Jack and Djinn (The Houri Legends, #1)
Jasinda Wilder
Djinn:
“Jinn or djinn (singular: jinnī, djinni, or genie; Arabic: ????? al-jinn, singular ????? al-jinnī) are supernatural creatures in Islamic mythology as well as pre-Islamic Arabian mythology. They are mentioned frequently in the Quran (the 72nd sura is titled Sūrat al-Jinn) and other Islamic texts and inhabit an unseen world in dimensions beyond the visible universe of humans. The Quran says that the jinn are made of a smokeless and "scorching fire", but are also physical in nature, being able to interfere physically with people and objects and likewise be acted upon. The jinn, humans and angels make up the three sapient creations of God. Like human beings, the jinn can be good, evil, or neutrally benevolent and hence have free will like humans and unlike angels. The jinn are the analogue of demons in Christian tradition, but the jinn are not angels and the Quran draws a clear distinction between the two creations.” ~ Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jinn)
Chapter 1
Carson
Present Day
A maintenance worker found the body—if it could even be called that—on the lowest level of the parking garage at MGM Grand Detroit. Completely immolated, the body was burned beyond recognition. All that remained was a charred pile of bones and teeth. Detective Carson Hale knelt beside the pitiful remains of what had once been a person, prodding a femur with the tip of his pen.
“Damn,” he said. “There’s just nothing left. I mean, nothing.” Carson stood up and wiped the pen on his pant leg, wishing he hadn’t just poked a dead body with it—he had a tendency to chew on his pens.
“I know,” the responding DPD officer answered. “What I can’t figure out is, what could have happened to do this to a body? I mean, I’m not even sure how we’ll get a positive I.D. on this person.”
“Not only that, but there’s no other evidence of fire. Look around. For it to get hot enough to do this to a body, there should be other evidence of the fire, right? But there’s nothing. No scorch marks on the floors, the walls, or even on the ceiling, which isn’t that high.”
“Maybe the body was torched? Like, with accelerant or something?” The officer was a young woman, only two years on the force, and seemed queasy looking at the remains.
“I don’t know, though. If that were the case, wouldn’t there at least be burn marks on the pavement here? Also, if a person is on fire, they panic, you know? It takes time for them to die, so they run around, knock into things. There should be smears on the wall where the victim slammed into it, but there’s nothing. It’s as if the victim was lit on fire where they stood and then instantly they were virtually vaporized into this little pile.”
“Okay, let’s forget the body for a second.” The officer glanced around at the taped-off crime scene. They were in a distant corner of the garage, a dead end where few cars ever parked. “What else do we know? Anything?”
“Well, for one thing, there’s that pool of blood over there.” Carson pointed to a spot a few feet away from the skeleton where the forensic team was taking samples. “It’s a big pool of blood, but I don’t think it’s from this guy here, though.”
They walked over, and the officer examined the blood more closely. It was partially dried and still tacky in places, likely several hours old, but not more than twenty-four. “You’re right about that. I agree that this blood is definitely from a second person.”
“And, number two, there’s the matter of the four shell casings and the 9mm pistol near the body. It almost looks as if the gun was dropped when the victim was torched. However that happened.” Carson pointed to a third area, nearer the burned skeleton. “We’re probably looking for a second body, based on the amount of blood that’s here. I’m guessing we have a double homicide. The pistol and the casings are near the burn victim, which makes me think he or she was the shooter.” Carson was conjecturing out loud, trying to piece together a scenario based on the few facts they had.
“I don’t know,” the officer objected. “If someone is shot four times, they won’t be setting anyone on fire. If you ask me, I think you’re looking for another body and a third person, the killer.”
“I agree,” Carson said. “Either way, the next step is to fingerprint the gun and the casings, and see where that leads us.”
The casino manager was standing nearby, giving his report to a patrol officer. Carson didn’t like the manager on sight. He was an older man, short and agitated, with a sharp nose, beady, shifting eyes, and nervous fingers. He avoided eye contact, and he shuffled his feet as if he’d like to run away. Ratty, Carson thought, Mr. Rat. The man even had a squeaky voice.
“I don’t know nothing,” Mr. Rat exclaimed. “I swear it. I wasn’t here ’til mebbe five o’clock this evening, and you’re telling me this all happened late last night or early this morning. The shifts’ve all changed since then. I can’t tell you nothing but who was on schedule last night and when they’ll be on again. But you gotta remember, we got dozens of waitresses, plus security and janitors. This place is huge, officer. You know that. We got a staff that runs in the hundreds. Getting any of ’em to tell you a straight story, even if they saw something, well, that’s gonna be quite a chore, not to mention tracking ’em all down. I’ll tell you what I can do is, I’ll put the word out to the staff that if anyone knows anything to tell me, and I’ll pass it along to you. The thing is, like any parking garage, that one’s open to the street, so anyone could’ve wandered in and my staff wouldn’t’ve seen nothing anyway.”