like your pet," her harsh words upset him.

"I don't treat you like that," irritated by his words, she sighed and wanted to make it absolutely clear. "Listen, Lucifer. You are my partner and I accept you as my partner. However, a partnership is about trust and relying on someone. So, please take this seriously. Look, the last case looked like a murder. We on the other hand have to do something called police work, even when it's false alarm at the end. As simple as the case is, we still have to solve it. I hope you understand me."

"All right," said Lucifer in a subdued tone and sent an apologizing signal. "However, can you perhaps choose the good cases in the future?"

He raised a soft smile on her face. "I'll try. It's not that I ultimately like such cases either," she admitted.

"Ha!" Her confession felt like a tiny victory and he smirked confidently. Chloe rolled her eyes but didn't go into it any further because she got what she had intended. "Wait a sec, is that Dan's pudding?"She switched his attention to something else. "You know, he's going to hate you."

"Detective Douche will never ever find it out," he assured her with a sneaky smile. "It's his fault, he left this delicate pudding unattended."

"Labeled pudding. In the fridge." Chloe shook her head in disbelief.

"I must have overlooked that," Lucifer said, trying to act innocent whilst feasting on the pudding with pleasure just to make a point. "So, what's your new case?" Lucifer tried changing the conversation, as her judgmental look was too uncomfortable to endure any longer.

She gave a loud groan and opened the file. "Well, our victim is William Portz, real estate investor. A big fish we believe to have provided non-traceable real estates to LA mafia bosses for their various operations, but that was never proven in court."

"Oh, I know him," Lucifer remembered. "I did him a favor once."

"Of course you did. Why am I not surprised?" she commented and stood up. "Let's go."

"Gladly," he nodded and they left the precinct.

At the docks at one of William Portz real estates

Lucifer moved slowly around the body with interest. "He wore a helmet but it couldn't save him from impalement. Safety first, what a joke," Lucifer couldn't resist.

"Apparently he stumbled over the railing and fell to his death." She put the clipboard down and inspected the spot of the incident.

"Pardon?" Lucifer immediately disagreed. "His death is almost like a cheesy movie scene. He fell over the railing, seeking aid as he held desperately on to the chains, with metal pipes sticking out of the ground. The chain just happened to detached itself, causing him to be impaled by a pipe? In my opinion, there are far too many unfortunate coincidences for a bizarre accident like this."

"Yeah, I don't buy it either," she confirmed his objection, looking up, then back to the body. "The metal bar in his chest somehow doesn't fit into the picture at all. Besides, the angle of the bar doesn't really match the angle of his fall. We have bloody traces here, as if he tried to turn around. If I'm right then he was still alive after he hit the ground, before he was pierced with the metal bar."

"Oh, somebody definitely wanted to make sure he died," Lucifer concluded and straightened up. "Bravo, Detective, it's a homicide!"

"We have a homicide but still no evidence that could lead us to a possible culprit," Chloe didn't see this breakthrough as a success. "Maybe we will find some fingerprints on the metal bar. It is all we've got for now. I'll go upstairs and take a closer look. Maybe I find something. You can stay here but don't. Touch. anything."

Lucifer watched her walking away, then moved from the spot and strolled around a bit. He finally leaned sideways against a container and pulled out his cigarettes. From here, he was able to overlook the murder site wonderfully.

He was certain that William Portz's death won't please many criminals. He did not like it either. Why had someone murdered him, when he had no real enemies because of his double-edged businesses? It just wasn't comprehensible.

Lucifer wondered why a strange feeling had suddenly dwelled in the pit of his stomach and creeped its way up to his awareness. He stopped smoking and looked around warily. Someone was watching him for sure but he couldn't figure it out.

He gave up and went looking for Chloe just to make sure that she was fine. He found her in the control room of the facility, where she went through possible evidence in a briefcase.

"This belongs to William," she explained without looking up and thumbed through the papers. "I'm trying to find out some names, anything or anyone that we can look in to…"

"Oh, I can assure you, William was a shady, intelligent man. He wouldn't just leave any important documents of his clients in his unsecured briefcase. He would hide them in a safe, presumably with state of the art security," Lucifer responded, though he had become distracted. He felt the urge to pull one of the many control levers just for fun.

"Lucifer…" her voice suddenly changed to an accusing tone and it pricked up his ears. Immediately, he saw her serious facial expression. "It seems you got a warehouse in return for your favor," she specified her concerns and held up a contract, which he had obviously signed.

This took him by surprise.

"Explain yourself," she insisted.

Skepticism arose in Chloe. She wasn't quite sure how to handle this new lead. It seemed her partner was, once again, somehow involved in a case tied to the criminal underground. They had only worked together for several weeks and she wasn't completely sure that she could trust him. Last time there was a mysterious container there was Russian dolls and angel wings. Now this. A suspicious warehouse with whatever he had hidden in there.

It was an undeniable fact that Lucifer was a huge, crazy mystery with more than often selfish intentions and questionable methods. He wandered through criminal realms and had his secrets, but what she knew about him only scratched the surface.

He covered his discomfort with a puzzled expression. "That's impossible," Lucifer finally exhaled in disbelief. "This contract was placed in this briefcase on purpose. It shouldn't even be there."

She was still indecisive, but she told him in the morning that their partnership was about trust and relying on each other. Besides, her gut told her that something was off too and on top of that, Lucifer had never lied to her so far. She cleared her throat and took a leap of faith. "If this is a frame job and, for now, I'm going to trust that there is nothing illegal going on in this particular warehouse - "

"I would never hide something dangerous or essential there like, you know, my angel wings. I need to make sure humanity doesn't come in touch with divinity – except in the bedroom," he winked at her. "It's more like an attic or basement, merely storage space for some… things I really like but don't need right now."

There was no sign of distrust in his eyes, wing thing aside, although again she had an unpleasant feeling that he hadn't told her the whole truth. She went with it nonetheless. "You still have to be completely sincere with me about this favor. What did you gave William Portz in return?" she dug deeper.

"To be honest, it's a personal matter," he hesitated but gave a mollifying gesture as soon as she raised her eyebrow. "I don't talk about my given favors. My flawless reputation is at stake." Chloe's look pierced right through him as she crossed her arms. "Lucifer," she admonished him like a child.

As a result, he reluctantly gave in and softened his tone. "Bloody hell, it isn't funny anymore to make you mad. Fine, I'll make an exception for you, Detective. For our trust thing, alright?"

"You've really listened," Chloe acknowledged his goodwill with a soft gesture and strangely made him feel like he did something actually right. "Alright, go on."

"Okay, long story short, his business partner Roger Den pinched his wife," he happily began to explain. "She divorced him and in a clever coup, they took his beloved dogs without a chance to get them back. I've never quite gotten his abnormal love for animals. Well, anyways, he was willing to do anything for his doggies' safety and his greedy wife knew that. Both wanted everything he had possessed to kick him out of his own business. His world fell apart and he knew I was the best chance to help him out by pulling some strings here and there. In return, he gave me the warehouse and we parted ways."

As soon as he finished his sentence, he looked at her curiously, as small wrinkles appeared between her eyebrows. Chloe became thoughtful.

"Roger Den and this said wife are sounding like possible suspects. You spoiled their plans back then. Perhaps they want to frame you by pointing the police to your warehouse. The big question is why? At any rate, we have to question them."

"Oh, I love a good, disclosing talk," he agreed in eagerness.

"Okay, first things first, but your warehouse isn't off the table yet," she reassured him stony-faced.

He answered with a shrug and a genuine smile. "I have nothing to hide this time."

Once they had gotten search results back for their suspects they headed over to the ex-wife's home. They had learned that Roger Den had died in a horrible car crash a year ago. Marry d' Verde, William Portz's ex-wife, was very much still alive though. Perhaps revenge through pent-up rage was her motive or rather, her greed. After all, he still mentioned her in his testament and she was going to get a lot of money as an amicable settlement for their failed marriage.

Marry d' Verde was a conceited, young, good-looking woman who strived for prosperity and a fulfilled life. In a pink bathrobe, she greeted them in the hallway of the entrance. Chloe enlightened her about their visit but to their displeasure, she exposed herself as a blabbermouth. Endless complaints about her stressful life forced them to follow her without a chance to stay polite by interrupting her.

Finally, Lucifer placed himself in her way and cut to the point with a bittersweet "You are such an attractive woman. Don't let the stressful life overwhelm you or your beautiful face will get wrinkles for sure. Look at the Detective."

In an instant, Chloe was literally offended, and figuratively killed him with a death stare. However, her best choice was to cage her bad mood for the sake of this case and she kept silent with an impenetrable slight smile. Marry's scanning look was barely bearable.

"Oh, you are so right", Marry scoffed and glanced thankfully to Lucifer.

"I'm always right," Lucifer cast a spell over her with just his looks and took her hand in the process. "It's a shame you've never heard of me."

"No, it's my first time Mr. Morningstar, and it's an incredible pleasure, handsome man!" Marry giggled and they came dangerously close. "Call me, Lucifer," he purred.

Oh, Chloe wanted to shoot them both. Her for her outrageous behavior and him for his gross self-confidence. She rolled her eyes in the background of their play. If she hadn't known him by now, she would have stopped this immediately. Sadly, it was his way to get information and she inevitably had to deal with it.

"There is an important matter to discuss, my dear Marry. We found your ex-husband, murdered, and I can read solely out of your face expression that you loathed him deeply. I know you want to tell me why," Lucifer carried their conversation forward and used his mojo on her. It worked as always and it always fascinated Chloe.

"Oh, I loathe him", Mrs. d' Verde played to his sweet voice, which was entwined with his strong charms. "Thank the Lord for his death. He deserves to rot in Hell for what he was in private. I assure you, he was a terrible man while I was the faithful woman over years. He abandoned me not only as his wife, but also in bed. In bed! He worshipped these goddamned dogs. Then, when I found out he had…" She suddenly held back an intense urge to gag. "He… he... had… sex... with them…well, that was the final straw. I couldn't stand it anymore."

Well… that was unexpected. Chloe and Lucifer exchanged glances.

"This sick bastard had to be treated like a dog. Yes, I wanted to hurt him back then but believe me, I have nothing to do with this horrible chapter of my life anymore," she ended slightly dizzy. "I am more than pleased now."

"Thank you for your time Mrs. d' Verde," said Chloe, a little flustered and shocked, immediately trying to put her serious self on the right track again. The knowledge alone made her feel the need to vomit as well.

"That sums up pretty much everything," Lucifer combined his own thoughts together in the meantime, not really affected by its disgusting meaning. "Deepest sympathy, for your sexual trauma. At least with your current marriage to this hot porn star I utterly hope you have plenty of awesome sex now. But if you ever need a change of scenery, I would gladly offer myself." He grinned, tempting her, and then winked.

"I hope so," she blushed.

"Thank you again for your help. We have to go," Chloe promptly said goodbye because it became more than inappropriate for her and she pulled Lucifer away.

"Don't just flirt with any woman we run into," she complained, annoyed as they walked to her car.

"Why not?" he asked. "She desired it."

"And don't pick on my wrinkles either, okay?" she suddenly let out her frustration. "I am the one with this said stressful life, not you or this awful woman, and I shouldn't be reminded of that."

"I withdraw what I said earlier. It's funny to make you mad," he laughed. "Your sweet little angry expression is marvelous."

"That's it!" she harrumphed loudly. He was an unbelievable childish man without any sense of sympathy and she was on the brink to throwing something at his head. Thankfully, she listened to her rational mind instead of her bursting feelings.

"Back to our investigation," she hissed, and got back to the important things. "Marry d' Verde wasn't promising at all. There's a lot of hate there but besides the money, which she doesn't really need, there doesn't appear to be any other motive after all this time apart from Portz. Which brings us to your warehouse again. Someone definitely wants to lead us there. So, I ask you one more time: What is in this warehouse?"

Lucifer shrugged. "I told you, nothing in particular."

It didn't satisfy her. "Hey, I have an excellent idea. Why don't we go there and you show me what's inside?" she recommended in a determined tone and Lucifer instantly knew nothing would change her mind.