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Foggy. In a daze. Out of it. When there's just too much to process, the brain just shuts down. Life just runs on autopilot.

For the last week, Chloe hasn't been living, just existing. Waking up, taking care of Trixie, work, food: no extra thoughts were spent, just the minimum.

Then the first thought came. Pull yourself together. It was soon followed by another. He doesn't want you to waste your life moping.

Like a bear waking from hibernation, Chloe took a deep breath, stood tall, and look around her, really looking for the first time in a week.

She was at a crime scene and Ella was saying something. She turned and focused on Ella, her face showing the concentration.

"...and based on the core temp, I'm going to estimate time of death around 2am. The ME will have to confirm cause of death, but it looks like blunt force trauma with a small, round object like a pipe, right to the back of the head." Ella was squatted next to the corpse, pointing out the massive head wound as she was talking. Her happy-go-lucky attitude was almost palpable, symbolized with her bright yellow t-shirt with a smiley face on it with the words "You are my Sunshine."

Chloe looked around the crime scene. The bedroom that they were standing in was a disaster zone. Furniture, lamps, and keepsakes were all thrown about. The mirror on the dresser was shattered.

"Any potential DNA from the attacker? Looks like the really went at it," Chloe asked.

"Right? I'm surprised the neighbors didn't call with a noise complaint. She was found by her carpool friend on the way to work instead." Ella stood up and looked at all the broken parts around her, a mix of wood, plaster, and glass. "Defensive wounds are evident on the hands. We might get lucky with some evidence under the fingernails."

Two other techs worked the cramped room. Ella and Chloe moved outside the room into the hallway of the small, 1970s style bungalow. Chloe looked down at her notes from the case, scanning the pertinent details. "No one else lived here. The carpool friend was a work colleague at the yoga studio where the victim worked, but didn't know much about her private life. Only that there was a boyfriend, but didn't know the name. I'll talk to next of kin for some leads," Chloe stated while flipping through the notes.

"Cool. We'll finish processing here," Ella replied. "I'll update you later on what we find." Chloe nodded and started walking away.

Ella started, "Hey, have you..." but stopped herself. As Chloe looked at her, the week's emotions evident still on her face, Ella just said, "Never mind. Let's talk later." Chloe just nodded politely and walked out, nodding at the greetings from the uniforms and techs as she left.

She walked to her car, breathing slowly and deeply, as if trying to blow away the fog in her head. She dumped the case documents on the empty passenger seat next to her as she got in the car. She sat behind the steering wheel, pausing a moment before taking out her phone. She called Trixie's number, knowing that she wouldn't pick up during the school day.

"Hey monkey," Chloe said as the voicemail picked up. "Nothing's wrong. I know I've been off all week. To make it up to you, let's go grab some ice cream and catch up. I'll pick you up normally after school. Love you." As she hung up, she felt her heart clench for one, long painful moment. A shaky breath came out, as she held back her emotions. She didn't have time for this right now, she had to focus on her work. A killer was out there and it was her job to get them.

She drove back to the precinct, getting the info about next of kin. Like so many Los Angelians, the victim, one Sarah Dumas, moved here, leaving family far behind.

The painful calls never got easier, but practice made it more doable. The first time she had to tell a family member their loved one wasn't coming home again, she cried as much as they did. Dan helped her, but she had just felt awful. Now she put on the supportive, but calm, mental mask, and dialed the number.

"Mr. Dumas? Hello, I'm Detective Decker from the LAPD. Could you take a seat for a moment?" Chloe paused, as she heard the man on the other end voice hitch, guessing that he was about to hear bad news. "I'm sorry to tell you, your daughter Sarah, was killed last night at her home. A murder investigation has been…" She couldn't finish the sentence, as the wailing from the other end covered any words she was going to say. Sobs and my baby, my baby! flooded the line. Chloe rested her weary head on her hand, waiting for the father to get some composure. This waiting was really the worst part, as she could hear a man's life be torn apart with the news she gave him.

"Mr. Dumas? I'm so sorry for your loss. A murder investigation has been launched to find the killer. I apologize that I have to ask you this, but did your daughter have any enemies? Was she currently in a relationship you knew about?" Hiccuping sobs were her answer for a few moments, until she got an answer.

"She had a new boyfriend, Mike, for the last few weeks. I don't know his last name," Mr. Dumas said in a tremulous voice. "Did he….did he do this?"

"We don't know any details yet, sir. We're looking at all avenues. It doesn't look like anyone broke in, so it's likely she knew the attacker."

"What...what do I do now?" The overwhelming sadness made his voice thick and small. Chloe wasn't sure if he was asking what he was going to do in his life without his daughter, or what he had to do as next of kin.

"A colleague of mine will contact you about next steps, regarding your daughter. Since this is an active investigation, we can't release your daughter to you yet." Chloe long learned to never refer to the bodies as such to the family. For them, it was too real, too upsetting to hear in those first few minutes. "Did she have any other close friends or family here?"

"Um...her best friend is Angie, uh, Angela Vargas. I don't have her info, but she lives in Culver City and works in an IT company." Mr. Dumas broke into sobs again at this point.

"Mr. Dumas, thank you for the info. Once again, I'm so sorry for your loss. If you think of anything, here's my number. Do you have anything to write it down with? Ok. 213-275-5273." Mr. Dumas repeated the number. "Thank you. Good bye."

Chloe hung up the phone and scrubbed her face with her hands while sighing deeply, getting the stress out as best as she could. She looked up Angela Vargas in Culver City in the system, finding 3 possible candidates. A bit more research showed that one Angela Vargas worked at CompTime Solutions as an engineer. Assuming that this was the most likely candidate, Chloe grabbed her gear and headed out to her car.

In the garage, she saw Detective Miller struggling to get into a too tight of a spot next to the elevator as always, instead of driving 20 feet more. "Every day, right?" she said, before remembering there was no partner to talk to. The same tugging heart feeling from earlier hit her again, causing her to stop for a second before continuing on to her car. The silence in the car was almost overwhelming. To distract herself, she quickly picked her normal playlist of poppy and happy songs, originally the playlist she made during her divorce.

As she drove out of the garage and made her way through the LA traffic, she tried singing along, but her heart wasn't in it. Chloe just gave up after a few miles, and just let the music fill the space around her. She made her way to CompTime Solutions, parking in the lot next to the building. An mid-90s strip mall store, the company had the posters on the storefront that tried to convince customers that the content was state of the art, even if the building was not. She opened the door that greeted her with a digital ding-dong and walked to the counter. She pulled off her badge and greeted the man behind the desk. "Detective Decker, LAPD. I'm looking for Angela Vargas. Can you get her please?"

"Angie?" said the man, mid-40s, Latino with a crew cut. He wore the polo shirt and khakis that were the uniform of all IT workers of a certain era. "Is she in trouble? She's a great team member!"

"She may be able to help with an investigation. Could you get her, please?" No one ever liked the police coming to their offices, but Chloe was used to it. The man nodded and went to the back, through a door. A few moments later, an early 30s woman, in the same khakis and polo combination came out with the man.

"I'm Angie," the woman said. "You're looking for me?" Chloe nodded.

"Is there somewhere private we can talk?" Angie looked around and said, "Let's go outside. There's people in the break room."

They both went out into the LA heat and stood under the roof that provided a limited amount of shade on the sidewalk of the strip mall. "Angie, I'm Detective Decker. I'm sorry to tell you, but your friend Sarah Dumas was killed this morning." Once again, Chloe paused as tears overwhelmed the person she was informing. The calm mental mask was back in place. In person was so much more difficult than on the phone. "She was attacked and murdered in her house. I'm looking for some information about who may have done this." Angie continued to sob for a few moments, slowly calming down after a few moments.

"I just...just can't believe it! I saw her on Saturday. She and Mike had me over for dinner." Angie blubbered out.

"Mike?" Chloe asked, taking her notepad out.

"Yeah, her boyfriend," Angie sniffed, wiping her nose on the back of her hand. "Mike, well, Michael Emmersman. They've been together now a few months. He's a PE coach at Culver Park High School."

"Have Sarah and Mike been having problems? Fighting more?" Chloe asked as calmly as she could. She didn't want to lead Angie too much.

Angie shook her head, wiping her nose again. "Not that I saw. Sarah was pretty emotional as a person, but she's a sweetie. Not really a fighter, more a crier. I honestly didn't know Mike well. I only hung out with him when Angie was around. He seemed normal. Do you think he did it?"

"It's too early to say. Where did they meet?"

"At Sarah's job at the yoga studio. He was signing up for a class and they just clicked. She said he was supportive of her work at the studio and her attempts to get into voice acting more. She said he even practiced with her for auditions." Angie started crying again, her voice cracking as she finished talking.

"I hate to ask this," Chloe said, "but it's protocol. Can you account for your whereabouts last night between 1 and 3 am?"

"I was at home, sleeping," Angie answered, somewhat snippily. "My boyfriend was with me all night and we have one of those door cameras as well. I didn't leave until this morning about 7:30." Chloe wasn't surprised by her tone. Most people didn't react well to that question.

"Thank you. Here's my card in case you think of anything." Angie nodded, took the card, and walked back into the store, wiping her tears and nose. Chloe walked back to her car, thinking about the case. Her phone vibrated with a text message. Lab results in. The message was from Ella. On my way, Chloe wrote back.

The 45 minute drive back to the precinct through traffic gave her time to focus her energy on the case. There wasn't an obvious motive yet, but there seemed to be a lot of anger and energy in the crime scene. This was a crime of passion, but that seemed to be missing from the equation until now. Everything indicated a relatively well-adjusted woman in LA. After checking in with Ella, Chloe knew Mike definitely was on the radar. This definitely was a moment she missed having a partner, someone where she could split up some of the work or bounce some theories off of to make sure she wasn't missing anything. She got into the precinct, heading straight to Ella's lab.

"Hey Ella," Chloe said as she opened the door. "What news do you have?" Ella looked up from her computer, her serious mood obvious on her normally bubbly face.

"So, definitely a crime of passion," Ella started. "Lots of defensive wounds, and the ME confirmed the COD as blunt force trauma to the head. She had had sex some time shortly before the time of death. What's really annoying me though is that I don't have any other DNA samples at the moment. All of the blood was hers. No skin cells found under her nails. A few brown hairs were found in the room, but they weren't near the blood."

"The victim had a boyfriend, a Michael Emmersman. He was next on my list of interviewees. Very likely that the hair and sex are related to him," Chloe said, refering to her notes.

Ella nodded. "This has all the signs of a domestic, but nothing to prove that it was the boyfriend in any way. Hopefully talking to the guy helps clear this up." Chloe nodded and started heading out the door. Ella started, "Hey." Chloe turned around, already expecting the next question. "What happened with Lucifer? All you said was that he had to go and he won't be working anymore for the LAPD. Do you want to talk about it?" Ella's big, innocent brown eyes exuded empathy and openness. Chloe noticed Ella's cross was hanging around her neck again.

Chloe put her notepad on the table, taking a shaking breath in and out. "He….he had to go. He didn't want to, but he didn't have a choice. He...was the only one who could stop a bad situation from getting more out of hand. I miss

him so much." Chloe didn't look up at Ella, staring only at her hands while talking. She could only see his face, his immensely sad eyes looking at her, saying good-bye. One tear fell onto her hands and rolled to the tabletop.

Ella came over to her side and gave her a super gentle hug, gently rubbing Chloe's back.. "Hey, you know he cares for you. A lot. He must have had no choice if he had to go. If it had to do with all that cult murder scene at the Mayan, it must have been some really bad shit. He may be a playful dude, but he's serious when he has to be, right? He might come back. He somehow always does." Ella just held her friend for a long moment. Chloe nodded before gently removing herself from Ella's embrace.

"Thanks, Ella." Chloe wiped her face with the back of her hand. "I'm ok. I'll go talk to the boyfriend now and see what he knows. You around late tonight?"

Ella responded, "Yup, lots of things still to process from the backlog. I'm around if you want to hangout and work together."

"I'm going to grab ice cream with Trixie after school," Chloe responded, "but I'll probably work from home."

"Well, I'm here if you want me to hear, get it? 'Hear?'" Ella joked, with a sincere smile.

Chloe nodded, a thin smile on her lips, before heading out.

Checking the time as she headed out, she grabbed a sandwich from the vending machine, before getting her car. The sandwich could have been anything, since she didn't even taste it as she ate it and drove. She pulled up into the parking lot of Culver Park High School. It was a generic high school in a residential area, one of many in the area. She got out, dusting her sandwich crumbs off of her clothes, before heading in to the main office. She got to the secretary, a plump, middle-aged white lady in pastel florals. "I'm Detective Decker, LAPD. I'm looking for Michael Emmersman. Can you get him for me? It's part of an investigation."

"Well, honey, it's the middle of the period right now," the secretary said as she scrolled on her computer in front of her. "I'll put in a call for him to come at the end of class in 20 minutes. Will this take long? If so, I'll have to get a substitute to watch the kids."

"This might take a while," Chloe answered.

"All righty. Have a seat over there, if you'd like." The secretary pointed to a few chairs lined up next to the door labeled principal. They were the classic hard plastic that she remembered well from her school days. Chloe thanked her and sat down, looking through her notepad, outwardly gathering her thoughts, but inwardly blankly staring at the page, just keeping her emotions and thoughts at bay. A bell rang throughout the building, and a message went over the PA. "Mr. Emmersman, can you come to the office please? You have an urgent visitor. Ms. Marten, can you go to the gym to watch the class for a bit?"

Chloe stood up, straightening her clothes, and putting her serious and calm face on again. This would be the third time today that she'd have to tell someone the news, but maybe this time it wouldn't be a surprise.

A tall, white man with short, wavy brown hair, early 30s entered the office, looking around. He spotted her immediately. She walked over. "Michael Emmersman? Detective Decker, LAPD. Is there someplace private we can talk?" He nodded, eyes big. He looked at the secretary at her desk. "You can use Jerry's office for the moment. He's at a meeting for the next hour." Michael walked to an office with the sign "Vice-Principal" on it. He walked through the door, silent and somewhat stiffly. Chloe closed the door behind them. The room was a standard school official's office, with a big wood desk, bookshelves and some posters from school events on the walls. Michael stood in front of the desk. Chloe stopped a bit in front of him. She took a deep breath, preparing herself again for this same, hard message.

"I'm sorry to tell you, but Sarah Dumas was murdered this morning." Chloe paused, the same as always. Silent, slow tears rolled down his face. Those tears could mean anything, Chloe thought. "Where were you this morning between 1 and 3 am?" Michael opened his mouth and closed it again, no sound coming out. Chloe stood, waiting with her notepad in hand, pen at the ready.

"I….I," Michael slouched against the large wood desk behind him. "We had a date night last night…" He closed his mouth, befoing pressing the heels of his hands against his eyes, breathing loudly in and out. Without removing his hands, he continued. "It was a school night, so I headed back home after we finished watching some Netflix and stuff. I have to be here at 8 AM." Michael removed his hands, his eyes red and wet. "I drove home and went to bed. I'm not sure what time it was, maybe 12, 12:30?." He stared down at his moist hands, before looking up at her again. "She was such a sweet girl. How...did it happen?"

"She was attacked and killed in her house," Chloe said, careful not to give him clues one way or another. Perhaps he was innocent, or perhaps he had killed the victim. "How did you drive home?"

"It was late, so I went on the 405. Traffic wasn't bad," Michael said. His voice was increasing strong and steady.

"And what do you drive?"

"A Ford Explorer, 2012."

"Color?"

"Uh, black." Chloe nodded as she noted this down.

"Ok, Mr. Emmersman. Please remain in town for the moment. We'll have more questions for you."

"Wait, I'm a suspect? I cared for Sarah! I would never hurt her!" His eyes were wide with surprise, standing tall with a straight back, looking down at Chloe.

"It's Standard procedure. Here's my card if you think of anything." He dumbly took the card and put it in his pants pocket without looking at it. Chloe turned and opened the door. She headed out and nodded at the secretary. As she left Michael was standing in the office still, tall but stupefied.

Chloe made her way back to the car. As she sat down, she dialed Ella. "Hey Ella, can you look something up for me? Can you verify the Michael Emmersman has a black 2012 Ford Explorer? Then can you check the 405 west bound near Culver City between 12 and 1 for it? There should be something on the tapes. Thanks! Let me know when you have something." Ella acknowledged and hung up. Chloe entered in a request for the public record for Michael Emmersman, hoping something in his past would finally show some lead or direction.

As the search processed, Chloe drove back to the precinct. She was missing something. Everything was too perfect. Nothing indicated a crime of passion. She hadn't seen any open wounds on Michael's hands. The rest of him was hidden behind clothes.

She got backed to her desk, mumbling a quick hi to whoever she passed by. She wrote a quick text message to Dan, saying she would pick Trixie up at 4. She sat down at her too quiet desk, feeling the complete lack of distraction that she would normally have.

It was just too quiet.

A notification popped up on her screen, showing that the report was complete. Checking the time, Chloe saw that she had to pack up get stuff if she wanted to get through traffic to pick up Trixie.

She downloaded the files to her laptop and packed it up in her bag, along with the files and notes she had. As she headed out she went passed Ella's spot. "Hey, text me if you get anything. I owe Trixie some quality time."

"Will do! Happy greetings to the future president of Mars!" Ella said with a big smile. Chloe smiled back and waved as she headed out.

Chloe was glad she headed out a bit early. An accident was clogging up the highways as always. She turned on her playlist again, trying with a bit more success than this morning to sing along. She felt somewhat better and happier by the time she got to the pick up lane at Trixie's school.

Trixie saw her mom's car immediately and came bounding over. The supervisor saw the car and check it off of her list. Chloe waved in acknowledgement. Trixie opened the door.

"Hi mom! Ice cream after school! Yes! That's so cool, pun intended," Trixie said with a smirk.

"Pun intended? Well, I think this sounds like the beginning of a pun off!" Chloe said, trying to bring the joy of seeing her happy daughter more into her voice. The sad and hard day had to be behind her at the moment. "I'm warning you, I can be very punny!"

Trixie groaned and then giggled. "Well, I will hand out the pun-ishment."

"Ooooh, well, I work for the LAPD, the Pun Department."

"Ok," Trixie said, almost bouncing in her seat. "The best pun tonight get the cherry from the Ice Cream Sundae!"

"Deal!" Said Chloe. As she drove towards the Malibu pier, the two traded more puns, some truly groan worthy. Chloe envied Trixie's energy. She had had a few scares in her few years, but somehow she kept bounding through.

Chloe parked the car, and the two walked to the restaurant. Trixie was nearly skipping, happy with the sun and surf, the promise of ice cream, and seeing that her mom was smiling again. It was early enough that there wasn't too much of a wait. Trixie had picked out her ice cream by the time they got a table. "A banana split, please!" Trixie told the waiter.

"Two spoons and an ice tea with that. Thanks," Chloe added.

The order came quickly and the two of them dug into the gigantic bowl of ice cream and toppings. For the first time that week, Chloe was enjoying the moment. She happily could focus on her daughter and the ice cream in front of her.

They both were scraping the bottom of the bowl, with the cherry carefully set aside. "Stop waffeling, you know I won the pun off!" said Chloe.

"Oh, that's so cold! It's going to be a rocky road home for you, since obviously I pun-ed the best!" Trixie giggled at her own puns.

"Enough! Enough!" Chloe snorted with laughter, loving how Trixie had kept up the puns for the last hour. "You win!"

"Victory!" Trixie yelled as she grabbed the cherry by the stem. She dangled it above her mouth, biting the cherry off.

"Ok, silly monkey, time to head home. You have homework to do before you crash from all this sugar." Trixie made a sad face, but didn't fight it. Chloe paid the bill and the two walked back to the car. Traffic was heavy on the way home, so Chloe took the chance to let Trixie explain everything about school life, from favorite classmates and teachers to the worst. She enjoyed the chattering and energy that filled the car. It was the opposite of her lonely day telling people sad things.

Parking at the apartment complex and heading to their place, the two Decker women walked with their bags slung over their left shoulders, laughing and giggling the entire way. No one could deny they were mother and daughter.

Trixie dumped her bag in her room, before going to the couch table to do her homework. Chloe day on the couch with her paperwork and files, making sure that Trixie couldn't see the details. Trixie was old and clever enough to understand her mother's work, but also knew she shouldn't look at the files, since they were scary, but also private.

Chloe got to reading Michael's file as Chloe did her homework. Largely crime free, with some speeding and parking tickets, along with a drunk and disorderly during college. A Wisconsin boy who went to college on a partial baseball scholarship, Michael was pretty easily an All-American boy. Once his college career didn't pan out, he switched to becoming a PE teacher.

Chloe sighed. Nothing spectacular here. He moved to LA 18 months ago, Phoenix for 2 years before that. Something caught her attention. He graduated in 2011 and had worked in 4 schools already. One school was only for a year. He didn't just change schools, he moved states.

"What are you hiding?" she whispered. Her pocket vibrated, indicating a text message. Chloe pulled out her phone. Ella wrote, Story checks out. Ford Explorer with M's plates on the 405 from 12:42 to 12:57.

Chloe wrote back her thanks. She put down her phone looking at the ceiling, thinking about how the victim could have been killed if it wasn't Michael. There just were now signs that he did it. But there also wasn't any evidence that anyone was there.

How could he be there, though? It hit her. Chloe stood up, and went to give Trixie a kiss on her head. "I'm going to make a call. I'll be back in a sec." Trixie nodded, focused on what looked like a rain cycle diagram.

Chloe dialed Ella's number. "Hey, can you check between 1 and 2 the 405 eastbound for Michael's SUV?"

"You think he went back," Ella clued in immediately.

"Yeah, I don't know why yet, but he was the only one there other than the victim."

"Got it. I'll message you when I've analayzed the video."

Chloe sat down again on the couch, trying to see if she spotted anything in the notes. She found the info for a previous employer. She'd have to call them in the morning.

A bit later she got the message she had been waiting for from Ella. 1:23 to 1:37.

"Gotcha!"

"Did you get the bad guy?" Asked Trixie, looking up from her homework.

"Almost, baby. Getting closer." Chloe smiled at her daughter and Trixie smiled back a big smile, proud of how awesome her mom was. Time to get some warrants, Chloe thought. She submitted the paperwork for a warrant for his car and phone. She looked at the clock. Trixie had long finished her work and was playing on the iPad.

"Bedtime, kiddo. Go wash up, ok?" Trixie sighed a long suffering sigh, but put down the tablet and headed to the bathroom. As Trixie got ready to go to bed, Chloe cleaned up her paperwork. Her plan for the next day was clear: wait for the warrants, call the previous employer for some info about his time there, and find out what the real story was about this guy.

Chloe kissed her daughter good night, before going to her own bed. She looked at her phone. No messages. No silly jokes. No sexual references. No comments about shenanigans at Lux. It was just too quiet. She got ready for bed, always aware the next day could be a long one.

She lay down, pulling the comforter up to her neck. She thought that when Maze moved out that her life was quiet. Without him, it was practically silent. Staring up at the dark ceiling, she watched the glimmer of the lights of cars and neighbors lights dance across. She had spent so much time reliving all those stories he had told her over the years after she really learned the truth. How the light bringer was banished to a place without stars.

She just continued to look at the dancing lights until she fell asleep.

Her phone played a soothing song to wake her up, but no matter how soft and soothing it was, it was just as annoying as the loud alarm from her childhood. Groaning, Chloe rolled out of bed, tossing her comforter to the side. She twisted and stretched, getting the stiff muscles a bit limbered up. She pulled the comforter back in place, patting it to look vaguely made. She shuffled into her bathroom before heading to the kitchen to start coffee and breakfast. Trixie's alarm went off a bit later, and in a similar sluggish manner, she shuffled into the kitchen, grabbing her cereal and milk. Chloe made a sandwich, grabbed a banana and a pudding cup and put it in Trixie's lunch bag. "We're eating vegetables tonight, all right? Ice cream dinner was a special treat." Trixie rolled her eyes, in a way that reminded Chloe that her little baby was almost a teenager.

The two went through their morning routines, as if they were a well oiled machine. "Ready, monkey?" Chloe asked as she grabbed her bag. "Got your lunch, homework, and gym clothes?"

"Yes, mom," said Trixie with a sigh. They headed out to the car. The drive to school was uneventful, with Trixie discussing a quiz that was going to happen that day. Chloe gave Trixie a quick kiss on her forehead when they got to the drop off area. "Be good, okay? Love you."

"Love you, bye!" Trixie called as she leapt out of the car and ran into school.

Chloe pulled over out of the way of the other cars and checked her email, seeing if her warrants were processing. No news yet. She headed toward the precinct for morning situation updates. The lieutenant updated them all on the news of the night, filled with the standard mix of murders and accidents. Assignments were handed out, and they all got to work.

Chloe sat at her desk, looking up the number for the charter school in Phoenix that Michael had worked at. After 2 rings, someone picked up. "Hi, I'm Detective Decker from the LAPD. I was hoping you could give me some information on a former employee, Michael Emmersman." After being put on hold, Chloe checked her email. The phone warrant was done. Perfect. She sent it off to the mobile carrier, knowing that they would stall for a while. Since she was only asking for position data, that was likely going to get processed sooner than some call records do.

"Hi, I'm Principal Vaughn. How can I help you?" Asked a nasally male voice on the other end of the line. Chloe introduced herself again, followed by her request for info.

"I'm sorry," said Principal Vaughn. "Without a warrant or something I can't divulge private Information."

"What about public information? Was he a liked teacher? Did he have a good relationship with the students?" The line was silent for a moment.

"Is this a joke?" Principal Vaughn asked, coldly.

"No?" Chloe answered, not sure what she said that caused that reaction.

"No information without a court order." And the line went dead. Chloe stared at the phone confused. Just then her phone vibrated. Got news. Come by. As always, Ella could provide some fresh insight to the case.

Chloe headed over to the lab space. Ella, in a pale blue t-shirt with a unicorn wearing a Mohawk on it, greeted her. "Morning! The position data is in!" Chloe stood next to Ella and they looked at the screen with the position points overlayed on the map.

Ella got a confused look on her face. "Wha? The phone stayed at Sarah's place until 2:30." Chloe realized then.

"He forgot his phone. That's why he went back. What was so important that he had to drive across the city on weeknight? What was so important on that phone that he had to kill the victim for it."

Ella's eyes got big as she processed what had happened. "Sarah saw something she wasn't supposed to on his phone. He knew she knew and then killed her after a hell of a fight."

"I need that data off that phone. I'm going to extend the warrant. Thanks, Ella!"

Chloe turned and went to her desk to submit the paperwork. She was just sending it in when her phone rang. It was the charter school in Arizona.

"Detective Decker."

"Hi, um, you called earlier asking about information on Michael Emmersman?" A quiet voice whispered into the phone.

"Yes? Who is this?" Chloe answered, leaning forward as if to hear better.

"He likes students too much," the voice whispered. "I gotta go."

Chloe looked at the phone for the second time in confusion before the realization hit her. "He's having sexual relations with the students." While this would not be her first pedophile, they made her angry in a way few other criminals did. She saved the copy of the phone call in the records as evidence.

Finally, the story was getting more complete. She could imagine the possible scenario for the first time. Michael had left after his date, but forgot his phone. Sarah, who had probably seen his access code at some point, was curious or maybe saw a message pop up on the screen. She found evidence of some relationships with the students. When he came back for it, she confronted him. They fought like crazy, but Michael hit her in the back of the head with something and she went down. He cleaned up a bit and took the murder weapon with him. He then played the innocent boyfriend card.

Now Chloe needed the murder weapon and whatever was on his phone. She just had to wait for the warrants now. Once again she felt the oppressive quiet. Normally she hated his distractions and quips, but it did make those moments where she was waiting go more quickly. Instead of responding to a non-sequitur, she pulled out some paperwork and filled her time with that instead.

The courier came by, bringing the paper copies of the warrants. "Finally!" Chloe grabbed two Unis as backup, since she was still partnerless.

"Let's go!" With that the three of them went to their cars, the Unis in their patrol car. She headed straight to the school. She pulled in the parking lot and headed straight to the office. The same secretary sat behind the desk.

"We're here for Michael Emmersman. We need his room number now." The secretary looked shocked and scandalized, seeing the two uniformed police officers behind her.

"112, left down the hall. He has a class right now."

"Thank you," Chloe answered. "He'll be needing that substitute again." The secretary nodded, scrolling through her system. Chloe led the way down the hall, looking at the numbers as she went. Some straggling students saw the officers and looked at them with vague panic. She gave the kids a quick smile, trying to calm their anxiety a bit. Finding room 112, she opened the door. "Michael Emmersman, please come with us. We have a warrant for your phone and car." She held up the paper copies of the warrants.

He looked up in surprise from the desk at the front of the room. 20 pairs of eyes turned and looked at her then at him. "Ooooh!" Jeered some of the students, realizing that their teacher was in trouble. He stood up stiffly and and walked straight backed and with his hands clenched over to her. "Your phone," Chloe said, opening up an evidence bag she pulled out. He pulled it out of his pocket and dropped it into the bag. No expression was on his face.

"After you," Chloe indicated with a wave of her hand. As they left the room, a short young black women with braids came down the hallway to them.

"I'll take the class," she told Michael. He simply nodded, Silent still. They followed him to the parking lot. Chloe spotted his car. Pulling her phone out of her pocket, she called Ella. "Hey, I have phone and am at the car. Can you send your crew over to process everything?"

"Absolutely, they're on their way. 15 minutes probably," Ella answered.

"Perfect. Let's see what we find." Chloe hung up and turned back to Michael, the two officers flanking him. "Please open your car." Michael pulled out the key fob and hit the unlock button. The lights flashed as Chloe pulled on some gloves. She peered through the windows, assessing what the situation was. The interior was moderately clean and neat, with a gym bag on the passenger seat. She opened the door and scanned through, not touching anything yet. She opened the trunk and looked under the back seat. Something was under there. She pulled out her little flashlight from her belt.

Peering under the seats, Chloe moved the light to the spot she had seen. A glint of polished silver metal was visible. She twisted her head, trying to see what it was. She felt a familiar presence come up next to her.

"Find something?" Asked Ella, looking at what Chloe was shining the light on.

"Looks like something rolled under the bench. Might be nothing," Chloe said, standing up.

"Might be something," Ella responded. She placed the ID card on the carpet, photographing as she went. "All right. Let's get you." She leaned forward and pulled the metal object. "A microphone...with blood on it." Ella turned the silver microphone in her gloves hand taking a few pictures of it. Chloe saw the patch of dried blood on the side.

"Can you test for blood real quick?" Chloe asked.

"Will do." Ella got out her swabs and wiped a tiny spot. She got out her test solutions. "Positive for blood," she said after a moment.

"Finish up here," Chloe said while turning back to Michael. She put her flashlight back and pulled her handcuffs off her belt. "Michal Emmersman, you are under arrest for the murder of Sarah Dumas." She finished his rights before handing him off to the uniforms for processing at the precinct.

Chloe confirmed with Ella that everything was in order before going back herself. After a quick finishing up of her paperwork and notes, she went to the interrogation room, where Michael was waiting.

"So, Michael," Chloe started, sitting down with her file on hans, across from Michael at the small metal table. "You didn't tell me the whole truth yesterday. Yes, you left Sarah's place, but you went back. Was it when you realized you forgot your phone?" Michael stared at his cuffed hands, a perfect poker face. "No response? I bet you had a response when you realized that she saw what you had on your phone. You guys had an all out brawl after that, it seems." Michael twisted his hands slightly, but didn't say a word.

"What did she find? That you like students...a little too much?" At that, Michael's head snapped up, piercing anger in his eyes. His mouth was contorted like he was biting his own cheeks. Chloe sighed. "All right. You're remaining silent. We'll talk again later."

Chloe stood up and instructed the officer to take Michael back to the holding cell. She made her way to Ella, to see if there was anything that she discovered.

Ella was back in her lab, her table full of pictures and bagged items. "Chloe! Great news! Our suspect has dirty fingers!" Chloe cocked her head at her friend with a bemused smile. "Ok?" She responded.

"It took only 3 tries to crack his phone's code. The swipe pattern was still evident!" Ella was practically bouncing up and down. "We've found what Sarah probably saw!" Ella grabbed her keyboard and turned to the big screen behind her. "Look at all this glorious evidence!" Chloe was always amazed at how positive and bubbly Ella was, despite the often grisly nature of their work.

Chloe scanned the images on the screen. "These are all students, aren't they?"

"Looks like it. Some of pictures go back several years. He tried to hide them, but it wasn't super though to get to them. If he had the app up when Sarah unlocked it, she'd have seen all this too." Chloe and Ella stared at the screen, absorbing what they saw.

There were girls, pre-teen and teenaged in various stages of dress. Some of the were selfies, some were candid. "Any evidence that he sent pictures to anyone?" Chloe asked.

Ella nodded and swiped up a new screen. A long list of messages with attachments showed up. "There's several hundred."

"My God," whispered Chloe. As she said that word, her heart clenched again. She knew what he would do now. He would storm to Michael's cell, and show him just a hint of the hellfire that awaited him.

Ella turned back to the table. "The microphone was the murder weapon. Sarah's blood and hair is on it, and it matches the wound on her head. He must have really hit her incredibly hard."

"Looks like the DA may have a solid case," Chloe said, waving her hand at the evidence.

"Really no doubt left at this point," Ella answered. As she opened to say something else, a gunshot rang through the building. Loud commotion and screams followed, with a lot of yelling. Chloe and Ella ran out into the main area. "What happened?" Chloe asked the nearest officer.

"Someone just shot the PE Coach!" Chloe and Ella glanced at each other and ran to the holding cells. The officers had wrestled an older man to the ground, cuffs around his wrists behind his back.

"You killed her! You killed my baby girl!" The man on the ground sobbed.

The cell doors were open as an officer applied pressure to a gunshot wound on Michael's throat. Michael coughed and spluttered blood.

Chloe stood there staring, watching as he faded away in front of her. Without thinking she suddenly walked forward and knelt next to him. She bent down and whispered in his ear, "Tell the King of Hell when you see him that the detective misses him very hour of every day." Michael's eyes snapped to hers, full of pain and confusion, gasping his last few breaths. He stilled after a moment, dead.

Chloe stood up and walked out of the room. Ella came up next to her. "What did you tell him?" She asked.

"Just a message for the next life."

——

Michael opened his eyes. He was on his back on a hard floor. The room was dark, but there was a bright light and a figure silhouetted. The figure walked forward. A good looking man, with dark hair and scruff, wearing a suit and a smile looked down on him. The eyes suddenly flamed with hell fire.

Michael screamed.