Free Beyond Life by Deb McEwan

the teenager shoved his face directly into Claire’s she screamed, wondering why on previous occasions, she hadn’t noticed his likeness to Big Ed.
    *****
    Relations between Marion and Val were polite but frosty during the following days. They were both grieving over the loss of the girls and were able to use the grief to disguise what appeared to be the demise of their friendship. Val had been told about the early return to the UK and instead of the news of the new assignment bringing them closer, it had widened the gap. When Val had told Gary he had been distraught and the news of her departure had given their relationship a sense of urgency, which in turn made Marion even more distant. The fence was erected and despite Val’s protests to the contrary, Marion was grateful for his help. She was annoyed that Val appeared to turn into an incapable useless female in Gary’s presence, and wondered when she would swoon so her hero could pick her up and walk off with her into the sunset.
    On the third day after Mary’s disappearance before night turned to dawn, shots awoke the occupants of the orphanage. The children were told to remain in their accommodation and Val, Marion and Daniel almost collided at the bottom of the stairs. They heard another shot from the direction of the back of the building and walked cautiously toward the back door. Gary appeared with his uncocked shotgun over an arm and smiled reassuringly at the worried audience.
    ‘One of the guards thought he saw something earlier tonight and the boss called me in,’ he rubbed some sweat off his forehead. ‘A large female’s prowling the area. They say once they get a taste for human blood, they always come back for more.’
    Val shivered and the others stared at him in horror.
    ‘The only way to stop this is to kill her. I’m taking a party of men with me and we’re going to hunt her down.’
    Good grief! Marion thought as Val flung herself into Gary’s arms telling him to be careful and to stay safe. She felt the need to do the right thing so wished him good luck and shook his hand. The feel of his flesh on hers gave her the creeps and it was a major effort to keep her expression impassive. The moment passed and she stepped back when Daniel stepped forward to shake his hand. Marion’s bullshit-ometer almost went off the scale when she noticed the sly look that passed between the men. Something was afoot and she would do her utmost to find out what was really going on.
    The hunting party were away the whole of that day and night and Val was almost beside herself with worry and retired to her room after dinner, saying that she wanted to be alone. Not that long ago she would have confided her fears in me, thought Marion sadly. Daniel had gone out for the night and Marion wondered if he were secretly meeting up somewhere with Gary. She took the time and opportunity to have a good look around the office, to see if she could find a reason for her suspicions and distrust of her co-worker. She flicked through the personal files of the children in the filing cabinet. At first she thought that all was in order but Mary’s was missing, along with those of the other missing girls. She didn’t know whether this was significant but planned to ask the police if they’d taken the files.
    The desk drawer was easy to open with a bit of fiddling with a hairgrip. Marion had always thought it clichéd when she watched old-fashioned detective shows and they were able to pick locks with hair accessories, but it had actually worked! The papers weren’t very well organised which told Marion that Enala, the very efficient and jolly administrator come part-time cleaner, did not have access to this drawer.
    ‘Well, well,’ she muttered to herself as she looked at two UK bank statements she’d found amongst the scribbled notes and other rubbish that was in the drawer. Why would Gary Jamieson pay Daniel Mulenga money into a UK bank account? As much as she pondered, Marion