Dan whistled as he walked through the precinct, a little bounce in his step. For the first time since Charlotte died, he was feeling a bit more like himself. To make matters better, he hadn't seen Lucifer at all today: of course, he wouldn't bother showing up if Chloe wasn't here.

"Someone's in a good mood today," Ella remarked as Dan walked into the forensics lab. "What's up?"

"Today's just a good day," Dan said, still smiling as he bent down and examined the microscope. "Find anything?"

Ella sighed. "Nope. The prints on the knife came back with nothing."

"So the killer wiped it clean," Dan said, mostly to himself.

"Nuh-uh," Ella said. "When I say the prints came back with nothing, I mean they came back with everything. Literally everyone in that family laid hands on that knife."

"I guess that's to be expected," Dan said. "But not everybody lived in that house… just the grandfather and his nurse. So I guess I should talk to everyone about why they were touching that particular knife."

"I'll try to get more info on the poison," Ella said. "But it seems to be your basic poison: if a person swallows at least 10 grams, depending on their weight, they won't show symptoms for a couple of hours, before it reaches their heart, and they're dead within a couple of hours."

"But we still need to figure out why the killer stabbed and poisoned him," Dan said. "Maybe they weren't sure about the dosage?"

"Or maybe…" Ella pondered. "Dan! What if there were two killers?!"

"That's an idea," Dan said. "But what's the chances of the same dude getting hit twice in one night?"

"Worth looking into," Ella said, excited. "The poor dude must have had some serious family issues."

"If two people were trying to kill the same family member in the same night," Dan pondered, "Then there was probably something else going on. Either our victim was a real piece of work, or he was doing something that the family didn't like."

Ella shook her head. "I still can't imagine doing this to your family. I mean, my brothers and I fought all the time, but-"

"And our killers likely had very different plans," Dan interuppted, knowing that letting Ella get on a tangent about her family could cost them several hours. "Whoever poisoned Max planned this out carefully beforehand, but whoever stabbed him used a weapon of opportunity, and this was a crime of passion. So their motives could still be entirely different: the poisoner had been wanting to get rid of him for a long time, but our victim might have just said the wrong thing or… the stabber maybe found out something."

"Good thinking, Detective!" Ella said, pushing gently on Dan's arm.

"I should really go interrogate the family," Dan said, walking out the door. "But hey - thanks, for the help, Ella."

"No prob," Ella said with a smile. "I'm always here if you need me. I mean, not always here, obviously, I don't live in the forensics lab, but if you ever need anything - like to talk about the case or really… anything at all, you know… I'm always here for you. I mean not just for you, really for anyone, but if you want to talk, I have ears. I mean-"

"Thanks, Ella," Dan said loudly. He couldn't really tell if something was up with Ella or not, she often acted like this. But he felt a familiar nagging feeling at the back of his mind as he walked out of the lab to go interrogate the family. He tried to push it out, leaving only room for the case.

"Tell me what happened at the reunion," he asked the first suspect: Max's mother.

She trembled slightly, leaning forward. "We have this reunion every year. Max hadn't come for the last couple of years, but-"

"Why didn't he come?" Dan interuppted.

She lifted her chin and looked Dan in the eye. The fire that had once danced in her eyes had been extinguished, wisps of smoke rising up as she crumbled from within. "Max is… was… a very strong-headed young man. He always had disagreements with everyone in the family, and would refuse to apoologize. Everyone was mad at him at some point or another. We hadn't invited him for years, not that he wanted to come."

"Hmm," said Dan. "And do-"

"But don't you think less of him because of it," she said fiercely. "My son did not deserve to die."

"I know," Dan said softly. "Of course he didn't. And everyone in our department is working tirelessly to find out whoever did this to him."

"Nobody in my family could have done this," she said. "I know everybody at that reunion, and I know that they are all good people."

"We just have to look into every possibility," Dan assured her. "We don't suspect anybody in the family, we just want to talk to you all. So. Was Max invited to this reunion?"

She shook her head.

Then whoever poisoned him must have known he was coming, Dan thought. If this was planned beforehand, maybe he told someone that he was coming.

"Did anyone know that he was coming?" Dan asked. "How did he know that the reunion was happening?"

"We always do it on the same day," she said, "And always at my father's house. And no, nobody knew he was coming. We had all just arrived when Max stormed in, sat in my father's chair at the head of the table, drank his favorite iced tead, and demanded that he be incorporated into the family again."

"So he was mad that he wasn't invited?" Dan asked.

She nodded. "He said that we needed to treat him like family and respect him. He said that he had changed, and came to make peace with everyone."

"Thank you for talking with me," said Dan. "And one more thing -" he pulled out the knife, which was in an evidence bag. "Did you touch this knife?"

She put a hand to her heart. "Is that… what killed him?"

"Yes," said Dan. "But he was also poisoned. Did you touch this knife?"

"That's the knife I used to cut the turkey," she said. "Pretty much everyone touched it during dinner."

"Okay," said Dan. "Thank you so much for talking with me. Please stay in town in case we have any more questions for you, and let us know if you remember something else."

"Thank you, Detective."

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

"All he wanted was the money."

"What money?" Dan asked. He was interrogating Max's older sister, Bianca. She sat in the chair, her leg pumping up and down, chewing on her gum aggressively as she leaned forwards. Her face, however, bore the mark of hours of crying and the unmistakable look of stress. Not unexpected for someone whose brother had just been murdered.

"The inheritance. Our grandfather, the one whose house the reunion was at, is loaded. I bet Max just wanted to make up with him so he wouldn't be cut out of the will."

"Is your grandfather sick?"

She paused for a moment, then nodded her head, chewing her gum even louder. "He has a bad heart. He might go any day now."

"I'm sorry," Dan said. "So you think Max just came for your grandfather?"

She nodded. "He hadn't talked to the rest of us in years. Not after he had this big blowout with our mother. They both said really hurtful stuff. She cried for days. And then he just showed up out of the blue, demanding that we talk to him again."

"Did anyone know he was coming?"

"No, we were all surprised to see him. Nobody had seen or heard from him in years."

Dan pulled out the knife again. "Who touched this knife during dinner? Or at any time?"

She thought for a moment. "I know I did. I think everybody did at some point, but I don't really remember."

"Thank you for your time, Bianca. Stay in town, and let us know if you remember anything else."

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

"That ungrateful little piece of shit just walked into the house like he owned the place," Max's uncle said aggressively, leaning back on two legs of his chair. "I mean, who does he think he is? He just stormed in there, and sat in my father's chair, and told us that we needed to respect him. Do you know who needs a lesson in respect? It's definitely not us. He was the one who hadn't called in years, who had never said a kind word to anyone in the family. I know I shouldn't speak ill of the dead, especially my nephew, but somebody did us all a favor."

"I see," said Dan. "So you had a lot of beef with him."

"Nothing I would kill him over. I just disliked the boy, that's all."

"Did you or anybody else know that he was coming over?"

"Of course not. If I knew, I would have probably stayed home anyway. I mean, it was a nice dinner and all, but not worth it. And now I'm being questioned for the murder of my nephew? I mean, come on, Detective, do you really think any of us did it?"

"We don't have any suspects at this time," Dan said, knowing that he shouldn't accuse him directly. He needed all the information he could get. "We just have to be thorough. So Bianca said that Max probably came for your father's money."

He laughed. "For my father's money? That stubborn bastard has been alive for 96 years and counting. Healthy as an ox. The entire family has been waiting for our inheritance for the past decade, but it doesn't look like we'll ever get it."

"Did he have any heart problems or anything?"

He shook his head. "No, no, nothing like that. Like I said, healthy as an ox. Hasn't been sick a day in his life. He could probably run a marathon if you asked him to."

"Alright," said Dan. "Thank you for your cooperation. Make sure to stay in town, and let us know if you remember anything else."

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

"Find anything?" Ella asked as Dan poured himself another cup of coffee. He was going to need the extra boost to get through this case.

He shook his head. "I still want to talk to a couple more of the people at the reunion… I don't think the mother did it, but the uncle could definitely have. And the sister… I don't know. She might have lied about the grandfather having heart problems, but maybe the uncle didn't know."

"Sounds like you got a good start," Ella remarked. "I still don't have any new info on the poison, though. It's pretty easy to get, any of them could have bought it."

"Great," sighed Dan. "Well, I think I'm going to head over to where the grandfather is staying and have a quick chat with him: apparently Bianca's taking care of him."

"I can go with you," Ella said automatically. "I mean, I don't have anything else to do right now, and I can help you do whatever, like if there's any evidence anywhere or anything you want me to bring back to the lab.

"Okay," Dan said hesitantly. Maybe Ella was acting a bit strangely. "We can ride together, if you want."

"Okay!" she basically screamed, before clearing her throat. "I mean, yeah, sure, whatever. Coolsies."

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

"Mr. Torres?" Dan pounded on the door. "Bianca Stuart? Anybody home?"

After a minute or two, Bianca opened the door, her face red and flushed. "Oh, hello, Detective! And…"

"Hi, I'm Ella," Ella said, pulling Bianca into a tight hug.

"Right," she said, looking slightly disoriented. "And why are you here?"

"We're here to talk to your grandfather," Dan explained. "Is he here?"

"Come on in," she said breathlessly, opening the door wide for them.

The grandfather was sitting on the couch, a blanket draped over him, while the television blared across the room. "Bianca? Who's there?"

"The cops want to talk to you," she said, sitting down next to him. On the coffee table in front of the couch was a plate with a half eaten sandwich and a tall glass of iced tea.

"Is this about Max?" he asked, sadness creeping into his otherwise lively voice.

"I just wanted to ask you a couple quick questions," Dan said. "So… do you have any medical issues?"

"Medical issues?" he repeated. "Why? What does this have to do with-"

"I already told you," Bianca said hurriedly. "Now can you please leave us in peace? Our family's been through a lot."

Now this was getting suspicious. "Mr. Torres, do you have any heart problems?"

"Please leave," Bianca said, the color draining from her face. "These questions are irrelevant. My grandfather is trying to mourn the death-"

"No heart problems," he said. "I'm as healthy as an ox! And Bianca, don't worry, dear, the cops are just doing their jobs. Would you like anything to drink? Coffee? Iced tea?"

"No, I-" Dan stopped for a moment, staring at the glass of iced tea. The pieces started to fit together: why Bianca lied about his heart issues, why Max was poisoned when nobody knew he was coming, and possibly why he was stabbed.

The grandfather lifted his glass of iced tea to his lips, about to take a sip, and Dan found himself yelling. "Don't drink that!"

He lowered the glass. "Why not?"

Dan stared up at Bianca, whose face was now completely white. Before he could do anything, she pulled a gun out from the inside of her coat pocket and pointed it at Dan with trembling hands.

"Put your gun on the floor," she said. "NOW!"

Dan slowly took his gun out of his belt and placed it on the carpet, sliding it over to Bianca. He couldn't bring himself to look at Ella. How could he drag her into this? She was unarmed, and untrained for this. If she was caught in the crossfire, he would never forgive himself.
"You too," Bianca said, pointing the gun at Ella.

"I don't have one," she said, her voice an octave higher. "I'm not a cop, I work in forensics, and I just came to help-"

"Shut up!" Bianca yelled. "Go… go stand in the corner! Get away from me!"

"Bianca," her grandfather began. "What are you-"

"Shut up!" she shrieked. "You stupid old man, you should be dead by now!"

"You never meant to poison Max, did you?" Dan asked. "The real target was your grandfather."

Bianca's lip trembled. "My stupid brother always had the worst timing. How was I supposed to know he would come in and drink his tea?"

"You were trying to poison me?" he asked weakly. "Bianca, why would you-"

"You wanted the inheritance," Dan said. "Your grandfather was insanely healthy, and you needed your inheritance. You tried to make it look like a heart attack, which nobody would find suspicious at his age."

Bianca's lip trembled as her grandfather looked up at her, his eyes full of hurt. "I didn't want to!" she cried out. "I'm desperate. I owe someone a lot of money, and there was no other way!"

"You could have just asked," her grandfather told her. "I would have helped you, Bee."

She started crying harder. "I'm so sorry, Grandpa, I never wanted to hurt you."

"You can make this right," Ella said softly. Dan looked at her in surprise. "You don't have to hurt anybody else. Just put down the gun, and everybody in your family will be fine."

Bianca kept on crying. "But… but Max…"

"You never wanted to kill him," Dan said, following Ella's lead as he spoke with a soft, comforting voice. "It wasn't your fault that he drank the tea. And you had to kill him so that he wouldn't die of poisoning, which would ruin your plan to kill your grandfather."

"It wasn't my fault!" Bianca shrieked. "None of this was my fault!"

"Just put down the gun," Ella said. "You never wanted to hurt anyone, Bianca. This isn't you. We'll make sure you're safe from whoever you owe money to."

Sobbing, she lowered the gun. Dan sprung up and cuffed her arms behind her back, and she didn't resist at all. To his surprise, Ella stood up and hugged her.

"Family is everything," Ella said. "Remember that."

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

"Nice work today, Ella," Dan said as they drove back to the precinct. "And I'm really sorry that you had to get caught up in that. It was stupid of me to bring you along."

"No, no, don't apologize," she said with a smile. "I'm glad I was there. Who knows what would have happened without me to help you out?"

"Oh please," said Dan. "I can handle an armed killer any day."

"I saw you shaking," Ella teased. "You were terrified."

"It wasn't me I was terrified for," he said. The two of them looked at each other for a minute, not breaking eye contact. Ella's hand was resting right next to Dan's elbow, and he took his right hand off the wheel and placed it on hers.

Dan turned back to the road, and Ella suddenly pulled her hand out from under his as if burned.

"I'm sorry," he said, and he truly meant it. "I know we said that this-"

"Don't be sorry," she said. "You know, Dan… I've been acting weird today."

"I thought something was up."

"A… friend of mine told me that I should go for what I want. And I thought I wanted you."

Dan let the words soak in for a bit, not sure of how to respond.

"I mean, you're great and everything, and I really thought I was attracted to you. Not that you're not attractive, of course, you're very-"

"I know what you mean," Dan said.

Ella looked relieved. "But I really appreciate having you as a friend, Dan. And I think what I was attracted to was the idea of dating again, but not necessarily being with you."

Dan nodded. "Yeah, I can understand that. And look, Ella, I am really sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"No," said Ella forcefully. "Don't apologize. Neither of us need to apologize. We're adults, right? We can just work through this and be better friends than before."

"Yeah," said Dan with a smile. He wasn't sure how he had been feeling, but found that he was glad Ella brought this up. Sure, he was attracted to her, but they were really better off as friends. Just like Chloe and Lucifer: those two would never get together.

"Friends?" Ella asked.

"Friends," Dan agreed.