Kneel

Case 39

  "Oh, my gosh, you guys." Ella gushed while taking photos of the body. "Can you believe that we are on the actual set of The Cabin?"

  "Well, I'm not really a reality show kind of person, Miss Lopez. I like to enjoy real-life situations. You know, go out with other people, for example." Lucifer then pointedly looked at me, and I wasn't sure if he was making a dig at me being a homebody or not.

  "Oh, yeah, I'm usually not into reality shows either. I prefer more, you know, scripted-content, documentaries, but I've got a little extra time these days, so....sort of kind of watched, uh, 27 seasons in two weeks."

  "Fascinating."

  "Ella, was she a contestant?" Chloe asked while crouched by the body.

  "Yeah. Melinda Hagey. She was the sweetest kindergarten teacher ever, you guys, and a total fan favorite. Pretty sure she would have won if she hadn't, you know-"

  "Died, croaked, bought a pine condo."

  "I don't know why, but it took me a second to get that one. I thought you meant a condo of pine cones." I shook my head.

  "You lagging today?" Ella looked at me, and I nodded.

  "Couldn't sleep well, so I ended up waking up super early. So, Melinda?"

  "Right. Even though Melinda's body was found in the lagoon and COD was obviously drowning, this right here, definitely a murder. I mean, first of all, we've got signs of a struggle here on the beach, and secondly, a big old, hulking contusion on the back of her head."

  "Do we know if any of the cameras caught the murder?"

  "Unfortunately, no." A man said as he walked over while being followed by a cameraman. "Maury Novak. I'm the executive producer. Anyway, yeah, none of the cameras were rolling 'cause, uh, it was the middle of the night at the time. Don't worry, we won't make that mistake again."

  "Unfortunately, this is an active crime scene, so until we process it, your show's on hold."

  "Yes. And I will also need to watch all of your unaired footage." Ella pointed.

  "That's hundreds of hours."

  "Oh, my God, awesome! I mean....you gotta do what you gotta do. Uh, lead the way, please." Ella waved her hand while walking toward Maury.

  "Well, now that that's dealt with." Lucifer turned to me with a smile.

  "What? You've been looking like you want to ask me something all morning."

  "Would you like to go out with me this evening?"

  "Like on a date?"

  "I was hoping so, yes."

  "All right. What time?"

  "Wait, you two are...." Chloe trailed off while pointing at Lucifer and I. "You're dating?"

  "You already knew that."

  "Oh, yeah, I just meant.... Uh, how does that-how does that work?"

  "I stay a good boy or get punched in the gut." Lucifer popped off.

  "I did that one time." I pointed, and Lucifer looked amused while chuckling.

~

  "All right, Judd. Why don't you put down the ax?"

  "What's up?"

  "You're a killer. That's what's up."

  "Uh, she means we know you found the totem, Judd." I gave Chloe a look of confusion and concern as she crossed her arms. "We also know Melinda had it when she died, so we're wondering if you had a fight over it."