I winced privately. Ever since I had set my face against disco, things had got worse. Now there weren't even the sugary tunes and we were rapidly running out of Bee Gees. Now there was a repeated phrase, perhaps, an uncomfortably inorganic beat, and a few thousand k's of unrelated pictures.

'They play all the old vampire movies,' Goss told me, clasping her little hands in what looked suspiciously like girlish delight. She could have been a Victorian maiden describing her favourite bouquet, except for the hair. It was green today. 'All the Hammer horror, and that real old one, black and white.'

'Oh yes, that one. Nosferatu.'

'Scary,' confessed Goss.

'Scared me and Horatio both so much we spent the rest of the night under the doona,' I confessed in turn.

'I think it was those teeth,' said Goss. 'Like a snake.' She shook her green head. 'Anyway, there's dancing, and you can only buy red drinks-wine or red cordial. Sometimes they have compet.i.tions. One of the people is given a little bottle of water, and you have to chase your favourite vamp and splash him or her, and there's a prize for the best death scene. It's so cool,' she enthused.

It sounded harmless enough to someone who had spent her schooldays playing murder in the dark. A lot of revenge can get taken in a girls' school in the dark. Chasing a costumed person with a bottle of holy water seemed tame by comparison. Though of course it would allow for a lot of incidental collisions and embracing and so on, which ought to ensure its popularity. While hormones remained hormones.

'I've seen Mistress Dread there,' said Goss. 'Well, Kylie said she saw her. Carol says that Mistress Dread runs the dungeon.'

'She was born to run a dungeon,' I said. Goss giggled. 'And I bet she runs a very well-conducted crypt too, with only the best of resurrected corpses,' I said.

'No, the crypt master is Lestat,' said Goss. 'He's a bit scary. Even though he asked me to, I don't think I want to go down there,' she added reflectively.

I didn't dare say a word. Goss was acquiring common sense, that rarest of commodities. Any word from me would produce an adverse reaction. I didn't quite hold my breath. I waited for her to go on. She seemed reluctant.

'The kids say ... that things happen in there. But they're just bulls.h.i.+tting, I suppose.'

'Bad things? Like poor Suze?' I ventured.

'Suze doesn't go in to the club,' said Goss. 'She doesn't have the clothes and they know she's a junkie. She just goes round the back, in the lane. It's not just the vamps from Blood Lines with Suze. Daniel says she won't last much longer.'

'Yes, it's very sad.'

'And it's not fair!' she burst out, with one of those young-person changes of mood which keep all people over thirty on their toes. And sometimes drive them out of their minds. I was groping for a response when a familiar voice said, 'Where does it say it has to be fair? You show me where it's written that it's a fair universe.'

'It still isn't, Daniel,' mumbled Goss.

'The only answer that G.o.d is likely to make to "Why me?", Gossamer, is "Why not you?". And it's not a useful answer, and not a useful question either. Why so sad on such a nice day, ladies?' he asked.

I was suddenly short of breath. Just seeing Daniel without warning had the same effect on me as a punch in the solar plexus I had long ago received in a minor altercation in an Irish pub.

'Suze,' said Goss. Daniel gave her a big grin.

'I am pleased to tell you that Suze got knocked down by a car last night,' said Daniel. 'No, wait, that isn't quite what I meant. I mean, poor Suze, pelvis broken in two places, but lucky Suze, because-'

'She'll have to stay in hospital for weeks and weeks,' said Goss, cheering up right away.

'And I have already called her mother to tell her that Suze will need rehabilitation and a place to live and that from about Wednesday she will be off drugs. I have also told the hospital that she will need special care as she detoxes. G.o.d knows how they are going to manage a broken bone without opiates. Mama's happy to have Suze back if she's off the stuff,' said Daniel.

'It's just what she would have wanted,' said Goss, clasping her hands again. Goss had given me such a lot of useful information that I relented on the dress. I opened the till and counted out three days' wages.

'Go and get your dress,' I said. 'You deserve it.'

Goss counted the notes. 'You forgot to tell me to go to the movies,' she said cheekily from the door. 'That's what my sister always did when her boyfriend-'

'Or I could just take the money back,' I said, and she squeaked and fled. Daniel watched her go.

'You know, I don't think I was ever that young,' he sighed.

'Me either. Oh well. I'm so pleased about Suze. Best thing that could have happened. Daniel, you weren't driving that car, were you?'

'No, ketschele, but I admit that if I had been and she had happened to totter across the road in those broken heels, I might have been tempted. Luckily, some other public-spirited citizen did. Pity he didn't leave his name,' said Daniel grimly. 'When they found her, she looked just like a broken doll, flung into the gutter by a bad-tempered child.'

'Do you think it's connected to the heroin deaths?'

'I don't know.' He sat down heavily in the shop chair. 'The police have taken paint sc.r.a.pings from her clothes. There were bits of gla.s.s on the road. He may have broken a headlight. And she would have left a dent in his b.u.mper. The accident investigation guy said that the driver was doing about thirty k's. If it had been just five k's faster she would be dead. In other news, I haven't heard even a whisper about Cherie Holliday. No one knew the face or the name. She might have moved on. Would you mind if I just sat here for a while, Corinna? I like your shop. I like the way it smells. You don't need to take any notice of me.'

As Kylie would say, as if. But people came in demanding bread and I sold loaves and cheese rolls and more m.u.f.fins. That Jason had a perfect light hand with m.u.f.fins. They were definitely better than mine. I was so used to bread that I tended to overmix them.

I gave Daniel a m.u.f.fin, before they all got sold, and a cup of strong coffee. He looked very decorative against the wall of trays. They were silver and caught the light. With his dark, clean outline, he looked like a fallen angel repenting his error, sitting down at the gates of heaven until G.o.d changed his mind.

Of course, a fallen angel would probably not be eating blueberry m.u.f.fins and drinking coffee. Then again, if they don't have coffee in heaven, and bread, I'm not going. So there.

I was just handing over the last m.u.f.fin to a customer who had always refused to eat them 'because they were soggy' and who was now an enthusiastic convert, when I heard 'Psst!' from the bakery.

'Yes, Jason?'

'Is Daniel there?'

'Yes, but he's resting. Just give him time to finish his coffee, eh?'

'Oh. Yeah. Right,' said Jason.

'The m.u.f.fins have sold out again,' I told him. 'You've got just the right touch for m.u.f.fins. We'll have to make more tomorrow.'

'Thanks,' he said, sounding a bit stunned. I toned down the enthusiasm. The young find enthusiasm uncool. The whisper came again, more urgently.

'Did Daniel say something about Suze? Is she all right?'

The shop was otherwise empty, apart from a contemplating angel. I went to the bakery door. Jase grabbed my hand. He was really worried.

'Sort of all right. The bad news is that she was knocked down by a car. The good news is that she's alive with a broken pelvis and she'll have to stay in hospital for ages. Also, her mum is willing to have her back if she's off drugs.'

'Hey,' he said, blooming into that happy smile. 'Sweet as!'

'Daniel thought so,' I told him. 'So do I. So did Goss. Who is out, by the way, if you want to come into the shop.'

He shook his head for no. Still very street-shy, our Jason.

'Can I go and see Suze?' he asked.

'Maybe,' I said. 'You'll have to get some better clothes and perhaps if you go with Goss or Kylie or me they might let you in. They know she's an addict. They won't let anyone in who might be ... sorry, Jason ...'

'Smuggling in stuff,' he completed the sentence. Instead of going off the planet, as I expected, about anyone questioning the purity of his motives just because he was as thin as a wraith and had needle scars on both arms, he thought about it. Goss was not the only one who was exhibiting signs of growing up today.

'I better leave it a week,' he said soberly. 'She's gonna be real bad for a week. Suze was up to five hundred a day.'

'Five hundred what?'

He gave me the identical Goss/Kylie 'what's the weather like on your planet?' look. He rubbed finger and thumb together in a very universal gesture.

'Dollars,' he said.

I boggled. When I thought of what Suze would have had to do to how many people in order to earn five hundred dollars every day I was profoundly glad that she had broken her pelvis in two places. Apart from anything else, she needed a rest.

'What was your habit worth?' I asked, as if it was an idle question.

'Not much. Couple of caps. Just to dull it out, you know?'

'So that it didn't hurt so much?'

'Yeah,' he hung his head. I wasn't going to push him.

'Do you feel better now?'

'A bit. Everything hurts, though, you know? Like I just burned my finger. It's not bad, see?' He showed me a small red patch. It would not even blister. 'But it hurt like I'd put my arm in the gas flame.'

'That's bad,' I commented. I would have to ask Daniel about this. I knew precisely as much as the ordinary person knew about heroin, which was nothing at all.

Jason shrugged. 'Why don't we make doughnuts?' he asked.

'Because I'd need to buy a fryer,' I said.

'You could do that,' he said.

'Yes, but I would also need to learn how to make them, have a hot tray to keep them warm, and enter into direct compet.i.tion with the doughnut shop just near the station,' I replied. He looked a little crestfallen. 'But if you'd like to invent some new m.u.f.fins, I'll be happy to let you try them,' I said.

'New m.u.f.fins?'

'Yes, why not? Try some combinations, maybe put nuts in them. There's a shelf of books over there. Why not have a look?'

He looked evasive. 'I ... lost my gla.s.ses,' he said.

'I've never seen you wear gla.s.ses,' I said, surprised.

'I don't read that good,' he mumbled as the moment stretched out. 'I'm stupid. Didn't you know that?' he demanded savagely. I had to think of something fast.

'That's because you've never wanted to read,' I said. 'They never gave you cookbooks to read, did they?'

'No,' he admitted.

'Well, then. Take down that little one-yes, that one- open it at the first page, and read it to me. I'm not going to watch. I have to get back into the shop.'

Very reluctantly, Jason dragged himself across the bakery, found the book m.u.f.fins and Tea Cakes and I heard him begin to read as I went back into the shop.

'Tea is a meal wh ... whi ... s.h.i.+t. Must be which is taken in the ... after ... afternoon,' he said. 'Tea cakes or m.u.f.fins are usu ... usua ... whatever, served at tea.'

We had limped and stammered through two pages when Daniel stirred. Goss had come into the shop, almost dragging a Goth girl by the hand.

'h.e.l.lo, Carol,' I said, peering at her as I always did. There must be a face under all that make-up.

'She isn't Carol,' said Goss, bubbling over with excitement. 'She's Cherie. This is Cherie Holliday.'

CHAPTER FOURTEEN.

'h.e.l.lo, Cherie,' I said. I couldn't think of anything else to say. Not for the life of me. Apart from 'would you like a ham roll?' which didn't seem appropriate. Daniel rescued me. He took the girl's hand in both his own and she thawed a little.

'No wonder no one knew you on the street,' he said easily. 'You weren't on the street.'

'Never was,' snapped Cherie. 'I had some money. I stayed at a hostel. I got a job. At the boutique. Did you do the posters?' she demanded of me.

'Yes,' I admitted. She looked ready to fly at me with those black nails.

'Is it true?' she said in that tight, hard voice. For a moment I didn't know what she was asking. Then I caught on.

'Yes, it's true,' I said. 'The man was caught, he's in jail, and your father believes you. He knows it was all true.'

'He called me a liar,'she said.I felt helpless.This was not the return of the prodigal daughter for which I had been hoping.

'Hey,' said Daniel gently. 'The man's been suffering to the max.'

'So have I,' she returned tartly.

196.

'He made a mistake,' Daniel said relentlessly. 'Have you never made any mistakes? Call the Guinness Book of Records,' he said to Goss. 'A girl who's never made a mistake.'

'Carol,' Goss urged, embarra.s.sed. 'Don't be such a b.i.t.c.h! You should see the poor man. He's sorry. I never saw anyone that sorry before.'

'I don't care,' snarled Cherie.

'You don't have to see him,' said Daniel. 'You can go back and hug your pain and humiliation to your breast and sour your life with it. We can't stop you. We'll tell him you're still alive and you still hate him,' he said.

There was a long pause. Then Cherie drew herself up.

'I'll tell him myself,' she replied haughtily.