Storm Front

I shook my head. The pain was getting worse, heavier, but pieces were falling into place. "No. You’re thinking the wrong angle here. The killer wasn’t taking out the hooker and Tommy Tomm to get at Bianca."

"How do you know?"

"I went to see her," I responded.

"Dammit, Harry!"

I didn’t react to her anger. "You know she wasn’t going to talk to you, Murph. She’s an old-fashioned monster girl. No cooperation with the authorities."

"But she did talk to you?" Murphy demanded.

"I said pretty please."

"I would beat you to crap if you didn’t already look like it," Murphy said. "What did you find out?"

"Bianca wasn’t in on it. She didn’t have a clue who it could have been. She was nervous, scared." I didn’t mention that she’d been scared enough to try to take me to pieces.

"So someone was sending a message – but not to Bianca?"

"To Johnny Marcone," I confirmed.

"Gang war in the streets," Murphy said. "And now the outfit is bringing sorcery into it as well. Mafioso magic spells. Jesus Christ." She drummed her heels on the edge of the desk.

"Gang war. ThreeEye suppliers versus conventional narcotics. Right?"

She stared at me for a minute. "Yeah," Murphy said. "Yeah, it is. How did you know? We’ve been holding out details from the papers."

"I just ran into this guy who was stoned out of his mind on ThreeEye. Something he said makes me think that stuff isn’t a bunch of crap. It’s for real. And you would have to be one very, very badass wizard to manufacture a large quantity of this kind of drug."

Murphy’s blue eyes glittered. "So, whoever is the one supplying the streets with ThreeEye – "

" –  is the one who murdered Jennifer Stanton and Tommy Tomm. I’m pretty sure of it. It feels right."

"I’d tend to agree," Murphy said, nodding. "All right, then. How many people do you know of who could manage the killing spell?"

"Christ, Murphy," I said, "you can’t ask me to just hand you a list of names of people to drag downtown for questioning."

She leaned down closer to me, blue eyes fierce. "Wrong, Harry. I can ask you. I can tell you to give them to me. And if you don’t, I can haul you in for obstruction and complicity so quick it will make your head spin."

"My head’s already spinning," I told her. A little giggle slipped out. Throbbing head, pound, pound, pound. "You wouldn’t do that, Murph. I know you. You know damned well that if I had anything you could use, I would give it to you. If you’d just let me in on the investigation, give me the chance to – "

"No, Harry," she said, her voice flat. "Not a chance. I am ass deep in alligators already without you getting difficult on me. You’re already hurt, and don’t ask me to buy some line about falling down the stairs. I don’t want to have to scrape you off the concrete. Whoever did Tommy Tomm is going to get nasty when someone comes poking around, and it isn’t your job to do it. It’s mine."

"Suit yourself," I told her. "You’re the one with the deadline."

Her face went pale, and her eyes blazed. "You’re such an incredible shit, Harry."

I started to answer her, I really did – but my skull got loose and shaky on my neck, and things spun around, and my chair sort of wobbled up onto its back legs and whirled about precariously. I thought it was probably safest to slide my way along to the floor, rubbery as a snake. The tiles were nice and cool underneath my cheek and felt sort of comforting. My head went boom, boom, boom, the whole time I was down there, spoiling what would have otherwise been a pleasant little nap.

Chapter Twelve

I woke up on the floor of Murphy’s office. The clock on the wall said that it was about twenty minutes later. Something soft was underneath my head, and my feet were propped up with several phone books. Murphy was pressing a cool cloth against my forehead and throat.

I felt terrible. Exhausted, achy, nauseous, my head throbbing. I wanted to do nothing so much as curl up and whimper myself to sleep. Given that I would never live that down, I made a wisecrack instead. "Do you have a little white dress? I’ve had this deep-seated nurse fantasy about you, Murphy."

"A pervert like you would. Who hit your head?" she demanded.

"No one," I mumbled. "Fell down the stairs to my apartment."

"Bullshit, Harry," she said, her voice hard. Her hands were no less gentle with the cool cloth, though. "You’ve been running around on this case. That’s where you got the bump on the head. Isn’t it?"

I started to protest.

"Oh, save it," she said, letting out a breath. "If you didn’t already have a concussion, I’d tie your heels to my car and drive through traffic." She held up two fingers. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Fifty," I said, and held up two of my own. "It’s not a concussion. Just a little bump on the head. I’ll be fine." I started to sit up. I needed to get home, get some sleep.

Murphy put her hand on my neck and pressed me back down on the pillow beneath my head, which was, apparently, her jacket, because she wasn’t wearing it. "Stay down," she growled. "How did you get here? Not in that heap of a car, I hope."

"The Beetle is doing its phoenix impression," I told her. "I’ve got a loaner. Look, I’ll be fine. Just let me out of here, and I’ll go home and get some sleep."

"You aren’t in any shape to drive," Murphy said. "You’re a menace. I’d have to arrest myself if I let you behind a wheel in your condition."

"Murph," I said, annoyed, "unless you can pay up what you owe me already, right now, I can’t exactly afford a cab."

"Dream on, Harry," Murphy said. "And save your breath. I’ll give you a ride home."

"I don’t need a – " I began, but she got up from her knees and stalked out of her office.

Foolishness, I thought. Stupidity. I was perfectly capable of moving myself around. So I sat up and heaved myself to my feet.

Or tried to. I actually managed to half sit up. And then I just heaved.

Murphy came back in to find me curled on my side, her office stinking from where I’d thrown up. She didn’t, for a change, say anything. She just knelt by me again, cleaned off my mouth, and put another cool cloth over the back of my neck.

I remember her helping me out to her car. I remember little pieces of the drive back to my apartment. I remember giving her the keys to the loaner, and mumbling something about Mike and the tow-truck driver.