In front of the Cecil

Bertha Bradley glared at woman driving her expensive limo. "Be careful where you park – I don't want any of these druggies to take a notion to try to rip off the car because you've left it right in their line of sight. This car is worth way more than their pathetic lives."

Candice McIntyre shivered at the brutal tone to what had once been her "big sister" in the sorority. "Then why did you insist on using it? And why insist on having I drive?" She automatically looked for the crumpled note she had tossed on the floorboard of the limo shortly after she had and Bertha had connected with Regina. The fact that all three of them, in their different places of concealment had received the same request for a meeting was at first troubling, then frightening. Now that they had arrived at their destination the idea someone was waiting for them in this cursed place was almost more than she could bear.

Bertha sneered. "I enjoy the finer things in life. Just because my chauffer wasn't available tonight wasn't any reason to lower my transportation standards. And besides a taxi driver could be used to trace me back to this place." She waved the note she had found shoved under her door only hours before. "I don't know who sent this but its best if no one links me back to the place where your husband and brother were murdered. The cops aren't rocket scientists but even they might start to think that's one coincidence too many."

Regina Simonton, the Cecil's manager, glanced into the rear view mirror at the back seat. Her copy of the same note was laying folded neatly in her lap, ready to be tucked away as soon as she exited the vehicle. "They already know too much. They know your nephew was supposed to be working the night Annalise disappeared – that's already one link to you."

"To Don – not to me" Bertha replied tartly. "And besides – we all know that was a lie you made up to point the police in my husband's direction. I'm sure Don told you enough about that weirdo nephew of his during your little "hook-ups" to make the lie sound good. And once all this nonsense about John and James's murders are cleared up we can go back to the original plan but with a new scape-goat. One that won't be as dangerous in the long run as Annalise was."

"Was?" Candice asked quietly. "Do you know something that we don't?"

Bertha shrugged. "No – but a girl can dream can't she? Annalise isn't important anymore. If the police find her they can have her. Gabriel makes a MUCH better suspect for Don's eventual demise. We just need to get past this little bump in the road and get on with the plan."

Regina's mouth tightened into a grimace. "So we're still going through with this?"

"Oh yes" Bertha snarled. "We've all gone was too far down this path to back out now."

Outside of the Cecil

Amenadiel flinched as Gibson grabbed his arm and yanked him back into the shadows. "Hey!"

Gibson jerked one large thumb at a small group of people heading for the door of the hotel. "See them? The tall bitch in the center was my girl's boss. And the other two were part of the fancy college club she got herself into. You said your brother wanted all his suspects in the same place, right? Any bets they are here because of that?"

Amenadiel watched grimly as the three women skitter quickly into the doorway, avoiding the few homeless sorts that had wandered around the building. "You're probably right. Dang it – we need another way in. If those three see you…"

Gibson grinned. "I'm betting there is a service entrance to the hotel just around the corner. Come on, we don't want the "ladies" to get too comfortable, right?" He sauntered off towards the building without a second look.

Amenadiel sighed. "I know this is wrong" he prayed, "but if I'm going to keep Lucifer from making a bad decision worse I need to follow his lead. At least for now." He trotted off after the older man, disappearing from view as he turned the corner.

At the precinct

"Have you heard from Lucifer yet?" Ella asked Chloe in a worried tone. "It's not like him to just drop out of sight in the middle of a case he seemed to be enjoying."

Chloe agreed silently. Her partner's continued radio silence has begun to trouble her. "No. He's probably out with Maze trying to come up with something that will break the case without putting him in jail for obstruction."

"Speaking of Maze" Dan's voice called out. He slid into the entrance to Chloe's cubicle. "Precinct got a call about an assault at one of the ritzy hotels. Maid went to do turn-down service and found the room's occupant handcuffed to the bed with blood on the pillow. Guess who the guy was?"

Chloe shrugged. "No clue."

"Don Bradley. He says some woman he picked up at the bar slugged him with the Champaign bottle and left him tied to the bed. From his description…"

"Maze?" Chloe guessed.

"Maybe – though he's not being terribly helpful about identifying his attacker. Seems he's concerned about something else. Something like the murders of the two men who once worked for him. He thinks we might be trying to pin the acts on him."

"Well – that would be logical" Ella quipped. "James McIntyre was close to Annalise and he might have been afraid that the guy would tell her dad what was going on between her and this older sleezeball. And John…"

"I get the feeling Bradley may have seen some of those photos his nephew has been sending out and come to the conclusion that Milton was hooking up with his wife. So there's a possible motive for the crime there." Chloe stared down at the papers on her desk with a frown. "But it's all speculation. There's nothing concrete…"

"Maybe that's what Lucifer is looking for" Elle exclaimed in excitement. "That one thing that ties them all together."

"News flash – there's one other death that is even more out of the pattern." Dan replied in annoyance. "That junkie Amenadiel and Lucifer found in the Cecil – the one that had the flash drive on him. We still don't know who gave him that drive or who gave him the drugs that killed him."

"I suspect" Chloe said slowly "that Gabriel, Bradley's nephew, probably gave him the drive. And the key to the room."
"How would he have gotten that?" Elle asked.

"Regina Simonton said Gabriel was the night desk clerk who disappeared from his shift the night Annalise also disappeared." Chloe waved the stack so papers and multiple open pages on her computer monitor. "But I can't find anything that says he ever worked at the Cecil."

"Maybe he was using another name?" Dan replied.

"Maybe" Chloe agreed. "But I suspect Regina threw us a name she knew we would latch onto to keep us from looking to closely at something. I'm just not sure what." She turned and started out the door. "I'm going back to the Cecil and have another little chat with Ms. Simonton. Something else was going on before McIntyre's death and I have a feeling she knows what it was."

"Want me to come along?" Dan asked, hopefully.

"No – thanks" Chloe replied. "I'll call in if I find anything new."

Ella and Dan watched their friend and co-worker slide into the open elevator. "Maybe one of us should go anyway?" Ella asked hesitantly.

'Chloe can handle herself" Dan replied, a note of uncertainty in his voice. "I think I'm going back to Gibson's diner and see I can get him to talk to me. If he's heard his kid has been found and where it's probably a good thing to have eyes on him before he does something we will all regret."

"If he hasn't already" Ella said quietly.