A Sweet Murder (4 page)

“
I
think you can,” Grace replied without thinking.

“
Sorry? What do you mean by that? Now that we’re alone you can
answer my questions. First of all, where are we? And what was I
doing in that unit thing? Did someone put me in there for a joke?
If so, it wasn’t a funny joke, I could have died!”

The ghost
laughed, Grace didn’t.

Grace looked at
the floor and tried to gather her thoughts. There really wasn’t an
easy way to tell her. Mum used to say the truth sounded better in
shorter words, especially if they were painful words.

Grace looked
into the face of the old woman, she had such kind eyes, eyes that
probably twinkled when she was alive.

Grace gently
said, “You’re not alive any more, you’re dead.”

There was a
silence. Grace watched the woman’s face as confusion and then
denial swept over her features. She burst out, “Don’t be silly! Of
course I’m alive. You can see me, you’re talking to me!”

“
I
can see ghosts,” Grace explained. “Think about it, no one else
could see you. The man in the locker couldn’t see you and my
brother, Frankie, the one who was just here, couldn’t see you
either. You passed through his body when you came into the
van.”

“
But
I can’t be dead! I don’t remember dying, surely I’d
remember?”

“
Maybe it’s a good thing that you don’t remember. Perhaps your
brain, or soul, or whatever, is protecting you from bad
memories.”

Another silence.
Grace could almost hear the ghost’s thoughts.

Sure enough, the
woman said what Grace was dreading. “Why would I want to protect
myself from bad memories?”

Grace steeled
herself, this was harder than she thought. What she’d give for a
strawberry bomb now to steady her nerves! But she could hardly tuck
into a sweet at this moment.

Grace said, “I
can see ghosts and I help them, some of them have unfinished
business. I’ve only been able to see them for the last year. The
ghosts that I’ve helped recently have been ... murdered ... and
I’ve helped them to catch their murderers.”

The woman’s
mouth fell open. She stared at Grace.

Grace carried
on. “The ghost are usually attached to an item, I think you’re
attached to this chair.”

The woman closed
her mouth. She muttered, “Well, that’s a lot to take in all at
once.”

She sat back in
the chair and took out another sweet. Grace took her opportunity
and took out a sweet too.

They sat in
silence for a few minutes, chewing away. Then the woman said, “I
suppose it makes sense. I do feel peculiar, like my body is
floating around me somewhat.” She sat up straight. “Who would want
to kill me? And why?”

“
That’s what we’re going to find out. It might take a while
for you to remember. Can you tell me your name? I’m Grace, Grace
Abrahams.”

“
Grace, what a lovely name. I can remember my first name, it’s
Constance, I think people call me Connie. My surname, what is it
now? Something to do with a bird. I think it’s ...”

The van doors
were flung open. Frankie stared in at her. “Grace, really? Hiding
in the van and stuffing your face with sweets?”

Grace glanced at
the chair, Connie had disappeared. Grace stood up, she couldn’t
think of a good reason as to why she was sitting in the back of the
van eating sweets. She didn’t need to.

Frankie said,
“Enough about you, wait til you hear what Sylvester said to
me!”

Chapter 8

Grace only half
listened to Frankie as they drove back to the shop. He told her
about how impressed Sylvester was with Frankie’s website, the site
that linked to their shop. Apparently, Sylvester couldn’t get
enough of Frankie’s blog entries, he thought they were hilarious
and yet touching.

Grace wondered
how much of Frankie’s story had been embellished but she didn’t
want to burst his bubble. She nodded at the right moments and
looked interested, as interested as she could whilst still thinking
about Connie.

“
And
then guess what he said?” Frankie enthused.

“
Goodbye?”

“
What? No! Well, at the end he did. He asked if I wanted to
help him at an auction! Me! With Sylvester Sylver! Can you believe
it?”

Grace frowned.
“That’s great, Frankie. Do you want me to drive? You don’t look as
if you’re concentrating.”

Frankie waved a
hand at her. “I can drive with my eyes closed. Sylvester wants me
to stand at his side when he’s doing an auction and make notes
about who buys the lockers.”

“
Isn’t that what his assistant does?”

“
Yes, but Sylvester wants me to work with him in the office
too, he wants me to see how the whole storage locker business
works. You know the sort of thing, who rents the lockers, the
checks they have to go through, why people stop paying for the
lockers. Sylvester thought it would make a good blog
post.”

Grace looked out
of the passenger window. That could be interesting, she’d wondered
herself why people stopped paying for the lockers. Maybe she could
find out why Connie’s locker had come up for sale. Although, how
she was going to ask Frankie to find that out for her was a problem
she couldn’t think about just yet. She turned back to Frankie. “I
think this is a great opportunity for you, Sylvester obviously
thinks a lot of you.”

Frankie gave her
a grin, it made him look like a cheeky ten year old. “It’s the most
exciting thing to happen to me in years! Sylvester said you could
come along if you wanted to. I think he feels sorry for you, not
having a social life and friends.”

Grace bit back
her reply. She would stay on the right side of Frankie, she had a
feeling she could do with his help soon.

They parked at
the back of the shop. Frankie took the chair upstairs and placed it
in his room.

He sat on it, a
puzzled look on his face. “That’s weird.”

“
What is?”

“
I
thought I could smell something then, something fruity. Have you
been stuffing your face again?”

“
No.” Grace changed the subject quickly. “Frankie, you can’t
live in here forever. This is supposed to be our stockroom. When
are you going to get a proper place?”

“
Will you stop going on about that? I’ve told you before, I
like it here. I’ve got everything I need, a bed, some drawers, my
own toilet. I’ve got the kitchen downstairs. What’s the point in
paying rent somewhere when I can live here for free?”

“
Strictly speaking I own half the shop so I could charge you
rent.”

Frankie laughed.
“You’re so funny when you try to be tough.” He stood up and lifted
his arm. He sniffed his armpit and pulled a face. “Can I use your
shower?”

Grace folded her
arms. “I thought you had everything you need right
here.”

“
I
do, but I don’t have a shower. I’ll have to look into getting one
installed. Can I use your shower or not?”

Grace sighed.
She unfolded her arms and reached into her handbag.

Frankie said,
“Don’t bother with the keys, I had a spare set cut last time I used
the shower.”

Grace looked at
him. He gave her another grin. It wasn’t as confident as last time.
Grace studied him. Something was going on.

“
Why
are you having a shower now? At this time?”

He cleared his
throat and looked at the floor. He mumbled, “I’ve got a
date.”

“
Pardon?”

“
I’ve got a date.” Frankie looked up, a slight flush on his
cheeks.

Grace didn’t
know whether to be pleased or shocked. She went with pleased.
“Great. Who with? Do I know her? Where are you going?”

“
Whoa! Stop with the questions. You don’t know her, she’s
younger than me.”

“
How
much younger? Where does she live? What does she do?”

“
I’ll tell you what you need to know, when you need to know
it. Stop acting weird. I’m taking her out for a meal, all
right?”

“
All
right,” Grace muttered. She swallowed the sudden feeling of fear,
the fear of Frankie leaving her for the rest of the day. She was
being silly. Besides, she needed him out of the way, she had a
ghost to talk to. Frankie hadn’t imagined the fruity smell earlier,
she had smelt it too, it was coming from the chair.

She put a brave
smile on her face and said, “Have a lovely time.”

“
I
will. See you later, alligator!”

Grace held her
smile in place as Frankie bounded down the stairs. She was pleased
for him, for getting on with his life. One day, she’d be able to do
the same.

She sank onto
Frankie’s bed.

The ghost of an
old woman appeared at her side.

It wasn’t
Connie.

This ghost was
wearing a floral overall over a long blue dress.

The ghost spoke.
“Cheer up, you’ve got a face as miserable as a weekend at
Blackpool!”

Chapter 9

Grace turned to
the ghost and sniffed. “I like Blackpool, it’s lovely. How are you,
Pearl? Did you hear what Frankie said?”

The old woman
nodded, her tight grey curls not moving on her head. “I did, he’s
got a date. Good for him. Right, tell me where that disgusting
chair has come from.”

“
It
belongs to my family.” Connie appeared, sitting on the chair. She
shot a defensive look at Pearl. “It’s not disgusting, it’s
beautiful.”

Grace said, “I’m
sure Pearl didn’t mean to offend you, Connie.”

Pearl snapped.
“Don’t you apologise for me, Grace! I speak as I find.” Pearl
looked over at Connie. “She’s right though, I didn’t mean to offend
you. I’m Pearl and I live in this shop, attached to it really. As
you can see I’m dead too, just like you.”

Connie flinched.
Pearl looked at Grace and raised her eyebrows.

Grace said,
“Connie didn’t realise she was dead until I pointed it
out.”

Pearl pressed
her lips together and nodded. She walked over to Connie and said in
a softer voice, “I’m sorry for your loss, of life that is. Like
Grace, I can see ghosts. I could see them when I was alive too. I
helped them just like Grace does now. She’s still new to this
murder business so I help her out sometimes.”

Connie flinched
again. Pearl looked back at Grace and said, “Did you tell her she’s
been murdered? Or have I just put my foot in it?”

Connie said,
“Grace did tell me about being murdered but I can’t take it in. I
can’t see any marks on my body, I don’t think I’ve been shot or
stabbed.”

“
There are many ways to die,” Pearl said. “Some don’t leave
marks on the outside but sometimes an external wound isn’t always
visible – until later.”

Pearl caught the
confused look that passed between Connie and Grace. She explained,
“I once met the ghost of a man who’d had his throat slashed. When I
first saw him I couldn’t see any marks on his neck so I had no idea
of how he’d died, but as I found out more about him I noticed that
a red mark began to appear on his neck. By the time I’d found his
murderer this poor man’s neck was almost hanging off! I had to keep
pushing it back on to his shoulders. Talk about losing your head!
What’s wrong now? There’s no need to look so disgusted, he wasn’t
in pain.”

Grace gave
Connie a sympathetic look. “I’m sure that won’t happen to
you.”

Pearl wagged a
finger at Grace. “Don’t say that, you’ve no idea how she died. Be
prepared for anything, you need a strong stomach in this
business.”

Connie returned
Grace’s look. “I know you’ll do all you can to help me, you’ve got
a kind face. If any part of my body starts to feel loose I’ll let
you know.”

“
Thank you,” Grace said in a quiet voice. Finding out how
someone had been murdered was one of the worst parts of her
detective job. The last ghost that she’d helped had been poisoned,
that seemed a much neater way to die. She shook her head. What sort
of a person was she turning into, thinking about the neatest way to
be murdered?

Grace stood up
and walked over to Connie. “We need to find out more about you. I’m
sorry if this sounds harsh but I need to find out who would have
benefited from your death.”

“
I
understand,” Connie said bravely, her lips trembling
slightly.

Grace put her
hand on the chair that Connie was sitting on. “You’re obviously
attached to this chair for some reason. Can you tell me about
it?”

Connie smiled.
“It’s been in our family since before I was born. We’ve all heard
the story about how my relative, I think he’s my
great-great-grandfather, Alfred, came over from Poland in 1900 or
thereabouts.” Connie’s hands shot up. “Oh! What’s happened to the
floor? It’s moving! Is it an earthquake?”

Grace looked up
and around the room. She said, “I should have explained before I
touched the chair. Sometimes, when I touch an item that a ghost is
attached to I’m taken into a vision of the past. If the ghost is
touching the item at the same time then they come with me. It’s
like walking into a TV show, no one can see or hear us.” Grace
paused. “But this is new, I haven’t seen this before. Pearl, what’s
going on? It feels like we’re only halfway into the
vision.”