What a night it had been!

Chloe knew she would remember tonight, always and forever. She would remember and treasure every bit of it, from the limo ride to Ella's "brilliant" deduction.

She'd remember the wonderful dinner, and Lucifer's romantic proposal, and the party where she danced with her friends and then sang to her fiancée, bringing him to the verge of tears.

She'd remember hugging Eve in the restroom, as Eve cried for her lost lover while assuring Chloe that she wanted nothing but the best for them both.

She'd remember her daughter's first taste of champagne, and how Lucifer had pulled the trick of the never-empty champagne flute on her—the devil!—and how he'd then taken responsibility for Trixie's resulting state. She'd remember how he'd touched her daughter with a little feather and instantly taken Trixie from being stumbling drunk to clear-eyed and sober. Celestial magic. She'd have to get used to that.

She'd remember Ella and The Damned Feather—and how Ella had figured everything out … and then gotten her conclusion so wrong that Maze literally fell out of her chair with laughter. She'd remember taking Ella to the brink of knowledge, and then seeing Ella pull back at the last minute, still unsure about whether she was willing to pay the price for that knowledge.

And now she was huddled at a table in the near-empty banquet room, discussing a homicide investigation that was really none of her business. She felt invested, though, as if it were really her case. She felt compelled to put the pieces together and identify the killer, and then see him or her brought to justice.

She only hoped that when she put all the pieces together, she ended-up with a better conclusion that poor Ella had. Extraterrestrials! Really! She smiled just thinking of how proud Ella had been, and then how crushed she was a moment later when everybody lost it. Space aliens! And yet, Ella had been so close to the truth…

Now Chloe was questioning Ella the way she would have questioned a new detective on her first day in Homicide, while Linda watched with interest.

"Let's go over this again," she said. "A bachelor party gone wrong … or maybe a bachelor party that happened to take place while a murder was going on."

Ella nodded. "Right. It'd be a sad coincidence if it were the latter, right?"

Chloe smiled. "Never did like coincidences. Let's start by assuming that the two things are connected. The bachelor party downstairs, and the perp and the vic upstairs, are connected somehow."

"Okay, but did I tell you that the girl was roofied. High dose, too."

Chloe shook her head. "No, and that does add a wrinkle, doesn't it? Why roofie her? Unless … she wasn't there willingly? She was taken there under the influence—but for what reason? It's hard to see."

Ella was going to say something but Maze and Eve strolled over to say their goodbyes. Maze had a bottle of tequila with her. "Lucifer said take what we wanted. So we did. Anyway, Decker, happy for you but the party's gotten a bit dull for my taste. We're outta here. See ya later."

Eve nodded but took the time to hug Chloe goodbye. "We're going to stop by Lux next, I think," she whispered in Chloe's ear.

Chloe nodded. "Take care, Eve. Thank you for everything. I know it's hard for you."

Maze grabbed Eve. "Hands off my woman, Decker. This one's taken. Go find your own or play with Lucifer. He looks lonely over there with Amenadiel."

Chloe smiled and waved at their backs as they headed out of the room. She turned back to Ella.

"Let's start with the one who is getting married. What's his name again?"

Ella hesitated. "Barry something. He alibi'd out with the other six dudes."

"Yeah, but they're alibis for each other, right? Who's to say they didn't get their stories straight before the police interviewed them?"

"True. But it's hard to think that they got drunk and then killed the Jacobsen girl, or that they killed her and then got drunk. I'm not seeing it. Cleaning up the bathroom took some skill."

Chloe nodded. "Okay. Let's put our seven party guests to the side. What about the groom's fiancé? What's her name?"

"Don't know. Joe didn't tell me. But I know he interviewed her and came up blank. He would have said something otherwise."

Chloe grimaced. She wished she'd conducted that interview, because she could easily see a jealous fiancée as their perp. "Okay, let's assume he cleared her. That leaves the suspect. What's his name?"

"Pearson, Chuck Pearson." Linda was happy to finally contribute to the conversation. "I have to be honest, I don't see him as a pre-meditated murderer. Not a cold-blooded killer. I mean, maybe a crime of passion. Maybe. But he's not a big planner. Not a detail guy."

Chloe nodded. That helped. "What else do we know about him?"

Linda hesitated, but then said, "His wife just left him. They had a fight and she walked out."

"What was the fight about?"

Linda was apologetic. "I really shouldn't say."

Chloe just looked at her. "Right. Like you shouldn't have told us who Delilah was having the affair with. That was—what—five years ago? My first case with Lucifer, and he had you spilling all the details in less than three minutes."

Linda blushed. "Well, he certainly had an affect on me, that's true."

Chloe smiled at her friend. She knew they had slept together, multiple times, but that was years in the past.

"My point is that I'm not just anybody."

Linda thought about that. Well, it's not like my ethical standing is all that great, anyway.

"All right, Chloe. She left him because she found out that he'd had an affair. Multiple affairs, apparently."

"Ahh, there we go," Chloe said. "Do we know with whom?"

Linda shook her head. "No idea. But I'm pretty sure he met his … friends … through his work. He called them 'wannabes,' so I'm guessing he offered a role or some other inducement in return for sexual favors."

Chloe nodded. "So it's possible that our vic might have been one of his 'wannabes,' who made a deal for sex and then maybe got cold feet? And he didn't like it when she didn't pay off on her side of the bargain?"

Ella said, "Possible. Or maybe she was the one who told the wife about the affair?"

Chloe was surprised. "Nice one, Ella. That's a decent theory. But no theory explains the roofies. Unless the roofies were part of the bargain? Why? I'm not seeing it."

Linda said, "Maybe she was going to 'Me too' him, and he tried to stop her from speaking out? Roofie her and then kill her, maybe blame it on the bachelor party below?"

Chloe and Ella both nodded at that. Linda had come up with a solid theory. All these theories were plausible, now that they had a possible connection between Pearson and Jacobsen. The problem was, there was still no evidence linking the two. Everything was all just a theory, and no judge was going to sign off on a warrant based on a theory.

At that moment, Amenadiel came over and said, "Linda, we told the sitter we'd be home by midnight. If we leave now, we'll be home by one. So maybe it's time?"

"Yes, I suppose so, Amenadiel," Linda replied. She hugged Chloe. "What a great night! Congratulations to you both."

Amenadiel hugged Chloe as well, and then the couple departed—leaving Ella and Chloe alone at the table. Chloe looked up and saw Lucifer looking at her. She couldn't leave him alone tonight, after all he'd done for her. She looked down at the table, and saw that Linda had left Detective Dutton's card behind. She picked the card up and tucked it away. She had a feeling that she might reach out to Dutton sooner rather than later.

"Ella, how are you doing?" she asked. "Ready to call it a night?"

Ella took a deep breath. "Honestly, I don't know how I'm doing right now. I feel like I've been on a roller coaster and some spinning cups and a falling elevator—all at the same time."

Chloe nodded. "I understand. I really do." She paused. "As I said earlier, you don't have to push any harder. You've already learned so much tonight. Important stuff. That can be enough, right?"

Ella sighed and closed her eyes. "Yeah, maybe. But I know it's not enough. That's the problem. I need to know everything."

Chloe said, very gently, "All right. I'll tell you everything. But not here. Back at Lux. Come with us back to Lux and we'll tell you the whole story." She smiled. "Besides, I think Jerry will be there."

Ella's eyes popped open. "Jerry! Oh my God! I forgot about Jerry!" She picked up her phone and began to frantically text him. "Thank God he's still there. He said he would wait for me." She looked at Chloe. "How long to get a Lyft to Lux? Any idea?"

"Don't worry about Lyft. We have a special ride for you. We call it 'Lucifer's Limo Service'."

#

In the limo on the way back to Lux, Chloe and Ella continued to exchange theories about the case while Lucifer sipped bourbon. Chloe almost forgot he was with them, until he cleared his throat.

Chloe looked up, into the eyes of the man who'd asked her to marry him. Correction: the angel who'd asked her to marry him. The angel who'd gotten down on one knee and who'd then put a ring on her finger. A gorgeous ring! She suddenly felt guilty. This was his night as much as it was hers, and she'd been ignoring him.

"Yes, love?" she asked with a smile.

"While I am enjoying the discussion of the latest investigation, I must ask you a couple of questions that need to be answered before we reach Lux."

"Let me guess," she replied. "How fast can we get to the penthouse and into some position that was inadvertently omitted from the Kama Sutra?"

"No, that wasn't a question I was going to ask you, although it is a very good one. I should say, though, that I'm confident I already know the answer to it. The route has been timed." He smiled. "My first question was, does Ella still want to learn the truth, the whole truth, so help you … Me? Or has her focus returned to her new swain?"

Ella spoke up. "Lucifer, Chloe, I think I've had enough for tonight. I still want to know everything, but I think I'm done. I think I'll chat with Jerry and tell him about your party, and then grab a Lyft home. Is that okay?"

Chloe said, "Of course it's okay. We understand tonight has been a lot to take in for you. Call me and we'll get together somewhere private to … finish what needs to be said."

Ella nodded gratefully. "Thank you. Thank you both. I'm so happy for you! Even if I just found out that you're marrying a dude with wings and feathers. I mean, that's gotta be a little weird in the bedroom, am I right?" She punched Chloe in the arm.

Chloe rubbed her arm and said, "It can be. But then again, I knew that sex with Lucifer was going to be weird from time to time." She shrugged. "You get used to it. And after a while—" She paused. "After a while … you kind of get to like it." She gave Lucifer a big smile.

"Thank you, m'dear," he said, with a smile of his own.

"Stop it you two," Ella said. "It's getting hard to think in here."

"It's always hard …" Lucifer said. Chloe punched him in the arm.

"Anyway … you said you had more than one question. What's the other one?"

Lucifer looked thoughtful. "It's about the case you two have been discussing incessantly all night instead of getting maudlinly drunk like normal people do at an engagement party."

Chloe nodded. "Go on."

"You said there was an erstwhile bachelor party downstairs in an empty house in Bel Air, and a murderer and his victim upstairs in the same house at the same time?"

Ella said, "That's right. The victim was roofied and there was only one useable print on her belt. The dude who owned the print has almost no connection to the vic, and only a very tenuous connection to the dudes at the bachelor party."

Lucifer nodded. "Indeed. Not much to go on."

"Right," Chloe said. "It's all theory at this point. The leads go nowhere."

Lucifer smiled. "Then I just have one more question for you: think about the bachelor party and seven drunken miscreants downstairs. Think about the two people upstairs. Nine people in an empty house in Bel Air …"

"Go on, Lucifer," Chloe said. "What's your question?"

"Well, it's so obvious I'm surprised nobody has asked it before. Here's my question: how did anybody know the house was empty?" He paused. "Phrased another way: how did everybody—eight people plus our young victim—know the house was empty? After all, this is Bel Air we are talking about. Houses just do not sit empty. When people take extended vacations, they hire a house sitter."

"Oh, my God," Chloe said. "That's a great question!"

"Well, yes. I suppose you may credit me. In any case, I would suggest that's a lead worth following, wouldn't you say, my love?"

Chloe nodded. She looked at Ella, who was texting Jerry and may not have heard Lucifer's insightful question. She'd have to call Detective … Dutton and talk to him tomorrow morning.