My imagination conjured scenes filled with the anguish of the people I cared most about. Which pretty much settled things. I couldn't allow something like that to happen.
Besides, there was one more thing that made me certain that I wanted to go back. At the end of the day ... some son of a bitch had freaking killed killed me. me.
That's not the kind of thing you can just let stand.
And if it would let me get out of this place and let me move on to wherever it was I was supposed to go, that was a nice bonus.
"Okay," I said quietly. "How does it work?"
He slid a pad and a piece of paper across the desk at me, along with a pencil. "You get to go to an address in Chicago," he said. "You write it there. Driver will drop you off."
I took the pad and paper and frowned at it, trying to work out where to go. I mean, it wasn't like I could show up just anywhere. If I was going in as a pure spirit, it would be futile to contact any of my usual allies. It takes some serious talent to see a spirit that hasn't manifested itself, the way a ghost can occasionally appear to the physical eye. My friends wouldn't even know I was there.
"Out of curiosity," I said, "what happens if I don't catch the killer?"
His expression turned sober and his voice became quieter. "You'll be trapped there. Maybe forever. Unable to touch. Unable to speak. Watching things happen in the world, with no ability whatsoever to affect them."
"Hell," I said quietly.
"Hell."
"That's cheerful."
"You're dead, son," Jack said. "Cheer is contraindicated."
I nodded.
I was looking at one hell-ba-dump-bump-ching-of a risk. I mean, fitting in here in Chicago-tory might not be fun, but it probably wouldn't be torture, either. Judging from what Carmichael and Jack had said and from the way they went about their business, they were able to act in some fashion, maybe even do some good. They didn't look particularly thrilled to be doing what they were doing, but they carried that sense of professional purpose with them.
A ghost trapped on the mortal coil? That would be far worse. Always present, always watching, and always impotent.
I never really developed my Don't-Get-Involved skills. I'd go crazy in a year, and wind up one more pathetic, insane, trapped spirit haunting the town I'd spent my adult life protecting.
"Screw it," I said, and started writing on the paper. "If my friends need me, I have to try."
Jack took the pad back with a nod of what might have been approval. Then he stood up and pulled on his suit coat. Car keys rattled in his hand. He was only medium height, but he moved with a confidence and a tightly leashed energy that once more made him seem familiar, somehow. "Let's go."
Several of the cops-because I was sure they were cops, or at least were doing something so similar that the word fit-nodded to Jack as he went by.
"Hey," called someone from behind us. "Murphy."
Jack stopped and turned around.
A guy wearing a suit that would have looked at home in the historic Pinkerton Detective Agency came over to Jack with a clipboard and held it out along with a pen. Jack scanned what was on it, signed off, and passed the clipboard back to the man.
Jack resumed his walking speed. I stuck my hands in my duster pockets and stalked along beside him.
"Captain Collin J. Murphy?" I asked quietly.
He grunted.
"You're Karrin's dad. Used to run the Black Cat case files."
He didn't say anything. We went down the elevator, past the guard angel, and out to the street, where an old blue Buick Skylark, one with tail fins and a convertible roof, sat waiting by the curb. He went around to the driver's side and we both got in. The rain drummed on the roof of the car.
He sat behind the wheel for a moment, his eyes distant. Then he said, "Yeah."
"She's talked about you."
He nodded. "I hear you've looked out for my Karrie."
Karrie? I tried to imagine the person who would call Murphy that to her face. Rawlins had done it once, but I tried to imagine the person who would call Murphy that to her face. Rawlins had done it once, but only only once, and not only was he her partner, but he'd also worked with her dad when she was a little girl. Rawlins was practically family. once, and not only was he her partner, but he'd also worked with her dad when she was a little girl. Rawlins was practically family.
Anyone else would need to be a Terminator. From Krypton.
"Sometimes," I said. "She doesn't need much in the way of protection."
"Everyone needs someone." Then he started the car, the engine coming to life with a satisfying, throaty purr. Jack ran his hand over the steering wheel thoughtfully and looked out at the rain. "You can back out of this if you want, son. Until you get out of this car. Once you do that, you've chosen your path-and whatever comes with it."
"Yep," I said, and nodded firmly. "The sooner I get started, the sooner I get done."
His mouth quirked up at one corner and he nodded, making a grunting sound of approval. He peered at the pad, read the address I'd written, and grunted. "Why here?"
"Because that's where I'll find the one person in Chicago I'm sure can help me," I said.
Captain Murphy nodded. "Okay," he said. "Let's go."
Chapter Three
Captain Murphy's old Skylark stopped in a residential area up in Harwood Heights, a place that still looked as empty and hollow as the rest of the city. It was an odd home, for Chicago-a white stucco number with a red tile roof that looked like it had been transplanted from Southern California. In the steady rain and the mournful grey light of the streetlamps it stood, cold, lonely, and empty of purpose among the more traditional homes that surrounded it.
The Buick's windshield wipers thumped rhythmically.
"Once you get out," said Captain Murphy, "there's no coming back. You're on your own."
"Been there, done that," I said. I offered him my hand. "Thank you, Captain."
He traded grips with me. I didn't try to outcrush him. He didn't try to crush me. The men who can really handle themselves rarely do.
I wished Captain Murphy had lived long enough for me to meet him in the real world. I had a feeling he'd have made one hell of an ally.
"I might be in touch with Karrin," I said.
"No messages. I've done her enough harm," he said, almost before I had finished speaking. His voice carried a tone of unquestionable finality. He nodded toward the house. "But you can tell the big fellow over there that I sent you. It might help."
I nodded. Then I took a deep breath, opened the door of the car, and stepped out into- I was more impressed with what I hadn't hadn't stepped into, for a moment. Because when my feet hit the ground and the car door shut behind me, I wasn't standing in Chicago's rainy, abandoned corpse. Instead, I was on a city street on a cold, clear evening. No rain fell. The stars and moon burned bright overhead, and the ambient city light combined with a fairly fresh and heavy snowfall to make it nearly as bright as daylight outside. stepped into, for a moment. Because when my feet hit the ground and the car door shut behind me, I wasn't standing in Chicago's rainy, abandoned corpse. Instead, I was on a city street on a cold, clear evening. No rain fell. The stars and moon burned bright overhead, and the ambient city light combined with a fairly fresh and heavy snowfall to make it nearly as bright as daylight outside.
Sounds rushed all around me. Traffic, distant horns, the thumping beat of music from a large stereo. A jet's passage left a hollow roar behind it-I was standing only a few miles from O'Hare.
I turned to look behind me, but Captain Murphy's car had vanished, back into Chicago Between, presumably.
I stood there alone.
I sighed. Then I turned and walked onto the property of Mortimer Lindquist, ectomancer.
Once upon a time, Morty had covered his lawn with decorations meant to be intimidating and spooky. Headstones. A wrought-iron fence with a big metal gate. Eerie lighting. The overall impression could be scary if you were gullible enough and the lighting was low, but mostly it had looked like cheap Halloween decorations outside a crack house.
Times had changed.
Morty had gotten rid of all the cheap junk, except for the fence. He'd turned his front yard into a Japanese garden. There were a few hedges, and a koi pond complete with a little wooden bridge that spanned it. Raised planters everywhere contained bonsai, all of them trees native to North America. It was a little unnerving to see what looked like an adult oak tree-only fifteen inches high and complete with miniature leaves.
There weren't a lot of people in Chicago doing that for money, which implied that it was Morty's own handiwork. If so, it had taken him a lot of effort and patience to create those.
I walked forward calmly, reaching out to open the gate.
My hand went right through it.
Yeah, I know, I was essentially a ghost, but I'd never gotten much practice with intangibility. I was used to reaching out for objects and being able to touch them. Now my hand simply tingled, as if waking up after I'd taken a nap and used it as a pillow. I pushed my arm a little farther forward, leaning to one side, and saw my fingertips emerge from the metal of the gate. I waggled my fingers, just to be sure.
"Okay," I said. "No help for it, then." I took a deep breath and held it as if I were about to jump into deep water. Then I hunched my shoulders and rushed forward.
Anticlimax. As I went through the gate, I was subjected to a swift, intense tingling sensation. Then I was on the other side.
I walked up a little stone path leading to Morty's front door, but it wasn't until I had gone over the bridge that I saw the man standing in the shadows on the front porch.
He was huge. Not built like a weight lifter or anything, just a naturally big-boned, brawny man standing almost as tall as I. His dark hair was gathered at the nape of his neck with a bit of ribbon. A long, dark blue coat fell to his calves, its sleeves marked with gold braid. Beneath that, he wore a uniform-a tight-fitting blue jacket, white shirt, white pants, and high black boots. He carried some kind of long-handled ax over one shoulder, and as I came to a halt, he was already drawing a flintlock pistol from his belt with his free hand. He leveled it just a little bit to one side of me and called out, "Halt! Identify yourself, scoundrel, or begone!"
"Scoundrel?" I asked, putting my fingers on my chest as if distressed at the accusation. "That's a little unfair."
"Ye've the look of a scoundrel!" boomed the man. "And a dandysprat and a ragamuffin. Though I'll admit, for all that, ye could yet be a congressman." I could see the white flash of his teeth in the dark as he smiled. "Give me a name, man."
"Harry Dresden," I said in a clear tone.
The barrel of the gun wavered a few more degrees away from me. "The wizard?"
"The late late wizard," I replied, then gestured down at myself. "The late Harry Dresden, really." wizard," I replied, then gestured down at myself. "The late Harry Dresden, really."
"Zounds," the man said. He frowned for a moment as if in thought.
It didn't look natural on him.
"If you lie," he said slowly, "I can see no veritable reason for doing so, and I am inclined to shoot you. Yet if you tell the truth, your presence here draws mischief to my friend's house, and I am inclined to shoot you repeatedly." He nodded firmly and settled the gun's barrel on me. "Either way ..."
He was about to shoot. I didn't know if it would re-kill me or not, but given what I had experienced of the universe, it might. At the very least, I figured, it would probably hurt like a son of a bitch. I had to keep this bozo from bringing the hammer down. Assuming his period outfit was authentic, that might be simple.
"Little rude, isn't it, to shoot me?" I asked him. "I'm unarmed, and I've offered no violence or insult to you. Introduced myself, even. Whereas you haven't even told me your name."
The man in the blue coat looked suddenly abashed, and the pistol dropped slightly once more. "Ah yes. Um, please excuse me. Societal graces were imperfectly instilled in me in my youth, and that sad fact tends to be reflected in my more temperate afterlife." He straightened and literally clicked his heels together, without ever moving the gun far from me, and gave me a slight bow. "The late Captain Sir Stuart Winchester of the Colonial Marines."
I arched an eyebrow. "Sir Stuart of the Stuart of the Colonial Colonial Marines?" Marines?"
He shrugged. "It is a protracted and complex tale."
"Well, Stu," I said, "with all due respect, my business here is not with you. It's with Mr. Lindquist."
"I hardly think so," Stu sniffed. "Have you an invitation?"
I gave him a blank look for a moment and then said, "I'm new to the whole ghost thing, but I'm damned sure you don't just send out envelopes through the U.S. Ghostal Service."
"Ye'd be surprised how many postal workers leave a shade behind," Stu countered. "The routine, methinks, is what keeps them making their rounds. The poor things don't even realize anything's changed."
"Don't change the subject," I said. "I need to talk to Mort."
"I am sorry, sir," Stu said. "But the standing order regarding the visit of any uninvited ghosts is to deny them entry."
"And you have to follow Mort's orders?"
"It isn't as though you could cross his threshold uninvited in any case, man," he said.
"Right," I said. "You have to follow his orders."
"We are not compelled," Stu said at once, and severely. "We aid him out of friendship and respect and ..." He sighed and added, "And boredom. Ye gods, but this city pales after but half a century, and I've lingered here more than four times that."
I found myself grinning at the ghost. "Stu, let me make you a promise. Maybe even an oath. I come to ask Mort's help, not to harm him-and I'm reasonably sure my presence will not contribute to your ongoing sense of ennui."
Stu let out a rolling belly laugh and began to speak, but the sound died off, and he stared at me thoughtfully, tapping a fingertip against the pistol.
"If it makes any difference," I said, "Jack Murphy was the one who dropped me off here. Told me to mention his name."
Stu's eyebrows shot up. I could see the thoughts racing behind his eyes. They weren't going to win any sprints, but they seemed good for the long haul. "Aye?" He pursed his lips. "A good fellow. For an Irishman."
I snorted. "If he's ever around, you'd better smile when you say-"
A flood of intangible cold pressed against my back, as suddenly as if I'd been standing in front of an industrial freezer door when it opened.
I turned to see a humanoid, grey form floating just above the ground maybe five yards away from me and drifting closer. The details were obscure, the proportions slightly off, as if I were looking at a badly molded plastic doll. There were no real features on it, just hollow, gaping eye sockets within a sunken, nearly skull-like face, and a wide, empty mouth that hung open as if the tendons attaching the lower jaw had stretched out like old elastic bands.