Chapter Twenty-Nine
Wednesday morning Lamar was awake long before the alarm sounded. Hours of tossing and turning had locked him in a prison of tangled sheets and blankets, but he couldn’t be bothered to straighten them as he lay in the dark and stared at the barely visible ceiling. When his cell phone vibrated, he swiped across the screen, wincing a bit as the bright light assaulted his eyes.
Wake your ass up! I know what the killer is.
Lamar read through the text twice before hitting the call button. Trask answered on the first ring.
“On my way to your house,” he whispered into the phone. “Make some coffee.”
Lamar yawned. “Okay.”
The line was dead before the sound died. Climbing out of the bed, Lamar grabbed a pair of sweats from the chair in the corner and pulled them on as he stumbled to the kitchen. By the time Trask pushed the front door open, there were two cups of freshly brewed coffee and a plate of donuts on the kitchen table.
“Thank fuck,” Trask groaned, grabbing the novelty mug emblazoned withWorld’s Best Detectiveby the gun-grip handle and slamming half of the scalding liquid in one gulp as Lamar watched in silent amusement. “That’s better.”
“Glad to be of service,” Lamar said dryly, sipping his own steaming cup.
Trask twitched his brows and tossed an envelope on the table in front of Lamar. “Your killer is a djinn.”
Lamar raised his own brow and took another sip of coffee.
“Sneaky creepers, a lot of them,” Trask explained. “They’re shapeshifters that evolved from fallen angels mixing with demons. They can take the form of any living thing, but they can only hold the shift for a few hours at a time.”
“So why would these evil critters be doing this?”
“They’re not all evil,” Trask corrected. “Unlike incubi, they’re smart and can be very cunning, but there are more good than there are evil. As for the why, the most likely answer is going to be a personal vendetta. Djinn don’t kill for fun. This one is after revenge.”
“Okay. Why isn’t it doing it in its own form?” Lamar pressed, stifling a yawn. “Why kill as the incubus and succubus?”
“Could be that that form is part of the revenge or it could just be for the physical high it is getting from the drugs and life force.” Trask shrugged and reached for a chocolate old-fashioned on the plate. “We may have to get the answer from the killer.”
“What do these things look like?”
“That’s the problem,” Trask groaned. “In their natural form, they present in a wide array of appearances, much like humans.”
“Okay.” Lamar stared thoughtfully into his cup. “Vic, how many openly paranormal social venues are there in town?”
“After Nineis pretty much it,” he responded. “Why?”
“Well, both of the planned murders were committed while the djinn was masquerading as anAfter Nine, ah, host,” Lamar stuttered briefly over how to label Aeren and Mandy. “What do you think the odds are that she might know a few of these djinn shifters?”
“Definitely worth asking,” Trask agreed, washing the final bite of donut down with the last of his coffee. “Place only closed an hour ago. You want to go see if we can catch her still up?”
“Not really,” Lamar groaned, “but I’m not going to let that stop me.” He shoved himself to his feet. “Give me a minute to change.”
~*~
“This better be good,” the Chief’s words from the day before echoed in Lamar’s ears, but this time they were wrapped in Mandy’s silky vocals.
“We’re very sorry to bother you,” Trask said smoothly, handing her his gold badge. “We know you sleep days, so we were hoping to catch you before you turned it instead of waking you.”
“Thoughtful,” Mandy muttered with a touch of sarcasm that Trask ignored. “How can I help you?”
“We believe we’ve narrowed down the species identity of the killer that we’re looking for,” Lamar said quietly, forcing himself to meet her eyes. “Have you ever had problems with a djinn?”
Mandy’s brows shot up. “Not problems, exactly,” she said slowly. “They can be a challenge to employ, but their ability to shift into anyone is very popular.”
“So you have some on staff?”
