“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
“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
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