The sister nodded. ‘If you don’t feel like going home, or you’d like to talk to someone, I volunteer at a drop-in centre close by. There’s always someone there who can talk. And I’m a nun, but don’t let that put you off. Terry, who’s coming with the van, is a stone-cold atheist.’

‘Why would I go there?’ Charlie asked.

‘The viruses have taken so many people,’ the sister explained. ‘Everyone has lost someone close. The drop-in centres help everyone, from showering zombies, to talking things through with people like you who are having a bad day.’

Charlie pointed to the leaflets. ‘What about God, Not Mods?’

‘That’s my personal crusade,’ Sister Miraculous said proudly as a tatty van came down the other side of the street and did a U-turn.

It was an old airport shuttle van, with a neon-pink paint job and Las Vegas Drop-in Centers stencilled down the side. When it pulled up, Charlie saw dents in the door and deep bands of rust around the wheel arches.

‘All aboard the Wes Express,’ the driver shouted as Sister Miraculous grappled with a sliding side door.

Wes was a large man with a wild ginger beard.

‘Our new pal Charlie is having a bad night,’ Sister Miraculous explained.

Charlie and Patrick slid on to the van’s tattered seats.

‘I’m good,’ Charlie said. ‘I can get a cab if you drop me on The Strip.’

‘You’ve drunk a lot,’ the sister said firmly. ‘I’d rather see you home safe.’

Wes adopted a ludicrous robot voice. ‘Please enter destination …’

‘Kuchler Motel,’ Charlie said, her vision blurring as the sister pulled the door closed from inside. ‘If you’re sure you don’t mind.’

73 SLEIGHT OF HAND

‘Snow’s building,’ Sister Miraculous said as the van crossed The Strip. ‘Report said it’ll be warmer tomorrow.’

Traffic was quiet and it took less than fifteen minutes to the Kuchler. As they rolled into the motel, Patrick saw a pair of radio-controlled cars racing across the near-empty lot. Ed and Rex sat on a kerb, wrapped up warm, each holding a control unit.

‘Charlie’s drunk as a skunk!’ Patrick announced to Ed, jumping out of the van and hurtling towards him. ‘Can I try? Please, please, please.’

‘Sure you can,’ Ed teased as he pulled his little car up in front of Patrick. ‘You can make an appointment for two weeks’ time?’

‘Don’t be mean,’ Patrick whined, then grinned as Rex handed him the controller for the other car.

‘Use the accelerator gently,’ Rex advised. ‘It’s sensitive.’

Charlie approached as Patrick’s car zipped away. She looked at Rex. ‘What happened to Georgia?’

Rex shook his head, and grinned like he always did. ‘By the time my tire showed, my load had been contracted out to another driver.’