And A Child Shall Lead Them

Chapter 1 - Ghost in the Machine

Lucifer shook the snow globe and set it on the desktop, watching the white specks of plastic drift down. When they had settled, he flipped it and fixated on the inverted plastic city inside, thinking how his own life had been turned upside down. The brooding demon picked it up again from the reception desk and held it out for Gabriel to see.

"I remember when Samantha bought this," Lucifer said, with uncharacteristic melancholy. "It was on one of our early dates. We were on an after dinner stroll and had stopped to browse in one of those tacky gift shops on the Las Vegas Strip. She flipped the globe and asked if I thought snowfalls were beautiful. I told her we didn't have snow where I came from. She said that was sad, and then she smiled and bought the snow globe. She said she was going to place it on her desk so whenever I passed it I could stop for a moment and enjoy my own snowfall."

Gabriel drew a breath. "Lou, it's only been six months. She'll be back."

"Will she? Not a single phone call; not even a postcard. I don't understand. Everything was going so well, and then..." He replaced the snow globe.

The phone rang. "Horn and Cypher, private investigators," Gabriel answered. "That's fine, Lou and I can handle things until you get here. See you soon." He hung up the receiver. "That was Sharon. She's downstairs; she'll be a few minutes late."

Lucifer glanced at the clock on the office wall, which read 9:15. "She's already late. Samantha was always prompt."

"Lou, you can't keep comparing Sharon to Samantha. Sharon's only 19; you can't expect her to have the maturity of a women with three centuries of life experiences. Not to mention, the poor girl suffered a harrowing ordeal, being victimized by a pack of vampires."

The demon looked up. "She has a lot to thank you for. She'd still be a vampire if you hadn't risked your life to restore her."

"And she can thank you for hiring her. I think having a job will give her a much needed sense of direction in her life."

"I hope so. Maybe then she'll be able to find her way to the office on time."

The door burst open and an ebullient young girl entered. "Morning, boss number one, boss number two. Sorry I'm late, but I did pick up the mail on my way." Sharon Mordecai handed a pile of envelopes to Lucifer.

"Anything interesting?" Gabriel asked.

Lucifer shook his head. "Bills, bills, junk mail, bills...hmm?"

"Hmm?" Gabriel repeated.

"This envelope from a casino hotel in the Sierras," Lucifer replied. "At first, I thought it was junk mail, but someone handwrote 'urgent' on it."

"What does it say?" Sharon asked.

"It's from Jeffery Monmouth, proprietor of the County Down Casino Hotel in the Sierra Mountains," Lucifer replied. "He 'wishes to retain your services on a matter most urgent.'"

"He sent a letter to hire you?" Sharon asked. "Hasn't he heard of telephones? Or e-mail, for that matter?"

Lucifer peered inside the envelope. "There's also a check for $10,000."

Sharon grinned. "On the other hand, it might be nice to have a pen pal."

"He says he has reserved a luxury suite for us at the hotel and awaits our arrival." Lucifer passed the letter to Sharon. "Type up a reply expressing our regret, schedule full, blah, blah, blah, and return the check."

"You're turning down a case with a ten grand retainer and a free luxury resort stay in the mountains?" Sharon asked.

"We could use the money." Gabriel pointed to the bills. "Why not accept the case?"