Turn Coat (The Dresden Files 11)

I stood up.

The Merlin broke off and blinked at me. The room fell into a dead silence, except for the scratch of Peabody's pen. He paused to turn to a new page and pulled a second inkwell out of his pocket, placing it on the writing desk.

Anastasia stared at me with her lips pressed together, her eyes questioning. What the hell was I doing?

I winked at her, then walked out into the center of the stage and turned to face the Senior Council.

"Warden Dresden," Ebenezar said, "have you some new evidence to present for the Senior Council's consideration?"

"I do," I said.

"Point of order," Ancient Mai injected smoothly. "Warden Dresden was not present at the murder or when the accused escaped custody. He can offer no direct testimony as to the truth or falsehood of those events."

"Another point of order," Listens-to-Wind said. "Warden Dresden earns a living as a private investigator, and his propensity for ferreting out the truth in difficult circumstances is well established."

Mai looked daggers at Injun Joe.

"Warden Dresden," the Merlin said heavily. "Your history of conflict with Warden Morgan acting in his role as a Warden of the White Council is well-known. You should be advised that any damning testimony you give will be leavened with the knowledge of your history of extreme, sometimes violent animosity."

The Merlin wasn't the Merlin for nothing. He had instincts enough to sense that maybe the game wasn't over yet, after all, and he knew how to play to the crowd. He wasn't warning me, so much as making sure that the wizards present knew how much I didn't like Morgan, so that my support would be that much more convincing.

"I understand," I said.

The Merlin nodded. "Proceed."

I beamed at him. "I feel just like Hercule Poirot," I said, in my reasonably functional Latin. "Let me enjoy this for a second." I took a deep breath and exhaled in satisfaction.

The Merlin had masterful self-control. His expression never changed-but his left eye twitched in a nervous tic. Score one for the cartoon coyote.

"I first became suspicious that Morgan was being framed... well, basically when I heard the ridiculous charge against him," I said. "I don't know if you know this man, but I do. He's hounded me for most of my life. If he'd been accused of lopping off the heads of baby bunny rabbits because someone accused them of being warlocks, I could buy that. But this man could no more betray the White Council than he could flap his arms and fly.

"Working from that point, I hypothesized that another person within the Council had killed LaFortier and set Morgan up to take the blame. So I began an independent investigation." I gave the Senior Council and the watching crowd of wizards the rundown of the past few days, leaving out the overly sensitive and unimportant bits. "My investigation culminated in the theory that the guilty individual was not only trying to fix the blame upon Morgan, but planting the seeds of a renewed outbreak of hostilities with the vampire White Court, by implicating them in the death.

"In an effort to manipulate this person into betraying himself," I continued, "I let it be known that a conspirator had come forward to confess their part in the scheme, and would address members of the White Council at a certain place and time in Chicago. Working on the theory that the true killer was a member of the Council-indeed, someone here at headquarters in Edinburgh-I hypothesized that he would have little choice but to come to Chicago through the Way from Edinburgh, and I had the exit of that Way placed under surveillance." I held up the manila envelope. "These are the photographs taken at the scene, of everyone who came through the Way during the next several hours."

I opened the envelope and began passing the Senior Council the photos. They took them, looking at each in turn. Ebenezar calmly confirmed that the images of the Wardens exiting the Way together with himself, Mai, and Listens-to-Wind were accurate.

"Other than this group," I said, "I believe it is highly unlikely that anyone from Edinburgh should have randomly arrived at the Way in Chicago. Given that the group was indeed assaulted by creatures with the support of a wizard of Council-level skill at that meeting, I believe it is reasonable to state that the killer took the bait." I turned, drawing out the last photo with a dramatic flourish worthy of Poirot, and held it up so that the crowd could see it while I said, "So why don't you tell us what you were doing in the Chicago area last night... Wizard Peabody?"

If I'd had a keyboard player lurking nearby for a soap-opera organ sting, it would have been perfect.

Everyone on the Senior Council except Ebenezar and, for some reason, the Gatekeeper, turned to stare slack-jawed at Peabody.

The Senior Council's secretary sat perfectly still beneath his little lap desk. Then he said, "I take it that you have proof more convincing than a simple visual image? Such things are easily manufactured."

"In fact," I said, "I do. I had a witness who was close enough to smell you."

On cue, Mouse stood up and turned toward Peabody.

His low growl filled the room like a big, gentle drumroll.

"That's all you have?" Peabody asked. "A photo? And a dog?"

Mai looked as if someone had hit her between the eyes with a sledgehammer. "That," she said, in a breathless tone, "is a Foo dog." She stared at me. "Where did you get such a thing? And why were you allowed to keep it?"

"He sort of picked me," I said.

The Merlin's eyes had brightened. "Mai. The beast's identification is reliable?"

She stared at me in obvious confusion. "Entirely. There are several other wizards present who could testify to the fact."

"Yes," rumbled a stocky, bald man with an Asian cast to his features.

"It's true," said a middle-aged woman, with skin several tones darker than my own, maybe from India or Pakistan.

"Interesting," the Merlin said, turning toward Peabody. There was something almost sharklike about his sudden focus.

"Working on the evidence Dresden found," Ebenezar said, "Warden Ramirez and I searched Peabody's chambers thoroughly not twenty minutes ago. A test of the inks he used to attain the signatures of the Senior Council for various authorizations revealed the presence of a number of chemical and alchemical substances that are known to have been used to assist psychic manipulation of their subjects. It is my belief that Peabody has been drugging the ink for the purpose of attempting greater mental influence over the decisions of members of the Senior Council, and that it is entirely possible that he has compromised the free will of younger members of the Council outright."