Chapter 3 : Vegas, here we come
Chloe headed to the precinct to meet with Ella. Apparently she had some breaking news about the case on Amelia. She put her bag on her desk and made her way to Ella's office. Chloe peaked through the glass door and saw Ella with her earphones lipsynching to the music in her mp3-player. Chloe knocked on the door and let herself in.
She taps Ella's shoulder. Ella slightly jumps at the unexpected intrusion. Chloe quickly apologizes:
"Sorry", she says, "I did not mean to startle you. You said you made a breakthrough in the case?"
"Yeah. I realized I was totally wrong about the cause of death and the time of death."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, first of all, cause of death is not stabbing as I thought first when I saw the body. She was strangled, then stabbed. According to the ME, the C5 vertebrae is completely crushed." Ella added.
"So the crime scene was staged. The murderer clearly went to great lengths to masquerade the crime. That surely rules out a crime of passion. So we're back to square one. You said you had the time of death wrong?"
"Well I found some traces of red sand under her fingernails. I ran it through the mass spectrometer and it seems you can only find that kind of sand in the desert around the Grand Canyon. If she was killed there, as I think, then it would mean the murder happened way before, and somehow the body was kept somewhere and put in that alley on purpose".
"Or the Nevada desert", Chloe says more to herself than to Ella, thinking back at the card Ella found on the body.
"I guess you could find some there as well. To be sure, I'd have to go there and take different samples to see which one matches. I'll go see the Lieutenant and ask for a warrant. But I'm not sure I have enough hard evidence to justify it. And I would have to explain why we found Lucifer's card on the body." Ella adds.
"Not necessarily. I mean, we could maybe poke around a little and see if it's worth the effort. And if it is a solid lead, we'll call for backup. Besides, Maze has been nagging me, ever since she moved back in, to have some kind of girl trip to Las Vegas. What do you say?"
"You girls made up, good for you!" Ella cuts in genuinely happy for her two friends.
"Anyhow, we talked about the card you found on the body and we thought maybe we could take a trip to Vegas over the week-end and check out a few leads while over there. Besides, this new project of his seems to have a hell of a reputation".
"Are you kidding me! It would be amazing. I mean, all of our girlband drinking, gambling and dancing! Best weekend EVER" Ella answers.
"And also investigating" Chloe adds.
"Yeah, that too. But only if we get bored. I'll tell Linda about the weekend." She winks at Chloe, and she smiles back at her.
"Back to the case. You said the C5 vertebrae was crushed?"
"Her neck was actually snapped like a twig and the vertebrae broke in the process. But given the defensive wounds on the victim, whoever strangled was freakishly strong."
"OK. I'll inform Dan about the new elements and ask him to look into the vic's background. I'll inform you about the details of the trip".
Chloe then made her way back to her desk to try and make sense of all those new information.
2 days later – Friday 5 pm
Chloe had asked Dan to watch Trixie for the weekend saying she needed to let out some steam after the whole thing with her poisoning and the disappearance of Lucifer. She hugged her daughter one last time before picking up Maze, Linda and Ella.
The 5-hour-drive to Las Vegas went by quickly and the girls arrived a bit after 10:30 pm. They had booked 2 rooms. Ella was sharing one with Chloe and Linda was bunking with Maze. The two groups made their way to their rooms to get ready fot the evening. Chloe purposefully booked the Treasure Island Hotel and Casino. It was on the opposite side of the Eden Club on Las Vegas Boulevard.
"Leave it to Lucifer to pick the coolest place to open a night club" Chloe thinks to herself. She was pacing in the hotel room unable to hide her anxiety. The more she thought about it, the more she regretted coming here. Chloe heard Ella's scream and jumped slightly.
"Arrrrrrrgh!" Ella complains.
Chloe knocks on the bathroom door and asks shyly
"Is everything OK in there?"
"No... I burnt myself with the curling iron again... I hate that damn thing! Can you please help me finish?" She asks
"Sure" says Chloe. Then she blurts out "Are you sure it is a good idea? What if it goes south, or if it's not even Lucifer" she says to Ellla "Or if he doesn't want to see me" she adds in her mind.
"Do you really think there is more than one person named Lucifer on this planet. And the good thing is, you get to finally confront him as to why he left LA."
"I don't care about this. I told you it's for the case".
"Right. At the very least, you get to slap him if you want. Come on, let's find Maze and Linda in the lobby."
The 4 girls crossed the street and headed toward the Eden.
I really miss the interactions between the girls in the show, so I thought I'd give them more importance :).
Tell me what you think. All comments are welcome :). I'll try to update soon.
