A Sweet Murder (15 page)

Lucinda gave
Grace a final smile and said goodbye. Connie floated down into the
chair that Lucinda had been sitting in. They watched the couple
walk out of the cafe. Connie said, “I’ve never seen her look so
happy. I’ve been such a fool. Why didn’t I let her live her own
life?”

Grace whispered,
“I’m sure you did what you thought was right at the time. I think
it’s time I spoke to Della.”

Connie looked
back at Grace. “Della didn’t kill me. I know that you think she did
but I know she didn’t, she wouldn’t.”

Grace’s phone
rang. It was Frankie, he sounded tired. He asked if she could come
back to the shop as he wasn’t feeling well.

When Grace
returned to the shop she was shocked at how grey Frankie’s face
was. “You’d better get yourself to bed, how are you feeling? Shall
I call for a doctor?”

Frankie yawned,
“No, I’ll be all right, I’m just tired. Thanks for coming
back.”

Grace watched
with concern as Frankie dragged himself through the shop and
towards the kitchen and stairs.

“
Look at what those drugged sweets have done to him. Whoever’s
selling them needs to be stopped,” Grace said to Connie.

Connie bristled.
“You’re thinking about Della again, aren’t you? You think she’s the
one behind these drugged sweets and you still think she’s the one
that killed me. You haven’t even spoken to her! How can you judge
her?”

Pearl appeared.
“Stop talking to Grace like that! She can think what she likes. She
doesn’t have to help you, she could tell you to clear off and take
your dysfunctional family with you!”

“
It’s okay, Pearl. Connie’s right about Della, I shouldn’t
form an opinion before I meet her properly.”

The two old
ghosts glared at each other, arms folded and pulled tightly against
their chests. Connie gave in first. She sighed and said, “No, I’m
sorry, Grace. A mother is often blind to their child’s faults. I
shouldn’t tell you what to think.”

“
No,
you shouldn’t,” Pearl added. She turned to Grace and said, “Right,
tell me everything.”

Grace told Pearl
about Vincent and Lucinda. Pearl nodded as she listened. When Grace
had finished talking Pearl said, “We still can’t rule Vincent out,
where was he when Connie died?”

Grace shrugged.
“I don’t know.”

Pearl went on,
“Who paid Lucinda to disappear? Was it Vincent? Or is Della behind
this somehow?”

Grace shrugged
again. “Sorry, don’t know that either. I’m not very good at
questioning people.”

Pearl gave her a
kind smile. “Don’t worry, you’ll get better. You can practise again
tonight.”

Grace frowned.
“Tonight? Am I going somewhere?”

Pearl answered,
“You’re going to The Black Panther nightclub to buy some
drugs.”

Chapter 32

Grace didn’t
know which was more gut-wrenchingly embarrassing – wearing her
Christmas trousers with the only evening top she had, or that she
was standing on her own in the queue outside The Black Panther. As
another group of girls looked her up and down she decided she was
more embarrassed about her outfit. What was she supposed to wear?
She hadn’t been out to a club in years. Her top had some sequins
around the collar and looked fine at home. But going by the short,
tight fitted dresses that women were wearing tonight she felt
frumpy and out of date.

Connie was
reassuringly scathing about how the other women were dressed. “Look
at the state of her! You can actually see her knickers! She must be
freezing.”

Grace smiled to
herself, at least she was warm and comfortable. She moved a few
steps up in the queue. She wasn’t the only one on her own, some
people were on their phones shouting that they were outside and on
their way in. Perhaps she should do that. She looked at the other
nightclub people. Apart from the dismissive glances at her clothes
no one was paying her any attention. Good, it gave her the chance
to study people, to see if she could spot any telltale packets of
sweets.

No. Nothing out
here. Whoever was selling them must be inside.

“
On
your own, love?” the doorman asked as he pulled the rope barrier
back for her to pass through.

Grace lied, “I’m
meeting someone inside.”

The doorman gave
her a sympathetic look as if seeing straight through her lie. “Just
watch yourself in there, love, there are some dodgy folk
about.”

Grace hoped so,
she wanted to find the dodgy person who was selling the drugged
sweets.

She almost
fainted when the skinny girl on the reception desk asked her for a
£30 entrance fee. Connie screeched, “£30! To get in here! We’re
only staying for a few hours, not the whole week.”

Grace tried
handed over her money as easily as if she was passing over 50p but
the reception girl had to tug on the note to get it out of her
reluctant hand. She followed others as they headed into a darkened
room. The heat hit her like a thick blanket, the roar of the music
made her ears vibrate. Connie’s mouth was moving but Grace couldn’t
hear her. She took out her phone and typed in a text, she held it
out to Connie:

‘
I’ll go to the left, you go to the right. Let me know if you
spot anyone selling sweets.’

Connie nodded
and then set off to the right side of the room, floating through
dancing people.

Grace politely
pushed through people at the left side of the room, looking around
as she went. The floor vibrated with the booming music, sweat began
to trickle down her back. People knocked into her, drink was spilt
over her and a headache began to form at the front of her
head.

What am I doing
here? I could be at home watching ‘Rizzoli and Isles’. Grace
thought about Connie and how grey she had gone when she remembered
that someone she loved had killed her. Grace couldn’t let the
killer get away with it. She’d keep looking, even if it took all
night.

“
Hey, Gorgeous! Want to dance?” An older looking man in a
satin shirt gyrated in front of her looking hopeful.

Grace smiled
politely and said, “No, thank you.”

The man stopped
gyrating and peered at her face. “Is it because you’re too tired?
You do look knackered, has it been a heavy night? I can get you
something to perk you up.”

Grace kept her
smile in place. Should she take him up on his offer? Was he talking
about the drugged sweets? Or was it something else altogether,
something she should run away from? She decided to take a
chance.

“
I
am tired, I’ve been working all day. What can you get
me?”

The man put a
warm arm around her waist and winked at her. “Something sweet for
you, sweet lady. This way.”

Grace tried not
to gag at the sweaty aroma that wafted towards her from the man.
She allowed herself to be led to the other side of the room. She
held down a feeling of panic, where was he taking her? If he headed
towards a door she was going to run in the other direction, there
was no way she was going to leave the flimsy safety of the
nightclub.

Grace looked
behind her, hoping that she’d get a glimpse of Connie, hoping to
indicate where she was going.

She felt herself
being pushed down into a padded seat, she knew the man was nearby
as she could still smell him. She was in a darkened booth. Grace
blinked a few times and tried to work out who was talking loudly in
front of her. Her eyes widened as she recognised two people sitting
opposite her. One was Connie. And the other was the woman who
worked at the shop, the one Grace had seen in her vision and in the
photograph following Connie’s death. What was her name? Anna, that
was it. She was Jamie’s sister, the one that he and Lucinda were
concerned about.

They wouldn’t be
concerned if they saw her now. She had a huge bag at the side of
her, even in the poor light Grace could see that it was bulging
with brown paper bags. The man that had led her to the booth was
having a conversation with Anna. Anna nodded and held out a paper
bag. He pressed some money into her hand and took the
bag.

Connie’s mouth
dropped open. She looked from Anna to Grace, and then back
again.

So, it was Anna
who was selling the drugged sweets.

Was it Anna who
had killed Connie?

Chapter 33

“
But
why would she kill Connie?” Pearl asked the next morning in the
kitchen. “What motive did she have? Had you left money to her in
your will?”

Connie, who was
sitting opposite her at the kitchen table, said, “I did leave her
something, she had become part of the family. She was loyal, I
could trust her. I don’t think she’s got it in her to kill
anyone.”

“
You’d be surprised at who’s capable of murder. Grace, tell me
again what you saw. Was Anna definitely on her own when she sold
the sweets to your friend?”

“
He
wasn’t my friend. She was on her own but she was wearing an
earpiece, and, from what I could see in the dark, she kept looking
around her as if she was being watched.”

Pearl tapped her
chin. “Interesting, so she could be working with someone else.
Maybe they worked together to kill Connie. Perhaps they wanted to
build up some sort of sweet drugs empire and needed Connie out of
the way.”

“
I
can’t see how they are getting away with it,” Grace said. “Surely
the nightclub owner has seen what’s going on, he won’t want drugs
in his club.”

Pearl gave Grace
a smile and shook her head. “I keep forgetting how naive you are.
The nightclub owner will know what’s going on, he’s probably taking
a cut. Right, what’s your next move?”

Grace swallowed
and grimaced. She looked over at Connie and said, “You’re eating
lime and mint? I don’t like those at all, not a good
combination.”

“
Sorry, I’m not too keen myself,” Connie said. She placed a
stripy green sweet back into her pocket. “I keep getting the urge
to eat sweets and I don’t know what I’m going to get when I reach
into my pocket. It’s like a lucky dip.”

Pearl said to
Grace, “Are you still getting a taste of Connie’s
sweets?”

“
I
am, at least I’m not eating so many myself now.”

They all looked
up to the ceiling. Pearl said, “Sounds like your brother is finally
getting up. Where are those sweets that you took off
him?”

“
Safe in my bag,” Grace said. “Along with those that I got
last night. They’re exactly the same.”

Pearl grinned at
Grace. “Did you stay and have a dance with your friend last night,
after he got those sweets for you?”

Grace looked
down at the kitchen table and turned her cup around slightly. “No,
I decided to leave.”

Connie laughed.
“You should have seen her! I didn’t know she could move so fast. As
soon as she got the sweets she told that sleazy looking man that
she’d meet him on the dance floor. He was too slow, she was out of
the door before he’d even heaved himself off his seat.”

Grace smoothed
down her top and stood up. “Frankie’s coming down. I’ll have to
work in the shop today. I thought I might go and see Anna later,
see if she’s still at the original shop. I might show her the
recipe book and see what her reaction is.”

“
By
heck! A zombie’s just walked into the kitchen!” Pearl cried
out.

Frankie did look
pale. He slumped into a chair and said, “Any chance of a
cuppa?”

“
Frankie! You look dreadful!” Grace said, she sat down at his
side.

“
I
feel dreadful, I think it was those black sweets. They had a funny
taste to them, like eating metal. I won’t be having any more of
those, don’t you touch them either.”

Grace made
Frankie a strong cup of tea. Once she was sure he was okay she
opened the shop and dealt with the customers. Frankie joined her a
few hours later, his cheeks looking rosier

Grace wanted to
visit Anna at the shop but wanted to spend time with Frankie too.
She hadn’t seen him properly for days. In between serving customers
Frankie said that he wouldn’t be seeing his girlfriend
again.

“
She’ll get over me in time,” he said. “I can’t be doing with
going out clubbing every night. I’m starting to feel my age a bit,
I prefer to stay in some nights, watch a bit of TV. I don’t mind
being on my own.”

Grace smiled to
herself. How would Frankie react if he knew he wasn’t alone when he
was watching TV? What would he say if he could see Pearl sitting at
his side?

Grace wouldn’t
mind sharing her home with Pearl. She wondered again what Pearl was
attached to. Was it the whole shop? Or was there one item in the
shop that she was attached to? Would Pearl ever be able to leave
the shop?

Connie had been
wandering around the shop all day eating sweets. Grace had enjoyed
most of the flavours although she wasn’t keen on the more sour
tasting ones.

Connie came over
to Grace and said, “I can’t stop thinking about Anna. I’ve been
trying to work out her expression last night, I think she looked
scared. What if someone’s forcing her to sell those
sweets?”