Author's notes:
Hey !
I was hanging around on my AO3 profile this afternoon when I saw something that made me laugh. I had 666 hits on this sequel. No more, no less. If this number is not a sign from our lovely Lucifer! XD
So… thanks to this, I've decided to publish one week earlier the second chapter.
Happy devilish reading !
LATER
[Two hours earlier]
Lucifer hid his umpteenth yawn behind his palm and rubbed his eyes, exhausted by the detective's overrunning vigor on this new case.
Did she never have fun?
Did she only know what this word could mean?
He was rather skeptical about it.
He put the boring file that he was unsuccessfully trying to read for five minutes now on his partner's desk and rested his back against his uncomfortable seat. What wouldn't he give for a scotch… Lucifer sighed and turned his seat to the big glass board covered with pictures and various papers useful to the investigation. Chloe was turning her back to him, her tense posture still showing the intense reflection in which she was entangled.
" Are you trying to melt this board with your insightful mind, Detective? ", he teased her, leaning on the desk.
" No, I'm trying to find our suspect… Wanna give a shot? ", replied the young woman immediately without turning, her finger touching each paper.
" With pleasure! Let's go think about this with a drink at Lux! "
He pretended to stand up and walk towards the mean stairs of the precinct.
" Go ahead. ", said the detective absent-mindedly, who hadn't move an inch. " I'm staying here. "
Lucifer sighed deeply again while rolling his eyes, annoyed by her tireless obstinacy. Even Mazikeen was taking a slight break from the time she tortured damned souls in Hell. He turned back and joined Chloe in this useless cogitation.
" You can do that? ", she suddenly asked.
" Excuse me? "
" Melting things with your eyes? "
" I'm the devil, Detective; not a bloody X-men ! ", replied her partner.
She shrugged, apparently thinking that this possibility was not that absurd that he was saying.
" Just asking.", she said, looking at the glass board again. " And, you know… the devil is supposed to control fire, so… "
" Uhg… Bloody Hell! ", exclaimed Lucifer, sighing again. " I'm a fallen angel; not a match or a laser beam! What kind of books are you reading lately? "
" Every kind. The Holy Bible isn't really useful for my research, though. "
" Can't say I'm surprised. The Bible isn't really useful except for praising the Almighty Douche, Detective. ", assured her partner, putting his hands in his pockets. " You really thought finding some truth in this old book? That could be a modern version of faith… "
The young woman merely nodded as an answer, still stubbornly looking the glass board before them.
" I don't think it's so far from the truth as you say. It describes you like a lustful imp having a deep taste for all sorts of perversion, for instance. 'Sounds like the truth for me, doesn't it? "
Chloe smiled at him when he didn't, annoyed.
" I can't deny my good taste for funny activities. ", he granted. " But why even read this so-called divine nonsense when you have a priceless source of information right here? "
He was the priceless source, of course.
Who better than he could correctly answer in details to his partner's questions? A question about the devil needed an answer from the devil himself, didn't it?
" What if this great source of information always eludes one question of mine? ", said then the detective.
" What? I do-… "
He kept quiet.
It would have been complicated for Lucifer to pretend not to understand this clever hint. He was far from being stupid. Just like Chloe. She knew him, recently accepted as the actual devil or not. And Lucifer Morningstar wasn't that difficult to understand. Immortal being or not, he was acting just like any other human being who had to face an unpleasant situation he would rather not to; although this simplistic parallel didn't please him.
He didn't look like anyone else.
He was Lucifer.
Yet, he was as simple as a human could be by constantly eluding this talk. A part of it, at least. A tiny part put aside that night because he asked her. And because she was agreed to do so.
" Not tonight. "
A week had passed. And then another. A long peaceful time not to worry about this tiny part put on hold until a later date. It hadn't been easy at first, of course. Lucifer could hardly bitch about that to the detective who had had her own way to deal with these big changes in her life; she who had accepted him so easily that night. He could understand her odd behavior in Charlotte's presence as soon as she walked into the room. He could understand her need to talk with Mazikeen and thus reassure her mother's fears; although the description of the demon about her former job in Hell didn't really help at the time.
And he could understand her need for answers about anything and everything since. Just as Chloe could understand his own behavior about this talk. She had given him time, as much as he had left her to accept this big news.
" This explanation will be for another time, if you don't mind. If there is another time, of course. "
For another time.
Here it was. She had waited long enough and he had eluded long enough.
This new case and this vile bomber wouldn't be enough to distract her from this urgent need to know. Once the detective started searching for answers, nothing in the world could stop her.
Not even the devil himself.
" Detective, I don't know what yo-… ", he tried anyway, simply unable to open this closed door.
" Lucifer, I get it. ", she interrupted him, not angry at all. " I know there's something you don't want to tell me because you fear I react badly or that I run away from you, but… After everything you've told me about the demons, angels, God… I think I wouldn't be here right now talking to you if I couldn't handle it. So… Whatever you have to tell me, I'm sure I can hear it. You can trust me, okay? "
Trust…
" I trust you. "
But would she still trust him after that?
They both looked at each other, one eager for answers as the other was eager for a way-out.
" Detective, I-I'm…uhm… ", Lucifer stammered awkwardly.
" Hey! Guess who had big news about our dear bomb victim Martha Jameso-…? ", Ella exclaimed joyfully as she arrived behind them.
Lucifer and Chloe quickly moved away from each other, only realizing now that they were barely a few inches between them until Ella's loud arrival. The forensic stared at them and smiled.
" Whoops! Sorry guys! I can go if you're busy with something b-…
" Nope. Lucifer and I were just talking about…uh…about his family, right ? ", the detective said, glancing at him.
" Sort of, yes. "
Ella nodded, seemingly pleased to know what they were talking about.
" Ah, family ! We love and hate them all the same, huh? It's so difficult to live in a big family, you know? I don't even remember all my brothers and sisters names! Totally unbelievable! But, you know…not that easy to remember six names! ", talked all alone the young woman. " What about you, big Luci-guy ? How many siblings? "
" Well, without Uriel… seventy-one. "
The two women stared at him, speechless, while Lucifer didn't understand their reaction. She asked him and he gave her the answer, that's all. There was nothing to be so surprised, especially for so little.
Before the forensic could top about her partner's words, Chloe took action.
" You said having news, Ella? "
" Ow, right! "
She finally opened the file and took a particular paper from it, giving it to the detective.
" The lab send us the results for this strange material found in what was left of the bomb on the crime scene and this is not sugar that killed our poor Martha! "
Lucifer approached his partner and read with her the results from the lab.
" Turpentine ? ", they both read aloud.
Chloe lifted her head, frowning in intense reflection.
" Why add turpentine to a homemade bomb? What's the point? Half of the living room had gone up in smoke. "
" Exactly! ", said Ella. " The bomb alone was enough to kill our girl, but it could never had done all this mess in her house. Way too small! "
" Then wha-? ", asked the detective. "Wait a second. The oil of turpentine… "
Ella nodded quickly, being all excited to enlighten Chloe and Lucifer about this.
" Oil of turpentine is highly flammable and so toxic; it could have leveled up our bomb here. You know, like boum mixed with fschouuuuuush ! "
" Right… ", said Lucifer, staring at the forensic.
" Could explain the living room burned to a cinder and the lack of evidence. ", deduced Chloe, turning to the glass board again. " Our suspect wanted to wipe away any details that could have lead us to him. He might not think of turpentine and-…Or maybe… "
" Maybe what? ", Lucifer asked her.
" I don't know. How someone so careful about details could have missed this? He should have known that the fire wouldn't totally burn turpentine, right? Unless-… "
" Unless our dear bomber wanted us to find it? ", helped Lucifer.
" Yeah, like a signature maybe. ", murmured the detective, looking at him, pensive.
She pinched her lips and turned to Ella who was still near her desk.
" What kind of turpentine is this? "
The forensic quickly flipped through the file in search of this data.
" It seems coming from some Canadian tree; balsam tree. ", she told them, reading another paper in the file.
Lucifer turned to the detective.
" Our victim had a half-brother, hadn't she? He said running a store specialized into Canadian stuffs, I think. Sounds guilty enough for me, Detective! What do you say? "
" Yeah. He studied chemistry at university; that's quite useful to make a bomb. I think he said he was working the entire morning when that happened. We should go talk to him again. Thanks, Ella! "
" No problem! ", said the young woman before leaving them, smiling again.
Chloe quickly put the files aside on her desk while searching for the half-brother's address. She put on her black jacket and moved her hair from the collar, then looking at her partner.
" We'll talk about all this later, okay? "
Without waiting for an answer, she went to the main staircase of the precinct. Lucifer let out a slight sigh as he fixed his gaze on his partner's silhouette, not so hurry to join her and thus short this tiny break she was giving him again.
" Later… ", he murmured at last as he walked away from Chloe's desk, worried that he would have face this later much sooner than he would have liked.
Hopefully, this boom-hunt would be much longer than expected.
He could still pray in this way, but – as everybody knew – that wasn't him at all.
TBC
Author's notes:
I'm not an expert at all in turpentine, of course. I just did some research here and there, that's all. Sorry then if this explanation sounds totally unrealistic. ^^'
I've already written the third chapter in French, but I won't begin to translate it now. I want to finish to write the entire story in French first.
Sorry TT
I hope you'll like this new chapter, anyway and I thank you for reading me so far !
See you soon! :3