The Pact by John L. Probert

bloody fault for not keeping his daughter on a shorter leash.”
    “So all four girls were killed to cover up the fact that only one girl needed to die?” Parva frowned. “Isn’t that a bit excessive?”
    “More like an accident,” Amanda admitted. “The intention was to drug them and then find out how much each girl knew. Unfortunately I didn’t count on them getting up to no good with various illicit substances I would imagine they purchased from Jocelyn here.” She kicked Jocelyn’s chair and the girl gave a little grunt. Parva drew breath.
    “Oh yes,” Amanda gave a wry smile. “Did she have you convinced that she was a pupil here? She’s been chased off the grounds more times than I can think. Utter bloody nuisance. I can only imagine she came with you to try and find if the police had discovered the hiding place of their stash, which of course she would then have tried to sell on to some of the other girls here. And the teachers. You won’t believe some of the things people get up to in this place. It might be Wales but sometimes it reminds me of Venezuela.”
    Parva still couldn’t believe it. “So the girls’ deaths were accidental?”
    Amanda nodded. “And it was why the coroner was able to return a verdict of suicide. I kept telling them they should have called it death by misadventure but I was shouted down as usual. Apparently a suicide pact was more believable. Honestly, sometimes I wonder how my bosses get to be in the positions they are.”
    “Influence, family, bribery and a lot of corruption I suspect,” said Parva.
    “Oh you’re probably right,” said Amanda. “To give them fair due, in one of my weekly reports I’d mentioned that girls had formed this club and called themselves the Suicide Blondes. Seeing as only one of them was actually blonde I always thought it was admirably eccentric, while at the same time playing to the downbeat sensibilities so many teenaged girls seem to harbour. Like young Emily here.” Now it was Emily’s turn for a kick. “You’re a bit of a Goth, aren’t you? No idea about circle theorems but you know how to keep your fingernails painted perfectly black, don’t you?”
    Parva detected a note of something there. Something she might be able to play to her advantage.
    “You’re not jealous of these girls, are you?” she asked.
    Amanda looked shocked. “If you must know I despise every single one of them. Wealthy, privileged, self-obsessed. None of them has a future worth talking about. They will all leave here to live off their parents’ money, have numerous affairs with boys from similarly obscenely rich families, and live out lives of worthlessness before succumbing to a death brought on by some manner of hedonism so excessive it’s too much even for their young pampered bodies.”
    “So let me guess,” said Parva, “all the black magic stuff that Miss Arbuthnot found was your doing?”
    Amanda nodded. “I thought it was a good idea at the time. Nothing puts people off the scent better than something that might be even juicier. A suicide pact was one thing, but black magic rituals at an exclusive school leading to death was quite another. The minute I thought of it I knew I’d solved the problem of how to get Miss Arbuthnot to do her damnedest to keep everything quiet.”
    Parva felt the phone buzz in her pocket. The last text message she had read had been sent yesterday. Was it possible that somehow Willoughby’s team had managed to locate her via GPS?
    “It all sounds a bit over the top to me.” She knew she was taking risks, but anything that distracted Amanda would give Parva a chance to get closer to the door.
    “I do my job,” said Amanda, “and I do it very well. That’s all that matters. And right now my job is to take care of the three of you.”
    “It must be difficult, though, working for the government like this,” said Parva as her phone buzzed again. “Doing its dirty work, covering up mistakes.”
    Amanda raised