Kneel

Case 10

  "You catch him up?" I questioned while reaching for the sheet over the body as Chloe and Lucifer walked up.

  "I did." She nodded, and I flipped down the sheet.

  "So, based on the bloodshot eyes and the closed throat, M.E. says it looks like this guy was poisoned."

  "No, no, no! This is horrific!" Lucifer's face twisted as he knelt beside the body.

  "Dead bodies don't usually affect you." Chloe raised her eyebrows at the man.

  "You know who this is? This is Chef Javier."

  "Javier Arias, yeah. Owner of Sol de Javier. Did you know him?"

  "Well, only by his work. I mean, this chap was, a-an artist in the kitchen." Lucifer waved his hand. "He made the most exquisite Mexican cuisine I've ever had. And now....ugh."

  "I'm sorry."

  "I'll never taste his perfect tamales again."

  "So this isn't even about the man, it's about your stomach?" I covered the body back up while looking at Lucifer.

  "This is about a crime against good taste, Imp. Well, someone definitely needs to be punished for this."

  "According to the grocers, he came here every morning after having breakfast at his restaurant. M.E. says that the poisoning happened about 90 minutes before he fell, which puts him squarely at the restaurant." Chloe explained, and I stood up shortly after.

  "Well, you can't think his own staff poisoned him. I mean, the man was a visionary."

  "With a Hell of a temper, by all accounts. Everyone at the restaurant's a suspect. We need to interview all of his employees and do a full sweep for toxins."

  "And find out whether he wrote down his recipes." Lucifer added.

~

  "You smell that? It's the last of Chef Javier's brilliance gone forever. I wonder if police recovered any leftovers from his last meal."

  "Well, it was most likely poisoned." Chloe popped off as we walked through the restaurant.

  "Ah, well, it's well worth the risk."

  "Hi. So is this everyone that works here?" My partner asked the cop that walked up.

  "Yeah, that's everybody."

  "You-You think one of us killed Pops?"

  "'Pops'? What, are you his daughter or something?" Lucifer asked the woman.

  "Uh, no, that's what we all called him. We were like a family here."

  "Well, hold on, so everyone here saw him as a father figure? Oh, this is much more interesting now."

  "Why's that?" Chloe furrowed her brows.

  "His daddy issues again?" I popped off.

  "No, dear detectives, this is patricide. It's a tale as old as time. You know, Oedipus, the Mendez brothers, Voldemort."

  "What did I tell you?" I rolled my eyes before turning away as Chloe pulled Lucifer to the side to talk to him. She was more than likely trying to tell him to not project his own unresolved issues onto the case.

  "Misha! You have to come, too!"

  "What?" My head jerked up when my name was called.

  "Dinner, tonight. Don't be late, dear." Penelope winked at me as she was walking away.