Outside the Cecil

Chloe walked up to the young man at the desk, her badge already in her hand, a different one from the last time she had come to the hotel. "I need to speak to Ms. Simonton."

The desk clerk shrugged, not taking his eyes off his computer screen. "Far as I know she's not here."

Chloe gritted her teeth in frustration. She peered at the door behind the desk and made out the staff schedule clearly showing who was supposed to be where. "So where is she? She's scheduled to work the night shift isn't she?" she asked, waving a hand at the door.

The clerk looked up briefly. "Maybe? I don't keep track."

"Then I suggest you start keeping track" Chloe said quietly. "She has a cellphone – right? All mid-level manager have cellphones where they can be reached. Call her, send her a text message letting her know I'm here and wanting to speak to her. And do it now before I call in a large group of uniformed officers to start tearing this place apart for code violations."

The young man sighed and turned to another man just entering the desk area. "Hey, you seen Ms. Simonton? Cops are looking for her."

The other man – slightly older with a scruffy beard and mustache - rolled his eyes. "Dude, you've got to stop spending so much time staring at the computer screen." He smiled hesitantly at Chloe. "Sorry – he's new. You're looking for the manager?"

"Yes – is Ms. Simonton in her office?" Chloe asked, mentally counting to ten to keep her temper in check.

"No – but I did see her going upstairs as I was coming on duty. She had some other ladies with her…"

Chloe fished her phone out of her pocket and pulled up photos of Regina and Bertha. "These two?"

'Yeah – that's them. None of them seemed really happy to be here either."

Chloe stared hard at the man for a moment. "Did you see where they were going?"

"Just saw them get in the elevator. Sorry."

"Don't be" the detective sighed. "I think I know where they were going." She turned and made for the elevators, hoping for once she was wrong.

At Gibson's diner

Dan stared at the man behind the counter whose name tag identified him as Barry. "What do you mean your boss is gone AWOL? Where did he go?"

The ex-con manning the register shrugged. "No clue. Someone called him with word about his kid and next thing I know he's out the door like a shot."

"That big black guy you brought around here the last time showed up looking for Mad Dog a while ago too." Saunders, the former gang member turned diner employee Dan remembered from when he and Amenadiel had first contacted Gibson leaned out from the kitchen. "He left in a hurry after I told him where Mad Dog had gone."

Dan drew in a deep breath. Amenadiel was Lucifer's brother but as different from his sibling as any two could be. And Dan liked the man for all the reason's he didn't like Lucifer. "I don't suppose you're going to tell me what you told Amenadiel, are you? Okay, so Gibson – does he have a car?"

"Old Jeep" the cook replied, reaching over to flip an order of bacon strips on his grill. "If it's not in the parking area then Mad Dog's driving it."

Dan ran from the diner, calling the precinct to start an APB on Gibson's Jeep. Inside the diner the two ex-coms started at each other grimly. "Boss is going to be really pissed when he hears you told the cops how to find him." Barry said coldly.

The cook shrugged. "I'm betting he won't be. At least – that's what the guy who called him from Missing Person's said when they called back just after he took off."

"Guy who told him about his kid?" Barry asked skeptically.

"Don't know" the cook admitted. "Didn't hear the first call. Was in the boss's office when the phone rang. Person on the line said they were from Missing Persons and if anyone came from LAPD looking for the boss to tell them he'd gone."

The two men stared at each other for a moment longer then both shrugged. "Guess the boss knows what he's doing" Barry murmured.

"Yeah – being doing it longer then we have" the cook replied, settling back to complete his late evening orders.

At the Precinct

Ella and a friend from the cyber unit watched as lines of code continued to populate the screen. They had been watching the Web Sleuths website churn out message after message about the current deaths as the Cecil – none of them flattering to the LAPD. One set of messages spoke of the death of DeathStalker24 as just another reason the Cecil was a cursed place that the police should take seriously. Ella sighed and stretched on her cramped perch beside the computer. She pointed to lines of data filling up the screen. "And this tells us what exactly?" she asked.

Her friend, a nerdy little woman named Janice, pointed to the data with her pen. "I've been trying to track these entries on the Web Sleuths page back to their owners, just to be sure we haven't missed anyone currently been examined for this case. We know these in red were put up by your second victim Milton – a.k.a. DeathStalker24. And some of these in blue we've tracked to a cyber café near the home of one of your suspects – most likely sent by Gabriel Bradley. There are a ton of mindless speculation messages that are probably just the regular members of the group trying to keep the story alive but these new ones in white – the ones that seemed so focused on the Cecil and its reputation – those are the ones that are causing me problems."

"Why?" Ella asked, quizzically. "You're like a mega cyber sleuth genius. How can some lines of code mess you up so bad?"

Janice grinned. "Because the person using this account is literally bouncing their messages off multiple points on the globe. Trying to track them back to their point of origin is tedious and actually might not be possible but…" she stopped suddenly and stared for a moment, her fingers moving quickly over her keyboard. "Got you – you slimy SOB! I think I know where the first message from this account may have come from." She tapped at the keyboard a few more minutes then stopped, frowning down at her fingers. "Well – that's strange."

"Strange how?" Ella asked.

"If I'm right – the IP address that sent these first message to the websleuths – the ones that Milton responded to – came from an address I recognize. But it's impossible."

"Again – why is it impossible?"

"Because" Janice said quietly, "the address is a rec center at a Catholic Church I know of. And you don't have any suspects attached to that church – do you?"

Ella, wide eyed, reached for the phone. "Yeah – I think we do."

Back at the Cecil

Lucifer settled back in his chair, inching it microscopically a little bit more into the shadows. "So – let's talk about Jonah shall we? The poor wretch who died in this room and whose shuffle off the mortal coil gave us more clues to follow."

Amenadiel frowned at his brother. "Has Chloe come up with any more information on who gave him the drugs that killed him?"

"No – but I think we already know who that was. Don't we Gabe?" He turned slightly to look at the disheveled young man beside him. "Of course – you had planned on putting that little piece of theatrics off on that young priest you saw at the church you've been using as a stomping ground. What was his name again? Father Tovar? Don't like him much, do you?"

"Mark Tovar" Gabe replied, shifting slightly away from the Devil. "I met him a long time ago when he was visiting friends who lived around where my Uncle's family had property. He was a friend of Milton's, a good friend. Knew all about his wicked ways yet even after he because a priest he never seemed to take it upon himself to make the man pay for all the wicked things he had done. He knew that Milton and his sister were from a family of con artists but somehow that information never seemed to find its way to the right people - not even when James Milton started working for my uncle's company."
Lucifer sighed. "Not his job. Especially if he wasn't a witness to it after his ordination. The Church is so rigid that way." He smiled pleasantly at Regina, who was cowering in her seat. "So was Mr. Milton still the liar and thief he had always been after being given gainful employment?

Gabriel shrugged. "Uncle found out he had his hand in the cookie jar in more than one way - stealing from the company and bedding his wife. He didn't care though - uncle knew that would only make his divorce petition all the stronger. Guess John found out about the money as well as Annalise so he became a liability to auntie Bertha and her boy toy. Gave them a new weapon to aim at uncle."

Lucifer nodded. "But why do away with that useless little druggie?"

Gabe sighed. "I didn't actually mean to. He must have used the entire package instead of just the little bit I told him to use. Should have known better – drug addicts don't have much restraint."

"Well duh" Lucifer replied sarcastically. "Should have seen that one coming."

"Technically then" Amenadiel quickly interjected "All you did was provide him with the method that led to his death."

"Technically" Lucifer drawled "he's still responsible for that wanker's death. Moving on…"

"Who killed my brother?" Regina asked tremulously. "You say that James killed my husband but who killed James?"

"Why don't you tell her, Regina my dear?" Lucifer purred. "Why don't you tell us all?"