Notes: Hey readers! I just wanted to let you all know that I am currently re-writing Partners! I have gone over this story so many times and found some mistakes that I really want to fix. So, without further delay... here is chapter six!

Disclaimer: I own nothing related to Transformers. Hasbro owns them. Not me.

Important terms:
APB - All-points bulletin

Four days had gone by and not a single lead had proven itself to be useful. Hector and Preston went back to the university to talk with some of the victim's professors and classmates; nothing. Lacey teamed up with Brendan and they visited the art gallery where the victim's portfolio was to be displayed. The owners offered their condolences but did not know who could have killed Jillian Monaghan.

All had great things to say about her.

"She was always on time," said a fellow art student. "Never missed a class and if she did, she would always have a doctor's note or some kind of excuse. She would still complete the assignment anyway just to get credit."

"Jill had so much talent," said a professor. "She was one of my best students. It's a shame she's gone. I was very proud of her portfolio."

"We were looking forward to displaying Miss Monaghan's portfolio," said the art gallery's owners. "She was very talented and had so much to offer the art world."

Even when they thought they had a solid start, they would pursue it and it would only lead to disappointment and several coffee runs. The team had combed through most of the evidence and found nothing. Dead end after dead end; it was a never-ending cycle. At this point, everyone was wondering where to go from here. Without any leads, the case would simply dwindle and be turned into a cold-case. And the odds of the victim's killer brought to justice would only fade into nothing.

It was not until the fifth day of empty leads when the 12th precinct caught a break. In the lab, Percy was staring angrily at his computer screen. Hector walked into the room and noticed the scientist's piercing glare. He chuckled and approached the other man with caution.

"Are ya tryin' to burn a hole through the screen, Perc?" he asked.

The scientist rolled his eyes. "No, detective. I am merely staring at your victim's browser history on her laptop."

There was a pregnant pause, followed by the Latino detective's reply of, "But, uh, there's nothin' there."

"You honestly don't think I don't know that!" Percy let out a frustrated sigh and leaned back in his chair. "I've been trying to retrieve her browser history for hours and I have come up with nothing!" he cried. "She deleted everything! Everything! Not even the most skilled of computer technicians can delete everything from their browser history and she managed to delete everything!" The scientist threw his arms wildly in the air and nearly knocked Hector in the head. The detective managed to jump out of the way as Percy continued to rant and rave at the laptop. Afterward, he slumped forward in his chair and buried his face in the palms of his hands.

Hector clamped a hand on the man's shoulder. "Take a break, man. You've been staring at that screen for hours and you look like you need some coffee and a nap."

Percy grumbled under his breath. "No detective, what I need is to find where all of her files disappeared to."

Still grumbling, he hopped down from his chair and walked over to where a coffee mug labeled, "Lab Rule #7: If you do not know what a button does, do not press it" sat waiting for him. The forensic specialist took a long drink of the coffee and looked over at Hector who was leaning against the counter where his computers and monitors were at. Frustrated, Percy sat down his mug and folded his arms over his chest. He knew that the victim was trying to hide something; and whatever it had been, she did a fine damn good job at getting rid of it. The question is, what was she trying so hard to conceal?

Bing!

"Your machine made a noise."

"All of my machines makes noises, detective. How observative of you," Percy groaned, digging his palms into his eyes.

"Uh, Perc? You might want to take a look at this?"

With a huff, the forensic specialist grumbled his way over to his chair and sat down in front of the laptop. His long fingers instantly latched onto the keys and began typing. Hector watched as the scientist worked furiously at the laptop, his fingers flying over the keyboard. The detective stood in amazement as Percy finally hit the space bar and what was on the screen finally opened; his brown eyes widened in shock.

"Is that what I think that is?"

"A bank account number registered in your victim's name?" Percy suggested. He laughed in relief and nodded. "The answer, Detective Esposito, is yes," He typed a few more times onto the keyboard. "And from the looks of it, the account had close to half a million dollars."

Hector looked down at the scientist with a quirked brow. "Had? What do you mean had?"

"Well, from the looks of things, the account of emptied two days before your victim was killed," Percy said. He continued to type a few moments before another page opened up on the screen. He shook his head, pushed his glasses up, and then leaned back against his chair. The scientist glanced over to the detective and asked, "So, do you want to be the one to call Paxton or shall I?"

The detective cleared his throat and shook his head. "Nah, I got this," he said. Afterward, Hector fished out his phone from his pocket and sent a quick text to the captain before he turned back to the scientist. "Did ya find any prints on the laptop?"

"I did, actually," Percy rolled his chair over to another computer and pointed to the results on the screen. "Most of them were your victim's. Of course, what did you expect, it was her laptop."

Esposito's eyes narrowed. "'Most of them'?"

Wordlessly, the scientist typed on the keyboard before another set of fingerprints appeared with a mug shot attached. On the screen, a man in his early thirties with cropped black hair and brown eyes glared back at the viewer. He also had a beard that was trimmed short. There were a set of scars his face, on the underside of his chin and one just below his ear. Hector cringed at the face that stared back at him; that was certainly a face only a mother could love.

"Blaise Deeks," Percy identified. "I found his fingerprints on the logic board of the laptop as if he was searching for something. And just to add icing to the cake, he has a record too; two counts robbery and one count assault."

"But the vic wasn't robbed," Hector murmured. "Wallet and cell were both at the scene. "

"Well, not exactly, Epso. Your victim was robbed and whatever Deeks was looking for, he found it." Percy said.

"What do you mean?" Hector asked.

"He was looking for something inside the laptop."

Just as Hector opened his mouth to speak, the captain walked in. "Do you know what he was looking for?" Orion asked as he walked up to the two men.

"A USB port within the laptop," the scientist explained. "Mind you, I've seen plenty of laptops that have had USB ports installed so they can have files saved onto a flash drive small enough to hide. Any normal person wouldn't even think of looking there but someone with a criminal history of computer hacking would." Percy sighed and leaned back in his chair, his tone changed and his shoulders slumped. "Unfortunately, the flash drive was missing so I can't figure out what she was hiding unless I get that flash drive back."

The captain folded his arms over his chest. "CSU didn't find a flash drive at her apartment so the killer must've taken the flash drive or Miss Monaghan hid it before she was killed," he muttered. "Esposito said that you found a bank account in her name?"

"Yes," the scientist confirmed. "My guess is that she had her clients transfer the money to this account and would then have it hidden. There was no evidence of a known bank associated with the account so the account must have been through her employer."

"And the prints?"

"Blaise Deeks," Hector explained. "Guy's got a couple of priors too." He checked the screen and he beamed. "And it looks like he just got out of prison a couple weeks ago."

Orion looked up at the mug shot and frowned. Is that... wait a minute. He pointed at the screen, his finger locked onto the tattoo that was on the base of the man's neck. "Mr. Edwards, could you enlarge that?" he asked.

The scientist went to work and began typing onto the keyboard. He enlarged the photo and altered the quality of the photo for a clearer shot of the tattoo. Hector shook his head in disbelief as Orion stood back with narrowed eyes. Just like the victim, the initials M.T. were written in black ink on the convict's neck.

"You thinking this could be gang related?" Hector glanced at his commanding officer.

Orion sighed and shook his head. "I'm not sure," he said. "But it is not a coincidence that our victim has the same tattoo as a convict; let alone the fact that she was dating a former one."

"You got an address for me Perc?" the Latino detective asked the scientist. He fished out his phone and waited for Percy to list off the address.

"2 Caddy Road, Mattapan." the scientist replied. He scrunched his nose, his gaze directed to the mug shot on the screen. "I would be extremely careful with this guy, Espo. According to his record, he's said to be incredibly violent and has a very short temper."

"Like that's ever stopped me from bringin' in a perp," the detective snorted. He turned his gaze to his captain. "So, where have you been all morning, cap?"

"I had a meeting with the chief. He wanted an update on the case," Orion answered flatly. "Call Novak and tell him to meet you at the suspect's house; bring him down for questioning. Be cautious too; I want Deeks brought to the precinct in one piece."

Hector tapped in Preston's name and pressed the call button. "Aye, aye captain." he said with a wink. Orion, in response, scowled and rolled his eyes. The Latino detective walked out of the lab to speak in private while the other stayed behind with Percy. The captain leaned against the evidence table and folded his arms over his chest; something was off about this case. The scientist leaned back in his chair and glanced over at Orion.

"Have you had any luck with the other evidence?" Orion asked.

Percy shook his head. "Unfortunately no. CSU went through the whole apartment and found little trace evidence; most of the prints found were the victim's which is to be expected."

"Which means that she didn't bring clients to her apartment," the captain murmured. He pulled on a pair of latex gloves. "What about her address book? Any upcoming events?"

Percy reached for the address book and handed it to Orion who began to flip through some of the pages. "Just picking up extra shifts at Starbucks, some lunch dates with Ward, and a dress fitting on the 24th. And her cell-phone proved to be useless as well," the scientist stated. He pulled out the victim's iPhone and handed it to the captain. "She had a few contacts, including her manager, her parents, and a few friends," he explained. "Your victim did a very good job of covering her tracks, sir. It's as if she left the escort business and wiped all traces of it from her life."

What if that is what she intended to do in the first place? Orion thought, tossing the gloves in the trash.

"I'll run the tattoo through a database of known gang tattoos; I'll text you when I get results." Percy said.

The captain thanked Percy for his help and strode out of the lab. The victim went through a lot of trouble to erase all evidence of the escort business. It would've taken a lot of time and money in order for her to achieve such a thing... so, the question is, how did she do it? Orion shook his head in frustration. This case was only going to grow more difficult to solve as time went on, and the lack of evidence in the case seemed to help. There had to be something, something to break the case wide open.

With his thoughts a jumbled mess, Orion strolled down the hall to the stairs where he went down another flight to the basement. He opened the door to the firing range and found Lacey cleaning one of her weapons. The inspector lifted her head at the sound of the door opening and placed her rag on the table when Orion entered.

"Is everything alright, sir?" she asked as he approached her.

"Something feels wrong about this case," Orion admitted. "However, I am not sure what that something is."

Lacey nodded. "Did Mr. Edwards find any evidence that could help us find the victim's killer?" she asked.

"A hidden bank account with half a million dollars and a set of fingerprints that belonged to a convict. I've already sent Esposito to meet Novak at the guy's house in Mattapan," Orion explained. He sat down on one of the stools in the firing range and ran a hand through his hair.

"And the suspect has the same tattoo as our victim, on the base of his neck."

The inspector's eyes widened. "Really?" She reassembled her weapon. "Are you thinking that this could be gang related?" she questioned.

"I'm not sure," he answered with a shrug. He gestured to the Glock in her hands. "Practicing?"

"Your firearms specialist said that it would be wise to test out my new weapon before going out into the field," Lacey replied. She placed a new clip of ammo into the chamber, cocked the gun and placed it back on the table. "I suggest you cover your ears, sir."

She pulled a set of large headphones over her ears and picked up the Glock. Orion followed her example, grabbing another set. The inspector sucked in a deep breath and raised the Glock to eye-level. Lacey closed her eyes for a brief moment before opening them. She waited a few more seconds before calling out, "Six shots! Firing!" and finally pulled the trigger.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

The blonde lowered her weapon and waited for the target to be moved up the range. Orion did the honors and flipped a switch that triggered the target to move up the range and stand in front of them. It revealed a nice cluster of bullet holes right in the center of the target's head. Lacey unloaded the weapon, checked the chamber, and then replaced a new clip of ammo. She took off her ear protection and placed it on the counter. She holstered the gun and turned to her captain who had his arms folded over his chest.

"I'm impressed," Orion said with a nod. "Nice grouping."

"Thank you, captain," Lacey replied. She folded her arms over her chest and leaned against the counter. "So, what is this about a secret bank account?"

When Preston and Hector arrived at the house, they weren't really surprised at the state of it. It was a run-down, one-story home with chipped paint on the outside and torn wallpaper on the inside. The windows were so caked with dirt; it was difficult to see what was inside the house. The building itself seemed to sag almost depressingly under the weight of the few roof tiles left. And the inside was not much better, once they unlocked the door. Clothes were strewn around the house, dirty dishes still left in the sink, and piles of papers were stacked on the kitchen table.

"Guy must've left in a hurry," Hector said as the two detectives strolled through the house. He picked up an envelope that read PAST DUE in red letters. He waved it to Preston who stood across the kitchen table from him. "Probably had a good reason too."

"It seems that he has not been here for quite some time," Preston murmured. "Judging by the state and stench of his home."

The detective wrinkled his nose in distaste from the scent of the trashcan that obviously hadn't been taken out for a while. Hector let the bill fall from his hand and back onto the pile as Preston gazed around the premises before a flashing red light caught his attention in the living room. When the detective got closer, he realized that it belonged to an answering machine and judging by the flashing, it had a couple of messages on it.

The detective tilted his head to the side before he pressed play on the answering machine. You have three new messages. First message received at 10:24 PM on Sunday, June 15th. Look, Deeks, tell the boss that I'm done; I've got nothin' else for me. And tell him to not bother with sending my next paycheck. Beep! End of message.

That sounded just like... Darren Ward. Preston took his finger off the machine and blinked. "Esposito?" he called.

The Latino detective lifted his head and walked over to the other detective. He looked over to Hector and pointed to the answering machine. "That was Darren Ward's voice on the answering machine."

"I heard that," Hector replied, crossing his arms. "So, meaning they knew each other and shared a boss. Or at least formerly shared a boss."

"I know," Preston said. "The question is who were they working for and what were they doing."

He scanned the room again before a faint whiff of something caught his nose. He sniffed the air and scowled. "Do you smell that?"

Hector sniffed as well, his breath catching. He held a hand to his mouth and coughed several times. He took his hand away and blinked several times. "Yeah... smoke." His dark eyes switched to the door that leads downstairs to the basement, an orange glaze creeping up the stairs.

"Damnit."

Without warning, Preston grabbed Hector by the arm and began to drag him out of the home. The detective shoved the Latino detective out the door and raced back to grab the answering machine, yanking the cords connecting to the wall and ran back outside. The two watched as the flames began to lick its way into the kitchen, igniting all the papers and clothing littering the home. Preston set the answering machine on the roof of his car and ran a hand through his hair. All they could do was watch the house go up in flames.

"So," Preston said with a cough. He turned his gaze to the Latino who was bent over and had his hands on his knees. "What do we tell Paxton?"

"Uhm, well... shit." Hector scratched the back of his head in embarrassment as the roof was now engulfed in flames. His shoulders slumped and he dropped his head. "Yeah, I got nothing."

Author's Note: Feel free to leave a review or two!