I'm glad you're enjoying this story - I love your comments, so please keep them coming! And #saveLucifer #pickupLucifer so we can have plenty more stories without me having to write my own.

It was mid-morning the next day before they finally received a notification that Martha Fellu's car had been spotted downtown. Chloe and Dan headed out. Chloe missed Lucifer's easy chat; Dan was silent, brooding, and she glanced at him occasionally, worrying about him. They'd all been hit hard by Charlotte's death, but Dan especially. And they were both reeling from the knowledge that it was their colleague who'd killed her.

And she had nearly married him. She shuddered now at the thought. Without Lucifer around, it was all too easy to sink into brooding and misery. She still didn't really understand how Pierce had changed so much from the man she thought she knew.

Chloe remembered Lucifer's attempts to remind her of the fun they'd had working together. Right now she'd give anything to turn the clock back to when he was just a quirky friend, when he drove her mad most of the time… well, maybe not. But it was hard to see how they could settle back to any kind of normal life. Not only was she still trying to adjust to the fact that he really was the devil, but he was stuck with his monstrous devil face. He was so isolated, so alone. She stifled a sigh. Maybe Linda would find a way to help him. She missed his soft brown eyes, the wicked gleam that would appear in them when he was causing trouble.

They located Fellu's car in a side street, but there was no sign of the owner. Chloe stood staring around her, trying to get a feel of the locale, to figure out where a woman like Martha would be going. The area was deserted, just a kid on a bike pedaling past and an old man shuffling along, wrapped up in a thick coat. The sun was bright above them, and the heat shimmered on the pavement.

She looked up, startled from her thoughts as something caught her eye, but there was nothing there. She frowned, feeling uneasy. 'Do you feel like we're being watched?' she asked Dan.

He shook his head. 'It's totally isolated here, not much around at all. Seems a pretty quiet neighborhood. I don't think anyone is interested in the outside world.'

Shrugging it off, Chloe explored the end of the street. Around the corner was a row of shops, including a cafe, and she headed in that direction. A shadow passed over her, and she looked up, but again there was nothing there.

'So Lucifer's still sick?' Dan asked as they walked towards the shops.

'Yeah.' Chloe really didn't want to talk about Lucifer right now. She wanted to scream at him, and hug him, and never see him again, and spend all her time with him. But chatting casually about him? With someone who didn't understand the truth? She couldn't see any kind of appeal in that.

'The guy is a total loser.' Dan almost spat the words. 'Plays at cop, likes to think he's clever, all this devil nonsense, and he hides evidence. If we'd known before…'

'Leave it, Dan,' Chloe snapped. 'You don't know the whole truth. There's a lot more going on than you realize.' For a moment she wondered whether to tell him. Whether he could cope with the knowledge that the devil talk was more than just talk. What would it do to him, that knowledge?

She couldn't risk it right now. She could barely cope with it herself. 'Just leave it,' she repeated lamely. 'When this is-'

'In there!' Dan pointed at the cafe, where a tall blonde woman was just about to exit. The woman, who looked as though she'd spent a rough night, looked in their direction, but as they started to speed up their walk she took off the opposite way, jogging down the street.

'Police! We want to talk to you!' Chloe called, breaking into a run.

The woman just looked over her shoulder and increased her pace.

'She's fast!' Dan panted behind Chloe's shoulder. 'And running scared. She knows something is up.'

'Looks like it,' Chloe responded grimly, concentrating on one foot in front of the other, controlling her breathing, not losing her footing, although her chest ached from the bruising and her legs felt like jelly.

The woman turned the corner ahead, and Chloe forced her pace faster still. 'She's heading back to her car! Damn!' As Chloe reached the corner herself, she saw the woman cut down an alley that led back to the street where the car was parked. Chloe cursed. If she got back to the car and drove away, they'd lose her again.

She reached the corner and turned, and nearly tripped over their suspect, who was lying in a fetal position on the ground, arms over her head, sobbing.

Chloe stood looking down at her, catching her breath, trying to understand what had happened. Again a shadow passed over her, and she looked up at the roof of the building nearby. Was that a man standing there? She blinked and it was gone again.

'I'm sorry, I'm sorry,' the woman sobbed, and Chloe bending to cuff her, gave a sudden smile.

'Thanks, Lucifer,' she said quietly.

'What was that?' Dan asked. 'Lucifer?'

'Never mind,' Chloe answered. 'We've got her. Let's get her to the station.'

As they led their suspect into the precinct, Ella greeted them by waving a file of papers in their direction. Chloe handed Fellu over to Dan to process, and she joined Ella in the lab.

'PM results are in,' Ella said in her usual overexcited fashion. 'And it's fascinating. I'm not sure what the implications are, but it could explain why one survived and one didn't.'

'Slow down, Ella,' said Chloe. 'Explain what was found.'

Ella tapped the file that she'd put on the table. 'The cord that we found around Britney Joyce's neck was used to strangle her. That's pretty straightforward. But it wasn't the cord used around Elliot Bliven's neck. That one was thicker.'

'Are you sure?' Chloe picked up the sheets of paper and studied the results. She was no scientist, but she knew enough to read the medical reports, and it appeared to be just as Ella had summarized. 'So what does this mean? The killer brought two weapons to the scene? Strangled Joyce until she was unconscious, then switched weapons to kill Bliven? Or killed Bliven first, put the murder weapon away, got another out to strangle Joyce with?'

'I know, right?' Ella's eyes were wide as she thought about the implications of the results.

'Lucifer was asking why the murderer would change their pattern,' Chloe said thoughtfully. 'Why she would suddenly kill him, where before she was just attacking girlfriends.'

'Lucifer's been discussing the case?' Ella looked up at her, excited. 'How is he? I miss the guy. He must be feeling so bad over the whole - you know…' Her voice trailed away.

'Over Pierce? Yeah. He's a little - frustrated, right now, I guess,' Chloe admitted. And so am I. She wanted to be held and comforted, to be able to share her feelings with someone. Instead, she was stuck worrying about her partner and trying to figure out ways to help him.

'Poor guy. I wish I could just give him a big hug.' Ella sank down on her stool with a sigh. 'I mean, he only did what we all wanted to do when we knew the truth, right?'

'Ella…'

'But he is okay, though, right? I mean, he's not hurt or anything? Or like really depressed over it all? It's not like him to keep away from you - from here. Maybe we should go see him or something?'

Chloe shook her head. This was getting tough. 'Ella - can I ask you about something?'

'Sure, go ahead.' Ella faced her directly, giving her full attention.

'You know you believe in God and all that?'

'Yeah, you asked me about that before.'

'Well - I'm just curious, sorry. You said you felt God told you to come here? To LA?'

Ella looked away. 'Yeah, sorta.'

'I was just wondering what that was like. You know, getting a direct message from God.' Chloe had heard a lot about Lucifer's dad. Maybe Ella had the secret to reconciling Lucifer's view of his dad with the rest of the world's view of God.

'I just - sorta felt a really strong feeling pushing me here.' Ella tried to meet Chloe's eyes, but seemed to be hiding something.

'Oh, okay, it doesn't matter, I just wondered, that's all.'

'Yeah, I know, it's kind of hard, with Lucifer and the devil business, you know?'

Chloe stiffened. 'With what?'

'Oh, you know, Lucifer saying he's the devil, and always talking about his dad, they have a really weird kind of relationship, don't you think? I mean, who behaves as though their dad is really God?'

Chloe's first thought was that Ella knew the truth, but now she relaxed just a little. 'Maybe he is,' she said.

Ella laughed. 'Don't tell me you're starting to really believe him?'

No, this was too difficult. She couldn't talk to Ella, not honestly. It wasn't fair on her. Maybe Linda. She decided to call Linda when she got a chance, to really talk to her. At least she knew the truth.

'Ah - let's get back to the case, shall we?' Chloe indicated the folder in front of her. 'Sorry, I'm just a little distracted. It's a while since I've worked closely with Dan, but with Lucifer out of action… it's just thrown me off track a bit. Where were we?'

With a sigh, Ella flicked through the paper again. 'Trying to work out why there were two murder weapons.'

'Yeah.' Chloe frowned for a moment, then dug out her phone. 'One minute.'

She thumbed through the contact list. Maybe he wouldn't even answer, but it was worth a try. 'Lucifer? I was just wondering if you wanted to join in with me and Ella on discussing the case. I'd like to get your take on this. I can put you on speakerphone.'

There was a moment of silence. 'You really want my help, detective?'

Her heart sang at the familiar tones and accent. 'Of course I do. You okay with that?'

A deep sigh. 'What's the situation, then?'

With a grin at Ella, Chloe put the phone on loudspeaker and placed it on the desk in front of them. 'Hi Lucifer,' Ella greeted him. 'How you doing, buddy?'

'I'm bored, Miss Lopez,' Lucifer answered her. 'But it's good to talk to you. What's the news on the case?'

Quickly, the two women brought him up to date on the PM results. 'And we arrested our suspect,' Chloe added, although she had a strong suspicion that Lucifer was well aware of that.

'Okay, so you're trying to work out why the murderer used two different weapons? Well, I can think of one or two reasons.'

'Spill it, dude, we're waiting to hear,' Ella responded.

'Maybe she didn't. Maybe there were two crimes committed by different people.'

Chloe nodded. 'You mean that one was a murder and the other an attempted murder? So what do you reckon happened?' She knew the conclusion she had come to. She was waiting for Lucifer to reach the same conclusion.

'Maybe,' he said slowly, 'your chap Bliven killed all his girlfriends. Maybe this other woman came across him trying to kill this one, and stopped the murder by killing him.'

Chloe and Ella exchanged glances. 'That's a pretty big conclusion, Lucifer,' Ella said, but Chloe was nodding.

'That sounds definitely plausible,' she said. 'Thanks, Lucifer.'

'You're welcome.' He sounded amused, and she relaxed a little. She had been hoping her gamble would pay off; she could only imagine how isolated and lonely he must feel right now. 'Maybe-'

She was interrupted by shouts from the interrogation room. 'Call an ambulance! She's tried to kill herself!'

I've got to go,' she said hurriedly. 'I'll call in to see you this evening.'

'I'll look forward to that.' Lucifer hung up.

Lucifer glared at the phone as though it had personally insulted him. He couldn't stand this. Unable to move freely around, unable to see his friends…

Friends. It was an odd concept. He had spent so much of his life as Lord of Hell, where everyone either followed his orders or trembled in fear at his presence. And yet in the short time he had been on earth, he had grown accustomed to being among people who actually seemed to like him, to want to be around him.

But if he showed himself now, they would react in horror.

He sank onto the couch and put his head in his hands. How long could he go on like this? He had tried to help Chloe out, but his devil face limited him too much, and that short phone conversation had just emphasized how isolated he was. The idea of returning to Hell was abhorrent, but the idea of continuing like this was painful too. For the first time he felt a flicker of sympathy for Pierce: he too had been isolated and forced to keep his real self hidden.

But unlike Pierce, he felt no urge to go out and become a crime boss, to order murders, to kill someone in cold blood. Maybe he wasn't quite as much of a monster as he feared.

He thought back to Uriel. His little brother. He had thought life was tough then, had struggled to live with the guilt, had called himself a monster. But he had come through it. Maybe there was a way through this as well.

He just hoped it would come soon.

Should be just one more chapter on this, and then I'm working on a sequel, to follow on from Boo Normal.