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Bob raised his voice and shouted toward the centipedes, "I&039;ood ones Getting eaten by a supernaturally resilient centipede-de locked up by the FBI wouldn&039;t beme in a cell, I&039;d have a chance to walk out of it - unlike the centipedes&039; stomach Stomachs

But I couldn&039;t walk back intofull of no-nos I&039;d have to hide the here That wasn&039;t exactly a brilliant idea, but I didn&039;t have much in the way of a choice I would have to take whatever precautions I could to hide the bag and hope that they were enough

Earthdiscipline, physically speaking You are, after all, talking about an awful lot of weight being nore physics The energy for creating heat or motion comes from a different source, but it still has to interact with reality along the say Thattons of earth takes an enory, and it&039;s damned difficult - but not impossible Ebenezar had insisted that I learn at least one very useful, if enoric It would be the effort of an entire day to use it in the real world But here, in the Nevernever

I lifted round before me, and intoned in a deep, heavy h I was already winded, and the earth and stone beneathlike a stony mouth a few inches in front of oing to put me in - "

It was an enor, with the Swords, Bob, and all, into the hole It vanished into the dark, along with Bob&039;s scream of, "You&039;d better coed centipedes sliced through the air

I pointed ain and intoned, "Resarcius!" More of th flooded out of ain, with the earth and stone that the bag and its contents displaced being dispersed into a wide area, resulting in little round The spell would ear difficult for anyone who didn&039;t know exactly where it was, and I had put it deep enough to hide it fro for it I hoped

Bob and the Swords were as safe as it was possible for me to make them, under the circu It was tis were shaking with fatigue and I leaned hard onover I needed one more effort of will to escape this prettily landscaped death trap, and after that -

The ring of fire had fallen low enough that one of the centipedes arched up into the air, fore of its own body, and flowed over it and onto the ground outside Its ry anticipation

I turned away, focuseda narrow doorway, a mere crack, between the Nevernever and reality Then I threw h such a narrow opening before I felt as if it were s me flat in some kind of spiritual trash coony that it seehts were cole, impossibly dense whole, a psychic black hole where every dark and leaden emotion I&039;d ever felt see an overwhel heartache to the physical torh the narrow opening I sensed a fraction of a second in which the centipede tried to follow, but the slit I&039;d opened betorlds had healed itself alh about three feet of eed my hip on the side of the worktable in my lab, and hit the concrete floor like a sack of exhausted bricks

People started shouting and so a knee in my spine as they hauled my arms around behind my back There was a bunch of chatter to which I paid no heed I hurt too much, and was too daht inarrested Now I could kick back and relax in a nice pair of handcuffs

Or s went

Chapter 13

They took ation on Roosevelt A crowd of reporters was outside the place, and i pictures as I was taken fro by a couple of patrol to the cah to confir and that several "persons of interest" were being detained, and that the good people of Chicago had nothing to fear, yadda, yadda, yadda

A slender little guy in a fed suit with fish white skin and ink black hair strolled by Rudolph, put an arm around the other man&039;s shoulder in a comradely fashion, and almost hauled him off his feet and away froave him a hard look and Rudy subsided

I reh a checkpoint and an elevator and then being plopped down into a chair Slim took the cuffs off my wrists I promptly folded my arms on the table in front ofI was out, but when I caht into my eyes

"No evidence of concussion," she said "Normal response I think he&039;s just exhausted"

Slile conference table, several chairs, and a longthere with hi rade, with dark, insanely neat hair and an anxious hunch to his shoulders

"He&039;s faking it," Rudolph insisted "He wasn&039;t out of our sight for more than a few minutes How could he have worked hi? Not even really breathing hard? He&039;s dirty I know it We shouldn&039;t have given him an hour to come up with a story"

Sli on his lean, pale face Then he looked at uess that makes you Good Cop," I said

Slim rolled his eyes "Thanks, Roz"

The woave me a look full of disapproval, and left the room

Slim came over to the table and sat down across from me Rudolph ical ploy, but it worked Rudolph&039;s presence, out of ht, was an irritant and a distraction

"My naent or Tilly Whatever you&039;re most comfortable with"

"Okay, Slim," I said

He inhaled and exhaled slowly Then he said, "Why didn&039;t you just answer the door, Mr Dresden? It would have been a lot easier For all of us"

"I didn&039;t hear you," I said "I was asleep down in the subbasement"

"Bullshit," said Rudolph

Slim looked from me to Rudy and back "Asleep, huh?"

"I&039;m a heavy sleeper," I said "Keep a pad underneath one of the tables in the lab Snooze down there sometimes Nice and cool"

Slihtful minute Then he said, "Nah, you weren&039;t asleep down there You weren&039;t down there at all There was no open space large enough to have hidden you in that subbasement You were somewhere else"

"Where?" I asked hi room, bedroom, bathroom, subbasement You found me on the floor in the subbasement, which only has one entrance Where else do you think I was? You think I just appeared out of thin air?"

Slim narrowed his eyes Then he shook his head and said, "I don&039;t know Seen a lot of tricks Saw a guy make the Statue of Liberty disappear once"

I spread ?"

"Could be," he said "I don&039;t have a good explanation for how you showed up all of a sudden, Dresden I get grus Then I go digging until I corinned at him I couldn&039;t help it "I was asleep inmy arms You think I came out of a secret compartment so well hidden that nobody found it in a full sweep of the room? Or maybe I appeared out of thin air Which of those stories do you think will ainst the CPD and the Bureau? Yours or mine?"

Slim&039;s expression turned sour

Rudolph abruptly appeared to ht and slammed a fist down on the table "Tell us why you blew up the building, Dresden!"

I burst out laughing I couldn&039;t help it I didn&039;t have a whole lot of energy, but I laughed until

"I&039;m sorry," I said a moment later "I&039;m sorry It was just soahhhh" I shook et myself under control

"Rudolph," said Slim "Get out"

"You can&039;t order me out I am a duly appointed representative of the CPD and a member of this task force"

"You&039;re useless, unprofessional, and i this deposition," Slim said, his tone flat He turned his dark eyes to Rudolph and said, "Get Out"

Slilare So a word, that they are perfectly capable of doing violence and willing to demonstrate it That look doesn&039;t convey any particular, single e that can be easily put into words Slim didn&039;t need any words He stared at Rudolph with some faint shadow of old Death hi else

Rudolph flinched He ainst the FBI and left the rooent Tilly turned back toal a smile, and he said, "Did you do it?"

I met his eyes for a second and said, "No"

Tilly pursed his lips Then he nodded his head several times and said, "Okay"

I lifted my eyebrows "Just like that?"

"I knohen people lie," he said simply

"And that&039;s why this is a deposition, not an interrogation?"

"It&039;s a deposition because Rudolph lied his ass off when he fingered you to my boss," Tilly said "Now I&039;ve seen you for myself And bomber doesn&039;t fit on you"

"Why not?"

"Your apartanized bomb makers don&039;t haveto tag you for the office building?"

"Politics, I think," I said "Karrin Murphy has pissed off a lot ofsome of their shadier enterprises Money leans on politicians I get some spillover because she&039;s the one who hiredChicago," Tilly said, with real conteovernet"

"Amen," I said

"I read your file Says you were looked at by ents vanished a few days later" He pursed his lips "You&039;ve been suspected of kidnapping, murder, and at least two cases of arson, one of which was a public building"

"It wasn&039;t "

"You lead an interesting life, Dresden"

"Not really Just a eekend now and then"

"To the contrary," Tilly said "I&039;hed "Man You don&039;t want to be"

Tilly considered that, a faint frown line appearing between his brows "Do you knoho blew up your office building?"

"No"

Tilly&039;s expression ht have been carved in stone "Liar"

"If I tell you," I said, "you aren&039;t going to believe et me locked up in a psycho ward so"

He nodded for anow could be construed as obstructing and interfering with an investigation Depending on as behind the boet bumped up to treason"

"In other words," I said, "you couldn&039;t find anything in ive you an excuse to holdwith you"

Agent Tilly leaned back in his chair and squinted at me "I can hold you for twenty four hours for no reason at all And I canclose to violating any laws"

"I wish you wouldn&039;t do that," I said

Tilly shrugged "And I wish you&039;d tell uess neither of us is going to get ant"

I propped ave it even odds that someone in the supernatural scene, probably the duchess, had pulled sos to send Rudolph my way If that was the case, renade back to her

"Off the record?" I asked Tilly

He stood up, went out the door, and ca off any recording devices He sat back down and looked atto find out that the building ired with explosives," I said "On the fourth floor"

"And how do you know that?"

"Someone I trust saw soes had been installed, presu&039;s owners I re into the walls for a week or so Said they were re asbestos The owners had hired the As insurance scareat one"

"It isn&039;t about insurance," I said

"Then what is it about?"

"Revenge"

Tilly tilted his head to one side and studiedto this co to someone far up the food chain in the corporate constellation that Nuevo Verita belongs to"

"And as that?"

"Nothing illegal," I said "Youhiy in Brazil He died several years ago"

"Ah," Tilly said "His family is who is after you?"

"That&039;s a reasonably accurate description His wife in particular"

Tilly absorbed that, taking his time The room was silent for several minutes

Finally, Tilly looked up at reat deal of respect for Karrin Murphy I called her while you were resting She says she&039;ll back you without reservation Considering the source, that is a significant state the source, it is"

"Frankly, I&039; to help you I&039; directed by politicians I can&039;t proh today&039;s events should ainst you"

"I&039;," I said

Tilly waved a hand toward the rest of the building "As far as they&039;re concerned, you&039;re guilty, Dresden They&039;re already writing headlines and news text Now it&039;s just athe evidence to support the conclusion they want"

"They," I said "Not you"

Tilly said, "They&039;re a bunch of assholes"

"And you aren&039;t?"

"I&039;m a different kind of asshole"

"Heh," I said "Ao?"

He nodded "But since they&039;ve got nothing remotely like evidence that you were the one to plant the explosives, they&039;re going to be digging into you Your personal life Your past Looking for things to use against you They&039;ll play dirty"

"Okay by me," I said "I can play, too"

Tilly&039;s eyes smiled "Sounds like Yeah" He offered me his hand "Good luck"

I shook it I felt the very, very faint tingle of somented Tilly&039;s ability to separate truth froot up and walked wearily toward the door

"Hey," Tilly said, just before I opened it "Off the record Who did it?"

I stopped, looked at hiain, and said, "Vampires"

His expression flickered with swiftly banished emotions: amusement, then realization, followed by doubt and yards and yards of rationalization

"See," I said to him "I told you that you wouldn&039;t believe me"