As always when she wasn't working, Suzie had let herself go. She was wearing a grubby Cleopatra Jones T-shirt, and a pair of jeans that had been laundered almost to the point of no return. No shoes, no make-up. From the look of her, it had been some time since her last gig. She was overweight, her belly bulging out over her jeans, her long blonde hair was a mess, and she smelled bad. Without taking her eyes off the mayhem on the screen, she took a long pull from her gin bottle, not bothering to take the cigarette out of her mouth first, then offered me the bottle. I took it away from her and put it on the floor, carefully out of her reach.

"Almost six years since I was last here, Suze," I said, just loud enough to be heard over the television. "Six years, and the old place hasn't changed a bit. Still utterly appalling, with a side order of downright disgusting. Garbage from all across the country probably comes here to die. I'll bet the only reason this building isn't overrun with rats is that you probably eat them."

"They're good with fries, and a few onions," said Suzie, not looking round.

"How can you live like this, Suze?"

"Practice. And don't call me Suze. Now sit down and shut up. You're interrupting a good bit."

"God, you're a slob, Suzie." I didn't sit down on the couch. I'd just had my coat cleaned. "Don't you ever clean up in here?"

"No. That way I know where everything is. What do you want, Taylor?"

"Well, apart from world peace, and Gillian Anderson dipped in melted chocolate, I'd like to see some evidence that you've been eating sensibly. You can't live on junk food. When was the last time you had some fresh fruit? What do you do for vitamin C?"

"Pills, mostly. Isn't science wonderful? I hate fruit."

"I seem to recall you're not too keen on vegetables either. It's a wonder to me you haven't come down with scurvy."

Suzie sniggered. "My system would self-destruct if it encountered anything that healthy. I eat soup with vegetables in. Occasionally. That sneaks them past my defences."

I kicked an empty ice cream tub out of the way and sighed heavily. "I hate to see you like this, Suzie."

"Then don't look."

"Fat and lazy and smug with it. Don't you have any ambitions?"

"To die gloriously." She took a deep drag on her cigarette and sighed luxuriously.

I sat on the arm of the couch. "I don't know why I keep coming back here, Suze."

"Because we monsters have to stick together." She finally turned her head to look at me, unsmiling. "Who else would have us?"

I met her gaze squarely. "You deserve better than this."

"Shows how much you know. What do you want, Taylor?"

"How long have you been lounging around here? Days? Weeks?"

She shrugged. "I am currently between cases. Bottom's dropped out of the bounty-hunting business lately."