“We haven’t seen you around the school recently,” noted the ghost. “How’ve you been keeping?”
“Well enough, I suppose. Thanks for asking.”
“I heard you’ve been conducting a few further investigations since you left us,” added Adam.
“A few. Enough to ensure I can pay my bills, which is a welcome change.”
“Is it true you managed to solve the attack case in Dorset late last year?” he asked.
“I did, but the case was pretty straight forward. Anyone could’ve done it,” added Amanda with a bite of her lip that she hoped covered up any expression of the pride she felt, but considered she did not deserve.
“We were a little surprised that you didn’t return to the school,” said Ms Halford. “Many of the staff expected to see you back again just after the sentencing of the O’Hares. After your success with Brenden’s case, most assumed that you would be engaged by the school again as soon as the next case arose.”
“I would have nothing against working with the school again,” replied Amanda. She hesitated a moment, looking back down the decrepit track, hidden by the darkness, which led to the world beyond. “It’s more the case that the school didn’t want to work with me.”
“Oh?” exclaimed Adam.
“That’s just the way it goes, I guess.”
“This wouldn’t have anything to do with our fine deputy would it?”
Amanda shot a glance at Adam, before turning away from the sight of his watery eyes and yellow skin that was only made all the more horrid by the bright white light of her phone.
“It might,” whispered the young vampire, who became instantly ashamed of having turned away.
“Don’t think that you have to hide any misgivings you may have about our Martin,” continued the teacher, without making it clear whether or not he had noticed Amanda’s response. “You may be interested to learn that such sentiments - and sympathy towards those affected by the man’s way of doing things - are held by a few teachers you already know. He is not a man who has reached the position he has without stepping on a few toes.”
Though she trusted that Adam was true to his word, Amanda wavered over whether to share her own experiences with the deputy. Perhaps her paranoia was unjustified this far from almost anywhere, but the small number of correspondence she had had with the deputy since finishing Brenden’s case had convinced her that the man had ears almost everywhere. His messages always made it clear that he was fully updated on her activities, even on some occasions when she had believed she had been alone. But was it not worth the chance to talk to the teachers, she wondered? She edged a little closer to them both.
“The reason I’ve not returned to the school all this time is that the deputy has informed me, on more than one occasion, that conditions aren’t right yet. You see, just after the sentencing of the O’Hare’s, I attempted to persuade the man to let me investigate a little further. I had a lead on something, on someone, and I didn’t want to let it go.”
“A lead?” asked Ms Halford. “On someone else involved in the killings?”
“Not involved, exactly. It was more that I believed they knew more than they were letting on and I wanted to know why.”
“And the deputy put a stop to it?”
“Yes,” said Amanda with an empty laugh, “you might say that. What’s more, I’m certain the reason he kept me away was so I couldn’t ask either him or anyone else at the school anything else about the case. I was tempted to go back to Radcliff and see what I could find myself. But, I still needed to work and I still needed to buy my supplies from the school. Time passed and the whole thing faded from my mind. Then about a week ago, I heard from a client – who had, of course, learned about me because of my involvement in Brenden’s case – that the boy was going down to the tunnels today. As we’re not at the school, I determined that there was no reason for me to stay away, so here I am.”
“Who was it?” asked Adam directly. “Who was the one you had a lead on?”
“It was Samuel Packard.”
The two teachers glanced at each other.
“What is it? Do you know something about him?”
“It might not mean anything,” said Ms Halford, “but your Mr Packard is one of the school’s blood suppliers.”
The sound of an engine became apparent to the three, causing them to end their conversation prematurely. A flood of questions ran through Amanda’s mind, but none of them formed sufficiently to be asked before she saw the expected set of headlights of the school’s minivan appear. As the lights came closer, she wondered why she had never heard about Packard’s ties to the school or, most likely, to the deputy. If what Ms Halford had said was true, then it was no real surprise that the deputy had prevented Amanda going further in her investigation. Finally, as the minibus came to a stop just a few feet away, Amanda finally latched on to one of her questions. But it was not one she needed to ask either of the teachers. The question was for herself: what was she going to do with the information she had just learned?
***
The sliding mini-van door had already been open for a couple of minutes before Brenden finally decided it was time to go. The deputy had told him that he could take as long as he liked to get ready, there was no rush. After sliding down to the ground from the seat adjacent to the side exit, the young vampire took in all he could of the world around him, with
