Meeting the devil's mum


The woman, by Chloe known as Charlotte Richards, made a step forwards, stumbled and fell. A screwdriver stuck out of her neck.

"I try to heal the body, but it dies all the time," the woman whispered.

"Mum?"

"Son." She tried to smile.

Lucifer pulled the screwdriver from her neck. "Heal it again."

The wound closed. The woman raised hesitantly, moved her arms and smiled fully.

"Why didn't you take it out?" Lucifer snapped.

"How could I know it that thing didn't belong to the body?" The woman looked at Chloe and frowned.

"Mum, how many humans did you see with walking around a screwdriver in their neck?"

"I didn't pay attention."

"Where did you get this body? Did you kill mrs Richards?"

"Who is that mrs Richards?"

"This body is hers. Was hers."

"I didn't kill her. She was dead before I moved in."

Lucifer took a deep breath and looked angry at the woman.

"Lucifer…" Chloe said. "Is that…"

"Excuse me, detective. You know the body is from Charlotte Richards, the lawyer. The soul in it is my mum, goddess of creation."

"And who is she?" Lucifer's mom asked.

"Chloe Decker, a human."

"And she knows who you are?"

"She knows me, as she knows Amenadiel and Mazikeen."

"Is Amenadiel here?"

Lucifer looked at Chloe. Chloe studied his mom, head tilted. "What a coincidence you found the body of someone who knows Lucifer. How did that happen?"

"What are you meddling about, mortal? Just go."

Lucifer put his arm around Chloe's shoulders. "If anyone here has to go, it will be you, mum."

"I'm your mother."

"She is the woman I love. So if you don't want to answer her, then answer me: how did you found the body of someone that knows me?"

His mother shrugged. "Because I asked. I knew you were on the Earth plane. After I escaped my cell I asked every soul that arrived in hell whether he or she knew Lucifer Morningstar. I've interrogated thousands, hundred of thousands maybe, until this woman showed up and said she knew you. She told me you lived in a house called the Lux. So I picked up her body."

"Who did stick this screwdriver in Charlotte's neck?" Chloe asked.

His mother looked at her with disdain.

Lucifer sighed. "Don't waist our time with letting me repeat each question before you answer it. We don't believe your story you didn't do any harm, so just tell."

"I have no idea. I only asked the poor soul whether it knew Lucifer, not how it died."

"And where did you find this body?" Chloe asked.

For a moment his mother clenched her jaws, then she answered. "In a dim room. There was a small box that beeped and light came from it. I put it in a can with ice and water and then I left. There was a long corridor with many doors and a stair at the end."

"A box that beeped and shined?" Lucifer scoffed. "Fairy tales, mum?"

"No," Chloe said. She took out her mobile. "Such a box?"

"That's it," his mom almost yelled. "How did you get it here?"

"That's a phone, mum," Lucifer said. "Each human has one. Just as I have." He showed her his own phone.

"A long corridor with doors sounds like a hotel," Chloe mused. "So Charlotte Richards was in a hotel. Did you travel far to come here?" she asked his mom.

"I came in the street and asked for the Lux. The mortals were scared of me, but one of them pointed me to here. It was not far. And in the street before this house a human came to me and said you were in a penthouse and I needed to go upstairs. I didn't have to ask her anything."

"Sorry? A stranger knew you were looking for Lucifer?" Chloe asked with disbelieve in her voice. "Without you asking first?"

"Yes."

"Hard to believe," Lucifer said. "You're lying, mum."

"I am not. The human brought me into that little room…" mom pointed at the elevator, "… and told me you would be there if the door opened again."

"Did that woman know you?" Chloe asked.

"Well, I didn't know her," his mom said. "She knew Lucifer, since when we walked to that little room I asked 'do you know Lucifer' and she said 'better than you'. I said 'I'm his mother' and she smiled and said 'I know'."

Chloe and Lucifer looked at each other, frowning. "Who is that woman? Why was Charlotte in a hotel room in LA?" Chloe asked. "She lives in this town."

He grinned. "To meet with a lover? Mrs Richards might have dozens. Anyway. Mum, you are not my problem. Amenadiel should look after you." He folded his hands, closed his eyes and murmured: "Come on, big brother."

"Amenadiel is coming," he said lowering his hands. "Why are you here, mum?"

"I don't want to be in hell and possessing a human's body was my only way out."

"No. Yes. I mean here at my place. Why were you looking for me?"

"You are my son."

"So you can eviscerate me? Got it," Lucifer said.

"No. We've wasted enough time being... estranged," his mum said. "I'd do anything to rectify that now."

"Sure you don't mean 'revenge that'?"

"Lucifer, your father put me in Hell. Not you. I know that. We were both wronged. But you could have at least visited me."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Lucifer scoffed. "When Dad cast me out, who stood by and did nothing? Hint: it's a palindrome for mum. So again: why are you here?"

"I'm a mother. I want to see my children."

Chloe had only listened for the last few minutes, but she nodded at mum's last statement. Both Lucifer and his mum looked at her. "It sounds reasonable, Lucifer. A mother wants to see her children."

"Ah," his mum said. "You see? The mortal agrees with me. Maybe if you had talked to me in hell instead of sending your little demon torturer, I could've explained the whole thing."

The look Lucifer gave his mother made clear he didn't believe her, but he was interrupted by Amenadiel who arrived at the balcony and folded his wings away before entering the penthouse. "She is…" he stammered.

"Our mum. Mum, I fear you recognize…" Lucifer didn't have to finish the sentence for their mother rushed to Amenadiel and embraced him. Chloe saw tears in her eyes. She tried to imagine she would have seen Trixie for centuries and smiled. Whatever Lucifer's mom was up to she didn't know, but she did believe the tears.

"I'm going to check the security cams downstairs," she whispered to Lucifer and let the two angels and the goddess talk for a moment.

The footage of the security cameras was completely clear. Chloe let Patrick made a print of the best picture and went up to the penthouse again. There she found five persons. Lucifer came to her and said softly: "Ah, detective. Amenadiel made things even more complicated. He prayed to I-have-no-idea-how-many of our siblings and, as you can see, two showed up: the one with the big bare arms and square head is Zadkiel, angel of justice, and the girl with the curly hair and ponytail is my sister Raziel, angel of mysteries."

"What did they say concerning your mother?"

"That they don't know what dad wants and don't know what to do. They said it in at least ten different wordings."

Chloe nodded. Holding Lucifer's hand she approached the group. Raziel was the first to notice. "A human. Luci, why are you holding her hand?"

"They are in love," Amenadiel told her.

"Chloe Decker," Lucifer introduced her, before asking Chloe: "What did you check on the security cams?"

She handed him the print out. It showed her mother and that unknown woman that brought his mom to the elevator. "That is that girl at the bar," Lucifer said. "With the pink highlights."

Chloe showed the picture to his mother. "That's the girl that helped you?"

"Yes."

"She was at the bar an hour ago, looking at me and Lucifer. She seems to know you, claims to know Lucifer better than his mother does. But Lucifer has never seen her."

"Never," Lucifer repeated.

"A mystery," Zadkiel said with a smile at Raziel. "Your domain."

"I love the story," Raziel laughed at Chloe. "How are you going to solve it?"

"She is not an angel in disguise?"

The goddess and the angels shook their heads. "She is not one of my sisters," Raziel said. She took the picture and studied it. "Although there is something familiar. But no."

"Can she be a demon?" Chloe asked Lucifer.

"I would have sensed it if a demon possessing a body was in the Lux."

"I think I would also have sensed that," his mom said.

"Maybe you would," Lucifer said. "But would you honestly tell us?"

"I just told you honestly, Lucifer."

Chloe took the picture back. "I will ask Dan to run face recognition software over it. Tomorrow. We will visit Richards and Wheelers to see whether her firm knows why she was in that hotel. And we need to find which hotel."

At midnight Raziel and Zadkiel where back to the Silver City, Ameadiel had taken mom with him – "dad told me to deal with you" – and Chloe and Lucifer were in bed in the penthouse.


Next morning Chloe gave Dan some print-outs that showed the face of the unknown girl and asked him to search for the face in the police database. She brought the screwdriver to Ella and gave her an update on the appearance of Lucifer's mom.

"Fingerprints," Ella said, looking at the screwdriver.

"Lucifer touched it. He took it out of his mom's neck," Chloe said.

Ella gave Lucifer a disapproving look. "Let me guess, you didn't put on gloves."

"Excuse me, miss Lopez. My mom was stumbling in front of me with this stabbed in. I…"

"You never put on gloves," Ella said.

"Correct, miss Lopez. One of my charms. My hands are far to lovely to be hidden by gloves."

"I will see what I can do," Ella told Chloe.

"Good. We are going to see the mr Wheeler that is Charlotte's partner in Richards and Wheelers."


"Charlotte is not in yet," mr Wheeler told them.

"Do you know where she was yesterday afternoon or evening."

Mr Wheeler hesitated. "Why don't you ask her instead of me?"

"Well, as you said: she is not in," Chloe answered. They were sitting in the office of the second partner of Richards and Wheelers, a middle aged man in a grey three-piece suite.

"You can give her a call. I'm sorry, detective Decker. I can't see a reason why I should talk with the police about mrs Richards. Not just because she doesn't answer her phone. As far as I know she might be having breakfast with her children."

"Ah, yes. I remember, she told Lucifer she was married." Chloe cursed in silence for not having checked the husband first.

"Yes. A husband and three children."


During the ride to Charlotte's house, they got a call: Dan about Trixie.

"Anything wrong?" Chloe asked with the call on the handsfree.

"Trix is fine, but Tammy Twinkletoes is not. Trixie mutilated her. She is missing an eye, there is 'blood' and 'scars' all over."

"What? What did she do?"

"She said it was an accident."

"You didn't smile, did you? You should take this serious…"

"Did she hurt another girl?" Lucifer asked frowning.

"Her doll," Chloe whispered back.

"Ah," he laughed.

"Sshh. Dan, show her we take this seriously. We will not give her that other doll."

After she finished the call, she explained to Lucifer: "Trixie's best friend Landa got a new All-American doll, and now Trixie wants one too. So what did she apparently do? She destroys her old doll, expecting me to replace it."

"Mm, impressive," Lucifer laughed again. "But, then, I'd expect nothing less from the shrewd little minx. Did Dan already order one?"

"A doll of two hundred dollar?" The moment she mentioned the money, she realized she made a mistake.

Lucifer took out his phone and said. "Don't care about the price. What is the doll called exactly?"

"No," she said with raised voice. "And I'd appreciate it if you don't undermine my authority. She has to learn that no is no. She will not get one."

"But you're being a bad mother…" His voice died away and he looked at of the window, clearly confused.

"Sorry, Lucifer," she said. "I should have said it I a different voice. But really, she needs to understand she can't manipulate us."

He shrugged, then smiled and for a moment they sat hand in hand before she had to bring her hands to the steering wheel again. Within no time a second call came.

"...a dead body in hotel Gleam, detective Decker."

"We take it. We're on our way." So they turned and headed to that hotel.


Ella and Dan were already at the crime scene when they arrived. Ella was taking pictures of a man laying dead on a hotel bed.

"He's practically a kid," Chloe said.

"Yeah, 19 or so," Ella said. "Died yesterday end of afternoon, early evening is my guess. Cause of death: single puncture wound to the neck."

"By that screwdriver we already gave you?" Lucifer asked.

Ella nodded. "Very well possible."

"Detective, an interesting pool of blood through here," Lucifer said.

"From the evil stepmother?" Chloe mused.

"Stepmother?" Lucifer asked.

"How else should I call your mother's soul in the body of a non-relative?"

He grinned. "I don't know. Sounds good. Question is the stepmother our killer? Is she the murderous psycho whose rampage started by impaling that poor lad?"

"Okay, my guess is that this is an affair gone wrong," Chloe said. "Jealous husband follows his cheating wife here. He kills her and the young lover. Your mother only used the already dead body. She mentioned a phone."

Lucifer looked around, noticed a bucket and picked the phone out.

"Good eye, Lucifer," Ella said. "I'll get this back to the lab. See if I can restore it."

They were interrupted by Dan. "I found another body."

They all three followed Dan to a next room of the suite. Ella kneeled next to the body. "No open wounds, You see the bruising and the semi-circular marks on her neck?"

"Strangled?" Chloe asked. Ella nodded.

"Aha. The marks. Long fingernails," Lucifer said. "Which means the killer's female."

"Not necessarily. I mean, the marks aren't deep," Ella said. "It could just be a dude who's not serious man-groomer."

"Let's first talk to Charlotte's husband," Chloe decided.


Charlotte Richards owned a large villa close to the beach. Her husband was at home, a man the opposite of his wife: shabby, his clothes a mixed bag, ridiculous bright blue plastic slippers.

"Sorry about the mess," he said while they came in.

"I'm sorry about those shoes," Lucifer said.

"Excuse me?"

Chloe cut them off. "Mr. Richards, when was the last time your wife was home?"

"Oh, God, uh... Yesterday morning, maybe.

"You didn't call her when she didn't come home yesterday evening?

"She's away regularly. Doesn't always tell me when."

"Does she has a lover?" Lucifer asked.

"Lucifer!" Chloe whispered.

"Did she?" Lucifer insisted.

"She sleeps with her colleague Bradley. Bradley Wheeler. What could I do?"

"Well," Lucifer smiled a big smile. "One option would be to stab her in the neck with a screwdriver."

"What?"

"Do you recognize this man?" Chloe showed him the picture of the young man found dead in hotel Gleam.

"Oh, God. Uh... h-he came by the house with a package for Charlotte, uh, last week. Pretty sure it was, like, a work thing."

"Well, it depends what kind of package, doesn't it?" Lucifer said, still smiling.

"Uh, I-is Charlotte all right?"

"Can you account for yesterday evening?" Chloe asked.

"Yeah. I've been up to my ears in puke. My kids are home sick. Uh, I haven't left the house since Monday."

"And not showered since, I see," Lucifer added.

"Are your children home? I'd like to confirm with them," Chloe said. He explained where to find them and she left to check. While she walked away she heard Lucifer say: "When exactly did you surrender your manhood?"

She could hear the husband answer, but couldn't make up what he said. She found the children and got the husband's story confirmed. Their dad had been home all week with them. She walked back, found the living room empty and heard Lucifer's voice upstairs. Then she heard Lucifer laughing. "Cocaine! Oh, and the good stuff, as well."

She entered the room where she heard him. He was standing in front of a wardrobe, covered with white powder. "Ah, detective, welcome to the party."


"I see of a perfect, yet simple solution," Lucifer said when they were in Chloe's car riding back to the precinct.

"Simple solution for what?" she asked.

"You don't want me to buy that doll for the urchin."

"No, we discussed that."

"But I can buy the doll for myself," Lucifer said with a happy smile.

"What?"

"Then the urchin can borrow the doll from me. She can play with without owning it."

Chloe glanced aside, his expression was open, innocent, happy. She looked at the road and traffic in front of them again, her hands clenched around the steering wheel. She counted to ten before reacting. He was the devil. He was not evil, but he was not human. He needed Linda to explain human emotions and human reactions to him. She extended the count to twenty, took a deep breath.

"Detective?" he said with an uncertain, small voice.

"No, Lucifer."

"But…"

"No, Lucifer. Trixie will not see the difference between owning and borrowing. She will only see her manipulation has worked and she has the doll to her disposal."

"Really?"

"Yes."

He frowned and sighed. "Humans are so complicated."

"We are."

"If you want." He sighed again and folded his hands. "I will ask Amenadiel how mum is doing."

A few moments later he blinked his eyes. "She is shopping with Maze."

"Shopping?"

"Amenadiel took her to the penthouse to see me and they run into Maze. Maze decided she needs other and more clothes."

"Yes, of course," Chloe said. "I should have thought of that."

"And Maze will explain credit cards to her. It appeared mum had a corporate credit card of Richards and Wheelers with her."


"No match on that girl's face," Dan reported as soon as they entered the precinct.

It took Chloe a second to remember which girl: she almost had forgotten the girl that brought Lucifer's mom to the elevator.

"Not in any yearbook of any Californian high school for the last ten years, not in any US policy file, not on any social media on the Internet."

"Parts of fingerprints on the screwdriver," Ella told them. "But matching against the databases is tricky, because they are only parts. If you had a suspect, it would be enough to check against his fingerprints."

"We do not yet have a suspect," Chloe said. "But we have ten pound of cocaine in plastic bags. See whether you can find fingerprints on those."

"Cocaine?" Ella asked.

"Where did you get that?" Dan asked.

"In the wardrobe of Charlotte Richard's husband," Lucifer answered. "But he claims he didn't know it was there and I believe him. He is not an entrepreneurial type."

"Meaning the lawyer had ten pound of cocaine in house," Ella said and laughed. "Was that boy in hotel Gleam her street dealer or something?"

"Why do you think mrs Richards is involved?" Dan asked. "I don't see anything in the file that links her to the dead body in hotel Gleam."

"The serial number on the mobile links the phone to Richards and Wheelers," Ella said. She nodded to Chloe. "But I can't read the sim card anymore. Water and mobiles…"

Chloe feared Dan would realize she was already investigating Charlotte before Ella could have mentioned the serial number of the phone, but he just nodded and took another look at the pictures in the file.

For the next hour not much happened. Dan was checking pictures, Ella was looking for fingerprints on the cocaine bags and Lucifer and Chloe were searching what they could find on Charlotte Richards. Then Dan called Chloe. "Matched the dead kid. It is Marco Sanchez, most likely working for drug kingpin Victor Perez."

At the same moment Ella came out of the lab. "Found a few fingerprints, matched with those of Luis Mendoza. He's a known associate of drug dealer Victor Perez."

"FBI tries to catch Perez for years," Dan said. "Let me give a friend of mine working for the FBI a call." They waited for him to finish the call and turned to them with a big grin.

"Charlotte wasn't working for the cartel. She was working to bring it down. So was that poor kid. Marco Sanchez was working with Charlotte and the FBI as an informant. Trying to build a case against Perez. That's why he and Charlotte were meeting at the hotel in secret."

"And the cartel found out?" Chloe asked.

"Most likely. FBI didn't knew yet Marco was dead. But listen to this: Perez's hit man is Jimmy the Carpenter. Want to take a guess at his murder weapon of choice is?"

"Screwdriver?" Ella said.

"Bingo," Dan said. He turned to Chloe. "But you have to be careful. You can't bust the FBI case."

"If the cartel killed Marco, they already knew he was an informant. There is not much left we can bust," Chloe objected.


The result was Chloe and Lucifer ending up in a tanning salon owned by Victor Perez. "We're looking for an old acquaintance of you, Jimmy the Carpenter," Chloe explained to Perez.

Perez laughed. "Really? And why should I talk to cops about Jimmy?"

"We think he killed someone you know."

Perez shook his head. "I would be surprised. And who should that be?"

Chloe showed him a picture. "Marco Sanchez. Familiar?"

"He is dead?" For a moment Perez looked shocked. "You think I had him killed 'cause he's a narc? Why would I do that?"

"He informed the FBI about you."

Perez laughed again. "I knew that a year ago. I was using him. Fed him bogus information on purpose. Had the FBI chasing after their own knobs. Kid was an asset. Be stupid to hurt him. It's a loss for me someone killed him."

"Your own fault, I think," Lucifer said. "You forgot to tell your buddy Jimmy about using Marco, so Marco ended with a screwdriver to the neck."

Perez looked at him mockingly. "The Carpenter? You can find his urn at a cemetery in Pasedena. He died seven months ago."

When Lucifer and Chloe looked a bit uncertain at each other, Perez laughed even louder than before. "Did I throw a wrench in your works? Get it? Screwdriver? Wrench? It's a whole theme."

The minute they left the tanning salon, Lucifer got a call. "Maze," he said to Chloe while accepting the call. "Someone tried to kill the body your mom uses. With a screwdriver."

"What? How is mum? Who?"

"Hey, don't insult me. I was around, so your mom is fine." They heard some noise at the other end and then Maze again. "His name is Liam and he is working for the body's original owner."

"Bring him to the precinct," Lucifer ordered Maze.


Maze brought both Charlotte and this Liam to the precinct. Liam was Liam Pickering, an associate at Wheeler and Richards, angry because he was never invited to become a partner in the law firm and holding Charlotte responsible for that. He was interrogated by Lucifer and Chloe while Maze and mom watched through the one-way mirror. Liam knew Charlotte was working on the Perez cartel case and had used a screwdriver to frame Jimmy the Carpenter.

After Liam was taken to a cell, Chloe and Lucifer joined Maze and mom while Ella came close, staring eyes wide open at Charlotte. "This woman was a lawyer?" mom asked pointing at her body.

"She was," Chloe answered.

Lucifer's mom ignored her, she only looked at Lucifer and Maze. "I could be a lawyer."

Lucifer raised his eyebrows. "What do you know about the law?"

"I talked to thousands of lawyers the last few centuries," mom said. "I know what they knew. And it has a husband. Does it have a house?"

"Both," Chloe said.

Mom looked a second at Chloe and then smiled at Lucifer. "Maze showed me an interesting book in a bookshop. I will see whether that husband knows that book." She laughed.

"She didn't understand why men looked so often at her, at us. I showed her the Kamasutra," Maze said with a wicked grin.

"My mum…" Lucifer looked shocked. "I don't want to hear about it."


Trixie was with Chloe this night and the rest of the week. The three had diner and after bringing Trixie to bed Chloe and Lucifer ended up in the kitchen to do the dishes. "As the average John and Jane," Chloe whispered with a teasing smile.

He smiled, unfolded his wings and kissed her, holding her within the white glowing feathers. At that moment the Trixie's door opened and her daughter came out. "Mommy, I forgot tomorrow…"

The girl went silent, looking at them mouth open, eyebrows raised.


Sorry, change of job makes I have a little less time to write, so updates take a little longer... :-(