Chapter two: Weird powers

It was Lucifer who was sitting at her desk! "What the hell are you doing here?" she asked, trying to keep her voice low for the officers and detectives around.

"Ah, detective. Good morning to you too," he said with his London accent.

"Morning," she hissed.

"I came to tell you a detail I found out about your Bobby B. Well, technically it was Maze that remembered this Bobby B."

"And how did you come in?"

Lucifer grinned. "The officer at the reception thought of himself as a hetero man, but he now knows he is bi."

She decided to ignore that. "What about Bobby B?"

"Maze once met her."

"Her?"

"According to Maze is was a sturdy, firm build woman, with a rather big nose, hair between red and brown. Early fifties, mid fifties. She came to Maze and asked whether we were interested in drugs, prescription pills. Oxys. Percocet. She could deliver those."

"And?" Chloe asked. "Does Maze still buys them."

"We never did," Lucifer answered. "Maze told her no. She knows those have never been my favorites. Bobby left and Maze never saw her again. That was some months ago."

Chloe gave it a thought, staring at Lucifer. "Sturdy, big nose, red hair, mid fifty," she murmured.

"That was what Maze told me, yes. I never saw her."

Chloe grabbed the file, search and showed him a picture.

"Can be her, fits the description," Lucifer said.

"I need to ask Maze. Where is she?"

"No need," Lucifer said, laying his pointing finger at the words below the picture. "Roberta Beliard, detective. How do you normally call a Robert or Rob?"

It took a second before Chloe realized: "Bob, Bobby."

"And last name Beliard, detective."

"Bobby B. Thanks, Lucifer. I have to go."

He raised from her chair. "I will come with you."

"What? No. You're a civilian. You will only hinder a police investigation."

"Hinder? I was just told you don't have a partner. And who helped you pinpoint Bobby B?" He walked with her all the way to her car and opened the passenger's door even before she unlocked the car.

"How did you do that?"

"I am the devil, remember. Locks just choose to open for me."

"Some magician's trick," she muttered. He was seated and had fastened his seat belt, before she had opened the driver's door.

"I will help you arresting her, detective."

"You will violate the protocol and I will get into trouble."

"I will do as you tell me," he promised.

She should throw him out, she knew. But as he mentioned, she didn't have a partner and… it would look like she had one. Just for this one case. Arresting Roberta could hardly be a problem, she told herself. He grinned. She sighed. "Just this one trip," she said.

They talked during the ride… Well, he talked during the ride. She only had to smile and listen. "… she used to sing in the Lux before she became famous. I accompanied her on the piano. You know she once planned to marry that producer of her, that Jimmy Barnes? They were standing at the altar. The vicar asked whether she would take him as her husband. She looked at me. I shook me head and she said no. You should have seen Jimmy's face."

"A flamingo army," Lucifer said when they arrived at Roberta's house. Chloe chuckled and knocked on the door.

"Detective?" Roberta said after she opened the door and then looked eyes wide open at Lucifer. "Hi…"

"Mr Morningstar," he said. "Detective Decker's consultant."

They hadn't discussed how he would be introduced to Roberta, so for a second that took also Chloe with surprise.

"Hi," Roberta said again.

"Can we come in, murderer?" Lucifer asked. Chloe frowned at him and shook her head, but he didn't look at her.

"What?" Roberta stepped back and they followed.

"Come on," Lucifer said, coming closer to Roberta. "Dear Roberta, or do you prefer Bobby? Dear Bobby B, what do you desire?"

He stared her in the eyes, she stared back breathing heavily.

"What do you want more than anything?"

"I…" Roberta opened and closed her mouth a few times. "I want Amy back as customer. I want her to buy from me."

"You were selling her drugs?"

"Yes!" Roberta still stared in his eyes. "She brought me on average two thousand a month before that nasty Gillian came along."

"So you killed Gillan?"

"Of course. I took in that girl and I gave her a job and then she cut me off from my best customer. So, yeah, I put three inches of steel into her brain."

Lucifer grinned and turned to Chloe. "Is that enough, detective?"

Chloe blinked her eyes. "How did you… Did you hypothesize her?"

"No, detective. It is just…" He couldn't finish the sentence. The moment he turned away from Roberta, the woman had grabbed a fire poker and next moment hit the back of Lucifer's head with a forceful swing.

"Lucifer!" Chloe yelled, expected him to go down.

But Lucifer turned and blocked the next swing with his bare hand. "No, no. That's a bit unfriendly. Give that to me, Bobby B." He pulled the fire poker out of Roberta's hands and Chloe used the confusion of the woman to handcuff her.

"Your head, Lucifer," Chloe said as soon as Roberta was secured. "You must be wounded."

"Not at all, detective. The devil, remember."

"Stop with making jokes. Let me inspect the back of your head."

He grinned, went down on one knee and bend his head. She felt his head with her fingertips. No blood, no wound, not even a bump indicating where the poker had hit him.

"O, that feels so good, detective. Maybe inspect some other body parts also? You will enjoy."

"Lucifer! I'm serious."

He looked up and winked. "Be sure I'm also serious when I say you will enjoy."

Her eye roll made him laugh.

They took Roberta to the precinct and Lucifer sat next to Chloe while she interrogated Roberta. It felt as having a partner. It felt good. "The rest is writing a report and filling in checklists," she explained.

"Mm. You won't need me for that," he said. Before she could react, Ella popped up at her desk.

"Hi. I'm Ella Lopez, forensic scientist."

Lucifer look for a second at her and then gave Chloe a questioning face.

"Ella is my colleague and a good friend. We did this case together," Chloe said.

"Ah." Lucifer was suddenly all smile. He took Ella's hand. "Hello, miss Lopez. Good to see a friend of the detective. Lucifer Morningstar, the devil."

"Cool."

"I was expecting a different reaction," Lucifer said. He chuckled. "Considering your choice of bling." He pointed at the cross that Ella – as always – was wearing around her neck.

"Oh. Dude, I know LA is full of method actors and you seem to be a good one. And besides, I think the Devil gets a bad rap."

"Oh. You do, do you?"

"Sure," Ella said. "I mean, what did he really do that was so bad? Rebel against his dad? Ask some naked lady if she wanted an apple?"

"Be still my heart," Lucifer reacted with both his hands against his chest. "Do go on."

"I suppose he does run Hell. That's not so great, you know, with the torture and eternal damnation."

"I didn't create Hell," Lucifer said. "I just work there."

"And now you're even talking in the first person." Ella shook her head. "As I said, great method actor."

"Oh, my dad," he muttered. "Anyway. If it is all paperwork from now on, I say goodbye, detective. If you have time, join me in the Lux tonight. Both of you. I will make sure you're names are on the VIP list, free drinks and free snacks all night."

"Shall we go tonight?" Ella asked as soon as Lucifer had left.

"You can go. I have Trixie to take care of."

"But, Chloe. Free drinks and eating in LA's top club!"

"Not for me, Ella. People that have been drinking too much. Thank you. Men that think they can impress me with their cars or watch. Ugh."

Ella sighed. "Ok. You're serious about sharing a home?"

"Yes."

"I've been looking and I found a few houses to look at." She laid down a few pieces of paper. "But still expensive. Even if we split the cost."

"I bring my daughter, so the split should be two third for me, one third for you."

"But I insisted on a spare room for each, so I propose forty percent for me, sixty for you."

Chloe shrugged, spreading the papers Ella had brought. "That's almost the same. From the pictures this one looks great and is in between the precinct and Trixie's school. Mm, but the most expensive one."

"That one?" Ella pointed at another paper.

"Not a neighborhood where my daughter can walk around alone. Sorry, Ella."

"Of course. I do not yet know LA good enough. I'm a bit in a hurry, you see. I'm staying with a friend of an aunt at the moment and I promised it would only be for one or two weeks."

"Then why do you not move into my house?" Chloe asked. "We can get used to be roommates while we have time to find something appropriate."

Ella moved in that same afternoon. All she had was three suitcases and at seven in the evening they were cooking diner for three, that three included Trixie. Chloe updates Ella on the details of the visit to Roberta. "… you have seen the fire poker. I tell you she swung it down full power. It hit his head but he didn't flinch neither showed any pain."

"Maybe he is Batman or Spiderman," Trixie said. "Or really the devil."

Chloe grabbed her daughter's nose, careful not to hurt the girl. "Maybe you watch too much cartoons on the tv, monkey."

"But he unlocked you car," Trixie said. "And he hypnotized Bobby to let her confess and he is not hurt when he is hit with a fire poker."

"He has some weird powers," Chloe said. "But in the end he will turn out to be a magician doing clever tricks."

"And your mommy will find out his tricks," Ella said with a smile. "She is the best detective of the LAPD."

Nine o'clock Trixie was in bed and Ella and Chloe were first time on the sofa as roommates. Chloe leaned back, staring at the ceiling. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Shoot."

"Do you really believe in God?"

"Whoa." Ella laughed. "I was expecting more like, Hey, what's it like moving from Detroit to L.A.? or Hey, how'd you survive growing up with four brothers? But the big G-question right off the top… Did not see that coming."

"Okay." Chloe sat straight. "Sorry, it's inappropriate."

"Oh, no, no, no. I actually really like talking about it," Ella reacted. "It's my faith. It's kind of a big part of my life. So, uh, yeah, sure. Uh, hit me."

"Okay. Do you believe that it all really exists? God, heaven, angels. Or the Devil."

"Ah," Ella said softly. "The devil."

"That sort of thing," Chloe continued. "That's all a metaphor, right?"

"Maybe. Maybe not."

"That's pretty…" Chloe chuckled. "I just thought there would be more faith in your faith, I guess."

"No, see, my aunt was a nun, okay? Ella said. "And she always taught me that doubt was really important. Right? I mean, if you don't question something, then what's the point of believing it?"

"Mm-hmm."

"I doubt so that I can believe. But you're thinking of Lucifer."

"What? Why?"

"Come on, Chloe. As your daughter said: he has some weird powers: the lock, Roberta's confession, the fire poker."

"But I don't even believe the devil exists. What the two of you call powers is just tricks any magician can do."

"With a lock on a car he had never seen and couldn't prepare? With the fire poker from a house he had never entered, swung by a woman he never had met?"

"They must have taught you about the devil at Sunday School."

"O, yeah. Gave me nightmares. Sinister, devious, terrifying, lurking at you from the shadows, whispering lies in your ear." Ella laughed. "Either all stories I heard at Sunday School are wrong or Lucifer is definitely not the devil."

"Lucifer is temping us to sin: to get drunk, to have sex outside of marriage."

"I have been drunk more than a few times before I met our Lucifer. And sex? How many bed partners have you had?"

"Not that much. I don't do one night stands."

"Is Dan the only one ever?"

"No." Chloe hesitated and then said: "Four guys and a girl before Dan."

"In that case at the end of your life one more guy doesn't add that much to your sins, I guess." Ella shrugged. "If that's what our devil is doing, he is not really efficient. But I don't believe he is the devil. The devil would not help solving a crime, he would tempt people to commit crimes."

"So a method player and a skilled illusionist," Chloe concluded. "Knowing tricks that make us believe he has some weird powers."

"You really don't want to go to the Lux?" Ella asked.

"I can't," Chloe said. "I don't want Trixie to find me at breakfast with a hangover."

Next morning in the precinct when no-one was close, Dan came to her and dropped in the second chair at her desk. "Why are you talking to that guy?"

Chloe looked around, honestly not understanding what he was talking about. "What guy?"

"That nightclub owner you saw yesterday."

"Oh. I interviewed him for the Gillian Taylor case and later he came with some additional information."

"I checked on that guy. He is a playboy, only trying to get women in his bed. I don't want my wife to talk with that kind of a slut."

Chloe gritted her teeth. "First of all, it was business. Case related. He helped me find the murderer. And second, Dan, in case you don't remember: we are getting a divorce, so you can stop saying I am your wife."

"Even if we are divorced, you should still behave or else…"

What he wanted to argue he couldn't finish for an officer came and said: "Detective Espinoza? Lieutenant Monroe has some questions on the Leever case."

"I only…"

"She asked whether you could come to her office now, detective."

Dan gave Chloe an angry looked before walking to Monroe's office. For a second Chloe regretted she hadn't gone to the Lux last night. She would like to see Dan's face if she could tell him such. Then she shrugged and concentrated on the paperwork in front of her.

Three days passed. A new case had come and was closed and even Ella didn't mention Lucifer anymore. Footsteps came to her desk. Her eyes left the papers in front of her and slightly went up. The first thing she noticed were trousers with a razor-sharp fold.

"Hello, detective," a voice with a London accent greeted her. "I hope you still remember me."

Her eyes went up. "Lucifer. Of course I remember you." She looked around. All her colleagues were watching. Dan was sitting behind her, but she could almost feel his stare. She turned back to Lucifer. "How good to see you. Can I do anything for you?"

He beamed a smile at her. "I missed you, detective. And yes, you can do something for me. I need a favor and of course I will do you a favor in return."

"I have no idea what favor I would need. Just tell me what I can do." She raised from her chair and walked with him to a conference room.

Even before they were properly seated, he asked: "If I have a first name and a phone number, can you find the person to which the phone belongs?"

"Depends," she said. "Normally yes, but if someone wants to stay anonymous, one can get a phone without been registered. But if the phone is powered up, we can find where it is." She frowned. "But it has to be for a good reason. I can't help you find a woman that fled your bed without telling you her name."

"Detective, believe me. No woman ever fled out of my bed." He pursed his lips, looked for a moment at her and then said: "Ok. You won't believe me, but you still want the truth?"

"Yes."

"A new soul arrived in hell. Tens of thousands arrive each day and ninety-nine percent of them I never see or speak, but Rymane, the Lilim demon responsible for this soul, picked up something she thought I wanted to hear. The soul told her he owned a manuscript with the notation of the polonaise for piano, that Chopin created in 1818 to for Empress Maria Feodorowna." He gave her a grave look.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." A soul, a demon… She sighed.

"Chopin is a famous composer from the early nineteenth century."

"I know that name."

"It is known he in 1818 wrote a polonaise for the mother of the Russian czar."

"Ok?"

"That piece of music is lost. No one has ever seen or heard it for the last two centuries. And now the soul of this Paul Rice claims he owned the original letter that Chopin wrote to Empress Maria Feodorowna."

Chloe ignored the reference to a soul but concentrated on the story of that letter. "And that would have a high value?"

"Oh, detective. If that letter is real and came on an auction, I would certainly bid for it. I would not mind to bid a hundred thousand dollar or more for it."

"Well. Ask this Paul Rice where that letter is."

"Paul's soul told me he is murdered. Someone stabbed him in the back. In his house in Dallas, Texas."

"Who?"

"He didn't see his attacker and he was dead after the attack."

Chloe rolled her eyes. Of course, nice story to avoid having to know the killer.

"But Paul told me he was called several times by a Carl from LA, offering first five thousand, then ten and later twenty thousand dollar for that letter and very angry when Paul didn't want to sell. In the last two calls Carl threatened to kill him." Lucifer laid down a piece of paper in front of Chloe. "Carl's mobile number. Address of Paul Rice."

"Ah," Chloe said. "If I strip all the metaphors: you claim this Paul Rice in Dallas was murdered…"

"Two days ago," Lucifer interrupted.

"This Carl is the killer and you want to catch the killer."

"I want to find Chopin's letter," he corrected her.

Chloe smiled. "If Paul would indeed be murdered – it's a hard to believe story, sorry Lucifer – I want to find the killer, you want to find the letter."

"Exactly, but the letter might be in the killer's pocket. So we can team up."

"Agree. You did call this Carl's number?"

"Of course. A few times. He doesn't answer and you can't leave a voicemail."

"Ok." Chloe gave it a thought. "I can call the Dallas Policy Department, see whether Paul is found dead."

"If they found him already. He is, well, was living alone."

Chloe nodded slowly and took out her phone to call. After a few minutes she had a colleague from the DPD, Nancy Page, in the call and Chloe told her: "I have an anonymous tip that Paul Rice…" she took the paper Lucifer gave her and read the address "… is murdered. Yes, in Dallas."

After a short while Nancy told her: "There's no Paul Rice reported as murdered, but I will ask a patrol car to check the address. I will call you back."

Chloe lowered her phone and looked at Lucifer. "We will have to wait. We can take a coffee."

He raised his brows. "You really drink what in this building is named coffee?"

"There is nothing else, Lucifer."

"There is a coffee shop just a few minutes down the road. Last time you took a tall non-fat almond milk latte with sugar-free caramel drizzle."

Chloe blinked her eyes. Perfect memory could be added to the list of weird powers of Lucifer Morningstar. "That my favorite, yes."

"I'll be back in fifteen or twenty minutes, detective. Miss Lopez' favorite coffee is?"

Ella did rush to Chloe's desk as soon as Lucifer was gone. "Spill, girl. Why did he come?"

Chloe noticed Dan, looking angry and all his attention at her and Ella. "Let's go to your lab."

Chloe was halfway the story and Lucifer was not yet back when her phone rang. "Chloe Decker."

"Hi, Chloe. Nancy Page here. The uni's found a dead body at that address. They did not yet identify him. I will go there to pick up this case and let you know as soon as I know more."

After the call Chloe slowly lowered her phone, staring eyes wide at Ella. "How could Lucifer know?"

Ella looked just as amazed. "I don't know whether I want to know." She took the paper with Carl's phone number. "I will check this."

The door of the lab opened and a voice with a London accent said: "A tall non-fat almond milk latte with sugar-free caramel drizzle for a detective, caramel triple frap, double whipped cream and rainbow sprinkles for miss Lopez."

"You brought me coffee?" Ella asked.

"Of course, miss Lopez. It makes me happy when I see the two of you happy."

She looked at him, blinked her eyes and said to Chloe: "Definitely not the devil."