Happy New Year to everyone!
X.
When Chloe arrived at the house of Ben Mitchell, Jeremy's brother, the black Corvette was already parked in front of it. Lucifer, elegant as usual, was leaning over the car, smoking – hopefully, a cigarette.
"Detective!" he pleased at her sight. "I am glad to see you recovered. Why did the Douche call me this morning and lie, pretending to speak in your name? I played along only to speared your lovely – but bruised – head the necessity to deal with his tantrums. However, if he tries to repeat this trick, I am not going to be compliant."
"Dan wanted to speak with me without your presence," Chloe said simply. Lucifer never lied. Somehow, it made her feel obliged to be equally honest with him. "He got scared of your performance in the warehouse. And that man, who ended in the psychiatric E.R…."
"He fully deserved it," assured her Lucifer with a serene smile. "And I left two others to be questioned for the sake of the investigation," he looked at her like a child demanding praise for being so thoughtful.
Chloe's hands fell helplessly along her sides, both at his recklessness and blunt openness. Somehow, it would be easier, if he did lie about some things. Or at least pretend, that nothing happened. Then she could pretend as well.
"I am sorry, Detective, but you seem troubled. Did I cause you to feel uncomfortable?" he asked looking her cautiously in the eyes.
"No," she replied quickly, unwilling to dwell on the subject. "I mean yes, but… no. I just do not want to speak about it. Not now."
"All right," he nodded, slowly. From his expression Chloe knew, he tried to decipher her emotions, but at the moment she couldn't decipher them as well.
"And do not bring your bodyguard barmaid at our crime scene anymore!" she snapped all of the sudden.
"All right," he nodded again, even more warily than before, but simultaneously his eyes sparkled with amusement. "Do I hear a hint of jealousy, Detective? Of a crime scene, of course. Our crime scene," he accented the word "our" with obvious delight.
Lucifer through and through. Make one slip and he won't miss the occasion to catch it and turn against you, thought Chloe and replied sharply:
"Not even a bit. But there are procedures to observe. Let's go, Mitchell is waiting."
However, already with her hand over the bell, she hesitated and said: "Sorry, I didn't mean to quarrel. Thank you for taking care of me yesterday."
"Of course," he replied, appearing to be surprised with her words. "That was obvious. Well, let's see what the brother has to say."
Ben Mitchell was a man very hard to talk to. He offered them a dry greeting and replied to the questions with monosyllabic words. Chloe did her best to pull his tongue, whereas Lucifer, apparently forgetting he was the one who insisted on speaking to Jeremy's brother, quickly got bored with the conversation and circled in the room, examining the souvenirs at the shelves and pictures on the walls. The detective did her best to ignore him and concentrate on the conversation.
"Where you and your brother close?" she asked.
"Yes," replied Ben. "I think so."
"If he had any problems… any enemies… would he tell you?" Chloe looked cautiously at the man in front of her.
"I believe yes," Ben Mitchell replied with distraction, his attention drew more to Lucifer, rummaging through his shelves. "Hey, could you put that back? It is was a gift from my baseball team."
"Really? They must have hated you, it is hideous," observed causally Lucifer, putting some silver object back on the shelf and moving to the pictures standing over the fireplace.
"Well, did he?" asked Chloe, and when Ben looked at her questioningly, repeated: "Did your brother have any enemies?"
"No. No, he didn't," the man shook his head.
"You like exotic holiday destinations, Mr Mitchell," observed Lucifer "and cheap souvenirs. It suggests the inclination to live beyond your means. Did your brother share this feature?"
"Sorry?" Ben looked at him angrily. "Can you leave my stuff and sit down?"
"Nope," replied Lucifer, proceeding to the bookshelf.
Chloe rolled her eyes but internally smiled. After visiting a house with Lucifer, there usually was no need to return with the search warrant.
"Was your brother involved in any illegal transactions?"
"No," replied Ben immediately.
"Something off-the-books? Suspicious contractors?"
"No, of course no."
He is avoiding eye contact, noted Chloe and decided to press further.
"Drug trade?"
"That's enough!" shouted Ben, standing up. "How dare you? Get out of my house. I am done with you. Not a word more without my lawyer."
Chloe sighed. Even if she had doubts about the sincerity of this outburst, the mentioning of the lawyer should end the conversation. They should call the lawyer. He would tell them even less than Ben Mitchell himself, but there were rules, set to obey them, and she should play by the rules.
However… perhaps it was worth bending the rules just a little, for the sake of the investigation… And she was a detective lucky enough to have some extraordinary means at her disposal.
Of course, she shouldn't. But…
The detective turned back, searching for her consultant.
"Would you try?..." she asked, trying to forget she is using the same asset that only yesterday sent another man to the psychiatric ward.
Lucifer was already waiting for her sign, more than eager to make his performance. He neared to them quickly and leaned over Ben Mitchell, catching his sight.
"Tell me, Ben, what do you desire?" he asked so casually, without any special concentration, that for a moment Chloe thought it was not going to work. However, Ben Mitchell's expression immediately went blank, his sight transfixed into Lucifer's eyes, and replied without hesitation:
"Money."
"Yes, I thought so," nodded Lucifer and smiled knowingly. "I saw your photos, Ben. You like to feel special, right?"
"Yes. Yes, I do," replied Mitchell and – a strange contrast to his previous attitude – also started to chuckle.
"But it costs?"
"It does."
"Pity, huh? Costs much more than the small herbal shop can earn, right?" Lucifer was still smiling with indulgence as if Ben was his old friend and they both were sitting over the beer and confessing their secrets to each other.
"Yeah. That business sucks. Too much competition from supermarkets. The prices they set…"
"Boring," cut him off Lucifer. "Tell me something dirty, Ben."
"I made contacts within the inner circle of the drug traffic," Ben smiled widely and looked at Lucifer with pride. "Really hard stuff."
"Bravo, Ben! I knew you had it in you!" called Lucifer triumphally.
Though he appeared still careless and friendly, Chloe noticed the slight change in his posture. He tensed, wrapping his long fingers over the back of the chair and leaned toward Ben, concentrating.
I don't know how he does it, but at least I know how he feels like at the moment. Excited, that the investigation is progressing. Like a hunting dog that coughed the scent. Yes, that was something, that Chloe understood well. She felt the same. She covered his hand with hers and squeezed slightly. Not tearing his eyes from Mitchell, Lucifer twisted the corner of his mouth in a smirk, that was directed at her.
"You are a clever guy, Ben," continued Lucifer. "You get to work with the right people. And Jeremy?"
"Jeremy was a jerk," Ben shook his dead with contempt." A funk. He would never do drugs."
"So you had to kill him?" asked quickly Lucifer, crooking his head. Chloe held her breath, waiting for the answer.
However, Ben Mitchell gasped with indignation.
"Oh, no, I would never kill him! He was leading the business, after all. No, I just had to cheat him."
"How?"
"I told him we are going to sell stuff for some crazy new-age healers. Kind of illegal, but not too much. Something he could stomach."
"But it wasn't for healing? Inner equilibrium whatever?"
"No. They needed it… this toxic shit that Margot Jensen brought for my brother… it was for the production of the new drug. Something special, should hit the market. Enough to break the bank. That would be the deal of my life."
Ben Mitchell was laughing with dreamy expression in his eyes as if all the expected profits were already laying in front of him on the coffee table, and Chloe was thinking about these two kids in the hospital, whose names she didn't know and who were not to "make it" from the coma, and she felt her anger rising.
"You greedy maggot," hissed Lucifer, his flippant smile gone without a trace, and Chloe with anxiety realized he must have been thinking about the same. "To hit the market with the new hard stuff? The stupid kids would be dying on the scrap heaps so that you could have another holiday on Bari?"
The joyous satisfaction beaming from Lucifer suddenly dispersed, turning into something hungry and impatient. The back of the chair creaked under Lucifer's grasp.
"That's enough," whispered Chloe, feeling the panic grasp her throat. If Lucifer was a jinnee, sometimes it was much easier to make him fulfil a wish than send him back into the bottle.
The whole room got somehow darker… and warmer. Ben Mitchell started to tremble, sweat dripping from his forehead.
"That's enough. What's the name of this drug? The Death's Door?" Chloe asked aloud, hoping to bring Lucifer back to reality, from whatever darkness he was spiralling into.
It worked. Lucifer broke the connection with Mitchell, looked at her and sat on the chair, silent, but, hopefully, in control of himself.
Ben Mitchell, however, once released from Lucifer's sight, stared at her, mouth open, blinking and gasping for air in panic, the realization of what he just told dawning on him.
"Was it Death's Door?" she repeated, with more aggression in her voice.
"Yes," he whispered, all pale. "But…"
"No buts," Chloe went in full 'police mode', not only to get the truth of Mitchell, but also in fear, that by the slightest sign of her weakness the man sitting by her side in gloomy silence might want to take over the lead again. "Is it why your brother died? Who killed him?"
"I don't know… Not they… We cooperated," stuttered Ben Mitchell, then took a deep breath, accepting his situation and repeated: "I do not know who killed my brother. I cheated him into this business, but it didn't cause him any direct danger."
"He is telling the truth," stated Lucifer almost obliviously. "Strange, but in spite of everything, it appears that this time the brother was not the killer. Pity. I do appreciate familiar schemes, and this is the oldest one in the history of mankind."
He spoke in his usual, suave voice with a British accent and Chloe let out the shaky breath, feeling as if the bomb by her side just stopped ticking.
One they returned to the precinct, Chloe's fears concerning the consultant dispersed in the familiar environment of her office, especially that since the conversation with Ben Mitchell her partner was nothing but frivolous and friendly. And luckily, whether by accident or on purpose, Dan was outside of the precinct.
On the very same day later, after the official hearings of Ben Mitchell and two men from the warehouse Chloe had a meeting with her boss, Lieutenant Monroe to sum up the progress in the investigation. In the meeting participated also two girls from the drug section, who specialized in undercover actions and the secretary, who offered to make notes and prepare the minutes from the meeting. It was the first time when someone offered Chloe help with writing the minutes. Usually, she had to do all the paperwork herself. Usually, it was also not easy to get the help from the drug section, now overworked with Benitez case that Dan was leading.
And suddenly it turned out that half of the precinct was dreaming of participating in her meeting. The detective shook her head with a smile, watching Lucifer, who somehow managed to flirt with four women simultaneously and still looked at Chloe as if she had his undivided attention.
"You made great progress," praised them Monroe, not tearing her eyes from Lucifer. "You are such an amazing… amazing team."
"Well thank you, Jennifer," beamed Lucifer. "That's because you are an amazing leader."
Monroe made a strange sound, as if her throat suddenly got dry, evidently turned speechless. Chloe used the occasion to take voice.
"We got the fresh trail of the group responsible for the production and distribution of the new, dangerous drug. All three suspects we interrogated point at one man and one location: Alex Derham in the bar Venice. He was the receiver of the toxins and he must be the contact man to the producers of the drug."
"We know this bar. And Derham has long criminal records," said one of the girls from the drug section, Chloe didn't remember her name. "Mostly dealing. I will prepare you the detailed report."
Of course, she said it to Lucifer. Chloe felt free to roll her eyes, but her consultant only leaned to the girl with a smile.
"That's the most… helpful of you, Anne. Aren't you a treasure?..."
That silenced the girl for a while and Chloe decided to continue.
"I think we managed to answer the few questions. Neither the family nor the dealers, had motive to kill Mitchell. What's more, his death led us to their trail. So, one could say that the the murder was aimed to hinder the business of the dealers."
"The warning notes confirms it," added Lucifer.
"Yesss… it does," sighed Monroe ith distracted expression and Chloe did her best not to roll her eyes again. After all, Monroe was her superior officer.
"The person who called the police informing about the alleged burglary to Mitchell's shop, underlined the information about the warning note. We believe it was done to make sure that the note won't go unnoticed on this messy table… A hint left on purpose to lead us onto the trail of the Death's Door. So, the conclusions are simple," Chloe looked around, searching for confirmation in the faces of other participants of the meeting, but they were too busy casting glances at her consultant.
The detective silently swore to herself to keep Lucifer as far from the meetings as possible in future.
"I propose that we should follow the trail of the dealers," continued Chloe. "If we found them, we would also find their enemies, who should be responsible for the death of Jeremy Mitchell." She took a deep breath, preparing for the decisive moment. "The question is, whether we still have this case? Of course, I would like to continue the investigation."
Chloe finished, with anxiety awaiting Monroe's decision. She had to admit, that the case was getting a bit too big for one detective supported by the civil consultant, but if Monroe let her keep it, it would be the real chance, the first real chance she had since a few months to break the bad streak after Palmetto…
"Ehm… let me rephrase it," Lucifer leant toward Monroe, brandishing one of his charming smiles. "Jennifer, we would need some help in further investigation. One or two people to help with undercover research and so on… certainly, such apt officer like you knows the best how such things should be done. And Detective Decked should be given the oversight of the operation."
Monroe, who only seconds before looked at Chloe with hesitant expression, now beamed and nodded with approving smile. "Of cource. Prepare me the list, what you need, Detective," she said to Chloe and looked at Lucifer again. "And good luck. Just take care of yourself."
"Uhm. I will. I mean, we will. Thank you," Choe said to Monroe, but sending a grateful glance to Lucifer. Perhaps taking him to this meeting wasn't such a bad idea after all.
When the meeting was over, she let herself for a triumphant smile. She finally had a serious case, a chance to do what she felt called up to do. After Palmetto, she was slowly getting reduced to an office job. Now she finally was getting some windfall.
She probably wouldn't achieve it without Lucifer. Chloe raised her head to looked at the consultant and spotted him chatting with the secretary.
"And who are you? I haven't seen your pretty face yet, Dear," he said to the young woman, who already started to blush. "Would you tell me more about yourself?..."
Of course that she would, thought Chloe, shaking her head with indulgence.
He was such a charming, helpful companion. He simply didn't like dishonest people.