Chapter 3: Solving Palmetto
Lucifer's arms lifted Chloe, she noticed how little effort it was for him to hold her. He was strong, much stronger than a human with the same size muscles would be. She looked at his face, so close and smiled to reassure him once more she dared to do this. His wings spread wide and flapped. They raised from the balcony of the Lux. For a few moment she saw the streets and boulevards of LA below them, then the sky and city were gone and they were surrounded by a silvery fog. As he had explained earlier this evening: some dimensions between heaven, Earth and hell, that angels used to travel.
"Look."
She turned her head and saw the three spheres he had described. A blue, brown and white one in the middle: Earth, a green, gold and silver one above Earth and a black one below with red lines and purple dots. His wings moved and within a few beats they were above a crossing of two red lines on the dark sphere.
The sky turned dark, a desolate landscape of stones and rocks appeared below them. He landed on the flat roof of a lonely brown building. The air was chilly, ash came down as a drizzly drizzle from dark grey clouds above them. Thunder rumbled in the distance. Chloe looked around and shivered. Flames sprang up from multiple pits between the rocks.
"Below is the administrative heart of hell," he explained. "Here they can tell us where Aoudi's cell is."
"Can you also ask for Anthony Paolucci? I want to know whether it was Graham that killed him.
He flew her to the city – as he called the gathering of cells – where Aoudi's hell loop was. They landed on a square surrounded by dark grey buildings, looming over the open space and causing shadows were she vaguely could see things moving. Thunder was close now, lightning blinded her for a second. It was his hand on her arm that calmed her a bit.
"It's only special effects, detective," he said softly. "Nothing is coming to you. This way."
Ash was still coming down and the wind that came to her at each turn around a building was biting cold. From the corner of her eye she saw something big moving in a doorway. She turned, jumped back and almost tripped over. Lucifer's hand helped her to stay on her feet. "It's only illusions to frighten humans, detective." The doorway was empty.
Lucifer knocked on a door. A being opened the door. It had to be a demon. The best description was a snake with four legs and two scissors as arms. "We are looking for Nikolas Aoudi's loop, Vezamul."
"On the second floor, my king." Vezamul bowed. "Please follow me." The demon turned his head to Chloe. "But I have no empty cell for the woman."
"The woman's name is Chloe and she is not dead. She is a living human and has questions that Aoudi has to answer."
Vezamul now also bowed for Chloe and guided them up two stairs. They count the ground floor as zero, flashed through Chloe's mind, but she didn't say it. As Lucifer had predicted, Aoudi talked. He answered every question, shivering and with a trembling voice. That is what hell does with a human soul, Lucifer had explained.
"I paid Graham dozens of times. For information, to falsify testimonies, to threaten witnesses, anything I needed." Aoudi sat head down, sobbing softly, looking like a jelly pudding.
"Is there any proof of that?" Chloe asked.
"I documented all bribes I paid, in case I needed to blackmail some officer. It's all on a file in the cloud."
Chloe raised her eyebrows and asked eagerly: "How do I access that file?
He gave her a website's url, an username and a password. "I never bookmarked that, you can't trust anyone or anything. From my phone or laptop no one could have found it. I always used incognito windows and vpn's."
"When you were shot, was there some other police officer apart from Malcolm?"
There had been: someone behind a door. "I only saw him when he raised his gun. A man, thirty or forty. Brown hair, looking as if he goes to the gym regularly, average heigh."
Chloe shrugged and whispered to Lucifer: "That holds for half of my colleagues."
She took her phone and showed him some pictures of LAPD colleagues.
"I don't know," Aoudi said. "I only saw his face less than a second. It might be that one."
Chloe felt a shock, felt a shiver over her spine. "Are you sure?"
"No, no, no. Not sure. It… I don't know."
Chloe turned her phone to Lucifer. He looked at the picture and muttered: "Daniel."
Outside the building, walking back to the square where they had landed, Chloe whispered: "It would make sense."
"Aoudi said might and don't know, detective."
"Yes. He did. But if it was Dan, he never told me. He let me believe I was crazy, seeing things that didn't exist. Dan and I found the hidden passage at Palmetto. Found! He knew it was there. He must have used it himself to enter and to leave!"
On the square he put his hands on her shoulders and waited until she was silent. "Yes, detective. But, just as Aoudi, we don't know for sure. We are now almost three hours in hell. On Earth eighteen seconds has passed. Do you want to go back to Earth or spend some more time on Paolucci? Each hour will be six seconds on Earth."
The dark corners, the sounds and thunder, the shadows, they were different around Paolucci's cell, but just as scary. Chloe hold Lucifer's hand. She knew she would panic if she would let go of his touch.
The demon that waited for them at Paolucci cell had a human, female body, curved at the hips and large breasts, well-trained and no fat on the belly. Half the face was human and beautiful, the other half was a grotesque insect with a facetted eye and antennas. Chloe's eardrums vibrated, her muscles tensed, she did a step back. "A soul that needs a special treatment, my king?" the woman asked.
"No, Na'amah. Can you change your face to human?"
The demoness did as she was asked and gave Chloe a wondering look.
"She is a living human, detective Chloe Decker, who needs to talk with one of the souls you look after this week."
"Na'amah?" Chloe asked. "She will be Rory's aunt?"
"Very well possible, detective," Lucifer said. "There is no other Na'amah within the Lilim and demons of a lower rank can't walk on Earth in their own flesh."
Na'amah's eyes went between Chloe and Lucifer. "Aunt, my king?" she asked.
Lucifer smiled. "Maze and the detective had an interesting encounter with a half-angel from the future who… Detective you can tell it better."
Paolucci's soul recognized Chloe and stared eyes wide open at her and Lucifer after she explained that Lucifer was the devil and had brought her here to interrogate him. He first clenched his jaws when she asked, but the moment Na'amah touched him lightly he started to sob. Just as with Aoudi his shoulders dropped as if he was a jelly pudding. He shivered and began to talk.
Lucifer landed on the balcony of the Lux and put Chloe on her feet. She didn't move, head down, face in her hands.
"Detective?" he asked.
"O, god. So terrible," she whispered.
"You mean hell? It's my fault, detective. I should have gone alone. I…"
"No, Lucifer," she interrupted him. "O, hell is depressing, a nightmare. But you made me feel safe."
"But you said terrible?"
"Dan. Aoudi recognized Dan," she said and took a deep breath.
"He wasn't sure, detective."
"Paolucci said Dan knew that Malcolm took bribes, but Dan looked away."
"Paolucci said," Lucifer admitted.
Chloe gritted her teeth. "And Malcolm killed Paolucci. But we have no prove."
"In the cloud we have the document Aoudi made of all his bribing."
She nodded, pulled him inside the penthouse. "I want to see it. Your computer."
Five minutes later Chloe leaned back and smiled. "This is all Internal Affairs needs. They can check what information Malcolm searched in the systems, that all logged, and match it." She gave Lucifer a kiss on his cheek. He was clearly taken by surprise and stared at her.
"Where is Maze?" Chloe asked.
He blinked his eyes. "Maze? Down, managing the bar, I expect."
"Let's see her and tell her about our conversation with Na'amah."
First thing next morning was a visit to Internal Affairs and giving them the website url and credentials of Aoudi's log file. Chloe was back at her own desk at nine to finish the paperwork of the Tim Dunlear case. Lucifer stayed. He sat at her desk, looked at her, fiddled with his cuff links, played with her Newton cradle, looked on his phone, talked with her colleagues, offered no help for the paperwork at all, brought her coffee. But he stayed.
Dan was working. Well, reading stuff on his computer. Chloe had no idea what stuff. Malcolm was at his desk doing nothing, just looking around.
"There is only paperwork," Chloe said to Lucifer.
"I know detective. I just enjoy your company."
She rolled her eyes and turned back to her computer. He went to get her another coffee and while he was gone, Dan came to her desk. "Why is he here?"
"He is my partner."
"A useless nightclub owner. Tomorrow he will have another toy."
Chloe leaned back and looked at Dan and decide to gamble. "You shot Malcolm at Palmetto."
He turned pale and made a step back. "You're crazy. Ask Malcolm."
"Listen, Dan. If you want to save your ass, go to the lieutenant and tell him everything you know about Malcolm."
"There is nothing to tell," he snapped and he returned to his desk.
"Don't talk to her, Espinoza," Malcolm said loudly from his desk. It was: he ordered Dan loudly from his desk and Dan nodded and looked at his screen again.
Half an hour later three men came in, one was the agent from IA that Chloe had met this morning, the other two no doubt his colleagues. They walked straight to Malcolm. "Mister Graham? Internal Affairs. Can you come with us to your lieutenant's office?"
All detectives in the precinct looked up and stared at the group as they entered the lieutenant's office, some shocked. Dan slowly turned to Chloe, eyes wide open.
"It's too late now to go see the lieutenant in person," she said. "Maybe you can send him a mail before they come out and start interviewing detectives. But to give you a hint, IA is questioning Malcolm about Palmetto."
Chloe didn't wait to see whether Dan followed her advice. Lucifer had invited her for lunch and she had accepted.
"Before you married Dan, you have been dating him?" Lucifer asked after they ordered their lunches.
"Yes. I did. He asked me on a date two weeks after I first saw him."
"And you didn't have sex with him after your first date?"
Of course that was not his business and that was what she would have told anyone else who asked, but he was frowning, looking seriously and tensed.
"No. No sex on a first date."
Lucifer nodded thoughtfully. "No sex on a first date," he echoed. "A decent girl will wait for the third date, I was told."
Chloe grinned. "And then only when she thinks she and the guy both want to have a serious relation. With Dan we waited a few dates more before I was sure."
He was still slowly nodding. "So two rules. And you would expect him to not have sex with others between that first date and that later date when you first sleep with him."
"If he would have sex with others he would violate the second rule: wanting to have a serious relation."
After a deep breath he smiled. "Humans are complicated, detective. I…"
He was interrupted by her phone ringing.
"My commander," Chloe said and accepted the call. "Detective Decker?" Lucifer raising eyebrows proved he had no idea who her commander was.
"Detective Decker? Commander McPherson here. I need to speak to you. Can you be at my office at one thirty?"
Chloe looked at her watch. "Yes, commander."
"About what does he wants to talk?" Lucifer asked.
"She," Chloe corrected. "It must be Malcolm. What else. I'm afraid Dan will be involved."
"Would she discuss that with you?"
"The situation is I, well we, came with the evidence that Malcolm is dirty. That might also take down Dan, but Dan happens to be my husband. At the moment."
"Would you care if the Douche is fired, detective? Or in jail?"
"He is still Trixie's father, Lucifer. I don't want to tell my daughter her father is in jail."
Chloe had never talked in person with commander Allyson McPherson. Chloe had seen the commander a few times when the woman visited their precinct and speeched to all detectives, mostly about new assigned captains or thank the group for achieved results. Allyson McPherson was mid fifties and looked hispanic – despite her name. As many women, she was clearly impressed by Lucifer, licked her lips and giggled nervously when he greeted her.
"Mr Morningstar, I was told… Never mind. Detective, mr Morningstar, please sit. Detective Decker…" McPherson's words addressed Chloe, but her eyes were mostly on Lucifer. "… I have the first results of the interrogation of detective Graham. He did confess. He had to. IA showed him each time when Aoudi mentioning he bought specific information that time combined with Graham looking up that information in the system one or two days before."
"I'm glad to hear I was right, commander," Chloe said.
McPherson nodded. "He is a dirty cop. But he is not the only one. His partner Paolucci was just as dirty and Graham mentioned a few more names of detectives that are not clean." She now just looked at Chloe. "One of them is your husband, detective Espinoza."
"Commander," Lucifer interrupted.
She turned her eyes to him and blushed.
"I'm sure Malcolm told a few more things. A few strange things. Didn't he?"
McPherson breathed nervously. "Well… Yes. He claimed he was in hell, but an angel took him out and brought him to Earth."
"Really?" Lucifer looked amazed, then frowned. "What more?"
"He claims the angel told him you are the devil and he had to shoot you to save his soul."
Lucifer smiled. "Commander. That sounds really insane. Not a man whose testimony we can believe."
"Maybe." Commander McPherson hesitated. "That is true, but Graham gave quite some details on Espinoza."
"Nevertheless," Lucifer said with his most radiant Lucifer smile beaming at the commander. "Hell? Angel? Devil? A lawyer would make a case of Graham being insane so the jury should also doubt his story about Daniel Espinoza. Don't you think?"
"Yes," McPherson whispered, hardly able to breath. "But I think Espinoza was involved in a few things. He should not get away free. Do you agree, mr Morningstar. Please?"
"Well, please say Lucifer," Lucifer said. "Degrade him and the others to detective one. Explain them it is their last change. Threat them with jail if they don't agree. No trial, no stories about an insane detective Graham in the news papers."
McPerson sighed. "That sounds reasonable, mr Morningstar, Lucifer." She smiled. "It might be the best way to go forward."
"How did you know Malcolm had been in hell?" Chloe asked after they left the commander's office and headed back to her car.
"I didn't. I was expecting him to have talked about Dan shooting him at Palmetto, while the report of Palmetto stated there was no-one else in the building. I wanted to bring it up as a personal vendetta against Dan to discredit his words. This was unexpected, although even better, more insane."
"But can it be true? Can it be he was in hell?"
"After they stopped the machines that kept him alive?" Lucifer thought it over for some seconds. "It would mean dear Amenadiel has brought him back to Earth to shoot me? Very well possible. I will have a word with my bro."
She unlocked her car, went in and rested her arms on the steering wheel. "Is this my life? A week ago I didn't believe in heaven, hell, angels, you."
"I apologize, detective."
She sighed. "And I thought Dan and I could get together again, for our daughter."
"Again, I apologize, detective."
She started the engine. "You don't have to be sorry for the Douche. What he did is not your fault. You didn't sit on his shoulder and whisper in his ear to let him to the bad things."
"Bloody hell, no! I don't think our Daniel can hold my weight on one shoulder." He grinned. "And so close by? I would become nauseous from the Douche' cheap aftershave!"
She laughed. "You didn't do anything wrong, Satan."
He didn't react, just looked at the traffic in front of them.
"Hey, Lucifer. It was a joke. If I offended you by saying Satan, I…"
"No, detective. No offense taken. No."
"Then why are you not reacting?"
"Collecting courage," he murmured so soft she was not sure she heard it right.
"Courage?"
"Detective, would you please go on a date, a serious date, with me?"
Of course she remembered their conversation during lunch. "You want… with me?"
"You, detective. Only you. Exclusive."
She swallowed. "You will become bored with just me."
"I can only prove to you I will not, if you give me a change to prove it."
She took his hand, entangled their fingers. "Then you will have that change, Lucifer."
- the end -
That's it… When I started the story this was the end I had planned, but in the meanwhile I decided to add two postscripts, one on Amenadiel, one on Ella. So two short chapters will be added in the next two months or so… :-)