Kneel

Case 40

  "Hey, Ella. Are you feeling better today?"

  "Well, better than this poor girl." Ella sighed. "Susan Ochoa, 29. A bona fide rocket scientist at Brody Aerospace. Neighbor saw the door open, body on the floor, called it in."

  "I'm assuming that's the murder weapon." Chloe pointed at the knife sticking out of the victim's back.

  "Yep. A good old knife in the back."

  "Bit on the nose." Lucifer scoffed.

  "So no forced entry....two glasses, someone brought flowers." Chloe pointed at the table. "She knew her attacker."

  "It's always the ones you least suspect, the ones you trust the most, that hurt you." Ella had this distant look in her eye. I could only figure she was still on the outs with her religious beliefs after what happened to Charlotte. "They wait until your guard is down and then wham!" Ella suddenly shouted, and Lucifer actually flinched. "In my case, it was tequila."

  "Riveting."

  "Any witnesses?" I asked.

  "None, but the victim's friend might know more. Oscar." Ella pointed the man out on the other side of the apartment. He was talking to an officer, and we went to question him.

~

  "A bit self-aggrandizing, don't you think?" Lucifer asked while pointing at the banner we walked under for Anders Brody's 'Save the Cove Regatta'. "Maybe he's compensating for something."

  "Cue relentless onslaught of small penis jokes in three, two, one..." Chloe chuckled. "....You know, because he's compensating."

  "For his guilt, I mean."

  "Oh, well, I thought- Okay, well, never mind. So you think that he's hosting charity regattas because he's feeling guilty?"

  "Yes. For doing bad things, like betraying a beloved and totally innocent coworker."

  "You know, maybe you and Anders are similar. Rich, famous. At the very least, notorious."

  "What? No, no, you're supposed to be Brody in this metaphor." Lucifer waved his hand while looking at Chloe.

  "Have you ever considered donating any of your vast fortune to charity?" Chloe asked, and Lucifer scoffed.

  "I put many a nubile law student through college, thank you very much. Several of which named Charity, so...." Lucifer trailed off as we saw Brody using a net to get a bottle out of the water.

  "Ah, hard to believe a guy so dedicated to saving the world would murder his own employee."

  "Well, sometimes betrayal comes from the ones we expect the least, doesn't it, Detective?" Lucifer muttered before walking toward Brody.

  "Did you two get into a fight?"

  "Not that I was aware of." Chloe shook her head as her brows furrowed.

  "You! Anders Brody. You killed her, didn't you?"

  "Killed? Who?"

  "Susan Ochoa. You went round to her place and murdered her in cold blood." Lucifer stated, and Brody scoffed.

  "Are you out of your mind? Who are you?"

  "L.A.P.D. We're here investigating the murder of your employee Susan Ochoa."

  "Look....I don't even know who that is, so....I certainly didn't kill her."

  "What happened? You go over to her place, try and put the moves on her? She wasn't into it, you couldn't take it and killed her?"