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LEINE TOOK JINN to a department store and bought her a new shirt and a pair of khakis. Then Jinn picked out new underwear and shoes. Leine was about to throw her old things in a rubbish bin when Jinn asked her for the items and disappeared around the back of the building. A few minutes later she returned empty-handed. Leine didn’t ask what she’d done with the old, worn-out clothes but suspected she’d either left them for someone else to use, or she’d hidden them in case she needed them again.
After checking with Jinn to be sure it was all right, Leine brought her to her hotel and took her up to her room via the stairwell to avoid the scrutiny of the desk manager. She showed her where the bathroom was and gave her soap, shampoo, and a clean towel before she walked out and closed the door behind her. The snick of the lock told her the kid wasn’t taking any chances.
While Jinn was in the shower, Leine took out her phone and called home.
“Hey there, stranger.” Detective Santiago Jensen’s deep voice reverberated through the earpiece.
“Hey. Looks like I’m going to be in Tripoli a few more days.”
“I thought you were coming back tonight.”
“I was. Something came up.”
“One of Lou’s cases?”
“Some orphans have gone missing from a refugee camp near here. Rumor has it they’re being trafficked. I’m going for a visit to do some fact-finding.”
“Jesus. It never ends, does it?”
“That’s not all. I met this kid—”
“Another victim?”
“You could say that. Some assholes were roughing her up and I happened to be there at the right time to stop them. I’m going to see if I can find her family.”
“Street kid?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t let her play you, Leine. Street kids are experts at pulling on heartstrings.”
“Don’t forget who you’re talking to, darling. There’s just something about her—a feeling I get. I don’t know how to describe it, exactly. She’s a survivor, Santa. There’s a whole lot of fight in her. She deserves a break.”
“And you’re it.”
“I’m it.”
Santa sighed. “You could just bring her to your Libyan counterparts. She’d be taken care of there. And you could, you know, come back and see the man who loves you more than life.”
Leine felt a twinge. Don’t lose this one, Leine. He’s a rare find. She didn’t want to lose him, not now, not ever. But she had to follow her gut.
“You know what your mother always says—when people are put in your path, how you respond is your choice—and those choices make us who we are. Well, I’m making a choice.”
Santa didn’t reply right away. Then he sighed once more. “You know how much I love you.”
“Of course. And I love you.”
“And you know I want you to be happy.”
“Yes.”
“I’m just worried you’re working too much, caring too much, something too much, and it’s gonna catch up with you one of these days. Maybe not this time, maybe not tomorrow, but someday. You need to have a life. Balance. Christ, I need some balance. This being apart so long does not make for a happy relationship. And frankly, I don’t see you ever slowing down.”
“You know how much this job means to me.”
“Of course I do. But I also know a person can take meaning too far. You’ve got to remember that you’re not the job. Believe me, I learned that the hard way.”
Leine’s first response was to tell him he didn’t have any idea what she was going through, but stopped before she said anything. Of course he knew. They’d had this conversation a few months before, when he told her how, after his divorce, he’d buried himself in his work, pulling longer and longer shifts until his captain took him aside and told him he needed to go home and shave, maybe take a shower and a few days off. He’d been lucky—he hadn’t screwed up any cases, but it would have been easy enough to do in his condition.
“You’re right. I’m going to find out what happened to this kid’s family, and then I’ll come home.”
~ ~ ~
JINN STARED AT HER reflection. Her face was so dirty she hardly recognized herself. And her hair looked like a rat’s nest. That’s what her mother would have said, if she’d been alive. She licked her hand and tried to smooth the cowlick that never seemed to go away, but it just sprang back in place. Maybe the shower will help. She went over to the walk-in shower and turned on the warm water, adjusting it so it was as hot as she could stand.
Could she trust Leine? She did help her get away from those men. And she killed the one with the gun. What if someone found out who Leine was and what she did? Then they both could be in a lot of trouble.
Or was she like the men who had approached her before, promising her a clean, safe place to sleep? Jinn shuddered at the thought of the two men who had seemed so nice. They both said they wanted to help Jinn, too. But that wasn’t what happened.
Jinn squeezed the thought of them to the back of her mind so she wouldn’t have to think about it. Leine seemed different. Maybe. It was just a hunch, but Jinn lived her life by her hunches. The only time they’d let her down was with those men. She’d been weak that time. She’d wanted to believe their lies.
Jinn had lived by her wits for over two years. After her mother died, she’d gone about her business, doing what she’d always done, like nothing had changed. No one seemed to notice. When someone asked her how her mother was, which wasn’t too often, she’d tell them she wasn’t feeling well. That would elicit sympathy, and sometimes she’d get extra money or food from people. She had friends among the other street kids but never got too close.
Jinn double-checked the door lock and, satisfied that it was secure, stripped off her new clothes and carefully hung them from the hook on the door. Then she removed the necklace with the small gold amulet she always wore. She lovingly traced the design with her finger before she placed it carefully on the counter. It was the only thing she had left of her mother.
Without thinking, she reached inside the pocket of her pants for the phone that she’d stolen from the businessman earlier that morning, momentarily forgetting she’d left it under the carpets at Ebrahim’s shop.
Those men would be searching for her. She’d have to stay hidden, but for how long? What if they never stopped looking? They killed the man in the white suit, so whatever was inside that phone was important. It would be easy enough to kill her, if she was caught. No one would miss a street kid, except maybe Ebrahim. Sadness washed through her at the thought of not being able to go back to the market. Of no longer being Jinn.
She wiped off the steam that had accumulated on the mirror and narrowed her eyes in an attempt to look dangerous. They didn’t know who they were dealing with. Wasn’t she the Jinn of the Marketplace? The one who could appear and disappear like a ghost? Those men would never be able to catch her.
Still, she reasoned, it would be better if she didn’t go back to the market for a while. Let things calm down. The Leine woman said she’d help her look for her family. All she had to do was make one up. Hadn’t she been doing just that for the past two years?
She needed to get out of the city. But first, she had to retrieve that phone. She couldn’t take the chance that Ebrahim would decide to clean out his storeroom and discover the mobile. It might put him in danger. She’d never forgive herself if any harm came to the old man.
Jinn believed with all of her being she was born under a lucky star. Often, events had shown her a clear path to safety.
And that path was Leine.