POV Linda Martin
Doctor Linda Martin was about to leave her home and go to her practice when there was a knock at the door. She was not expecting a visitor, so she opened the door in surprise to see who it was. Standing at her door was a man somewhere in his fifties and a woman about forty years old. Linda had come into contact with law enforcement often enough through the club around Lucifer and thus Decker, Dan and Ella to know that these were cops even before they pulled out their credentials. Both showed their badges and the older man said:
"I'm captain Ramirez and this is lieutenant Groove. We are from internal affairs at the LAPD. Could we have a few minutes of your time doctor?"
Linda smiled:
"When an officer says a few minutes, it usually means a lot more than a few minutes. Come in, I don't have an appointment for the first hour anyway, I was going to update my files a bit, but I can do that tonight."
She pointed them to a seat in the sitting area:
"Is this a conversation that will go more smoothly if there is coffee?"
The woman smiled:
"If you meant gallons of coffee doctor then you guessed correctly."
"Okay, coffee first then."
Linda walked toward the kitchen to make coffee. She knew damn well what these two had come to discuss. The murder of Daniel, the disappearance and then the sudden reappearance of Decker, and who knows what Decker had been up to. She knew that the coup in Heaven had succeeded but could guess that things were still at play. She had Alex to thank for Charlie's life, so she was in no mood to complicate things for him. Her plan of action was simple; she knew as little as possible and would go into as little detail as possible. After pouring coffee for everyone she asked:
"What can I do for you guys? And isn't it a little strange for a captain and a lieutenant to go out together when it's normally two officers who make house calls?"
The older man laughed softly:
"This is a case where one cop killed another cop. So, this case has a little more attention from higher ups than other cases. But you're right, even in that kind of case it would probably be an officer maybe with a lieutenant. This case however is anything but normal and a whole bunch of higher-ups are already worrying about the media circus that is no doubt going to make our lives miserable for a while."
Lieutenant Groove asked:
"Doctor, did you happen to see or read the news last night or this morning?"
"No, that's something I normally do on the way to my practice, the news on the radio and if I have some time to spare at the practice via the Internet. Why?"
"You might know that detective Decker was brought in by Mazikeen Smith. But that's not what we came for. What we've come for is that last night she confessed as meek as a lamb to the murder of detective Espinoza and, in furtive circumstances, to the murder of Beatrice as well."
Linda looked at the two for a full minute and said:
"Three questions; What do you mean by confessing in a concealed manner, where is Trixie? Basically, what does this have to do with me and thirdly describe tame as a lamb."
The older man said:
"I understand that Beatrice was your priority in the list you just summed up, from what we understand you were sort of an aunt to the girl. But please let us come back to that later so it will be clearer. Believe me, this whole mess is already unclear enough for us that we are having serious trouble placing much of her story."
Linda nodded and the man continued:
"You were present the night she disappeared. Apparently, there was some sort of group gathering of the people around Mister Morningstar at his penthouse. That was the same night dozens of corpses were found in an old nightclub. The two cases don't seem to be connected but we're not ruling anything out. We can't because Decker connected the two cases. Plus the fact that we have some very vague descriptions that in a very remote way point to Mister Morningstar, or better his car. So, we have no choice but to bring them into the investigation together. After her first five sentences about that place, I already wanted to throw her story in the trash and be her personal driver toward the Lonny bin. Because nothing that she described about what would have happened in that club can be true unless you throw half the laws of nature and physics overboard. The causes of death and times of death of the deceased in the club cannot possibly be fitted into her story. So what she says about the events in the club is pure BS. Everything we have collected so far in forensic evidence simply proves that her story was plucked out of thin air."
Linda knew damn well what had gone on in that club, she kept a low profile and asked a question in such a way that the two across from her thought she was in her role as a therapist:
"Can you tell me anything about that or is it against the interest of the investigation? If I don't get an idea of the manner she tells her story or answers things then I fear you will have little use for me."
The two looked at each other for a moment and it was the lieutenant who said:
"To go along with her story and answers you would have to assume that actual Demons can take over people's bodies. Bodies of people who have just died because according to Decker, Demons cannot take over the bodies of living people."
Linda looked first one and then the other in the eyes before saying:
"Okay, let's assume this is possible. I read about that case online. It was what? Two, three dozen bodies?"
"Something like that yes."
"If you go along with her story, why couldn't it be?"
"According to Decker, there was an epic battle with the Demons to save your baby because the Demons wanted to take him to Hell. Therefore the bodies would still have to be moving at the moment of the battle. Something the coroners have ruled out based on the fact that some of those bodies where showing full rigor which makes it impossible for the bodies to move. According to her, the father of your son is an Angel and thus Charlie could take the place on the throne in Hell since Mister Morningstar apparently is done being the King of Hell and only a Celestial could take his place."
"Charlie, the son of an Angel… Well, that's easy to prove it's not really the case. Do you happen to be free for an hour or two this afternoon to babysit this, Angel-baby?"
The two laughed for a moment with this statement. Groove continued:
"No trace of a fight was found in the club. You would expect that a fight with three dozen Demons would Leave marks and fingerprints everywhere. Nothing, nothing at all. No fingerprints from Decker, Smith, or Morningstar or anyone else that we have on file for that matter. No furniture is knocked over or pushed aside as you might expect in a large-scale fight. Nothing at all. The only plausible explanation is that all those bodies were simply brought in and put there by some Looney Tune or more probably a gang of Looney Tunes. Reason unknown until we find them. We could speculate about that because of the involvement of one of the bodies. But I just cannot see myself calling the mayor or someone high-up in the State Department in Washington and telling them I needed to call the Vatican, or have a talk with their ambassador, a nuncio, because one of their exorcists, who by the way is excommunicated because he is kind of a Loony Tune himself, has been found between the remains of a bunch of supposedly formerly possessed people. If I would do that I think my retirement papers or my referral for a psych evaluation would arrive faster than sunlight travels to earth. As far as that site is concerned, we are back to square one. We have no idea why someone or more likely a group of people went throughout the city to steal corpses and then dumped them in that site. And for this case, that's not our problem either, with us I mean internal affairs, unless a police officer or another law enforcement agent has something to do with this as well. Which ironically seems not to be the case since Decker confirmed to us that no other law enforcement agent of whatever branch was involved as far as she knows. Somebody dies, the soul leaves the body and a demon comes up to take over that body, no crime involved. Our headache right now is limited to Decker. As for meek as a lamb; literally as meek as can be. She has admitted without blushing that she killed Detective Espinoza, kidnapped her daughter, and admitted in veiled terms that Beatrice is also dead because she keeps claiming she is in Heaven with Daniel. She doesn't say it literally, so neither does she say where the girl's body might be, but still..."
Ramirez took over:
"It's not so much her quiet way of talking. Well quiet, there are times when she reacts quite emotionally but that fits within an interrogation, the behavior of a suspect during an interrogation, and the things they answer or avoid answering. It's what she tells us that we have severe problems with."
Linda got a thinking wrinkle, took a sip of coffee, and said:
"I'm a therapist, I'm Mr. Morningstar's doctor but I'm also certified as a court expert. So, I don't know to what extent this conversation is a good idea for you. By that, I mean from your side of the investigation. You are the LAPD, you want a conviction, it could be that what I have to say and possibly may say about my patient is going to be at odds with that. If you want to ask me questions as a witness, even if only to get background information about your suspect, that's okay. If you want to question me more deeply about your suspect's behavior and specifically her thinking as expressed in her words, then I don't think this conversation is a good idea. Decker is a detective, and it wouldn't take her two seconds of thought to give her lawyer my name even if it were for me to function as a character witness at her trial."
The man rubbed his eyes wearily for a moment and said:
"I don't think anyone should worry about a possible trial. This is the first time I've seen our DA, and I mean the man himself not an assistant DA, take on a case himself that fast. Even weirder is that he seems to be on the same page as Decker's lawyer. A lawyer who appeared as if out of nowhere I would almost dare say but after everything I have heard coming out of Decker's mouth I have now become very, very cautious, at least for a while, about allusions to the supernatural. Trust me it is one of those lawyers none of us here can afford out of pocket. And what about a conviction? Even we have no illusions. I hope you can forgive the politically totally incorrect words Doctor, but Decker is as crazy as an upset cuckoo clock!"
Linda's eyebrows shot all the way up:
"What do you mean?"
The captain asked:
"Doc, do you mind if we ask you a few questions? I think that will go a long way toward explaining why without any of us having to start feeling concerned about our mental health condition because we are talking about this crap out loud."
Linda nodded silently. The woman asked:
"You have a patient named Lucifer Morningstar?"
"Yes, but I can't discuss my patients' medical records with you."
"I know doctor, it's not about his medical records. Mr. Morningstar runs a nightclub, he is a very well-known and loved figure in The city's nightlife and has very far-reaching connections. He seems to have appeared out of nowhere about ten years ago. No trace of the man anywhere before then. One does not have to be Sherlock Holmes to know that perfect aliases like this can only be made by the government. One so obviously fake and yet so damn perfectly genuine and impossible to disprove reeks of the CIA. He is English and when we do think of the government and the CIA the Leap is not so great to think of British SIS, the counterpart of the CIA. So, he must be really damned important if the CIA allows a Brit from the SIS to use such an eccentric and obvious fake name as Lucifer Morningstar instead of saddling him with John Smith of which there are thousands. He used his connections to save Daniels career. Not only did the mayor get a call but also the governor and the DA to make sure that Detective Espinoza was relieved of that whole Palmetto business with nothing more than a hefty slap on the wrist, a minimal demotion and a hefty fine personally settled by Mr. Morningstar himself."
Captain Ramirez spoke further:
"I knew Dan from back when he was just coming out of the academy. I just felt the kid had something in him to go far. My first gut feeling was that he was going to be an organized crime detective. His affinity with solving murder cases won out in the end. Why and what went wrong with him I don't know, and it surprised me a lot."
Linda knew since that particular evening and the explanation of the bloodlines exactly what had gone wrong with Dan, Decker!
"But there he was way out of line, and I would not have hesitated to drop the axe. That's why I was secretly grateful to your patient when this intervention took place, and I was called off. Especially when I started digging a little deeper into Dan's file. It seems like he turned his whole life around when Mr. Morningstar showed up to start working as a consultant for the LAPD. That he was back on his trajectory to make it far just as he was before Palmetto. He was up for promotion back to lead detective. Who knows, he could have gone on to lieutenant or even captain. Deserved? Absolutely but again I have no doubt in my mind thanks to Mister Morningstar who seems to have known full well what Dan had in him. You cannot spot it at first sight but the man had a knack with certain case files. I had his file on my desk before his demotion and was considering to let the brass make him an offer, a promotion if he would transfer to the cold case files. He would have been perfect for those and I just felt it in my guts that he sooner or later would end up there. Maybe even end up as the captain of the whole bunch down there. I also knew detective Decker's father, John Decker. At the time he was killed, he should have been a sergeant, on his way to become a captain. Everybody liked the man, cops and civilians alike. Not a sergeant who still ran regular patrols of his own accord. But that's the way he was. As he called himself a born flatfoot who wanted to keep a real feel and connection to the neighborhood he served. He had his eyes on street level and was not looking up to make the next promotion. Now I'm sitting tomorrow with the funeral of a man I really liked, Daniel, murdered by the daughter of another friend of mine while driving myself crazy as to where the body of my friend's granddaughter might be."
"What does this have to do with Lucifer?"
"Decker claims your patient is the Devil doctor."
Said Groove.
"My patient claims that too so they agree on something."
Laughed Linda. Groove said:
"No doctor, the literal Devil, like the fallen Angel in the Bible."
Linda looked at the two questioningly:
"You don't mean to tell me that the DA himself has stepped in because he thinks she's deranged because she says Lucifer is the Devil and wants to get this case over and done with because of that? That for that reason you think she is incapable of standing trial. Then you guys are making a big mistake and half of Los Angeles must be crazy for going along with the personification of Lucifer."
Ramirez said:
"If that was the only thing, absolutely not. Half of The City knows Mr. Morningstar and his stick. Heck, a bunch of Hollywood big wigs and even politicians want to spend a night at Lux so they can boast that they have had a party with the devil of Los Angeles. It's the rest of her story, confession, or whatever you can call it."
"You're going to have to explain that a little more."
Groove took a deep breath and asked:
"Do you know a certain Alexander Morningstar?"
"Yes, I met him once, he is the son of Lucifer."
The woman nodded and said:
"According to Decker, that son is the Antichrist and he has driven God from the throne and is now the new God."
Linda looked at her and said softly:
"Just give me a minute will you, I need to think about how to put something into words without violating my patient's confidentiality."
Linda did indeed use the requested time to think but not so much about the confidentiality of the doctor/patient relationship with Lucifer. She was sure the Devil would not resent her should she reveal certain details in this regard to protect the greater good of his son. Finally, she said:
"Lucifer was particularly severely traumatized as a child by both his parents and a certain brother had a lot to do with carrying out those punishments, both physically and mentally. He was the oldest and thus the heir-apparent to take over the family business, for lack of a better description. However, he did not want to become what his father had become and always resisted it. To the extent that he gave himself a new personality. Lucifer Morningstar, the Devil. What that choice makes clear is that his father wanted him to become something he did not want, something Lucifer thought was evil, the Devil. In his way he gave his father the middle finger by indeed becoming the Devil alright. But the Devil without any resemblance to the character as we know him from popular culture, so no violence, no evil, taking it even a lit further, doing good for people and the community. Only God knows how many charities he supports, he is always willing to offer help, like you yourself found out with Daniel, those kinds of things. During his therapies, to this day he can only speak of his family in terms that could be called metaphors. Talking directly in the first person does not work for him, he clamps up, so he speaks from the point of view of a character. That allows him to create a distance between himself and what was done to him. That's how deep the trauma is. So his father is God, his brother Amenadiel is an Angel, and his ex-girlfriend who was his bodyguard for a very long time a Demon. I don't know exactly what happened to Decker but if she adopted his metaphors then it doesn't surprise me that in her mind Lucifer's son must be the Antichrist. That removal of God from the throne also fits within those metaphors. Alex was in the City to inform his father that he finally had enough votes to make a hostile takeover on the board of directors and thus retire the old man."
"Decker speaks of a coup in Heaven. The almighty God was driven from his throne and exiled to a new universe after which the Antichrist took his place on the throne."
Linda took another sip of coffee and refilled the officers cups one more time:
"Not a coup, a hostile takeover of power on the board of directors of the family business. Exiled to a new universe? From the point of view from the father it could look like that after being stripped of all power and influence and being send of in the proverbial wilderness holding nothing. Lucifer was and is too gentle to do such a thing. Besides, he has a traumatic fear for his father. Adopting the Lucifer Morningstar persona is as far as his rebellion against his father went. If he had to do something to save his own life but that action might have angered his father, he would even have hesitated to save his own life. His life consists of having as much fun as possible and staying as far away from his previous life as he possibly can. The core, let us call it the hardcore, of the family, father, mother and a few siblings lived in isolation and therefore the children could be brainwashed. Compare it to a cult. Severe mental and physical punishments were the order of the day. Alexander did not grow up in that sickening environment; he grew up in a normal loving family. However, he had taken over his father's vote and place on the board of directors as his birthright when Lucifer stepped down. What I saw from Alex is that in very many ways he is equal to his father. But also, that he certainly has the intellect to initiate a takeover of power and retire God because he has not once of fear for the old man. I also do not doubt that during that takeover Alex would have made the whole process as unpleasant as possible for his grandfather. Call it a kind of revenge for what was done to his father. That boy really did not like the old man and his ways."
"We tried to find out what or who this organization is. The reception to our request for information was frosty, to say the Least."
Linda smiled:
"My ex-husband was one of the best investigative journalists around. He traveled the world for his job, even had a Pulitzer and had deep contacts all over. When he heard that I had Lucifer as a patient he tried to find out who he was. Let me state that he dropped that investigation very quickly when it became clear that asking one more question about it would mean being cut off from every source in Washington and being blacklisted. Asking my ex to drop something juicy would be just about as difficult as asking Woodward and Bernstein, back in the day, to drop their Nixon investigation. Yet he did it in a heartbeat after receiving a simple telephone call. If the Nixon White House did not make the slightest impression on the owner of The Washington Post at the time, try to imagine who does have the power to make such a phone-call. I don't know what that family does except that they're damn important to a lot of three-letter agencies in Washington."
Ramirez asked:
"Do you happen to know where this Alexander, Lucifer, and that brother Amenadiel are now? Normally Lucifer, Ella Lopez and Alexander Morningstar should have shown up here to make a statement. For some reason that has been indefinitely postponed with a no questions to ask why by a call from The State Department. Apparently all three of them all of the sudden have diplomatic immunity and are absolutely of limits to us. Even lab tech Ella Lopez who does not even have a single thing to do with this whole case except being friends with the tree main characters in our file. That's about the only damn thing in it that we can prove without a single doubt. We cannot ask them a single question unless they show up and cooperate voluntarily, which by the way they promised to do after some kind of urgent matter has been settled. That much the State Department did give us."
"Last I knew that Lucifer and Ella along with Alexander's confidants went to Belize for one last meeting before forcing the father into retirement."
Groove flipped open her notes and asked:
"Those confidants wouldn't happen to be a certain Saint-Gabriel Archangel and personal messenger of God, an Archangel called Rae Rae who happens to be the Angel of Death, a female Demon named Celine and also the mistress of the Antichrist Alexander Morningstar, a Demon with the original name Mr. Anthony J. Crowley, an Angel, who once guarded the gates of the Garden of Eden, Aziraphael and who is now sort of engaged to the aforementioned Demon and Eve as the mistress of Mr. Lucifer Morningstar in the Garden of Eden?"
Linda couldn't help but laugh:
"I'm sorry, as a therapist I shouldn't laugh about this but when you some up the list like that, well... I know that Ella went along because she has been very good friends with Lucifer for years and he could use all the moral support he could get during this for him very stressful time. Now that the pressure is off his throat because his father is no longer on the proverbial throne and he shouldn't have any more fear, I hope he will gather his courage and make it into something more than friendship. Those two were born for each other. And that removal from the throne has been successful because it seems that Alexander is in control and cleaning house which would explain the call you got from The State Department."
The internal affairs cops stood up as a sign that they had nothing more to ask or say. At the door, Ramirez stopped and asked:
"Doctor, this is just for my peace of mind, okay."
She nodded:
"Is it possible for a seemingly perfectly healthy person to fall into this kind of craziness so quickly?"
Linda had to think for a moment:
"Normally I would say no, or it must be a temporary condition that can be corrected fairly quickly with the right medication and therapy. For example, I'm thinking of patients who are bipolar and have experienced a severe manic episode. Decker's problem, however, is not an acute one. It all started with that Palmetto case going sideways for her and ended with your lieutenant who turned out to be a serious player in the underworld and a stone-cold killer, that she almost married. That trip to Rome where she seemingly came in contact with a priest who saw a demon-possessed victim in every psychiatric patient was just the icing on the cake so to speak. During that period, she doubted everything especially herself; her feelings were raw after Pierce. She was the ideal target for a priest like that especially when she told him, probably in an unguarded moment, that her partner was none other than Lucifer Morningstar. When all the elements are present at the right time and in the right quantity... You'd be surprised how quickly you can turn a saint into a sinner."
"There is talk of declaring Decker insane and sending her off to an institution. If she could be brainwashed that quickly, can she be made, I don't know, normal again just as quickly?"
"No, there is innocent blood on her hands and that is going to stop any progress in her condition for years. Her mind will continue to cling to the easy explanation so she can blame someone else, in this case, the Devil made her do it."