You're prepared to listen

"Ok, I'll listen. But I don't promise to answer any questions."

"Fair enough. Listen up Marine," she says with an impish grin that you can't help but find appealing. "Last year something happened at Pink Rose. Something bad. Bad enough that some teachers were fired and some students expelled. They threw a blanket over it, but rumours got out. There haven't fired a teacher since 1955, or expelled a student since the '60s. The place has a reputation for teaching dignified young ladies, and most of the time they've kept that image intact. Until last year. If it hadn't been for the girl's ****, they might still have."

"****?" you say with surprise.

"You try this thing called Google," she laughs sarcastically, shaking her head. "Alright, I'm just messing with you Marine. So this girl, the student. She was killed by a train just outside of town. The coroner ruled the **** was accidental, but I have my doubts. I think the police do too, but they aren't talking much. This happened around the same time when the expulsions and firings happened. Only two teachers were fired. One just disappeared, and supposedly sent a letter of resignation in."

"So you think this girl was murdered?"

"Or suicide," the reporter answers. "The official story is that she was walking over an overpass and slipped and fell onto the train tracks just as one was coming along. They pretty much had to mop her up with a sponge."

"How did that lead to firings and expulsions?"

"If I knew all that I'd have a story, wouldn't I? I think there's a link and I'm trying to run it down."

"Sounds kind of thin."

"The firings and expulsions were real," she replies. "And the girl is really dead. And here's a little bonus for you. One of the students here last year was Theresa Maglio. And she's back for a second year. Theresa Maglio is Vincent Maglio's granddaughter. Vincent Maglio is the boss of the Tortella family in New York. A stone mobster and a serious fucking guy. He's called Vinnie Mags on the street."

"A gangster's granddaughter? What's she doing at a school like this?"

"How do I know? Maybe trying to buy her a life apart from the family? I don't know, but I do know that something happened to her last year because after the firings and stuff Vinnie had two of his torpedoes down here to bodyguard her."

"From what?"

"Good question," Holly says. "All I can tell you is that something happened to her and after that she changed from being happy and slightly wild to being shy and withdrawn."

"That's all you can tell me, or that's all you know?" you ask quietly.

Holly smiles knowingly at you. "Another good question, Marine. Why don't we talk about what brought you to the Pink Rose Academy for Young Gentlewomen? You've got no background in teaching, or at least not in teaching people who aren't wearing green fatigues. How did you come to be the Dean of Students?"

"Sounds like you already know about me. You've been checking up," you say, making it a statement and not a question.

"I have," she answers, completely unabashed. "I've been checking up on everybody I can, so don't feel singled out. Now, how about you fill in a few blanks?"