Murphy grunted. "I thought the prisoner wouldn't tell you anything about him."
I shrugged. "I figure it was Ace who threw the explosives at the Munstermobile Munstermobile last night, when the Little Folk jumped me afterward. He showed up right when Lacuna ambushed me at the Botanic Gardens. Then when I go to get my friends back from his dad, something else blows up." last night, when the Little Folk jumped me afterward. He showed up right when Lacuna ambushed me at the Botanic Gardens. Then when I go to get my friends back from his dad, something else blows up."
"He's learned to play with explosives," Karrin said.
"Yeah, but you've barely seen this guy," Thomas said.
"It makes sense," I said. "Especially if he's playing smart-which he is, just by rounding up a group of the Little Folk as allies. He knows he couldn't handle a straight fight-so he's kept his distance. We've barely seen him, and he's nearly killed me three times in the past sixteen hours."
"Hngh," Thomas said.
"What's he got against you?" Molly asked.
"He was part of Lily and Fix's crew, back when they were all just folks," I said. "They were friends with Aurora and the last Summer Knight. When Mab hired me to find Ronald Reuel's killer, Ace pitched in with this ghoul hitter and the Winter Knight to stop me. Betrayed his friends. Billy and his crew almost killed him, but I let him skate."
"And he hates you for it?" Molly asked.
"I killed Aurora," I said. "His friend Meryl died in that same fight. And you can be damned sure that Lily and Fix haven't wanted anything to do with him since. So from where he's standing, I killed one of his friends, got another one killed in battle, and took the ones who were left alive away from him. Then I beat him up in front of his dad. Guy's got a forest of bones to pick with me."
"Cheery image," Thomas said.
I grunted. "What about your nutjob, Butters. What's his name?"
"Gary."
"Gary turn up anything else?"
"About twenty updates in all capital letters about boats, boats, boats."
I thought about that one for a moment.
Then I said, "Hah."
"We have to move, Harry," Karrin said.
I grunted. "Gard still have her chopper?"
"Yes."
"Right," I said. I thumped my finger on the site on the far side of Lake Michigan. "Lacuna, what's the word on this one?"
The little faerie was still flitting about in the air around the table, fairly bursting with impatience. "It's behind big stone walls on a human's private land, right where I marked it!"
I nodded. "Vikings get that site then. Get them moving."
"Right," Murphy said, and headed for the door, reaching for her phone on the way.
Thomas frowned. "We're going to depend on Lara's people to back us up?"
"Hell, no," I said. "No offense, but I don't trust your sister. Send her crew to the second site."
"This is damned odd," Butters muttered.
I looked down at him. "What?"
"The bleeding won't stop," he said. "It's not really all that dangerous in a wound this small, but it isn't clotting up. It's like some kind of anticoagulant was introduced. Do you still have the dart?"
"Dart," I said. I patted my pockets. "I guess not. It was in my hand when the warehouse dropped into the water."
"Bah," Butters said. "Inflammation in the skin around it. This hurt?"
He poked me. It did. I told him so.
"Huh," he said. "I can't be sure without tests but... I think this might be some kind of allergic reaction."
"How?" I asked. "I'm not allergic to anything."
"I'm just saying what it looks like on your skin," Butters said. "The trickle factor seems to imply some kind of toxin, though. You need a hospital, tests."
"Later," I said. "Just get it wrapped up and keep it from running down my leg."
Butters nodded.
"So," Thomas asked, "if Lara's crew has one site and Marcone's the other, which one are we going to?"
"Neither."
"What?"
"We're not going to either one."
"Why not?"
"Because all day long," I said, "I've been moving in straight lines and it's gotten me nothing but grief." I pointed at the locations marked on the map. "See those? Those are the perfectly rational places for our bad guy to make something happen."
Thomas rubbed at his chin and narrowed his eyes. "They're a distraction?"
"It's how the Sidhe think. How they move. How they are. They put pressure on you, get you to look over there, and then kapow. Sucker punch."
"What if they're expecting you to expect that?" Thomas asked.
"Gah," I said, waving my hands on either side of my head as if brushing away wasps. "Stop it. If I'm wrong, we've got professional badasses to cover it. But I'm not wrong."
"Didn't you say that they required a ley line site to perform a ritual that big?" Butters asked. He had taped a pad over the little injury and was securing it with a roll of gauze.
"Yes," I said.
"And the Little Folk cleared all of them but those two?"
"No," I said. "They cleared almost almost all of them. There was one place the Little Folk couldn't check." all of them. There was one place the Little Folk couldn't check."
Thomas's eyes widened as he got it. "Boats," he said.
"Yeah," I said. "Boats."
Chapter Thirty-nine
Thomas rose, glancing around the room, and said in a quiet voice, "She needs fuel. And I'd better talk to Lara about the second site." But his eyes had drifted over to where Justine now sat by the fire, basking in warmth after our icy dunk and staring at it with a peaceful expression on her lovely face.
"Get moving," I said. I lowered my voice. "You taking her with you?"
"You kidding? Bad guys have been all over us today. That creep took her right off the street in front of our apartment. I'm not letting her out of my sight sight."
"Look, if you leave her here, the building has security that-"
"So does my building, and Cat Sith breezed right past all of it when he came in," Thomas said. "I'm not letting her out of my sight until this thing is settled."
I grimaced, but nodded. "All right. Go. We'll be right behind you."
My brother arched an eyebrow. "All of you?"
"We'll see," I said.
"Did you talk to her?" Thomas asked.
I gave him a steady look and said, "No. Maggie was out trick-or-treating."
"Right. She's what? Nine years old? She might as well have vanished into the Bermuda triangle. How could you possibly be expected to find her? Magic?" He gave me a sour look. "What about the other one?"
He meant Karrin. "We've both been kinda busy. Maybe later."
"Later. Bad habit to get into," Thomas said. "Life's too short."
"It almost sounded like you you were attempting to enlighten were attempting to enlighten me me about bad habits." about bad habits."
"The path of excess leads to the palace of wisdom," he said, and turned for the door.
At the exact moment he moved, even though she was not looking at him, and though he said nothing to her, Justine rose from her seat by the fire and started toward the door. The pair of them met halfway there and she slipped herself beneath his arm and up close to him in a motion of familiar, unconscious intimacy. They left together.
My brother the vampire, whose kiss was a slow death sentence, had a stable and loving relationship with a girl who was crazy about him. By contrast, I could barely talk to a woman, at least about anything pertaining to a relationship. Given that my only long-term girlfriends had faked their own death, died, and broken free of enslaving enchantments to end the relationship, the empirical evidence seemed to indicate that he knew something I didn't.
Keep your life tonight, Harry. Complicate it tomorrow.
Murphy came back in with a pair of EMTs I recognized, Lamar and Simmons. They got Andi loaded up onto a stretcher, and Lamar blinked when he saw me. He didn't look as young as he had the last time I'd seen him-a few threads of silver in his hair stood out starkly against his dark hair and skin.
"Dresden," he said. "That you?"
"Mostly."
"I heard you were dead."
"Close. It didn't take."
He shook his head and helped his partner secure Andi to the stretcher. They picked up the stretcher and toted her outside, with Butters hurrying along beside them, his hand on Andi's arm.
Once they were gone, I stood in the room with the grasshopper, Karrin, and Mac. Mouse dozed on the floor near the door, but his ears twitched now and then and I doubted he was missing anything.
"Molly," I said. "Would you ask Sarissa to join us, please?"
She went off to her room, and returned a moment later with Sarissa. The slender, beautiful woman came into the room silently, and didn't meet anyone's eyes. Hers were focused in the middle distance, as she tried to keep track of everyone in the room through peripheral vision.
"All right," I said. "Things are about to hit the fan. They're confusing as hell and I'm getting tired of feeling like I have no idea what's going on. There are some unknown quantities here, and some of you aren't telling me everything, but there isn't enough time to pry it all out of each of you." I pointed a finger at Sarissa. "Maybe you really are everything you say you are. Maybe not. But I figure there're about two chances in three that you're playing me somehow, and I think you're way too good at backstabbing to leave you standing around behind me."
"Everything I've told you-" Sarissa began.
I slashed a hand at the air. "Don't talk. This isn't an interrogation. It's a public service announcement. I'm telling you how it's going to be."
She pressed her lips together and looked away.
"Mac," I said. "Much as it pains me to level suspicion at the mastercraftsman of the best beer in town... you're hiding something. That Outsider talked to you as if it knew you. And I don't think it was an aficionado of your ale. Do you want to tell me who you really are?"
Mac was silent for a moment. Then he said, "No. That's mine."
I grunted. "Didn't think so. I figure it's more likely that you are an ally, or at least neutral, than it is that you're a plant for somebody. But I'm not completely sure about you, either."
I looked at them both and said, "I'm not sure if you're my friends or my enemies, but I heard something once about keeping them close and closer. So until things have shaken out, you're both staying where I can keep track of you. And you both should be aware that I'm going to be ready to smack you down if I pick up on the least little hint of treachery."
"I am not-" Sarissa began.
I stared at her.
She bit her lip and looked away.
I turned my eyes to Mac. He didn't look thrilled about it, but he nodded.
"Okay," I said. "We'll be on the lake. There are a couple more coats in the guest bedroom closet. Better grab one."
Mac nodded and beckoned Sarissa with a tilt of his head. "Miss."
They went to the guest bedroom, and that left me facing Murphy with the grasshopper hovering in the background. I made a little kissing noise with my puckered lips, and Mouse lifted his head from the ground.