EMTs. Let me ride with her, help keep her calm.
The men traded a look and then one of them nodded. Molly let out a breath of relief, nodded to them, and went to walk by the head of the stretcher, where Rosie could see her.
Dont worry, said the other EMT Well be right back for you, sir.
What, this? I asked, and waved vaguely at my head. Nah, I didnt get hurt here. This is from earlier. Im good.
The mans expression was dubious. You sure?
Yep.
They took the girl out. I dragged myself to the wall and propped my back up against it. A minute later, a man in a tweed suit came in and walked directly to Rawlins. He spoke to the officer for a moment, glancing over at me once as they talked, then turned and walked over to me. Of only average height, the man was in his late forties, thirty pounds overweight, balding, and had watery blue eyes. He nodded at me, grabbed a chair, and settled down into it, looking down at me. Youre Dresden?
Most days, I said.
My name is Detective Sergeant Greene. Im with homicide.
Tough job, I said.
Most days, he agreed. Now, Rawlins back there tells me you were an eyewitness to what happened. Is that correct.
Mostly, I said. I only saw what happened at the very end in here.
Uh-huh, he said. He blinked his watery eyes and absently removed a pen and a small notebook from his pocket. Behind him, cops were surrounding the area where the victims had lain with a circle of chairs and stringing crime scene tape between them. Can you tell me what happened?
The lights went out, I said. People panicked. We heard screams. Rawlins went to help and I went with him.
Why? he asked.
What?
Why, Greene said, his tone mild. Youre a civilian, Mr. Dresden. Its Rawlinss job to help people in emergencies. Why didnt you just head for the door?
It was an emergency, I said. I helped.
Youre a hero, Greene said. Is that it?
I shrugged. I was there. People needed help. I tried to.
Sure, sure, Greene said, blinking his eyes. So what were you doing to help?
Holding the light, I said.
Didnt Rawlins have his own flashlight?
Cant have too many flashlights, I replied.
Sure, Greene said, writing things. So you held the light for Rawlins. What then?
We heard screams in here. We came in. I saw the attacker over that girl they just took out.
Can you describe him? Greene asked.
Almost seven feet tall, I said. Built like a battleship, maybe three hundred, three twenty-five. Hockey mask. Sickle.
Greene nodded. What happened.
He attacked the girl. There were other people behind him, already down. He was about to cut her throat with the sickle. Rawlins shot him.
Shot at him? Greene asked. Since we dont have a dead bad guy on the floor?
Shot at him, I amended. I dont know if he hit him. The bad guy dropped the girl and swung that sickle at Rawlins. Rawlins blocked it with his flashlight.
Then what?
Then I hit the guy, I said.
Hit him how? Greene asked.
I used magic. Blew him thirty feet down the aisle and through the projector and the movie screen.
Greene slapped his pen down onto the notebook and gave me a flat look.
Hey, I said. You asked.
Or maybe he turned to run, Greene said. Knocked the projector over and jumped through the screen to get to the back of the room.
If that makes you feel better, I said.
He gave me another hard look and said, And then what?
And then he was gone, I said.
He ran out the door?
No, I said. We were pretty much right next to the door. He went through the screen, hit the wall behind it, and poof. Gone. I dont know how.
Greene wrote that down. Do you know where Nelson Lenhardt is?
I blinked. No. Why would I?
He apparently attacked someone else at this convention today and beat him savagely. You bailed him out of jail. Maybe youre friends with him.
Not really, I said.
Seems a little odd, then, that you dropped two thousand dollars to bail out this guy youre not friends with.
Yeah.
Why did you do it?
I got annoyed. I had personal reasons.
Which are?
Personal, I said.
Greene regarded me with his watery blue eyes, silent for a long minute. Then he said, patiently and politely, Im not sure I understand all of this. Id appreciate it if you could help me out. Could you tell me again what happened? Starting with when the lights went out?
I sighed.
We started over.
Four more times.
Greene was never so