At the precinct – the next day

Chloe looked up from her paperwork as Ella slid through the door. "Found something?"

Ella smiled. "You were right – that whole "playing chess online" story was nothing but a scam. His computer was playing but he wasn't."

Chloe frowned. "Come again?"

Ella pulled up a chair, bouncing in her seat with enthusiasm. "He programed the computer to make the call at a certain time and run a game automatically based on some of the moves from famous previous chess tournaments. His buddy in London was probably in on the fix – Dan's seeing if the D.A.'s office can make a request to the Yard to question him but it's pretty obvious that there was no one home on this side of the pond directing the game. He didn't even bother to erase the program from his computer."

"So – Milton's alibi is gone so he could have been the one to kill his brother-in-law. But then – who killed him? And we're no closer to finding Annalise." She shoved the files on her desk aside with a sigh. "Coroner believes whoever bled in the trunk of McIntyre's car lost too much blood to have survived. If that was Annalise – and it looks right now like it was – then we're not looking for a live person but a dead body."

"Anyone contacted Milton's sister to let her know what's happened?" Ella asked quietly.

"No one can FIND his sister" Chloe replied briskly. "Which only makes all of this even more interesting." She pulled a file from the stack and laid it open on her desk. "Candice McIntyre documented every meeting, every social event, even every shopping run she made in a scheduler. She was obsessive about it – even listing who she would be meeting with. Yet starting on the day her husband died she's made no entries at all – nothing. Even her lawyer doesn't know where she is. The only think he could tell me was that maybe Mrs. Bradley might know. Seems those two were very close due to their charity work as alumni from the same university and from the same sorority. Of course – now the Bradley's are not talking to us either – just shunting us off to THEIR lawyers and insisting they don't know anything about what Bradley's nephew might be doing or what connection he might have to McIntyre's death."

"What about Annalise?" Ella said. "Anyone reached out to her family yet?"

"Having a conversation about blood in McIntyre's car and it's connection to his daughter is something I'm not looking forward to having with Mad Dog Gibson" Dan said, walking dejectedly into his ex-wife's office. "I have a feeling hearing that kind of news will set off a whole new round of ugly situations." He looked around the office and out into the main area. "Talked some more to the priest the uniform's pulled in last night. Funny thing – he said he kind of knew Candice Milton from school – she was a few grades above him. He had the impression she might have been his buddies step sister or something like that but she was an emancipated minor and didn't live with James and his parents so not sure what the whole story there was. One thing he did remember was that James was super protective of her – ran off any guy who even took an interest in her. Kind of strange but then so are most of the people involved in this case. And speaking of strange – where's Lucifer? Not like him to not be hanging round, poking his nose into things."

Chloe shrugged. "I called him this morning and he didn't pick up. Found a voice mail message from Linda on my office phone saying he and Amenadiel were spending some "quality time" together – whatever that means."

"Quality time? Amenadiel and Lucifer?" Dan scoffed. "Really? Doing what?"

"Not sure" Chloe admitted uncomfortably. "But it wouldn't surprise me at all if they are both poking around back at the Cecil. It is where all this started and they both seemed to have their own issues with the place."

"Maybe they'll talk to one of the hotel's ghosts and get everything sorted out" Ella responded with a laugh. "After all – that place is mega haunted."

"Yeah – right" both Dan and Chloe responded with different degrees of disbelief.

At the Cecil

"I don't know how you managed to get the key to the first victim's room" Amenadiel huffed, following his devilish brother down the hall. "But I'm sure there is nothing left there that the police didn't find."

"Maybe not" Lucifer conceded, pulling the police tape aside and sliding the key into the lock. "But then again – a lot has happened since that first crime. Who knows what might have turned up that wasn't there before?" He stepped into the room and stopped suddenly, his muscular brother running into his back as he did so. "Careful brother – you'll mess up my suit."

"Why did you stop?" Amenadiel complained.

"I wanted to give that sill wanker at the window time to realize he had nowhere to run before he turned back to us." He waved a hand languidly at the figure standing in front of the filthy hotel widows. The creature turned, to reveal a slight young man wearing a priest's collar under layers of filthy clothing. No one would have given him a second look outside among the homeless population. But in here…

"Who are you?" Amenadiel asked, blocking the door to keep the man from making a break for freedom.

"How did you get in here?"

"Jonah" the creature replied in a sing-song voice. He smiled, his cracked lips and blackened teeth adding a layer of discomfort to his identity. "Who are you?"

"Probably an addict – meth possibly" Lucifer mused, eyeing the creature objectively. "I've had a few dropped at the gates of Hell – all had that look of not having made the acquaintance of a toothbrush in ages." He stared at the being in front of him impassively. "Jonah? I'm going to assume you didn't get into this room on your own – did you? So – be a love and tell my brother and I who let you in and what they wanted you to do when you got here?"

The drug-addled man smiled at the two being in front of him. "My friend let me in. Had a key and everything. Told me not to tear the pretty papers across the door so no one would come see and bother me. He said I could stay for a while. At least until the Devil came to take me away."

Amenadiel shot a quick look at his brother. "The Devil?"

Jonah shrugged. "That's what he said. Said the hotel was the Devil's playground and that he would come for me soon. Even gave me some good shit to try while I waited." He yawned widely, a rank smell from his rotten teeth filling the space around him. "I'm tired. Maybe I'll just sit right here and watch the pretty lights above your head." The man sank down, eyes wide then keeled over on his side, twitching as he did so.

"I think now would be a good time to call Chloe" Amenadiel said, watching the figure on the floor with concern.

"Later" Lucifer responded, watching the man closely. "First – let's see what we can find ourselves. Starting with whatever this creature might have stuck in his pockets as he drifted in and out of his drug induced haze. Because he must have come up here with something other than drugs in his pocket. Something his "friend" wanted someone to find."

Amenadiel gave him a quizzical look. "You think this poor creature was sent up here to deliver the next message from our mysterious chronicler of crime?"

"I wouldn't be surprised" Lucifer replied. "Sounds like something this odd duck would do. After all – he's sent photos to me and to Chloe and "arranged" for us to find clues related to this murder at this hotel. Having some druggie bring the next clue up to the room that McIntyre inhabited before his untimely death. Now all we have to do is find what it was that this idiot was supposed to leave for us."

"Or we could just call Chloe and let the police handle it" Amenadiel replied reasonably. "After all – he's contaminated a crime scene. I'm sure there's a law somewhere in the books they could use to hold him until he's sober."

"Takes too long" Lucifer replied briskly, grabbing the man by the ankle and hoisting him in the air.

The addict gasped in surprise "Wow – Dude! What!"

Lucifer dropped him unceremoniously back on the floor and wiped his hand on his brother's shirt. "Even his ankles are messy. We'll just have to peel the layers off him like an onion and see what we can find."

Amenadiel stepped forward to stop his brother's overly enthusiastic search then winced ad the sound of plastic cracking under his foot. "Luci? I think I found what Jonah here was sent to find." He lifted his foot and reached down for the small USB flash drive he had inadvertently stepped on. "How did the police miss this?"

"The probably didn't" Lucifer remarked, taking the item from his sibling. "I'm thinking this is the next clue our little buddy here was supposed to leave for us. By the way – is he still breathing?"

Amenadiel dashed over to the figure on the bed, now laying too quietly on the mattress. "Luci – we need to call for Dan and Chloe. I think this man's overdosing."
"Or been poisoned by this "friend" who didn't want to risk being identified." Lucifer pulled his cell from his jacket with a sigh and dialed. "Oh Detective! I have a problem for you at the Cecil."