At Linda's office

Amenadiel sat at Linda's desk, morosely flipping through multiple internet sites dedicated to the Cecil hotel. Most were garbage, recycling stories that had been debunked for years. Some were more real estate oriented, talking about the price of the location where the hotel now stood and how it could be improved if the hotel were either bought out or torn down. None of those sites seemed to notice that part of the problem was the large homeless population living down the street which would have to be removed before the property's value could be improved. "It's always about money" the angel muttered to himself, clicking on yet another link. "Never mind the pain their fellow humans must be experiencing living in such conditions."

Linda looked up from the notes from her last session with a frown. "If you're going to surf the web all day maybe we should set up a place at my house for you. My patients seem to be little hesitant to get comfortable around you."

Amenadiel shrugged, never looking up from the screen. "I go to my office down the hall when your patients arrive. Can't imagine what they might have to be nervous about. It's not like I'm…"

"The Lord of Hell?" a cheery voice called out from the now opened door. Lucifer stood at the threshold, impeccably dressed with that annoying smile on his face. "I can't imagine why they wouldn't be nervous around you brother. You and dear old Dad seem so determined to be judgmental about the least little thing."

Amenadiel sighed. "I'm not in the mood to get into that argument with you Luci. I'm more interested in trying to find out more about the hotel and those that live in or around it."

"Why not just ask one of our winged party boy brothers in the Silver City?" Lucifer asked, setting himself comfortably on the couch. "I'm sure ONE of them could tell you all you need to know about the place – and the people."

"We've already tabled that discussion" Amenadiel replied shortly. "This is mortal crime – not the problem of our siblings in Heaven."

Linda examined her sometimes patient with interest, ignoring the discord between the brothers. "So what I'm hearing you say is that the Cecil is not an entrance or exit point to Hell?"

Lucifer shrugged. "Every place of man-made tragedy could legitimately be called a portal to Hell. The Cecil has had its fair share of misfortunes but it's certainly not something I created to move demons in and out of Hell. They can do that all on their own with a lot less fuss than some moldy old building."

Amenadiel finally looked up from the computer. "There was a figure when we met in front of the hotel" he began hesitantly. "There was something dark about it, something I can't quite put my finger on."

"Not one of my lot" Lucifer insisted, shifty uncomfortably in his seat. "They know better than to pop up where I can see them. Especially when I'm doing a walkabout from Hell." He glanced from Linda to his brother, who had looked back down at the computer. "So – anything in there tell you who or what it was you saw?"

The angel shook his head in annoyance. "Just story after story about the Cecil. I'm just starting to look through some of the news photos taken the day the body was discovered. Maybe one of them…" His voice petered of as he stared at the screen. "Should have started there first" he muttered. He turned the laptop so that both Lucifer and Linda could see the screen. "There he is – the guy in the mountain of dirty clothing pushing a shopping cart. That's the one I saw."

Lucifer squinted at the screen "Surely not one of mine" he replied in disbelief. "They are an ugly lot but that walking unmade bed look is too much even for one of them."

Linda eyed the image thoughtfully. "Maybe it's not a demon per say. Maybe it's just a member of the homeless population who just happened to be walking in front of the hotel when the police arrived. This person does look like he's in need of help but his being involved in the crime is a bit of a stretch."

Lucifer rose and examined the image more closely, frowning as he did so. "Any more of a stretch than his being in the alleyway of Lux this morning when I found an envelope of very interesting photos left on my car? Because that would be one coincidence too many in my book." He quickly briefed the two on the photos found on his car and the files sent to Chloe, all pointing in the direction of the missing girl having a connection to either the murder victim's wife or his employer.

"Are you sure it's the same person you saw?" Linda asked, concerned. "Most people can't tell one homeless person from another. They tend to look away so quickly that none of the details of the person's physical appearance or condition stick. You really didn't get much of a look at him."

"I'm the Devil, my dear doctor" Lucifer replied testily. "I only saw him from behind but I'm willing to swear on my throne in Hell that this is the same person I saw this morning. "

"Which begs the question brother" Amenadiel said quietly. "If this is the same person as the one who left you those photos – who is he and what is his connection to the murder?"

"More importantly" Lucifer corrected "What is his link to that bloody awful hotel?"

Back at the precinct

Chloe rummaged through her various notes, finally stopping at what she had written about Annalise job history with the Cecil. "Too many questions – not enough answers" she muttered. "Did McIntyre know Annalise from the Cecil chat rooms? Is that why he showed up at the hotel with the missing person's flyer her father put out on her – to see if anyone knew what had happened to her? Did he have a suspicion about her and his boss and was looking to confirm it? His wife makes a good suspect – she'd stand to lose a lot if he dumped her for younger woman. But why kill McIntyre? Maybe my victim's wife decided to end his obsession with the Cecil that night and it has nothing at all to do with Annalise. Or maybe her father – he is a gang member. Or at least he was." She shuffled through more notes but nothing seemed include any more clues to how or why these two cases were connected. If they were. "Coincidence? She though. "I don't usually believe in that but this might be the case that proves me wrong."

"You're talking to yourself again" Ella's voice called out from the door.

"As long as I don't start answering myself then its all good" Chloe responded with a wan smile. "There was some talk about our missing person, Annalise Gibson, living at the hotel because her father found out she was seeing someone he didn't approve. She disappears nearly a week before our murder and our victim just happens to check into the hotel she was working at with a missing person's flyer with her face on it. And yet the manager not only claims to not remember our victim but doesn't mention one of her staff disappearing off the face of the Earth. Was our victim killed because he found out what really happened to her? Too many possibilities not enough facts." She smiled up at her friend. "So -got anything for me that will help?"

"Maybe" Ella admitted doubtfully. "It was going through some of the stuff the uniform's brought from the search of the victim's home. No laptop but…"

"But?" Chloe asked.

"One of the guys found an empty box of bullets pushed down in the trash just outside the home's back door. No gun in the house so that's odd. Until we get the report back from the Coroner's office we won't know if this is the same caliber used on your victim. And then there is this." She waved a small notepad in the air in front of her. "It's a list of phone numbers and names. I've taken a quick pass at tracking them down. It's a really random list except…"'

"Except what?"

"My friend in cyber crimes was able to match some of the names on that list to people in the chat room when DeathStalker24 started talking about the Cecil and its reputation for death. Don't ask me how he was able to do that – I'm not sure it was totally legal since I haven't heard whether we had a warrant for the service or not. But knowing that I called about six of the people on the list he was able to link to that chat room. Most didn't want to talk but a couple did say that they gotten some really creepy vibes from this DeathStalker24 character." She stopped and glanced at her list for a moment. "Two of them are in other chat rooms that talk about "spooky" old homes and hotels and they said they've seen DeathStalker24 pop up there as well – always going on about how the most haunted of these places were really portals to Hell and no one knew about it."

Chloe sighed, wondering if it was worth the effort to ask Lucifer again about the Cecil and its reputation for bloodshed. "So our possible cyber suspect is a nut job. Wonderful. Could this case get any worse?"

"Yeah – it just did" Dan replied, stepping around Elle with a set of files in his hands. "Seems both the victim's brother-in-law and his boss have back stories they might be unwilling to share with the cops."

"Such as?" Chloe asked.

"Such as the brother-in-law Milton isn't what he says he is. His brother recommended him for a junior level position and the guy presented credentials that looked legitimate but weren't. Seems he's never even seen the inside of a college classroom – much less graduated with a degree in Business like his brother-in-law said he did."

"Okay - so he's a conman" Chloe replied. "Kind of a big step to go from faking your way into a job and murder."

"The company's owner, Mr. Bradley, never questioned anything about him?" Ella asked, doubtfully.

Dan flipped through his notes quickly. "Maybe because he was afraid someone would start questioning some of his "friendships" with younger women – many of whom had been part of his wife's sorority. Nothing proven but the word is he's had to pay out a lot of money to keep some of those women from going public."

"Why would that be a problem?" Ella asked.

"Because his wife is the actual money bags in this family" Dan replied, "And she's got a very strict rule about no fooling around outside of the marriage."

"So, she would have as strong a motive to get rid of Annalise as her husband – but why kill McIntyre?"

Dan shrugged. "Blackmail? Or maybe he threatened to out this relationship and one of them took offense. Won't know until we talk to them."

"Them and their lawyers" Chloe replied. "We don't have anything to link either of them to the murder. No gun, the wife and his boss's wife have alibis, everyone was anywhere but near the Hotel."

"We need to find this DeathStalker24 dude" Ella said excitedly. "I'll bet he has the info you need."

Dan shook his head. "Last time the web sleuth group tried to solve a case for the cops they sent some poor Death Metal Rocker into a psycho ward with their accusations. Poor guy wasn't even in the country but that didn't stop the social media group from accusing him. I'd rather stake my case on cold hard facts than the word of someone who calls himself a Death Stalker."

Chloe shrugged. "Yeah – I'm with Dan on that. So… let's get our suspects in here and see what they have to say about the photos sent to both Lucifer and myself. Maybe they can come up with a good reason why someone would be pointing the finger at them. And while we're at it let's get that manager back in here to explain why she claimed to not remember our victim when we have a photo of him talking to her and showing her the missing person's flyer. Also need to get the name of that night clerk that didn't show up for work that night before Annalise disappeared."

Dan looked across at his ex with a frown. "We might also talk to the rest of the Cecil staff – especially the ones who worked with Annalise. Maybe they have some ideas about what happened and how it relates to our murder." He glanced out towards their new lieutenant's office thoughtfully. "What about the girl's father? Maybe we should take a run at him too. Could be his kid just ran off and none of this has anything to do with this death."

Chloe thought for a moment. "Let's leave him for last. First I want to talk to the manager again – preferably when I can get Lucifer to focus long enough to do his mojo on her. Can you talk to the hotel staff?"

Dan nodded. "What about our wealthier suspects?"