A Sweet Murder (7 page)

He gave them
another jolly smile and ambled out of the office.

Frankie sat down
at the desk, Grace pulled a chair over to him. She said, “He’s very
trusting, we could be anybody.”

Frankie gave her
a look. “We’re friends of Sylvester, of course he can trust us. Do
you have to sit so close, you’re nearly on my knee! Shift
up!”

“
I
was just looking at the paperwork. Do you think we could find out
who rented that unit with the chair in?”

“
Why?”

Grace thought
quickly. “Then you can post a photo of the chair and let your
readers know about your visit to the sweet shop. It’ll give your
post a personal touch.”

Frankie nodded.
“Good idea. I’ll have a look for it.”

The office door
opened. Irritation rushed through Grace. Was the office manager
back already?

She looked up.
Her heart felt as if it had leaped into her throat. She wasn’t
expecting to see her.

Chapter 14

It was Lucinda
Flamingo, Connie’s oldest daughter. The one that Grace had seen in
a vision the previous day, the one that had been plotting to kill
her mother.

Grace shrank
back into the chair. She knew she was supposed to be investigating
Connie’s murder but coming face to face with a possible killer was
a scary thing to do. Especially when the possible killer was now
smiling at her.

Lucinda held a
clipboard in one hand and extended the other to Grace. “Good
afternoon, I’m Lucinda Flamingo. I don’t think we’ve met before, I
usually deal with Bill. Are you new?”

Grace took
Lucinda’s hand and shook it. She opened her mouth but it seemed
like she’d forgotten how to speak because no words came out.
Frankie looked up from the paperwork and gave Lucinda a smile.
Lucinda quickly took her hand from Grace and extended it to
Frankie. Grace didn’t blame her, she looked, and felt like an
idiot.

Frankie said,
“We don’t work here. Bill’s doing us a favour. He’s outside,
checking the units. I can get him if you like.”

Lucinda smiled
again. Grace thought it looked forced, there wasn’t any warmth in
her eyes. Lucinda said, “Don’t bother him. I’m here to fill the
vending machine up, I won’t get in your way.”

The door opened
again and a man stepped through. He was wearing a T-shirt and
jeans. He seemed to be about the same age as Lucinda, perhaps a
little older. His face was handsome but he had what Grace’s mum
would call a ‘lived in’ look. He called out to Lucinda, “How much
do we need?”

Lucinda turned
away from Frankie and Grace and walked towards the vending machine.
She gasped. “Goodness! Someone’s been having a feast! We only
filled this up two weeks ago. Jamie, you’d better bring three boxes
in.”

“
Really?” Jamie said. He walked back out of the
office.

Grace saw the
grin on Frankie’s face. She saw his mouth open and knew he was
about to say something about her eating all the sweets. She took
the precaution of loudly saying, “Coffee?”

“
Whoa! No need to shout. Yeah, ta. Keep away from that machine
though!”

The coffee
machine was on a table next to the vending machine. Perhaps Grace
could talk to Lucinda, make some polite conversation.

And then ask her
if she killed her mother.

Grace almost
dropped the coffee jug as Frankie shouted out, “Don’t open that
machine in front of Grace, she’ll empty it before you
blink!”

“
Sorry?” Lucinda said, looking back over her
shoulder.

Frankie let out
a snort. “It was Grace who practically emptied that machine
yesterday!”

Lucinda turned
her attention to Grace and slowly looked her up and
down.

Grace felt like
her cheeks were on fire. She tried to shrug. “I was a bit peckish.
I love Flamingo sweets.”

Lucinda gave her
an understanding smile. “I used to like them but lately I can’t
stand the sight of them. Oh! I shouldn’t really be saying that.
Don’t tell Bill.”

“
I
won’t,” Grace replied, glad that they were having a
conversation.

Frankie hadn’t
finished tormenting her yet. He said, “Grace, perhaps you should
order your own vending machine, you could keep it in your
bedroom!”

Grace looked
down at the cups. He really was annoying. Lucinda seemed to feel
her embarrassment. “There’s always someone who thinks they’re the
office joker.”

“
It’s worse than that, he’s my brother,” Grace told
her.

Lucinda turned
towards the vending machine. Her voice was bitter as she said,
“Families can be annoying.”

Jamie returned
to the shop carrying boxes. He dropped them at Lucinda’s feet and
then crouched down. He took something out of his pocket. Grace
stared at the knife he was now holding. Was that the murder weapon?
She still didn’t know how Connie had died.

Her imagination
really was running wild. She offered coffee to Lucinda and Jamie
but they both refused. They turned their backs on Grace and started
to talk amongst themselves about stock and numbers.

Grace took the
coffee back to Frankie and sat down. She kept her eyes on the
couple at the machine. She didn’t miss the shared looks and tender
smiles that passed between them. Were they a couple?

Frankie took a
slurp of his coffee. He said, “I haven’t found that paper yet, that
one about the chair ...”

A trickle of
fear ran down the back of Grace’s neck. She couldn’t let Frankie
talk about the Flamingo chair in front of Lucinda, she didn’t want
Lucinda to know that they had it. Not yet anyway. Grace needed to
speak to Lucinda on her own, find out more about her relationship
with her mother.

She quickly
changed the subject. “So, how’s the website going? How many
followers have you got now?”

Frankie’s eyes
lit up. “I’ve got over a thousand! I’ve got a comments box on my
site so my fans can connect with me. You should read some of the
things that they write! Shall I tell you what Owen from Manchester
said last week?”

“
Go
on,” Grace said, her eyes still trained on the couple. Why did they
have to mutter? She couldn’t hear a word they were
saying.

Frankie rattled
on about Owen from Manchester. Grace made suitable noises, as if
she were listening.

The vending
machine was full again. Lucinda locked it up. She looked towards
Jamie. Grace clearly heard her say, “One down, hopefully not many
more to go.”

Jamie touched
her arm for a second and said quietly, “Don’t give up now,
love.”

Jamie left the
office, taking the empty boxes with him. Lucinda tore a piece of
paper from the clipboard and handed it to Grace. “Would you mind
giving this invoice to Bill? Thank you.”

“
Of
course,” Grace said. Questions were burning up inside of her, she
had to speak to Lucinda alone.

Before she could
think of an excuse Lucinda said goodbye and left the
shop.

Grace clenched
her fists in frustration, rumpling the invoice. She looked towards
the door. She dropped the invoice.

That’s it! Of
course!

Grace jumped up
and ran out of the office.

Chapter 15

There was a
white van parked in front of the office, Lucinda and Jamie were
standing in front of its open back doors. Grace paused, Jamie had
his arms around Lucinda, she was leaning into his chest. It was a
private, intimate moment. Grace didn’t know whether to return to
the office or to make herself known.

Lucinda spoke,
her voice muffled by Jamie’s chest. “I don’t know how much longer I
can carry on. I feel so guilty about what we’ve done, I can’t sleep
at night.”

Jamie rubbed her
back. “Not much longer now, the money will come through soon, it’ll
all be worth it. We can make a fresh start, just like we
planned.”

Lucinda sighed
and looked up at Jamie. “I feel like I have to confess, this guilt
is weighing me down. Can’t we tell someone? Someone in the
family?”

Jamie’s look
hardened. “No! We can’t tell anyone, especially not family. Why
don’t we go away this weekend? The gang is going to Brighton. It’ll
do us good to forget about everything for a while. What do you
say?”

Lucinda nodded.
“That sounds good.”

Jamie kissed the
top of her head and said, “Keep strong, my love, it’ll be worth it
in the end.”

Grace took a
step back and grabbed the office door. She pushed it open slightly
and then pulled it towards her with a bang. She hoped it looked as
if she’d just stepped through.

Lucinda jumped
away from Jamie, her guilty look was unmistakable. She soon
composed herself and gave Grace a professional smile.

“
Sorry to bother you,” Grace began. “But I was wondering if
you could give me any information on your vending machines. Not
just for me!” Grace laughed, it sounded false even to her ears.
“It’s for our shop, we’ve got an antiques shop on the high street.
Well, not just antiques, all sorts of stuff, we go to storage unit
auctions, you find all sorts there.”

Grace pressed
her lips together as she realised she was waffling. Lucinda still
had a professional smile on her face.

Jamie closed the
back doors and walked round to the front of the van. Lucinda
reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a card. She handed it
to Grace and said, “Have a look at our website, we’ve got different
sizes of vending machines, depending on your requirements. My
number is on there too, although I am going away for a few days.
There’s a number for the sales department too, you can speak to
them anytime. We’d better be off, we’ve got more machines to
fill.”

Grace took the
card and said goodbye to Lucinda. As the van drove away Grace
looked down at the card. Connie Flamingo’s name had been crossed
out under the title of Director. It had been replaced by a name
written in ink – Vincent Flamingo.

Grace supposed
it was too early for the company to have had new business cards
made. She frowned. She didn’t even know when Connie had died, she’d
have to find out later.

Grace looked up
at the gates that the Flamingo van had driven through. Lucinda was
hiding something, and it was something that Jamie knew about too.
Who was Jamie anyway? What did he have to do with the company?
Another question for Connie.

Was it possible
that Lucinda had murdered Connie? Had Jamie helped? They were
waiting for money, money from Connie’s will?

Grace turned
back to the office. She’d have to write all these questions down,
her head was getting muddled with all the facts.

Frankie waved
her over as she stepped into the office. “Found it,” he
said.

Grace shoved the
card in her pocket, Frankie didn’t need to know about her pretend
plans for a vending machine, although it could be a worthwhile
prospect if there was a decent profit to be made. And she could get
her hands on sweets whenever she wanted to.

“
What have you found?” Grace said. She walked round to where
Frankie was and sat next to him.

Frankie tapped
the screen. “I found out about that unit that had the chair in.
Look, it was rented by Vincent Flamingo six months ago. Flamingo!
That’s a coincidence, isn’t it? Anyway, he stopped paying for the
unit two months ago.”

“
Do
the records show why he stopped paying for it?”

Frankie shook
his head. “I’ll have to ask Bill about that. It’s weird, isn’t it?
How people pay for a unit and then stop paying, as if they don’t
care about the contents anymore. We’ve found some valuable stuff in
some of the units. People are strange.”

Grace made a
mental note about the unit that Vincent Flamingo had rented. She
wished she knew when Connie had died.

The office door
opened, Bill came through whistling to himself. He walked over to
Frankie and Grace, “Have you found some interesting information?
It’s all straight forward.”

Frankie said,
“Yeah, thanks. I’ve always wondered why people stop paying for the
units.”

Bill smiled.
“It’s a great mystery. Some people use the units as a dumping
ground for their rubbish, it’s easier for them to shove everything
in a unit and then stop paying. They use false names and addresses
so we can’t chase them up. Some people just forget to pay, or they
can’t afford to pay any more.”

Bill rested his
backside on the desk next to Grace. Grace winced as the table
creaked. Bill said, “I think that some people use these units to
hide evidence.”

“
Evidence of what?” Grace asked. She pushed her chair back. If
the desk was going to collapse she didn’t want to be near
it.

Bill moved
closer, a gleeful look on his face. He was unaware of the ominous
creaking coming from the desk. His eyes darted from Grace to
Frankie and back again. In a hushed voice he said,
“Murder!”