I shook my head. “It’s Demonreach that has it. It stopped when I got out over the water.” I tapped my finger against my forehead. “I’ve got nothing going on in here at the moment.”
I realized what I had said just as the last word left my mouth, and glanced at Morgan.
He lay on the bunk with his eyes closed. His mouth was turned up in small smile. “Too easy.”
Molly fought not to grin.
Morgan pursed his lips thoughtfully. “Can the entity feed you any other information, Dresden? The identities of those behind LaFortier’s murder, for example.”
I almost hit myself in the head with the heel of my hand. I should have thought of that already. “I’ll let you know,” I said, and went back to the shore.
Demonreach sensed me at the same time as I perceived it, and the mutual sensation felt oddly like a hand wave of acknowledgment. I frowned thoughtfully and looked around the island, concentrating on the issue of LaFortier’s killer.
Nothing sprang to mind. I tried half a dozen other things. Who was going to win the next World Series? Could I get the
Blue Beetle out of impound yet? How many books had Mister knocked off my shelves in my absence?
Zip.
So I thought about hornet’s nests, and instantly felt certain that there were thirty-two of them spread around the hundred and fifty or so acres of the island, and that they were especially thick near the grove of apple trees on the island’s northern side.
I went back to the boat and reported.
“Then it only exists upon the island itself,” Morgun rumbled, “like any other genius loci. This one must be bloody ancient to have attained a state of intellectus, even if it is limited to its own shorelines.”
“Could be handy,” I noted.
Morgan didn’t open his eyes but bared his teeth in a wolf’s smile. “Certainly. If your foes were considerate enough to come all the way out here to meet you.”
“Could be handy,” I repeated, firmly.
Morgan arched an eyebrow and gave me a sharp look.
“Come on, grasshopper,” I said to Molly. “Cast off the lines. You’re about to learn how to drive the boat.”
By the time we made it back to the marina, the sun had risen. I coached Molly through the steps of bringing the Water Beetle safely into dock, even though I wasn’t exactly Horatio Hornblower myself. We managed to do it without breaking or sinking anything, which is what counts. I tied off the boat and went onto the dock. Molly followed me anxiously to the rail.
“No problem here, grasshopper. Take her out for about ten minutes in a random direction that you choose. Then turn off the engine and wait. I’ll signal you when I’m ready for you to pick me up.”
“Are you sure we shouldn’t stay together or something?” she asked anxiously.
I shook my head. “Tracking spells can’t home in too well over water,” I said. “And you’ll know if someone’s coming for you from a mile away. Literally. Keep Morgan out there, and you should be as safe as anywhere.”
She frowned. “What if he gets worse?”
“Use your noggin, kid. Do whatever you think is most likely to keep you both alive.” I started untying the line. “I shouldn’t be gone more than a couple of hours. If I don’t show, the plan is the same as when I went up to the tower. Get yourself vanished.”
She swallowed. “And Morgan?”
“Make him as comfortable as you can and leave him.”
She stared at me for a minute. “Really?”
“If I get taken out, I don’t think you’ll be able to protect him,” I said, as matter-of-factly as I could. “Or catch the real bad guy. So run like hell and let him look out for himself.”
I saw her think that over. Then she smiled slightly.
“It would really humiliate him if he found himself under the protection of a girl. An apprentice. And a possible warlock, to boot.”
I nodded. “True.”
Molly pursed her lips thoughtfully. “That might be worth staying for.”
“Kid,” I said, “the smart thing for you to do if it all goes sour is to run.”
“Smart,” she said. “But not right.”
I studied her soberly. “You sure? Because there’s a world of hurt waiting to fall.”
She nodded, her face pale. “I’ll try.”
And she would. I could see that in her eyes. She knew better than most exactly how dangerous such a thing would be for her, and it clearly terrified her. But she would try.
“Then if I’m taken off the board, see Murphy,” I said. “She knows everything I do about the case. Listen to her. She’s smart, and you can trust her.”
“All right,” she said.
I tossed the mooring lines back onboard. “Get a move on.”
I started walking down the dock. Behind me, Molly called, “Harry? What signal are you going to use?”
“You’ll know it,” I called back.
I left the docks in search of the tool that could rip apart this tangled web of suspicion, murder, and lies.
I found it in the marina’s parking lot.
A pay phone.
Lara answered on the second ring. “Raith.”
“Dresden,” I said. “What have you got for me?”
“Oh, to have straight lines like that more often,” she said, her tone wry. “What makes you think I have anything for you?”
“ ’Cause I’ve got something to trade.”
“Men generally seem to think that way. Most of them tend to overestimate the value of their wares.”
“Pheromone Lass,” I said, “can we have the rest of this conversation above the waistline?”
She let out that rich, throaty laugh of hers, and my hormones sounded the charge. I ignored them. Stupid hormones.
“Very well,” she said. “It should interest you to know that the money deposited in Warden Morgan’s account came from a dummy corporation called Windfall.”
“Dummy organization?” I asked. “Who owns it?”
“I do,” she said calmly.
I blinked. “Since you’re sharing this information, I take it that it happened without your knowledge.”
“You are quite correct,” she said. “A Mr. Kevin Aramis is the corporation’s manager. He is the only one, other than myself, with the authority to move that much money around.”
I thought furiously. Whoever aced LaFortier hadn’t just intended the Council to implode. He or they had also gone to a lot of trouble to incite hostility with the White Court.
Hell’s bells.
My imagination treated me to a prophetic nightmare. Morgan fights against the injustice of his frame. Hostilities erupt, creating strife between various factions of wizards. The Council eventually runs down the money trail, discovers Lara on the other end, and the Council seizes upon the opportunity to unify the factions again, thanks to a common enemy. Hostilities with the vampires start fresh. The Red Court sees the poorly coordinated Council exposing itself in battle with the White Court, and pounces, breaking the back of the Council. And after that, it would all be over but the heroic last stands.
Hell’s bells, indeed.
“We’re being played against one another,” I said.
“That was my conclusion as well.”
A couple more pieces clicked into place. “Madeline,” I said. “She got to this Aramis guy and coerced him into betraying you.”
“Yes,” Lara hissed. Barely suppressed, wholly inhuman rage filled her level, controlled voice. “When I catch up to her, I’m going to tear out her entrails with my bare hands.”
Which took care of my hormone problem. I shivered.
I’d seen Lara in action. I could never decide if it had been one of the most beautiful terrifying things I’d ever seen, or if it was one of the most terrifying beautiful things I’d ever seen.