“Or coming down from a night on Fyte.”
“Yeah, look,” Ford said, “as much as we’d like to listen to you two argue all day, let’s not. All of you just take note of any homicide that looks to have drugs involved, and when you come to a decision amongst yourselves,” she shot Salvi and Beggs a look, “then report it to me, alright? If we think this Fyte drug might be connected then we’ll need to share details with Narcotics.”
The team nodded and Ford moved back to her office.
“Let’s hit that hospital,” Beggs said walking out the door. Salvi locked eyes with Mitch one last time, then followed.
Salvi and Beggs walked along the corridors of the hospital with Doctor Goldfarb, who’d been attending to Myki Natashi. Goldfarb, with bright orange hair and a pierced nose, walked quickly, studying a data pane before her as she spoke.
“Her injuries could either be rape or very enthusiastic sex, it’s hard to say, and so far she’s denying the rape,” the doctor told them. “We’ve flushed her system of the drugs and are awaiting toxicology to confirm what she was on exactly, but if I had to hazard a guess, it was something along the lines of ecstasy or some derivative of that. She’s claiming no memory of the night, or of her partner’s death.” They arrived outside Myki’s room. “So good luck with that.” The doctor waved them forward, then continued down the corridor.
Salvi and Beggs entered the room. Myki lay back on a bed of pillows. Her face looked a little pale, but she seemed more alert than the previous evening. Beggs gave Salvi a nod to lead, as they engaged their holo-badges.
“Myki, hi,” Salvi said gently, noticing the indents on the sides of her face had filled out again, leaving no trace of their prior existence. “I’m not sure whether you remember us from last night, but I’m Detective Brentt and this is Senior Detective Beggs.”
Myki studied their holo-badges, her mind clearly trawling its memory, but the blank look indicated it had come up short. She didn’t remember them.
“How are you feeling today?” Salvi asked.
“A-alright,” Myki eventually said, eyes still darting between their holo-badges.
“We’d like to ask you some questions, okay?”
Myki nodded, bringing her hands together in her lap and fidgeting with her fingers.
“We’re very sorry for what happened, Myki,” Salvi said gently. “Devon Barker, he was your boyfriend?”
Myki nodded, lowering her face a little, eyebrows knitting in torment.
“Did he hurt you, Myki?”
The model’s brows smoothed out and she looked up at her. “No.”
“Do you know who killed him?”
Myki lowered her eyes again, shook her head.
“You don’t remember anything about what happened?”
“No,” she said softly, gaze still fixed on the bed in front of her.
“What’s the last thing you do remember?”
Myki’s mind turned over for a moment. “Dinner. We had dinner.”
“Where?”
“Lantasia’s. In the Sensation.”
“What time was this?”
“Er… early. Around 6.30pm.”
“Do you remember what you ate?”
Myki looked up at her, confused.
“It was just you and Devon? What did you eat?”
“Lobster. Crème brûlée.”
“You have much to drink?”
Myki shrugged. “A little. A bottle or so of champagne.”
“A bottle on your own or with Devon?”
“Together.”
“Were you celebrating something?” Beggs spoke up.
Myki looked at him and shook her head.
“And you can’t remember what happened after that?” Salvi asked.
Myki’s eyes searched the room as she trawled for a memory. “I think we had more drinks.”
“You went out somewhere or at home?”
“I…” She trawled her memory some more, before she looked away to the window. “I don’t remember.”
Salvi and Beggs exchanged a look.
“Alright,” Salvi said. “Myki, how would you describe your relationship with Devon?”
“Fine… We talked of marriage.”
“How long had you been dating?”
She shrugged. “About… three months.”
“And you were talking about marriage after three months?”
Myki looked at her. “We were in love. He was a romantic. He treated me well.”
“Do you know of anyone who would want to hurt him?”
Myki shook her head.
“Did he have any business troubles?” Beggs asked. “Owe any money? Anything like that?”
“No. Not that I know of.”
“So you can’t think of any reason why someone broke into your apartment and killed him?” Salvi asked.
Myki looked down at her fingers again. Salvi noted her hands were shaking. Salvi wondered whether it was due to the drug withdrawal or if Myki was terrified of something.
Salvi softened her voice. “If you’re scared, Myki, we can protect you.”
“I don’t remember anything,” she said, her voice barely audible.
Beggs exchanged another look with Salvi, which told her he was thinking the same thing: that Myki wasn’t telling them the entire truth; that she knew or at least suspected who had killed her partner. Her limited eye contact was a giveaway. It could’ve been shame, but Salvi wasn’t getting that feeling here. Myki didn’t want to tell the truth, and she struggled with lying.
Salvi stepped closer. “We’re accessing the data from your apartment’s AI, Myki. Our department AI is also accessing nearby security footage. If you know who did this and don’t tell us, you are protecting them and you are hindering our investigation. Do you want Devon’s killer to walk free? You want his death to go unpunished?”
“I don’t remember anything… I swear… I just went to sleep and when I woke up there were cops in my bedroom.”
“So you remember going back to your apartment and getting into bed, then?” Salvi asked.
“No, I… I just woke up and there were cops in my bedroom.” Tears began to roll down Myki’s cheeks, and she lowered her face into her hands and brushed them away.
Salvi studied her. Myki was too raw right now. Salvi sensed she had layers to peel away, but they were fragile, and it would need to be done carefully. It was going to take time and patience to get this woman to talk.
Beggs seemed to sense the same thing. He looked at Salvi and motioned for them to leave.
Salvi got back into Beggs’ sleek, black SFPD Raider.
“So where to now?” she asked
