The devil asks a question


When Chloe woke up next morning, she was laying in Lucifer's bed, her back against his chest and belly, both their heads on one pillow, the pillow on his side. She turned her head. He smiled. "You said only to sleep, detective. And we should stay each on our own half of the bed."

"That what I said, yes," she whispered.

"I stayed on my half and I always thought the two halves of something had the same size, but it looks like your half is about eighty percent of the bed."

Chloe had been on the other side and on her own pillow when she had gone to sleep around midnight. She pressed her back even closer to him, pulled his arm around her and grumbled. "That eighty percent I took is too much, Lucifer Morningstar. Your fault. You should have defended your half."

"Defend my half because you wanted take it slowly, first see whether we really will be a couple," Lucifer said.

She turned her head again and kissed him. "Indeed."

"Exclusive. Only the two of us," he whispered. "If it's me to blame, how can I make up for allowing you to come to my side?"

"By making me a good breakfast. There is still the Rachel Lape case waiting for us." That exclusive had worried her most. She was a thirty-seven years old single-mom and a workaholic. In the Lux he could pick up as many gorgeous younger women as he wanted, forged by plastic surgery and personal trainers. But he had assured her many times yesterday evening he would never do so. It still worried her.


First thing in the precinct was to ask forensics to test the blood that was found around the victims as Maze had suggested. While Chloe checked her mail, Lucifer scrolled through some news items on his phone. "An item in the news on the Nancy Lape accident, detective. LAPD helped OCSD it says. Your name is mentioned… Mm." He frowned.

"What is wrong?"

"Your name is mentioned just once. Your lieutenant's name is mentioned…. Let me count. Eleven times. It is all about Lieutenant Olivia Monroe's LAPD helping the OCSD and Olivia doing this and Olivia saying that."

Chloe shrugged. "Lieutenants and up get the PR, the detectives do the work.

The results of the blood test came within an hour and surprised her, most of the blood was not human, it was the blood of a pig.

"What the hell?" Lucifer murmured when mister Larry Clark from CSI was back to his lab.

"Maze mentioned the blood when we asked for the arrow," Chloe mused. "But you can't make an arrow of blood."

"Unless it's frozen," Lucifer said.

"An arrow of frozen blood? It will melt after it hits the victim and if you time it right it will be melted before any police officer arrives," Chloe understood. "I check with Maze."

"Arrow of frozen blood? Pig blood all over" she texted Maze.

"Bingo for the arrow, Decker. Pig blood I couldn't know" Maze answered within minutes. "Tell Lucifer he should have thought of it. Nicolai Petrov from 1897. Giovanni Bartali from 1972"

"Who are that Nicolai and Giovanni?" she asked Lucifer.

"They are both in hell," Lucifer said. He rolled his eyes. "In Nicolai's loop his feet and legs are crushed with a hammer of frozen blood. Giovanni…" He frowned. "Something with an axe of frozen blood… or so. I think. Or was that another Giovanni?"

"You don't know for sure?"

"Detective. There are more than sixty billion souls in hell. The demons deal with them. You can't expect me to know all details of each hell loop." He thought for a moment and then adjusted the cuffs of his jacket. "Maze has no point: a hammer and an axe are no arrows."

She looked at him. He winked at her. She smiled. "Totally different. Did I now laugh at a joke about hell?"

"You did, detective. It was an innocent one." He took her hand and gave a kiss on the back of it.

"Lucifer," she looked around, slightly blushing.

"I know, detective. No PDA. Do you want more coffee?"


Lieutenant Olivia Monroe appeared in the open office space were her detectives were working and walked to the desk of detective Rudy Williams.

"He gets the personal attention of Olivia?"

"He is the labor union representative for the precinct. There is some issue with coming promotions."

"Promotions?" Lucifer asked. "Are you in for a promotion?"

She sighed before she confessed: "Due to Palmetto that is not likely any time soon. By this time I should become detective grade two. I meet al criteria, but Palmetto…"

"I can arrange…" he started.

"No, Lucifer," she interrupted him. "I appreciate you're support. But I need to solve Palmetto first. Else none of my colleagues will accept me."

"Is it that important."

She nodded.

His eyes went over the precinct "That guy is the source all troubles?"

She looked. He pointed at Anthony Paolucci, who was lingering maybe ten steps away of Olivia and Rudy, clearly trying to listen what they were talking about. "Yes. You know him, Malcolm Graham's partner."

"Which grade?"

"Detective three, same as Malcolm."

"And Dan?" Lucifer asked.

"Grade two. Should be promoted next year or year after."

Lucifer nodded again, raised from his chair and walked to Anthony. He grabbed the guy's arm. "Hello, mister Paolucci. How good to see you again."

Anthony turned, tried to get his arm free and snapped. "Fuck off, creep. No one wants to see you and that bitch of yours in the precinct." He spoke loud enough to be heard by everyone.

Lucifer also spoke as loud as needed to be heard all over the floor. "Tell me, mister Graham's partner, what do you want? What do you desire more than anything in your life?"

"I want access to Malcolm's private bank account. I want the money." No one else on the floor was speaking or even moving, everyone watched Anthony and Lucifer.

"What money, my dear Anthony?" Lucifer asked, still staring in Anthony's eyes.

"The bribes he took from Moser and Aoudi and Nicolson and others."

"So he took bribes?"

Chloe glanced around. Everyone, including lieutenant Monroe was looking at the two.

"O yeah." Anthony laughed. "Just as I did." Then Anthony's gaze broke free from Lucifer and he looked bewildered at lieutenant Monroe.

Olivia opened and closed her mouth a few times before she said: "Detective Decker, will you please call Internal Affairs? Detective Williams, can you come with me to interrogate mister Paolucci?"

Lucifer came walking back to Chloe's desk. In the meanwhile she picked up her phone and searched for the number of Internal Affairs. Larry Clark from forensics, a friend of Malcolm and Anthony, came to her, a few steps ahead of Lucifer. He tried to get hold of her phone.

"No need for you to call, finish your own work. I will deal with it."

The next moment Lucifer get hold of Larry's wrist. He pulled the man away from Chloe's desk and gave him a push that threw him yards away against another desk. "Just make that call, detective," he said with his back to her, looking around the floor.

Internal Affairs came with six men. They spoke with Olivia and detective Williams, then they took Anthony Paolucci to an interrogation room and later Larry Clark. Olivia called two more detectives to her office, the last one being Dan.

"Was detective Douche involved in anything?" Lucifer whispered.

"I don't know. I…" Chloe sighed. "He… I don't know. He always wanted me to close the whole Palmetto case, saying it wouldn't do any good to anyone and there was nothing to be found."

Lucifer nodded. "And did he know there was nothing to be found or did he want nothing to be found?"

"He is Trixie's dad, Lucifer. How am I going to tell her her daddy is in jail?"

"That is a bit premature, detective. Does he has a good lawyer?"

"The labor union will provide one, I think. Dan should have had Trixie tonight. I need to call someone to pick her up after school.

Chloe picked up her phone. Lucifer raised his eyebrows and started to type on his phone. Olivia Monroe came to Chloe's desk. "Can we have a word about your husband, detective Decker?"

"Can mister Morningstar come with us, lieutenant. I would like someone with me."

In Olivia's office Olivia started with: "It looks you were right about Palmetto and detective Graham. He took bribes and so did Clark and Paolucci."

Chloe nodded.

"And two of my detectives knew about it, but looked away."

"Yes, lieutenant. I mean… May I ask something?"

"If you want to ask about detective Espinoza. Your husband was one of those who knew but looked away."

She swallowed. "Ex-husband, lieutenant. I didn't know."

"He got two hundred bucks a week from Graham just to ignore. You never noticed?"

"Well." Chloe hesitated for a moment. "We both had our own deposit account and our own saving account. And we had a third deposit account for the things we payed together, such as the house holding. We now use that for Trixie. And a saving account were we save money to get Trixie to college. I have never looked at Dan's personal accounts."

"You suspected Graham. Not your own husband?"

"I… I sometimes wondered, lieutenant."

"What do you think of his qualities as detective?"

"He is a higher ranked detective than I, lieutenant."

"But your opinion, Decker."

"He tends to close cases quick, lieutenant."

"Too quick?"

She sighed and shrugged, but decided not to answer.

"Then Larry Clark, forensics. He did the CSI on several of your cases."

"Yes, lieutenant. He did his job and reported what he found. We never talked about anything else than the cases we investigated. Not even a remark on the weather or the taste of the coffee."

"Ok, back to your ex-husband. He lost his 999 key. Did you know that?"

"No, lieutenant. He never mentioned it."

"What is a 999 key?" Lucifer asked softly.

"Entrance key for all precincts in LA. They all have the same key," Chloe explained.

"And each policy officer has one," Olivia added. She turned to Chloe. "Did your husband sell his key to criminals or did he really loose it?"

"I can't tell you, lieutenant," Chloe answered.

"I almost can," Lucifer said, while typing on his phone. "Wait… He lost it."

"Why?" Olivia asked.

"I can buy one of those 999 keys on the dark web for sixty dollar," Lucifer said, holding his phone up. "Sixty bucks is not interesting for any dirty cop to risk getting caught. Not if he gets two hundred bucks as bribe each week."

He smiled at Olivia, who blushed and said: "Of course, mister Morningstar. Detective Espinoza most likely has lost his key, but he is in trouble, detective Decker."

"He might be, Olivia," Lucifer said radiating his brightest smile at the lieutenant. "But I already arranged a lawyer to help him."

"The labor union will provide lawyers," Olivia almost whispered.

"That is very friendly, but I contacted a top law firm, Richards and Wheelers, and asked for their best man. That appears to be a woman by the way, a mrs. Richards."

"Richards and Wheelers in Beverly Hills?" Olivia asked.

"Indeed," Lucifer said, still smiling.

"Was that needed? Never mind." Olivia sighed heavily. "She will only assist detective Espinoza?"

"Yes," Lucifer answered.

Olivia swallowed and opened a file. "Decker, I have a few questions on your report in Palmetto."


Back on the office floor it is clear that all colleagues were tensed, everyone pretended to be working, but all kept an eye on the interrogation rooms were Internal Affairs was interviewing. Some detectives came to Chloe's desk, hoping she knew more after talking with Olivia.

At the end of the afternoon a tall woman, late thirties, handsome with long blond hair, the female equivalent for expensive designed clothes of Lucifer, came in Chloe's direction, but instead of addressing her, she looked at Lucifer.

"Mister Morningstar?"

Lucifer raised. "That's me."

"Mrs Richards from Richards and Wheelers."

"Ah."

Chloe didn't like the way how the woman smiled at Lucifer.

"You asked our help in the case of mister Espinosa."

"Yes, indeed."

"Can I speak with you about the options?"

He followed her to a conference room. Chloe watched them disappear and closing the door behind them. She didn't like this. She should trust Lucifer. Of course. But this woman was a predator, she could tell by how she had looked. After fifteen minutes she raised and strolled to the conference room. It had glass walls, but blinds blocked the sight of what was going on in the room. At a corner she could just look through a small open strip and she could see the woman on one side of the table, just talking. And dressed, she thought. Lucifer she couldn't see but he was not close to the woman. She told herself again to not be suspicious, to trust Lucifer. Nevertheless she walked to the other corner of the glass wall and looked through the open strip on that side. She saw Lucifer leaning back in his chair. His eyes went in her direction and she quickly went back to her desk.

After another fifteen minutes Lucifer came out of the room and to her desk.

"What did she want?"

Lucifer laughed. "What you expected. She made clear she was married but on the market for sex, I made clear I was not married and not on the market. Comforted, detective?"

She felt her cheeks were reddening. "Sorry, Lucifer. I… I was stupid. Forgive me."

"I do, detective. After that we discussed Dan's situation. Can you join us to give an ok on an important decision?"

She stood up and walked with him. "Do I decide on that?"

"I didn't hire mrs Richards to help detective Espinosa. I hired her to help the urchin's father, so: yes, you have the final say."

Lucifer opened the door for her and closed it behind her. "This is my girlfriend…" Mrs Richards gave Chloe a cold, haughty glance while Lucifer said this. '… detective Decker."

Mrs Richards gave Lucifer a smile, ignored Chloe and said: "As I explained: the LAPD is planning to fire these five dirty cops and bring them to justice. But I checked the file and talked already with both Espinosa's captain and the Deputy Chief of the Detective Bureau. I found a violation of the protocol and a potential problem for the LAPD. We both know it is a risk to go to court, so the LAPD proposes a compromise."

"What compromise?" Chloe asked.

Mrs Richards looked for a second at Chloe before smiling at Lucifer again. "They will drop the charges against detective Espinosa, he goes back to work tomorrow. He will demoted to detective grade one, but keeps the salary of detective grade two. If you agree I will advise detective Espinosa to take it. Going to court would mean months if not years of uncertainty and no guaranty of a better result."

"This will not help the other four detectives?" Chloe asked.

"It will not?" Lucifer asked when mrs Richards didn't react.

"Definitely not," the attorney answered.

Lucifer looked at Chloe. "The urchin will see her father and she will not know the difference between grade one or grade two."

Chloe nodded. She now also ignored the other woman. "Let her advise Dan to take this. I hope he will have the sense to do so."


They were at home in time to make Trixie diner. The girl asked for her dad, but Chloe told her daddy was busy at work. Short after Trixie was gone to sleep, there was a knock on the door.

"Dan?"

"Hi, Chlo'."

"How could you…" she started. She saw the pain on his face and said: "Come in."

Dan noticed Lucifer on Chloe's sofa. For a moment he looked grim, then he turned to Chloe. "There was an attorney to assist me, but she was not hired by the labor union."

"A law firm, Richards and Wheelers."

"Did you arrange her? We can't afford that level of law firms."

"Lucifer arranged her and payed her," Chloe answered.

"Lucifer…" Dan stood with his eyes closed and breathing deeply. Then he turned to Lucifer. "Man, thanks. I owe you."

"You don't owe me anything," Lucifer said sharply. "I did this for the detective and the urchin. Favors for the detective or the urchin are for free. They never owe me anything."

"What you think." Dan shrugged. "I will pay you back."

Chloe walked him to the door. "Are you two dating?" Dan asked.

"Yes," Chloe said.

Dan looked as a dog that just got a kick by his boss. He nodded. "See you tomorrow."

When the door behind Dan was closed, Chloe took Lucifer's hand. "Do you come with me, boyfriend."

"You want to go to bed? Tired after this day?" He was still on the sofa.

She bent to him and kissed him. "Not to sleep," she whispered. "After this day I need that best night ever that you promised me."


Something was different when Chloe entered the precinct. Her colleagues greeted her, maybe not friendly, more… respectful, cautious.

"They learned that four who were bullying you, lost their jobs and will be taken to court," Lucifer said softly. "Well, three will be taken to court, for Malcolm will most likely be dead when leaving the hospital."

It even happened a colleague came over with a case and asked her opinion on a point. "This is too weird," she whispered to Lucifer once the colleague had left.

"It is an improvement."

"Yes, but as soon as I…" She shout her mouth and watch at the doors to the stairway. Maze was coming in together with a woman whose hands were tight together. Maze walked straight to Chloe's desk and said: "Rachel Lape. When do I get my money?"

Chloe started to explain to Maze that getting the money might take days and was surprised when the demoness nodded. "Yeah, I know. You humans always wait weeks or months before paying. No problem."

After Rachel was taken away. Maze looked at Chloe, then her eyes went to Lucifer and back to Chloe. She grinned. "Happy, Decker?"

"What do you mean?" Chloe asked.

"I'm a demon, Decker. I have a kind of a sixth sense. I simply know when persons last time had sex."

Chloe felt she blushed, but Lucifer smiled. "It was my happiest night ever, Mazie. How did you find Rachel Lape?"

"She is an archer, crossbow, participates in tournaments. Humans who do that are often member of an association or club. So I searched for members of archer clubs and checked whether they knew Rachel. I found some and one knew in which park she might camp."

"Ever thought of joining the LAPD as detective?" Chloe said.

"With all the rules you have to follow?" Maze scoffed. "No way. Who of you two realized the blood had to be frozen?"

"Lucifer," Chloe answered.

"And before you reminded me of Nicolai's hammer or Giovanni's axe," Lucifer said.

"Axe?" Maze rolled her eyes. "Giovani is beheaded every ten minutes with a sword of frozen blood." She put an arm around Chloe's shoulder and said: "If you need to know the facts, ask a demon, not the devil."

"I understand. For hell the devil gets the PR," Chloe answered. "While you demons do the work."

Maze nodded and smiled at Lucifer. Lucifer first raised his eyebrows, then grinned. "Now even making jokes about hell, detective?"


Interrogating Rachel turned out to be a piece of cake. She confessed within minutes. "… he killed my sister and they covered up for him."

"I see her point," Lucifer whispered after Rachel was again brought to a prison cell.

"So do I," Chloe said. "But it's up to the judge and jury to decide."

At the end of the day, while she cleaning up her desk and put some papers in her bag, Dan came to her, nervous, uncertain. "You go home?"

"We gonna make Trixie diner, yes."

"There is something…" Dan started and then hesitated.

"Can we take it tomorrow?" Chloe said. "I'm already late for Trixie."

Dan gave Lucifer a quick glance before nodding. "See you tomorrow."