Pact (2 of 6)

If he was being totally honest with himself, The Introduction was probably his favourite part of the job.

"Hello. My name is Dante Harsher. I'm a private investigator."

"Ah yes! Hello! Mr Green rang earlier and told us you'd be coming in to ask some questions."

Not the best reaction to The Introduction ever, but considering the receptionist had been tipped off, Dante was still pleased. He guessed that she enjoyed a lot of attention from the male students, and was young enough that she probably had a head full of fanasties about helping the PI. She was cute, so Dante was quite happy to play Bogart to her Astor.

He started with the easy questions. The ones she'd expect him to ask, and the ones he knew she'd be happy to answer - Jenifier rarely missed school, she transferred there about a year ago, she got good marks but nothing special, she'd never been sent to the principal. Meanwhile, he was carefully unplugging the cord to the receptionist's phone.

It became apparent that (at least in the administration side of things) Jennifer Green was an average, boring, virtually unnoticed student. Have succeeded in freeing the phone cord, So it was time the really interesting questions while Dante's hidden hand deliberately thumbed at the cell phone in his pocket.

"I should probably just confirm that Jennifer made it to school on Monday."

"Okay..." a few key strokes, a couple of mouse wiggles and a sly glance "...Ah, yes! Jennifer Green attended all her classes on Monday, but didn't show up yesterday or today."

"And can you tell me the names of any other students who've been away since Tuesday?"

The receptionist looked at the computer for a long moment - enough to confirm that the information was on the screen - before looking back at Dante with her best TV cop face. She'd been waiting for a chance to say this.

"I'm sorry, but I can't give you information on any other students without their parent's permission. It's school policy."

"Ah, I understand" Dante started to say, as he pushed the 'call' button on his phone. The receptionist glanced in surprise at the phone beside her while it's twin on the other side of the room sang out. At the second ring he got to her feet, and started to make confused noises as she backed towards the ringing, her eyes locked on the silent phone.

"One last thing" Dante said, breaking her trance "have you got some year books I could look through?"

"Ah, um, try the library" she turned and darted towards the ringing phone. The moment her back was turned, Dante reached over the top of the monitor with his phone, snapped a photo, and then pressed the 'end call' button.

"Thanks for your time!"