Chapter 7: In the Pursuit of Good
Lucifer and the detective took a deep breathe on the other side of the glass. Charlotte had already left to call some of her old contacts for information. Carter's soft weeping could still be heard over the intercom. After a few moments, Lucifer turned the speaker off.
"A new cartel."
Lucifer looked to the detective. She seemed to hardly believe her own words. "I've got to get this to the Lieutenant, tell Beret to get Carter back into holding. Our new priority is keeping him alive to trial."
Left to his task, Lucifer made his way to the main office. "Excuse me, which of you is Beret?"
To his horror, the detective's new boyfriend raised his hand.
"Oh, absolutely not. Where is Daniel?"
With a nervous chuckle, Beret responded, "He's out collecting the tapes for Ella."
"Damn, very well."
Once the detective's will had been done, Lucifer made his way to Ella's Sanctuary of Science-tude. The door gave way to a comical amount of paper spread across the examination table. Ella, armed with a rainbow of highlighters and a white board, had composed a list of the ingredients from the analysis.
"Lucifer!" She exclaimed, rounding about the table to hug him. "I think I know what the cloth is!"
"Excellent, what is it?"
"Custom-blend, no idea what the name is yet. I'm trying to cross reference other known synthetic blends, but it's a process." She explained, motioning to the state of her lab. "But, it is unique enough that the chances of there being two suppliers is pretty low. And that means exclusive and expensive. So I'm starting there."
He could have kissed the faithful little minx. "Of course, up-and-comers need to look the part. Don't bother Miss. Lopez, this level of work is not going to be listed in any of your data bases."
She paused and grinned, "But maybe in your contact list! Bring me samples, and I can match our sample to a supplier."
Lucifer's phone was already dialing as he nodded his way out of the room. He made his way to the outer lobby for the best signal. He was between calls when the detective came up the stairs.
"Ah, Detective. Have you been let in on the plan?"
"You and Ella's crazy idea? Yeah. To be honest other than a few leads from Carter, it's one of the best ideas we have. Once Dan get's the tapes to Ella, we can confirm the story and see if we can get a shot of the plane. Those kinds of licenses are limited and hard to purchase."
With a handful of good ideas, the partners left the station to begin the investigation.
On the other side of L.A., a phone in Natalie's bag chimed in demand on her attention. Granting the girls a break, she flipped the small device open.
"Hello? … I understand, I'll see you tomorrow." She said curtly.
"Someone giving you trouble?" Maze asked, licking her lips as she looked over her lead choreographer.
"Just family matters, nothing I can't handle." With a quick smile, Natalie re-summoned the squad to finish out today's practice.
Maze's frown slowly deepened. She could smell the lie in family matters. Her bounty hunting skills smelled something afoot. Maybe the New Girl warranted further investigating. Besides, Lucifer seemed a little too interested in her. And that always leads to trouble.
For the rest of the day, she was a shadow to New Girl. That little blue sedan blends well, but not well enough to best her. Once the vehicle had pulled into an apartment complex, New Girl and some short guy made their way to the house. It was all smiles and laughter as the two made their way inside. Maze rolled her eyes in distaste. Content to wait the night out, the book she was borrowing from Trixie made its way from her bag. Shortly after midnight, New Girl wandered out of the building and down the street. After a couple hours, her prey stopped outside a building she knew to be an information den. A few minutes after the door closed, she paid her fee to enter and followed.
Within the dark club, she eased against the table near the curtained booth. Faint voices carried to her demon ears over the throbbing music.
"A full wipe. I want all of them DEAD!" A harsh voice whispered with force.
"What, bloodlines too? Draconian much." New Girl joked.
"Wha- No, you fucking wack-job. I just want these posers handled. It was funny and cute when they were pulls the feds off our asses, but this is too far. I want their organization destroyed. And before you start that damn bitching, Blank Check for payment. Anything your twisted little heart desires."
"Careful, normally I'd take your whole damn company with an offer like that."
"Phhht, like you want to deal with the bullshit that comes with it. I know you like your money, your weird ass weapons, and your freedom too much."
"Bladed weapons are traditional, not weird. I've explained this to you a million times."
"Whatever works your boat, name your price."
"In the name of good business, I won't over charge."
The sound of scribbling and the slide of paper signaled Maze that it was time to leave. She tipped the bartender well and made her way back to the car to wait for her prey's exit.