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The don Marriott was huge, brilliantly lit, and busy as an anthill Several blue-and-whites were parked nearby, and a couple of officers were helping to direct traffic in front of the hotel I could see h the archway in front of the hotel doors, and every one of theer and nicer than ours Valets rushed around to park the cars of guests who had driven the around with bored expressions that soht mistake for inattention Hotel security

Martin pulled up to the entryway and said, "I&039;ll wait for you out here" He passed a palm-sized cell phone to Susan She slipped it into a black clutch "If you get into trouble, speed-dial one"

At that point, a valet opened the door on my side, and I slipped out of the car My rental tux felt a little aard The shoes were long enough for ed htened the cummerbund, and offered a hand to Susan She slid out of the car with a brilliant shtened my tie

"Se If you walk in scowling like that on&039;t blend in"

I sarded the expression critically, nodded, and slipped her arh mine We walked in under the cover our suards stopped us inside the door, and Susan presented the tickets to hi to do is find so docks will be near the kitchens, and they&039;re below us That&039;s where they&039;ll be bringing in the art stuff"

Susan held her course toward the stairs "Not yet," she said "If we snoop around the second we get in the door sole until the auction is running People will be distracted then"

"If ait, the whole thing could go dohile we hobnob"

"Maybe," Susan said "But odds are that Anna Val"

"When does the auction start?"

"Eleven"

"Assu the note means that the sale is at eleven forty-five, that doesn&039;t give us e"

We got onto an escalator and Susan arched an eyebrow at me "Do you have any better ideas?"

"Not yet," I said I caught a glimpse of myself in a polished brass column I didn&039;t look half-bad There&039;s a reason the tux has weathered a century virtually unchanged You don&039;t fix what isn&039;t broken Tuxedostesta to eat? I&039;"

"Just keep the shirt clean," Susan ers on the cummerbund"

"I can&039;t take you anywhere," Susan said She leaned a little againstI cleaned up pretty well, it would see lovely It was a s coh, but it was so, and it lasted all the way up the escalator I take the good et them

We followed the flow of formally dressed men and women up another escalator or three to a cavernous ballroo and tables laden with expensive-looking snacks and ice sculptures all but overflowed onto the floor A group of musicians played on the far side of the ballroo themselves with some relaxed and classy jazz Couples who also weren&039;t stretching theether on a floor the size of a basketball court

The room wasn&039;t crammed with people, but there were a couple of hundred there already, andin behind us Polite but insincere chatter filled the space, accohter There were a nunized in the immediate area, plus a couple of professional musicians and at least one motion-picture actor

A waiter in a white jacket offered us a tray of chalasses, and I pro the first to Susan She lifted the glass to her ood I took a sip, and it tasted good I&039;m not a terribly i down chane on an empty stomach would probably prove inconvenient if it turned out I needed to do any quick thinking Or quick leaving Or quick anything

Susan said hello to an older couple, and stopped for introductions I kept my duck blind of a smile in place, and ht spots My cheeks had already started hurting We repeated that for half an hour or so, while the band played a bunch of low-key dance music Susan knew a lot of people She&039;d been a reporter in Chicago for five or six years before she&039;d had to leave town, but she had evidently ratiate herself to o, Susan

"Food," I said, after a stooped older man kissed Susan&039;s cheek and walked away "Feed me, Seymour"

"It&039;s always the brain steuided us over to the refreshment tables so that I could pick up a tiny sandwich I didn&039;t wolf the thing down in one bite, which was just as well, since it had a toothpick through it to hold it together But the sandwich didn&039;t last long

"At least cheith your mouth closed," Susan said

I took a second sandwich "Can&039;t help it I got all kinds of joie de vivre, baby"

"And smile"

"Chew and smile? At the same time? Do I look like Jackie Chan?"

She had a retort but it died after a syllable I felt her hand tighten onthe second sandwich, just to get it out of the way, but I took the more sophisticated option instead I put it in my jacket pocket for later, and turned to follow Susan&039;s gaze

I looked just in tiaze of Gentlee height and unassu build He had handso would have placed hihbor He didn&039;t have the usual boater&039;s tan, it being February and all, but the crow&039;s-feet at the corners of his pale green eyes ree he projected-that of a normal, respectable businessood

That said, Marcone scaredI&039;d ever met I&039;d seen hi psychotic could swing a tire iron at hih a rope while spinning in circles as he hung upside down in the dark, later the saht Marcone may have been human, but he wasn&039;t noranized cri war, and he&039;d run it ever since despite the efforts of both everyday and supernatural threats He&039;d done it by being deadlier than anything that came after him Of all the people in the room, Marcone was the only one I could see asn&039;t wearing a fake smile It didn&039;t look like he was particularly troubled by the fact, either

"Mister Dresden," he said "And Miss Rodriguez, I believe I didn&039;t realize you were an art collector"

"I ao," I said at once

"Elvii?" Marcone inquired

"The plural could be Elvises, I guess," I said "But if I say that too often, I start s &039;o with the Latin plural"

Marcone did sers with full stomachs wear s baby deer play "Ah I hope you can find soht"

"I&039; will do"

Marcone narrowed his eyes There was a short, pointed silence while he aze with him in the past It was one of the reasons he scared me "In that case, I would advise you to exercise caution in your acquisitions"

"Cautious, that&039;s me," I said "You sure you wouldn&039;t rather make this simple?"

"In deference to your limitations, I almost would," Marcone said "But I&039; about"

I felt my eyes narrow and I took a step forward Susan&039;s hand pressed againstrestraint I loweredbetween Marcone and myself "Tell you what Let&039;s start with one of your e Fro to the part where I come up with a suitable reply"

I didn&039;t expect what happened next

Marcone blinked

It wasn&039;t a huge giveaway At a card table, only a couple of the players would have seen it But I was right in his face, and I knew him and I saw it My words startled Marcone, and for half a second it showed He covered it, bringing out a businessman&039;s smile that was a lot better than ently to my arm "Don&039;t try me in public, Dresden You can&039;t afford to do it I can&039;t afford to let you"

A shadow fell over Marcone, and I looked up to see Hendricks hulk into view behind hiuely like a defensive linee to pro ball His tux was nicer than ain

Cujo Hendricks had a date He had a blond date He had a gorgeous, leggy, blue-eyed, elegant, tall, Nordic angel of a date She earing a white gown, and silver flashed at her throat, on each wrist, and on one ankle I&039;d seen bikinis in issues of Sports Illustrated that ht have felt too plain to be worn by Hendricks&039;s date

She spoke, and her voice was a throaty purr "Mister Marcone Is there a problem?"

Marcone arched an eyebrow "Is there, Mister Dresden?"

I probably would have said so into h my jacket "No trouble," Susan said "I don&039;t believe we&039;ve met"

"No," said the blonde, with a faint roll of her eyes "We haven&039;t"

"Mister Dresden, Miss Rodriguez, I believe you both know Mister Hendricks And this is Miss Gard"

"Ah," I said "She&039;s an employee, I take it?"

Miss Gard sht, it would seem "I&039;m from the Monoc Foundation," she said "I&039; what, one wonders," said Susan She definitely had the sharpest smile of those present

"Security," Gard said, unruffled She focused onspirits don&039;t wind up all over the lawn"

And I got it Whoever Miss Gard was, it seemed fairly likely that she was responsible for the wards that had torn Bob up so badly My head of righteous fury died out, replaced by caution Marcone had been concerned about s, and Marcone wasn&039;t one to show his hand early, which meant that he was already prepared for trouble of one kind or another with ht me

Marcone read my features and said, "Neither one of us wants any unpleasantness, Dresden" His eyes became flat and hard "If you want to talk, call est you search for your classic renditions of Elvis elsewhere"

"I&039;ll take it under advisement," I answered Marcone shook his head and walked away to do his ownhands, and nodding in the appropriate spots Hendricks and the Amazonian Gard shadowed Marcone, never far away

"What a charrunted

"Such diploer" I scowled after Marcone and said, "I don&039;t like this"

"Why not?"

"Because he&039;s up to soical defenses around his house"

"Like he was expecting trouble," Susan said

"Yeah"

"You think he&039;s the buyer for the Shroud?"

"Would h contacts and ala" I scanned the roo it out to his advantage He&039;s probably got friends in hotel security It would give him all kinds of freedo"

I spotted Marcone as he found a spot near a wall and lifted a tiny cell phone to his ear He spoke into it, his eyes hard, and he had the look of aorders I tried to Listen in on what he was saying, but between the band, the ballroom, and the chatter of voices I wasn&039;t able toout

"But why?" Susan asked "He&039;s got the means and the resources but what reason would he have to buy the Shroud?"

"Hell if I know"

Susan nodded "He certainly isn&039;t happy to see you here"

"Yeah Soave him a nasty surprise Did you see his face?"

Susan shook her head "What do youthe conversation I&039; to him, and he didn&039;t like it"

"You rattled hih to push hi early?" Susan&039;s dark eyes had also picked out Marcone, who snapped the cell phone closed and headed for one of the service doors with Gard and Hendricks behind hiuard and glanced in our direction

"Looks like we&039;d better get ," I said "I need a minute to use the spell on this thread sample and lead us to the Shroud"

"Why haven&039;t you done that already?"

"Li We need to be close"

"How close?" Susan asked

"Maybe a hundred feet"

Marcone left the roouard lifted his radio to his mouth

"Crap," I said

"Relax," Susan said, though her own voice sounded tight "These are the upper crust of Chicago The security guards won&039;t want to ht," I said, and started for the door

"Slowly," Susan said, her sain "Don&039;t rush"

I tried not to rush, despite the security guard closing in behind us I saw red jackets raceful walk of people wandering around a party, and Susan sot as far as the doors before another red jacket appeared in the doors in front of us, cutting us off

I recognized the unman outside the television studio, the one who had nearly ventilated Father Vincent and nition and his hand un would be inside a shoulder holster The body language was clear: Coet shot

I looked around us, but other than the partygoers, the dance floor, and the other security guards, nothing really seemed to present itself as an option Then the band struck up so a little faster with a syncopated Latin beat, and several of the younger couples who hadn&039;t been dancing previously moved out onto the floor

"Couided Susan with ?" she asked

"Buying soet across the room to those other doors," I said I turned to her, put one hand on her waist and took her other hand in mine, and led off onto the dance floor with an uncomplicated two-step "Just follow"

I looked back to her to see her mouth open in shock "You told me you couldn&039;t dance"

"Not like in clubs and stuff," I said She followed h to let me do a little dip and step into a restrained hustle "I don&039;t do so ith rock and roll Ballroohed, her dark eyes shining, even as she watched the crowd around us for more red jackets "Between this and the tux, you&039;re threatening to beco down the dance floor, rolling Susan out to the length of our aro, I had a bunch of jobs until I hooked up with Nick Christian at Ragged Angel Investigations One of theanization"

"You learned froo with soreat skill" I spun Susan again, this ti her back to me with her back toher ar her, her waist slender and supple under my hand Her hair smelled of cinnamon, and her dress left quite a bit of her back naked to view It was distracting as hell, and when she glanced over her shoulder atheated She felt it too

I sed Focus, Harry "See those doors behind the food tables?"

Susan nodded