“Come on, gothy,” Susan said, nodding to where the bouncer had opened the side gate for them. “Time to go save Daisy from the grips of an evil yogic cult.”

“What?!”

“I’ll fill you in on the way . . .”

But as the three of them turned their backs on Vectra, she let out an astonished gasp.

“Grooty! Your back . . . that tattoo . . . is that . . . did you . . . are you a member of the Black Metal Society?”

Esther glanced back and gave her a secretive smile and a devil-horn salute. “Not anymore. Some of us are too metal to be tamed . . .”

Two paces down the road, Ed Gemmell cleared his throat. “Esther . . . didn’t you say your tattoo stood for ‘Barry Manilow Sings’?”

12
A VAN, A PLAN, AND TWO MANS

“So what’s this about Daisy being abducted by a cult?” Ed Gemmell asked as they walked down the road from the Obscure Breed of Sheep.

“And if that’s the case, why aren’t we marching straight there?” Esther said. Her confrontation with Vectra had left her with an excess of adrenaline, and Susan and Ed Gemmell were having to trot to keep up the pace she’d set.

“And do what, exactly?” Susan said mildly.

“Bust her out and burn the place to the ground!” On seeing the look Ed Gemmell was giving her, she added, “Metaphorically.”

For all that Susan was pleased to have Esther back on her side and out of the thrall of that toxic pixie witch, it was going to take more than an overabundance of enthusiasm to take down the Brethren.

Slowing her pace so that walking and talking became viable, Susan filled the others in.

“So Daisy’s been absent of late, and whenever we’ve seen her, she’s been pretty weird. That much we already know.”

“Right.”

“Right.” Ed Gemmell frowned. “Last time I saw her, it was like she’d been hypnotized.”

“Either that—or drugged.”

Susan unfolded the paper bag she’d found when rummaging in Daisy’s wastebasket for more clues about the Brethren of Zoise. The flower motif was stamped on the outside of the bag, but it wasn’t that in which Susan was interested. “Open that and give it a sniff.”

It was immediately clear that both Esther and Ed Gemmell were familiar with the scent of hash.

“When I had my energy-drink episode, Daisy gave me some cookies, and I passed out for forty-eight hours. When I ate them, I was buzzing too much to know what they were, but afterward, when I asked for the recipe, Daisy turned extremely cagey.” Susan paused to flip off a car that sounded its horn when she stepped into the pedestrian crossing.

“Like she knew?” Esther was aghast.

“I don’t think so, but she doubled down on the cageiness when I suggested I come with her to yoga.”