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As it turned out, Linda Randall had a darn good reason for skipping out on our appointht

Linda Randall was dead

I sneezed as I ducked under the yellow police tape in the sweatpants and T-shirt I had been allowed to pluck froht me across town to Linda Randall&039;s aparted one of my sneakers off, and I hadn&039;t had ti cat

Linda had died a bit earlier that evening After getting to the scene, Murphy had tried to phone h, and then sent a squad car down to pickme in to do my consultant bit The dutiful patrolmen sent to collect uy a block away from my apartment, and had been surprised and more than a little suspicious when I turned out to be the very sa to the crime scene

Dear Susan had co ahat had happened as "Just one of those things, tee-hee," and assuring the officers that she was all right and would be fine to drive hoes when she saw once more the ruins of my apartment and the enormous dent the demon had put in the side of her car, but she made a bold face of it and eventually left the scene with that "I have a story to write" gleaave me a kiss on the cheek on her way out, and whispered, "Not bad, Harry," in ot in her car

I blushed I don&039;t think the cops noticed it, in the rain and the dark The patrolmen had looked at o put on sos I had clean werein bold letters over a little cartoon graveyard, "EASTER HAS BEEN CANCELED - THEY FOUND THE BODY"

I put those on, and my duster, which had somehow survived the demon attack, and otten in the patrol car and been driven across town I clipped my little ID card to my coat&039;s lapel and followed the uniforms in One of them led me to Murphy

On the way, I took in little details There were a lot of people standing around gawking It was still fairly early, after all The rain came down in a fine mist and softened the contours of the scene There were several police cars parked in the apart lots, and one on the lawn by the door leading out to the little concrete patio from the aparthts flashed over the scene in alternating swaths of shadow and cold light There was a lot of yellow police tape around

And right in the middle of it all was Murphy

She looked terrible, like she hadn&039;t eaten anything that didn&039;t co but stale coffee since I had seen her last Her blue eyes were tired, and bloodshot, but still sharp "Dresden," she said She peered up atclimb your hair?"

I tried to s damsel Interested?"

Murphy snorted She snorts really well for someone with such a cute nose "Come on" She spun on one heel and walked up to the aparth she wasn&039;t exhausted and at the end of her rope

The forensics teaot some nifty plastic booties to put over our shoes and loose plastic gloves for our hands fro beside the door "I tried to call earlier," Murphy said, "but your phone was out of service Again, Harry"

"Bad night for it," I responded, wobbling as I slipped the booties on "What&039;s the story?"

"Another victim," she said "Same MO as Tommy Tomm and the Stanton wo the storms"

"What?" Murphy turned and fixed her eyes on me

"The storm," I repeated "You can tap stors done All natural fuel for theabout that before," Murphy accused

"I hadn&039;t thought of it until tonight" I rubbed at my face It made sense Hell&039;s bells, that was how the Shadowht He&039;d called the de in the shadow he&039;d projected And he&039;d been able to kill again

"Have you got an ID on the victio inside as she answered "Linda Randall Chauffeur Age twenty-nine"

It was a good thing Murphy had turned away, or the way my jaw dropped would have told her that I knew the deceased, and she would have had all sorts of uncomfortable questions I stared after Murphy for a second, then hurriedly veiled my expression and followed her inside the apartment

Linda Randall&039;s one-room apartment looked like the trailer of a rock band that did little besides play concerts, host parties, and fall into a stupor afterward Dirty clothes were strewn on one side of a king-size bed There was a disproportionate ah it had been purchased fro - lacy and silky and satiny colors, all bright, designed to attract the eye There were ht table, ht table was partly open, revealing a number of personal amusements - Linda Randall had, apparently, liked her toys

The kitchenette, off to one side, looked largely unused, except for the coffeepot, the microwave, and the trash can, in which several pizza boxes were craaveand empathy for Linda My own kitchen looked the same, a lot of the time, minus the microwave Here had lived so at ho Most often, it isn&039;t I&039;ll bet Linda would have understood that

But I&039;d never have the chance to know The forensics tea whatever was there, like a cluster of buzzards around the exposed head of the outlaws they used to bury up to their necks in the Old West They spoke a themselves in low, cal little details to the attention of their co one another on their observations

"Harry?" Murphy said, quietly Her tone of voice suggested that it wasn&039;t the first tiht for this?"

My ht for this No one should ever be all right for this sort of thing But instead of saying that, I told her, "My head&039;s just aching Sorry Let&039;s just get it over with"

She nodded and led me over toward the bed Murphy was a lot shorter thanaround the bed, but I had alht on all of them So I didn&039;t have to ask anyone to move, just stepped up close to the bed and looked

Linda had been on the phone when she died She was naked Even this early in the year, she had tan lines around her hips Shethe winter Her hair was still damp She lay on her back, her eyes half-closed, her expression tranquil as it hadn&039;t been any time I&039;d seen her

Her heart had been torn out It was lying on the king-size bed about a foot and a half from her, pulped and squashed and slippery, sort of a scarlet and grey color There was a hole in her chest, too, shohere bone had been splintered outward by the force that had removed her heart

I just stared for a few ain soic to end a life

I had to think of her as she sounded on the phone Joking, a quick wit A sort of sly sensuality, in the way she said her words and phrased her sentences A little hint of insecurity around the edges, vulnerability that nified the other parts of her personality Her hair was da a bath before she came to see me Whatever anyone said of her, she had been passionately, vitally alive Had been

Eventually, I realized how quiet the room was

The men and wo up at azes, but you didn&039;t have to be a wizard to see as in their faces Fear, pure and si that science couldn&039;t explain It rattled them, shook them to their cores, this sudden, violent, and bloody evidence that three hundred years of science and research was no s that were still, even after all this ti in the dark

And I was the one as supposed to have the answers

I didn&039;t have any for the silent as I stepped back and turned away from Linda&039;s body, then walked across the room to the small bathroos were laid out on the counter in front of a mirror, plus a little makeup, a bottle of perfume

Murphy appeared besideat the bathroom She seemed a lot smaller than she usually does

"She called us," Murphy said "Nine one one has the call recorded That&039;s hoe knew to come out here She called and said that she kneho had killed Jennifer Stanton and To for her Then she started screa"