Beyond Life (19 page)

Elbows on the makeshift desk and palms holding her cheeks, she stared at the words trying to make sense of the request and wondering what she should do.

The gist was that the police had been unable to decipher the emails being sent to and from Val. They assumed that some sort of sophisticated encryption had been employed and needed Marion’s help to get information about Gary. So from being totally disinterested Marion now had to pretend she gave a damn. Val wasn’t stupid and would know she was faking interest and she emailed Gail to explain the problem. Gail had suggested that Marion eat humble pie and tell Val that she might have been wrong about Gary. She ended the email with:
do what you can, but remember, this man sells children for sex
. So, if she didn’t help and he evaded capture the lives of many girls could be ruined. Nothing like a generous dose of guilt to spur on this particular call to action. Thought Marion.

*****

A week to go before docking in Algiers and Captain Saul was in a dilemma. The girl Mary had followed him around whenever she could since the pirate attack and that meant that the small one, Frea was also on his trail. Missing his own kids who’d long since grown up he’d shown them the workings of the ship and taught them about fish in the local areas. Mary hadn’t shown the slightest sign of illness and he’d revised his initial assumption about her condition and enjoyed her company. He’d explained the ship’s position by showing them a map. Mary had been fascinated so he’d also shown them the globe and explained where they were going. She was like a sponge and had taken in everything, asking intelligent questions and even beginning to laugh and joke with him. Frea had not said a word but became very distressed if Mary wanted to go somewhere without her. She even had to accompany her to the toilet and wait outside. Mary showed maturity beyond her years and had seen too much in her short life. Saul suddenly realised that he couldn’t let the girls go to the life that Gary had planned for them. He would keep the two girls and give them the life they deserved – a risky strategy, but Gary may be too weak to push it and if he insisted then... Saul tried to put his finger on when his feelings had changed and concluded that it must have been when Frea had slipped under the deck railing and looked as if she were going over board. As usual, Mary was there in a nano-second and had grabbed Frea’s leg. Both girls would have slid over the wet deck had Saul not saved them and he’d felt more than relief when Mary had put her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. He remembered how close he’d been to his kids and missed this closeness now that they were grown up and gone on to better lives. He’d decided there and then that Mary was going to be his granddaughter and therefore by default, so would Frea.

*****

Ron and Sandy had been following Val and Marion. Ron knew that Val was planning on meeting Gary, but hadn’t been able to read her emails and was frustrated that he couldn’t work out where and when. They watched as Marion attempted to garner some information.

‘I’m really looking forward to the wedding. Only a week. The last couple of months have flown by.’

‘Hmm,’ Val looked up from her book and smiled at Marion. ‘I’m so excited. Libby’s emailed me a photo of her dress, it’s so beautiful. She’s going to look stunning.’

‘Fiona’s sent me pics of hers too. She’s so thoughtful knowing how I’ll never see...’

She didn’t finish the sentence and Val put her book down and gave Marion a hug. She couldn’t imagine what life would be like without Libby and her heart went out to her friend. They talked about the dresses and other wedding details for a while. Then Marion thought she’d try again to get the information that Gail required. She had so far been unsuccessful.

‘What are you planning after the wedding?’ her attempt to look genuine and interested didn’t fool Val and the question drew a wedge right through the good feelings of moments before. Both women knew Val was going to see Gary.

‘Oh, you know. A bit of this and that. Thought I might do the touristy thing for a few weeks before we return here. And you?’

‘No plans as yet. Fancy some company?’ 15 all thought Marion.

‘Umm. Well actually, Marion, my plans might change at short notice and it’ll do us good to have a break from each other. So if you don’t mind I’ll say no. Are you all right with that?’ Game set and match to Val although Marion could see that she was genuinely concerned that she hadn’t hurt her feelings. Her stomach churned. She was no good at this cloak and dagger stuff and the stress was making her feel ill. Val was right in that it would do them both good to have a break from each other, which they always did between tours and when on leave. And now Val thought that she might be hurting her feelings by turning her down. She decided to come straight out with it.

‘You’re absolutely right of course about us having a break from each other,’ Marion didn’t make eye contact when asking her next question. ‘Are you planning on seeing Gary?’ There, it was out.

‘I might. But there again I might not. Why the interest in Gary all of a sudden?’ it seemed to Val that Marion had been fishing for information on Gary’s whereabouts. She tried to remember when her curious questioning had started and thought it was about a month earlier. It had been amusing at first but was starting to get on her nerves now. She knew that her friend still couldn’t stand him despite pretending otherwise. Libby had also taken a keen interest in her mother’s future love life, which had been a little more awkward. Gary had told her that his agency was involved in the investigation of Daniel. He wasn’t supposed to divulge any information to anyone but knew that he could trust Val with his life, if it came to it, and that she wouldn’t share what he told her with anyone. Val knew they’d understand when the truth finally came out, but for now she wasn’t going to betray his trust. She’d therefore told Libby that she didn’t have any plans to meet Gary after the wedding, but would tell her she’d changed her mind, after seeing him. Hopefully her daughter would be too consumed with her blessing and the holiday after – she’d refused to call it a honeymoon as they were already married, but that’s what it was to all intents and purposes.

*****

When Gabriella arrived at Cherussola Raphael was trying to field a number of quick-fire questions from Claire. The whoosh only stopped her momentarily and Gabriella decided it was time for more to be revealed. ‘You’ve probably already worked out that some angels on Earth are born to normal families.’

She hadn’t, but kept quiet in the hope that further information would follow. Gabriella didn’t disappoint.

‘They are already old souls and their parents know they’re special from a very young age,’ she checked to ensure that Claire was still listening, knowing that she very often had a short attention span. ‘Saying that, all parents think their offspring are special and friends and relatives often miss the signs. To a lot of people there are few things more tedious than parents talking incessantly about their own
brilliant
children, and our special children know not to show off from quite a young age.’

Seeing Claire’s stance with the folded arms and a sceptical look that she’d been unable to mask, Gabriella could see she’d given her more credit than she deserved. It would probably come as a shock but the time was right.

‘You have to remember that these may be young children, but they’re still old souls, emotionally mature beyond their years. We start visiting them when they’re very young and they don’t fear us. When they talk to their families about the visits, parents smile and humour them, knowing that it’s perfectly normal for young children to have imaginary friends. By the time they reach their teenage years, they know they’re angels and that they’ve got a job to do. They move amongst ordinary people doing good deeds and stopping evils from carrying out their heinous acts, where they can. They know the basic workings of the universe and that they’ve been sent to love and protect humans. This isn’t a problem as we love naturally. What is sometimes an issue is that we love too much and that’s how some humans have special qualities that occasionally take us by surprise.’

Having seen Ralph, Claire wasn’t surprised to hear that angels walked amongst humans on Earth. She was trying to get her head around the other information and Raphael could see that her brain was working overtime. It looked for a moment as if everything had clicked then Claire looked confused again. Raphael went to speak but Gabriella put a hand on his shoulder. ‘Let’s see if she can work it out.’

‘So I must be descended from an angel. There’s no way my father’s an angel, well I hope not, anyway?’

Raphael and Gabriella’s eyes told her that her assumption was correct.

‘My mother’s grown as a human but I can’t really see her as an angel?’

‘Correct,’ said Gabriella. ‘I’m going to put you out of your misery, Claire. This happened a while ago. Generations can be skipped and all of a sudden, someone can have the traits or talents of an ancestor and we have to do the research to discover who it was and when it happened.

‘Similar to human genetics then?’

‘Exactly.’

So she really was special. They’d seen the same reaction on many faces before and both knew it wouldn’t be long before the expression would be wiped off by the enormity of the responsibility she faced.

‘I hate to rain on your parade, Claire, but it was merely chance. An ancestor of yours and an angel fell for each other and didn’t think about the consequences. Unlike the evils who mostly plan their issue. Look where that leaves us.’ They all looked down.

Claire saw a woman lying naked on a bed no detail had been spared as she looked on in horror at the large man pounding away at her. His flesh rippled in blubbery waves with every thrust and the act that she only knew as an expression of love or pleasure, looked like an obscene cartoon porn show. Although she appeared to be uncomfortable, the woman lifted her hand to look at her watch then lifted her eyes to study the ceiling, obviously bored. When the man glanced at her she bit her bottom lip and squealed before calling unconvincingly
yeah, baby, yeah.
The man didn’t seem to notice she was faking and Claire would have laughed had the image not been so dismal. The scene disappeared as quickly as it had arrived and Claire was suddenly viewing a building with long corridors. A buzzer went off somewhere in the distance and a cacophony of sound accompanied many young children as they headed for their classrooms. A little girl, younger than 8 Claire guessed, headed for the girls toilets and a boy followed her at a distance. Claire only saw the back of the girl but she could see the little boy clearly and with his shoulder-length blond hair hanging in corkscrew curls and baby blue eyes, he looked like a little angel at first glance. When she looked closer she noticed the expression on the boy’s face and cringed. His mouth was smiling but the boy’s eyes didn’t match it. Claire could see the malice and knew he was up to no good. It was as if a camera had panned to another scene and they watched as a teacher asked his pupils to be quiet. He looked around the class.

‘Where’s Angelo?’ no answer.

‘And Elfie?’ a little girl raised her hand. ‘Yes, Phoebe?’

‘Elfie’s got a funny tummy, sir. She had to go to the toilet.’

Mr Graham didn’t like the sound of Angelo being missing at the same time as Elfie. The school had already discussed his bullying with his mother to no avail. The Head had therefore taken the step of writing to the woman and threatening expulsion. The next step would be to involve the local authorities if the child’s behaviour didn’t improve quickly. Mr Graham knew who and what Angelo was. One of his jobs was to stop the child from harming others until he was eventually claimed by his own. He knew this might last into adulthood and Mr Graham might be replaced by another at any time. Until then he’d do his job to the best of his ability.

‘Open your books at page 37 and draw a picture of the bird in the story. I’ll be back in a few minutes.’

Mr Graham went to the classroom next door and the teacher agreed to keep an eye on his class until his return. He hurried along the corridor to the girls’ toilets and pushed the door – nothing happened.

Claire looked at Gabriella and Raphael in confusion and Gabriella gestured that she should keep quiet and watch.

He could hear little Elfie screaming inside, but no matter how hard he pushed, the swing door wouldn’t budge. Knowing that Angelo was being assisted, Mr Graham looked upwards and said one word.

‘Help.’

He felt a change in the atmosphere and the door started to move, slowly, as if a tug of war was taking place between those who wanted it closed and those trying to open it. It seemed like an age before the door was open enough for him to squeeze through but was in fact a matter of seconds. He rushed inside and stopped in front of the sinks. Elfie’s hands were tied around a water pipe at the other end of the sinks, she was trembling, sobbing and shouting for her mother. Angelo had a knife in his hand and had already hacked away at Elfie’s clothes, which were hanging off her in tatters. The child was terrified as the boy had a tight hold of her ponytail with one hand, smiling as he was about to cut into it with the other hand that held the knife. Mr Graham could see he was getting pleasure from torturing the little girl. Knowing how evil the child was, he didn’t need to wonder how far he would have gone, had he not arrived to stop him. Mr Graham bounded over to the children in record time and grabbed Angelo by his knife arm, stopping him from chopping Elfie’s ponytail. He lifted him off the ground by the same arm and the knife clattered to the floor. Angelo’s face spewed pure rage and he kicked and punched at the grown man with all of his might. Elfie watched in fear, her sobs turning to shudders.

‘I’ll be back in a minute, Elfie. You’re a brave little girl,’ shouted Mr Graham as he tried to get a firmer hold on Angelo in order to avoid his punches and kicks. The stream of abuse was horrendous and he switched off to it, not trying to communicate with or placate the little boy. He didn’t have any trouble with the swing door on the way out and Mr Graham was grateful that the host had prevailed. He almost collided with the Deputy Head who had hastened toward the toilet as fast as her short legs would carry her when she heard the screaming and shouting coming from inside.