Chapter 18: Finding Jason Thompson

As Chloe and Lucifer joined their NYPD counterparts around Beckett's desk Chloe was still desperately trying to work out how to word Lucifer's discovery without getting herself locked away.

Beckett caught her eye as they came in and got to her feet. "So going to finally fill us in?" She asked curtly. Chloe frowned and nodded. Beckett didn't like having things kept from her and Chloe got the feeling that she was teetering on the edge of trustworthiness.

"Of course. Lucifer was just explaining" Chloe said, sent her partner a firm look telling him to keep quiet and let her deal with this before she tried to explain.

"Lucifer thinks this guy thinks that he has an actual angel feather." Chloe said. Keep it simple, the simpler the lie the easier it is to maintain.

"An angel feather." Beckett sounded very disbelieving.

"They're very influential things." Lucifer inserted. Chloe sent him another sharp look causing him to roll his eyes.

"A feather from the angel of death. Remember the phrases in blood at the crime scenes." Chloe tried, she still wasn't completely confident in her story, she was mostly relying on bluff and the fact that most people didn't want to believe all this stuff was real.

"Why would he think he has an angel feather?" Castle asked. "What's the difference between an angel feather and a normal feather?"

"Apart from the obvious?" Lucifer queried.

Chloe shook her head and then dove into the rest of her idea. "What if something happened to this guy? We know that he was well controlled, doing well on his medications. Then something changed. What if there was an accident, something dramatic that happened to him? He wouldn't be the first person to claim an angel saved them." Chloe knew this one from experience.

"Why the angel of Death?" Beckett still didn't seem convinced.

Castle thankfully supplied the answer to this, Chloe could have kissed him. Castle's wild imagination was great for filling in gaps. "Because the feather was black." He jumped to his feet in excitement. "If something horrific happened to you and you survived, finding a feather in your place you can imagine deciding an angel saved you. What if that feather was black? We all know that angels have white feathers."

Chloe stomped firmly on Lucifer's foot when he went to correct that statement.

Castle and Beckett didn't seem to have noticed. "If you found a black feather, who else but the angel of death. You were spared." Castle said with excitement.

"But it's not real." Beckett insisted

Chloe shrugged. "Remember, this doesn't have to actually be real so long as this guy thinks it is. Whatever happened, it gave him the conviction he needed to believe. Now for some reason he thinks that because he was saved by the angel of death he has to kill people."

"No." Beckett said softly, she was frowning intently at the murder board.

Chloe felt her heart skip a beat. "What do you mean no?" She flicked a glance at Lucifer who shrugged at her.

Beckett stood up and looked at the board; Chloe could see her mind working. "He doesn't think he has to kill." She spun to look at them all. "Think about it." She looked at Lucifer. "If what you said about the phrase he's spelling out is true..."

"Which it is." Lucifer interrupted.

Beckett nodded and dismissed him. "Then this writing is him communicating, but not with us."

"He's trying to communicate with heaven." Castle said.

"So" Lucifer asked a note of curiosity creeping into his voice.

Beckett smiled. "He's not being driven to kill. I think he actually believes he is the angel of Death. He thinks he has to do this in order to go home."

"That's crazy." Javier told her.

Lucifer waved a hand in front of his face. "No, it's a very valid point. It also explains all his behaviour."

Beckett looked disappointed. "But it still doesn't tell us where he is."

"He'll be somewhere that means something to him." Chloe said. "Him as the angel of death." She supplied. Chloe was relieved and surprised that the NYPD detectives has taken her story, accepted it and run with it. They really must work some crazy cases.

Beckett nodded. "We need to work out what that event that tipped him over was. That's the key to finding Jason Thompson."