Chloe glared at her cell-phone, trying to make sense of what she had just heard. "Who did you say the victim was?" she asked again, sliding out of her bed and fumbling around for her clothes.

"Victim was i. as James Milton. Staff at the Cecil said he was a regular around here – always trying to get with some young night clerk named…."

"Annalise Gibson" Chloe sighed, sitting back on the edge of her bed. "Who found him?"

She could all but hear the shrug in the officer's voice. "Some priest – said he had gotten a message from a parishioner to meet him here at the hotel because he was having problems."

"Did he say what type of problems?" Chloe asked.

"No – all he said was he had just arrived and was headed for the front door when he heard someone cry out from the alley and went to see if he could help. That's when he found the body."

"Yeah – I'll just bet he did. Hold him until I get there. If you get any push-back from him or the hotel let me know. I'll be there as soon as I grab my consultant. This is one conversation he's not going to want to miss."

Back at Lux

Lucifer watched the sun rise from his balcony, mentally reviewing what he had learned the night before. Which, he had to admit, hadn't been much. Maze's "contact" hadn't known much about this Gabe person the Detective was looking for, at least not much that would link him to the murder. But there was the little tidbit about the young man not being available to attend the exorcism that went south, leaving Kinley and others on their way to Hell. "Far too coincidental that he should come down sick at just the right moment – and I don't believe in coincidences." His cellphone's buzzing distracted him from his thoughts. He tapped it mindlessly, not bothering to see who would be calling him this early.

"Lucifer?" Chloe's voice called out, sounding rushed. "There has been a development. I'm on the way to the Cecil – one of our possible suspects has been found dead in the alley just like our first victim, Mr. McIntyre."

Lucifer frowned, lifting the cell to his ear. "Which one of your suspects?" he asked quietly.

"James Milton – McIntyre's brother-in-law. And, coincidently also the person behind the DeathStalker24 internet tag."

"Really?" Lucifer straightened up, suddenly interested. "So Mr. Milton was our Net Sleuth was he? I wonder…"

"Wonder on the way to the hotel" Chloe replied. "I've people to talk to including the priest who found Milton after he had been attacked."

"Priest?" Lucifer replied, his voice changing slightly. "How…. Interesting. I'm on my way." He tapped the phone again, cutting his connection and moving swiftly to his closet. "So – a "priest" found Mr. Milton dead at the Cecil. What an interesting… coincidence."

At the Cecil

Chloe pulled in behind one of the police cars parked around the hotel's entrance, a sense of déjà vu flooding through her. "Just like a few days ago" she mused, picking her way through the various officers and civilians hovering around the alleyway. She noticed Lucifer had beaten her to the scene and was talking animatedly to one of the uniforms. "And of course, he's off and running with some off the wall story or other" she sighed, signaling to her consultant to join her.

Lucifer smiled as he strolled over to his partner, waving good-bye to the officer he had been chatting with. "Lovely person" he said, motioning to the young man. "Interested in visiting Lux – maybe I'll hire him as part-time security." He pointed down the alley. "Your newest victim is just down there – right about where your first one fell."

"I don't suppose you heard anything that might tell us why Milton was here, did you? Anything from the hotel staff?"

Lucifer sniffed. "I thought I'd leave the staff to you, Detective. Interrogation is your forte after all. But I do think you might want to start with the priest who found him. I'm sure he's NOT telling you everything he knows."

Chloe sighed. "I would have thought that after Father Frank you wouldn't automatically associate men of the Church with sinning."

"Father Frank was different" Lucifer replied coldly. "He didn't deserve his fate – but this young whelp probably does. I did mention to you last night that Maze had found a priest to tell me more about young master Gabriel, correct? Well, that priest is sitting in the lobby of the hotel right now, surrounded by your fellow officers."
Chloe shot a quick look at the door to the hotel. "Officer that reported to me said the priest was here at the request of a parishioner."

"I somehow doubt it" Lucifer sneered. "The particular parish this one works at has no connection to the Cecil or the various charities that try to serve the homeless in this area. Maze assured me of that when she brought him to me. And these days I suspect the Church doesn't allow for at-home visits by single priests. I may be wrong but I think that considering the neighborhood they would have sent more than one - or at least waited until morning."

Chloe rolled her eyes. "I'm not even going to go into how many ways Maze kidnapping some random priest off the street and bringing him to you for interrogation could get you both put away for life."

"I doubt it" Lucifer replied gleefully. "His Bishop would most certainly NOT like to have his protégée's sins revealed to the news media – especially after all the stories that the Church has had to deal with in the last few years. And Maze is quite thorough. Given time – I'm sure she could come up with a few sins to tag the Bishop with as well."

"Hey, Chloe!" Dan's voice cut through the dull chattering around the alley. "Just got notified – what happened?"

"We're not sure, Daniel. Why don't you make yourself useful and go prod the body a few times and see if anything useful pops out of it?" Lucifer smiled and started off towards the hotel entrance, a wicked gleam in his eyes.

"Crap! Last thing I need is him taking on the Church" Chloe muttered. "Dan, our victim is James Milton. Once the coroner is ready to move the body see if you find anything on him or in the alley to explain why he was here last night. We'll have to talk to the hotel staff again. Seems he was a regular around here – and despite what he might have told us he knew your missing person Annalise."

Dan's eyes widened. "Well that's interesting. I'm on it." He trotted down to where the body was being examined by the EMT's while Chloe followed her devilish consultant back into the hotel.

Inside, Lucifer's eyes narrowed as he watched the young priest fidget in his chair. "Did I ever get his name?" he wondered, stepping aside as Chloe caught up with him. "Not that it matters – he won't need a name in Hell."

Chloe examined the young man for a moment, deciding how to begin this. "Father? I'm Det. Chloe Decker. I believe you know my partner, Mr. Morningstar?"

The priest's head jerked up quickly. "I.. ah…well…"

"I'll take that as a yes" Chloe replied dryly. "And your name is?"

"Tovar. Father Mark Tovar" he stuttered, his head down again and eyes fixed firmly on the carpet.

"Well, Father Tovar, how about you tell me what you were doing at the Cecil at this hour of the morning?"

"Yes – and let's at least try to make it a convincing story" Lucifer drawled, staring down at the man with glee. "The Detective really doesn't have time for any of your charming fairy tales."

"I received a call from a parishioner…" Tovar started.

"Try again" Chloe interrupted, glancing up at her partner. "Considering the crime rate around here there is no way you would have been sent alone to deal with a parishioner's issues. So who really called you, Father? And, as my partner said, make it convincing.."

Tovar glanced up at the tall figure beside Chloe with a shudder. "It was just … a friend from before I entered the seminary. I'd been helping him with some family problems and he wanted to discuss them with me again."

"In a run-down hotel on the edge of Skid Row? Didn't that seem a little strange to you?"

Tovar shrugged. "My friend and I have met in worse places – especially when we were teens."

"And was your friend James Milton?" Chloe asked.

"Yeah – we were in the same high school. My parents sent me off to college and James…"

"James – didn't go." Chloe said quietly. "I know that despite what his brother-in-law said he didn't have the degree he claimed on his resume. So what was he doing while you were in school?"

Tovar sighed "Grifting. That's what he was good at. He was a pretty good con artist. His sister Candice protected him when some of his crazy plans went south but even she finally got tired it. When Candice married her husband, James said it seemed like a good excuse to lay low. But I wondered, at the time, if that was the only reason he dropped out of the street life. He was always hanging on Candice, always trying to be the big man in her eyes – her protector. When she married John McIntyre all that changed – and so did Milton."

"So these family issues he wanted to talk to you about – did they have anything to do with a young woman named Annalise Gibson?"

The priest leaned back, tired. "Yes – James told me his boss, some guy named Bradley, had taken an interest in the girl, wanted to "get to know her better" if you know what I mean. He had been trying to find a way to make that happen, hoping that if he did Bradley would start noticing him too. James had a real hard on about his brother-in-law's ability to make straw into gold as he put it. Didn't like that everyone liked the guy. Said it was because he had been born a rich boy with all the advantages – and that if anyone found out some of the creepy stuff the guy was into all that good will would vanish. I never met the man so don't know how true his story was but he really, really hated the man."

"Hated him for his success? Or was there another reason? Something a bit more personal?" Lucifer stepped closer, looking down at the man with interest.

Tovar looked away. "James was a really weird dude even as a kid. I don't imagine he got any more normal as an adult."

Chloe frowned. "James Milton said he was playing on-line chess with a friend in London at the time of his brother-in-law's death. I wonder…"

The priest snorted in derision. "James Milton – playing chess? Not the guy I knew. I would put money on there being something else behind that story."

Chloe pulled her cell out of her pocket and quickly connected to Ella. "I'm going to get search warrants specifically for James Milton's computer and phone records. Dang it – how did we miss this? If this on-line game is a con…"

"Then our Mr. Milton doesn't have an alibi for when his brother-in-law was killed" Lucifer mused thoughtfully. "But then, that does beg the question – if he killed John McIntyre then who killed him?"