XII.
After the good nights rest the detective decided to spend the day dealing with the overdue paperwork. She wasn't especially fond of it, but the pile of folders on her desk was growing and she could use the time of waiting for Durham's statement to deal with it. She was also going to call the LUX and tell Lucifer not to come today. After yesterday's events, she felt the need to put appropriate distance between her and her whimsical partner. Some space would do well for both of them.
However, when she was going to make herself coffee in the kitchenette, she almost collided in the entrance to her room with the man in question.
"Oh… you are early. I was just going to let you know, that you do not have to come today," said lightly the detective. "I am having a paperwork day. You are not doing paperwork anyway, so…" she smiled politely, with slight nod indicating the door.
Yes, polite and composed, that's how she intended to be. To keep their relations more professional and less personal.
"You are angry at me, Detective," observed Lucifer, making himself comfortable on the chair in front of her desk. He didn't even look at the direction of the door. "What happened?"
"Nothing," replied Chloe much too quickly. "And I am not angry."
Lucifer looked at her raising his eyebrows.
He knows when I am laying, thought the detective gloomily. She sighed, and let the polite smile fell down from her face. Forgetting coffee, she returned to her desk and faced him.
"I treat my work seriously. Yesterday, you simply left me in the middle of the operation. And you didn't even say that you are sorry." Her voice shivered unnecessarily at the end of the sentence. Well, that would be so much for keeping a professional distance.
"I am not sorry, I did what I had to," replied Lucifer with the earnest indignation in his voice. "However I acknowledge the fact, that there are reasons for you to be irritated," he added with consideration. "Doctor Martin says it is progress."
Chloe shook her head. "Listen, that it is my work. For you, it is just a hobby."
"I fail to see a problem with it."
"It is the matter of priorities," the detective started slowly. She didn't want to offend him, just to… put everything in the proper perspective. "Tell me, why do you want to work here? What is, for you, the most important part of this job?"
She knew the answer. For him, it was fun. An entertainment. Just like these extremal survival excursions for bored rich people. She had to make him acknowledge it and realise the difference between his and her approach. Only then he would understand her.
Lucifer considered her question for a moment.
"Well, I like working on cases. It is like solving the riddles, but with a thrill of excitement," he stated slowly, confirming her course of thinking. "And the guilty should be punished, I still like to see to it personally," he added with a strange edge in his voice. "But the most important reason? It is you."
"Sorry?" For a second the detective thought she misheard him.
"You. You are the priority. I want to work with you, to learn you better," he elaborated.
Why? Wanted to ask Chloe, but bit her tongue. No, she was not letting to make it personal.
He must have been referring to some findings from his therapy sessions. Perhaps Doctor Martin told him to develop relations with people or something like this. Or perhaps it was just about persuading her to have sex with him, that would be the simplest explanation. Anyway, she was not going to ask.
After a moment of awkward silence, Chloe cleared her throat and changed the subject in the most cowardly way, filling him in with the details of the progress in the case.
"The prosecutor will offer a deal to Durham today. Leniency in exchange for information. He would probably take it and we should do the whole drug gang down. That's very, very good. That Death's Door was in fact… death shit. However," she continued with a sigh, "he won't help us to solve Mitchell's case. Alex Durham evidently knows who killed him, but he won't talk. He said it was done by the competition and he won't inform against the other gang." Replying to a silent question in Lucifer's eyes she added: "He is in the state prison now, I won't settle you an appointment with him. Too risky. Any affair could spoil the deal."
"Right," nodded Lucifer and for a moment plunged into his thoughts. "Well, I guess that my timing yesterday was could be better. I should have been here during his interrogation. For this, I am sorry." For a moment, he looked almost guilty. "If I could make up for it, I would."
"Look, it is not bad," Chloe tried to console him. "We would eliminate the gang of the dealers. And who knows, perhaps Dan would come across some trail while cooperating with Benitez? The drug dealers in the whole city know much about themselves."
Lucifer ignored her remark about Dan, but suddenly raised his head, animated with the new idea:
"Than we should ask Margot to learn it for us. The dealers bought her products through Jeremy Mitchell. Now, with him dead, they would have no choice but turn directly to her. Before Durham spills out the information and you do the gang down, there is still time for her to learn who killed her partner."
"Oh, no," the detective shook her head. "We cannot ask anyone to spy on the drug dealers. It is dangerous."
"Don't you have informers? Like this Benitez that is working with the Douche? Or even Durham?"
He must have watched too many action movies, thought Chloe and tried to explain. "These are criminals, trying to earn lenient treatment. Margot Jensen is clean. And a civilian. We cannot endanger her. Besides, there are procedures. Even if we were to recruit her, I cannot take such decision on my own," Chloe smiled to sweeten her refusal, as Lucifer looked very disappointed. "I know you had good intentions, but the only thing I can do while waiting for Durham to take the deal, is doing my deal with due paperwork," Chloe stood up, to underline that the conversation on this subject is finished. "Look, now I am going to make myself a coffee and you can go to the LUX. I will call you if something happens."
Lucifer made some undefined sound, that could be treated as approval. Chloe nodded her goodbye and left to the kitchenette.
While she was waiting until her mug would be filled with the black liquid, the angry voice of her ex-husband sounded just behind her ear:
"I see you have made peace with your consultant. Hope you haven't forgotten how he ditched you yesterday?"
Chloe turned to face him. "I am just doing my work," she replied wearily.
"I just not want you to become the laughingstock of the precinct again."
Again. Chloe pressed her lips into the thin line.
"Never listen to the ex," laughed the girl from the forensic section, who was searching for something in the fridge. "Your consultant is hot. Nobody's laughing, everyone is jealous," she winked to Chloe and chuckled at Dan's angry puff.
"Listen, Dan," stated Chloe, silently blessing the girl, "Lucifer is not the problem. You are. Just… make up your mind. Either let me go and live my life, or… or let me know whether you want to work on fixing the things between us. If there is anything left to fix," she added bitterly. "But do not insult me."
Dan remained silent and Chloe prepared herself for some angry remark. However, to her surprise, his eyes softened and he said only: "You are right. I am sorry."
He is not a bad man, thought Chloe returning to her room. He is nagging, but when I need him, he is always around.
However, as soon as she entered her room, she forgot all reflections concerning her ex-husband. To her surprise, Lucifer was still there, sitting on her chair and ending the phone call.
"…keep me informed. You may also contact Mazikeen."
"Lucifer," said Chloe very quietly, "tell me you haven't just done what I think you did."
"Oh? Well, I was talking with Margot but informed her specifically that I am passing her my personal request. Not the police commission," explained Lucifer with a serene smile.
Chloe carefully put the mug on her desk, trying not to spill the coffee even though her hands trembled slightly. "Lucifer, you are officially an LAPD consultant. You were calling from my official phone, during working hours, in a matter that is related to the case we are working at. No one would call it a personal request."
"Don't worry, Detective. Margot is happy to oblige, but I assure you, not because she received the phone from the LAPD office," Lucifer smirked with indulgence.
"Let me guess - because she is the demon and you are the the King of Hell?"
"Precisely."
Her own chair still occupied by the self-procclaimed devil, Chloe sat heavily on the spare one, for a moment resting her head on the folders piling on her desk.
"Great. I will put it in the report after she would be murdered by the drug gang," she muttered. "Or perhaps Margot is also immortal, just like you?..." she couldn't help but chuckle. It sounded a bit hysterical.
"No, she is not," replied Lucifer with consideration, looking a bit affronted by her laughter. "And actually my own immortality is not something I would take for granted at the moment. However, no one is going to kill her, don't worry. She is not Maze, but she still can safely cope with a few scoundrels."
Chloe imagined Margot Jensen, the middle-aged, dainty woman from well-groomed suburban house coping with the gang of drug dealers. She let her forehead fall on the desk and covering the head with her arms.
What did this girl in the kitchenette just say to her and Dan? That everyone envies her working with Lucifer? When Chloe was twelve, she used to walk out the their neighbor's' champion dog, the Great Dane. People at the street admired him and showered with compliments. However, no matter how splendid the dog was, the walks with him were troublesome at least. He was so strong, that she was barely able to keep him on a leash. When he got interested in something, he simply dragged her in that and she had no choice but to follow, praying that he wouldn't destroy anything.
That's exactly how she felt with Lucifer now.
"Ugh… Detective?" asked quietly Lucifer. "If you are intending to take a nap, I will leave to the LUX now."
"No," exclaimed quickly Chloe, raising her head. No matter how much she would like to, she couldn't spend the rest of the day hiding behind her desk. She had to do damage control. "You said you wanted to make up for yesterday, right?"
"Yes?..." Lucifer looked at her with slight hesitation. "Are you finally decided to take my offer of…"
"No, no. I don't want the best night of my life. I want this," Chloe pushed toward him the pile of folders. It wobbled dangerously, threatening to scatter. "Please. Order the documents in each folder, number the pages, make a list for each folder and return them to the archives."
Lucifer stared at her with disbelief. "You are joking, aren't you?... No?... What a devious woman you are…" He looked around and suddenly his disgusting expression turned into a hopeful one. "Well, I do not mind surrendering to the greater evil."
Chloe realized he probably spotted someone who would do her files for him, but at the moment she didn't care. She stood up, reached for her car keys and jacket.
"Where are you going?" asked Lucifer surprised.
"To talk with Margot Jensen. Alone," stressed Chloe, when he started to stand up as well. "You stay here, Prince of Darkness. I need to speak reasonably with her, your presence wouldn't help."
The consultant sent her a quizzical glance but sat back without further discussion. The detective looked with regret at the untouched coffee standing on her desk and left.
Chloe parked in front of the house of Margot Jensen. It looked as ordinary and boring as during her first visit. However, the detective was already prepared, that this would be a weird conversation and that was the main reason why she wanted to make it in person. Clearly Ms Jensen, despite her neat household, was – just like Lucifer - living in the world of illusions. The detective saw for herself, that her partner had problems with the sound judgement of the situation, taking excessive risks and endangering himself with recklessness bordering with madness. The detective was determined to prevent Margot from doing the same.
"Please, come in," Margot opened the door as soon as Chloe rang the doorbell and invited her inside. She was as sleek and elegant as during their first meeting. Her dark hair was combed in a chignon - not a hair sticking out of place. She was wearing a beige dress with a pearl necklace completing her image of the successful, but conservative woman.
The detective couldn't decide, which of Lucifer's ideas was more absurd - that this woman was 'a demon' or that she should spy drug mob for them.
"Ms Jensen, I'd like to speak with you for a moment," the detective sat on the couch, while Margot sauntered toward the kitchen. "It is about the phone call you received today from my partner, Mr Morningstar. Oh, thank you!..." Chloe looked with surprise at the mug of coffee that Margot brought her from the kitchen. "That's very kind of you, I was dreaming about… but..." the detective stuttered for a moment, staring at the mug. "He called you informing about my visit, right?"
Margot smiled to her – with a delicate, gentle smile – and with the same graceful elegance sat in the armchair on the opposite side of the coffee table. "Yes. He told me to treat you with respect, be helpful and make you coffee," she replied matter-of-factly.
The detective took the sip and sighed. Respect. How very much Lucifer. And how difficult it would be to speak with Margot rationally. She decided to ignore whatever it was between Lucifer and Margot and take a direct approach.
"Ms Jensen, I am aware that my partner asked for your help, that could put you in a dangerous situation. He acted in good faith, but he shouldn't have done it. That's not how we work."
Margot only shook her head. Her composed expression didn't waver for a second. "Don't worry, Ms Decker. I will gladly help."
"You don't have to. And you definitely shouldn't," stressed Chloe. "I know, that such… operations may look attractive in the action movies, but reality looks entirely different. If you were to be… enlisted to help the LAPD, there would be certain safety procedures to follow and…"
"Ms Decker. I am not interested in the safety procedures," replied Margot with unchanged composure, adding after the moment of consideration. "With all due respect, of course."
"Ms Jensen," Chloe said a bit stronger than before, "my partner was not authorized to ask you for such favour, so please…"
"I told him I will be honoured to serve," Margot bowed her head in graceful gesture. "And I have settled everything with him."
Shit, does she think that it is a game? A continuation of some role play? Chloe bridled internally. She knew, that there was something alike between Lucifer and Maze, but Maze… Maze was a tough one. And this middle-aged, neat lady? Why was she so ready to jump into the danger?
Suddenly the detective though about favours. Perhaps Margot Jensen owed Lucifer a favour… and now he was calling it in… But how could he have been so… so ruthless, how could he have endangered this woman's life with such cold-hearted recklessness? The remains of Chloe's patience vanished.
"To start with, he is not Voldemort, he has a name," the detective said angrily irritated by the reverence with which Margot spoke "he" each time. "Lucifer Morningstar. I know it may sound stupid, but…" She stopped, seeing the expression of absolute terror on Margot's face, suddenly ash-paled with eyes wide with fear.
Apparently, the members of Lucifer's demons club didn't take well calling his name stupid.
The detective sighed wearily. "Fine, for the sake of this conversation we may agree that he is Voldemort. No matter. What is important, Ms Jensen is that you cannot take any individual actions against drug mob, even if they contact you. If you would like me to call… my partner and confirm it, I can do it."
Somehow, these words finally reached Margot Jensen, breaking her composed exterior. The woman rapidly tilted back her head and inhaled sharply.
"Please, don't," she said quickly. "I was going to do it anyway. If he forbids… I would find it difficult to obey."
"Why?" asked quietly Chloe.
"For Jeremy," replied Margot in the same way.
Chloe blinked, hearing Mitchell's name. Somehow, in all this, she forgot about him.
"You said you were friends. You were close."
"Yes."
The detective recalled her first meeting with Margot Jensen, how she judged her to be a cold and egoistic woman, who so scornfully spoke about Dorothy Mitchell's… Now she saw that Ms Jensen was more complicated than that, but she also remembered Dorothy and her 'greatest desire', the envy and hate that poisoned even her grief after her husband…
"Jeremy had a wife. She didn't feel comfortable with your relations," she said more sharply than she intended.
"I do not care," bridled Margot, for a moment grimacing in a way that bare the rows of small, even teeth. "Jeremy didn't betray his wife… with his body. I do not need to have sex with a man to claim him."
Dorothy Mitchell said that she would prefer her husband had a lover, Chloe recalled and shivered. Now, looking at Margot Jensen, she had no doubts that this woman knew how to claim and keep a man, even abstaining from carnal closeness. The detective noticed some subtle change in Ms Jensen that occurred in the last moments of their conversation. Her dress and heir were still neat and elegant, but the calm politeness disappeared from her eyes. Suddenly, her expression and posture oozed with such confidence that for a moment she reminded Chloe about Maze.
For a small second, the detective felt grateful that Lucifer asked this woman to treat her with respect, but then she quickly pushed this thought aside.
She had to concentrate on her reason for coming here.
"Ms Jensen… Margot, we need to speak openly," she started, trying to return to the subject. "I do understand your emotions, but…" before she found the right words to continue, Margot looked at her with sudden interest:
"Can we be open? Did he tell you about me? What I am?" she asked in such tone, that Chloe had no doubt that 'he' refers to Lucifer again.
Chloe shifted uncomfortably on the couch. "Yes… I guess… This 'demon' thing, right?" she replied, feeling very stupid and unsure how to accent the 'demon' word, so that she would neither offend Margot, whatever her phantasies were, nor ridiculed herself too much – if these phantasies were only in Lucifers's head.
However, Margot hearing her answer was neither offended, not amused. On the contrary, she evidently relaxed.
"You are taking it very well, Ms Decker," she praised, looking at Chloe with recognition. "But of course a woman standing by his side must be fearless."
The detective blushed, more flustered by Margot's suggestion than intrigued by her words, but before she managed to object, the women started to speak again.
"Well then, Ms Decker, I can explain to you my… emotions. You see," Margot hesitated slightly, looking around her living room as if searching for inspiration, "humans make so many… bonds. You love, befriend, like, value… You have parents, siblings, children, friends… You even care for your animals. You like your neighbours and get accustomed to the clerks in the shops. You… have so many emotions that you… dissipate them," the woman spat the last words with anger. Then she turned to straight to Chloe, her eyes now deep and dark. "We… we have nothing like this. Our hearts remain barren for millennia. That's why when we meet someone… who make us feel… we feel… so much stronger…" she finished with a whisper, for a moment turning her head away.
Chloe thought the woman tries to hide tears and this simple gesture washed away all the discomfort that Margot's words might have caused. Yes, she was delusional, true. But all Chloe saw in front of herself was a grieving woman, even if she was trying to hide behind some phantasies.
Driven by impulse, she reached to her and squeezed her hand with compassion.
Margot jerked, snatching her hand away. Her eyes weren't filled with tears, only blazing.
"They killed… Jeremy," she hissed. "The man that made me… feel. They took from me something I considered mine… Something that was mine!" she repeated, barring her teeth again.
Chloe sat in silence, waiting for Margot to calm down a bit. She knew she lost her battle here. There wouldn't be a reasonable conversation with Margot Jensen.
Being the one who brings the sad news to the victim's relatives or the one who exposes the culprit, the detective has seen many outbursts of despair, passion or fury… There was nothing that unique in Margot Jensen's violent reaction. However… the detective remembered their first conversation. 'I know that Jeremy is dead…I imported for him extracts and venoms. Apart from that, we were friends, that's all,' stated Margot Jensen only, seeming so… oblivious, whereas deep inside she must have been boiling with the same rage she let to resurfaced now.
How was it possible, that someone could hide such deep feelings behind the seemingly indifferent exterior?
Margot Jensen was strong and passionate. She certainly didn't dissipate her emotions. She hid and nourished them, letting them grow stronger and stronger… Nothing that Chloe could say would convince her to act against the,
"So, Ms Decker, do not talk to him. Regardless of everything, I need to find Jeremy's murderers," finished Margot. The missing words 'and make them pay' hung unspoken in the air.
Chloe Decker just nodded her head. "Ms Jensen, whatever you are going to do, it won't be LAPD approved operation," she stated a bit formally, standing up, and added gently. "Please, be careful."
Margot Jensen didn't reply, but made a small gesture with her hand as if indicating, that she is pushing away Chloe's care, just as she had earlier thrust away her compassion.
In spite of her plans, Chloe didn't return to the office after the conversation with Margot Jensen. Instead, she received the phone call from the prosecutor's office and drove there to learn the details of the deal. Alex Durham was going to give them a lot: the names and addresses allowing to get the whole gang and their laboratory. In a few days, they would be able to carry on the arrests – a big success on Chloe's account, that should open the new perspectives for her, even if Palmetto case would never be explained.
And yet, Chloe wasn't fully satisfied. Durham didn't want to speak about the competition. He didn't give any details concerning Mitchell's death, apart from what he already told at the precinct. He also revealed no details of 'the stunt' that was the reason of his so unnecessary death, so very likely somewhere in the city, another crime remained undiscovered.
Neither the prosecutor nor the detective understood his approach. After all, he was already a snitch, bringing down his own gang. What difference would it make, if he spoke also about the others? Yet they weren't able to make him change his mind. Chloe started to accept, that perhaps part of her case would not ever be solved and the LAPD may not be able to identify Mitchell's murderers. Of course, she had little hope in Margot's intervention. Her last real hope was the rest of the gang – dealers that were going to be arrested based on Durham's statement.
While the detective was driving home, her thoughts returned to the conversation with Margot. Somehow, she couldn't help but wonder, how was it possible that man like Jeremy developed such strange relation. Of course, she never met Jeremy Mitchell, when he was alive, but he appeared… so average. Middle-aged man, not handsome and not ugly, working his life in a small herbal shop, living a simple and safe life of comfort … She imagined him to be kind and naïve.
One could say there was nothing special about him… thought Chloe with a sad smile. Well, as the detective, she should know better than to judge people by the outer shell. The neatest houses sometimes can hide the greatest dramas.
She was ready to call it a day and enjoy quiet private evening, but when she reached her own house, there was a surprise waiting for her in front of it: the black Corvette and her owner, also clothed in black from the tips of his shoes to the handkerchief in the pocket of his jacket, the dark colours so sharply cutting off from the bright walls of the building, that for a moment they looked almost ethereal. Chloe was surprised with the wave of the mixed feelings at his sight: curiosity, excitement but also something… something very close to anxiety. Now she realized, why she spent so much time in the prosecutor's office. Somehow, after the conversation with Margot, she preferred to avoid him for the rest of the day.
The detective carefully parked her car in the appointed place, prolonging the manoeuvre, to delay the moment when she had to leave the vehicle. Finally, she had to near to the Corvette. Of course, Lucifer parked it in the most nonchalant manner, blocking a good part of the street and the driveway to her home.
"Lucifer? What are you doing here?" she asked, probably a bit too sharply. After all, this time he was waiting in front of the house, instead of breaking in.
"Hello, Detective! How was the conversation with Margot?" called Lucifer, grinning so smugly that at the moment Chloe would do anything to wipe this smirk from his face. Of course, he knew, that her conversation with Ms Jensen was in vain. Damn Voldemort.
For a second they eyed each other in a silent staring contest.
"She is not doing it for you, only for Jeremy," Chloe replied finally, unwilling to directly admit the failure. "She cared for him."
"Yes, so she did, how unusual…" sighed Lucifer, as if he was marvelling at this fact.
Well, he didn't even rub his victory too much. Still, Chloe's discomfort didn't disperse. Why, all of a sudden, did she started to feel so strange in his presence?
"And what about my files?"
"All done, thanks to the invaluable help of dear Frankie from the office," he winked to her. "And now, as you have a free evening, I came to take you for a drink. You look sad, Detective, you need entertainment."
"No thank you. I have a daughter to take care of."
"The man you unwisely chose to procreate with prattled about taking your offspring to the cinema today."
"I forgot," Chloe, confused, lowered her eyes. She didn't forget, that it was the Dan's day with Trixie. She just… didn't want to go with Lucifer for a drink. Well, she didn't have to search for pretexts, she could simply openly refuse.
"Come, Detective, let me take you to the LUX. Just one drink," he purred and coaxed with a slight challenge in his voice. "Oh, do not be afraid of Maze, she will behave."
"I am not afraid of her," bridled Chloe. " And I am not..."
I am not running away. The echo of her nightmare sounded in her head.
Wasn't that just what she willing to do? Why she was feeling so awkward? Didn't she want to step aside? Run away? Didn't this day convince her it would be the wisest thing to do?
Perhaps. But still, it would be against her nature.
"Lovely," commented Lucifer and Chloe realized that somehow she took place in the Corvette and he was already starting the engine, heading the car toward the LUX.
The detective shook her head, trying to push the unsettling associations aside. Today happened nothing, that should worry her. Lucifer was no more than a handsome and eccentric man, a playboy, so interested in her only because she was probably the last woman in Los Angeles, whom he hadn't scored yet. That's all.
Only that… how did he phrase it? These simple words, that were the true reason of her anxiety, that made her feel… so awkward?
You are the priority.
It was good that she was an atheist. That she didn't believe in the beyond, Heaven and Hell, all these devils, angels, demons… in all these inexplicable forces and overwhelming emotions.
Because if she did believe…
When we meet someone… who make us feel…
Oh, if she did believe in all this, she would be lost.