Evermore (Devil's ʻĀnela) [ON HOLD]

XI

Chloe sighed. "Yeah, single gunshot wound to the chest. No wallet. Tan marks where a ring and a watch were lifted."

"A staircase robbery. Is that a thing now?"

Lani frowned at him. "This is the Dunlear Foundation. They helped the homeless and the underprivileged."

"So who's the dashing corpse?"

"Tim Dunlear himself, head of the foundation, former NBA star, notorious playboy," Chloe said. "He was into drugs, gambling, women."

"My typical Wednesday."

"But then he left pro ball and he turned his life around. He dedicated himself to philanthropy. He was beloved."

"Right, bad boy turned good. It's interesting."

"Are you Emmett Toussaint?" Lani asked, walking up to a man.

"You found the body?"

Lani nodded, pointing between herself and Chloe. "I'm Deputy Iosua and this is Detective Decker. Can you tell us what happened?"

"I volunteer for the foundation's outreach program. Came to meet him, and he was just lying there."

"How did you know Mr. Dunlear?" Chloe asked.

"He sponsored me to come to L.A. after the earthquake in Haiti. Tim was my mentor."

"Handsome and saintly," Lucifer commented.

"Did you see anyone else at the scene or notice anything strange?" Chloe questioned.

"There was a guy outside," Emmett replied. "He ran when he saw me. I gave the cops a description. Think he was homeless."

"Did Mr. Dunlear ever speak of a certain philanthropic high after one of his selfless acts?" Lucifer wondered. "You know, for example, say when he chose not to sleep with a drunken woman?" He noticed disapproving looks from Lani and Chloe. "What? Did I saw something wrong?"

"We are questioning a minor," Lani said, turning back to Emmett.

"We're sorry about your mentor."

"We'll call you if we have any more questions," Chloe told him.

Once again, Lucifer noticed his partners staring at him. "What? I just feel quite connected to our victim."

"You are nothing like Tim Dunlear."

"Bad boy with a heart of gold? I am everything like Tim. May as well be solving my own murder."

Lani rolled her eyes. "Only you could turn a tragic death into an excuse to talk about you."

Lucifer scoffed. "Well, who else would I talk about?"

ABANDONED LOCATION

Dan was tied up and grunted.

"Got these on sale," Malcolm said as handcuffs clicked. "Extra strong, UV resistant, and still 30% off."

"Do you really think you're gonna get away with this?" Dan shot back.

"Probably not. I'll bet the SWAT team's about to bust down the door any minute. Not like there's much else going on in a city of four million people."

"As much as I hate Lucifer, I'm not gonna let you kill him."

"Oh, I'm not going to do anything. No. Oh. But you know someone who would want him dead? Someone who's jealous. Someone who hates the fact that he may have a thing for his ex-wife or for his little sister figure. Ooh. Someone whose fingerprints I put all over the murder weapon. Sound like anyone you know, Dan?" He laughed. "Ooh. Don't go anywhere."