Proven Guilty (novel) - Plot Summary

Plot Summary

It's been nearly a year since the events in Dead Beat. Warden Harry Dresden attends the trial and execution of a sixteen year old Korean boy. In his ignorance, the boy repeatedly violated of the Laws of Magic by turning his family and other people into mental slaves. He ordered them to kill others, and then kill themselves. He's been proven guilty. The sentence is death.

After the execution, Senior Counsel member Ebenezar McCoy asks Dresden to discover why the Summer and Winter Fae have not attacked the Red Court vampires. The Gatekeeper secretly requests that Dresden investigate the use of black magic in Chicago. At home, Dresden starts the ball rolling. He calls Fix, the Summer Knight, and arranges a meeting for tomorrow. In his Lab, Dresden talks to Bob about temporal mechanics and detecting black magic.

As Dresden prepares a ritual to use Little Chicago to locate instances of black magic, he's interrupted by a call from Molly Carpenter, Michael's eldest daughter. She's at a police station and wants him to post bail. At the station, Dresden discovers she lied. She wants him to bail out her boyfriend, Nelson. He was arrested for an assault, which he didn't commit. Molly wants Dresden to help Nelson, because the assault was bizarre—almost supernatural.

Dresden takes Molly home. He discovers that Molly had moved out of her parents' home. And, she was arrested for drug possession. Michael pleads with Dresden to help to Molly and her mother reconcile. Dresden agrees, reluctantly. Molly takes Dresden to "SplatterCon!!!", a horror movie convention, where Nelson’s alleged assault took place. Detective Rawlings is moonlighting as convention security and is guarding the crime scene. While Dresden looks for clues, the power goes out. Rawlings and Dresden discover a movie monster has come to life. Rawlings shoots the monster to no avail. Dresden destroys it with magic.

When the police arrive, Detective Sgt. Greene interrogates Dresden about the attacks. Murphy intervenes and takes Dresden home. The next day, Dresden and Murphy question the survivors at the hospital. Dresden scans them with his Sight. They've been mentally attacked by phobophages: beings that feed on fear. He also finds two inexplicable holes on one victim's head.

Dresden meets with Fix, the Summer Knight, and Lily, the Summer Lady, on neutral ground at McAnally's Pub. Dresden asks why the Courts haven't retaliated against the Red Court vampires for trespassing in Faerie. Lily explains that Summer cannot attack the vampires, because it would divert their forces from the Winter-Summer stand-off. Winter and Summer must move together against the vampires, so that neither will side will gain any advantage over the other. Lily invites Maeve, the Winter Lady, to join them. Maeve says that Queen Mab has forbidden them to attack the vampires. Maeve fears that Mab might be succumbing to madness, which would disrupt Faerie and the real world. The meeting adjourns peacefully, but the Summer-Winter stand-off is unchanged. Somehow, Dresden must convince Mab to act.

At the convention, Dresden and Mouse feel something hinky about movie director Darby Crane. Murphy questions Crane about the attacks at the Con. Lucius Glau, Crane's lawyer, intervenes and ends the conversation. Crane and Glau recognized Dresden's and Murphy's names. Crane becomes their prime suspect.

Sandra, the convention chair, tells Murphy and Dresden that Det. Greene has detained Molly for hours. Dresden tags investigative reporter Lydia Stern to help. Det. Greene and "Agent Rick," Murphy's ex-husband, have been forcefully questioning Molly for hours. Dresden confronts Greene about his illegal detention and interrogation of a minor without parental consent. When Greene gets aggressive, Lydia Stern enters and questions Greene why they're illegally detaining a teenage girl without her parents' permission. Greene releases Molly, immediately.

Dresden rents a hotel room and casts a magical web to detect the monsters when they re-appear. A panicked Nelson asks Dresden for help. Dresden sends him to holy ground at St. Mary's. Then, he plans another spell to send the 'phages back at their summoner. When the ward candle flares red and the web hums with powerful magic, Dresden casts the redirection spell. Three phobophages are redirected, but he misses one. Dresden fights that phage with magic and Hellfire. Dresden and Rawlings start tracking the summoner, but they’re attacked by Lucius Glau. He drives his van over Mouse and holds Rawlings at gunpoint. Crane cold-cocks Dresden with a tire iron.

When Dresden awakes, he's bound by magic-inhibiting manacles. Rawlings is handcuffed to a pipe. Glau guards them, while Crane auctions Dresden on eBay. The highest bidder is Duke Ortega's widow, Duchess Arianna of the Red Court vampires. Lasciel helps Dresden escape. Dresden frees Rawlings and they try to escape. As Crane is about to kill Rawlings, Thomas arrives and shoots Glau. Crane surrenders. Mouse is alive, but limping. Thomas explains that Crane is Madrigal Raith of the White Court vampires. Crane isn't to blame for the attacks at the Con. As they leave, a Scarecrow kills Glau. Dresden, Thomas, and Mouse fight the Scarecrow, while Madrigal escapes. They escape from the Scarecrow.

After they get Rawlings to a hospital, they track the Scarecrow's to the Carpenter's home. Dresden realizes that he somehow sent the 'phages to Molly and feels guilty about it. Daniel, the oldest son, tells them everyone else is in the panic room. Charity and her children are all right. However, Molly was taken by the phobophages. Dresden and Thomas take the Carpenters to St. Mary's Church. Father Forthill tells Dresden that Nelson seems to be suffering from drug withdrawal. Daniel awakes and tells them that he and Molly tried to distract the phages from the younger children. Dresden looks at Daniel with his Sight so he can never forget what he did to that family. He accidentally looks at Nelson and notices two small circles in his head. Realizing what the holes are, Dresden asks Charity about her magic. Charity admits she has magic, but no longer uses it. She and Molly have been fighting about Molly’s desire to pursue magic.

Charity and Dresden go to Dresden's apartment to track Molly, but the spell doesn't work. When Murphy arrives at Dresden's apartment, she suggests using Charity's blood to track Molly. The trail goes to Nevernever through one of the convention theaters. At the theater, they meet Lily and Fix. They can't help Dresden directly, so Dresden gives the debt that Lily owes him to Charity, someone who they can help. Lily opens the gateway to the Nevernever. Molly's trail leads to Arctis Tor: the capital of the Winter Court. Lily tells Dresden that she and Fix cannot go with them. She gives Dresden a fire butterfly to protect them from the cold and to guide them. Dresden, Murphy, Thomas, and Charity arrive at Queen Mab's fortress only to find the guards dead. It was attacked by someone using Hellfire and the fortress seems abandoned. They're then ambushed by the creatures who kidnapped Molly. Thomas and Murphy make a stand, while Charity and Dresden look for Molly.

Molly is held captive at the top of the fortress in an ice garden. The Winter Knight and Harry's Fairy Godmother are prisoners too. The Knight is imprisoned for his treason and his Godmother for her presumption and arrogance. Neither can aid Dresden. He and Charity fight the Scarecrow to no avail. Dresden realizes the fire butterfly contains the power and light of Summer. Dresden uses the power of Summer to destroy the Scarecrow. This enrages every being in the Winter realm — even the Erlking. They escape through Lily’s gate into the theater. Dresden realizes they've been used by Lily to distract the Winter Fae and break the Summer-Winter stand-off.

They retreat to the safety of holy ground at St. Mary’s. Dresden confronts Molly about using her magic on Nelson and Rosie. Molly did it to stop them from using drugs, because Rosie is pregnant. Dresden explains that using mind-control breaks one of the Laws of Magic. As a Warden of the Council, Dresden must bring her to trial.

At the trial most of the Senior Council cannot attend, due to a vampire attack on the Colorado training camp, and the Merlin holds the majority of the votes by default. Despite an impassioned argument, The Merlin votes to execute Molly. Dresden stalls the trial by declaring a point of order that the Gatekeeper has not voted. After deliberation, the Gatekeeper opens a gate for Listen-to-Winds, McCoy, Martha Liberty, Luccio, and a herd of apprentices. They survived another attack on the training camp by the demonic Outsiders. Michael Carpenter, a Knight of the Cross, comes through with them. Dresden calls for a vote of the recently returned Senior Council members. Since Michael has just saved about 40 of the White Council's children, they should save one of his: Molly. They vote to not execute Molly on the condition that she becomes Dresden's apprentice and is placed under the Doom of Damocles. By effect Dresden is under the Doom of Damocles too. If Molly heads back toward black magic, she will be executed—and so will Dresden, for letting her backslide.

Dresden makes Molly return to live with her parents, to finish high school, and to dedicate herself to the apprenticeship. Molly whines and complains. Dresden warns that if she doesn't have the patience and dedication to abide with her own family, she won't find the patience and dedication to learn magic. In a cloud of teen angst, Molly returns home. Her family is glad to have her back and Dresden is happy to get Mouse back.

The next day, Murphy tells Dresden that she has been demoted from detective to sergeant for dereliction of duty. The few hours she spent in Faerie, were days in Chicago time. Later, Dresden and McCoy compare notes on the recent happenings. They agree there's a new group orchestrating events from a safe distance. Dresden refers to this group of unknown individuals as the "Black Council." They agree the attack on the training camp means there's a highly-placed traitor in the White Council, maybe even on the Senior Council itself. Only time will tell.