I know who killed me.
"In the criminal justice system, sexually based offenses are considered especially heinous. (…)"– Law and Order: Special Victims Unit (introduction).
Warnings: murder, prostitution.
Timing: my very own Beauty of the Beast Prime timeline.
Rating: M.
Disclaimer: Transformers Prime © Hasbro. Story's plot and OC's © me. There may be some OC's that aren't mine – they belong to their respective creators.
oOo
Cybertron. Iacon. Not long before the war.
It was not a rare occurrence. Not to a cop anyway. Cases like this one were pretty much recurrent events for anyone who spent more than one Meta-cycle1) in the forces. Though most of them weren't that… extreme.
Prowl knew instantly that it was a dead prostitute. Of course there was no label on the body that stated that it was a prostitute but the fact that the corpse wore saturated but flashy paint and was found in some smelly back alley, clearly beaten to death was a dead giveaway (no pun intended). Of course he could be wrong but the chances were slim enough to make the 'dead prostitute' his working assumption. He would find out in a moment anyway, the mechanoforsensic team was on the site and the pathologist was giving the body a preliminary check.
"So, what can you give me?" He asked when the doctor finally stood up from squatting over the corpse.
"A carrier mech2), looks like a hooker, I'll give you more when I have a chance to look at the corpse closer in the morgue." The doctor said.
"A full autopsy?" Prowl questioned with something that could be a hint of hope.
"I don't think we'll need that." The pathologist shook his helm.
"Can you tell me anything more?" Prowl asked again with perfectly hidden disappointment.
"Killed 'in the line of duty' if you can say so about a hooker." The doctor shrugged. "Seriously, come to me tomorrow morning, I'll give you full report."
With that the doctor nodded to two technicians who proceeded to wrap the cadaver into body bag. Prowl turned to one of the younger mechanoforesic on the scene.
"What have you found, Tumbler3)?" He addressed the mech.
"He wasn't killed here." Tumbler answered the senior officer. The mech was actually a police officer himself, but he did work with the forensic department rather than as a street cop.
"How can you tell?"
"His energon isn't spilled all over the place, there's no sign of it aside from the place the body laid. No splashes, no prints, and there is no puddle of the stuff here." Tumbler gestured to the entire area. "This place is to clean for a crime scene… err… if you can call such a place clean that is."
Prowl looked around and then on the ground. Sure, there were no pede prints or even servo prints on the ground and whoever killed the prostitute would have their limbs covered in the energon. And the amount of the bodily fluids on the site was also insufficient to assume that the murder took place here. Sadly he spotted no surveillance cameras around that could confirm any of this.
oOo
The next morning.
Prowl showed up in the mortuary as soon as the place was open. Iacon was far from being law abiding place but compared to some other parts of Cybertron the crime rate here was fairly low so such drastic cases didn't happen every day. As a seasoned law enforced Prowl knew that such a crime would quickly reach media in such a city as Iacon, especially if the prostitute had relatives or friends stubborn enough to actually make a fuss and get media interested. And media would certainly catch the bait, after all this was a perfect opportunity to accuse police forces of slacking just because the corpse belonged to a prostitute. Then of course someone would mention that penalties are not high enough and the courts don't work efficiently enough and some politician would gain publicity by proposing reforms which then would be stuck in the legislative process long enough to later quietly ditch them and everything would stay the same.
The Pathologist that greeted Prowl in the mortuary wasn't the same that invited him but the law enforcer couldn't remember his designation, he did however recalled from their previous encounter during which the mech was creepy enough to munch on some energon sweets while talking about one case involving murder by defenestration with all the gruesome details (the victim was a heavy ground pounder and the window in question was on a very high floor in one of the highest buildings in the Iacon).
"Chopshop said to come here in the morning about the dead prostitute from yesterday." Prowl said referring to the pathologist from the previous evening by his nickname.
"Oh yeah. The carrier mech." The Pathologist nodded. "He was finishing last evening and that hooker was his last call, he left him to me to deal with. Give me a second."
The Pathologist looked around and picked on tablet from a pile of identic looking ones. He opened files on it and read them for a second.
"Here it is. Carrier mech… found… yeah… Where do you want me to start?"
"How and when did he die?"
"This one's easy. Time of death was easy, yesterday evening, roughly two Groons4) before you got to him." The Pathologist shrugged.
"That is more than enough time to ditch a body, but it's a time frame I can work with." Prowl nodded. "And what was the direct cause of death?"
"The obvious one." The Pathologist scratched the side of his helmet and rolled out a drawer with the corpse of the prostitute in question.
He uncovered the body revealing the grim details. Now in fluorescent light of the mortuary each and every detail of the dead carrier mech was visible, though in fact there wasn't much to be seen. The mech's face was literally dented into his cranium and his body was littered with dents, tears and scratches.
"Pimp's doing?" Prowl focused on the cadaver.
"Client. Or clients." The Pathologist shook his helm. "There are signs of interfacing ante mortem which is not a surprise since he was a hooker, curious thing; it's all in his valve and nothing on his spike."
"Rape?"
"No, the only violence he faced was when he was murdered, though I can't exclude sexual violence, whoever beaten him like this might have had taken kicks from beating him do death." The Pathologist covered the body again and shoved its drawer back. "That's why I think it was a client who did this, or clients. Whoever it was, they've were punching him hard enough to damage brain module. Literally his face was punched into his cranium so the helm struts damaged the neural connections and the brain module itself."
"Someone was interfacing with him and punched his face into his cranium?" Prowl narrowed his optics. This wasn't shocked question, this was him analysing the implications of the revelation. "Do you have any CNA5) samples to prove it was more than one person?"
"No, but he bears paint transfer marks from more than just one person." The Pathologist shook his head with regret. "Sadly that won't allow me to determine which belonged to the last client, not all of the marks overlap."
Prowl didn't reply to that, he knew perfectly well that paint transfer didn't age the way the genetic material thus making it impossible to determine when each of the transfers happened except that it was probably during the last evening and night – he had no doubts that the prostitute would clean himself after the 'shift'.
"And the tox screen?" Prowl asked. Maybe this would shed some light to the last moments of the victim.
The Pathologist scrolled through his report for a moment searching for the toxicology report.
"Aside from some high grade in his tanks all came back clean. Surprisingly clean given that this was a prostitute… But then again, drugs would probably be low on his priority list, he had clients to cater. What is really shocking is the high grade."
"If they can't afford circuit boosters then they drown their sorrows in cheap booze." Prowl shrugged, he's seen it all already.
"Yeah, the thing is, this was not some cheap brew. This was some quality high grade, well refined and distilled. I can't give you a brand but I can tell you that it was some expensive slag. Potent too." The Pathologist explained.
Prowl didn't say anything more, he just stared at the drawer holding the dead prostitute.
oOo
Prowl sat at his desk and pondered over the prostitute. If he was that kind of a mech he'd say that he had a bad feeling about this case but he wasn't and he never had 'feelings' about cases. A case was a case and solving it required logic, not feelings.
The arrival of Tumbler didn't come unnoticed and Prowl instantly focused his attention on the younger mech.
"Any developments?" He asked as Tumbler sat in front of him.
"As a matter of fact yes." Tumbler leaned back comfortably. "The dead hooker's designation was I-01 but he was widely known as Squeezer. Had two adult kids, both from the well, and before he became a pro, he's been a mechanic at an energon refinery."
"Which mine?"
"None, it was a standalone refinery."
"We haven't had these in… " Prowl leaned forward.
"In forever? Yeah, just shows how long this guy was in the business." Tumbler shrugged. "Anyway he's been known to cater to high end customers. You could call him a luxurious call girl if not for the fact that he wasn't a femme… and the fact that he never really waited for a call."
"A curb walker then?"
"Not exactly, he was hanging at clubs and such places, waiting for clients to come. He preferred wealthy types, which is no surprise since they tend to pay better. I figure that him being a carrier mech made it so much easier to him because he had all options available: mechs, femmes or other carrier mechs."
"Medical report indicates that the only traces of interfacing came from his valve and not spike, though no CNA." Prowl tapped his digits on the desk top. "And he had multiple clients too, though it doesn't mean that on other nights he didn't use his spike too…"
"Multiple clients you say? Maybe it was an orgy? Rich and spoiled do all sorts of stuff in their free time." Tumbled rubbed his masked chin.
"And killing a prostitute during an orgy wouldn't be improbable?"
"Yeah, but also it could mean that there were other prostitutes present there. Maybe if we could find them we would have witnesses?"
"Or they would end up dead too." Prowl vented deeply. "Where did you get all that info from?"
"I ran his ID with our data base and his record popped up, turns out he was brought in few times but nothing serious. And then I visited clubs in the area with his photo. At first when I checked the more notorious dance holes I got nothing but then, out of sheer desperation, I went to the fancier ones and surprise, I've got positive IDs straight away. Bouncers, bartenders and waiters recognised him without a problem. But they said that that particular night they didn't saw him."
"Great job. Do you have anything else?" Prowl was impressed.
"Not yet. I have his home address and I know he has a roommate but when I went there last night or rather today very early in the morning, it was empty so I decided to try later today."
"Good. Let me know when you find anything more." Prowl nodded.
"And what you'll be doing?"
"Questioning the one that found the body."
oOo
Tumbler spent most of the day 'in the field' so the moment he appeared back on the station Prowl instantly monopolised him.
"What have you found?" He wasted no time in pleasantries and cut straight to the chase.
"Good or bad, depending on how you see it." Tumbler seemed rather uncomfortable at the moment. "I've talked to the roommate but what I've heard… Let's face it, it will explain a lot to you but it won't make this case any better."
"Just speak."
"His roommate said that he called shortly after he left the place that evening. He said that he met a mech on his way, just as he was approaching his first club for the night. Said that the offer was to attend to a private party for some big name and that it was lucrative, or to quote: 'scrap load of cash ready for the taking'." Tumbler started and paused, readying himself to deliver the blow. "He contacted the roommate to inform him that this sounded great, that there was large limo waiting and not to wait for him because he'd probably won't be beck until very early morning."
"Limousine? So it would sound genuine. The question is who that big name was." Prowl tapped his chin in thought.
"Yeah, so I went and checked all the limousine renting agencies on the account that not many people can afford to own such a thing. Turns out that few limos were rented yesterday but none for the night. There were three bonding ceremonies and five final upgrades celebrations in some wealthier families, but all of these ended way before it got dark." Tumbler counted on his digits. "Whoever got that hooker was either owner or worked for the limo owner. You know what that mean?"
"Iacon's most wealthy and privileged. A politician, mogul or an alt mode exempt which is interchangeable these days." Prowl nodded. "So one of the privileged held a party with prostitutes it would seem."
"And that is the next on my to-do list. I will check who was having a party."
"Don't bother. None did. It's always all over the news if any of them hold any official celebrations." Prowl sighed. "That said, we could try and find the limousine. I believe we can get access to the surveillance cameras if you know which club Squeezer was going to."
"Short Circuit. It's a fancy club with overpriced drinks, actual DJs and dance floor lit from beneath." Tumbler submitted. "We don't know where exactly he was approached, but we know where he lived and where the club is.
"Go and request all records from the surveillance cameras along any routes he could take." Prowl ordered.
oOo
It took entire two day to complete entire surveillance material for every route that Squeezer could take from his shared flat to the club. Then it took another day to actually watch through it all which Prowl left to Tumbler. Finally on the fourth day Prowl was sitting at his desk looking at a tablet that held the recording that Tumbler prepared for him.
"I have it cut to the right moment." The mechanoforensic said and pressed the 'play' button.
Prowl observed a grainy image of the dead prostitute walking the street and shortly after an actual limousine following slowly. The angle changed and there was another take on the dead hooker strolling on the street when the limo caught up with him and stopped. The window rolled down but the angle didn't allow seeing who was inside. Whoever it was, they have beckoned on the prostitute to come over which he did. He bent to the window and talked for a moment, he gestured at the general direction of the club he was heading to and then talked a bit more. Then the door opened, he got in and the limousine drove away.
"This video doesn't allow identification of the limousine but I already have some of the bots in the lab working on cleaning the video material to see if we can connect this limousine to someone." Tumbler took the tablet away. "It shouldn't take long."
"One thing we can confirm already." Prowl leaned back in his chair.
"What's that?"
"All his clients of the night were at the same party or orgy, whatever it was." Prowl explained. "He had multiple paint transfers from interfacing with multiple different mechs. And they were mechs since… "
"All the interfacing signs came from his valve and not spike." Tumbler cut in repeating what he was already told and what he read in the medical report. "And not all of the transfers overlap. Not to mention, there's a chance that the one who killed him didn't interface with him. Maybe one of the clients had, ahem, performance issues and killed the hooker out of anger?"
"Possible though doubtful." Prowl shook his helm.
"We don't even know if he just visited several mechs or it was all happening in one place and time." Tumbler pointed out. "You know…"
"I know what you mean but it won't matter if we won't know who they were." Prowl sighed. He wasn't all that curious about how it looked like but he knew that it could be important for the case. "Get me that limousine's owner and then we will ponder if it was party with on-site prostitute or actual orgy."
oOo
Prowl sat alone at his desk. It was very late and the station was almost empty. There were only two mechs in: himself and the night shift officer (the couple of night patrols didn't count since they were out and not in).
Tumbler delivered the report about the limousine shortly before the day shift's end and went home. Prowl read it and couldn't find will to move. Limousine belonged to Halogen, the Speaker of the Council, and there were only few more prominent Cybertronians than him. Prowl hid his face plates in his servos. Of course Halogen himself wouldn't have anything to do with this incident. He wasn't in Iacon when that happened and he still hasn't return. He was attending some important event in Vos. But the mech had a small army of assistants, most of them stayed in Iacon and couple of them had full access to his assents including the limousine. If he was to wager (which he never did), Prowl would bet that the transfer paint would match a group of Halogen assistants. But the chances were that he would never get to talk to them let alone taking samples. Halogen would never allow that to happen, if his name was connected to a dead prostitute in any way his political career would be soiled forever. Even if he would prove that he didn't take any part in the events that led to death of the hooker, the odium would remain.
Prowl glared at the report as if it was the single most offending item on this side of Cybertron. This case was officially over now, he would have to close it, no other end would be tolerated. He could go and continue it, but it would never end with sentences for the guilty party and the only result would be that his head would roll. Possibly literally. Maybe even not his head alone. He and any mech that assisted him (and that meant Tumbler) would face anything from being dishonourable discharge to empurata or even worse – they would just disappear.
There was only one thing that he could do. He could send Halogen a message that his limousine was involved in death of a prostitute and that some of his assistants were responsible. With luck Halogen would exact consequences of those guilty but it would never be official.
That did it for Prowl. He growled and grabbed the desk flipping it over.
The End.
Yes, the title comes from the movie, though obviously there's no connection. I chose it because it sounds good.
1) 1 Meta-cycle = 13 months. In this case it's equivalent of a year.
2) In my TF:P fan made timeline Cybertronians have tree genders/sexes: a mech (that is a full male), a femme (that is a full female) and a carrier mech (that is, to put it bluntly, a hermaphrodite and the default body type). All Cybertronians are "born" as carrier mechs, they develop their personalities as they mature and undergo upgrades, some develop masculine personalities, other develop feminine personalities and others remain in their default mode (although when that happens depends on a Cybertronian, usually it happens gradually during their development but in extreme cases an individual may insist on one particular gender from their "birth" or only decide just before their final upgrade). The sex (physical representation of their gender) is formed during their final upgrade when those who choose to be mech have their valve and gestation chamber removed, the ones that choose to be femme have their spike and all its internal components removed and those who choose to remain carrier mech remain such.
3) More commonly known as Chromedome. Back then he was still going by Tumbler of Iacon.
4) 1 Groon = roughly 1 hour (60 minutes).
5) CNA is Cybertronian equivalent of DNA. It's complimentary with our DNA (from what was showed in the animation).