The antiseptic swab almost hurt worse than the graze itself.
It took real effort to keep from snapping at the doctor cleaning the wound. She was a short brunette. Slim, but surprisingly busty. Her eyes were a nice blue-gray, her nose small and speckled with tiny freckles. I probably would have found her pretty in any other circumstance. But she of the evil tweezers and rubbing alcohol was not going to get me revved up today.
When she finished picking out the dirt and fragments of my shirt that had been trapped in the wound, she dabbed ointment onto the wound and wrapped it in sterile dressing. I rubbed at it when she was through, the surface of the bandages rough beneath my fingers.
I had no right to complain. O'Toole had been hurt worse than me. Detective Jules would actually require surgery to fix the damage from her bullet wound. My injury was minor, which was why I was in the ER, not the OR. I'd be released as soon as the paperwork was done.
Mr. Dresden was sitting at my bedside, looking as shaken as I felt. That really should have scared me. Harry Dresden was not the sort that scared easily.
"You okay?" I asked after a protracted silence.
Harry barked a laugh, though there wasn't any humor to the sound. "You're asking if I'm okay?"
"Yeah. You look like hell."
Mr. Dresden shook his head. Beneath the fear, he was furious. About what, I couldn't tell. He weighed his head in his hands, fingers digging like claws into his temples.
"Are you mad at me?"
His head snapped up to look at me, surprised. "No. Of course not. Why would you even think that?"
"You're mad. It's kind of leaking off you."
Mr. Dresden let out a low, fervent oath. "We need to teach you to shield better, kid. You're going to drive yourself nuts if you keep absorbing emotion like a sponge. You could lose all sense of self."
"But I'm right, aren't I? You're mad."
"Not mad at you. I'm disgusted with myself. Angry I didn't see it sooner, that I didn't stop you from doing this. I'm angry that my actions indirectly got you shot. You could have died, Daniel. If that bullet had been a little closer to your chest..."
The shudder ran through his entire body, accompanied by a wash of dread and guilt.
"And I'm angry that I failed to find her in the first place. That this became necessary at all."
"It's not your fault. You did what you could."
His hands balled into fists and he brought one down hard on his knee. He barely felt the impact, body still out of synch with his central nervous system. It would catch up with him later.
"It's not good enough! I let your whole family down. She was butchered because I was too late."
"We don't know that."
Harry's mouth twisted and I wasn't sure if he was going to shout or cry. "You don't believe that, Daniel. Or you wouldn't have tried to raise her with necromancy. She's dead. We both know it."
I wasn't sure what to say to that. And I was saved the trouble of answering by the commotion from the hallway outside my room. I didn't even have to hear the voice to know it was my mother. The dark, rippling miasma of her anger was choking, even from this distance. Her thoughts spun round and round, dizzying and spectacularly violent. My mother, in all sincerity, wanted to murder Harry Dresden.
Harry tensed as well as her voice drifted through the open door. He raised the arm that bore his shield bracelet a few inches off his knee, poised and ready like a monster was about to charge us. Karrin was in the hall, trying to impede my mother's progress and keep her from charging like a bull into the room. It was only her efforts, and my father's, that kept her from sprinting in the room and beating the tar out of Mr. Dresden.
She was still a sight to behold when she appeared in the doorway. Drawn up to her full and impressive height, face a rictus of righteous fury, eyes flashing fire at Mr. Dresden. Her anger wasn't aimed at me, and even I scooted back a few inches on the bed.
"You!" she snarled, lunging forward with every intention of breaking his jaw. She was perfectly capable of doing it. My mother was a blacksmith and used to regularly wield a war hammer. Just because she was out of practice didn't mean she was incapable.
Mr. Dresden was spared an appointment with pain by dad's timely arrival. He moved fast, catching mom's arm and putting her in a firm joint lock. It wasn't aggressive or meant to harm, but it did halt the attack effectively. Mom stopped just shy of Mr. Dresden, still straining toward him but unable to do more without injuring herself.
"Charity," Dad said, voice chiding but gentle. "We talked about this."
Mom didn't respond, still fixated on her target. "You bastard! You slimy, underhanded, repugnant bastard! What the hell were you thinking?"
I just sort of stared. It was the most curse words I'd heard from her mouth in...ever.
"Charity-" Mr. Dresden said weakly.
"You could have gotten him killed! You didn't even think, did you? Didn't consider his safety at all."
Karrin pushed her way into the room next, squeezing through the narrow space that my grappling parents had left in the entryway.
"Mrs. Carpenter, you need to calm down. This is as much my fault as Harry's. I called him in on a case that couldn't wait. Daniel was supposed to be in the back of the car. It was just unfortunate timing that the shooting started when he'd gotten out for a bathroom break."
Charity rounded on Karrin next. Dad had let her loose from the joint lock but kept his arms tight around her waist, pinning her hands to her sides. He moved with her, to keep from hurting her.
"You could have sent him home with another officer," she accused.
"I couldn't. He was needed for further questioning."
"Questioning?" Mom all but shrieked. "He's not some sort of criminal."
"I broke the law, Mom," I said as loudly as I dared. I didn't want to shout at her, but I wasn't sure how else to make myself heard.
That brought her up short. She went still in Dad's arms, inclining her head so she could look at me. The anger on her face softened, just a little.
"You...broke the law?" she sounded the words out, as though they didn't make sense to her.
"Nothing I can charge him with," Karrin said. "But something I needed to know about nonetheless. Dresden tells me that the crisis going on was partially Daniel's doing."
Scrunched lines appeared between my father's brows. I hadn't realized that there was gray threading through them as well. The past few years had been taxing on all of us.
"I'm not sure I understand what you mean, Karrin."
"It was a breach of the Laws of Magic, not mortal law," Mr. Dresden explained wearily. "The Fifth Law. Thou shalt not reach beyond the borders of life. Necromancy."
The truth hit Mom like a Louisville to the head. She went ashy gray and her knees gave out. She slumped toward the floor and would probably have hit her head if Dad hadn't caught her.
"The animals and the people...he..." Shock. Anger. Sorrow. All of them seized her at once. She wanted to scream, no, no, no. Tears poured down her face and a sob escaped her.
My throat constricted. My eyes burned. My voice came out as a croak.
"I'm sorry, Mom. I didn't know, I swear. I just thought..."
Dad scanned every face in the room, and a sluice of dread ran down his spine. I didn't want to be in the room, with the toxic stew of emotions. I wanted to run out the doors of the Cook County Hospital screaming.
"I'm missing something."
"Breaking the Laws of Magic carries a death sentence, even if you're ignorant of them." Mr. Dresden's voice was almost devoid of inflection. Dead. Numb. "Daniel is classified as a warlock now. Warlocks are hunted down and summarily executed by the Wardens."
Dad looked stricken. Moisture dewed at the corners of his eyes. He looked like he might cry as well.
"I'm sorry," I said again. "I didn't know. I just wanted to help."
"Help?" Mom said with a hiccup. "How could this possibly help?"
I didn't want to give the explanation for the third time in as many hours. Karrin stepped in to save me.
"Dresden tells me that Daniel's abilities allow him to sense emotions. Sometimes thoughts. He picked the details of a serial case out of my head when I visited for Independence Day."
I noted that she left Mr. Dresden's part out of the retelling. Mom had enough to damn Harry with already. Mr. Dresden gave a tiny relieved exhale and cast Karrin a grateful look.
"A serial case?" Dad echoed.
"Yes. Daniel's efforts just reopened a cold case from two years ago. He noticed a pattern with the victims. Teenagers, mostly. Blonde. Female. Caucasian. And he thought..."
"Molly," Dad finished on a whisper. "He thought maybe Molly was taken."
Karrin nodded. "The ritual turned up four new bodies at a storage unit lot. Late stages of decomposition, likely more victims from two years ago. There were also some trophies buried with the bodies. A clutch purse with some cash and cocaine inside. A hair bow. A charm bracelet and a pendant of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux."
I squeezed my eyes shut. It wasn't proof. Not solid proof anyway. There were plenty of Catholics in Chicago, and any one of them could have a pendant of a saint on their person. But what were the chances that the average young woman would be carrying one bearing the patron saint of the Knights Templar? Molly had chosen it years ago, so she could pray for our father when he was away.
A similar realization flashed across my parents' faces. Mom actually seized the trash can beside the bed and threw up.
"Is it her?" Dad asked the question for both of them.
"We can't be sure without consulting dental records. But I'd say there's an above-average chance. We think that the killer was watching the lot and that he's the one who took potshots at us. We didn't catch him, but he was shot. Dresden thinks we can use the blood to track the bastard down and stop him once and for all."
"I'm coming with you," Dad said at once.
"It's not a good idea, Mr. Carpenter."
My father's gaze was steely. "This man killed my daughter, Miss Murphy. I'm coming whether you like it or not."
Mom finally straightened from her hunched position over the trash can. "Daniel? What about Daniel? We can't let the Wardens-"
"I've got a plan for that," Mr. Dresden interjected. "There will be a trial if he comes peacefully. He didn't manage this alone, and I think I can make a case for undue influence."
"You'd better," she warned. "Or I'm coming for you, Dresden."
Harry bared his teeth in an expression more akin to a snarl than a smile.
"If I fail, I'll let you."