"I know where she comes from," Trixie repeated. "Is 'will come from' more correct?"
"What do you mean?" Lucifer asked.
Chloe shook her head. "Will come from?"
Ella laughed. "You're right, Trix. I should have thought of it myself. It's the only explanation that makes sense."
"Make sense what?" Chloe asked. "Where are you two talking about?"
"Where then will she come from?" Lucifer asked.
"The future," Trixie and Ella both answered in unison.
"Time travel," Ella added. "She knows me with wrinkles, she visited her ayaya and amagal but no one in the present knows. It has to be in some future. She is the daughter of a human and an angel, but no one in the present ever heard of a half-angel."
"I have never heard of an angel that can travel through time," Lucifer objected.
"But you all have different powers, at least one power differs from the powers of other angels," Chloe said. "Rory must have something no other angel has."
"Time travel," Ella said, looking at Chloe's belly. "And we thought of one more thing."
Ella folded her hands and within minutes Azrael appeared. "You explained them?" the angel asked. Ella shook her head and told what they just discussed. "… so this Rory might very well be the Chloe's child. Might! We don't know for sure."
"You think…" Chloe laid her hands on her belly. Not that there was anything to feel yet. Her child in there was only five or six weeks old.
"Remember we didn't understand where Lilith's powers went?" Azrael said. "We – well mostly Ella – figured that out yesterday. A celestial being could absorb those powers. Had you touched a celestial while putting on the ring, Lilith's powers could have safely passed through you to him or her. Well, there was one that you touched when you put on the ring. Well, touched… more carried."
"Rory touched my belly before saying it was safe to take the ring," Chloe whispered.
"I will app Maze and Linda," Ella said.
The next morning Chloe and Lucifer visited Sharmila's husband Manpreet Pahat again. "My wife is still not back," he said, clearly worried. Both his sons Nilam and Varun were with him. "You think something happened to her?"
"Mother's phone is powered down," Varun added. "And you came yesterday also. What do you want from mom?"
"We just want to ask her a few questions?"
"What questions? Anything to do with uncle Anil?"
"That is correct," Chloe said. "We need to speak to her about her brother."
"What questions?" Varun repeated.
"It is better if we ask your mother."
Husband and sons didn't look happy with that. "Should we report her as missing?" Manpreet asked.
"You could," Chloe said. "But I already issued a search warrant for her."
The second son, Nilam Pahat, had been silent so far, but now he spoke up: "You let it sound as if you believe mother had anything to do with uncle's dead."
"We do not yet know who murdered your uncle. We only would like to ask your mother a few questions," Chloe said. And let Lucifer mojo her once more, she thought with it. She gave the three men a polite smile.
"My wife loved her brother," Manpreet stated.
"Everyone told us, mr Pahat," Chloe answered. "At the moment we just would like to talk to her. O, just to get a complete picture. Does your wife also like her niece, Adriana?"
"Is that relevant for the murder?"
"As I said, just to get a complete picture."
The three men exchanges glances. Nilam shook his head. "Mother is not really happy with uncle Anil and aunt Jyoti having adopted Adriana."
"And you?"
"We grew up together. She is my cousin," Nilam answered. "But why is it important. That can't have anything to do with uncle's death."
Chloe hesitated, decided to throw a pebble in the pound and see the ripples spread. "We think your uncle is murdered by mistake. Originally the viewers had an appointment with Adriana. The murderer didn't know who was who and shot the wrong person."
"It can't be my wife has anything to do with it," Manpreet snapped.
His son Varun fiercely shook his head, but Nilam pursed his lips before he softly said: "I hope you keep an eye on my cousin."
Back in their car Chloe said: "Nilam is right, Sharmila might try to kill Adriana. I need to organize police protection for her."
"Or I ask Maze," Lucifer said. "No paperwork needed."
He took his phone and called.
"Congratulations," sounded with multiple voices through the phone. "Do you take care of Chloe?" That sounded as Raziel.
"Yes, yes," Lucifer said.
"I'm healthy and can do my normal job," Chloe added, bending over to the phone.
"But I call for something else," Lucifer said. He started to explain who Adriana was, but was interrupted by Maze. "Linda's daughter. We met her yesterday evening at Linda's."
"We? You and Raziel?"
"And Rymane."
"She is still on Earth?" Lucifer's voice raised.
"Partying. Just a small vacation. Two dozens of men, three bar fights and booze."
"With Raziel?"
Maze laughed. "Your sister is the worst. She started each bar fight. But what about Adriana?"
Lucifer continued his story about Adriana, resulting in Raziel's voice coming through the phone: "Don't worry, Lu. The three of us will take care of it."
In the precinct they found Lucifer's mother, of course in Charlotte's body, with several male officers around her. She was flirting, they were laughing.
"Ah, Lucifer," she said. "You never told me how nice all your colleagues are."
"What are you doing here?" he asked. Chloe could see he tried to hide his anger in front of all the police officers.
"Just my job, boy."
He grabbed her elbow and took her with them to Chloe's desk. "And what is your job?"
"Mrs Richards was a lawyer, so I'm here to defend a client, Lucifer."
"You know nothing about the law."
"I don't have to." Mum Charlotte said. "My powers are coming back. I just had a private talk with the prosecutor and ordered him to tell me the weak points in his case. I told him to drop the case and so he will."
"Why would…" Chloe started.
"Mum's powers," Lucifer said with a sigh. "They are close to dad's powers. A human has to follow her orders, an angel will have a hard time to fight her orders."
Mum Charlotte smiled. "I came to see what you were doing here, boy. But I sensed something else in this building that is worth investigating."
"And that is?" Lucifer asked.
"Azrael has been here a few times. I can feel it. And not to do her job. She still doesn't come when I pray her to see me."
"Mum, what do…"
She interrupted him. "Those men told enough, boy. You will see. That one –" she pointed at officer Brian Andersen "– is a good looking one. Much better than the husband of this body. I will see you later."
"Mum, what do you mean?"
She patted him on the cheek. "A nice pet to have some fun. Not your business."
The goddess walked away, leaving Lucifer speechless. She gave Brian an arm, whispered something and walked to the exit with him.
"Detective, my mum… What does she want from that officer Anderson?"
Chloe took a deep breath, raised her eye brows while looking at Lucifer. "She wants to go to bed with him."
"What? My mum? Mothers don't have sex."
"Really?" Chloe couldn't help, but laughed. "How is than possible that many families have more than one child? How is it possible I'm expecting?"
"I have no idea, just my mother with…" He shook his head, eyes wide open.
"You have dozens of siblings," she said. "How much years is the difference between you and Amenadiel?"
"What? Why? Close to a fifty thousand years. Why do you ask?"
"Well, it means that after your mother gave birth to Amenadiel, she…"
"Please, detective," he interrupted her. "I don't want to hear about it."
"Ok," Chloe gave him a kiss. "Let's then concentrate on something more important. Azrael. What does your mother mean with 'they told enough'?"
"I don't know."
"Maybe we should warn Ella and Azrael. Come to the lab."
"I was with Ella in the lab when mother came in," Azrael told them. They were with four at the lab table. Ella had prayed to ask Azrael to join. "But I went before she saw me."
"But with her powers coming back, she sensed you," Lucifer said.
"What powers does she have?" Ella asked.
"Too much," Lucifer shook his head. "She is all light, as fiercely as an exploding star. When she give an order to a human or an angel it is almost impossible to ignore her demand."
"A demon?" Chloe asked.
"Has also to obey," Azrael said. "She is strong, stronger than any angel, or demon again. She can steer wind and storms and summon waves to become tsunami's."
"And why does she wants to see you?"
"Chloe, I have no idea. Given her power to command I avoided her up to now. I do not want to be involved in a fight between mother and father."
"And what can the men have told her?" Ella mused. "You hardly spoke with any of them. They might have seen you walking between the lab and Chloe's desk and that's it."
"And to the coffee machine," Lucifer added.
"Maybe it's better not to show up for the next few days," Azrael said. "Just do my job and stay invisible."
"O, girl," Ella moaned softly.
Azreal took her in her arms. "Only for a few days until we find out what mom wants. I don't trust her."
"I know. I understand. You're right. But I will miss you."
Azreal kissed her again. "I will miss you to."
Lucifer cleared his throat. "I like to watch some good lovemaking, but not when it gets sentimental."
"Behave," Chloe whispered. She grabbed his arm. "We leave and let them say goodbye."
"A lonely evening?" Chloe asked when Ella joined her at her desk later that day.
"The evening is not as bad as it seems," Ella said. She sighed and winked. "A lonely night. For the evening: I was already planning to see father Frank today and tomorrow evening. A group of children of his parish will do their First Communion next Sunday and I'm helping him planning a party after that."
"Aha," Chloe said, vaguely knowing it was something important, glancing at Lucifer for some help.
"Important rite of passage, detective," he said. "Meaning they become more or less serious member of the parish."
"You don't know that?" Ella asked Chloe.
"The detective is a peculiar type, miss Lopez. She never 'believed' in my dad or me, she just had prove we existed. Not a believer, no church was ever involved."
"Anyway," Ella said. "No lonely evenings."
Their talking was interrupted by Lucifer's phone ringing. "Maze," he said to Chloe and in the phone: "Hi, Mazie."
"A guy tried to shoot Adriana. Rymane had him in the hold, before he could pull the trigger," Maze informed them. "Guy's name is Nick Solder."
"Ah," Chloe said. "Can she bring him in for interrogation?"
"Of course, Decker," Maze said. "But we already questioned him. He has no idea who Adriana is. He shot Anil Nassar – he quickly confessed that – but didn't know him either. Nick was payed five thousand dollar each."
"Who paid him?"
"Again, he don't know. A guy called Rico in a bar in Pasadena is his interface to the clients. That man informs him who to shoot and transfers the money. The real clients never see Nick. LAPD never heard of Nick?"
"No. Bad, since this sound serious. Lucifer and I will visit that bar, Maze."
"Better not, Decker. LAPD all on your forehead. Rico might run. I will go to see whether I can catch to him. Rymane stays with Adriana,just in case. Raziel will bring Nick to the precinct so you can interview him. Trust me, Decker. I brought the LAPD four bounties in six weeks."
There was nothing else Chloe could do than trust Maze and companions, since she didn't know to which bar Maze was going.
Luckily Dan had Trixie that evening so at nine o'clock Chloe and Lucifer sat in an interrogation room together with Nick. What exactly Maze and Rymane had done with him Chloe wisely didn't ask, but he was shaking all over and in tears. According to Nick Rico was the man in charge and he only pulled the trigger. He confessed nine murders, including Anil.
At ten Maze came in with Rico. Rico told the opposite story. He was just doing what Nick told him and was afraid of Nick. "I had to do this or else Nick would shoot my wife. Nick is the boss."
At half past eleven Chloe had decided more interrogation would not lead to anything. The two men were responsible for nine murders, but they couldn't say who was the boss and who was the follower. She yawned and at the point of telling Lucifer they would go home when Adriana called.
"Aunt Sharmila with a gun. She… Rymane said I should call you. What should I do?"
"Slow down, Adriana," Chloe said. "Are you ok?"
"Yes. Me? Yes, I'm fine."
"Is Rymane ok?"
"She… Oh, my God."
"Adriana, is Rymane hurt?" Chloe repeated.
"Hurt? No. Not she. She is brought aunt Sharmila down. And the gun…"
"Adriana, we will come to you."
Chloe had called two officers on duty to take Sharmila to the precinct. "We interview her tomorrow," she said to Lucifer. "Just Rymane's and Adriana's statements and we're off."
"The woman walked around the house with a gun in her hand," Rymane stated. "She tried doors and windows but they were all closed. I unlocked the front door while she was on that side and waited. The woman came in with the gun raised. She is an amateur. Didn't see me before I kicked the gun out of her hand. Pushed a bit to hard maybe." The demoness grinned.
Adriana was shaking. "My aunt. Would she have killed me?"
"We think she would," Chloe said softly.
"Rymane…" Adriane inhaled deeply, eyes opened wide. "She kicked and the gun flow away. It hit the door." She pointed at a door, it was torn off of one hinge and partly scattered. "She grabbed aunt Sharmila and lifted her with one hand. She threw her through the room as if… she weighted not more than a doll."
"Important thing is you're not hurt," Chloe tried to change the subject.
"No. I mean I'm not. Before aunt came, we talked. She said…" Adriana sat with her eyes closed and swallowing. "It were metaphors, yes?"
"Shall I make you a drink," Chloe proposed.
"She told me she was a demon, Maze was her sister and a demon also. They torture the damned souls in hell. Raziel is an angel, she said."
"LA is full of cos-players and method-actors," Chloe said. That was not a lie, LA was. It just had nothing to do with Rymane and Maze. "Do you think your uncle knew what his wife was doing?"
That got the attention from Adriana. "Uncle. Varun and Nilam. What should I say to them?"
"Maybe you first to talk to Linda. Your biological mother is a therapist, she might be able to help you," Chloe proposed.
Adriana nodded, staring eyes wide to nothing.
"I will call Linda for you," Chloe said.
It was past one. They finally were laying in bed when Lucifer raised his head.
"What?" Chloe asked with a sigh.
"Raziel. Saraquel is asking whether anyone knows an angel with red wings, short woman with black hair with dyed pink highlights and clunky shoes."
"Rory?" Chloe asked with a sleepy voice.
"Sounds like. Raziel informed me that Saraquel told that angel she didn't know just landed in front of dad's office and he let her in. He let her in, detective! None of my siblings is ever allowed in dad's office."
She sighed again.
"Go to sleep, detective?" he whispered. "I will inform you tomorrow."
