"Excuse me," I said. "I need to--"
"Use the little girls' room?" he said, and laughed as he slid from the booth.
"Hold on, boys," Jaime said. "The ladies need to freshen up."
"Uh, no," I said as she extricated herself from the booth. "I'm leaving."
"Leaving? Already? I haven't finished my drink."
"That's okay. You stay, have fun."
She clutched my arm, more for balance, I think, than to keep me from going. "You're abandoning me? With these three?"
She cast a leering grin at the men. Dale blinked, then staggered to his feet.
"Hey, no, babe," he said, bleary eyes fixed in my ge
neral direction. "I'll drive you."
"Oh, I bet you'd like to," Jaime said. "But Paige already has a guy. A friend of mine. And you don't want to mess with him." She leaned into Dale's ear. "He's connected."
Dale frowned. "Connected?"
"Like the Kennedys," Jaime said.
"More like the Sopranos," I said.
Dale sat down.
"You stay and enjoy yourself," I said to Jaime.
"No can do. I told Lucas I'd look after you in the big bad city."
"Uh-huh. Well, I appreciate that, but--"
"No buts. My prodco got me a room way the hell out in the burbs and I am not going all that way tonight. I'm getting a room at your hotel. So come on, girl."
She started to steer me from the table. One of her companions leapt up.
"Can we give you a lift--?"
"Ooops, sorry about that. I might not get to finish my drink, but I can't forget my nightcap." She turned and sized up the two men. "Decisions, decisions."
The blonde grinned. "Two-for-one special."
"Tempting, but I'm too old for that shit. One per night." She looked them over. "Hmmm, this is tough. Only one way to do it." She pointed at the dark-haired one. "Eeniemeenie..."
Once out of the taxi, and away from Jaime and her "date," I called Lucas, but only got a cellular service recording saying he was out of range. Odd. I left a "call me" message, then phoned Adam and filled him in on the case. By that time, it was nearly midnight even in California, and Robert had gone to bed. It didn't matter. Getting that list of necromancers was no longer high priority. Whatever Jaime's personal shortcomings, she'd done her job with Dana.
I hadn't slept since arriving in Miami, and my brain seemed to protest this lack of rest by making sure my sleep that night wasn't sound. I dreamed of being back in the hospital room, watching Jaime release Dana back to the realm of the dead. She dropped the hand she'd been holding, letting it fall back to the sheets. I stared at that hand, expecting to see chewed fingernails and a frayed braided bracelet. Instead the hand was plump and wrinkled, and bore a familiar gold watch.
"Mom?"
"She doesn't want to talk to you," Jaime said. "You lost the Coven. She handed it to you on a silver platter, and you still screwed up."
"No!"
I shot from my chair, stumbled, and fell into a bed smelling of hotel laundry soap. I pushed into the pillow and moaned. Suddenly, the bed tilted and I grabbed with both hands, struggling to stay on. I saw Lucas sitting on the edge. He had his back to me, and was peeling the label from an empty champagne bottle.