Back at the precinct
Chloe was amazed she and Lucifer hadn't been pulled over by uniformed officers considering the speed the Devil was traveling as they circled back to the precinct. "Next time – I'm driving" she muttered.
"Is there a problem, Detective?" Lucifer asked sweetly.
Chloe rolled her eyes and headed for her office where Dan and Ella were hunched over her computer. "So – what did Napa police have to say?"
Ella waved at the computer screen. "They are setting up a Zoom meeting so that we can see and talk to Annalise. She's fine, by the way, but not terribly cooperative."
Chloe glanced over at her consultant. "Any chance your "mojo" will work over the Internet?" she asked.
Lucifer stared at her blankly. "Never tried before. But I'm sure it will be fine. I am the Devil after all."
Chloe sighed. "Sorry I asked. So did she tell the local authorities why she's been hiding out all this time?"
Dan shrugged. "From what they told me all they got was her name, the name of the owner of the house they found her in and some very objectionable language when they told her she would have to come with them. And she's also demanding a lawyer though for now everyone is pretending she isn't." He looked down at the computer with a frown. "Looks like they are maybe ready to talk to us?"
Ella, holding the keyboard on her lap, typed for a moment then waved at the screen. "There we go – you're on."
Chloe slid into her chair in front of the screen with Lucifer leaning over her seat from behind. "Det. Chloe Decker, L.A. – who am I speaking with?"
A uniformed woman nodded to her from the computer. "Det. Hannah Myers, Napa Valley. We have your endangered runaway, Annalise Gibson, here with us."
"I'm not endangered" an angry voice called out from off screen.
"You will be when you're father finds out where you've been" Lucifer purred.
Dan glanced over him with a frown. "Much as I hate to admit it – Lucifer is right. When her old man finds out…"
"Finds out what?" the female officer slid out of sight to be replaced by the pretty if overly made-up face of their runaway – Annalise. The young woman looked somewhat the worse for wear, her mascara running and her limp hair hanging down around her face. She certainly didn't have the look of a woman waiting for her Prince Charming to arrive and sweep her away. "That I'm off having the time of my life with a man who can make all my dreams come true. Too bad if he doesn't like it. I'm an adult. I can make my own decisions."
"How very mature of you to run off to be with a married man old enough to be your father" Chloe replied tightly. "That's a great decision considering he's probably already planning on dumping you for the next flavor of the month. Bradley's reputation has gotten around even if it hasn't been obvious to you. Or like setting up a car to look like slaughter house so we would think someone had killed you to keep your secret? Except you used multiple donor samples with multiple blood types. Guess you figured no one would put the time in to actually check to see that all that blood belonged to one person. And I thought you were supposed to be a clever girl. News flash – you may be able to do what you want but that doesn't mean there won't be consequences when you screw up."
Annalise shrugged. "So I ran off with someone? Big deal – none of anyone's business anyway. And I don't know nothing about any car or blood." She leaned back in the chair, arms crossed across her chest defiantly.
Lucifer leaned in, eyes glittering. "Did they tell you, little runaway, that your friend John McIntyre was murdered in the alley beside the Cecil Hotel? You remember the Cecil – the subject of your and Mr. McIntyre's podcasts? Oh, and his brother-in-law was murdered there. You remember James Milton don't you my dear? His sister, McIntyre's wife, was a member of your precious sorority. I'll just bet that's how you met your sugar daddy, wasn't it. Was that why you disappeared when you did? So you wouldn't have to answer any questions about what the greater plan was, the plan that your friend's discovery of your affair would endanger? What it is it now that you truly desire, little miss Gibson? A chance to escape? Even if it means your friend pays for your freedom with his life?"
Annalise's eyes went wide and out of focus. "John's dead? I don't understand. That's not… I didn't want…" she stuttered, clutching at her forearms in distress. "I just want to be rich and famous – not some gangbanger's daughter on a charity ticket to college. I want to be SOMEONE! That's all I wanted! Not people, not John dying! I never thought my dad would…"
Chloe watched, stunned, as Annalise's eyes glazed over just as other's had done when Lucifer had questioned them. She glanced quickly over at Dan and Ella, who were both staring at her partner in shock. "We don't think your dad killed Mr. McIntyre, but the jury is still out on the death of Milton. I suspect there is more to this story then you're tell me, more you either witnessed or suspect. You have one chance" she said quietly, staring at the young woman reflected in the screen. "You can tell me what the plan was now – or I can arrest you for accessory to the murder of John McIntyre and James Milton. I'm betting Bradley won't arrange for a good lawyer for you – not in his best interests to admit to having had an affair. That is – if he's even still around for you to beg for his help."
Annalise blinked, the spell of Lucifer's voice melting away. "What do you mean by that? Of course he'll help me! He knows I didn't have anything to do with what those crazy bitches had planned!"
"Crazy bitches?" Chloe replied coldly. "You mean Bertha Bradley and Candice McIntyre? You know they've probably got rock solid alibies for the time both men were killed. Know who doesn't? You. They set you up to "disappear" so that when the bodies were found they could point the finger at you, the poor little girl from the projects who was so jealous of all they had she seduced the husband of one of her sorority's alumni then killed her "friend" when he found out what she was doing and … what? Threatened to tell Bradley's wife? Or your father?"
Dam watched with sympathy as the girl he's spend time and energy trying to find slowly melted in her seat as the reality of her situation blossomed in front of her. "Come on kid" he urged. "Help us out. Bradley has gone off the radar. If you have ANY idea where he might be going, where his wife and Candice McIntyre might be waiting for him…"
"Ask Regina Simonton – my boss from the hotel" Annalise replied dully. "She'll know. She always knew what the others were planning. She was Bertha's pet dog. Anything Bertha wanted she would do, even if it meant hurting Don. She hated Don so much. Never really knew why."
"What else do you know?" Lucifer purred. "About, for instance, Bradley's nephew Gabriel? We know he confronted you and McIntyre in your father's diner one night."
Annalise shrugged. "Don said he was a wacko just like his mother had been. I didn't know him all that well. We interviewed him for the podcast about the death of that girl, Elisa Lam, that happened there. He hadn't be an actual witness but he knew someone who had been accused of the murder and we wanted to add that to the podcast to highlight how people on the web just take things and run with them no matter how absurd or untrue they might be. I'm not sure why but that night he tracked us down to the diner and went on a tear about how Bertha and John's brother-in-law were doing it in his uncle's bed and how Don was letting it happen so he could hold it over Bertha's head in divorce court."
"Which makes no sense since she could have held Bradley's affair with you over his head in court as well" Chloe mused, thoughtfully. "So what is really going on here?"
Dan's cell phone pinged suddenly. "Yeah – Det. Espinoza. Who is this?" he stared at the phone for a moment, perplexed then stepped away, talking silently but urgently to whoever was on the other end of the line. He swiped his finger over his phone then turned back to the group. "Well, if things weren't already complicated…"
"What's happening?" Ella asked.
"Remember that Death Metal Rocker you mentioned - Pablo Vergara? The one that the Internet sleuths blamed for one of the deaths at the Cecil? Well he just touched down at LAX and called one of the cops from that original investigation looking for help."
"For help with what?" Lucifer asked, his eyes never leaving the face of the girl in the computer.
"Help locating his friend Gabriel. He says he thinks the kid is involved in a plot to kill someone."
