Dresden is hired by Monica Sells to find her husband Victor Sells, an amateur occultist who has been acting oddly. Later that day, he gets a call from Lieutenant Karrin Murphy, director of the Special Investigations (SI) Unit of the Chicago Police Department. Murphy's partner shows him the bodies of two people who died by having their hearts ripped out, apparently by magic. Dresden realizes that he would be the chief suspect for these magical murders if news of them reached the White Council.
