Page 12 (1/2)

I woke up on the floor of Murphy&039;s office The clock on the wall said that it was about twentysoft was underneath my head, and my feet were propped up with several phone books Murphy was pressing a cool cloth against my forehead and throat

I felt terrible Exhausted, achy, nauseous,so much as curl up and whimper myself to sleep Given that I would never live that down, I made a wisecrack instead "Do you have a little white dress? I&039;ve had this deep-seated nurse fantasy about you, Murphy"

"A pervert like you would Who hit your head?" she demanded

"No one," I mumbled "Fell down the stairs to my apartment"

"Bullshit, Harry," she said, her voice hard Her hands were no less gentle with the cool cloth, though "You&039;ve been running around on this case That&039;s where you got the bump on the head Isn&039;t it?"

I started to protest

"Oh, save it," she said, letting out a breath "If you didn&039;t already have a concussion, I&039;d tie your heels to ers "Howup?"

"Fifty," I said, and held up two of my own "It&039;s not a concussion Just a little bump on the head I&039;ll be fine" I started to sit up I needed to get hoet some sleep

Murphy put her hand on my neck and pressed me back down on the pillow beneath my head, which was, apparently, her jacket, because she wasn&039;t wearing it "Stay down," she growled "How did you get here? Not in that heap of a car, I hope"

"The Beetle is doing its phoenix iot a loaner Look, I&039;ll be fine Just let et some sleep"

"You aren&039;t in any shape to drive," Murphy said "You&039;re a menace I&039;d have to arrest myself if I let you behind a wheel in your condition"

"Murph," I said, annoyed, "unless you can pay up what you owe ht now, I can&039;t exactly afford a cab"

"Dreaive you a ride hoot up from her knees and stalked out of her office

Foolishness, I thought Stupidity I was perfectly capable ofmyself around So I sat up and heaved ed to half sit up And then I just heaved

Murphy ca froe, say anything She just knelt by ain, cleaned off my mouth, and put another cool cloth over the back ofme out to her car I remember little pieces of the drive back toher the keys to the loaner, andabout Mike and the tow-truck driver

But mostly I remember the way her hand felt on ers, s She scolded and threatened me the entire way back to the apartment, I think But I reh to assure herself that I was still there Or to assureanywhere

There&039;s a reason I&039;ll go out on a liood people One of the best

We got back to my apartment sometime before noon Murphy helped me down the stairs and unlocked the door for s in greeting Maybe being short gives her better leverage or so, since she didn&039;t really wobble when Mister rammed her, like I do Or maybe it&039;s the aikido

"Christ, Harry," she ht switch, but the bulbs had burnt out last week, and I hadn&039;t had the cash to replace them So she satcoals in the fireplace "All right," she said "I&039; you in bed"

"Well If you insist"

The phone rang It was in arm&039;s reach so I picked it up "Dresden," I mumbled

"Mister Dresden, this is Linda Linda Randall Do you remember me?"

Heh Doover the subway grating? I foundthings a gentleman shouldn&039;t

"Are you naked?" I said It took ister what I&039;d said Whoops

Murphy gave me an arch look She stood up and walked into iving me a modicum of privacy I felt cheered My slip had thrown Murphy off better than any lie I could have ed Maybe a woozy Harry was not necessarily a bad Harry

Linda purred laughter into the phone "I&039;ht now, honey Maybe later Look, I&039;ve coht help you Can you ht?"

I rubbed at ht Wasn&039;t there soht?

To hell with it, I thought It couldn&039;t have been all that important if I couldn&039;t even remember it "Sure," I told her "Fine"

She entleht? Do you want to ht?"

"My car exploded," I said My tongue felt fuzzy "I can meet you at the 7-Eleven down the street from hter into o hoet a nice hot bath, make myself all pretty, and then I&039;ll be there in your arood to you?"

"Well Okay"

She laughed again, and didn&039;t say good-bye before disconnecting

Murphy appeared again as soon as I hung up the phone "Tell me you didn&039;t just make a date, Dresden"