"I need you to see something," repeated Dan, looking a her with strange expression. "Your partner didn't do things by the book after all."
"Well, somehow, that does not surprise me," she sighed. "Let's see."
Chloe presses the 'play' button and speeded the recording to the moment when she saw herself nearing to the entrance of the warehouse. Then she set the video on the normal speed.
On the very same moment when she was entering the warehouse - her figure disappearing from the recording on the outside camera and appearing on the video taken inside the building - she saw Lucifer following her in a rather short distance. He entered the warehouse just behind her and waited in the shadow, so well-hidden that he was barely recognizable in the grainy video.
Chloe shook her head, frowning. It looked like her troublesome consultant waited no more than fifteen seconds, out of twenty minutes she fixed.
She saw herself raising the container with the toxin and talking with the 'customers'. There was no sound on the recording, but she could rehearse their dialogue from memory. The third man, a rather big guy in the leather jacket, waiting behind the pile of pallets, was visible at the recording. When Chloe saw him stepping out of his hiding and hitting her head, she grimaced, not because of the reminder of pain, but disgusted at her own stupidity. How could she not have noticed him earlier? Oh, but she got too intrigued by this flyer they gave her and got distracted… well in her job there usually was a price for not paying enough attention.
Now she could have seen what happened after her black-out. The three men started to quarrel over her unconscious body, but not long, as Lucifer stepped out of the shadow and drew their attention. The man in the leather jacket produced the gun, aiming it at the consultant. Lucifer negligently raised his hands but kept approaching at the trio. Even without the recording, Chloe knew he was doing his signature move: talking. It was simply unbelievable, how this man could keep his head cool with the gun aimed at him and talk some moonshine, some utter nonsense, which still turned out to take desirable effect. She saw it with her own eyes many times at crime scenes and she saw it now in the recording: Lucifer with his hands raised up slowly closing the gap between him and the trio in the middle of the warehouse.
Suddenly, the man in the jacket moved the aim from Lucifer to her unconscious form, pointing at her head.
Lucifer stopped walking.
"Watch this," whispered Dan.
For about thirty seconds the group stood in place, almost unmoving, only that Lucifer after a while slowly lowered his hands. The man in the jacket kept aiming at her but stared at the consultant, and when the last one reached out to him, he slowly handed him over the gun.
And then their three would be 'customers' simply ran away, leaving her and Lucifer in the warehouse.
"I thought that these men knocked you down and escaped and he found you after that," explained Dan. "However, as you could see, that was not what really happened."
"Lucifer does not lie," replied Chloe automatically. The video was still running and she watched how Lucifer checked her pulse and gathered her from the floor and something in her throat clenched because even at the grainy recording she saw how gently he did it.
"Actually, he didn't lie," replied Dan slowly. "I do not think so. I just made some assumptions concerning the most probable course of actions and he didn't correct them."
"Well, these were your assumptions," Chloe commented a bit harshly. In the recording, Lucifer put her carefully on the pallet, placing his rolled jacked under her head, to make her comfortable. Then he used her transmitter to make a call.
"He called for the backup?" asked Chloe, and Dan nodded. Chloe stopped the video.
"I know that this looks strange, that man handing him the gun and them all running away," she said with a sigh. "I have already seen him doing this to other people. I mean… talking them into total mess… I have no idea how he does it. He just… has a way with words. Because these are only words, Dan. A bit freaky, right… but only words," she stressed.
"I know," nodded Dan. "We have listened to the recording from the wiretapping you were wearing." He used her phone to call the technicians lab. "Peter, can you send us a file?"
"Look, I am not certain I need to listen to it," said Chloe with hesitation. "I heard him many times… in action, if you can say so. I don't know, perhaps he is a hypnotizer? Anyway, it does not work for me, so…"
"I think you should listen to it, Chloe," objected her ex-husband. "Besides, you didn't see the whole video. Let's do it once again, this time with audio."
Curious, Chloe didn't object anymore.
The technician not only sent them the audio file, but also came to synchronize it with the video from the cameras.
"I will make you a full movie, just let me watch it with you," he said with a grin. "The audio file was… ugh… something. I want to see it all."
He opened the file and for a few seconds tapped the keyboard, adjusting the sound to the movie. "Aaand action!" he finally called, satisfied.
'Hello, I am here!' sounded Chloe's voice from the recording just when her figure on the movie raised the container.
"Here comes our star," commented the technician. "Sorry, Decker, this time you stay in your clothes."
"Shut up or get lost," immediately growled Dan, but Chloe only rolled her eyes. She heard jokes referring to the infamous Hot Tube School Girls often enough to get immune to them.
"Speed to the moment when they knock me out," she said calmly.
Peter did as requested and almost immediately in the second when she saw herself falling down on the floor, she heard Lucifer's voice, at first from the distance, so that the words were incomprehensible, but as he came closer, they could hear him more clearly.
'…that's surprising why people get so anxious whenever death is mentioned. I realize that your lifespan on the earthly plane is critically short, but still, why despair over the inevitable? So the Death's Door…'
'Man, what are you talking about? Just shut up! Who sent you?' sounded the man's voice, probably the one with the gun.
'Now, you are being inconsistent,' came the smooth reply. 'Shall I shut up or explain who sent me? Make your choice.'
Chloe smirked, seeing that with each word Lucifer was getting nearer. Yes, it was crazy of him to walk straightly toward the gun, but the man in the jacket only stared at him, clutching the weapon.
'Just shut up! And do not get any closer!' called the man, this time with a shadow of panic in his voice, as if he wasn't the one with the gun.
'Oh, the third wish. Do you think that I am a goldfish? Or a jinnee?'
On the video, Lucifer calmly walked forward.
That was the moment when the man with the jacked suddenly shifted the aim from Lucifer to her, lying on the floor.
'Not one step further, or I will blow her head off!'
Lucifer stopped and for a moment remained silent. When he spoke again, the mocking, suave tone disappeared from his voice.
'You made a mistake,' he stated.
Chloe felt creeps crawling down her neck. To disperse them, she chuckled and added lightely:
"I know what comes next. The part about desires. His signature move."
"Not this time," Dan shook his head. "This time he was pissed off."
'Tell me, little humans, what's your greatest nightmare?'
Chloe literally jumped in her seat. This voice, it didn't even sound like Lucifer, her friend, the careless playboy from the night club. It was like the whisper of some inhuman creature, old and sinister.
'A mould? How simple. A mould that nested itself in the very heart of your family home, on the bread that your mother left you closing you in the cellar so that she could hump the next lover? A mould on your bedding, a mould on your clothes, do you know there are nightmares where the mould can eat you alive if you do not wake up in time?
The fear of pain, trite, and yet so much history behind it. You are right to fear pain, not the one you felt but the one you inflicted. It will all return to you. You think it was not your fault and someone else made you do it, funny thing, you are always trying to shield yourself from the responsibility but that never works, you know? Well, I do. I do know.'
"Okey, let's stop it. That's enough," said Chloe, trying to sound strong and composed. No one replied to her, so she looked at her companions. Both Dan and Peter were sitting petrified, staring at the screen, with pale faces and sweat gathering on their foreheads.
"Hey, guys, wake up. Now, you are a bit creepy. He is not even speaking to you. It is just a recording," called Chloe and paused the file. "What's going on with you?"
"Fuck…" sighed Dan wiping his eyes. "I am listening to this for the second time, I know what he was saying, and yet I heard… ah, never mind."
"I heard my worst nightmare," stated simply Peter. "Well almost. Shit, the guy is suggestive. From now on I will start to believe in hypnosis. And you, Decker?"
"It does not work on me," the detective shook her head. "I guess I am hypnosis resistant." She tried to speak lightly, but something in her wanted to scream that hypnosis doesn't cover even the beginning of the problem. She wanted to shut off the file and forget it.
"Well, let's listen to the end," said Dan and pushed again the 'play' button.
'And you are boring,' Lucifer crooked his head looking at the third man. 'You are afraid of the harm coming to your family. Boring, but still leverage. Do I need to help you imagine, what worst can happen to them? Or would you do it yourself?'
'Do you see, how your fears are worming out? How vulnerable you are? How unwise is it for you to stand up to me, to get on my way? Don't you know I can make all your nightmares come true? So, just give me that, mould man.'
When these words sounded, Lucifer reached for the gun. The man in the jacket, not letting his eyes move from the consultant, simply handed it over.
'And now run.'
Lucifer didn't say or do anything else, but all three men simply turned away, running to the exit of the warehouse. Chloe watched once again how he kneeled near her, checking the pulse on her wrist.
'Detective?...'
That was his voice again, gentle and cultured. Familiar British accent. Chloe slowly calmed down, watching him call the backup, providing information in short, precise sentences. He appeared so… reliable at the moment. A very good partner with unusual gift, that's all, thought Chloe, trying to convince herself she felt no doubts about it.
And then on the video appeared a new figure, a petite woman clad in black leather.
"Maze!..." Chloe frowned. Lucifer must have called Maze. And when they were driving to the warehouse, he proposed that she return home. Apparently, he wanted to deal with Cumbo buyers together with Maze. And here I thought we were partners, thought the detective with the sting of jealousy. Well, he can sleep and play the King of Hell with whomever he wants, but as far as solving the cases is concerned, I am not going to let myself be replaced.
In the meantime on the recording the sharp voice of the barmaid sounded clearly.
'What, the party's over? Why didn't you wait for me?'
'I intended to wait. However, they vexed me,' replied Lucifer.
'What happened to your pet? Is she dead?' this time Maze's voice rang with hope. Lucifer looked at her direction and it was enough to make Maze at the video step back and add defensively: 'Just asking.'
'The detective will be fine,' stated Lucifer. 'Now, Mazikeen, though I didn't need your help in dealing with this undercover mission, I think I can still offer you some entertainment. Did you see the men that ran away from this building?'
'Yes.'
'The police are on their track and should catch them soon. Yet before that, I'd like to speak with one of them. The tallest, in the leather jacket. I am not entirely done with him yet. So, would you make me a present, Mazikeen?'
The barmaid laughed in a way Chloe heard only in some naughty movies. Dan and Peter blushed at the very sound of it.
'You will have it wrapped,' she said and headed to the exit from the warehouse. Chloe noticed her in passing at one of the outside recordings, and then the girl disappeared in the darkness. A few seconds later, the backup patrol and the ambulance arrived at the warehouse.
Chloe saw medics putting her on the stretchers and Lucifer talking to Dan. She switched off the recording.
Peter nodded and left to his lab. For a moment Chloe and Dan sat in silence.
"Maze is not only a barmaid, she is Lucifer's bodyguard. I guess he called her when you convinced him that the situation might be too difficult for me to handle."
"Yes," nodded Dan. "But you know she is not the problem, Chlo. He is."
"He didn't do anything. He was only talking," she defended quickly. "He even never carries a gun. When he saw me in danger, he wanted to help, that's all."
Dan rubbed his forehead, looking very tired. "Listen Chlo, I just wanted you to see it. This guy is freaky and unpredictable." He hesitated and burst out: "Hell, he is sick! Can't you see that? Right, I know, that he is loyal to you, but he does it just on a whim! What if he changes his mind? I would feel better if you had a more reliable partner."
Chloe swallowed hard and averted her eyes. Dan was very short-sighted. The real problem was, not whether Lucifer was acting on a whim, but whether he behaved according to his nature. Dan's lack of insight made him omit something that Chloe found most worrisome: Lucifer scared all the men from the warehouse, even if he 'wasn't done' with one of them. Why didn't he finish his dealings with him immediately? The man was paralysed with fear, he would put up no resistance.
Because he knew, that there were cameras in the warehouse.
Chloe shivered and struggled to concentrate on the case.
"It is not about what you feel, Dan, or even what I feel. Before he appeared I had no partner, so… And all in all, he did his job yesterday. I am more interested in how this all connects to the case." Trying to sound oblivious and composed, Chloe looked at the watch. "Now I need to go to talk with Mitchell's brother. Then I would like to interrogate these men from the warehouse. And I would like to do it together with Lucifer. That's all."
"Well, you will be able to interview only two of them," retorted Dan. "The third one was found a few hours later and in such mental condition that he had to be sent to the psychiatric E.R. Oh, don't worry, no one is accusing your consultant of anything," her ex-husband grimaced mockingly. "The man was not beaten, or drugged, or anything like that. No bodily harm. However, we both know it was him, don't we?" Dan looked at Chloe expectantly but having received no answer after a while just shook his head and left her room.
Chloe for a moment sat in silence. She was thinking about Jimmy Barnes in the psychiatric hospital. Jimmy Barnes, who shot at her, wounding her shoulder.
And now this "third man", the one in the leather jacket. Perhaps Dan didn't dwell on it, but it was obvious that it was the one that knocked Chloe down and aimed at her with the gun.
He was only talking with them, she recalled once again. They must have already been unhinged, that's all. And it has nothing to do with me.
But of course, that it does.
Enough, she decided, standing up. The case was the priority and there was a job to do.