Meeting the devil again
Retelling the Delilah case, still close to the canon...
He looked up: "Yes. Lucifer Morningstar."
"Is that, uh, a stage name or something?" Chloe guessed that to be a normal reaction to his name.
"God-given, I'm afraid," he chuckled. "You know, you look familiar. Have we met before?"
It couldn't he recognized the little girl of thirty years ago. He hadn't even looked at her back then. "I would like to ask some questions about the murder. Talk to me about your relationship with the victim."
"Well, she used to work here a few years back," he said. "I would occasionally accompany her while she sang. Then she became a big star and someone decided to end her life."
"Do you know the shooter?"
"No, but we did have an interesting little chat just before he kicked off. I asked him why he did it."
"So, you had a conversation with a dead guy?" She bit her tongue. She shouldn't let him know she would expect him to do such things.
"Oh, no, he wasn't quite dead. His soul hadn't crossed the threshold."
"I see. Did he tell you why he did it?"
"Why? Money, of course. You humans, you love your money, don't you?" He took a zip of his drink.
"Yes." What could she answer to that? "Yes, we do. Just as you love your bourbon."
"Whisky. Scottish," he corrected her. "He also said: I just pulled the trigger. Now, don't you think that's interesting?"
"Delilah was shot to death by a drug dealer," Chloe said. "And it looks like Delilah herself kept the guy pretty busy. It's not rocket science. Something probably went south between them. She gets riddled with bullets, and a nice little act of God takes him out."
"You know, it doesn't work like that, detective. But it's quite a neatly wrapped little present for the LAPD, don't you think?"
"Why do you say that?"
He took another zip of his whisky. "Your colleague made it quite clear: that dealer is the murderer, she didn't pay him, case closed. But will you find the person who paid that dealer? Or will your corrupt little organization look away?"
"Just let us do our job."
He pointed at her with his glass in his hand. "Will this be a priority for you? Because it is for me."
Her guts told her he was right and Dan was wrong, but she couldn't say that. "You got some balls on you, pal."
He grinned and looked down. "Oh, thank you very much, but they're really quite average."
"I bet."
"Now, are you sure that we haven't met? I could swear I've seen you naked. Have we had sex?"
"I'm sure we haven't. I'm married."
"Really? And who is the happy guy?"
"You just met him. My colleague that interviewed you before."
"Detective! I'm really quite disappointed. That's truly terrible taste in the opposite sex."
She had to get away from this subject. "Why don't you tell me something? How does she end up dying in a hailstorm of bullets, and you get away without a scratch? I think that's interesting. Don't you?"
"The benefits of immortality."
Shit. That was also a subject she needed to avoid."Immortality. Mm, of course, uh, you spell that with two M's. I think we're done here."
"Uh, Detective, wait! Someone out there needs to be punished. We're not done."
"Yeah. Yeah, we are," she said. She managed to not let it look like fleeing.
Next day in the precinct she was waiting for CSI to unlock Delilah's and Eddie's phones. In the meanwhile she could look at what could be found of Delilah. She should. But she investigated what she could find of Lucifer Morningstar and his club, the Lux. She could defend that search: Delilah had worked for him, she died in front of the Lux, their might be a clue. But deep inside she knew she wanted to know what the devil was doing in LA. Was her soul in danger, now she talked with him?
He started the Lux five years ago. All with cash, no loan. Apparently the devil was rich. The tax office, the FBI and LAPD Narcotics had investigated the Lux several times in that five year.
He payed every tax without ever objecting. The books were so clean, it was almost suspicious. If he used the Lux for money laundering, no FBI financial expert ever found a trace of it. And the Lux was losing money, millions each year. He made up for the shortages from his private funds, which apparently were huge.
As far as Narcotics found out, he didn't sell drugs. Of course there were dealers using the Lux to find buyers, but none of the dealers worked for Lucifer Morningstar. He bought and used drugs, but he didn't deal.
By noon CSI had opened both phone's and she noticed Eddie Deacon had made several calls with someone who was in his contact list as '2Vile'. A quick check learned her it was 2Vile, the famous rapper, so she grabbed the keys of her car. Then she sat in doubt for a second, laid the keys back and first did another check of police reports and the Lux. There was no report of people getting lost after visiting Lux, no missing people that he could have been taken to hell. She took the keys again and left the precinct.
When she parked her car in front of 2Vile's residence, a man just left the building. A handsome guy, tall, dark hair and a three-piece suit. For a second they looked at each other. Then he grinned. "Detective. You took my advise? You also found 2Vile. Good of you."
"What are you doing here? What is your relation with 2Vile?"
"O, I just asked him whether he hired that drug dealer to shoot Delilah. He didn't, but he gave me a next lead."
"How do you know he told you the truth?"
Lucifer turned and pointed up. "See that balcony? I pushed him over the railing and told him I let him go if he didn't speak."
"That's not legal."
"O, my. Detective. Are you now going to arrest me?"
"For interfering with a police investigation, for violence. Yes, I should."
"Really?" He tuned his back to her and put his hands together at his back. "How kinky. I always like handcuffs when a woman plays cop."
She ignored that."What lead?"
He sighed. "You're not in for any fun, detective." He came closer and looked her in the eyes. "Tell me, detective. What is your desire? What do you want more than anything else in the world?"
She frowned and slowly moved her hand to her gun. Was she in danger? Should she run? But he smiled and didn't look angry. "What do you want from me?" she asked.
"Just to know what your desire is. Come, detective."
"I ask the questions. What lead do you have?"
He backed off, looking astonished. "Who are you? What are you?"
"What? You know that. I'm a detective at the LAPD."
He shook his head. "Did my father send you?"
He was the devil. His father was God. Did God send her? What could he mean by that. He walked over to the passengers seat of het car and opened the door. "What do you want?" she asked.
"Find Delilah's killer."
"Just tell me your lead and go home," she said.
"No, detective. I found 2Vile just as you did and I know the lead. We better work together." He sat in the passengers seat. For a moment she hesitated: sitting in one car together with the devil? But as far as she knew, nothing bad happened to anyone in the Lux, so she slowly sat on the driver seat.
"Together?" she said.
"I need your help. Delilah has, well had, a secret lover and her therapist is the one that might know who. Her therapist is a doctor Linda in Beverly Hills."
"Last name?"
"For that I need you," he admitted. "See what a team we are?"
She rolled her eyes, made some calls and learned Delilah visited a doctor Linda Martin in Beverly Hills. Suddenly he snapped his fingers.
"What?" she asked.
"Hot tub high school."
She clenched her jaws.
"I knew I've seen you naked."
"Right, you've seen my boobies. It's exciting. What, are you 12? That movie is low on the list of things I have to live down."
He smiled. "I see. Attractive female cop struggling to be taken seriously in a man's world... that's it? Well, they're threatened. You're clearly smart and have notable instincts. Ignore them. Trust yourself."
She glanced at him. Was he serious? But before she could say more, her phone rang. It was Trixie's school, warning her her daughter was involved in a fight with a class mate. "I got to pick her up," she said to Lucifer and made a U-turn at the next intersection.
After parking in front of the school, she asked him to wait in the car.
"With pleasure," he said. "Detest children."
She went in to talk with Trixie's teacher and got the story of her daughter and her bully. When leaving she found Lucifer in the school with her daughter, Trixie with a big smile because he apparently had frightened her bully. Dan came and took Trixie with him.
"Bye, Lucifer. It was nice meeting you," Trixie called when leaving, waving at Lucifer.
"Hmm. Think she likes you," Chloe said, a bit confused.
"Of course. What's not to like?"
During the ride to Beverly Hills he told how he found 2Vile. His tale about Jimmy Barnes' wedding made her laugh. With some shock she realized in the last year she had hardly laughed. Her daughter liked the devil… and she did the same. That was insane, she still had no idea why he was here, on Earth, and she better stay cautious.
Doctor Lind Martin was a short, blond, good looking woman, a few years older than Chloe. She made Lucifer grin when calling them 'detectives'. At first she didn't want to talk about Delilah but that changed when Lucifer smiled to her.
"Did you drug her?" she whispered to Lucifer when Linda started to behave as a thirteen year old girl that was love for the first time.
"No, detective. She just reacts with carnal fascination, as all women. I appeal to the dark, mischievous heart in each of you." He turned to Chloe. "Strange. You don't react that way."
"No." She looked with disgust at Linda.
He turned to Linda again, promised to go to bed with her, if she just gave the name.
"You're the devil," the doctor groaned.
"I am," he admitted with a smile and Linda shouted the name of Delilah's lover: "Grey Cooper."
In the car on the way to the film set were Grey Cooper was supposed to be she asked: "Why did Delilah came to the Lux the night she was murdered?"
He sighed and spoke of Delilah's visit to the Lux. During his story she frowned, gave him thoughtful glances. "Suppose you are the devil."
"I am the devil."
She had her answer ready. "I only believe for what I've seen prove."
That was not a lie, she just didn't tell him she already had seen that prove.
"I can't control what you want to believe," he said.
She smiled. "Suppose you are the devil."
"Ok," he said.
"Should you than not try to get her soul to hell, instead of telling her to better her live?" That was as close as she could get to her real question: is he trying to get her soul to hell?
"I'm not interested in souls, detective."
"According to all stories, the devil is. So what does that prove?"
"That all your stories are wrong. I hope Delilah went to heaven."
"You don't know?"
"No. How should I know?" He looked as he was amazed by the question. "I'm not in hell at the moment as you can see, so I don't know whether she arrived in my kingdom."
He seemed to really care about Delilah, he sounded sincere when he said he was not interested in souls.
They found Grey Cooper and Lucifer interrupted her questioning of Cooper. He looked him in the eyes and asked what he had asked her before: "What is your desire? What do you want more than anything else in the world? If you close your eye's, what do you see?"
Grey Cooper seemed in trance and stammered: "I want to be president of the United States."
His wife Amanda appeared and asked who they were.
"LAPD," Chloe said. "We have some questions about Delilah?"
"Oh. Oh. Yes, it's so sad," Amanda said.
"Yeah. Very sad," Chloe answered and turned to Grey again. She had noticed he had the same watch as the murderer. "Your watch, where'd you get that?"
"Oh, it's a prop."
"No," Amanda interrupted him. "That's the one Delilah gave you, isn't it? For Time Will Tell?"
"Right," Grey said. "That's the movie that we did. It was a wrap gift."
"She buy a $10,000 watch for the whole crew?" Chloe asked.
"Uh, no. Just me, as far as I know. 'Cause we were, you know, costars and everything."
Lucifer looked him in the eyes again. "So you were sleeping with her, then, yeah?"
Grey chuckled. "Oh, yeah." And a second later he said: "Crap. I just said that in front of people."
That started a fight between him and his wife. Chloe called the uni's and had them arrest both Grey and Amanda. Before Amanda was pushed in a police car, Lucifer came to her and looking in her eyes, asked: "Tell me, dear. What is your desire? What do you want most in your life?"
She swallowed, breathed deeply.
"Yes? Come. You want to tell me."
"I want to divorce him, but I want much more out of it than the prenuptial agreement gives me."
"Ah," Lucifer grinned. "Go, girl. Get your money."
After Grey and Amanda were taken away, he asked Chloe: "What now?"
"We will interrogate them, check phones, check payments, see whether they could know the shooter."
"Sounds boring. Why not frighten them to dead to let them talk?"
"That is not the procedure, Lucifer."
He shrugged. "I will leave the boring part to you and your husband. My car is still at 2Ville's house. I take a cab to there and go back to the Lux."
"I will keep you informed," she promised.
"Yes, please detective. I would like to know who of the two hired the killer."
While riding to the precinct, Chloe thought the events over that just happened. Lucifer had asked Grey and Amanda the same as he has asked her: what do you want, what is your desire, and both had answered. She had not and, thinking back, the fact she had not, had amazed him.
Forensic found fingerprints on Eddie Deacon's expensive watch. "Other fingerprints than Eddie's. But we don't have a match.
She did the interviews with Grey and Amanda, checked phones and payments and failed to link them to the murderer. And the fingerprints on the watch were not theirs.
"Shut it, Chlo," Dan said. "Who cares? Everyone in the precinct will be glad we can present a killer to the public."
"I'm being careful, Dan."
"You're just stubborn. What do you gain by digging deeper?"
She gritted het teeth and refused to look at him. Olivia Monroe, her lieutenant, called her in her office. "Do you have any indication Eddie Deacon was payed by someone to shoot Delilah?"
"Delilah bought her drugs from two other dealers, lieutenant. So the theory that she owned Eddie money can't be correct."
"Maybe." Lieutenant Monroe sighed deeply. "Maybe you could better spend your time on other cases."
"Please, lieutenant."
"Couple of days, not more."
So she ended up with no support and no leads. She needed someone to discuss the case. With her face in her hands she realized the devil himself was the only person who might listen to her.
It was early in the afternoon. Chloe found the Lux still closed, but a bouncer looked at her badge, called someone and let her in. Lucifer met her at the bar.
"Detective, what a pleasant surprise to see you again."
"I had promised to keep you informed."
"You only come for the case?"
"Yeah. What else?"
For a moment he looked as if he was disappointed, but then his smile came back. "What do you want to drink? Cocktail?"
"It noon, Lucifer, and I'm at work."
He sighed, shook his head. "Maze? Anything not alcoholic for the detective."
The bar lady approached. A woman with dark hair, slim, toned physique, with the moves of a cat. Mm, more a lioness. Maze? Was this the Mazikeen that he called his first lieutenant almost thirty years ago? Suddenly she shivered, realizing she was alone with the devil and someone that radiated she was dangerous. But she managed to ask for a drink and to smile at Mazikeen when she go it.
"What about the case?" Lucifer asked.
She sighed and updated him. "… so Grey and Amanda have zero connection to the shooter and everyone pushes me to close this case."
"But you don't want to."
"The shooter had the same watch as Grey. That can't be a coincidence."
"I trust your instincts. We will find the man who payed."
"We?"
"Yes, we. So we have the watch."
"Maybe Delilah gave him one too," she said. Mazikeen poured her another drink ad walked to a television behind the bar.
"Well, do you imply she was actually sleeping with that maggot?
She counted on her fingers. "Jimmy, 2Vile, Grey. Three other maggots she's sleeping with. Not really a refined taste."
"Yeah. I suppose you got a point."
"God." She chuckled. "What am I doing here?"
"Wrong deity. But, yes, that is the eternal question. This deity doesn't know. You tell me, detective. What do you actually want?
"You mean what do I desire more than anything else in this life?" She looked him in the eyes as he had done with Grey and Amanda.
"No tricks. Not that it works on you, you freak." Lucifer chuckled. "Seriously. I'm curious."
She shrugged and told him about her father who had been a cop too, about Hot Tub Hugh School that still troubled her and a shooting on Palmetto Street. "… I see it differently than pretty much everyone in my department, including my ex."
"Ex?"
"Technically we're still married, but we are living apart. I filed the divorce papers, but Dan thinks it's better for our child to stay married."
"Ah. So you're on the market for a date?"
"I do not do one night stands, Lucifer."
"Come on. Allow yourself some fun." He smiled his Lucifer smile and winked at her. She had seen the effect on doctor Linda Martin, but she shook her head.
"Ok." He still smiled. "On with your job. So you're ex-maggot wants you to close the case."
"Yes, and what else can I do? Palmetto Street backfires. No one wants to work with me, no one wants to discuss a case with me."
"I'm available. Both for work and sex."
The strange thing was, despite his remarks, it didn't feel as he was pushing her. He offered her the option of sex, but let her all space to say no. At that moment Mazikeen turned back to them. "Too bad your little protégé isn't around to collect the check."
Lucifer and Chloe looked at the tv. They saw Delilah singing and heard a reporter say: "The soundtrack album for the movie Time Will Tell has reached number 15 on the Billboard charts and is still climbing."
"Oh, wow," Chloe whispered.
"What?" Lucifer asked.
"Delilah didn't give that watch to the drug dealer," Chloe answered. "Come with me."
Chloe and Lucifer walked into the studio where Jimmy Barnes as producer was recording a record. "What?" Jimmy shouted. "You again? And who is that woman?"
"LAPD," Chloe answered and she showed her badge. "We like to ask some questions about Delilah."
"I told him already I have nothing to do with that."
"But you collect the checks now she is dead, Jimmy," Lucifer said. "Don't you?"
"So? That doesn't link me to the murder." He turned his back to them and walked to a cabinet next to the door.
"No," Chloe said. "But the watch of the killer might. We found some fingerprints on it and I would like to compare those with yours."
He stood in front of the cabinet, pushing some papers away. Suddenly he turned around with a gun in his hand. Without warning he pointed at Chloe and fired. She felt a sharp pain in her shoulder and felt to the ground. Lucifer growled and stepped between her and Jimmy. More shoots were fired, then Jimmy screamed and wined, begging for mercy. A second later Lucifer was back and bent over her. "Detective!"
She couldn't see him sharp. "I don't want to die, Lucifer," she whispered.
He had taken off his jacket and pressed it against her wound. "I won't let you die, detective." He sounded as in panic.
Chloe opened her eyes. She blinked against a bright, white light. She was laying in a bed.
"Hello, detective."
She turned her head. Lucifer was sitting next to her, smiling.
"You made it, detective."
"Where…"
"Hospital, detective. Jimmy shot you." He sounded serious, no trace of his normal light-hearted tone. "I was too late to protect you."
"No, you were not. Without you, he would have killed me," she said.
"You're far too interesting to let die." His smile was back.
"You saved my life because I'm interesting?"
"Wildly irritating as well, but yes."
She chuckled. "How long have I been out?"
"Three years, detective."
"What?"
He laughed and winked at her. "Three days."
"Asshole." She had said it before she realized it. For a split second she was shocked by her own word. This was not some nice guy she was talking with. This was the devil. But he laughed and next moment she laughed with him.
"Did Jimmy confess?"
"Jimmy can't say much sensible anymore. He is panicking twenty-four-seven."
"How…"
"Don't ask, detective." He took her hand and put a small kiss on it. "It is enough that I've obviously proven myself to be an invaluable crime-fighting tool. You're a pariah in the department. I think this could be the start of a beautiful friendship. Don't you?"
"Surely you have more important things…"
Their conversation was interrupted by her daughter who rushed into the hospital room like a hurricane.
"Lucifer!" she shouted and caught his legs in an embrace.
"Uh, yes. Hello, child. Um, just... Why don't you save some of this unpleasantness for your mother, yeah?" He lifted her and put Trixie on Chloe's bed.
She groaned when Trixie touched her wound, but then kissed her daughter.
"Right." Lucifer moved to the door. "Well, I'd stay for the family reunion, but it's giving me terrible IBS. So, look forward to seeing you soon, detective. Bye, now. Glad you're not dead."
"Do you like Lucifer, mommy?" Trixie asked.
"Yes." Chloe inhaled deeply. "But he is really different than we. You see, a nightclub owner is really contrary to a police officer." And he is the devil, she thought, but that is something she couldn't share with her daughter. "So I don't think we will see him again."
"Why, mommy?"
Because it might be wiser to stay away from him? She didn't know and couldn't explain to Trixie.
The day after she was released from the hospital she had a conversation with Lieutenant Olivia Monroe. Her shoulder was still bandaged, her arm rested in a sling.
"You should stay at home until your shoulder is ok, detective Decker."
"Yes, lieutenant. I only want to finish the Delilah case."
"Fingerprints of Jimmy Barnes are on the watch of Deacon. In Jimmy's agenda we found two appointments with Deacon. You were most likely right: Jimmy payed Deacon with that watch to shoot Delilah."
"No one asked Jimmy?"
"Jimmy is to confused to tell us."
Chloe frowned, Lucifer also told her that.
"So we closed the case. You solved it, detective Decker."
She had to see herself and visited the mental health clinic where Jimmy was treated. He was in a room behind a glass wall. His arms were secured in a straight jacket.
"Hey, Jimmy," Chloe said. "So this is where you ended up, huh? You know, from when you shot me. I have to ask you something, Jimmy, about that day. What happened to you, Jimmy?"
He didn't react at all.
"What happened with Lucifer?"
On the word Lucifer he jumped up and threw himself against the glass, trying to look left and right in the corridor. "Lucifer? Is he here?! Tell me he's not here!"
"No, Jimmy, he's not here. He's not here, Jimmy."
He banged his head against the glass. "I know he's here. I can't get away. I can't get away from him!"
"Jimmy, you're safe here."
"He's the devil! He's the devil! He's the devil!"
Chloe looked at Jimmy. He knew Lucifer was the devil. How? Had he seen that face that Lucifer showed aunt Jenny twenty-eight years ago? Do you like him, Trixie had asked her. Yes, she did… but it was wiser not to see him again.
