A feeling of overwhelming guilt filled Chloe as she swung herself under the yellow police tape. Not only was she beating herself up inside over her almost intimate moment with Lucifer, but also over the fact that if she wasn't canoodling with Lucifer last night...maybe she would have found out that Olivia was in a threatening position. Maybe Chloe could have also stopped the murder, but instead, she was enjoying herself. Chloe chuckles at the irony. Here she is, criticizing herself for enjoying herself for the first time in a long time. But, if she hadn't maybe this girl could have been saved. Happiness was important, but so was her job.
But Lucifer's words were still repeating in her head. The one's spoken so softly and light after she had asked him a simple question. "You belong to heaven. I just didn't know angels could fly so low.". The words sounded so amazing off of his British tongue, and the thought of it still made a portion of her cheeks burn with glee.
"What can you tell us?" Chloe asks the coroner. He only has the bag open slightly, and even from where Chloe stands she can feel the bile making its way up her throat.
"Confirmed identity. The eyes were open and bloodshot again. We are going to be running a toxicology scan on both this body and the previous one to look for a sedative or drug that could produce this same reaction, in case we missed something. The body this time is even more beaten than the first with both wrists dislocated and/or broken. That could be taken as a possible sign of struggle, along with the multiple bruises on her legs. While there was less burns on the body, we also have to run a few tests to make sure there was no sexual assault as she was found with only partial clothing and lots of bruising on her upper thighs."
While listening to the report, Lucifer thinks of a joke, but even he silences himself on this topic. It was times like this he wished he was still in hell to punish this sick bastard. He's met evil people, but one's like this take the cake for being some of the worst creations his father ever let live.
"Are we looking at the same killer? Or a new one? Or a copycat perhaps?" Lucifer asks instead. Chloe turns to face him with a high eyebrow, surprised that he is asking something on topic and useful for once. With of shake of her head, she remembers her shred of anger towards him and shifts turns her attention back to the coroner.
"A lot of the cuts and bruising looks the same. And as I said, there was still some burns on her body so it is of my professional opinion to say yes. I would think this is the same person. If the toxicology comes back on both bodies the same it would only confirm his MO, and then I would say one hundred percent yes. However, you will be glad to know he was sloppier this time. I found three hairs on the body, all of the same color, and not the color of the victims. Royal's hair was black, and Olivia's was red. It was blonde, suggesting a second party at the scene tonight. Shall I run it over to the lab, or would you like to?"
"I will. Call me as soon as you have anything?" Chloe asks.
The coroner nods and heads off. Lucifer looks at Chloe like a lost puppy, "What now detective?"
"Now, we analyze the hair."
xxxxxxxxxx
"Now this place is snazzy!" Lucifer explains as they enter the LAPD crime lab. "I mean look at all these...whatchamacallit's and...thingamajigs...and doohickey's!"
Chloe sighs. "Lucifer, that would be the fingerprint analyzer, the DNA analyzer, and the microscope. And on another note, please don't touch any of it."
"Once again, someone knows how to suck all the fun out of everything," Lucifer teases, throwing his arms up in his dramatics.
Chloe shrugs it off, but her anger is only growing. She knows for a fact that it is misdirected, and it's taking everything to keep it in. It isn't his fault Olivia died, it's mine, Chloe thinks, the thought taking a deep root in her mind.
Sliding gloves onto her slender hands, she uses tweezers to grab the strands, she places them on a thin tray and slides the tray into the machine. Lucifer watches intensely with a raised eyebrow. "That's it?" She removes the gloves and throws them in the trash before taking a seat. "That is it," she confirms.
Lucifer lets out a small breath in disbelief while looking towards the upper right hand corner of his vision. "You mean to tell me that that's all the machine does?"
"Yup, in two hours we will have our results from this test and the two the coroner is doing," Chloe confirms.
Lucifer folds his arms, "and what are we going to do in the meantime?"
"I can't think of a lot we can do."
Lucifer is puzzled at the sight before him, more so than usual. Sure, Chloe usually gets stressed over her cases, but it looked like this one was really tearing her down. The thing about Chloe was that as closed off as she might like to think she is, Lucifer could only pay slight attention and yet read her like an open book. The events of last night hadn't evaporated from his mindset either, in fact that were pressing right up and in front of everything else. But Chloe is always telling him to keep the relationship more professional, and maybe he couldn't admit it right now...
But he wanted to impress her.
He wanted to improve for her.
Lucifer didn't exactly know why, but something in his wanted to be the man Chloe deserved.
Which reminded him of something he had been meaning to ask. "Well if we are going to be stuck here for a couple hours with nothing to do, how about a little chat? A game of sorts?"
Now it was Chloe's eyebrow that was raised. "What do you propose?"
"You ask me a question, and I have to answer truthfully. Then we switch. We both win because we get to know more about one another!"
Chloe began to debate it in her head, but stops and just agrees. "Sure. Who goes first?"
"You can Detective!" Lucifer says, sitting up straight and crossing his left leg. "Ask away!"
Chloe takes a moment to ponder before speaking. "Why do you keep up the persona as if you are the devil? What are you hiding?"
Lucifer sighs and falls back into his chair. "Detective, not only was that two questions, but you have already asked those. I am not hiding anything because I am the devil! I am Satan! I am the Prince Of Darkness! Why can' you grasp this?"
"Maybe because I live in reality. And even with all the weird things, I believe there in an explanation of some form. Your turn."
Lucifer thought he would throw his most important question in first, but after consideration he thought she might shoot him down right away. It was time for a warm-up question. "Who do you think did this?"
"I don't really know. I mean once we get the call and the tests we might have a smaller window and a lead and more questions to ask, such as their alibi for tonight. I'd like to take a guess but I am completely swamped. My turn," Chloe rubs her hands together. "Who do you think is doing this?"
"If I had to take a good guess I would bet on Thomas. Something about him seemed cold. I mean I know he was Royal's ex but something was off about him. Something...weird and creepy. He was too nice and taking it too easy. And was that cut on his hand really from his cat? I'd say I am skeptical over either or not that is how he got it, or if he really is that much of a loner."
Chloe listens and nods her head before replying, "I guess, he could be. But everyone deals with grief differently. We will look into it though. Your turn."
Lucifer couldn't hold onto it anymore. "Why are you and Detective Douche' no longer a couple?"
Chloe's face transforms immediately and her shoulders look like they are pulling forwards towards one another. Her face drops, and she is no longer meeting Lucifer's eyes. "I don't really want to talk about it yet," she begins, becoming both emotional and physically blocked off.
"Please? Its been bugging me for weeks!" Lucifer pleads, he even gets up from his chair and kneeling in front of Chloe. He takes her small hands in his warm ones, and looks up at her. "Please?"
Chloe sighs. He has no right to know, but...maybe...just maybe it could relieve Chloe's mood in some way to let everything go. So she began. "There was one night where I had some big news for Dan. I was going to break it to him over some drinks. After a few, he began to ask why I hadn't had a drink yet. I told him it was because I was pregnant. Let's just say his reaction wasn't joyful, or happy. He became angry, violent. That was the first night he hit me-"
"Dan hit you?!" Lucifer exclaims.
"He hit me. He blamed me for the condom breaking, and for not aborting it. I wanted a child so badly, and I wanted it with him, at the time anyway. Throughout the pregnancy I stayed with him, because it seemed he was only unhappy when he was drunk. However the further I got along, the more he was drinking. He abused me in ways I never thought possible coming from him, and would make it up to me in the mornings. When Trixie was born, I thought it would stop. Then there was one night when Trixie was two, and he didn't just hit me, but he hit her. She doesn't remember, and she wasn't badly hurt, but that was the last straw. No more apologies, no more fake kisses, no more bruises. I served him with divorce papers and ended it. Dan was hurt but I think he understood. I still let him be a part of Trixie's life because I want her to have a father figure, but I want her to have a stronger female mother instead who won't stand to take abuse anymore."
Lucifer was silent. Chloe was damaged to a point where some don't recover...but here she is. Facing her abuser every single day, and fighting on. Hiding so much from everyone and focusing on helping victims herself. Lucifer knew she was strong, but now he knew why, and just how strong she really was. His charcoal heart was feeling...empathy and sadness and amazement all at once. It wasn't something he was used to feeling, but he liked it. Especially because it always happened around her.
"Are you going to say anything?" Chloe asks.
"I'm at a loss for words," Lucifer admits, shocked at his own statement.
"You? A loss for words? Who are you?" Chloe chuckles, wiping away a single tear. She flicks her finger, ignoring it, yet feeling a great relief off of her chest after telling him.
"Yeah. You do that to me Detective," Lucifer admits, eyeing her.
Chloe rolls her eyes. "You know that could have been a nice moment if you didn't just try and flirt-"
A phone ringing out interrupts her statement. She has no choice but to answer it quickly, as it is from the coroner. Lucifer stands and begin pacing, waiting for the reason behind the call, and slowly kicking himself over ruining a great moment. When she hangs up, he looks at her, the look telling her non-verbally to share.
"Both Royal and Olivia were drugged with a sedative that made them also temporarily paralyzed so that they couldn't fight back. Royal wasn't raped, but Olivia was, though they cannot confirm her attacker. Both of the attacks have enough in common to confirm one killer for both, and they have a lead. They told us that the body was confirmed by Olivia's boyfriend, Fred. And that he would like to speak with us."