The Pact: A dark and compulsive thriller about secrets, privilege and revenge

by S J Bolton

  ‘It’s over for us, isn’t it?’ Felix’s heightened colour drained as he spoke. ‘Even if it’s only Dan who gets prosecuted – sorry, Dan, but we might as well face facts – we’re all accomplices. We all left the scene of an accident.’

  In the silence that followed, more than one saw the bright bubble of fire again, felt the exploding heat against their faces.

  Talitha said, ‘Everyone will hate us.’

  ‘No university will take us,’ Amber said. ‘It’ll be in all the papers.’

  ‘Why?’ Xav looked around. ‘It was a road traffic accident. They happen all the time. They don’t all make the news.’

  ‘Get real, Xav. We’re the senior prefect team at All Souls,’ Talitha said. ‘Megan’s head of school, for God’s sake. We’ve all got Oxbridge places, or near enough. The rest of the world loves to bring people like us down. Don’t kid yourselves – the newspapers will have a field day with this.’

  ‘My dad could lose his seat,’ Amber muttered. Her father was the MP for Buckingham.

  ‘We’ve ruined everything.’ Talitha, too, seemed on the verge of tears. None of them had ever seen her cry before.

  Felix held up his hands as though to stop the others rushing him.

  ‘Not necessarily,’ he said. ‘Only one of us needs to have been in the car tonight. He can say it was an accident, that he made a mistake. We had a plan, remember? Well, that’s what we do. We stick to it. A solitary driver made a mistake, and there was a terrible accident.’

  ‘Don’t fucking look at me,’ Daniel said. ‘I’m not letting you off scot-free.’

  There was movement in the room, hardly noticeable, and yet somehow four of the others – Felix, Xav, Talitha and Amber – had formed a circle around Daniel. He stared from one face to another, like a trapped animal, desperate for a way to run.

  From her seat by the door, Megan watched, her dark eyes wide and staring.

  ‘Think about it, Dan.’ Felix’s voice was calm, his movements soothing. ‘One of us has to pay for what happened tonight. There’s no getting around that. But not all of us do. You’re still young. Your record’s clean. You’re an exemplary pupil. You’ll get a year or two, possibly. Maybe not. Maybe you’ll get away with community service. Whatever happens, we’ll make it up to you.’

  Daniel stared at Felix with something like hatred in his eyes.

  ‘What are you suggesting?’ Talitha asked, and Daniel shot her an anguished look.

  ‘This is what happened,’ Felix said. ‘We were all hanging out here and Daniel left. He was nervous about tomorrow and wanted to be on his own at home. He took my mum’s car without asking, because he had no other way of getting back. He got confused, because he was tired, and a bit drunk, and not a very experienced driver, and he took a wrong turn. He panicked when the other car exploded and drove home.’

  ‘I don’t believe I’m hearing this,’ Daniel began.

  ‘Hush, Dan. Let him finish,’ Megan said.

  ‘First thing in the morning, he comes back here, and tells us what he’s done.’

  ‘Then I phone my dad, who can be here in less than an hour,’ Talitha said. ‘He agrees to act for Dan – he will, Dan, I’m sure of it – and the two of them go to the police station.’

  Tears were running down Daniel’s face. ‘No. I’m not doing it.’

  ‘My dad might even get you off,’ Talitha said. ‘He’s brilliant, everyone says so.’

  ‘I’ll go to prison. That’s it. Life over. Why should I be the only one who pays? Why?’

  ‘Isn’t it better to have five friends who are doing well, who can look after you, make sure you get what you need when it’s over, than five friends who are serving time in the next cell?’ Felix said.

  Daniel dropped his head into his hands. ‘I won’t. I won’t do it.’

  ‘We could draw lots,’ Xav suggested.

  Daniel looked up. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Felix’s right,’ Xav said. ‘It’s stupid for us all to take the blame. Why ruin six lives? Only one of us needs to do it. Question is, which one?’

  No one spoke.

  ‘We’re all equally guilty,’ Xav said. ‘We’ve all done it. Any one of us could have been in the driving seat when someone got hurt. Got any straws, Tal?’

  ‘You’re not serious?’ Felix said.

  ‘Why not?’ Daniel demanded. ‘Not so keen on one of us carrying the can when it might be you?’

  ‘You’re a dickhead. You caused the crash, not me.’

  ‘I’ll do it,’ said Megan.

  It’s possible the others had forgotten Megan was there, she’d been so quiet since they’d got back. On her foldaway chair by the door, she seemed unnaturally still, her arms wrapped around her body, her eyes on the floor.

  ‘What do you mean?’ Felix said.

  She glanced up. ‘I’ll say I was driving.’

  They all watched her take a deep breath. She closed her eyes, and for a second or more seemed almost to have turned to stone. Then her dark eyes opened but fixed on something that none of the others could see.

  ‘I’ll say I was alone,’ she went on. ‘That I got fed up hanging out with you guys, that I was nervous about tomorrow and that I wanted to go home.’

  ‘That’s not your way home.’ Felix spoke slowly, almost suspiciously. ‘And why would you take my mum’s car?’

  Another long pause. ‘I was really, really fed up with you all,’ she said at last. ‘You were behaving like complete jerks.’

  Her eyes held those of Felix.

  ‘I got confused at the junction,’ Megan said. ‘Maybe I was upset, not really concentrating as I should have been, and when I saw the other car, there was nothing I could do.’

  A few more seconds of silence.

  ‘Why?’ said Xav. ‘Why would you do that?’

  ‘Let her, if she wants to,’ Daniel said.

  ‘You and Felix are right,’ Megan said. ‘It’s stupid for everyone’s lives to be ruined. One of us can save the others. We’ve always said we’re the best friends we’re ever going to have. Now we show we mean it.’

  ‘I can’t believe you’d do that,’ Xav said.

  ‘One of us has to, and Dan simply isn’t strong enough. No offence, Dan, but I think you just proved it.’

  ‘What’s the catch?’ Felix said.

  Megan got to her feet. ‘The catch is that you will all owe me. You owe me your lives, because what I’m about to do will save them. Do you agree?’

  ‘Yes,’ Daniel said.

  ‘Meg,’ Amber began, ‘I’m not sure—’

  ‘What is it you want?’ Felix said.

  ‘Tal,’ Megan said. ‘You’re our legal brain, go and get some paper and a pen.’

  Tal half got up from her seat. ‘But, what—’

  ‘Just do it. Dan, go with her. There’s a camera in her bedroom. She usually keeps it in the bedside cabinet. Make sure it’s charged up and bring that too.’

  With a nervous glance at each other, Talitha and Daniel left the pool house.

  ‘What are you up to?’ Felix asked.

  ‘Keeping you out of prison,’ Megan told him. ‘You were happy enough for Dan to do it. What’s your problem now?’

  Felix opened his mouth.

  ‘No, shut up,’ Megan stopped him. ‘I need to think.’

  Seconds, then minutes ticked by. Amber buried her face in Xav’s shoulder, Felix stared at Megan the way predators watch prey that they’re hungry for but fearful of at the same time. Megan fixed her eyes on the water outside. Only once did she turn around, only for a second, to make eye contact with Xav.

  The others returned, Daniel carrying the camera, Talitha with a clipboard, several sheets of paper and a pen. No one spoke. They were waiting for Megan.

  ‘Write what I tell you,’ she said to Talith
a.

  Talitha sat.

  ‘Date it,’ Megan told her. ‘Today’s date. Thursday the seventeenth of August, and put the time, three thirty-five in the morning.’

  ‘Done.’ Talitha’s hand was visibly shaking.

  ‘OK, now write this. “We, the undersigned, were travelling in the VW Golf, registration number V112 HCG, in the early hours of this morning. At approximately zero-three-ten hours, we drove onto the south-east-bound carriage of the A40. Shortly after the road became the motorway, we narrowly avoided colliding with a Vauxhall Astra, registration number S79 THO travelling in the opposite direction.”’

  ‘How did you get the number?’ Amber asked.

  ‘I’ve got an eidetic memory. Tal, keep going. “The Astra crashed, due to our actions, and a fire broke out. We were unable to help the passengers.”’

  Tal stopped writing and shook her hand, as though to relieve cramp.

  ‘We should say that Dan was driving,’ Felix said.

  ‘Shut the fuck up,’ Daniel snapped.

  ‘This is about collective responsibility,’ Megan said. ‘Almost done, Tal. “We acted deliberately, knowing our actions were potentially dangerous. It was a dare, one which we’d done five times before, with each of us taking a turn at the wheel. We jointly and fully take responsibility for the accident.”’

  ‘I’m getting to the bottom of the page,’ Talitha said.

  ‘Is there space for six signatures?’ Megan asked.

  ‘Just about.’

  ‘We all sign,’ Megan said.

  ‘Why are we doing this?’ Felix said, when the paper was handed to him. ‘What are you planning to do with it?’

  ‘Keep it safe,’ Megan told him. ‘I’ll only use it if I have to.’

  ‘Why?’ Felix’s face had turned stony. ‘What’s the catch?’

  ‘If I do this for you, you will all owe me. I’ll take the blame, but you’ll all owe me one favour, redeemable when I come out of prison. Or sooner. Whenever I ask, basically.’

  Felix’s eyes narrowed. ‘What kind of favour?’

  ‘Anything I ask.’

  ‘I’m not agreeing to that,’ Felix said.

  Megan gave a tight smile. ‘Then the deal’s off.’

  ‘What kind of favour?’ Xav asked. ‘What do you want? Money?’

  Megan seemed to be thinking about it. ‘Maybe,’ she said. ‘Here are my terms. You all agree to one favour each. Whatever I ask, whenever I ask it. If one of you reneges, he or she drops the rest of you in it.’

  ‘In other words, you’ve got us by the balls,’ Felix said.

  ‘You like my side of the deal so much, you step into my shoes,’ Megan said.

  ‘We need to agree now what the favours are,’ Talitha said. ‘I mean, you could ask me to murder my mum.’

  ‘I’ve always liked your mum.’ Megan smiled. ‘I might ask you to kill Felix.’

  Felix’s head snapped from one face to the next. ‘What the fuck?’

  ‘Kidding. If you’re dead, how will I redeem your pledge?’

  ‘Meg, this isn’t you,’ Xav said. ‘Why are you doing this?’

  ‘I’m not sure any of you really know me,’ Megan said. ‘You let me into your little group because I was head of school, but I was never one of you.’

  ‘That’s not true,’ Amber said, but there was no conviction in her voice and she kept her eyes on the tiled floor.

  ‘Whatever. Here’s what happened tonight. We were hanging around, as usual, and I got a bit bored and tetchy with you all. I sneaked away, round about three o’clock, stealing Felix’s mum’s car. That’s the last you saw of me.’

  Felix scribbled his name on the paper and passed it to Daniel, who signed without a word. Amber signed next, then Xav.

  ‘Tomorrow morning,’ Megan went on, ‘you go to school as planned. If anyone asks you where I am, you don’t know. After an hour or so, ring my mum, go round to my house. Tal, when I send word, I need your dad to come and represent me.’

  ‘Is that my favour?’

  Megan’s eyes flashed. ‘No, it bloody isn’t. And don’t let him get out of it. Make him do it.’

  The paper was handed back to Megan. She signed it herself, then passed it back to Talitha.

  ‘Stand together, all of you,’ she said. ‘Tal, hold it up.’

  The others did what they were told. Megan took several photographs, then she pulled the film from the camera and tucked it into her pocket. She held her hand out to Felix.

  ‘Keys,’ she said. He gave them to her.

  ‘Good luck tomorrow,’ she said. ‘Have happy lives, all of you. Don’t forget me.’

  ‘Meg, wait . . .’ Amber took a step towards her, but Felix caught hold of her by the shoulder.

  ‘Xav, walk me to the car,’ Megan said.

  Xav gave a last, desperate look around the group, and then he and Megan left the pool house.

  5

  ‘. . .and is likely to remain so throughout this morning’s rush hour. Finally, the northbound carriageway of the M40 between junction seven at Thame and junction eight at Oxford has reopened following the fatal car crash in the early hours of the morning. Police are appealing for witnesses after a mother and her two young children died in a collision. None of the victims have been named and it is not thought, at this stage, that any other vehicle was involved. Now back to David Prever in the studio.’

  Xav switched off the car radio and felt as though his heart must surely be bleeding; nothing else could hurt this much. Beside him, Amber sobbed quietly.

  It was eight forty-five in the morning. The sun was casting golden light on the ancient stones of the city, and the sky was a bright blue, dotted with cartoon clouds and vapour trails like paper cuts. Xav couldn’t remember the world ever looking darker. His life had ended in the early hours of that morning, and now, zombie-like, he was stumbling through a pale semblance of it.

  ‘I told you there was a child in the car,’ Amber mumbled. ‘I told you.’

  Two kids, Xav thought. Two kids died last night, thanks to us.

  The car park was getting busier by the second and the warm summer air seemed heavy with a tension that was entirely removed from the churning inside Xav, and altogether preferable. Oh, to have nothing more to worry about than exam results. Accompanying parents didn’t try to hide their anxiety, huddling together, white-faced, muttering to each other that yes, they’d been dreading it, and no, it didn’t get any easier, and they wished the school would open the doors and get it over with.

  What they didn’t talk about, because they could never bring themselves to be quite so honest with each other, or even themselves, were the enormous sums of money they’d invested in their children’s education, but they were all bitterly conscious that in a few minutes, they’d know whether or not their investment had paid off.

  The school-leavers made a credible attempt to brazen it out with a bit of half-hearted banter, but like their mums and dads, their eyes kept flickering to the dining-room doors. From his seat behind the wheel, Xav could see people inside: catering staff, the usher, the woman who ran the office; even the master had been glimpsed in a fondant-pink suit, but the doors were locked and would remain so until the stroke of nine.

  ‘I can’t do this.’

  Beside him, Amber was shaking. Her face still carried traces of last night’s make-up, and her breath in the confined space was sour. He guessed his would be too.

  ‘Amber, you have to hold it together. We get our results, then we go back to Tal’s and talk it through.’

  ‘I can’t. Two kids. I can’t, Xav.’

  Not for the first time that morning, Xav wished he were alone. He could barely deal with the contents of his own head, and keeping Amber calm might prove beyond him. How could he not have known, twelve hours earlier, that his life was perfect?

>   ‘Here they are.’ He felt a moment of relief as Talitha drove her Mini into the car park and reversed into one of the few remaining spaces. Felix was in the passenger seat, Daniel in the back. All three looked like shit when they got out. Daniel leaned against the car door, as though he barely had the strength to stand upright, but Felix made straight for Xav and Amber.

  ‘Did you have the radio on?’ Xav asked when they were close enough.

  Felix gave a curt nod. ‘It makes no difference.’ Like Xav, he kept his voice low. ‘Two kids, twenty kids, we can’t do anything about it now. The important thing is, they don’t think any other vehicle was involved. Have either of you spoken to Megan?’

  ‘She’s not answering her phone.’ Amber blew her nose. ‘She said she wouldn’t.’

  Felix gave a nervous look around. ‘Yeah, but it’s different now. If they think that other driver lost control, they won’t be looking for anyone else. Megan doesn’t need to fess up. We have to find her.’

  ‘I’ll try her again.’ Xav dialled Megan’s number. ‘Nothing,’ he said, after a second.

  ‘What time is it?’ Daniel asked.

  ‘Eight forty-five,’ Talitha told him. ‘We have to go inside in fifteen minutes.’

  ‘I’ll drive round to her house,’ Felix said. ‘There’s still time to stop her going to the police. Xav, can I take your car?’

  ‘I’ll come—’ Xav began.

  ‘Xav, no.’ Amber clung to his hand.

  Biting back what he really wanted to say, Xav handed over his car keys. Felix jumped into the silver Peugeot 205 and accelerated out of the car park.

  ‘It’s too late,’ Xav said, as they watched Felix drive away. ‘She’ll have gone to the police by now.’

  He should have talked her out of it when he’d walked her to the car. Wait, he should have said, give it time, let’s see what happens. But he’d been knocked sideways by what she’d said to him.

  Two members of staff, sports teachers, with matching smiles of sympathy, made their way through the crowd. They’d seen it all many times before.

  ‘Oh, for God’s sake, come on.’ Talitha glared at the dining-room doors as though she might will them open. ‘Let’s get it over with.’