Summer Knight (The Dresden Files #4) - Jim Butcher Page 0,32

I might even drag down a few innocent bystanders with me.

I growled at myself. "Stop whining, Harry," I said in a firm, loud voice. "So what if youre tired? So what if youre hurt? So what if you smell like youre already dead? Youre a wizard. Youve got a job to do. This war is mostly your own fault, and if you dont stay on the ball, more people are going to get hurt. So stiff upper lip, chin up, whatever. Get your ass in gear."

I nodded at that advice, and glanced aside, to the envelope Mab had given me, which lay on the passenger seat. I had a name, an address, a crime. I needed to get on the trail of the killer. That meant I would need informationand the people who would have the most information, a couple of days after the fact, would be the Chicago PD.

I drove to Murphys place.

Lieutenant Karrin Murphy was the head of Chicago PDs Special Investigations team. SI was the citys answer to weirdness in general. They got all of the unusual crimes, the ones that didnt fall neatly into the departments other categories. SI has handled everything from sightings of sewer alligators to grave robbing in one of the citys many cemeteries. What fun. They also got to take care of the genuine supernatural stuff, the things that no one talks about in official reports but that manage to happen anyway. Trolls, vampires, demon-summoning sorcerersyou name it. The city had appointed SI to make sure the paperwork stayed nice and neat, with no mention of preposterous fantasies that could not possibly exist. It was a thankless job, and the directors of SI typically blew it after about a month by refusing to believe that they were dealing with genuine weirdness. Then they got shuffled out of Chicago PD.

Murphy hadnt. Shed lasted. Shed taken things seriously and employed the services of Chicagos only professional wizard (guess who) as a consultant on the tougher jobs. Murphy and I have seen some very upsetting things together. Were friends. She would help.

Murphy lives in a house in Bucktown, near a lot of other cops. Its a tiny place, but she owns it. Grandma Murphy left it to her. The house is surrounded by a neat little lawn.

I pulled up in the Beetle sometime well after summertime dark but before midnight. I knew shed be home, though I wasnt certain shed be awake. I made sure that I didnt sound like I was trying to sneak up anywhere. I shut the door of the Beetle hard and walked with firm footsteps to her door, then knocked lightly.

A moment later the curtains on the barred windows beside the door twitched and then fell back into place. A lock disengaged, then another, then a door chain. I noted, as I waited, that Murphy had a steel-reinforced door just like I did. Though I doubted shed had as many demons or assassins showing up at it.

Murphy opened the door partway and peered out at me. The woman didnt look like the chief of Chicago PDs monster hunters. Her bright blue eyes were heavy, weary, and underscored with dark bags. She stood five feet nothing in her bare feet. Her golden hair was longer on top than in back, with bangs hanging down to her eyes. She wore a pale peach terry-cloth bathrobe that fell most of the way to her feet.

In her right hand she held her automatic, and a small crucifix dangled on a chain wrapped around her wrist. She looked at me.

"Heya, Murph," I said. I looked at the gun and the holy symbol and kept my voice calm. "Sorry to drop in on you this late. I need your help."

Murphy regarded me in silence for more than a minute. Then she said, "Wait here." She shut the door, returned a minute later, and opened it again, all the way. Then, gun still in hand, she stepped back from the doorway and faced me.

"Uh," I said, "Murph, are you all right?"

She nodded.

"Okay," I said. "Can I come in?"

"Well know in a minute," Murphy said.

I got it then. Murphy wasnt going to ask me in. There are plenty of monsters running around in the dark that cant violate the threshold of a home if they arent invited in. One of them had caught up to Murphy last year, nearly killing her, and it had been wearing my face when it did it. No wonder she didnt look exactly