Air: Elementalist Book 1 by Rebecca Wolf (an ebook reader txt) 📕

up to his middle-class position. I knew Jerry when he was just a snotty nosed preschooler in ripped overalls. He had been one of us, before his greed got the better of him.

We got out of the car and walked up the steps. The light in the living room was on, so we suspected he was home. After giving Aiden a warning glance, I pounded on the door. No one answered. I pounded again. Still no response. I put my hand to the door and pushed out with my air element. The door burst open with a bang. “Jerry?!” I called out.

The first thing I noticed was the smell. I covered my nose and mouth with my shirtfront and tried not to retch. “Don’t look Zephyr,” Aiden said firmly, trying to turn me around, but it was too late. I had already seen him. Jerry was sitting in the lazyboy, or at least his burnt remains were. His face was the only part of him that was recognizable. From the neck down it looked like someone had barbequed him, and from the look of abject terror on his face he had still been alive while they did it.

I ran out of the house and threw up. I didn’t like Jerry, but he didn’t deserve to die like this. Strong hands came and supported me until I had finished emptying my stomach. He turned me around to pull me close but I pushed him away angrily wiping tears from my eyes.

“He was BURNT Aiden, your a fire elemental, I don’t need to be a genius to do the math here.”

“Zephyr, COME ON! I didn’t do this. Do you think I would have agreed to take you here if I had burnt him to a crisp??”

“Maybe you’re trying to throw me off your trail. Maybe you brought me here to further your agenda, to make me feel weak and vulnerable. I DON’T KNOW. I GIVE UP TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW YOUR TWISTED MIND WORKS.”

“It was a setup,” Aiden pleaded, “Sweetheart, give me a chance to clear myself of the blame. I promise I was not involved.” He ran his fingers through his hair in frustration.

“I don’t trust you.” I was still sickened by everything I had just seen.

“I know.” He said, “but you don’t have to trust me. We’ll investigate this together. I promise.”

I thought about it. I didn’t have to trust him if I was there looking over the information with him.

“Full disclosure?”

“Yes. full disclosure,”

“Ok.” I said then hesitated, “we should call this in.”

Aiden whipped out his cell phone and dialed.

“Kathy? Yes, there’s been a bit of a situation. We’ve discovered a dead body. Yes, I am aware that right now it is five in the morning. We are currently at the scene of the crime, have him meet us.” He hung up, “it’s taken care of.”

“Just like that?”

“Just like that.” He smiled and nudged my shoulder, “it’s going to be ok.”

Tell that to Jerry, I thought, but I didn’t say it out loud.

We sat on Jerry’s front steps and waited. Ten minutes later Stevens pulled up together with two enforcer cars and a nondescript white van. Stevens got out of the car and headed towards us. “Is this a cover up, or a legitimate investigation?” He asked Aiden. Aiden sighed, “this is a real investigation.”

Stevens motioned with his hand, and the enforcers left their vehicle. They looked tired and overworked. In contrast, out of the van popped a short pixie like woman with a halo of brown curls. She grinned a little too enthusiastically as she bounced over gleefully. “OOOH this is SO exciting!” She gushed to no one in particular, as she dashed around us to get into the house. I looked at Aiden and raised my eyebrows. “Is she one of yours?” I asked, he shrugged, looking as dumbfounded as I did.

The enforcers came over and asked us questions about our connection to the victim, all while Stevens hovered close nearby. They were too respectful and deferential. If Aiden had really done it, the enforcers would never  prove it using their current techniques.

The little pixie turned out to be the medical examiner. Her name was Darcy. She flitted out of the house as gleefully as when she went in. Skipping right up to Aiden, Stephens, and myself she said breathlessly.

“So full disclosure, right guys?? Right? I get to tell you everything?”

“Yes, Darcy,” Stephens said, with a patronizing smile.

“Well, it’s just the last time I saw you, you said-”

“Everything about the current crime scene,” reiterated Stephens, coughing uncomfortably.

“Right yes ok, so the victim is a male likely between the ages of thirty to thirty-five.

The  linear wounds to the trapezius muscles ,as well as in the adductor longus, and magnus muscles, indicate that he was likely pinned to the chair via sharp flat implements, such as knives, prior to death. This could be indicative of some form of questioning occurring pre-mortem.

In addition, I found metallic fragments of a bullet within the cranium as well as the cervical canal. The bullet entered via the occipital bone and had a downward trajectory that fractured the fourth cervical vertebrae before exiting the victim. I believe this was done so that the victim would be easily identifiable upon discovery.

The clearly identifiable facial features leads me to conclude that a DNA sampling is unnecessary at this time. However, if there is a concern that perhaps a face plant procedure has been done to hide more evidence, I will be happy to complete one upon request.

The advanced thermal destruction of tissue and bone charring in very specific areas of the body, indicate a very precise blast which had a lot of potential energy behind it, however, evidence of explosive materials such as C4, or a chemical accelerant were not detected at the site.

This leads me to believe that there was an elementalist component involved in the post-mortem staging of the corpse.”

She took a deep breath at the end of that and looked at us eagerly to see