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Monica No-Last-Na on the back of the note I had left taped to my office door

I walked toward her, and she was too intent upon her writing to look up She was a good-looking woht must be natural, after a morbid and involuntary memory of the dead woman&039;s dye job Her makeup was tasteful and well applied, and her face was fair, friendly, with enough roundness of cheek to look fresh-faced and young, enough fullness of , full skirt of palest yelloith brown riding boots, a crisp white blouse, and an expensive-looking green cardigan over it, to ward off the chill of early spring She had to be in good shape to pull off a color coly fa like Annette Funicello or Barbara Billingsley, maybe - wholesome and all-American

"Monica?" I asked I put on my most innocent and friendly smile

She blinked at me as I approached "Oh Are you, um, Harry "

I smiled and offered her my hand "Harry Dresden, ma&039;am That&039;s me"

She took my hand after a tiny pause and kept her eyes firlad to be dealing with soave her a fir past her to unlock the office door and open it up "I apologize for being late, I got a call from the police that I had to look in on"

"You did?" she asked "You ers instead of finishing the sentence and entered when I held the door open for her

"So and want s?"

I shrugged and sed I thought of the corpses at the Madison, and felt green When I looked up at Monica, she was studyingon her lip nervously She hurriedly averted her gaze

"Can I get you some coffee?" I asked her I shut the door behind us, flicked on the lights

"Oh No, thank you I&039; ather purse over her tuht scream if I said boo so Ithrough the familiar motions, until I had calmed down from my encounter with Marcone By the time I was done, so was my coffee I went to my desk, and invited her to have a seat in one of the two chairs across from me

"Okay, Monica," I said "What can I do for you today?"

"Well, um I told you that

"Missing?" I supplied

"Yes," she said with an exhalation of al or anything Just gone" She flushed and stas and left But he didn&039;t say anything to anyone And he hasn&039;t showed up again I&039;m concerned about hione?"

"This is the third day," she said

I nodded "Thereto ator or the police"

She blushed again She had a good face for blushing, fair skin that colored girlishly It was quite fetching, really "Yes, uic?"

"Yes He had been buying books on it in the religion section at the bookstore Not like those Dungeons and Dragons gaht some of those tarot cards" She pronounced it like carrot Aht have had so to do with this interest?"

"I&039;m not sure," she confessed "But maybe He was very upset He had just lost his job and was under a lot of pressure I&039;ht need to be able to talk to him about all of this stuff" She took a deep breath, as if the effort of cole um had tired her

"I&039;m still not clear on this Why me? Why not the police?"

Her knuckles whitened on her purse "He packed a bag, Mr Dresden I think the police will just assume he left his wife and his children They won&039;t really look But he didn&039;t He&039;s not like that He only wants to ood life for us, really, that&039;s all he wants"

I frowned at her Nervous that maybe hubby has run out on you after all, dear? "Even so," I said, "why coator? I know a reliable man if you need one"

"Because you know about " She gestured, fitfully

"About ht be iht"

"Where did he work?" I asked her While I spoke, I got a pad of paper out of my pocket and jotted down a few notes

"SilverCo," she told ood markets for products and then advise companies where they can best spend their money"

"Uh-huh," I said "What is his name, Monica?"

She sed, and I saw her twitching, trying to think of soe," she supplied at last

I looked up at her She was staring furiously down at her hands

"Monica," I said "I know this must be really hard for you Believe me, ma&039;am, there are plenty of people who are nervous when they come into my office But please, hear me out I am not out to hurt you or anyone else What I do, I do to help people It&039;s true that soainst you, but I&039;m not like that" I borrowed a line froood business"

She gave a nervous little laugh "I feel so silly," she confessed "But there&039;s so s that I&039;ve heard about "

"Wizards I see" I put ers in wizardly fashion The woht ease her fears a little if I fulfilled some of them I tried not to look over her shoulder at the calendar I had hanging on the wall, and the red circle around the fifteenth of last month Late rent Need money Even with the fee from today and what I would make in the future, it would take the city forever to pay up

Besides I could never resist going to the aid of a lady in distress Even if she wasn&039;t completely, one hundred percent sure that she wanted to be rescued by me