“After separating all of his credit card statements by month and reviewing matches by type of store, it appears Mr. Hardy was operating some form of aquatic operation. There is over three hundred thousand dollars of charges to fish stores in the past three months alone.”
Who would spend that much money on fish? Why? The information provided a clear link to the man’s death, however, which meant it moved up the priority list to the top. “I’ll request a warrant for the receipts,” I replied, already regretting the amount of paperwork required to get the information, especially if the stores were outside of our jurisdiction.
“No need. Whomever pulled together the financials had copies of the receipts.”
What? I stared at the man. “Impossible.”
“Why do you say that?”
“No case ever goes that smoothly. There is no way we have the receipts we want to review right in the box of first financial evidence. It’s impossible. That’s divine-level magic. I don’t even know if the Devil could pull off that trick.”
Speak of the Devil, and he might appear applied to my life, and I cursed myself for having drawn the attention of my chief’s uncle. “You rang?”
“No. I said your name, and I regret I forgot I should never do that unless I want you to show up.” I scowled. As Bailey encouraged bad behavior often, I reached for my coffee mug, determined it was empty, and held it out. “Please make your niece make us coffee.”
To my amusement, he took my mug. “As I need to talk to her and check in on the babies anyway, I will do this for you. What do you think I can’t do?”
“Didn’t peek?” I challenged.
“It’s more entertaining when the mortals tell me I can’t do something to my face. It makes witnessing their astonishment all the more enjoyable.”
When I thought about it, I couldn’t blame him. I pointed at the boxes of financial information. “Someone got their hands on the precise receipts we needed with a strong tie to the murder method in our case. I won’t have to call a bazillion fish stores after securing a warrant to get the information. That’s miracle-level work, Lucy.”
“Oh. That. Your victim is meticulous and kept his receipts. That evidence was removed, fingerprinted, and copied before you were notified. As you’re generally correct otherwise, I’ll give it to you, but just this once. How are you liking your cadet so far?”
“I am doing the things he isn’t precisely fond of, he is loving the things I hate. We are developing a functional work relationship.”
“An agreement for five dates with your cadet, and I will make sure everyone stays out of your hair about it for a month. I will convert everyone in this precinct to prime examples of how angels should behave.”
“You want to accept that bargain,” I told Alec. “He is offering us the holy grail in this pit of matchmakers.”
“Shouldn’t we ask for more details about dating first?”
“No. That way, he can’t dictate what counts as a date. We can decide, and as long as we label it as a date, we meet the terms of the agreement.”
Lucifer chuckled. “The dates may not happen during work hours.”
Well, I wouldn’t argue with him on that one. “That is fair and reasonable. Alec?”
“I’m fine with that.”
Some chance was better than no chance, and five dates would give us both an idea if we could tolerate each other outside of work. “Bargain made. You will have better chances of succeeding at your various schemes if you don’t annoy us and leave appropriate gift cards and board games where we can easily find them, with our names clearly labeling them as ours.”
Lucifer snickered. “You just want me to send over more incubi with board games for your new collection.”
“Until you sent them over, I had no idea I enjoyed board games that much, but yes. Your schemes have a higher chance of success if you include a variety of two-player games in the mix.”
“Hint received.” The Devil disappeared with my coffee mug.
“Do you deal with him daily or something?”
“Not quite, but he adores his niece and nephew, so he comes around often doing his best to make certain everything is perfect in their world. He is good at scheming, but if you give him an inch, he’ll take a mile. The instant you start actually negotiating with him, you’ve generally lost—unless he likes you and you want a little more out of him. He’s surprisingly relaxed about people asking for a little more. As he didn’t leave any stipulations on what it means to date, we decide, and if we like the arrangement, great. If not, he’ll try to figure out why his initial ploy didn’t work.”
Alec laughed. “Can we pretend like we hate each other outside of work just to screw with him?”
“I’m calling that a date,” I informed him. “Nothing improves my day quite as much as yanking on the Devil’s tail and getting away with it—and I know the perfect accomplice in our dastardly deed to drive him to the edge of his sanity.”
“Not over the edge?”
