It didn't come as much of a surprise to Tony when Lucifer drove himself to work the next day. He looked more formal this time judging from his attire, putting on a white long shirt and a black blazer suit. As usual, they had met at the entrance of the lobby.
"Pleasant morning, Ash," Lucifer said, nodding and smiling to some employees as he spoke.
"Good morning Dr. Bates," Tony saluted as they both made their way to the elevator. "You seem quite delighted to be at work today, I'm a bit surprised."
Lucifer gave a soft chuckle.
"This prince of darkness also loves a good day job too, Ash, as long as you don't make it boring this time. Man, how I miss torturing people," he sighed and looked to the ceiling as he reminisced on events that seemed to have been a long time ago.
Tony's expression hinted at misdoubt as the elevator reeled smoothly to the top. It hasn't even been a week yet. Was Lucifer already starting to see Henry's life as uninteresting? Of course not, he thought, there was no way Lucifer would think such, not after his time at the bar with Miss Lila the night before.
"Uhm, is everything alright?" He asked.
The level of concern on Tony's face was no longer a new thing to Lucifer. Tony seemed to have it on his face every time he senses a difficulty or issue.
"No, no," Lucifer reassured. "I'm sure you were referring to Lila and me, we're fine. We haven't made love yet but it's only a matter of time Ash, and I'm patient."
The fact that Lucifer was able to blurt those words out amid the other employees in the elevator twisted Tony's stomach in disgust. He shook off the thought with a shrug as they both vacated the elevator only to be greeted by another crowd of employees facing the entrance to Dr. Bates' office.
"What the hell?" Tony muttered as he wondered what was behind the almost inaudible murmur resonating from the crowd and so did Lucifer.
"Out of my way," Lucifer barked as he bored his way through the crowd.
Tony followed behind anxiously and stopped as soon as he sighted Detective Donnie with his hands on his waist, the lines of his slightly protruding belly revealed as he examined a file alongside Detective Pamela. About two other officers were boxing and tagging documents while another took photos. Somehow, Donnie was able to tell when the two of them walked into the office.
"Dr. Bates, Dr. Huffman, a pleasant morning it is, wouldn't you agree?"
Lucifer laughed. Not the particular response Detective Donnie was looking for, he admitted.
"What do you think you'd be achieving with this?" Lucifer chuckled, bemused by the display across the entire room.
"So you're not worried." Donnie stared deeply at Lucifer with his dark eyes. He had hoped that conducting the search early in the morning would throw the Doctor off balance and make him slip up, even faintest. Maybe his gut was wrong, he thought.
"Not at all, detective." Lucifer retorted. "Like I said yesterday, you're the ignorant one here."
The rest of the officers raised their heads to see the man who had just insulted their squad leader in such a manner. Detective Donnie scoffed, he was beginning to find a reason to hate the Doctor on a personal level.
"Then you won't mind us continuing our search, would you?" Pamela chimed with a wary eye.
"By all means, carry on." Lucifer gesticulated with both hands forward. "I didn't even want to be here anyway. Come on Ash," He said to Tony as he marched out of the office.
Admiring the ongoing commotion from a distance was Dr. Cortez. Hannah stood beside him with a different outlook on the issue.
"Oh man, I can only imagine what all of this is doing to the company," she highlighted.
"Nothing good, that's for sure." Cortez maintained the smug expression on his face. "I warned them, but they wouldn't listen."
"Wait, you don't think he actually did it, do you?" Hannah queried with a stare. The Dr. Bates she saw the other night at the bar was not at all like the person everyone was painting him to be.
"I prefer not to throw accusations here and there, Hannah," Cortez replied. "I'd rather wait for the police to do their job. The truth will always reveal itself in the end."
The look on Cortez's face was sly, almost as if he enjoyed what he was watching. At that moment, her eyes met with Tony's and she remembered what he had told her. She wondered if he was saying the truth. She watched as he walked past her, without saying a word. Then her gaze shifted back to the office.
As Lucifer and Tony edged through the crowd once again, he noticed Dr. Simon standing alongside Dr. Herman, the both of them whispering to each other.
"Look who we have here," Lucifer uttered out loud. "I see news also travel as far to your greedy thrones."
"You can call us whatever you want, Henry." Dr. Simon replied. "The truth is we made a mistake believing Cortez, but we were wrong and now we want to right that wrong."
"How, pray tell?" Lucifer asked in amusement.
"All the rest of the board is behind you and so are we." Dr. Herman chimed in. "But to prove your innocence we will need to have proof that Cortez is the real villain here." Dr. Simon studied Lucifer's expression.
"I'm surprised you haven't said anything to the police yet. You just allow them to harass you," Dr. Simon said. "Why don't you speak up?"
"That's because I don't care, Simon." Lucifer blurted. "It's not my problem."
"So you're happy with Cortez roaming about the company, although he is guilty?" Dr. Herman wondered.
"Oh, Cortez will get punished for his sins in due time, trust me," Lucifer reassured. "But in the meantime, I would like to enjoy this beautiful chance at life." He added with a smile and his arms out wide.
"Fine, whatever you say," Simon remarked with a slight nod. The rest of the employees were starting to disperse one after the other. Lucifer and Tony watched as Dr. Simon and Dr. Herman walked away.
"So what should we do today, Ash?" Lucifer asked Tony as they were now alone. "Go to the strip club perhaps, or maybe smoke some pot."
"Erm, I don't think that's a good idea." Tony objected.
"Come on Ash, we agreed not to let today be boring." Lucifer groaned.
"We never agreed to that sir, you decided on your own."
"That's because all your decisions are- how should I put this? Boring."
"That's not true!" Tony exploded. "I can be fun too."
Lucifer grinned. "Prove it."
"You know what, I've got something." Tony snapped. "Follow me, sir."
Impressed by his assistant's words, Lucifer followed Tony down the elevator to the floor just below Dr. Bates' office only to be disappointed when Tony came to a halt in front of a lab.
"What are we doing here?" Lucifer questioned in confusion.
"This is a lab, Dr. Bates's lab," Tony replied, shuffling his keys for the right match for the lock.
"I know what this is; I asked what we are doing here." Lucifer shot a glare at him.
"You are not just a random person on the planet, sir. You are a scientist and therefore you must behave like one." Tony reminded.
"But you're missing the important thing here Ash; Fun!" Lucifer screamed.
"Oh, this will be fun, trust me," Tony replied as he finally got the door open. He walked in and Lucifer had no choice but to follow.
"I'm waiting," Lucifer stressed behind him.
"Do you know that in here we have all the ingredients to make our own alcohol?" Tony said looking at the entire lab.
"You are joking," Lucifer gasped in disbelief.
Tony smiled. "No sir, I am not. And I know how to make 'em," he added.
Lucifer clicked his tongue. "So you've been holding out on me all these while, huh?" He sneered.
Tony's lips parted in a grin.
"It's easy too; I can walk you through it. Dr. Bates doesn't know that though."
"Well then, what are we waiting for?" Lucifer clapped his hands, obviously liking what he was hearing. "Let's begin."
Tony laughed. "Alright, just gather the test tubes and cylinder over this area while I go get the chemicals from the closet."
** ** **
Peter had been watching Henry's house for at least an hour. He could see Lila by the window from where his car was parked. She seemed bright and happy and it infuriated him. His Karen was once like that, bright and happy. And now she was dead.
Her memory only brought pain and a gnarling ache to his heart. Someone had to pay. Henry had to pay.
"This is for you, Karen," he muttered under his breath before stepping out of the car.