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Without opening my eyes, I whispered, "David Get back in the bottle, now"

I had no way of knowing if he had Hopefully it would give Jonathan some space

Maybe David would even recover a bit Maybe,was so screwed up I pressed the heels of my palms into my eyes until I saw stars

The warn, like artificial life support Jonathan had warneddid I have to find an answer, one that wouldn&039;t destroy David in the process?

Cherise was saying so so fired; ere the better part of an hour overdue for the shoot, of course, not that I cared I just wanted to go hoine as she started up the Mustang, but then she slarabbed me by the shoulder

I looked at her She was the picture of astonishlossed O of her mouth

"What?" I asked

For answer, she shoved me forward and put her hand on my naked back

"Hey!"

"Joanne," she said, and slapped one"

A parting gift from Jonathan For completely different reasons than her subsequent declaration of aelse

I wanted to go home Cherise flatly refused to turn the car around, since ere so close to our destination "If I&039;et ri traffic and down the off-raed in a used-car lot Of course Some sort of promo tie-in with the local junker dealership Cherise shrieked the Mustang to a sliding stop in a convenient space and eyed the salespeople ic

"Nobody touchesex-football-type guy with a flattop haircut and that I&039;ll-ave her the thueous, I&039;m not in the market" Maybe not for a car, but her eyes ski It , because Cherise came out with one of her famous smiles "Watch it for me?"

"Absolutely," he said, and handed her his card "Anything you need, you coht to me"

She slipped it in her back pocket with a wink, and hustledI went, barely aware ofI just wanted to collapse in a heap and cry

Marvelous Marvin was not in a goodoff orders to soe of giving notice-or possibly expiring of an asthmatic fit Marvin still had his makeup napkin tucked into his collar It was not a hu around, looking happy as clams As well they should be, at fifty bucks an hour or ht nap in a portable chair with a sunshade

"You!" Marvin bit off as he caught sight of us "You are fired, get me? Fired! Both of you!"

I mustered up some sense of responsibility "It&039;s not Cherise&039;s fault," I said dully No, it wasthe Warden&039;s fall, his i to die like that, caught in thehe couldn&039;t understand

"I wasn&039;t talking to her, and anyway, I don&039;t give a shit whose fault it was, you&039;re both fired! Look, I can get pretty girls twelve to a dollar out there on a beach; I don&039;t need you tith your prima donna attitudes"

"Hold up," said the director, atching a portable TV in the shadow of a o painted on the side "Come here, Jo"

I came Cherise came with

The director-Rob-pointed at the screen as he took a bite of his cheese sandwich

"Is that you?" He looked up at ure on the screen

"Yeah, that&039;s her," Cherise jumped in when I stayed quiet On the screen, the Djinn didn&039;t show up-just us hu against the air "God, Rob, she tried to save that guy She really did"

He turned his attention back to the footage I closedfor the fatal plunge, but not before I saw e forward Didn&039;t seem like I&039;d reacted all that quickly, but there it was, in grainy news footage It looked as if I&039;d been trying to grab his hands or so

"Jesus," Rob said quietly "Joanne, I&039;ht about it for a few seconds, then raised his voice "Yo! Doug! Change of plans! Let&039;s get back to the station right now Get on the phone to-what channel is this?-Channel Four-and get whatever raw footage they have Feature story Get Joanne and Cherise on camera ho&039;s up?-yeah, Flint, and do the standup with theet this now"

Marvin had followed us He ripped the makeup napkin theatrically out of his collar "What are you talking about?" he thundered

Rob glanced up at him, then back down at the screen "Sorry, Marvin I&039; the promo"

"You can&039;t do that!"

Rob tapped his baseball cap It was dark blue, and it said in big, white, embroidered letters, NEWS DIRECTOR "I believe I can, actually"

Marvin turned and stalked away, tossing the balled-up napkin at his intern, who fumbled it and had to chase it under a freshly polished Toyota

"You want et into the Sunny Suit for the interview?" I asked bitterly

Rob looked up and ent, and utterly calculating

"From now on, you don&039;t wear the Sunny Suit Somebody else does," he said "Maybe Marvin"

In spite of everything-even the crushing uncertainty and grief of not knohere David as happening to hiuilt and shock and horror-that made me smile

Cherise cocked an eyebrow "What about uarded look "I&039; to need me today?"

"Just for the interview, Cherise But you&039;ll get the full appearance fee for the pro look at me, and reached behind Rob and took his navy blue windbreaker off the back of his chair to drape it aroundDelayed shock Outright fear

I needed to get home

The interview took hours

By the tiered in, it was late afternoon, and I was absolutely exhausted No sign of Sarah, which was lucky; the last thing I wanted to do was put up with ht now

I shed purse and shoes and stripped off clothes as soon as I&039;d slammed the bedroom door shut, threw on my warmest and most comfortable bathrobe, and curled up on my bed, pillow in my lap

I opened the bedside drawer and took David&039;s bottle froleamed blue and solid and cold to the touch, but it was just a bottle, no sense of him in it or around it I didn&039;t know if he was in there Didn&039;t know if he was suffering Didn&039;t know if he even reht about how easy it would be, really A quick, hard swing at the wooden nightstand