The Intern

Open Secret

       Landing in California there's SUVs waiting for us. JJ, Tara, Ray, and I take one, and Rossi, Alvez, and Reid take the other. Tara sits in the back with the youngest of us as I drive. "So, you've been to this club before?" My agent frames it as a question even though we all obviously know she has.

       "Yeah, it's considered a more 'underground' type place even though the events are notorious in the kink community. To get in you have to know the password so all invited are by word of mouth. The church itself has three levels. The main floors is the bar and seating areas. It's also where the performances take place. The basement is known as the Thunderdome. It's a free-for-all and it's where you go if you're trying to get your hands on well basically any substance known to man. The second floor is where they do demos such as whipping and flogging. It's also where they do shibari." Now off the plane, she has data and shows us the club's social media.

       When we arrive, I make it a point to stop and wait for her wanting her to stay close. It's her first case and as ironic as it is this is my first time being back out in the field in almost three months. Being the Section Chief keeps me grounded at base. One of the locals leads us through the station to a cubicle office. "Emily, you made it!" Standing up from the desk Decker shakes my hand. "Rayne?" Her face morphs into pure shock as soon as her eyes land on the woman next to me. Smiling Ray waves as she greets her. Giving her a moment to recover I introduce her to the rest of my team. Having us follow her to a conference room she introduces her team. "These are two of my detectives Daniel Espinoza and Marcus Pierce. She's our forensic specialist Ella Lopez. The only one missing is my partner Luc-" Getting cut off by a yelp my intern gets picked up from behind.

       Getting flipped around she ends up face to face with the man who grabbed her. "Lucifer Morningstar LAPD Consultant." Holding her to his chest he swings her back and forth like a ragdoll. "What brings my favorite doll all this way?" Finally sitting her down she looks dazed as she straightens her clothes out.

       "Her boss. Remember I told you I had a contact at the bureau?" Looking me up and down he hums. "Right, now that we're all here we can go over all of the evidence we have so far." Pulling the board more towards the center of the room her whole team acts like this type of behavior is normal.

       Jumping right in we all pull up seats around the table as her detectives present the facts we hadn't received in the overview. Sharing what we learned from Ray and our profile we run into lunch. Breaking we are having the friends who were last seen with each of our victims coming in for interviews. The locals already spoke to them all, but we want to run cognitive interviews. I also want to send Alvez and Reid out to the crime scenes.

       Telling my team, they're dismissed to get lunch before I can even turn my chair Ray is getting rolled away by Morningstar. Having a hushed conversation, he guides her out of the room. "What is up with her and him?" JJ invites Tara and me to lunch with her and Spencer and we take her up on the offer.

       I've obviously not going to get to speak to my intern about anything with him around. She went with him willingly though and had allowed him to manhandle her earlier so there's not a lot I can say outside of professionalism. "She told me before she left, she knew them personally. I guess he was a friend of a friend, but it seems like they're a lot closer than she had led me to believe." Weaving through the station I don't see her anywhere.

       Being in the middle of LA we end up at a little sandwich shop not far from the station. "So, Pen texted me about some things..." Groaning I wish they weren't spreading this girl's business around.

       "We are not about to sit here and discuss my intern's personal life. It's literally her first day!" Obviously, there needs to be some boundaries set starting with Pen.