Summer Knight (The Dresden Files #4) - Jim Butcher Page 0,73

a half-mortal, half-nixie professional nude model to Faerieland. They were all over it."

I had to admire the well-placed sarcasm. "It doesnt take a supernatural studmuffin to cause something very bad to happen to a cute girl in this town. Your plain old mortal kidnappers and murderers can manage just fine."

She shook her head. "Either way, shes still in trouble."

I lifted a hand. "What do you want from me?"

"Help me find her. Please, Mister Dresden."

I closed my eyes. I didnt have time, energy, or brainpower to spare for this. The smart thing would be to blow her off entirely, or to promise her Id do it and promptly forget about it. "This just isnt a good time." I felt like crap the second I said it. I didnt look at the changelings face. I couldnt. "Theres too much trouble already, and I dont even know if I can help myself, much less your friend. Im sorry."

I turned to go, but Meryl stepped in front of me. "Wait."

"I told you," I said. "Theres nothing I can"

"Ill pay you," Meryl said.

Oh, right. Money.

I was about to lose the office and the apartment, and this faerie work only paid in misery. I needed to pay some bills. Go to the grocery store. My mouth didnt actually water, but it was close.

I shook my head again. "Look, Meryl, I wish I could"

"Double your fee," she said, her voice urgent.

Double. My. Fee. I hesitated some more.

"Triple," she said. She reached for her back pocket and produced an envelope. "Plus one thousand cash, up front, right now."

I looked back at Fix, still trembling and leaning against the alley wall, a handkerchief pressed to his mouth. Meryl continued to rock from one foot to the other, her eyes on the ground, waiting.

I tried to look at things objectively. A thousand bucks wouldnt spend if I got myself killed while distracted by the additional workload. On the other hand, if I lived through this thing the money would be necessary. My stomach growled, and a sharp pang of hunger made me clench the muscles of my belly.

I needed the workbut more to the point, I needed to be able to live with myself. I wasnt sure I was comfortable with the idea of looking back on this particular patch of memory and seeing myself leave some helpless girl, changeling or not, to the metaphoric wolves. People dont ask me for help if theyre anything less than desperate. The changelings had been terrified of me only a few hours before. If they had turned to me for help now, it was because they were out of options.

And they also had money.

"Dammit, dammit, dammit," I muttered. I snatched the envelope. "All right. Ill look into it and do what I canbut I cant make you any promises."

Meryl let out a shuddering breath. "Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Dresden."

"Yeah," I sighed. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a slightly crumpled business card. "Heres my office number. Call and leave a message to let me know how I can reach you."

She took the card and nodded. "I dont know if I can pay your fees all at once. But Ill be good for it, even if it takes a while."

"We can worry about that later, when were all safe and sound," I said. I nodded to her, then to Fix, and started walking down the alley again. Billy kept an eye on the pair of them and followed me.

We reached the parking lot of the funeral home a few minutes later. The lights were all out, and the Blue Beetle was the only car left in the lot. No one had bothered to steal it. What a shock.

"So whats next?" Billy asked.

"Ill call Murphy. See what she can tell me about Lloyd Slate."

Billy nodded. "Anything I can do to help?"

"Actually, yeah," I said. "Get out the phone book and call the hospitals. See if the morgues have a green-haired Jane Doe."

"You think shes dead, then?"

"I think it would be a lot simpler if she was."

He grimaced. "Calling morgues? There must be about a million of them in Chicagoland. Isnt there anything else I could do?"

"Welcome to the glamorous world of private investigation. You want to help or not?"

"Okay, okay," Billy said. "My cars a block over. Ill get back to you as soon as Im done making calls."

"All right. Ill probably be at my place, but if not you know the drill."

Billy nodded. "Be careful." Then he walked quickly down the