“Myki Natashi,” Beggs said.
Salvi turned back to the woman. “Myki? That your name?”
The woman continued to stare at nothing.
“Hey! Myki!” Salvi called to her, snapping her fingers again. “You need to tell us what happened. Did you attack your boyfriend out there or did someone else do this?”
Myki rubbed her hand over her face and shivered. Salvi eyed the slinky top she wore, then moved to where a jacket lay nearby on the floor. She picked it up and went to drape it around Myki’s shoulders, but as soon as Salvi touched her, the woman flinched back, scrambling away. As she did, Salvi saw she was naked from the waist down, then noticed bruises on her wrists and minor blood stains on the mattress.
She turned to the officer. “Get a paramedic in here.” She looked back at the cowering, still-dazed woman as Vincent vacated the room. “Myki, it’s okay. We’re here to help you. We’re going to take you to a hospital to get checked out. Alright?”
“Rape and murder?” Beggs said quietly.
Salvi nodded. “Maybe.”
Vincent returned with the paramedic who, armed with a needle, tried to approach Myki, but it only made the woman cower even more, throwing herself out of the bed and crawling into the corner of the room.
“No, no, no,” she whimpered, still dazed.
Salvi moved to her. “It’s alright, Myki. We’re not going to hurt you.”
The woman suddenly lashed out and nails slashed down the side of Salvi’s neck. Wincing, Salvi grabbed the woman’s arms and pinned them at her sides. Myki screamed and struggled in response.
“No! No more. Please!” she cried.
“Can I get some sedation here!” Salvi barked, holding her down.
The paramedic swooped in and jabbed a needle into the woman’s arm.
Myki’s eyes filled with tears. “No more… Please…”
The room filled with her soft cries as they waited for her body to relax and her eyes to close, before they hauled her onto a gurney. Salvi watched as they covered and strapped her in. They were about to wheel her out of the apartment when she noticed a mark on the side of Myki’s face.
“Wait,” Salvi told the paramedic, stepping closer. She took Myki’s unconscious chin and turned her face to view both sides of it. There were two strange markings on either temple, indentations, like something had been pressed against her skin. Salvi glanced around the room but couldn’t see any kind of fashion headwear that Myki might’ve worn that night. She looked back to the unconscious woman and the strange indentations. She knew her holo-badge would be recording footage, but Salvi engaged her iPort camera and captured the markings regardless. When she was done, she nodded for Vincent and the paramedic to take Myki away, and uploaded the images to Riverton, to put into the case file.
“We’ll get more sense out of her once she sleeps it off anyway,” Beggs said.
Salvi nodded and touched her burning neck. She pulled her gloved fingers away to see blood on them. Beggs chuckled.
“A catfight on your first day back, Salv? Thatta girl.”
Salvi shot Beggs an unaffected look. “Thanks for your help, by the way.”
Beggs shrugged. “Ah, you had it covered.”
Salvi glanced around the apartment again. “So… the question is, did he rape her, then she killed him? Or was someone else here?”
“Well, the cop said they had to break down the door, so it was locked. It wasn’t a break-in.”
“The AI system is down. Coincidence?” Salvi moved out onto the balcony again into the dark night air, glancing around at the neighboring apartments. “Unless someone came in this way.”
Beggs sized up the distance between balconies, then glanced over the side to the street below. “It’s a looong way down.”
Salvi looked at the flashing neon lights of the district below known as the Sensation, saw the bodies mingling around on the street, even at this hour. The ‘Sation promised to deliver entertainment 24/7, and it held true to its word. The party precinct never slept and whatever party you wanted, the ‘Sation catered for it.
“Plenty of apartments around,” Beggs said. “Someone must’ve seen something.”
Salvi nodded then tapped at the iPort strapped to her wrist and initiated her comms. The lenses in her eyes turned a transparent silver and Riverton appeared.
“Detective Brentt,” it said, “how may I help you?”
“Riverton, the apartment’s AI is currently offline. We’ll need a warrant to analyze its data and see if someone hacked it for entry.”
“Yes, detective,” it said. “Warrant underway for access to security footage, voice recordings, and engagement of lighting and other electronic sensors.”
“And I need you to get the drone to scour the surrounding apartment balconies. If the perp came in that way, I want to know if they left anything behind. I also want a good look at any snooping neighbors.”
“Yes, detective.”
Salvi, through the silver sheen of her lenses, saw the SFPD drone move to begin scanning the surrounding balconies in a sweeping pattern.
“Also check the drone and street footage in the area for the past, say, two hours also.”
“Yes, detective.”
“Thank you, Riverton. End request.”
Riverton disappeared, and her lenses cleared again. She looked back down at the man with the smashed in skull, then at the aluminum bar, and narrowed her eyes. “Shit… It’s the leg of a camera tripod. He was beaten to death with his own tripod.”
“They had one hell of a party, that’s for sure,” Beggs said, then glanced up at the curious neighbors gathered on the next balcony over. He angled his holo-badge toward them. “We’re coming over for a chat,” he called. “Meet us at your front door, please.”
Beggs headed for the apartment’s front door, motioning Salvi to join him. She took one last look at the ‘Sation’s pulsing lights, at the dead man laying on the balcony, then at the sexy images of Myki Natashi on the walls. Then she moved to the door where the officer, Vincent, stood, discarded
