Proven Guilty (The Dresden Files 8)

Ebenezar grunted. "Damn."

"Damn?"

"I was hoping maybe I was starting to go senile. But I came to the same conclusion." He nodded. "Boy, don't breathe a word of this. Not to anyone. I got the feeling that this is information worth as much as your life." He shook his head. "Let me think about who else needs to know."

"Rashid," I said in a firm voice. "Tell the Gatekeeper."

Ebenezar frowned, though it looked more weary than anything else. "Likely he knows already. Knew already. Maybe even pointed you in a direction that would show you more. Assuming he wasn't simply using you to poke a hornet's nest and see what flew up."

Which was somewhat creepy to think about. If Ebenezar was right, I could count myself among the pawns in play, courtesy of the Gatekeeper.

"You don't want to tell him?" I asked.

"Rashid is a tough one to figure," Ebenezar said. "Three, four years ago, I wouldn't have thought twice. But with all that's happened... since Simon died..." He shrugged. "Better to be cautious. We can't put the genie back in the bottle once it's out."

"Or maybe that's the worst thing we could do," I said. "Maybe it's what these... Black Council assholes are counting on."

He looked up at me sharply. "Now why would you call them that?"

"Black Council?" I shrugged. "If the shoe fits. It's better than the Legion of Doom."

He regarded me for a moment more and then shrugged. "Times are changing, Hoss. That's for sure." He polished off his beer. "But they always do. I know you're going to do what you think you need to do. But I'd like to ask that you be very cautious, Hoss. We still don't know what our enemies look like. That means we'll have to bring in our allies carefully."

"Meaning without troubling the White Council and the Wardens about it?" I asked, my tone dry.

He grunted in the affirmative. "Don't forget the other loose end."

I frowned and thought back over it. "Huh," I said. "You're right. Who was driving that car that ran into me?"

"Exactly," he said.

"More mysteries."

"Thought you were a professional investigator, Hoss," he teased. "For you, this should be fun."

"Yeah. Fun. Fun, fun, fun. I'm having fun already."

He smiled. "Mmmmph. It isn't good news that Winter isn't going to stand with us against the Reds, but it could have been worse. And we learned something valuable."

I grunted. "The traitor to the Council. Someone had to tell the Reds where Luccio's boot camp was hidden."

"Yes," he said, and leaned forward. "And outside of Luccio only four people knew."

I arched my brows at him. "Morgan?"

"That's one," he agreed. "Injun Joe, the Merlin, and Ancient Mai were the only others."

I whistled slowly. "Heavy hitters. But knock Morgan off your list. He didn't do it."

Ebenezar arched his brows. "No?"

I shook my head. "Guy is a dick," I said, "but he's on the level. We shouldn't tell him, but he's no traitor."

Ebenezar frowned for a moment and then nodded slowly. "Very well, then. I'll vouch for Injun Joe."

"So what comes next?" I asked him.

"Watching them," he said. "Waiting. Not letting on that we know. We won't get more than one chance to take them off guard. When we do move, we got to make it hurt."

I frowned at my now-empty bottle and nodded. "We wait. Lie in the weeds. Keep a low profile. Got it."

"Hoss," my old teacher said quietly. "What you did for that girl..."

"Yeah," I said, waving a hand. "Stupid. The Merlin is going to be royally pissed at me. He'll probably start insisting I go on shooting missions now, in hopes someone will take me out and remove a thorn in his side."

"True," Ebenezar said. "But what I meant to say was that what you did was damned brave. From what I hear, you were ready to take on everyone there if you had to."

"Wouldn't have lasted long."

"No. But then, that wasn't the point." He rose a little stiffly and said, "I'm proud of you, boy."

Something inside me melted.

"You know," I said. "You always told me you weren't at my trial. That the Council saddled you with me because you skipped out. I think that isn't true."

He grunted.

"It was all in Latin, which I didn't understand then. And I had that hood over my head, so I couldn't see anyone. But someone had to have defended me, the way I did Molly."

"Could be." He rolled one shoulder in a shrug. "I'm getting old, Hoss. I forget things."

"Ah," I said. "You know, I've missed a meal or three lately. And I know this little joint that's got the best spaghetti in town."

Ebenezar froze in place, like a man walking on ice who suddenly hears cracking sounds. "Oh?" he asked, tone careful.

"They've got this great bread that goes with it, too. And it's right by the campus, so cute waitresses."

"Sounds promising," Ebenezar said. "Makes me feel a mite hungry hearing about it."

"Absolutely," I said. "Let me get my shoes. If we hurry we can get there before the evening rush."

We looked at each other for a long moment, and my old teacher bowed his head to me. It conveyed a lot of things. Apology. Gratitude. Happiness. Forgiveness. Affection. Pride.

"You want me to drive us?" he asked.

I bowed my head in reply. "I'd like that, sir."