Poor Little Dead Girls Read Free Page A

just shrugged, but the expression on her face said this wasn’t usual procedure.
    “Uh, this is my room. Is something wrong?”
    “It’s protocol,” the giant on the left said to the space a foot above her head. “Please wait outside.”
    It clearly wasn’t a request. She stood in the doorway and hesitated, wondering if this was some sort of hazing ritual new students had to go through. What did they think she would bring, unauthorized snack foods? Counterfeit designer jeans?
    Before she could decide how to react, a tiny woman wearing a sleek black suit squeezed through Right and Left and extended a small, bony hand. Her icy blonde hair was pulled back into a tight chignon at the base of her skull, and she wore high black pumps and nude stockings, despite the heat. Even with the heels, she just barely reached Sadie’s shoulders.
    “Hello ladies,” she said in a thick English accent. She nodded to each of them without smiling. “I’m Ellen Bennett, and I apologize for this rudeness on behalf of my staff.” She threw a look over her shoulder at Right, who cleared his throat in mild protest. “I’m the personal secretary and chief of security for His Grace Charles Windsor Everleigh the Third, Duke of Devonshire. His daughters, The Lady Gwendolyn Everleigh and The Lady Beatrix Everleigh will be your new flat mates. Now, which of you is,” — she paused and looked down at her clipboard — “Sadie Marlowe?”
    “That’d be me,” Sadie said, still absentmindedly shaking the woman’s hand. Ellen gave her a tight smile and slithered her hand out of Sadie’s grasp, drawing it back and holding it close to her chest in a fist.
    “How grand.” With a quick wave of her hand, Right and Left marched into the room, brushing Sadie aside in the process. Ellen walked in after them and cast a calculating glance around the room. Her eyes stopped when they landed on Jessica, still lying on the bed with her chin in one hand.
    “Would you be so kind as to go back to your own room, Miss?” she said. “I need to go over some details with Ms. Marlowe and ensure the room is up to our specifications.”
    “I would be happy to,” Jessica said, giving Ellen a sweet smile that dripped with sarcasm. She walked toward the door and made a gagging gesture only Sadie could see. Sadie bit her lip to hold back a snort.
    “Ms. Marlowe, can you come over here please?” Ellen smoothed a pillow on the window seat and gingerly sat down, crossing one thin knee over the other and looking up with poorly concealed impatience. Right and Left were making their way around the room, peering behind the furniture and scanning the walls with a small black device. Sadie crossed the room and sat down, leaning back against the cushions and tucking her legs underneath her.
    “What’s up?”
    Ellen looked at her for a moment, an odd expression on her face, then handed her the clipboard. She drew a black fountain pen from one of her blazer pockets and laid it on top of the form.
    “I’ll just need you to read this carefully, then sign it. It is very important that you understand every detail of the contract, so I would be pleased to answer any questions you may have.” She didn’t look pleased to be doing anything, so Sadie just nodded and started reading. The contract was some sort of confidentiality agreement, one that prevented her from, as it stated, “revealing to the press, the public, her parents, the other students, or any other interested party anything she learned specifically relating to her status as roommates of The Lady Beatrix Everleigh and The Lady Gwendolyn Everleigh.” That and seven other pages of crap that didn’t make any sense.
    Sadie finished skimming it and looked at Ellen. “Um, I’m not really sure I want to sign this. I’m not even really sure what it means. Why would you need this?”
    Ellen sighed heavily. “Ms. Marlowe, what do you know about the Everleigh family?”
    Sadie hesitated. “Well, I know they’re