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of the get-your-handsoff-me Mattie back again. I left her to it.
    Across the shop floor a woman in a chador was fingeringher way through some garish costume jewellery. She appeared to be alone, but then he or she would hardly stand right next to her, would they? I spotted him lurking by a make-up counter opposite, and he didn’t look happy. Could be he just didn’t like having to be so obvious. Or maybe he thought the job was beneath him. Either way you can see now why Frank passes certain assignments on to me. I looked away. He left it a second, then glanced in my direction, just to check I wasn’t someone he should be worrying about. I gave him a wink. He looked right through me. I thought about going over and telling him what a good job he was doing, how no one would know he was there, but it seemed unduly cruel, even for me. After all, we both have a job to do.
    When I looked round, Mattie was gone. I went in among the rails, but there was no sign. I checked the changing rooms and the rest of the boutique. After the service station incident I was more pissed off than anxious. Or maybe just disappointed. So when I finally tracked her down at the lifts, doors open, about to step in, I’m afraid I lost it a little.
    I grabbed her by the arm and yanked her back. Not the most private place for a public showdown, but there you go. ‘Where do you think you’re going?’
    She didn’t look at me, just tossed her head: Scarlett O’Hara caught trying to wreck another marriage. And pretending she felt OK about it. ‘Downstairs.’
    â€˜Come on, Mattie, you know the deal. You want to go somewhere, I go with you.’
    She shook her head angrily. ‘You’re not my father. I don’t have to ask your permission.’She still hadn’t had the grace to look me straight in the eye.
    â€˜Oh yes you do. I’m being paid to look after you, remember?’
    She pulled open the zip of her money belt, grabbing ahandful of notes and waving them in front of my face. ‘How much? I’ll give you the same again to leave me alone.’
    I sighed. We were evidently providing entertainment for the little crowd waiting at the lift. I wondered what they thought. Not mother and daughter, surely. God save me from that. I pushed down her hand. ‘Put it away.’ Then louder: ‘Put it away, Mattie.’
    I could feel all my good work slipping away. I lowered my voice, keeping it steady. ‘Listen, I know you don’t like this. I don’t like it, either. But look at it from my point of view. If something happened to you, it would be my fault.’
    She closed her eyes tight, more petulance than anger now. ‘I told you. My mother doesn’t want me. She’s too busy with her lover. It’s an excuse. My father’s not paying you to protect me. He’s paying you to make himself feel better about preferring work to his daughter. You’re his guilt money. Just like me.’
    Over the top of her head I spotted the bodyguard from the make-up counter, smirking from behind his client’s flowing robes. I looked back at Mattie. And my heart went out to her: to be so alone that she was forced to row with someone who was almost a stranger. I put my hand on her shoulder and this time she didn’t shrug it off.
    â€˜OK,’I said quietly, ‘OK. Your father’s a shit. So let’s go spend some of his money, all right?’
    She pursed her lips, then nodded. I took her by the arm and we stepped together into the lift. The crowd watched us go. I stood by the lift buttons and turned to her.
    â€˜One,’she said quietly. I raised an eyebrow. She gave a little shrug. ‘Underwear,’she said defiantly.
    It struck me later that she hadn’t so much wanted her independence as her privacy. Certainly I was impressedby her sophistication. When I was her age it was Marks & Spencer cotton all the way. Maybe things had changed. I had this