A Fire In The Sun by George Alec Effinger

Author:George Alec Effinger [Effinger, George Alec]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Science Fiction
Published: 2011-02-16T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

Jirji Shaknahyi had been killed on Tuesday, and it wasn't until Friday that I was able to go into the station house again. It was, of course, the Sabbath, and I toyed with the idea of passing by a mosque on the way, but I felt hypocritical about that. I figured I was such a crummy person that no amount of worshiping could make me acceptable to Allah. I know that's all hollow rationalization—it's the sinners, after all, who need the benefits of prayer most, and not the saints—but I just felt too soiled and guilty to enter the House of God. Besides, Shaknahyi had set an example of true faith, and I'd failed him. I had to redeem myself in my own eyes first, before I could expect to do the same in the eyes of Allah.

My life has been like a rolling ocean, with waves of comfort and ease followed by waves of adversity. No matter how peaceful things get, I know more trouble will soon sweep over me. I've always told everyone how much I preferred being on my own, a solitary agent answerable only to myself. I wished I meant it half as much as I pretended.

I needed every bit of the inner strength and confidence I'd achieved to deal with the obstinate forces around me. I was getting no help at all from Lieutenant Hajjar, Friedlander Bey, or anyone else. No one at the station house seemed particularly interested in talking with me on Friday morning. There were a lot of part-time office workers there, Christians who filled in for the religious Muslims on the Sabbath. Lieutenant Hajjar was there, of course, because on his list of favorite pastimes, religion finished down somewhere between oral surgery and paying taxes. I went immediately to his square, glass-walled office.

Eventually he looked up to see who was looming beside his desk. "What now, Audran?" he snapped. He hadn't seen me in three days, but he made it sound as if I'd been badgering him non-stop all that time.

"Just wanted to know what your plans for me were."

Hajjar looked up from his data deck. He stared at me for a long moment, his m6uth twisted as if he'd just chewed a rotten date. "You're flattering' yourself," he said in a quiet voice. "You don't enter into my plans at all."

"I was just volunteering to help in the investigation of Jirji Shaknahyi's death."

Hajjar raised his eyebrows. He leaned back in his chair. "What investigation?" he asked incredulously. "He was shot by Paul Jawarski. That's all we need to know."

I waited until I could speak without shouting at him. "We have Jawarski in custody?"

"Whe!" demanded Hajjar. "Who's we? You mean, does the police department have Jawarski? Not yet. But don't worry, Audran, he won't slip away. We're closin' in on him."

"How do you expect to find him? This is a big city. You think he's just sitting in a room somewhere, waiting for you to show up with a warrant? He's probably back in America by now.

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