A Sweet Murder (9 page)

Grace changed
the subject. “Have you seen Connie?”

“
I’ve seen her all right. She’s turning into a right pain in
the ... well, you know what. She’s been gorging herself on sweets
too. It’s like she’s got a magic pocket that keeps filling up with
sweets. You’ll end up as a sweet eating ghost too if you don’t slow
down.”

“
I
don’t understand how she can still be eating sweets when she’s
dead.”

“
It’s a habit, people take habits with them when they die.
Tell me what you’ve found out about Connie’s death. I hope you’ve
been forceful with your investigations, not wishy
washy.”

“
I’m
not wishy washy!” Grace protested.

“
You
are sometimes but you’ll toughen up. Let’s go into the kitchen, I
can’t bear to listen to your brother any more, he sounds like a
demented pig.” Pearl looked Grace up and down and then added, “I
think there’s some fruit in the bowl downstairs.”

Once they were
in the kitchen Grace told Pearl everything that she had found out
so far. Pearl said, “So we know that Lucinda’s up to no good, and
that Vincent rented the locker. Hang on, when did you say Connie
died?”

Grace looked at her notes. “16
^th
July.”

Pearl frowned.
“And when did Vincent rent the locker?”

Grace took
another look at her notes. “Oh! It was two months before that! I
hadn’t realised. Sorry, Pearl, I should have made that connection
last night.”

“
Not
to worry, you were too busy having a sweet feast, I’ll let you off.
That’s interesting about Vincent. He rented the locker before
Connie died. I wonder if he was getting it ready to store the
things from the shop, is that what you said was in the locker? I
wonder if Connie knew he was ripping everything out of the original
shop.”

“
I
did not!” an indignant voice rang out. Connie stood behind Pearl,
her hands on her hips. “I made it very clear to my family that the
original shop was to stay exactly as it was! How dare he take
everything away! He knew what it meant to me.”

“
We
don’t know that it was Vincent who took everything away,” Grace
said gently, wanting to calm Connie down.

“
It
most likely was,” Pearl said. “I think he planned to top you more
than six months ago, maybe when he had that meeting with your
daughters. Then he thought he’d get rid of the shop fittings once
you were dead. He rented the unit in readiness for your
demise.”

Grace remembered
that Vincent had stopped paying for the unit two months ago,
despite reminders from Bill. She told the two ghosts about
this.

Pearl nodded in
a knowing manner. “Once Connie had died he couldn’t bear to look at
the old stuff any more and thought he’d let it go to auction. No
more reminders of his old mum.”

“
Pearl,” Grace said in a warning voice.

“
What? I’m only saying what I think, like it or lump
it.”

“
Pearl! She’s going a funny colour again, that grey
colour.”

Pearl turned
around. “Not again! Connie! What did I tell you? You’ve got to
control your emotions.” Pearl looked back at Grace. “She was doing
this all day yesterday, I had to keep her away from you. I thought
we’d got it under control.”

Pearl stood up
and raised her arm. Grace called out, “Don’t slap her!”

“
I’m
not going to slap her!” Pearl raised her other arm and pulled the
frozen Connie into her embrace.

Grace felt her
eyes sting at the picture in front of her. Pearl was holding Connie
as if she was the most precious person in the world. Grace heard
murmurs coming from Pearl. She was reassuring Connie that
everything would be okay.

The grey shadow
that had covered Connie seeped over Pearl. Pearl didn’t seem to be
affected, she pulled Connie closer and kept up her
reassurances.

Grace clenched
her fists, feeling useless. Would Pearl freeze too? Would both
ghosts disappear again?

The strawberries
on Connie’s dress turned from grey to a light pink. Grace
unclenched her fists as Connie and Pearl returned to their original
colours.

Grace said,
“Pearl, are you okay? Did you absorb Connie’s sadness?”

Pearl swayed
slightly and gave Grace a slow wink. “I was a miserable old cow to
begin with, nothing’s changed.”

Grace wasn’t
convinced. She had to solve Connie’s murder soon. She could cope
with becoming the size of a house but she couldn’t bear Pearl
getting hurt.

Chapter 19

Pearl told Grace
that she would talk to Connie and try to find out how she
died.

“
It
won’t be easy if she keeps turning grey, it’s like talking to a
wall,” Pearl said with a disgusted tut.

“
Do
what you can, thanks. I’d better open up the shop,” Grace
said.

“
Aren’t you going to wake your good-for-nothing
brother?”

“
No,
I’ll let him sleep. If he’s still asleep by lunchtime I’ll wake him
up.”

“
If
I was you I’d throw a bucket of water over him!”

Grace studied
Pearl for a moment, she seemed fine now, back to her old self.
Grace made herself a mug of tea and took it through to the shop.
She opened up a few minutes later and was soon dealing with
customers. She planned to phone Vincent at Flamingo Head Office,
the number was on the card that Lucinda had given her. She was
going to use the excuse of wanting a vending machine in their shop
and was going to use the little white lie of saying that Lucinda
advised that she speak to Vincent direct. She just had to hope that
her lies wouldn’t be discovered.

Grace never got
chance, the shop was busy all morning. She had just finished
serving a customer when she felt a heavy hand on her shoulder. She
jumped and looked at the owner of the hand. She had to do a double
take.

“
Frankie! Is that really you? You look awful, your eyes are
all bloodshot. What have you been doing?”

Frankie
shrugged, wincing as he did so. “I’ve been clubbing again, it was a
late night.” He sighed. Grace nearly passed out from his breath. “I
don’t think I’m cut out for this clubbing lark. I’m aching all
over.”

“
You
need a good night’s sleep. Go back to bed now if you
want.”

“
No,
I can’t leave you to do all the work. I’ll have a good sleep
tomorrow night,” Frankie said. He scratched his stomach.

“
What’s wrong with having a good sleep tonight? Don’t tell me
you’re going out again!”

“
I
am, I’ve already told the woman that I’ll be there, it’s someone’s
birthday. I think the club is staying open until 6 a.m.” Frankie
looked into the distance and slowly shook his head. “6
a.m.”

“
You’re mad,” Grace concluded. “Go and get yourself something
to eat. And brush your teeth. And wash your face. And have a
shave.”

Frankie gave her
a mock salute. “Yes, sir!”

He sloped away,
Grace saw his jaw moving in a yawn. What could she do with him? He
wouldn’t listen to common sense. For a moment she wished that he
could see Pearl too, she’d tell him exactly what she thought of his
behaviour. She had no doubts that Frankie would listen to
Pearl.

More customers
came in, looking at their mishmash of wares dotted around the shop.
Frankie returned thirty minutes later looking cleaner but still
tired.

“
Grace, take the rest of the day off. You’ve done more than
your fair share this week,” Frankie said.

“
Are
you sure?” Grace replied.

“
Why
do you always say that? If I wasn’t sure then I wouldn’t say it.
Now clear off, I’ve worked in here before on my own.”

An idea popped
into Grace’s head. She grabbed her coat and handbag before Frankie
changed his mind. He might think he was okay but his eyes were
already starting to droop.

Grace caught two
buses over to Flamingo Head Office. It was a huge building standing
behind wrought iron gates. Grace knew that the factory was also
situated here. The gates were open and Grace walked through trying
to look more confident than she felt. She was still planning to use
the same lie to speak to Vincent, she was going to add that she was
‘just passing’ and thought she’d drop in. If she kept her voice
steady she might pull it off.

Grace headed
towards a pair of glass doors that were labelled ‘Reception’. With
her head held high she opened the doors and walked in.

Then her
composure completely fell away. Grace’s mouth dropped open as she
stared at the scene that met her. Huge replicas of Flamingo sweets
hung from the ceiling like tantalising mobiles. And if that wasn’t
temptation enough the aroma of sugar, strawberries, bananas and
liquorice wafted through the air. Grace quickly closed her mouth to
stop any dribble escaping. She had been so busy at the shop that
she hadn’t had time to think about sweets and, now, here she was,
in the middle of a delicious dream.

“
It’s quite something, isn’t it?” a male voice behind her
said.

Grace could only
nod. Imagine if that was actually a real strawberry marshmallow,
you could live inside it for a week and then eat yourself
out.

The man said,
“Are you here for the tour? I think it’s going to start
soon.”

Grace turned to
look at him. He was dressed in a business suit and was holding a
brochure with the Flamingo Sweets logo on it. She said, “I’m here
to talk to Vincent Flamingo, about vending machines.”

“
Good luck with that. I’ve heard that he’s not speaking to
anyone at the moment, he’s locked away in his office all the time.
I assume you’ve heard the rumours?”

“
No,
what rumours?”

The man looked
to his left and right, and then moved closer to Grace. In a low
voice he said, “It seems someone on the inside has been fiddling
the books, charging customers more than they should be
doing.”

Grace’s mouth
made a surprised ‘O’. Lucinda and Jamie? Is that what they were up
to?

The suited man
continued, “That’s not all, there’s been some mention of illegal
activity, I’m not sure what. Someone mentioned drugs but I’m not
sure. Why don’t you join the tour? There’s going to be free
samples.”

Grace didn’t
hesitate in her reply, “I think I will.”

Chapter 20

A very loud,
very bright young woman suddenly appeared. She was wearing an
orange dress that had patterned cuffs, the pattern showed a variety
of sweets. The scarf tied gracefully around her neck was of the
same pattern.

“
Good afternoon!” the woman called out. “My name is Suzie and
I’m going to be your guide today! If you have any questions please
feel free to ask me! Also, don’t forget to help yourself to as many
sweets as you can carry! Don’t worry, we ...” Suzie frowned and
looked down at the clipboard she was carrying. She nodded and
looked back up at the small crowd. “Don’t worry, we won’t weigh you
on the way out! Are we ready to begin? Great, let’s go!”

Suited Man, who
was standing next to Grace said, “Looks like she’s had a sugar
overload already.”

Grace just
smiled and joined the end of the group.

“
This way!” Suzie instructed and walked to the left of the
reception desk. She abruptly stopped and looked at her clipboard
again. “No, sorry, it’s this way!”

She performed an
about turn and headed down a corridor to the right side of the
desk.

Grace felt as
giddy as a small child, like Charlie as he took his first steps
through Mr Wonka’s chocolate factory. Her giddiness increased as
she saw the packets of sweets lined up on a shelf that ran down
both sides of the corridor. Grace clenched her hands to her sides,
she didn’t want to be the first to pick some sweets up. Suited Man
had no such qualms, he reached out and grabbed a handful of
packets.

Grace gave him a
smile and said, “I may as well take some, it would be rude to
refuse them.”

Her impulse was
to grab as many as she could. She frowned, that wasn’t like her at
all. She controlled her urges and picked up a couple of packets and
placed them in her bag. For the first time since she’d met Connie
she felt resentment about the effect Connie was having on her. She
pulled at her blouse, it felt even tighter against her
chest.

Suzie pointed
out several black and white photographs that were displayed on the
walls. “This is the original Flamingo, Charles, and he came from
France! Isn’t that wonderful!”

Grace muttered
to Suited Man, “I thought he was called Alfred, and he came from
Poland.”

Suited Man said,
“I think he was. Doesn’t surprise me that the tour guide is getting
everything wrong, this company is going down the toilet. Nice
sweets though, there’s some more over there.”

Suited Man
helped himself to more sweets, so did other people in the tour.
Grace congratulated herself on her self-restraint until Suited Man
handed her a pile of sweets. “Here you are, stick them in your
bag.”