The Fool Read Free Page B

blood, cannot be ignored. Someone wishes
conflict between this Church, and the Muslim communities. They want
it very badly. It is not good.’
    Barham paled under her make-up. ‘Not what I
wanted to hear, not at all.’
    ‘No, I expect not. And that’s before we get
to the accusation that it’s a demon that killed him.’
     
    ‘I thought it was that the boy was a demon,
I mean, had held a Jinn?’
    ‘No, it’s very clear that the writing states
he has been sacrificed by a Jinn, not to one, or because he was
one.’ She pointed to the autopsy photos. ‘All Arabic has three root
letters and the letters aside them can change the meaning
significantly. The confusion is easy to see, but so is the meaning.
I’ll write up a thorough translation for you when I have the time.
Tell me, I’m presuming there were no cuts on his back?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘The blood on the sheets of the Qur’an, it’s
solely from the wounds?’
    ‘We think so. Analysis is still ongoing.’
Barham opened up the folder she’d taken the autopsy photos from and
handed over several photos of the body on the altar, it being
removed, the revealing of the leaves of paper underneath. Then the
photos of each sheet being lifted and sealed in an evidence bag.
The sequence showed that the body had lain on a cross constructed
of torn and slashed leaves of the Holy Book of Islam. The young
man’s body had been positioned as if crucified upon it. It was
sacrilege to destroy the word of Allah. What had occurred was
blasphemy; a deliberate desecration of both the Church and the
Qur’an.’
    ‘And you have yet to inform any of the local
Imams about this? Have not made any attempt to involve them?’
    ‘We wanted to be sure.’
    ‘You were hoping, no doubt, that this has
nothing to do with religion at all?’
    Barham nodded. ‘The deceased, Jason Briggs,
is a gang leader, a violent and aggressive person who has been
involved in criminal activity since he was nine years old. There is
no evidence of either sexual assault, or robbery. He was neither
Muslim nor Catholic, nothing to link him in any way to anything
other than his gang activity. Peckham gangs don’t split neatly into
religious or racial groups. They run according to the ethnic
breakdown of the individual housing estates. Most are black
British, such as Jason, but it’s not exclusive. This Church is in
his area, but he’s not a member of the congregation, although he
had been thrown out of the youth group a few months ago, along with
other gang members who were trying to recruit from there.’
    ‘You believe that is what was behind the
graffiti and the other desecrations?’
    ‘Yes. The gang members we prosecuted were
from Brigg’s gang, the RRs, the Rye Runners. They targeted the
local church group to recruit youngsters and were booted out. So
they vandalised the cemetery and the building. None of that had any
religious significance at all.’
    Barham looked to Maryam to confirm this.
Maryam nodded her head whilst filing away what Barham’s choice of
words had revealed about her background. Barham continued.
    ‘It is only the pages of the book that
suggests this has anything to do with Islam and actual religious
faith. That’s not a very strong connection, given whoever did this
is certainly not rational. Anyone could think of pulling the pages
out of a book to muddy the waters. There is no strong evidence to
treat this as anything other than a... secular... manner.’
    The word was awkward in her mouth, the
concept new to her brain.
    ‘I can tell you that the words written on
this young man are neither random nor without meaning. They are
intense and scholarly. No one was copying out of a book. The
formations of the marks are sure and precise. Intellect has been
used here, intellect, discipline, and knowledge; unlike the
graveyard desecrations.’
    ‘Completely different?’
    ‘Utterly.’
    Barham wasn’t happy with the news: so much
easier to work this as a gang crime.
    ‘I take it