See Me As I Am

ChloePOV: Friends

Chloe had intended to follow up with Lucifer and make sure he was okay, but that plan had been quickly forgotten when she got the news that Joe Fields - the man who killed her father - had been given early release to visit his grandchild's christening. No matter who she called, Chloe hadn't been able to get the whole thing cancelled. She'd even met the prison warden himself which hadn't made one tiny difference. Chloe had been so frustrated she'd followed behind the prison truck as it drove Joe. Maybe to keep an eye on the situation or maybe to catch him doing something else she could put him away for. She'd lost track of the vehicle for just one turn and when she found it again the situation had gotten a thousand times worse. Joe Fields had been murdered and she was first on the scene. This didn't look good.

Even so, she called it in. It was her job. Once Dan arrived she gave the lead on the case over to him, knowing the huge conflict of interest involved here.

Going home after that sucked. All Chloe wanted to do was work the case. She couldn't think of anything else, but she had no choice. Trixie was home and Chloe had to be in mom-mode for a while.

Maze was almost done moving her stuff in now, and so far it was working fine. She'd kept all her not child-appropriate things in her room and was turning out to be a rather good roommate. Though she seemed to be having some problems finding a job, or at least dressing well enough for the interview to get one.

There was a knock on the door and Chloe went to get it, only to find herself held up at gunpoint. She managed to defuse the situation before Trixie saw anything, which Chloe was thankful for. The almost-shooter turned out to be Joe Field's daughter, and she had some new evidence to bring to the case. It proved Joe hadn't killed John Decker.

Chloe went back into work. It turned out Dan had figured a few things out too. Someone had confessed to Joe's murder without knowing a single thing about it. False confession. It had been hard to figure out why until they followed the money.

"These people are getting paid to make confessions!" Dan exclaimed. "I should have seen it earlier. It almost seemed like Rodney wanted to be arrested even after I figured out his confession was fake."

"Joe's daughter got regular payments sent to her while her father was in prison," Chloe said with sudden understanding. "Someone is paying people to frame themselves." She thought about it for a minute, remembering a certain menacing smile, and it all clicked together in her head. "It's the prison warden!"

Not only had that bastard killed her father but he'd put an innocent man away for it for ten years!

The trouble was catching him. She wanted to call her partner in, but she was worried about Lucifer being a loose cannon and didn't want to risk it. They headed out, but by the time they got there the warden was already gone.

Chloe went home. She felt like a failure. Her father's killer had not only been free these last ten years, but he was also still free. She'd been too green back then and she'd arrested the wrong man. Yep, failure.

Tomorrow she'd try again, but today she was going to let herself feel like a failure. Chloe opened her apartment door and headed inside. Trixie was sleeping over at her friend's tonight so it was just her unless Maze was home. Chloe walked in and took off her coat. She was considering taking a bath when she heard a noise and turned sharply.

"Easy it's just me," Maze said, with a hand in the air. "Jumpy much?"

"Sorry," Chloe said, putting her gun away. "It's been one hell of a day."

Maze snorted. "How long you been waiting to use that one?"

"Ha ha," Chloe replied dryly. She was in no mood for hell humour. She decided to change the topic. "How'd the interview go today?"