With more questions

"What?" you say doubtfully, looking at the two women.

"Seriously Kyle. He's Mafia," Lorri says. "I don't know how big, but big enough. Her parents are dead and he's her guardian. He came to the open house last year. Looked like a kindly old Italian gentleman in a sports jacket and slacks. Except he had two guys walking around behind him. A couple of fucking torpedoes if I ever saw them. Hey babe, I'm from Oakland. Gangsters out there wear track suits and gold chains. And their skin is my colour. But I know a gangster when I see one. Vinnie Maglio is a gangster."

"So what is his grand daughter doing here? Doesn't seem to fit."

"Don't ask me. Trying to whitewash the family maybe. But the guys that came to look after her were serious fucking guys. Polite enough, and didn't cause any trouble, but they were scary, or at least they were if you had a brain in your head and any street smarts."

"I talked to Diana Naylor about them," Donna adds. "She said that the Board of Regents had approved them being here and that it was out of her control. Like Lorri says, they didn't cause any trouble, but you could feel the menace in them."

"And they got some of the girls worked up big time," Lorri says. "Lyndsey White was always finding reasons to bend over in front of them. Tamara too. Some of the others were more subtle, but not by much. Can't say I ever saw them react or respond."

"Veronica acted out in front of them too," Donna says. "At least once. Made a big show of flirting with them right outside my class. I went out and ordered her inside. The guys apologised for the disturbance, and to be honest they looked a little embarrassed about the whole thing."

"So what were they supposed to be doing?"

"Keeping Theresa safe, I guess," Lorri says. "At least while they were in sight she behaved, although she seemed really messed up and unhappy. Some of the friends she'd made before pretty much dropped her, except for Tamara and Lyndsey. Chanel, Margo, Rose, Veronica. They all cut her, even thought they'd been tight before. Almost like she had the plague."

"What do you think happened? Some teenage spat?"

"I don't know. Possibly. But like I said after Veronica died and the girls got expelled and teachers fired the curtain came down. No one knew except the Board of Regents and the Headmistress, and they weren't talking. Bringing it up brought on a big frost."

"Who were the girls who got expelled?"

"Some second year girls," Donna says. "Reasons for expulsion were confidential."

"And the teachers?"

"They'd been here for a little while. On the younger end of the age spectrum though. Again, the reasons for termination were kept confidential. The resignation was supposed to be to 'pursue other opportunities.'"

"Was there a connection between all this?" The two women look at each other, then look back at you.

"Don't know. Don't even know if there is one," Lorri says. "But like I said I don't believe in coincidences."