if you’d see to it. You’re on the list of people who can open it. Listed as executor.”
“Harry,” she said.
“Granted, there’s not much to have a will about at the moment,” I said. “Everything was in my house or office, but . . . there are some intangibles and . . .” I felt my throat tighten, and cut short my request. “Take care of it for me?”
There was silence, and then Murphy moved and settled down next to me. Her hand squeezed mine. I squeezed back.
“Sure,” she said.
“Thanks.”
“There’s . . . there’s nothing in there about Maggie, obviously,” I said. “But if I can’t be there to . . . I want her in a good home. Somewhere safe.”
“Hey, emo boy,” she said. “Time to take a gloom break. Right? You aren’t dead yet, as far as I can tell.”
I snorted quietly and opened my eyes, looking up at her.
“You’ll take care of her yourself when this is done.”
I shook my head slowly. “I . . . can’t, Murph. Susan was right. All I can offer her is a life under siege. My enemies would use her. She’s got to vanish. Go somewhere safe. Really safe. Not even I can know where she is.” I swallowed on a choking sensation in my throat. “Father Forthill at St. Mary’s can help. Mouse should go with her. He’ll help protect her.”
Murphy looked at me, troubled. “You aren’t telling me something.”
“It isn’t important for now,” I said. “If you could find Mister . . . Molly might like to have him around. Just so long as he’s taken care of.”
“Jesus, Harry,” Murphy said.
“I’m not planning a suicide run, if that’s what you’re thinking,” I said. “But there’s a possibility that I won’t come back from this. If that happens, I need someone I can trust to know my wishes and carry them out. In case I can’t.”
“I’ll do it,” Murphy said, and let out a short laugh. “For crying out loud, I’ll do it, just so we can talk about something else.”
I smiled, too, and Rudolph entered Tilly’s office and found us both on the floor, grinning.
Everyone froze. No one looked certain of how to react.
“Well,” Rudolph said quietly. “I always figured this for what it was. But, boy, did you have everyone at your headquarters fooled, Murphy.”
“Hi, Rudy,” I said. “You’ve got a beautiful home.”
Rudolph gnashed his teeth and drew an envelope out of his pocket. He flicked it to the floor near Murphy. “For you. A cease-and-desist order, specifying that you aren’t allowed within two hundred yards of this case or anyone involved in the active investigation, until your competence and noncomplicity have been confirmed by a special tribunal of the Chicago Police Board. Also a written order from Lieutenant Stallings, specifying that you are to have nothing to do with the investigation into the explosion, and relieving you of duty forthwith if you do not comply.” His eyes shifted to me. “You. I haven’t forgotten you.”
“Shame,” I said. “I’d almost forgotten you, but you’ve ruined that. Walking into the room and all.”
“This isn’t over, Dresden.”
I sighed. “Yeah. I’ve been having that kind of week.”
Murphy opened the envelope and read over a pair of pages. Then she looked at Rudolph and said, “What did you tell them?”
“You have your orders, Sergeant,” Rudolph said coldly. “Leave the building before I relieve you of your weapon and your shield.”
“You mosquito-dicked weasel,” she said, her voice coldly furious.
“That remark is going into my report for the tribunal, Murphy,” Rudolph said. There was a vicious satisfaction in his voice. “And once they read the rest, you’re done. With your record? They aren’t paying you any more slack, bitch. You’re gone.”
Something dark and ugly stirred in my chest, and the sudden image of Rudolph pinned to the wall by a ton of crystalline ice popped into my brain.
“Bitch?” Murphy said, rising.
“Whoa,” I said, drawing out the word as I came to my own feet, and speaking as much to myself as to the furious woman. “Murph, don’t play his game here.”
“Game?” Rudolph said. “You’re a menace, Murphy, and a disgrace. You belong behind bars. Once you’re out, it’ll happen, too. You and this clown both.”
“Clown?” I said, in the exact same tone Murphy had used.
And the lights went out.
There was a sudden hush all around us, as FBI headquarters was plunged into powerless darkness. After several seconds, the emergency lights still hadn’t come on.