1.7 Storm Front: Baseball Bat

Published: May 7, 2021, 7 a.m.

b"McAnally's Pubcast - A Dresden Files Podcast\\nToday's podcast will be covering Chapters 10, 11 and 12. We discuss Linda Randal, learn a bit more about Murphy and see how Dresden handles a concussion.\\n\\nStorm Front Chapter 10 Summary:\\nHarry stops at a payphone and dials the number he got at the Velvet Room. Linda Randall is all fun and flirty until Dresden drops Jennifer Stanton\\u2019s name, and then she clams up and ends the call. With the aid of the background noises from the call, Harry tracks her down in a pick-up/drop-off zone at O\\u2019Hare Airport and corners her in order to continue questioning her about Jennifer and Tommy Tomm. Linda tries to distract him by being overtly sexual, and does succeed momentarily, but Harry gets back on track and learns that the girls worked together under Bianca, were one-time roommates, and still friends, but nothing of terribly great importance to the investigation, thus far. Linda quickly shifts gears again and blows him off when her employers exit the terminal, claiming Harry is \\u201djust a guy [she] used to see\\u201d. Harry slips her his card and requests she let him know if she thinks of anything else that will help with solving the double-murder.\\n\\nStorm Front Chapter 11 Summary: \\nHarry heads home and spends the rest of the night immersed in working out the near-impossible spell needed to blow up the hearts of a couple of human beings. Looking like 10 miles of bad road, he grabs his trademark duster and makes his way to SI to give Murphy his findings. Dresden has to cool his heels in the waiting area for a few minutes while Murphy finishes a call in private, and he is passed by a couple of cops half holding up half dragging between them a rough-looking, but otherwise completely compliant, junkie. During this interlude the junkie breaks from his escorts and charges down the hall toward Harry, shrieking \\u201cI see you, wizard! I see the things that follow...and He Who Walks Behind!...\\u201d.Mostly on instinct, Harry intervenes to stop the young man (who is hampered by his cuffs), and when the officers mention that the kid is tripping on ThreeEye Harry starts to re-evaluate his initial impression of the supposedly-supernatural drug, and starts to take it more seriously. Apparently it *can* open the third eye for any ol\\u2019 schmuck and Harry is not down with the implications therein. Murph ushers him into her slap-shod office - which speaks to the very high esteem in which SI officers are held - and Harry lays the good news on her: They still don\\u2019t have any real answers to suggest a suspect, and this spell is beyond the skills of anyone local that harry knows of. Most likely multiple people would\\u2019ve needed to conspire and pool their talents to pull this off; but that also doesn\\u2019t really gel, as the deed comes across as more personal and passionate than you would usually get from a larger collective of folks. (Especially since evidence is starting to suggest that these murders might be more drug-related, rather than motivated by jealousy.)Murphy is annoyed that her suspect pool is only growing instead of shrinking. By way of apology, Harry succumbs to his fatigue and injuries and promptly faints dead away.\\n\\nStorm Front Chapter 12 Summary:\\nDresden comes to, achy and nauseous, on Murphy\\u2019s office floor. After a brief discussion (wherein Harry claims he\\u2019s fine as Karrin calls bullshit), and a round of vomit (courtesy of the worse off of the two), Karrin bundles Harry into her car and drives him home. Shortly after arriving, Harry receives a phone call from Linda Randall, who has decided to confide in Harry. They make arrangements to meet later that night and disconnect. Harry feel he should update Monica Sells, but is rather taken aback when Monica seems uncomfortable, and tells Harry not to worry about continuing the investigation into her supposedly missing husband, and tells the forget the whole thing; $500 retainer included. Harry finds this more than a little odd, but isn\\u2019t up to the mental exertion required to..."