“And we seem to have finished all I wanted to tell you in double quick time this morning, ladies,” she said with a smile. “So as long as you keep a low profile and don’t tell Miss Arbuthnot, I think we can end it there for the morning.”
Finally there was some semblance of an emotional response from her pupils, ranging from disbelief to mild elation. And all accompanied by a rapid exit before their teacher could change her mind.
All except one.
Emily glowered at her from the second row back.
“You can go, Emily.” Perhaps the girl hadn’t heard her? “We’re all finished here.”
“You’ve got somewhere else to go, haven’t you?” said the girl accusingly. “That’s why you covered everything so quickly. Are you meeting someone?”
“No,” Parva lied, cleaning the whiteboard so Emily couldn’t see her face.
“I bet you are,” Emily continued. “I bet it’s your boyfriend.”
With girls that age the reason was always a boyfriend.
“It’s not,” said Parva, wiping off the word ‘ALDOSTERONE’ that she’d written in capitals.
“So you are meeting someone, then?”
“It has nothing to do with you what I’m going to do,” said Parva, doing her best not to raise her voice. “You’ve got some free time now - go and enjoy it.”
“Boyfriends suck.” Emily still hadn’t moved.
“It sounds as if you’ve got some trouble of your own.” Parva’s voice softened. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“Not my trouble,” said Emily, getting up to leave now that her teacher had taken the bait and was finally displaying some interest. “Not my trouble at all.”
“Whose, then?”
“Boyfriends are crap,” said Emily as she slouched towards the door. “They treat you badly, they get you in all sorts of trouble,” she opened the door, “and if you don’t do what they want they get you killed.”
It took Parva a moment to register what the girl had said, by which time the door had swung closed. She dashed after her but by the time Parva was in the corridor it was empty.
*
“I’m afraid I can’t tell you what it was he showed me, Dr Corcoran, even if you have got permission from your DCI.”
Sergeant David Wilkins was a corpulent, middle-aged man who looked as if he had probably taken up his position in Llanbaran with the expectation of having to deal with nothing more challenging than a lost dog or an illegally parked bicycle. From his demeanour Parva could tell that the events of the last couple of weeks had left him feeling nervous and out of his depth.
Parva sipped the tea he had kindly made for her and gazed around his cramped office. The little green baize notice board by the door was plastered with events that would need policing, like the church charity raffle and the weekly farmer’s market. No missing dogs, though, she noted.
She put the cup down. “Why can’t you tell me?”
Wilkins looked even more uneasy. “You know that saying ‘It would be more than my job’s worth’? Well I know it might sound daft to you, but it really would be. If I were to tell you I’d be out of a job altogether.”
Parva thought about this. “So he showed you something you can’t talk about?”
“That’s right. I’m sorry, I really am. I’d help you if I could but I need this job. The kids haven’t finished school yet and the wife’s only got a part time job at the local gift shop. I can’t afford to lose this.”
She shook her head. “Don’t worry,” she said. “I’m not going to push you. But presumably you can tell me what you’re not allowed to tell me, if you see what I mean.”
Wilkins shook his head. “Not exactly.”
“Can you tell me his name?”
“No.”
“Was his name on what he showed you?”
Wilkins deliberated for a moment, and then nodded.
“And by any chance did it state his occupation?”
Wilkins squirmed. “Sort of.”
“And did it say that if you told anyone you’d be out of a job?”
“No, Dr Corcoran,” Wilkins had gone red-faced. “He told me that. And he wasn’t very nice about it either.”
“Let’s change the subject.” Parva took another sip of tea. “What can you tell me about the fire at that charity shop?”
Wilkins shrugged. “Not much.”
Parva almost choked. “What do you mean? It’s a disaster that happened right on your doorstep.”
“I know, and believe you me I was over there like a shot, arranging a cordon and keeping people away from the area until the fire brigade arrived. But someone else arrived first and said I wasn’t needed.”
“Someone else you’re not supposed to talk about?”
From Wilkins’ expression he obviously wasn’t. “They told me it was a suspected terrorist bombing and that it would be dealt with by the proper authorities,” he said. “Which meant not me. I was happy to leave them to it.”
“And have there been many people here looking into it?”
“Not many. In fact I’ve never seen more than two, and they haven’t been around for a week or so.” Wilkins looked out of the window across the main street. “I wish they’d let me know if we can get the contractors in to start clearing all that mess.”
“Was anyone killed in the fire?”
Wilkins shook his head. “No. It happened in the early hours of the morning, before the shop was open, so there shouldn’t have been anyone inside. I can’t tell you any more than that because, like I said, I’ve been kept away from it.”
Parva could tell he wasn’t happy. “Do you resent that?”
Wilkins shrugged. “A bit, but to be honest I would have had to call for help anyway, and if it really is to do with terrorists I’d be completely out of my depth. I don’t know why terrorists would want to blow up a charity shop, though. Or why anyone else would want to for that matter.”
“No,” said Parva, tapping her chin in thought. “Neither do I.” She looked at her watch. She was meant to be teaching ‘The Ecology of the Pond’ in half an hour. “I’ve got to get going,” she said. “But I’d be grateful if you could keep our meeting a secret.”
“As long as you promise not to tell anyone it was me who told you what I’ve said.” Wilkins gave her a grin.
“I promise, and I’ll let you into a secret of my own.” Parva leaned forward so she could whisper. “I’ve been sent undercover at St Miranda’s. Do you think the fire could be due to anything going on there?”
“Where they had those deaths?” Wilkins scratched his head. “I wouldn’t know. That place is a law unto itself. A load of super rich girls with fathers so powerful they bypass me and get their own teams of lawyers and investigators to look into things if there’s any trouble. I couldn’t tell you much about that place.”
Parva could tell from his tone that he didn’t care much for the school, but something he had said had caught her attention. “So did you not have much involvement with the suicides, then?”
“I didn’t even know they were suicides,” said Wilkins. “The first I heard of it was when I was told a helicopter was coming to take the bodies out of here and I was asked to make sure any rumours amongst the townsfolk were dealt with quickly.”
“So the post mortems weren’t conducted here?”
Wilkins shook his head. “It’s as if that school’s in another country. Their own laws, their own way of doing things.”
Parva gestured to the burnt out ruin in the high street. “A bit like what’s been happening out there, then?”
Wilkins nodded. “Exactly like it, miss. Do you think there might be a link?”
“I didn’t until I spoke to you,” Parva replied. “But now it’s looking pretty obvious. Can I rely on you not to tell anyone what I’m up to in there?”
“Of course. To be honest I’d warn you to stay away from the place. I certainly wouldn’t go there unless I had to, but if you need any help, let me know
.”
Parva gave him a warm smile. “Thanks,” she said. “But I wouldn’t want to get you into the kind of trouble I’m probably going to find myself in before long.”
Wilkins frowned. “What are you intending to get up to?”
“I’ve been putting it off for too long,” Parva said, her expression serious. “It’s time for me to take a look at where those girls died. And I’ve still got no idea how I’m going to come up with an excuse to get inside that room.”
10
The Ecology of Pond Life took less than an hour, thanks partly to one of the textbooks Parva had bought in Bristol and partly because of her photographic memory. The girls left the classroom with the most complicated flow diagram of pond organism interactions imaginable, although Parva was quick to call one of them back before she could escape.
“Emily?”
The girl ignored her until the third time Parva said her name. Then she came shuffling back, her bag slung over her shoulder, her eyes downcast, as if the most interesting thing in the room was the grey linoleum.
Parva sighed. “Do I really have to call your name three times to get your attention?”
Emily shrugged.
“Well never mind. I need to speak to you.”
There was still no reply. Instead Emily kicked at the floor and looked away.
Parva pressed on regardless. “You know you said I should leave things alone?”
Another shrug.
“Well I can’t. It’s all much too important. Something serious has happened in the town and I’m thinking it might be related to what happened to those girls.”
Emily’s words were a mumble as she kept her face averted. “What do you want me to do about it?”
“I just want you to answer some questions. I’m not going to tell anyone you spoke to me. You won’t get into any trouble for this.”
“No,” said the girl. “But you will.” Finally she looked at Parva. “And why would you want to? What have you got to do with all of this? Why should I trust you any more than the others who came?”
Parva frowned. “What others? Do mean the ones who came to take the bodies away?”
“No.” They’d lost eye contact again. “The ones who came before that. The ones from London. The ones who said we had to keep quiet or there’d be trouble.”
“I’m not from London, I’m from Bristol.” Oh way to go, Parva thought, mentally kicking herself as soon as the words had escaped her lips. That’s really going to make all the difference.
“I don’t care where you’re from,” came the deserved reply. “Who are you really? And why do you want to know what’s going on here?”
It would be a risk taking this girl into her confidence, on both their parts. But Parva could see there was no way she was going to be able to get this girl to open up otherwise. It was difficult enough getting her to talk.
“My name in Dr Parva Corcoran,” she said. “I’m here undercover to try and find out the truth behind the suicides. There’s concern that the girls might have been murdered, and the more I see of this place the more I’m starting to be convinced it might be true.”
Emily smiled, which must have been a new experience for her, Parva thought. Then she did something else quite unexpected. She held out her hand.
“That’s a lot more than any of the others were willing to come out with,” she said. “You’ve just made yourself a friend, Dr Corcoran.”
“We’d better stick with ‘Miss Corcoran’ for the moment.” It was strange, shaking hands with this girl, but it was also oddly reassuring. “So what can you tell me?”
Emily shook her head. “Not much, really. Miss Arbuthnot found them. We all heard about it when we got back from the half-term break.”
“So it happened when most of you were away?”
“I guess so. When I got back,” she wrinkled her brow, “that must have been around nine on Sunday evening, there was a helicopter taking off and police still had the building cordoned off.”
“Were they definitely police?”
“How do you mean?”
“Were they in uniform?”
Emily bit her lip. “No, but the next day in assembly Miss Arbuthnot told us they were special investigators from London who had been sent up because of who the girls were. We weren’t to say anything about it to anyone because all that would do would be to bring the newspapers here.” She gave a shiver. “And nobody wanted that.”
Parva nodded. If you were the child of someone famous, for whatever reason, it must be difficult avoiding the press when you were at home, never mind at school. “So what happened after that?”
Emily shrugged. “Nothing much. Life went on as before. We figured there would be more of a fuss, but there’s been nothing. I reckon it’s all been hushed up, and that anyone who’s tried to do any digging has either been paid off or kept quiet in some other way. You know what I mean.”
Parva did, but it was still disconcerting to hear it from a seventeen-year-old girl.
“Anyway, we were told they’d killed themselves which is, you know, really shit, don’t you think?”
“What? That they killed themselves or that it’s what they told you?”
Emily’s eyes glared. “What they told us of course! There’s no way any of them would have wanted to do that. Jesus Christ, Tor stood to inherit millions, Rachel was looking forward to backpacking in South America in the summer holidays, Kerry’s dad was going to take her on tour with him next year, and despite all of Jen’s boyfriend problems she was still being asked to come to London to visit him.”
Parva looked over at the classroom door. Was it her imagination or did she just see a shadow pass by? She lowered her voice to a whisper. “But why would anyone want to kill them?”
Emily followed suit, and now her voice was so quite Parva could barely hear it. “I think someone wanted to kill one of them,” she said. “The others were just in the wrong place at the wrong time and ended up being done in as well.”
It was still weird to hear such a young girl talk like that about people she knew.
“Emily,” Parva didn’t want to involve the girl any more than possible, but she had to ask her. “Do you know where all this happened?”
“Oh yes,” she replied. “Would you like me to show you?”
“I should probably go there myself. You never know who might be watching.”
“We should go at night then,” Emily said, “and dress in black.”
Parva almost laughed. That shouldn’t be too difficult for either of them. “You can’t come with me,” she said. “It could be dangerous.”
If Emily was the type she would have folded her arms and pouted at this point. Instead she turned to leave. “Well I’m not going to tell you,” she said, walking away. “Just let me know when you’re ready to go and I’ll take you.”
“Hang on!” Parva was chasing after her. “How many detective movies have you seen?”
Emily’s face creased with lack of understanding. “A few,” she said. “Why?”
“Because if you’ve seen as many as I have you’ll know that anyone saying what you’ve just said is next in line to be bumped off. Before they give the detective the vital clue.”
“This isn’t a film, though.”
“No,” said Parva. “This is serious, and I don’t want you disappearing on me. You tell me the location now and I promise we’ll meet there tonight.”
Emily noticeably brightened. “At midnight?”
Parva nodded. “Seems as good a time as any,” she said. “Now where are we meeting?”
For a moment she was worried that the girl still wasn’t going to tell her, then Emily skipped up to her and whispered, “Twelvetrees Hall. Room 312.”
11
Parva slipped out of Pelham House at a quarter to midnight, thanked the heavens that it wasn’t raining, and made her way to Twelvetrees Hall, doing her best to keep to the shadows. Under any other circumstances she would have giggled at what she was
up to, behaving like she used to when she was a little girl and had aspirations to be a spy. It was hardly likely there would be anyone around at this time, but Parva had a feeling that things were far from resolved at St Miranda’s. For all she knew someone walked these grounds every night on the lookout for anyone who might be connected with what was going on, something that had resulted in the deaths of four girls and an unexplained disaster in town. It was fortunate no one had died there, and Parva knew she had to get on with things if further deaths were to be prevented.
There were two figures standing at the entrance to Twelvetrees Hall.
Parva ducked behind a tree. Who the hell would be up at this time? Then she remembered how late she had used to stay awake, her thoughts racing, her mind filled with the possibilities of what the next year, the next week, even the next day held for her.
It was probably just a couple of the girl. Nevertheless she picked up a stone from the loose gravel around the tree’s tangled roots and threw it towards the building. It landed with a clatter.
A figure stepped into the light.
It was the girl Parva had nearly run over when she arrived here.
A hand reached out to drag the girl back into the shadows, the arm clad in black. Even from here Parva could see the black varnish on the fingernails.
Emily.
Parva skipped over from her hiding place, circling round behind them as she did so. Confident the girls hadn’t seen her; she crept up and placed a hand on Emily’s shoulder.
The girl jumped high enough Parva immediately regretted it, but at least she didn’t cry out.
“It’s you!” Emily looked shocked.
“Of course!” Parva tried to give her a reassuring smile. “Who else do you think it could be?”
“I don’t know,” the girl mumbled. “Are you a ninja or something?”
Parva stifled a chuckle. “Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend, who I might add you never mentioned you were bringing?”
“Oh, yeah, sorry about that.” Emily nudged the other girl, who was doing her best to become one with the brick wall behind her. “This is Jocelyn. She’s the one...”
The Pact Page 5