Chapter Text
“She should have been back by now. Even when you consider how slow she drives, she should have been back already,” Lucifer groused to Dan.
Dan rolled his eyes as he looked up from his phone. He and Lucifer had held this conversation ninety-nine times in the past two hours. Now, it was an even one hundred. What the two of them were commenting on was just the most recent ridiculous incident that had plagued the group since their entire “joyful” Christmas saga began. In reality, their particular Christmas story was more of a horror movie. They were trapped in Penelope Decker’s beautifully appointed cabin...and there was no escape. Muahahahaha….
As elegantly rustic as Penelope Decker’s cabin in the Big Bear Lake region was, as tastefully decorated as it was for the impending holidays, everyone was here under duress. No one wanted to be there except for Penelope Decker...and Penelope Decker always got her way. It mattered not to Penelope Decker that it was Dan’s year to have Trixie for the Christmas vacation, and that he had a week filled with special daddy/daughter activities planned already. It mattered not to Penelope Decker that Lucifer and Chloe had planned their own private Christmas celebration in his log cabin outside of Aspen. No, none of that mattered. Penelope Decker took charge, bestowed a barrage of guilt trips upon her only daughter, her daughter’s current partner, and her daughter’s ex husband until they grudgingly relinquished their holiday plans. Then, she proceeded to invite Linda, Amenadiel, Maze and Eve to join in the festivities. Linda and Amenadiel agreed to attend not because they were dying to spend the holidays in the snow, but because they felt so bad for Chloe that they felt they should support her. Maze didn’t care one way or the other; she just wanted to watch the shitshow go down...and Eve was up for anything!
******
Their pain and suffering began on the Friday before Christmas, which had been Trixie’s last day of school, a half day. Foolishly, her parents believed that they could take advantage of that to do last minute errands and prepare for the ordea-um, holiday ahead. It made sense, actually. They could take their time, do what they needed to do, rest up, and leave Saturday morning before the last-minute shoppers clogged the roadways.
Unfortunately, the terms ‘logic’ and ‘Penelope Decker’ would never appear in the same sentence. When Penelope had learned that Trixie was getting out of school early, she insisted that they head to the cabin that very afternoon.. Easier said than done for Chloe. Lucifer and Chloe had just closed one of the most horrific homicide cases of Chloe’s career, meaning that Chloe had a mountain of paperwork to contend with, and no free time to do anything else. But wait, Kids, there’s more! Chloe had, of course, come down with her ubiquitous Christmas cold. Why wouldn’t she? It was a Christmas tradition dating back to the days when Trixie was in preschool. Preschool, that petrie dish of initiation into the world of bacterial and viral infestations.
Sleep deprived because they were forced to do everything well into the nights leading up to their sojourn into the mountains, Dan, Chloe, and Lucifer packed up their cars, packed up Trixie, and left LA behind. Chloe gave her mother the proverbial passive aggressive middle finger by remaining at the precinct long enough to finish her paperwork. Originally, she had planned to leave it until she came back after New Year’s, but, she had to get back at her mother somehow. This little act of vindictiveness meant that she left considerably later than her mother wanted her to do. Oops. On the way to the cabin, Chloe realized that she truly envied the perpetrator. He, at least, was spending the holidays in blissful solitude. She, on the other hand, was trapped in a cabin with the Vampire Queen and a head full of snot. Oh, the unimaginable joy!
All was well, though, because once the hapless foursome arrived at the cabin, the front door was flung open with great exuberance and they were greeted with hugs and cheerful greetings, and the festivities commenced. Yeah-no. Chloe opened the front door and was immediately berated for arriving late. (Trixie got a hug, at least.) It was only after Penelope had deemed her daughter appropriately chastised that she handed out room assignments and allowed the adults the privilege of unloading the cars and getting settled.
Penelope had the master bedroom with bathroom en suite on the first floor, right off the kitchen. Above the kitchen was the loft containing three more bedrooms and the guest bathroom. The upstairs “hallway” was a balcony that overlooked the great room, the railing festooned with pine garlands lit with white fairy lights.
“Chloe, you, Lucifer, and Trixie will have the room at the top of the stairs. I’ve put the air mattress and bedding there for Trixie already. All you have to do is blow it up.”
“Sleeping with the Urchin. So much for Christmas sex,” Lucifer muttered under his breath as his lover jabbed him in the ribs to quiet him.
“So when the others arrive-where are the others?” Penelope continued.
“They’ll get here tomorrow, Mom. Linda has appointments until eight o’clock on Fridays, and Maze is tending the bar for Patrick tonight. He needed the night off from Lux for a family event.”
“Tomorrow?” asked Penelope, aghast. “They do know they were expected tonight, yes? Didn’t you tell them, Pumpkin? Why didn’t you tell them the right day? You know this is important. I just don’t understand you sometimes.”
“I told them when you wanted them to get here, Mom, but it didn’t work out for them. They’re doing the best they can, but Linda’s a therapist. The holidays are difficult for a lot of her clients. She can’t just leave them.”
“Maybe you’re right,…” Penelope paused a moment, “Anyway, we’ll put Linda, Charlie, and Amenadiel in the middle bedroom, and then Maze and Eve can have that last bedroom over at the end.”
“Mom? Linda and Amenadiel aren’t together anymore. I don’t think that-”
“Oh I’m sure they can make do,” Penelope interrupted. “There’s two single beds in there, so it’s not like they actually have to sleep together. Besides, they’ll have their little boy with them.” Chloe just shook her head. She knew from a lifetime of personal experience that there was no sense in arguing with Penelope when she was in one of her moods. But really, it was bad enough that her mother rode roughshod over her, but did she have to do that to her friends?
“So where am I sleeping, Penny? The garage?” asked Dan.
“Oh, Dan, of course not. The middle section of the couch is a sleeper,” she answered, pointing to a very expansive, u-shaped couch facing the fieldstone fireplace. The couch was new; Chloe had never seen it before. She couldn’t help but wonder if her mother hadn’t bought it specifically for this holiday. “You’ll sleep down here. We’ll just put your luggage in that corner,” she said pointing to the corner between the wall with the fireplace and the front wall.
“Cool,” Dan replied, in a voice that indicated that it was, well,...less than cool. Everyone gets a good night’s sleep when they’re on display in front of an entire household of people. Well, at least it wasn’t the garage...or the boathouse. Actually on second thought, the boathouse wouldn’t be so bad. He remembered seeing a space heater in there. Just plug that puppy in, fire it up, and he would be removed from the drama...kind of.
Once all the bags had been brought in, and everyone was settled, the fun really began for Chloe. That’s when Penelope’s plan was for Chloe was revealed in full-not verbally, but through action; Chloe was to be Penelope’s indentured servant for the holiday week. The commands began almost immediately. “Pumpkin, could you please-?” “Pumpkin, would you go-” “Pumpkin, I need you to-” Between nose blows, sneezes, and coughs, Chloe pressed on, vowing that she was never going to allow another pumpkin in her home ever again. Trixie was just going to have to carve a watermelon for Halloween.
Salvation came at last in the form of her eleven year-old child. As Chloe put away the last of the dinner dishes, the dinner her mother insisted that she needed Chloe’s help cooking, despite Lucifer’s sincere offer to do it for her, Penelope barked out another set of orders. Trixie said, very loudly, “Why is Nana so bossy?”
“Trixie! Shame on you! I need your mother’s help. Don’t you ever help your mother?” Penelope scolded.
“I help Mommy all the time,” Trixie glared, “but my Mommy lets me take breaks. Mommy is sick, and you won’t even let her sit down. You’re just like that evil stepmother in Cinderella.”
“Your daughter is very rude,” Penelope glared at Dan.
“My daughter stands up to bullies, and I’m proud of her for that,” Dan replied in an even tone. Frankly, Trixie was being a little disrespectful toward her grandmother. Frankly, Dan didn’t care. Frankly, Dan was inwardly formulating a plot to kill his ex mother-in-law and make it look like an accident. If he didn’t succeed-and soon-this was going to be a loooooooong week!
“Never mind all that, Pumpkin. That can wait until tomorrow,” Penelope said in defeat, “Come sit down with us.” Dan‘s words bothered her, but the look on Lucifer’s face bothered her even more. Usually, she found the man absolutely charming beyond words. Now? Not so much. The look he was giving her was downright intimidating. She felt as if at any moment, he was going to lunge across the glass-topped coffee table and rip her apart with his bare hands...probably because he was.
“Actually, Mom, I think I’m just going to turn in. It’s been a long day,” Chloe answered, wanting nothing more than to cuddle up with her bottle of Nyquil. It was calling her from beyond the bedroom door, and she yearned to answer the allure.
“Oh, but...it’s still so early,” Penelope said, “Don’t you want to grab a cup of eggnog with us and sit by the fire?”
“No thanks, Mom, maybe tomorrow,” she said. “Night everyone.”
“Goodnight Mommy!”, “Night, Chlo”, “Goodnight then, Pumpkin”, “Goodnight, Detective!” came the chorus from the couch.
“I just don’t understand why she would go to bed so early,” said Penelope. “It’s the holidays.”
“Because she’s sick, Penelope,” Lucifer said exasperatedly. “She’s sick and she had a massive amount of work this week. The poor thing’s exhausted.”
“Well. She shouldn’t work so hard,” said the woman who had run her daughter ragged since she first stepped into the cabin.
******
Today’s latest drama began, charmingly enough, at six o’clock that morning. Chloe, and by extension, everyone else, were awakened by an incessant knocking on the bedroom door. “Pumpkin? Sweetie, it’s time to get up. There’s lots to do before your friends get here.”
Bleary-eyed, Chloe staggered out of bed and opened the door. “Seriously Mom? Six o’clock in the morning? They’re not going to get here ‘til this afternoon. I’m sleeping in.” She began to close the door, only to have Penelope stand directly in the doorframe.
“You’ve been sleeping since eight o’clock last night. We have to get everything ready,” Penelope said firmly, glaring at her daughter. “Get dressed. Breakfast will be ready soon.”
“You’ll need to run into town,” Penelope said, as she ladled out a bowl of oatmeal about an hour later. “I could have sworn I bought a bag of those red and green Hershey Kisses, but I can’t find them anywhere. I thought that I’d put them in with that bag of groceries over there,” she jerked her head to where the bag sat on the counter, but I can’t seem to find it.”
“You want me to drive into town for a bag of candy? Have you even looked out the window, Mom? We’re in the middle of a snow storm. I’m not going out in that. I’m even thinking of texting everyone and telling them to hold off coming here until tomorrow.”
“NO! They’ll be fine. They’ll get here, so we have to have everything set up for them. Don’t you want everything to be perfect?”
“Mom, nobody is going to care if there isn’t any candy on Day One. We can always run into town and get it tomorrow.”
“Pumpkin, we need everything set and in place. That includes the candy. This place has to be welcoming.”
“You paid a decorator to come in here. It’s gorgeous. It’s already welcoming. If your decorator felt that the cabin needed red and green Hershey Kisses, there would be a bowl filled with red and green Hershey Kisses. What is wrong with you, anyway?”
“No no, I’ve read all of those holiday magazines. It said that, to make your guests feel welcome, you should have casual bowls of holiday treats available, so that’s what we’re going to do,” her mother insisted.
“Mom! Every one of those photos is staged by professionals. Even Martha Stewart doesn’t do her own decorating. She has an entire staff whose job is literally to create those sets. Those magazines aren’t real life, Mom. People don’t live like that, seriously. And I promise you, my friends don’t care if there’s bowls of candy set out for them. It’s not a big deal. I’ll go tomorrow morning.”
“I’m not going to argue with you, Chloe. Go buy the candy. The sooner you go, the sooner you get back. If you’re lucky, you’ll be back before the storm becomes a blizzard,” her mother retorted, her annoyance at her daughter’s defiance practically oozing out of every pore of her body.
“FINE!” Chloe exploded, throwing her barely eaten oatmeal into the sink. The bowl hit the edge of the ceramic farmhouse sink and shattered, sending plumes of oatmeal everywhere, as Chloe grabbed her purse off the counter and stormed over to the door.
“CHLOE JANE! Look at the mess you made,” her mother shrieked.
“Deal with it...Mother,” Chloe retorted.
“Detective?” Lucifer said as he walked down the stairs, his hair still wet from his shower. “Detective, where are you going? The storm is terrible. No one should be out in this.” The storm in here is just as horrific, he thought to himself. No one should be in HERE, either.
“Well,” said Chloe pulling on her boots, “I’m going out in it. I have to drive in the fucking snow to the fucking store to buy a fucking bag of red and green Hershey Kisses, because if I don’t….,” she paused dramatically, “if I don’t go right fucking now, Christmas will be ruined and it will be All. My. Fault.” Yanking up the zipper on her jacket, she added, “and to make matters worse, if we don’t have red and green Hershey Kisses available, our friends won’t feel welcome.” And with those words, Chloe stomped out the door and slammed it behind her.
Lucifer stood, stunned, at the foot of the stairs, not knowing what to say. His Detective never used the f bomb...usually. Her mother had pushed her past the point of caring. What could he say to appease the situation? There was not even one iota of logic in the situation for him to wrap his head around.
Dan, however, had absolutely no difficulty at all finding his words. Turning to Penelope, he said, “And to think, she didn’t want to live with you at the beach house anymore.”
“Yes, well...what all did you expect the Detective to do before everyone got here?” Lucifer asked, after a few tension-filled moments had passed, a feeble attempt to break the angry pall that now enveloped the room.
“Oh, don’t worry about it, Lucifer,” Penelope said, sweetly, “Chloe can take care of it when she gets back. Why don’t you help yourself to some oatmeal?”
Lucifer had many flaws. Angels, as it turned out, were just as flawed as humans. One of his greatest flaws was his irascible temper. He had been doing an admirable job keeping his temper in check over the past twelve hours, but there was only so much he was willing to put up with...especially where it concerned his Detective. Willing his eyes to remain brown, Lucifer stalked over to Penelope as she scooped the remains of the oatmeal and ceramic shards out of the sink. Inches away from her, he towered over the woman menacingly and repeated, “What. Did you. Expect. The Detective to do. Before. Everyone. Got. Here?”
"Th-there’s a list...there’s a list on the breakfast bar over there,” she stammered, now nonplussed.
“What do we have?” asked Dan as he walked over to look at the list. Poor Chloe! There was nothing on the list that was too demanding, but the sheer volume of chores would have taken her hours-especially since she was unwell, to begin with. “What do you say, Lucifer, divide and conquer? Hey, Trix? C’mere. Let’s help Mommy, okay? What the hell, Penelope?You expected Chloe to clean and organize your pantry? That should have been done before we even got here.”
“I know, but she’s always been so good at organizing things. She’s got this knack,” Penelope protested.
“Yes, well, she’s also got this cold,” Lucifer retorted. “Why do I have the feeling that you forced her to give up all her holiday plans just to wait on you hand and foot? Are you even going to allow her to enjoy Christmas day?”
“Well, there’s always a lot to do-” Penelope began.
“And plenty of adults to help do it,” he snapped. “The Detective shouldn’t be expected to do all of it by herself. That is most unreasonable.”
Normally, Lucifer Morningstar wouldn’t deign to get his hands dirty doing menial labor, but that didn’t mean that he didn’t know how to do it. It’s just...he had people, you know? But, if he didn’t help with that list of chores, the Detective would be expected to do it. And he wasn’t going to let that happen. His Detective was sick. She was exhausted. She deserved a nice, relaxing holiday, and Dad dammit, she was going to have one! And so, the three of them embarked on the nightmare list.
Eventually, Trixie’s phone pinged. “Mommy wants to know if we need anything else.”
“No, Monkey, I think we’re all set,” her dad replied from inside the pantry before Penelope could open her mouth. “There’s lots of shi-there’s lots of stuff in here that we can use. We’re in pretty good shape.”
“K,” said Trixie. After a brief interlude, her phone pinged again. “She says she’s on her way.”
It was about an hour later that Dan and Lucifer began their conversation loop. Two hours later, with all of the chores having been completed, the two men were now sitting in front of the fire, trying to convince each other that they weren’t in the least bit worried about Chloe...especially since there was a young child in the room who needed reassurance. But when Lucifer began the conversation for the hundredth time, Dan couldn’t maintain his facade any longer.
“Hey Monkey? What time did Mommy send that text? The one about her heading back?”
“Um…” said Trixie as she scrolled down, “nine forty-three.” “Nine forty-three,” said Dan, beginning to do road math in his head, “so on a good day, when the weather’s clear, it takes about...hmmm...twenty minutes to get there. So, with this weather,...yeah...maybe about an hour, hour and a half tops…” he looked over at Lucifer. It was almost noon. Keeping his voice as calm as possible so he wouldn’t upset Trixie, he said, “Feel like taking a walk?”
Dan had to give credit where credit was due. Lucifer’s outerwear was very appropriate. Truth be told, he half expected Lucifer to don his suit jacket and step outside in his Louboutins. He was pleasantly surprised to see that he was wrong. It wouldn’t have surprised Dan one bit if Lucifer hadn’t flown to Switzerland to buy everything. And by fly, Dan wasn’t talking about SwissAir. Regardless, the men walked down the veranda steps and set off into the breach. “Hey, man, I wasn’t going to say anything in front of my kid, but I hacked Chloe’s transponder. Her car’s like, half a mile away. So, I’m thinking she probably had some car trouble and couldn’t call for help. That area’s a gully and there’s no cell service.”
“I don’t understand,” Lucifer replied, “why didn’t she just walk home?”
“Seriously, man? That’s the most unsafe thing you can do. You’re supposed to stay in the car until help arrives. You’re safe, you’re out of the elements, and you don’t run the risk of additional injuries.” Glancing over at Lucifer, Dan caught the look of anguish on the man’s face. “Hey, sorry. You wouldn’t know that. You probably never went to a driving school, huh? My bad. But Chloe would, that’s the thing. She’d stay in the car. I didn’t mean to snap at you like that, I’m just...I’m just kind of worried, you know?”
“I understand, Daniel,” Lucifer answered. “It’s very worrisome. After all, there’s Hershey Kisses at stake.”
That got the guffaw that Lucifer was hoping for as the two men walked down the driveway. “Whoa!” Dan exclaimed once they reached the road. “Check out those tire tracks.”
The snow was falling so rapidly that any tire tread pattern had long since vanished, leaving nothing but parallel depressions where the vehicle had passed. The tracks, however, were still able to tell their story, and what a story it was! For as far as the eye could see, the tracks wove all over the road, back and forth between both lanes, the pattern only broken up by the sporadic strikes on the guardrails. Some of the guardrails were now treacherously bent outward toward the landscape on the other side, painting a hair-raising picture.
“Daniel, you don’t think…”
The two men looked at each other, wide-eyed. “Fuck!” they said in unison.
“Hang on a minute, Lucifer, I think this should be documented,” said Dan as he pulled his camera out of his pocket.
“Really, Daniel? Do you always carry your camera around in your winter coat?”
“Hey come on, man, my kid is spending her winter vacation in the snow. I’m supposed to fill my camera roll with pics of my kid happily playing in the snow, happily sitting in a sled, happily ice skating...you know, all that happy horseshit.” Dan plastered a mock smile on his face as he gave two thumbs up. “Just proof that we had a Really. Great. Time.”
“So instead, you’re taking crime scene photos. Your job has an uncanny knack of following you, Daniel.”
“Lucifer, this entire vacation is a crime scene.”
“For once, Daniel, you and I agree.”
The two men continued on Operation Find Chloe, with Dan snapping pictures of the tire tracks and guardrail casualties as they walked along.
“So Daniel,” Lucifer said to fill the silence, “what were you and Trixie planning on doing before this debacle unfolded? Surf? Play that unicorn game ad nauseum?”
Dan shook his head. “Nah, I had a really nice trip planned and Trixie was really psyched for it. We were going to drive up to Santa Barbara and spend Christmas with my parents, and then we were going to San Francisco. Trixie’s never been, you know? I was supposed to be taking pictures of her on cable cars, and having tea in the Japanese tea house, and walking around Fisherman’s Wharf, not immersed in a winter horrorland. I just...I just feel so bad for her, you know?”
“I’m sorry, Daniel, truly I am,” Lucifer replied, softly. Inwardly, he felt a twinge of envy. Why couldn’t his own Dad have ever spent time with His children? “For what it’s worth, you really are a great dad.”
“Hey, thanks, Lucifer, that means a lot.” Moments later, he said, “Okay, according to the tracker, Chloe’s car should be somewhere around he-Oh. My. God.”
Horrified, the men stood before a gaping hole in the guardrail. Debris littered the road, a testament to the events that had happened just hours before. Careful not to disturb any of the wreckage before Dan could document it, the two men walked to the guardrail and peered over the edge, sickened at what they saw. Chloe’s car was at the bottom of the gully, the end of a trail of debris that included two large telltale depressions. Her car had flipped over twice before coming to rest...upright, fortunately.
Immediately, Dan set to work, documenting the debris in the road, both where it lay in the snow, and after he had extricated it. To his delight, two of his discoveries were license plates, Chloe’s, and the person who had struck her. Without thinking, Dan grabbed two evidence bags out of his pocket.
“First a camera, now evidence bags, Daniel? Was this a working vacation for you?”
“Lucifer,” Dan’s voice now showed the stress he was feeling, “how many times have you and Chloe had to go out of town when you worked a case? Yes, I have evidence bags in my winter coat. I probably have evidence bags in every fucking jacket I own. I’m willing to bet that Chloe has the same problem.”
Truth be told, Chloe did have the same problem. Chloe’s dry cleaner didn’t like her very much. Come to think of it, Chloe’s washing machine didn’t like her very much, either. She was forever pulling wads of nitrile gloves out of the bottom of the machine.
“Well,” Lucifer said, far less snarkily than before, “it’s just as well that you did, Daniel. They’ve certainly come in handy.”
They began their descent down the hill, with Dan continuing to photodocument everything, until they reached the car. Ella Lopez would have been so proud! The driver’s side door was ajar, which Dan knew from years’ experience had happened during the rollovers. The key in ignition alert dinged mournfully to anyone who cared to listen. But it was what they didn’t find that was most disconcerting. Chloe wasn’t there. Dan bent down and took a look inside. No, she hadn’t been thrown into the back seat. That was a highly unlikely scenario, anyway. Chloe always wore her seatbelt. Her cellphone, sitting in the center console told a heartbreaking tale of its own. Chloe’s last activity was her attempt to dial 911, which had failed, of course, due to lack of cell service.
“Lucifer, could you come here a moment?”
“What is it, Daniel?”
“I want you to witness this before I shut the dashcam off. I am removing this dashcam and placing it into evidence.”
“Yes, Daniel, I see you,” Lucifer said as Dan stuffed the dashcam into the his inside pocket, knowing full well that his statement was now recorded. Now, where was Chloe?
A gust of wind revealed the ugly truth. The gully was filled with snow mounds from past accumulations. When the wind blew just then, it revealed that one of the mounds actually included a pair of familiar skinny jeans. Chloe’s jacket was white and puffy, with a white “fur” lining around her face, completely camouflaging her as she became covered in snow, but the jeans were a dead giveaway.
“Detective!” Lucifer cried as he ran over to her.
“Lucifer! Wait!” Dan ran over as quickly as he could. “Wait, man. She might have a neck injury. We have to do this carefully.” With Dan’s assistance holding Chloe’s head so it wouldn’t jostle, Lucifer gathered her up as gently as possible. They would have to get her back to the cabin to call for help.
“Daniel? It’s best you grab those Hershey Kisses before we leave,” Lucifer said as he nodded his head toward the car. “Wouldn’t want the Detective’s efforts to be in vain, yes?”
Dan grabbed the shopping bag, along with Chloe's purse, cell phone, and key ring-minus the ignition key, of course. "Hmm," he said, thoughtfully.
"Daniel?" Lucifer interjected.
"No it's...well, Chloe and I have been divorced for several years, now, but I'm still holding her purse for her," he answered.
Lucifer let out a chuckle, after which the two men walked on in silence.
Dan ran up the steps to the veranda ahead of Lucifer, opening the door with a bang. Without stopping at all, he ran through the great room and up the stairs, leaving a trail of snow and melting water on the hardwood floors, much to Penelope’s horror.
“Dan! What’s going on? You’re messing up the floors, and we have company coming,” she wailed, grabbing a mop.
“Trix!” Dan shouted, ignoring his ex mother in law as he grabbed the air mattress off the floor of Lucifer and Chloe’s room. “Go into the bathroom and grab some dry towels quick, quick!”
As he placed the air mattress on the floor in front of the fireplace, Lucifer quickly brought Chloe over, set her down, and the two men set to work stripping off her wet clothing, drying her off, and dressing her in dry clothing.
“I just don’t understand,” Penelope began, plaintively. “How did this even happen?”
“We need blankets, Penelope,” Dan said. “Penelope!” Dan snapped. “Get some blankets.”
“Oh! Yes, of course,” the woman replied running upstairs to the linen closet.
Quickly, Dan got out his phone. “Yes, hi, this is Detective Dan Espinosa of the LAPD. I was wondering if I could speak to an investigator...oh this is? Listen, I know I’m probably stepping on some jurisdictional toes doing this, but my ex wife was in a very serious MVA on route 18? I’m hoping that’s a jurisdictional overlap with State PD? It is! Good!”
“So, it looks like she was run off the road by an impaired-where are we? Presently, we’re at 1182 Bear Township Road. The MVA was about half a mile down the road. So...hey, can I put you on speaker? I’m kinda doing several things at once. Thanks. Okay, we’re on speaker.” Dan began emptying his pockets of all the evidence he collected, placing it on the dining table.
“Detective Espinosa, you said Bear Township?” said the disembodied voice on the phone.
“Yes. The MVA happened approximately half a mile down the road from the cabin. When she didn’t return from her errand in a timely manner-”
“SHE WENT OUT IN THIS SHIT?” said the voice.
“Yeah, well, trust me, it wasn’t her idea at all,” Dan continued, “but when she didn’t get back here, we got worried, so her partner and I went looking. That’s when we saw what was left of the tire tracks.”
“Tire tracks?”
“Yeah. The important tread stuff had already been covered up, but you could still see the depressions in the snow, and it appeared that whoever made the tracks was driving erratically, so I started taking photos,” he said as he removed his jacket and draped it on a chair to dry. “I figured by the time Accident Recon got here, there’d be nothing left. I didn’t want to lose the evidence, you know?”
“Strong work, Espinosa! How about the scene itself? Were you able to get anything?”
“I did, yeah. I got pics for you...Oh! I snagged my ex’s license plate and the perp’s. I also grabbed the dashcam, so it’s with me.”
“Espinosa, listen up. I am on my way. I got an Escalade, I will get there, okay? It’s gonna take a while, I’m about an hour away on a good day, but I’m coming. In the meantime, call for an ambulance, I take it she’s hurt real bad?”
“She is, yeah. I think there’s at least a concussion going on. She’s unconscious.”
“Okay, Espinosa. Use your training, try to keep her stable. Like I said, call for an ambulance. But listen up, if the Township cops show up, do not give them any of the evidence, okay? If the perp is who I think it is, your ex isn’t his first victim. Keep the evidence with you. All the pics, the license plates, everything. Got it?”
“Copy loud and clear,” replied Dan, as he made a peanutbutter and jelly sandwich for his daughter.
“Oh and Espinosa? Don’t play cop, don’t start investigating without me, got it? I have jurisdiction, you don’t. Resist all temptation.”
“Yeah, no problem. I gotta look after my kid, anyway.”
“Good man. The address is 1182 you said?”
“Affirmative,” Dan answered.
“Okay, you guys, sit tight. I’ll get there as soon as I can.”
“Great, thanks, man.” After he ended the call, Dan called out, “Hey, Trix? Come have lunch.”
“But she’s such a good driver. How could she be so careless?” Penelope wailed.
“So, you missed the whole part where a drunk driver ran her off the road?” asked Lucifer, who no longer had the ability to appear civil. “That driver crossed the lane and struck her broadside. She had no chance of reacting. Really, if you cannot contribute anything of value to the conversation, Penelope, I would very much appreciate it if you said nothing.”
Penelope huffed and sat back on the couch with her glass of wine. “This is a mess, a mess, I tell you,” she moaned. “I’m certainly glad that you all got that list of chores done. Maybe the holiday can be salvaged after all.”
Dan rolled his eyes from his place in the rocking chair beside the fireplace. Lucifer focused on caring for Chloe. And Trixie “didn’t pay attention” at all. She was curled up on the couch, far away from her grandmother, intently reading her book. Really, really, really intently reading her book.
Chloe’s cough had gotten worse, no doubt due to her prolonged exposure to the severe winter weather. But now, beads of perspiration appeared on her forehead. She had been letting out occasional moans since they had brought her home, but showed no further signs of waking up.
“When did you call for the ambulance, Daniel?” Lucifer asked.
“It’s been about an hour,” Dan answered. “The dispatcher said it might be a while due to the weather. I pointed out that Chloe was critical, and she acknowledged that, but…”
“I think she’s getting worse,” Lucifer said, sadly, as he wiped her forehead with a cool towel.
“Mommy? Please take me home. My tummy hurts so bad. Please! I don’t want the part. I don’t to be on TV. I just want to go home. Please, Mommy, it hurts,” Chloe whimpered.
“What-what is she-?” Penelope asked, shocked. “Why would she even bring that up now?”
“Bring what up now?” Lucifer asked.
“She was seven,” her mother began, “I had brought her to an audition. A lovely role in a sitcom. It would have been so good for her career, but she kept begging me to take her home. I thought it was just nerves, so I kept telling her to be brave and power through. Then, the casting director got angry at me because she kept throwing up and crying. He made me take her home and told me I had a lot of nerve bringing a sick kid to an audition-even though I insisted that it was just nerves. Oh, I let her have it in the car for embarrassing me like that, but she wouldn’t even apologize to me, she just kept crying. Well, when we got home, John took one look at her, threw her in the car and drove her to the hospital.”
“And?” Lucifer prodded.
Penelope’s face morphed into a sea of remorse. Sighing, she said, “And...it turned out that she had appendicitis, and...and because I waited so long to bring her, her appendix had ruptured. We nearly lost her, and...John nearly divorced me. I never saw him so angry before and he never got that angry again. I deserved his anger, of course. I knew that. I...I didn’t mean to ignore her health. I was just thinking of her career.”
“Oh! So this isn’t the first time you tried to kill your daughter, only the most recent,” Lucifer scoffed.
“I don’t appreciate your tone, Lucifer,” Penelope said indignantly.
“Yes, well...I don’t appreciate you trying to murder my girlfriend,” he retorted.
“Lucifer, man, come on. We gotta keep the peace. There’s a child in the room,” Dan said.
Undaunted, Lucifer continued, “You seem to have this pervasive pattern, Penelope darling, of ignoring your daughter’s welfare in favor of unimportant matters. Caring more for a television role than the fact that your only child was in agony and vomiting? Caring more for a ridiculous bag of candy than the fact that the weather you forced your daughter to drive in was horrendous? Is that why you wanted a child so badly? So you could abuse it?”
“Lucifer! That’s enough!” Dan exploded.
“Tell me I’m wrong, Daniel,” Lucifer lashed out. “Go on, tell me I’m wrong. Tell me that you don’t know that Penelope kicked her daughter out of the house because she decided to go to the Police Academy rather than remain in the film industry. Tell me that you are far more content sitting in that rocking chair than you ever would have been in Santa Barbara. Go ahead, Daniel, say it. I’m waiting.”
“Look...Lucifer, I can’t, okay? You know I can’t. I know you’re right, but I’m just asking you to keep it civil. This cabin looks enormous, but if we can’t get along, those walls are going to close in on us.”
“Please, Dan, please,” Chloe chose that moment to speak. “Please just one night at home with your family? Trixie loves you. She’s little, she doesn’t understand why her Daddy is never home. She thinks you don’t love her anymore. Please, the precinct can do without you for one night. Just one night...for your daughter?”
The effect of Chloe’s words were instantaneous. Dan’s entire demeanor crumbled as he slumped down in the rocking chair. It was almost commendable, really. As he rested his forehead against his fist, his tears fell freely, but he didn’t make a single sound. No sobbing, no sniffling, no catchy inhale, nothing. He sat in the rocking chair, noiselessly, a testimony to the grief he felt. “Please, Dan, just one night with your daughter…”
“Shhhhh, Detective, it’s okay, it’s okay,” Lucifer said softly as he stroked Chloe’s hair. “It’s okay…”
The knock on the door jarred them out of their mood. “Maybe that’s the ambulance,” said Dan as he rose to answer the door.
Keith Morrison: It was not.
“Heyyyyy, Linda! Amenadiel! Thank God you got here! We were so worried about you guys coming up here in this mess,” Dan said.
“Well, fortunately, I had an angel in the car,” Linda said, “Amenadiel always knows where he’s going. It’s like he has built-in GPS.”
“Even if there happens to be a bridge in the way,” Lucifer muttered under his breath.
“If he didn’t know exactly how to get here, I really don’t think we would have made it. What horrible weather!” Linda exclaimed.
“It’s awful isn’t it?” Dan commiserated. “Chloe really wanted to text you guys and tell you to wait until tomorrow. Here, Linda, let me take that for you,” he added grabbing the large suitcase from the therapist and began heading up the stairs.
“Thanks, Dan,” she answered as she began removing her outerwear. “We’ve put everything else on the veranda before we came in. Charlie! Come see Mama, please.”
Charlie was in his little snowsuit, looking absolutely precious. The hood came to a little point, and his chubby little cheeks stuck out both sides. He had walked into the middle of the room, but at the sound of his mother’s voice, he had toddled back to her. Once divested of his outerwear, he was free to roam around, again, and did so. In the meantime, Dan and Amenadiel had brought in the remainder of their luggage and bags and had begun to carry them upstairs.
“Wait a minute, where is Chloe, anyway? And Lucifer?” Linda asked, concerned.
“Mama! Awnnie Ko-wee! Awnnie Ko-wee down heew,” Charlie said excitedly. He had wandered over to the fireplace because he had spied Unga Woocee kneeling on the floor. But! This was even more exciting than Unga Woocee. Awnnie Ko-wee was lying down on what looked like his Mama’s pool float-in the living room! “Awnnie Ko-wee go simming.”
“Auntie Chloe is swimming, Charlie? Let Mama see-” Linda stopped dead in her tracks. “Lucifer! What happened?”
“She was sent out on an errand this morning and got taken out by a drunk driver,” Lucifer shook his head sadly. “She was almost home. She was almost safe,” he said, his eyes red-rimmed and brimming with tears.
“Oh my God, Lucifer, call an ambulance she needs to go to the hospital...yesterday!”
“We know that, doctor,” he retorted. “The dispatcher told us that they’ll get here when they can.”
“What? That’s bullshit,” Linda said. “She’s critical. And it sounds like she’s got a rocking case of pneumonia on top of it.”
“What would you have us do, doctor? Wave our hands and magically conjure up a hospital in the back yard?”
“No, of course not. But, that ambulance should have been here by now,” she said. At that moment, she caught sight of Penelope sitting on the couch, glass of wine in hand. “Hi! I don’t think we’ve met face to face before. I’m Linda,” she said, extending her hand. Penelope shook her hand.
“I’m Penelope. I’m so sorry you had to come in the middle of a crisis. This was most unexpected.”
“Accidents usually are,” Linda replied.
“Can I get you something to drink? Tea? Wine?”
“Tea would be great, thank you,” Linda answered, watching her son. Bored with Chloe, Charlie had moved on to Trixie, who finally put her book down.
“Hi, Charlie!”Trixie said, smiling. “Where’s your toys? Let’s go see them.” With that, the two wandered off together, hand in hand, to set up a play area.
“Lucifer, what’s going on?” Linda asked, keeping her voice low. “You can cut the tension in here with a butter knife.”
“Hmm, where do I even begin, Doctor? Before we got bullied into coming here? When we first arrived and I watched the love of my life get berated incessantly, all while being worked to death? When Daniel and I found the Detective buried under the snow beside her destroyed vehicle because she was forced to drive in that maelstrom to appease her mother? Where would you like me start the narra-”
“Lucifer, I’m sorry...I’m so sorry,” Chloe sobbed. “I’m so sorry. I should never have believed Kinley. I should never have agreed...I’m sorry. I’ll never forgive myself. I’m so sorry…” She continued sobbing quietly.
“Detective,” Lucifer said, “Shhhh. Shhhh. It’s okay. It’s all water under the bridge, Love. We’ve talked about this. I’ve forgiven you. It’s okay.” Lying his face close to hers, Lucifer continued stroking her face and speaking words of comfort to her, tears streaming down his own face. It didn’t escape his notice that in her delirium, Chloe had initially experienced wrongs committed toward her, but when it came to him, everything flipped. He would discuss that with the Good Doctor, just not now. And then? He would discuss it with Chloe.
“Hey Dan?” Linda called over her shoulder.
“Yeah, Linda?” Dan answered, as he finished coming down the stairs.
“How long ago did you call 911?”
“Uhhhhh…,” said Dan, glancing at his watch, “two hours now. This is ridiculous. We’re not in some remote mountain ravine that’s only accessible by helicopter, we’re only twenty minutes away from the center of town on a main road. I’m calling again.”
“911 what’s your emergency?” said the voice over Dan’s speaker.
“Yes, good afternoon, this is Daniel Espinosa calling from 1182 Bear Township Road. I was calling to see if you had an updated ETA for the ambulance we requested. It’s for a critically injured victim of a hit and run accident?”
“As we informed you earlier, Sir, there will be ongoing delays due to the weather.”
“I understand that, ma’am, but it’s been two hours. You’re only twenty minutes away from this address on a good day. Even with other patients calling in and taking in drive time to the hospital, this is a concerning response time, especially considering that the patient is critical.”
“I understand that you’re frustrated, Mr. Espinosa, but we’re a small ambulance company. Truth be told, our priority will always be the taxpayer/residents of the town. Their needs must be met first before we address other peoples’ needs.”
“So, people who don’t live in the town year-round aren’t considered a priority, even though they pay property taxes and generate revenue for your businesses. Good to know.”
“Well, I guess I owe you an apology, then. When I passed my EMT certification exam, state protocols were a little different. It didn’t matter where the person lived, if there was a medical emergency, we were expected to respond. Critical patients, regardless of residency, were to be given top priority,” Dan snarked.
“As we said, Mr. Espinosa. We are a small ambulance service. We simply cannot abide by all state protocols. We will send an ambulance when we can.” click
“What the hell!” He exclaimed. “Cannot abide by all state protocols my ass! My fucking ass!”
While Dan was ranting, Lucifer came to a decision. Jumping up from his place beside Chloe, he surged forward to the pegs holding the coats, and grabbed both his and Chloe’s jackets.
“Luci! What are you-?” Amenadiel ran up to him.
“What I have to do, Brother. What I have to do,” he answered, his determination bleeding through.
“Luci! With snow like this? Your wings won’t be able to-”
“I have to try, Brother. It’s Chloe,” he replied, near tears. “I won’t be able to live with myself if I don’t try.”
“What if you fall because your wings got weighed down with snow? She won’t survive that. Can you live with that? Luci, think about what you’re doing!” Amenadiel cried.
“I am thinking about it,” Lucifer snapped. “And...and if the worst happens, I’ll return to Hell to live out the remainder of my life. But know this, Amenadiel. I will not be returning to Hell out of guilt. I will return with peace in my heart, because I’ll know that I did everything-everything I could to save the Detective’s life, and that’s all that matters.” With that, he gently wrapped Chloe’s jacket around her torso.
“I love you. I love you. Please don’t go,” Chloe whimpered. “Please...”
“I’m right here, Darling,” he answered. “I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere.” With those words, he lifted her up in his arms and walked out the door.
“Wh-where is he taking her?” asked Penelope.
“To the hospital, Penny, where else? There’s really no other reason to be out in weather like this,” Dan replied, glaring at the woman. Make it look like an accident, make it look like an accident, make it look like an accident, he chanted to himself.
“But how? Chloe just destroyed their car,” Penelope interjected.
“Through other means, Penelope,” Amenadiel replied. He had way about him, Amenadiel did. He was able to say things in such a way that everyone accepted his words at face value, without questioning. It came in handy, especially now. Penny simply resumed drinking her wine and reading some magazine or another.
“You were an EMT, Dan?” Linda asked, in a futile attempt to lower the tension in the room after Lucifer left.
“I’m certified, but no, I never worked EMS,” he replied, scrubbing his face with his hands as he sat back down in the rocker. “I just keep the certification up, you know, because I earned it. I wasn’t planning on being a cop, at first. I wanted to do Search and Rescue for some state or federal agency, maybe work in a national park? I don’t know. I just, well...plans change.”
“Are you ever sorry you changed paths?”
“Are you kidding me? I live in LA. The food’s fantastic, and…” he looked over at his daughter as she quietly played with Charlie, “even though I’ve had a lot of bumps in the road, I’ve had a lot of good things happen to me, too.” He shook his head. “I wouldn’t trade my life for anything. I’m pretty sure I’m where I’m supposed to be...Well, except for this cabin, maybe,” he added, ignoring Penelope’s glare from over her magazine.
His reflecting was interrupted by another knock on the door. The Paramedics, maybe? Wouldn’t that be ironic, Alanis Morrisette style. Dan played host and went to answer it.
“Detective Dan Espinosa?”
“Yes?”
“Detective Ben Rausch, California State Police.”
“Hi! Yes, please come in,” Dan said, shaking the man’s hand vigorously and ushering him inside. He waited patiently while the man wiped his feet and hung up his coat on one of the pegs by the door. “We can work over here for now,” he said, gesturing toward the dining table. “Can I get you coffee or something?”
“Coffee sounds great, Espinosa, thanks. I’ll just start setting things up. You guys have wifi, or do I need a hotspot?”
“No, we have wifi.” Dan quickly got Rausch’s computer connected. Do you take anything in your coffee?”
“No thanks. I like it dark and bitter, like my soul.”
The two men shared a laugh before getting to work. “Okay, so, let’s start from the beginning… Over the next several hours, the two men worked diligently, piecing together a strong picture of what had happened to Chloe. Together, they downloaded all of Dan’s photos, downloaded and watched the horror flick that was Chloe’s dashcam footage, blinked back tears as they heard Chloe’s futile attempt to dial 911, sobbing when she realized that she was in a dead zone, then high-fived each other when they ran the license plate number and got their perpetrator, dead to rights.
Rausch’s radio crackled to life. “Go for Rausch.”
“Hey, it’s Littleton. We’re on scene with Accident Recon. They just recovered the car. It’s on the back of a flatbed.”
“Accident Recon came out in this shit?”
“Affirmative, Sir. So right now, they digging through the snow, picking up car parts. They got your message about an urgent investigation.”
“Copy that. Keep me updated, Littleton. Oh! Let Recon know that we’ve got photos for them. Just let me know who’s the lead and I’ll send ‘em to ‘em.”
“Copy that. Oh, and Sir?”
“Yeah, go ahead.”
“Township P.D. is on scene. They’re not happy with us.”
“Stand your ground, Littleton. This is our case. If they have any issues, give ‘em my number.”
“Copy that. Littleton out.”
“Now, where were we?” Rausch said to Dan.
Just at that moment, the door flew open with a large bang. Maze, followed by Eve, walked into the room without preamble, dumping their bags on the floor. “S’up?” she asked.
“Mazikeen Smith?” Rausch called out from the table.
“Hey Rausch! What’s up?” she asked. “Need me to get someone for you, again?”
“What’s up is that me and Espinosa, here, are trying to catch the son of a bitch who took out Chloe Decker this morning. It’s possible that we might need your services.”
Maze’s karambits were out in a minute. “Who do I stab?” she asked angrily.
“You…meant nab, right Maze?” Dan asked.
“Stab...nab...same diff,” she answered.
“Gonna go for this guy, if we can't get him,” the Rausch said, turning the laptop around so Maze could take a look.
Maze looked at the screen. “Gerald “Jerry” Mitchelson. Likes to drink, does he?” she asked, looking at his list of offenses.
“Yes. Yes he does,” Rausch replied. “And when he’s drunk, he hurts people. And when he hurts people, his p.o.s. brother tweaks the evidence or makes it disappear before he goes to court. Worst he’s ever gotten was a couple months in jail.”
The records on the laptop confirmed everything Rausch was saying. Multiple DUI arrests, three vehicular homicide arrests, two accidents resulting in severe injuries...the list was sickening.
“And none of the charges stuck?”
“Nope. Not enough evidence to get him convicted. We know he’s responsible, but we can’t prove it,” Rausch answered.
“No wonder you didn’t seem surprised when you ran the plate,” said Dan.
“Nope,” Rausch replied. “He’s a menace. We’ve been trying to put him away for years. See usually, local police get to the accident scenes first, and...well...things go missing, reports get fudged, you know the drill. We’ve been waiting for an opportunity like this for years, Espinosa. You have no idea what you’ve done to help us. We finally have a chance to nail the son of a bitch.”
“If you don’t mind me saying,” Dan began, “this sounds personal to me.”
Rausch heaved sigh. “It is. I used to have three kids,” he said, pointing to one of the vehicular homicide cases, “Now, I only have two.”
“Awww man, I’m so sorry. It’s so rough to lose a kid like that.”
“Thanks. He was a life guard at Big Bear Lake. It was the summer before his senior year of college. Good kid. Was going places. That piece of crap took him out and got away with it. We never even got an apology. We gotta stop him, Espinosa. He’s ruined too many lives, ya know?”
Dan sat staring at the screen, when suddenly the lightbulb went on. Without even thinking it out thoroughly, he began clicking on every link for every listed arrest.
“See something, Espinosa? I can practically see the gears turning in your head,” Rausch said.
“Nah, I was...I was trying to get to know who tried to take out the mother of my child,” Dan said, poring over the accident scene photos of an earlier incident. “If you don’t mind me asking, have you ever had a profiler look at this?” he asked.
"You want a profiler to investigate a car accident, Espinosa? I mean, we’re State, but that doesn’t mean we have unlimited funding.”
“Yeah, no, that’s not what I’m getting at,” Dan replied. “But check this out. This is Chloe’s accident scene,” he clicked, “this is Ted Hendrick’s accident scene,” click, “this is your son’s accident scene,” click, “this is Bethany Hardwick’s accident scene,” click, “this is George Ondrick’s accident scene…In each case, the victim was on an elevated stretch of highway, was impacted on the same part of the vehicle, and then pushed over the edge of the road.”
“My God, you’re right! In all these crashes, every detail was the same, only the exact location of the crash site changed. Jesus, it’s his fucking M.O. He’s using that truck of his as his murder weapon, and we missed it. We were treating each accident as a separate incident. It never occurred to us to link anything. We’ve been working this case for years, and as it turns out, all we needed was a fresh pair of eyes. Good catch, Espinosa! Ever think of joining State?”
“Thanks, man, that’s quite a compliment. But,” Dan said smiling at his daughter as she played on the floor with Charlie, “I have strong reasons for staying in LA.”
Rausch looked at him. “Well, if you ever change your mind, give me a call.”
“Thanks,” said Dan. Dan understood the implication. If Chloe didn’t make it, Dan had an opportunity to take his daughter to a new place to start over, if he wanted to, that is.
“Okay,” Rausch continued as he stood up and began gathering everything, “so here’s the thing. We have enough to arrest Mitchelson for DUI, leaving the scene of an accident, and reckless driving causing bodily harm. We can hold him for that, but the serial killer stuff will have to come later. But, I’ll call the FBI on Monday and get them going on everything else. Great working with you, Espinosa. I hope everything works out for your ex.”
“Thanks, man, I appreciate that.”
“Oh, and before I forget,” Rausch said as he zipped up his coat. “Past history dictates that I’m going to assign an officer to sit outside your ex’s hospital room. Township P.D. likes to arrest the injured parties for leaving the scene of the accident if they leave the scene before P.D. arrives.”
“You have got to be kidding!” Dan exclaimed.
“Wish I was, Espinosa, wish I was,” Rausch replied as he headed out the door. “By the way, you haven’t seen the last of me. I’ll be in the area until we get the guy. And if we don’t get the guy, we’ll sick Mazikeen on him,” he said, turning to the demon and giving her a wink.
“Sounds like a plan to me,” said Dan. “Take care. Drive safe!”
“Always,” said the man as he put all the evidence in the back seat of his Escalade and prepared to leave.
Dan shut the door and began walking toward the dining table.
“Well, Dan, now that you finished all that police stuff, would you mind setting the table? Chloe isn’t here to do it, and dinner is almost ready,” said Penelope.
Make it look like an accident, make it look like an accident, make it look like an accident...