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Chapter Ten

I raided the refrigerator and divested it of a small plate of cold cuts while Billy made a call to his apartment Mo that the furor around Bock Ordered Books had begun to die down

"Only one patrol car still there," Billy reported "Plus the guys with the wrecker"

"We shouldn&039;t wait any longer," I said "With cops around, any neighborhood monsters will lie low for a while to be careful I want to be back there and gone before they get ested, and we all piled back into her SUV

Georgia parked on the curb behind the Beetle and let one But when I saw the car, I stopped

So s in the car Glass littered the street and the car&039;s interior Parts of the windshield were ether in a mass of fracture lines that made the whole mess opaque The backhad already been broken when I usedThe doors and the hood were dented in dozens of places, and the door handles had been entirely s, neat slashes in them without difficulty

I approached the car slowly

The wooden handle of a Louisville Slugger baseball bat protruded fro fro

Billy leaned out the SUVand let out a lohistle "Wow"

"But on the upside," I said, "now all the s ia said

I went around to the front of the car and opened the trunk It hadn&039;t been taun was still in the backseat Billy and Georgia got out and walked over towouldn&039;t have left the gun," I said

"The guys in the hoods?" Billy guessed

"Didn&039;t strike me as the baseball-bat type" I reached in and picked up the bat with just er and thuerprints left on it I showed it to theic to smash the car up, not a club" I walked around to the back of the car and frowned down at the engine It looked intact I leaned in theand tried ine turned over without any trouble

"Huh," Billy said "Who coine?"

"Soe," I said

Billy pursed his lips "What does it say?"

"That I need to rent a car, apparently," I said I shook my head "I don&039;t have tiia traded a look, and Georgia nodded She came over to me, took my car keys where I held them in my cupped left hand, and replaced them with her own

"Oh, hell, no," I said "Don&039;t do that"

"It&039;s not a big deal," she told ht?"

"Well, yeah, but-"

"But nothing," Billy said "We&039;re only a couple of blocks froet your car towed to Mike&039;s"

Georgia nodded fir back the SUV whenever the Beetle is ready"

I thought it over Seeingthan I thought it would be It was only a machine But it was my machine Some part of me felt furious that someone had done this to my ride

My first instinct was to refuse their offer, get the Beetle to the shop, and use cabs until then-but that was the anger talking I forced iven how ht need to do in the near future, I couldn&039;t afford it I couldn&039;t afford the ti I could use it at all Damn, but I hate to swill blow out"

"It&039;s still under warranty," Georgia said

Billy gave , Harry Whatever you&039;re after"

I nodded back to hiot into the SUV and headed out to speak to the only person in Chicago who knew as ic and death as I did

Mortimer Lindquist had done pretty well for himself over the past couple of years, and he&039;d moved out of the little California-import stucco ranch house he&039;d been in the last ti out of a converted duplex in Bucktown Mort leased both halves of the duplex, and ran his business on one side, with his home on the other There were no cars in the business driveway, though he ht HeHe had abandoned the faux-Gothic decor that had previously graced his place of business, which was a hopeful sign I needed the help of soimmicks

I parked the SUV in the business driveway,down a patch of yellow pansies as I did I wasn&039;t used to driving soht be small and slow, but at least I knew exactly where its tires were going to go

The lights were all out I availedon the residential door

Fifteenlittle ht, and had given up trying to conceal his receding hairline in favor of shaving his scalp completely bald He rapped in a thick rey slippers on his feet

"It&039;s three o&039;clock in the ," Mort complained "What the hell do you-" He saw my face and his eyes widened in panic He hurried to shut the door

I stabbedit "Hi, Mort Got a minute?"

"Go away, Dresden," the little man said "Whatever it is you want, I don&039;t have it"

I leaned on my staff and put on an affable sether, I can&039;t believe you&039;d speak to estured furiously at a pale scar on his scalp "The last time I had a conversation with you, I wound up with a concussion and fifteen stitches in my head"

"I need your help," I said

"Ha," Mort said "Thank you, but no You et on my chest" He kicked at my staff, but not very hard Those slippers wouldn&039;t have protected his foot very well "Get out, before so sees you here"

"Can&039;t do that, Mort," I said "There&039;s black ic afoot You know that, don&039;t you?"

The little man stared at me in silence for a one? I don&039;t want to be seen with you I&039;m not involved"

"You are now," I said I kept s, but all I really wanted to do was throw a jab at his nose I guess h into my expression, because Mort took one look atthem Now open this da to co"

Mort&039;s eyes widened, and he looked around outside the house, nervous energyhis eyes flick back and forth rapidly "You son of a bitch," he said

"Believe it"

He opened the door I stepped inside and he shut it behindseveral locks closed

The interior of the house was clean, businesslike The entry hall had been converted into a s room, and beyond it lay the remainder of the first floor, a richly colored rooe table of dark polished wood surrounded byhand-carved chairs Mort stalked into his seance roo a few candles

"Well?" he asked "Going to show ale in my study? Maybe slam a few doors for dramatic effect?"

"Would you like me to?"

He threw the matches down on the table and took a seat at its head "Maybe I haven&039;t been clear with you, Dresden," Mort said "I&039;m not a wizard I&039; their attention or that of their enemies I am not a participant in your ith the vampires I like my blood where it is"

"This isn&039;t about the vas dying down, then?"

I grimaced and took a seat a few chairs down "There was a nasty fight in Mexico City three weeks ago, and the Wardens bloodied the Red Court &039;s nose pretty well Seems to have throrench in their plans for so ready to hit back," Mort said

"Everyone figures that," I said "We just don&039;t knohere or when"

Mort exhaled and leaned his forehead on the heel of one hand "Did you know I found so boy, host?" I asked

Mort nodded "Little guy had no idea as going on He didn&039;t even knoas dead They cut his throat with a razor blade You could barely see the ht shoulder"

"That&039;s what they do," I said "How can you see things like that and not want to fight thes happen to people, Dresden," Mort said "I&039;m sorry as hell about it, but I&039;e it"

"Like hell you don&039;t," I said "You&039;re an ectoot access to all kinds of inforood"

"Infor what I know against theet involved I&039;ll be the one with his throat cut"

"Better them than you, huh?"

He looked up and spread his hands "I aize for it" He folded his fingers and regarded et you away from ainst the table and slouched intoin town lately?"

"Black htmares, which is unusual The dead have been nervous for several days It&039;s been difficult to get the up"

"Has that happened before?" I asked