Dan took a slow steadying breath as he reached the bottom of the staircase of the precinct. Fellow detectives and officers milled around him; business as usual. It didn't matter that his entire worldview had been upended – life went on. Dan's thoughts traveled to the previous night or rather very early this morning. He thanked his lucky stars that Lucifer was a heavy sleeper (or it could've been his body recovering from all the injuries it sustained) – either way, he was grateful because he woke up to the view of Lucifer Morningstar's ear. He had to wipe a trail of drool from his mouth. Who knows what Lucifer would do to him if he knew that he drooled on him? Hell, if he knew that he had slept on him. Thankfully no one saw them like that.
He shuddered at the thought.
He quickly turned his attention to the reason he was at the station. He had to give his statement to Internal Affairs for the events that went down with Pierce and his involvement in the investigation. With another deep breath, he headed off into the direction of the IA department.
Dan passed by Chloe's desk – the intrepid detective was lost in her own thoughts. She didn't even notice him walk by.
Chloe absentmindedly chewed at the end of her pen. She stared blankly at the stairs. Her thoughts turned to how she had ended up texting Lucifer last night.
Chloe 3:47am: Hey, Lucifer. Sorry to be texting so late.
I'm sure you're probably asleep. Or maybe not, knowing you. But I thought you should know…
Chloe 3:59am: I set up an appointment for you with Internal Affairs to give your statement about everything that happened at the Loft.
You know, with Pierce.
Of course you know.
Sorry.
Chloe 4:02am: Anyway, your appointment is at 8:30am. It's right after Dan's.
I know it's a lot earlier than you're used to coming in, but I thought the sooner the better.
Chloe 4:30am: See you in the morning?
Lucifer 7:58am: See you in the morning, Detective. *Devil emoji*
Chloe blinked her gaze away from the staircase entrance back to her text thread with Lucifer for about the billionth time. She had no idea if he had seen all the texts all at once this morning when he finally replied or if he had seen or noticed the time gap in her texts. She hadn't seen any hovering three dots while she was typing, but it didn't mean that he didn't see it and just didn't say anything.
Once again, she had chickened out. She had typed, backspaced, and retyped something wanting to ask him if he wanted to meet with her so they could continue their conversation, to pick up where they had left off – hopefully this time in the right direction in their relationship. She had every intention of typing out a request for them to meet up (perhaps for a date?) so they could have a serious conversation per Linda's advice but it came out all business – informing him of his appointment to give a statement instead. She rationalized that they had to put all this Pierce/Sinnerman business behind them first for them to move forward.
No more going backwards.
"Chloe?"
She jumped at her name and looked up to see Dan looking down at her, his hand on her shoulder, and a gentle smile on his lips.
"You okay?" Dan put a leg up to sit on the edge of her desk.
"I'm fine," Chloe replied with a sigh, "Just a lot on my mind… How about you? How did things go with Internal Affairs?"
"About as well as can be expected," Dan answered. He nodded his head in the direction of the department, "Lucifer's in there now."
"He is?" Chloe looked a little eager. How in the hell did she miss him coming in?
"He'll be fine, Chloe," Dan misconstrued her eager look, "I have a feeling that IA will want to wrap all this up with as little trouble as possible. At least, that's the impression I got when I gave my statements… and from past experience."
"Right," Chloe agreed.
With a reassuring pat on her shoulder, Dan got up and headed over to his own desk to finish up some of his own paperwork. It really was a never-ending battle. Chloe took one last look in the direction of where Lucifer was currently giving his statement before turning back to her own work. He was in the station. He wasn't in Vegas. He wasn't running. They would have their conversation. They had waited this long. There was no rush. They had nothing but time.
Time.
Time was a funny thing. After Lucifer was done giving his statement, as expected, he joined Chloe at her desk. They made small talk, neither one of them bringing up the idea of getting together to have a straight-forward conversation about their relationship.
Cowards.
The both of them.
Before long, the Internal Affairs investigation into Marcus Pierce aka the Sinnerman was completed. Dan was right. IA swept everything under the rug as quickly and efficiently as possible. No charges were filed against Lucifer Morningstar for the killing of Marcus Pierce as it was declared Lucifer was acting in self-defense.
A few weeks went by business as usual for the Decker-Morningstar-Espinoza-Lopez team with one exception.
Lucifer, Dan, and Ella had started hanging out together a lot more than usual after work. At first, Chloe didn't think anything of it. Lucifer and Ella had been known to hang out together outside of work before (and Chloe was not jealous of that anymore, not that she ever was, thank you very much). But soon Dan had started to join them on some of their get-togethers every so often.
That was weird.
Chloe let that strangeness go. Who was she to stop Dan and Lucifer from actually getting along?
Dan and Ella always offered for her to join them, but she would always politely decline. It was mostly just for drinks at Lux anyway. The conversation she wanted to have with Lucifer was something best done when it was going to be just the two of them. And she didn't want to intrude on their hangouts. Did Lucifer hanging out with Ella and Dan provide her with the perfect excuse to put off the inevitable conversation she wanted to have with Lucifer to a time they would both be free? Sure. But, she just didn't want to interrupt his time with friends. That time was important – just as important as the conversation they would have. There was no rush.
She wasn't stalling.
Shut up.
She wasn't.
"Man, this poor dude didn't stand a chance."
Ella's words pulled Chloe out of her thoughts. They were standing around the body of the victim for their latest investigation.
"Hmm?" Chloe had to focus. Get your head in the game, girl.
"I said that this poor dude didn't stand a chance," Ella gestured to the victim on the ground with her camera. He was lying on his side, body twisted at an unnatural angle. The most glaring feature was he had a high heel stabbed through his eye socket.
"Oof," Lucifer sauntered up next to Chloe, hands slipping into his pockets, "Hell truly hath no fury, eh?"
"What do we have, Ella?" Chloe got down to business. Never mind Lucifer smelling delicious next to her. Has he always stood this close?
"Meet Ivan Wilson, 38, landlord found him this morning," Ella stood back up after taking one more picture of their victim, "He hadn't been to work in about a week and he was late on his rent, hence the landlord checking in on him."
"I'd say cause of death is obvious," Chloe said with wide eyes.
"You'd think so, but no," Ella knelt back down and gestured to the victim's neck, "Dude's got strangulation marks…"
She gestured to a mark under his collar, pulling it down with her pen.
"… and he's got a couple of lacerations. They look like they might be perimortem, but I can't quite tell yet. Plus, there's the obvious high heel in the eye."
"You're saying he has more than one cause of death?" Chloe asked. How was that possible?
"Pick a number, yeah," Ella shrugged, "Hopefully I should be able to pin down the actual cause of death once I get back to the lab. But that's really not even the strangest part."
"There's no blood trail," Lucifer stated before Ella could.
"Gold star for the Devil," Ella smiled and clicked her tongue with a wink and gave a finger-gun in Lucifer's direction, "Exactly. There are seemingly multiple CODs and yet… no blood to be found – at least not in the apartment."
"You think maybe he was killed somewhere else and brought back here?" Dan came up to the group, notepad in hand.
"Killed elsewhere and then brought here for what? The comfort of home?" Lucifer raised a disbelieving eyebrow.
"It doesn't make sense, but it's gotta be what happened," Ella shrugged.
She laughed nervously, "It's not like he was a zombie, right?"
Lucifer continued to look down at the victim with a furrowed brow.
"Right?" Ella's smile dropped off her face at Lucifer's non-answer. Lucifer finally looked up to see Ella's worried expression.
"Right, Miss Lopez," Lucifer finally answered, "There's no such thing as zombies."
"Now that we've established the obvious," Chloe looked back at the forensic scientist, getting back on track, "Once we've narrowed down his time of death and the actual COD, we can put together a timeline and narrow down suspects… more than likely, a woman, given the heel."
"Yes, on it, Decker," Ella nodded.
"Did the landlord have anything interesting to say?" Chloe turned to Dan.
Dan shook his head as he flipped his notepad closed, "Not really, just how he found him this morning and he was a model tenant. He always paid his rent on time, but he kept mostly to himself. He didn't know him that well."
"We've got to find the actual crime scene," Chloe bit her lip with a shake of her head. Dan nodded in agreement. Just as Chloe was about to say something else, a uniformed officer called her over with a question. She mumbled a "be right back" and headed over to see what the other officer needed.
"So, zombie theory is out," Ella stepped into Chloe's vacated spot next to Lucifer, "But why would the killer murder this guy somewhere else and then bring him back to his apartment? And all without getting any blood anywhere? And where did the high heel come from?"
"Maybe the killer didn't bring Mr. Wilson anywhere," Lucifer's gaze was still glued to the victim, his voice eerily subdued.
"Dead guys don't just walk around, Lucifer," Dan argued, "You just said that there's no such thing as zombies."
"Zombies, no…" Lucifer replied. He peered over in the direction Chloe headed to make sure she was still out of earshot before he finished, "Demons, yes."
"Demons?" Dan grew pale.
"Yes, demons," Lucifer repeated.
"What would a demon have to do with a dead guy walking around?" Ella asked.
"Demons have the ability to possess a human, but I banned it years ago," Lucifer explained, his eyes briefly flashing red. Neither Dan nor Ella noticed the brief flash of red.
"Wait, demons can possess people?!" Ella exclaimed. A few heads of the forensics team turned in their direction, not actually hearing what she said, just the outburst. Ella gave their gawkers an uneasy smile and wave and they all turned back to their tasks.
"So, demons can just possess people whenever they feel like it?" Ella repeated at a quieter volume, "That's terrifying… wait, does that mean Maze is possessing someone?"
"No, no, Maze is in her own body," Lucifer waved off the ridiculous question, "I brought her up here with me from Hell."
"I keep forgetting that Maze is an actual demon from Hell," Dan commented with a slight shake of his head.
"It's not my fault you don't pay attention at our get-togethers, Daniel," Lucifer retorted, "Should've known you were just in it for the free liquor."
Dan side-eyed him.
"So, if a demon possessed our victim, how'd they even do that?" Ella ignored Dan and Lucifer's back-and-forth, getting back on topic.
"Demons can only possess a recently deceased human bound for Hell or else they wouldn't know when or where there was a vacancy," Lucifer explained.
"So, a demon just jumped into Ivan Wilson's body after he died and what went for a joyride before jumping back out and the landlord found him?" Dan asked.
"Precisely," Lucifer returned to eye the dead body.
"Then he may not even be a murder victim?" Dan wondered.
"It's a possibility," Lucifer replied with a slight tilt and nod of his head, "The multiple causes of death point to demon possession. Once Miss Lopez pinpoints what the actual cause of death was, you'll have your answer."
"That might take some time," Ella sighed.
"I'm sure you're up to the task," Lucifer smiled, "You are the best."
"Thanks," Ella smiled at the compliment.
"Why would a demon want to go joyriding in a dead body anyway? That can't be fun," Ella looked a mix of confused and disgusted.
"Perhaps the demons are trying to get my attention," Lucifer theorized, "But they know better than to defy my orders."
"What, you didn't leave any instructions for the kids 'til you got back?" Dan smirked.
"I'm not going back, Daniel," Lucifer bit back, his eyes blazed red once again. This time Dan noticed – a look of terror on his face at the force of Lucifer's response.
"Apologies, Daniel," Lucifer immediately apologized as his eyes faded back to his soft brown. He calmly continued, "I've retired from Hell… abdicated, if you will. I've no idea why any demon would choose to defy me now and revert back to possessing humans."
"Maybe…" Ella started and then stopped abruptly when she noticed, "Decker, hey… what's up?"
Chloe eyed the three of them.
~*~
"Thank you, Detective," the uniformed officer tipped his hat at Chloe. She replied with a "no problem" and headed back to her friends.
Before she finished talking with her fellow officer, she had heard an exclamation that sounded like Ella. Did the forensic scientist find something? She didn't hear anything else or see any commotion from any of her fellow officers like there was any break in the case. It must've been Ella just being Ella.
She continued her way back to her friends. As she got closer, she could see them still standing around the body. They were all conversing quietly. The three of them sure had become closer over the last few weeks. They were due for another hangout soon, if the past few weeks were any indication – perhaps this time she'll take them up on their offer to join them.
"Maybe…" Chloe heard Ella say before Ella looked up to see her approach, "Decker, hey… what's up?"
"Anything interesting come up?" Chloe asked as she eyed the three of them.
"Nope," Ella and Dan shook their heads. There was a beat of silence. Ella seemed very preoccupied with her gloves and Dan seemed to forget how to stop shaking his head and shifted his weight from foot to foot.
"Did I miss something?" Chloe could tell something was off.
"No, Chlo," Dan finally stopped shaking his head, "We were, uh, just…"
"Just…" Ella took over, "Waiting for you!"
Ella looked like she was mimicking a bobble-head, "Pretty sure we got everything we can from the scene. I won't know anything else 'til I get back to the lab."
Ella slowly started making her way back over to her forensics bag, fiddling with her camera awkwardly, "If we want to find more out on this guy, maybe we should split up and you, detective people can start working on the vic's background, financials, and stuff… and I'll just do what I do…"
She looked to Dan for help but he seemed to be awfully interested in his notepad.
"I just didn't want to be rude and leave without… saying… bye," Ella trailed off as she slowly backed away, "So… yeah… see you later, Decker."
Chloe squinted in suspicion at Ella's weirder than normal behavior, "Rightttt."
She turned her attention to her boys, "That was weird, right?"
"Huh?" Dan finally looked up from his notepad. Chloe rolled her eyes and got back to work. Despite her odd behavior, Ella was right about one thing. The sooner they knew more about the victim, the sooner they could find the killer.
"Lucifer? You coming?"
"Hmm?" Lucifer looked up from the victim. Chloe furrowed her brow. He seemed very distracted. Not to mention, he missed the perfect opening for a sex joke.
"You okay?" Chloe asked instead.
"I'm fine, Detective," Lucifer replied, "I'll meet you later."
Before Chloe could say anything else, Lucifer already breezed right past her.
What the hell just happened?