So the story is set somewhere in Season 1 and I might or might not use some elements from other seasons ^^. Lucifer is aware he is vulnerable around Chloe and has accepted the situation but isn't aware God put her in his path. Not sure if this part will ever happen by the way. Regarding Maze, she already lives with Chloe and Linda is aware of Lucifer's secret (I told you there would be some elements from Season 2 XD). And well Ella is awesome, so she'll be here as well ;).

Alright now that the few elements have been set-up, on with the show ^^.


CHAPTER 1

Los Angeles - Venice area - Chloe's Condo - Around 07:30 am

The day started rather normally for the sort-of family Chloe, Trixie and Maze had created in their new condo. Or as normal as it could be when you lived with an 8-year-old girl and a bounty hunter/demoness in the same house. Trixie was finally picked up by her dad to be brought to school and spend the week at his place, and Maze had left out of the blue for some contract on a trader she received up north in the San Francisco area. Chloe had no idea how long her flatmate would be gone for but she was - for once - glad to have some peace and quiet and be on her own for a couple of days, even if she was going to miss her daughter, and Maze a tiny bit. Despite her weird ways, the demoness brought some unexpected fun in their daily lives.

She grabs her mug and exhales, content as she hears nothing but silence. She sits on the sofa for a bit, simply enjoying the stillness, before she gets up and heads for her room to find some casual clothes to wear as she was not due in the office until the beginning of the afternoon, or until the repair man showed up - which was between 7 am and noon.

As she comes out of the shower, she hears a loud noise coming from her kitchen. Without a second thought, she grabs her service gun from its hidden spot and her old LAPD issued shirt she slept in. She pauses before she enters the kitchen and tries to think of who could be there. Maze was gone for sure and Dan would have announced himself if he had to return so whoever came in was clearly an unwelcome guest. She slowly walks to her kitchen where the noise came from, not yet turning the corner, gun ready just in case. She decides to announce herself as she slowly appears.

"Whoever you are, you've got about five seconds to show yourself and surrender with your arms where I can see them, or I'll shoot your ass out." She expects the perk who came in to make a run for it and waits for the door to open and close but nothing happens. Instead, she smells baked eggs and olive oil. She relaxes as she doesn't see anyone and slowly lowers her gun. " Maybe Trixie wanted to make some sort of surprise. " She thinks.

"Detective, I had no idea you looked so good in just a shirt. I mean I kinda knew but the reality exceeds the fiction by far."

She jumps and redirects her gun towards the origin of the voice. She slowly lowers it, but not completely, as she realises Lucifer was the one who spoke, and broke in.

"For god's sake, Lucifer!" She scolds him. "Where the Hell did you come from?" She wonders aloud, almost positive she hadn't seen him when she checked the exact spot where he now stood. "Do you realise I could have shot you?"

"The wrong deity I think." He jokes. "As for the shooting part, please don't. The last time it happened was rather unpleasant and I have no wish to renew the experience." She rolls her eyes, a flash of guilt as she remembers when she shot him, on his request. However, she chooses not to add more oil to the fire.

"How did you get in? Did you make a copy of my key?"

"Would " I'm the Devil " suffice as an explanation?" As she doesn't smile, he yields. "Fine." He huffs. "Maze gave me an extra key in case of emergency. Not that I would need one anyway."

"And this is an emergency how?" She requests. "And give me your key." She holds out her hand.

"Well, first, it would have been a shame to miss this sight. I mean, you've clearly kept things up since Hot Tub High School. Can't wait to see the rest later" He winks, eyes roaming her body, especially her naked legs. "But if you insist, here is your key."

"Thank you." She avoids eye contact and blushes slightly as she feels his heated gaze. But her annoyance with him is quick to take the lead. "What did you want anyway?" She adds, ignoring his latest comment on purpose. "Don't you have an after-party at Lux or somewhere in LA with Brittanies waiting for you?" She completes, angrier and more bitter than she anticipated.

The Devil's bravado falters for a moment as he hears her harsh tone before he fixes his usual grin again.

"Jealous, Detective?" He asks in order to hide whatever he felt at that moment. He takes a step closer to her and Chloe makes no move to back out. "Green isn't your colour, Dear." His voice drops. "Especially when all you need to do is ask."

Chloe feels drawn to him for a second as her brain entertains the thought, that maybe, it wouldn't be that bad if she bit the forbidden fruit once, or twice, or more. Right before her traitorous mind goes where it shouldn't, she mentally slaps herself out of the gutter. She decides to go for sarcasm to hide her internal struggle.

"You wish."

"Actually…" He starts.

"Just don't." She interrupts him, half for her sake so he wouldn't convince her, and a half for his sake because she was pissed at him right now. However, as she feels the ping of guilt when she sees his eyes, she can't help but stress one more time the very low odds of them ever ending up together. "This," she motions between her body and his "is never ever going to happen. So you should get used to it." She completes. " Yeah, that was convincing, right? " She tells herself. But Lucifer's smile confirmed that apparently she was the only one who believed in what she said.

But instead of calming her, his blatant faith that they are going to somehow, someday end up having sex together infuriates her even more. He seems to be oblivious to her struggle or ire and just grins at her, almost as if she were a kid who said she wouldn't eat her Halloween candies but just does it in the end, because it's inevitable. She lets a frustrated groan.

"You have to stop doing this."

"What is this exactly?" He plays dumb just for the sake of it.

"Your Luciferness, you coming in my house uninvited, breaking in, invading my privacy AND personal space, your offers to sleep with me, your disregard for any rules but your own." He quirks his eyebrows as he sees the outline of a red stamp that says "Confidential" out of her bag. "What?" She snaps before she sees where he's looking. "I had to stay home this morning and I thought I'd bring some cases with me and work while I wait for the repairman."

"I'm not judging you." He smirks. "I just find it a bit surprising you would bring a confidential case home when the LAPD rules strictly forbid it." He pauses for a second, not sure if he should reply to her previous comment on his supposed invasive behaviour. "For the record, if my charisma is such a burden to you, then you have my word that from now on I will be a perfect little angel. No more jokes and no more expressing how much I appreciate your beauty and smarts."

"Good." She agrees. "And just because a file says " Confidential ", it doesn't mean I can't take it home as long as I know it's safe. The rule states it has to be transported in a secure way and stored as such as well."

"It's true your handbag and coffee table are a paradigm of safety." He adds.

"'Just…" She starts, short of a proper response. "shut up. You broke in, so don't lecture me okay." He doesn't reply but the sparkle in his eyes conveys all he needs to. "Now since you're here, you might as well help me with this new case I have."

"Shoot." He smiles. "I mean not literally."

She laughs, the tension now gone, and puts her gun on the counter as she realises she still had it in her hand. "Just grab a coffee and I'll be back in a flash." She states as she heads for her bedroom to get dressed.

Once she's back, they barely have the time to check the file before someone knocks on one of the windows. Chloe heads towards the windows and gestures to the technician to go around the house and use the back door to get in as the damage was closer to it. As soon as the guy enters the condo, Lucifer feels a chill run down his spine. He stares at the man, as he greets Chloe and walks towards the damaged wall. As Lucifer takes in the damage to the wall he reminisces about what happened a couple of days ago between Maze and Amenadiel as the dark-skinned archangel confronted her. The Devil turns to Chloe.

"This looks like a pretty big hole. What happened there?"

"Not sure." She starts. "I came home to this a couple of days ago. Maze also had some cuts and bruises. I asked her about it but her reply was a blank check to pay for the repair and her avoiding me each time I talked about it. I tried over the phone as well but each time there's a connection issue."

"You should have seen the other guy." He slightly smiles as he remembers Amenadiel's cuts and bruises, AND the whining that followed.

"What?"

"Nothing." He quickly says. "No one got hurt, or at least not too badly, that's what matters, right?"

"I guess." She finally agrees, fully aware Lucifer knew more than he let on but knowing better than to push for more information - for now. Ever since Lucifer and Maze came into her life, she always knew they had some sort of bond, but she didn't know to which extent and she wasn't sure she actually wanted to find out.

The technician interrupts them.

"I'm gonna need more materials than I brought. When you called for a repair, I had no idea the hole would be this big. The picture didn't do it justice at all." He jokes. He looks at Chloe then straight at Lucifer. "Whatever - or whoever - landed there must have been in pretty bad shape." His smile turns predatory as he looks at Lucifer again. "When would you be able for me to come back?" He looks at Chloe, his face one of the most honest men ever. "No need to be present, just leave me the keys. If it's OK with you of course."

"As soon as you can," Chloe says. "I'll be present."

"Very well, I'll be in touch then Miss Decker." He gathers his things and heads for the back door. "Lucifer, it was nice finally meeting you in person." He adds in a whisper before he closes the door.

The comment from the repair guy surprises him and the Devil stares at the door for a moment, not sure if he heard correctly. Chloe pulls him out of his doubts and she addresses him from the other side of the house, case file in hand.

"You coming or what?"

"How did he know my name?" He answers, completely out of it.

"What do you mean?"

He walks over to Chloe. "How did he know my name?" He repeats. "He said it was nice to finally meet me in person when he left. How does he know my name?" His gut feeling not going away despite the three times he acknowledged the fact the repairman knew his name.

"He did? I didn't hear anything." Lucifer remains silent. "But he probably knew you from reputation or Lux, or an after-party."

"What is it with you and after-parties, Detective? Is it your way to tell me you want to be invited to the next one?" Chloe rolls her eyes. "Just kidding, sort of. But anyway, just be careful around him."

"You got your devilish Spidey Sense tingling?" She jokes.

"Haha, very funny, Detective. Just promise me you'll be careful. I don't trust the guy. Something's off with him."

"He's just a repairman, Lucifer." She smirks as she sees him still stuck on the guy. "No need to get your knickers in a twist." She adds, giving him a taste of his own medicine. What she doesn't expect though, is for Lucifer to get annoyed by her comment.

"Well if you're done mocking me for my concern over YOUR safety maybe, we can get to work?"

"Fine, I'll stop." She gives in. "I don't need to stay home anymore so meet you at the station in an hour?"

"Not sure."

"Come on, Lucifer, I was joking, okay. No need to get all sulky about it."

"I have things to do this morning." He adds. "Maybe I'll meet you later."

"Whatever." She finishes the conversation. If he was going to be like this about this, then two could play this game and she wouldn't be the one to apologize for something he did every day to her and others. And so they parted ways.

Los Angeles - Toy District - LAPD Precinct - About an hour later

As Choe walks back to her desk, she is surprised to find Lucifer in her chair, paper bag in hand. "Bagel, Detective?" He pushes the bag forward. "I thought since we didn't get a chance to get breakfast at your place, I would bring it over."

Chloe smiles and accepts his apology - or peace offering - fully aware it would be about as much as she'd get from him. "How did you get here so fast? And how did you get the time to stop for these?" She asks as she bites into a bagel.

"Are you sure you wish to know?" His tone is playful and she rolls her eyes, happy to be back on more stable ground with her partner, expecting a reference to his devilish nature, or his blatant disrespect of the speed limit. "Just kidding. I had it delivered from the shop at the corner of the street. I hear they make the best bagels in the area." He smiles. "Although I have to say that you drive like…"

"Just get out of my chair." She stops him before he could once again criticize her driving. And for once the Devil complies without a word and takes his seat opposite her.

A couple of minutes later, as they both dive into the new case at hand, a loud thud interrupts them as a huge file is dropped on the desk. Chloe stops what she was doing and holds back her eye-roll. She really disliked this new Lieutenant. He was assigned to his new duty only a couple of days ago. He was pesky and just because he was a big shot a dozen years ago, he had become a condescending asshat with everyone he worked with. Lucifer, however, had no such barrier. He simply looked at the tiny man.

"Well, that was rude!"

"And you are?"

"Lucifer, Morningstar." He holds out his hand. "LAPD consultant." Before Chloe can tell him to shut up, Lucifer continues. "Given I have never seen your face before, you must be the new Lieutenant that arrived recently. I've heard a lot about you, but I haven't seen much of you."

"Lieutenant Dickson." He refuses to shake the Devil's hand and makes himself as tall as possible for a 5.2 feet man. "I've also heard a lot about you." He smiles, his teeth pearly white. "I don't know what you did to my predecessor, but whatever deal you had with Olivia is over until you can prove you're useful to this department."

Lucifer isn't sure he heard properly. "So what you're saying is that I'm fired?"

"Until further notice, yes. You are no longer welcome on the premises until I have reviewed your file and official application."

"Sir," Chloe tries to intervene "if I may." He nods. "Lucifer has been an asset to this department. Our closing rate is one of the highest in the precinct." She pauses and gauges his reaction. "Could you please reconsider?"

"Very well, Decker." He puts his hand on her desk. "You have one week to convince me of his use and solve this case." He opens the file. "Fail and you'll get assigned a new partner."

"Thank you, Sir." She forces herself to say.

Once the lieutenant is out of earshot, Lucifer scoots closer to Chloe.

"Why I didn't know you cared, Detective."

"Took me by surprise as well." She starts. "But what can I say, despite being weird, annoying, and borderline most of your time as well as…"

"I get it. Please do get to the good parts."

"You always have my back and we make a good team."

"So what you're saying is that despite me being awesome, you like me?"

"ALL I'm saying is that you're a good partner." She doesn't miss his smirk. "Now shut up and help me save your job."

"Of course, partner!" He grabs one of the coffee cups he brought along with the bagel bag. "What do you have about this new case?"

"From Ella's first comments, our victim is a caucasian male, 35 years old and CEO of a tech company named Initiatech."

"Let me guess, the wife did it?"

"Actually no." She smiles. "He doesn't have any known relationship, never married and currently one of the most eligible bachelors in the wide LA area."

"Good for him."

"You don't know him? For real?"

"Why should I know him?"

"Don't you check out your competition from time to time?"

He chuckles. "That's cute, Detective, but you should know by now that I am the competition and way out of any most eligible bachelor's league." He takes the file from her hand to check his picture. "And we are nothing alike." He finishes.

Chloe grabs the paper again. "I wouldn't be so sure about this. Both of you are single and consider being in a relationship a heresy, sitting on a huge pile of money from unknown origin, very mindful of your image, designer clothes, women AND men magnet." She pauses for effect. "It sounds pretty similar if you ask me."

"How lucky that no one asked you then." He smirks. "Besides all I heard is that you think I'm rich, smart and sexy. And for your information, I do not shy away from relationships, I just prefer to avoid complications which come with it."

She laughs. Of course, that's all he would take from what she said. "Anyway, this is a very high profile case so we need to be extremely careful with how we approach all this. For all I know, the press is probably circling his tower by now like a bunch of vultures." She opens her drawer to grab her gun's charger. "So no naked you or stunt like asking who killed him in front of everyone." He opens his mouth but doesn't get a chance to say anything. "I mean it, Lucifer, the Lieutenant has you on his radar and awaits the slightest slipup from you to get rid of you."

"Alright." He raises his arms in surrender. "You have my word that I will do everything by the book. I am yours to command."

"Thank you."

"So what more do you have to tell me about this guy?"

"It's all in the file. Why don't you read it on the way over?"

"It's boring." He opens the file. "And you tell it so much better."

She rolls her eyes but goes on anyway. "His name is Jeff Gordon, 35 as I said before, and CEO of one of the biggest - if not the biggest - high-tech company in the last 5 years. He was the owner of some of the most popular apps and devices associated with them on the market and his estimated worth is about 1 trillion a year. He employs around 120 000 people worldwide between the R&D, plants in Asia to build his components, his shops around in the US and Europe to sell his creations." She gives Lucifer time to take in all the information. "He was found dead by his associate today around 6 am before the cleaning crew starts their day in the main office. Footage shows him enter his office on Saturday a bit after lunch but none show him leave in-between. His last employee left their desks around 8 pm on Saturday. So Ella concluded the murder happened between Saturday 8 pm and Monday at 6 am as the employee was the last to check out and none of them were due back in the office over the weekend. The first analysis of the ME also confirms this fact. She will get back to us once she has a more precise TOD. COD is also pending the ME's feedback."

"Okay."

"Now you see why this is a very high-profile case?" Lucifer nods. "We need to get there and gather all of their security tapes we can find, and interrogate his associate, who has now been declared CEO. And as you can imagine, he is now also our prime suspect."

"Well then, let's go catch ourselves a killer, Detective. And prove this tiny and impudent man how wrong he is and how useful I am."

She laughs and follows him.

Los Angeles - City West Area - Initiatech main office

It takes them about twenty minutes to reach the highest tower in Los Angeles. As Chloe parks in front of the building and shows her badge to get across the police line, she freezes as she sees a bunch of voice recorders shoved her way, cameras and questions thrown at her by the herd of reporters at the bottom of the glass tower. She feels her anger and panic rise as she recalls some unpleasant encounters with some journalists during her fame days, or when she was a kid and couldn't even go to school without having at least two paparazzi taking pictures of her. As she sinks deeper into her own fears, she feels a strong hand on her shoulder. She lets herself be guided by Lucifer to a safer zone. As the glass doors finally close on her and mute the noise and flashes from the outside, she slowly comes back to the moment and feels like herself again. The first thing she sees is Lucifer's gaze, full of concern for her after the incident. He releases his grip but his hand remains on her shoulder, and Chloe doesn't seem to mind his touch. She debates inwardly whether she should give him an explanation for what happened, and finally decides to give him the short version of the story.

"Thank you." She starts, not without difficulties. "I expected journalists to be here, but I wasn't ready for them to attack me with questions and all the way they did." She pauses. "I guess it caught me by surprise and it brought back some very unpleasant memories from my time as a young actress, or B-list actress's daughter. I thought this was all behind me, but…"

"There's no need to apologise for anything, Detective." He quickly replies before panic can take hold of Chloe once again. "You seemed distressed and I did what any partner would have done." Lucifer pauses to give her time to reply to him, but the detective simply nods "But if you ever want to talk about it - later on - I'm all yours. Although I have never been one to rebuke the attention of others - as you know - I know it can be difficult when unsolicited, especially when it comes from such dung beetles."

She smiles at him, glad he chose to not push the topic any further but also didn't close the topic definitely.

After a while, Lucifer continues. "If you're ready, what do you say we go talk to our wanna-be murderer? I'm pretty sure the lovely hostess behind the desk would be more than happy to let us in."

They both head for the front desk. Before they reach it, Lucifer stops Chloe. "One last thing, Detective."

"Yes?"

"Since I gave my word to play by the book and be a Dan."

"Yes?"

"Am I allowed to charm any information out of the new CEO?"

"Maybe, if you play nice…" She teases him.

"I can play very nice when properly motivated, Detective." He banters, happy at her playful tone.

Then they close the distance between them and the front desk. As soon as the receptionist - Mary - sees Lucifer her face changes and her pupils open to their fullest.

"Hi." Her tone is thick with want. "How can I help you, Mister?"

"Morningstar, Lucifer." He extends his hand and Mary grips it. "We're here to see your new boss, Morgan Morris, and we were wondering if you could buzz us in and keep our little visit between us."

"I could, but what do I get in return?" She boldly asks.

"How about I leave you my number and you can call me later on so we can discuss your reward for helping us bring justice to this world?" He hands her his card and Mary winks in return. "Good, then we have a deal. Now do you mind letting us in?"

"I'll call you later." She shows the door. "Morris is on the 65th floor. Door code is 3478B21." She pulls out a card from under the desk. "I made you a guest card, just in case you want to access the supply closet later on, and I attached my number at the back, you know for safekeeping and all."

"Thank you very much, Mary."

They both head for the main entrance, Lucifer shows his guest card to the security guard there and they're let through without issue. Once they're out of earshot, Chloe stops him.

"What was all this about?"

"Jealous again? That will be twice for today."

"No!" Her rebuttal is too quick to be fully honest. "But I thought we said no mojo."

"Trust me Detective. If I had used my mojo as you call it, you would have known." He puffs his chest. "I can't help it if I have a natural allure that draws out people's desires. Part of being the Devil I guess." He looks at the number the woman gave him. "And there's no harm in having a bit of fun after we're done with this case. This lady seemed lovely, and I did say we would discuss her rewards later and I always keep my…" He notices her discomfort as the elevator doors open. "Are you alright, Detective?"

"Yes." She enters the elevator. "Let's go and get this over with." Lucifer is a bit lost but follows suit, still worried for Chloe. The blonde woman does her best to avoid his gaze. She had shared enough for one day, and this was something she wasn't willing to talk about just yet.

Lucifer kept an eye on Chloe as he realises her discomfort somehow worsens the more they stay in the closed space. He realises he never noticed this before, but then Chloe mostly took the stairs whenever possible under the excuse that it was healthier. Now he began to understand why, or at least partly.

"Are you sure you're alright?"

She doesn't get a chance to deny or confirm as the elevator comes to a sudden halt and shakes. She freezes, her brain now in survival mode as panic rises once again. She usually could handle this kind of situation but her previous encounter weakened her and this time she couldn't bottle her fear down. Lucifer doesn't miss the look in her eyes, he had seen too many times in Hell when he duplicated a traumatic event in his cells. He locks his eyes on her and focuses her attention on him.

"It's going to be over before you even know it. You know I have had this very situation in some of the hells I…"

"What are you getting at, Lucifer?" She's clearly pissed and scared.

"Nothing." He keeps eye contact with her. "I was just trying to distract you until the elevator started again."

"So you think boring me with a story of someone who dies and for whom you created this situation in a hell loop would do the trick how exactly?"

"Well I have to admit I'm working with both hands tied behind my back here." Lucifer grins, as she raises her eyebrows. "I have many other ways to keep you distracted and make sure your brain stops thinking for a while, but none would fit the deal we stroke." He can see a very tiny smile slip through. "If we ever get the chance I know a couple of things we could do in an elevator to make you forget about your previous unpleasant time in an elevator ride." He winks.

Just like that the elevator shakes again and restarts. She jumps at the sudden movements and finds herself pressed against him. The machine reaches it's cruise speed again but she makes no move to step away from Lucifer. The Devil lets his hands rest on her hips but doesn't push any further than what she allowed him to, his promise to remain a perfect little angel still ringing in his head. The view of the 65th floor brings them both back to Earth and Chloe almost leaps out of the elevator.

She finally takes a deep breath and leans against the wall near the doors and closes her eyes until her mind and breathing are stable again. Lucifer presses against the wall beside her.

"You wanna talk about it?"

"It's silly, really."

"What happened?" He pries a bit. He could feel she wanted to talk about it but wasn't very sure. Maybe his time with Doctor Martin finally paid off. Or maybe it was simply because it was her and he just wanted to make sure she was alright.

"Back when I was a kid, I got stuck in an elevator for hours. I was about six or seven and I had annoyed my mom and dad into letting me get the bread at the corner of our street. It was about fifty meters away from our place. But then the elevator broke down and fell for two floors before it stopped mid-course. I screamed until my parents heard me and called 911. It took me years to even be able to step into an elevator at all." Her body shakes at the memory. "Now I avoid it as much as possible, but I still get nervous, especially for high buildings." Her eyes drilled a hole through the immaculate linoleum.

"No need to be ashamed about any of it. You were just a kid at the time. And from what I've seen you turned out just fine." He winks. "Your secret is safe with me."

"Thank you." She walks towards the entrance of the open space on the other end of the corridor and Lucifer follows.

A loud voice is heard behind them and they turn around to see a guard shaped like a gorilla walk fast towards them. The Devil steps in front of Chloe to shield her from anything that could happen.

"Who the fuck do you think you are and how did you get up here?"

Chloe takes the lead to avoid any further incidents between Lucifer and the security guard. She shows her badge to the gorilla.

"Officer Decker, from the LAPD. We're here about your boss's death. We need to see Mr Morris."

"Do you have an appointment?"

"We don't need an appointment." Chloe counters.

"Then I'm sorry but you'll need to…"

"Come on, Mister Muscle man, I'm sure we can work something out." Lucifer comes closer to the guard. The muscled man immediately softens but doesn't yet yield. "You're a complicated one, I didn't see this one coming, I have to give you that."

"I…"

"Go on, tell me what you want. What you really really want."

Just as he's about to give in, a female voice breaks the trance. "Richie, stand down, it's OK." As a result, Richie steps aside to reveal a lean woman, black hair. She wears a very expensive skirt and shirt, with a matching jacket, her confidence almost palpable. "There's no need to get aggressive. I'm sure Officer Decker here is just doing her job." She extends her hand. "I'm Morgan Morris. I heard you wanted to see me?"

"Yes, Miss Morris." Chloe seems to be hesitating. "I'm sorry, I thought you were…"

"A man?" She finishes. "I know, I get that a lot. My parents always wanted to have a boy and I have a lot of power and money. You're not the first one to make that mistake, and you won't be the last, trust me."

"I'm here about your associate's death. We don't have…"

"Not here." She gestures towards the open space. "I wouldn't want my team to be freaked out by your presence. We're at the brink of a major new product launch and I don't want them distracted by anything other than work. They have been distressed enough when they learnt Jeff got hospitalised for a peanut allergy."

"Is this what you told them?"

"Follow me, please." She simply says.

They all enter a small meeting room on the other side of the corridor. Morgan immediately unplugs the recording device and sits down.

"Please have a sit, Detectives."

"Miss Morris, I'll skip the small talk."

"I understand, time is money, so get to the point."

"Why did you tell your employees your associate is hospitalised? Don't you think they will find out about his death? The outside is packed with reporters."

"I know they will but, as I said, I can't have them freak out about something like this while we're about to launch our major app and device."

Chloe can't hide her disapproval at the woman's strategy. "What were you doing between Saturday night after 8 pm and Monday morning before you found your associate dead? When did you last see him?"

"I was here, at the office. A company like this one doesn't run itself. And a 9-to-5-Monday-to-Friday agenda just doesn' cut it ."

"When's the last time you talked to Gordon?"

"We talked briefly around 10 pm on Saturday, but the conversation, as always, turned short."

"Any reasons why?"

"Because he was his usual assy self, I guess."

"So you two disagreed, I take it?"

Morgan suddenly stops. "I think this is where we end this informal talk and where I call Miss Richards from Richards and Wheelers, as well as an official warrant for any extra video surveillance you might request. Once I have an official invitation from your department to visit you downtown, then we can continue this conversation."

Chloe looks at Lucifer but he remains still on his chair, fingers crossed on his left leg. She nudges him. "What?" He mouths as she motions to Morgan Morris.

"Seriously?" She complains when he doesn't move. "Do your thing!"

"Well, why didn't you say so sooner, Detective. It would have saved us a lot of time."

As Chloe is about to object, Lucifer locks his gaze with the suspect and lowers his voice of an octave. Chloe can feel the vibrations and the change in the atmosphere of the room.

"So, Morgan. What is it you don't want us to find out, then?" His smile grows wider. "Why did you kill your associate? Was he slowly squeezing you out of the partnership? Did he take the last pudding in the fridge? It can tick off some people pretty bad." He adds as he recalls his encounter with Dan by the pool during their last case.

"I hated his guts. I mean we started this company and suddenly he thought he could be the only one to decide its future because he owned 51 % of it. He was going to destroy everything we built with his archaic management and vision of a business."

"How so?"

"People are changing, the industry is changing and he refused to admit it. I tried to convince him to add an environmental part to our company and reduce our carbon footprint as much as we could over the coming years. But no he thought these were only Millenials considerations and because he owned 51 %, he had the final say. But I was this close to legally getting rid of him and getting his shares and finally anchoring this company in a better, more responsible future. We would have been the pioneer of all high-tech companies."

"So you killed him? Greed and ego can be tough for you Humans."

"Why would I kill him when I was so close to ripping him off his shares? All I had left to do was to use the board against him so they'd make him stand down and sell me his shares. But with him dead, all my plan is ruined and his shares will be divided among the board members, as per our contract."

Then just like that, the trance is broken and Morgan comes back. "What just happened?" She requests.

"You still want to get your lawyer here, Miss Morgan?" Chloe question. "It'd really be a shame for your stock options and company's future if any of this leaked to the press, don't you think?"

"What do you want?"

"To do our job and find out who killed your associate."

"I have no idea. When you get this powerful, a lot of people hate you or want to hold you responsible for whatever is wrong in your life."

"Anything that could help us?"

"I discovered a couple of weeks back, after he excused himself from our meetings for private reasons on several occasions, that he was working with a group of our developers who live at our private campus. They develop some sort of shadow technology for a private buyer. When I confronted him about it, he simply sent me away because it was none of my business. But as an associate, I wanted to make sure his private actions wouldn't damage our public image so I had one of my tech guys infiltrate his little activist group."

"Sounds like a good start." Chloe says. "How do we talk to them?"

"You can't. Otherwise, they'll know." She pauses. "But I could introduce you to my guy so he gets you into the circle."

"I don't know anything about computer science."

"No kidding." Morris ironises.

She ignores his reply. "But I know someone who is a genius when it comes to this. We'll be in touch with the details, Miss Morris."

Once they leave the conference room, Lucifer smiles. " A sting operation. Lovely idea Detective."


So this is it folks.
Let me know what you thought :). Shall I go on with this ;)?
Thanks!