The Last Reading (Storage Ghost Murders Book 1)

A Storage Ghost
Murder – The Last Reading

Chapter 1

Which
locker was the murdered body in?

Grace
Abrahams shoved her hands deeper into her jacket pocket.

8
a.m. on a Saturday morning at a storage locker auction, looking for the ghost
of a murdered person.

No
wonder she couldn’t eat her breakfast this morning. That wasn’t like her at
all. She was known to have a second breakfast of a morning, sometimes a third.

Grace
held her breath as another locker was about to be opened. Would this contain
the ghost? What would the ghost look like? Would there be signs of the murder?
Missing limbs? Ghostly knives in the throat?

Grace
gave a small shiver, she wasn’t looking forward to seeing the ghost, but she’d
made a commitment  to herself to help them.

Sylvester
Sylver, the auctioneer  called out, “Right folks, this is our third locker on
this marathon auction locker sale today. I hope you’re keeping up with me!
Don’t be fooled by this outer package, I’ve got the stamina of a young
stallion!”

The
silver haired man turned and winked at Grace. She laughed. He always made her
feel happier, he was forever optimistic.

Someone
gave her a little push. It was her brother, Frankie. He glared at her and said,
“Don’t be flirting with Sylvester! He’s got a job to do, you’ll put him off.”

“I
wasn’t!” Grace said indignantly. She was about to say she didn’t go for much
older men, especially ones that styled themselves on Elvis Presley. But there
was no point saying anything negative about the great American auctioneer to
Frankie, he was Sylvester’s number one fan.

Grace
turned her attention back to the locker that was just about to be opened. She
held her breath again as the metal door was lifted up.

“Office
equipment, rubbish, we don’t need any of that,” Frankie complained. He looked around
at the crowd. “Look at all these newbies, no idea what they’re doing.”  

“Newbies?”
Grace asked.

“Yeah,
new people. They don’t know how to spot a good locker, they’ll throw any old
bid out there.” Frankie tutted and shook his head.

“We
were newbies a few months ago, in fact, I still am,” Grace pointed out.

Frankie
nodded. “That’s true. I think I’ve got a gift for this auction locker business,
like a sixth sense. I’m picking up some real bargains, getting some great stock
for our shop.”

“I
know you are, I’m pleased that the shop is doing so well. If it was left to me
we wouldn’t have any stock to sell.”

Frankie
gave her an unusually kind smile. “It’s our shop and I’m happy you’re working
there full-time now, I like seeing more of you.”

Grace
smiled back at him. “Thanks, Frankie.”

He
added, “Even though you are a bossy boots and you do too much cleaning.”

Grace
held on to her smile. She’d given up her job of teaching history at a local
school so that she could work full-time in their shop. It was partly to help
Frankie but there was another reason that Grace was doing it. And that reason
was why she was standing at an auction facility on a cold Saturday morning with
a large group of men, some who looked like they hadn’t had a good sleep or a
good shower for weeks.

She
looked away from the crowd and focused on the office equipment. She couldn’t
see any ghosts.

The
bidding began. Sylvester kept up with the bids. Grace had to admit that he was
good at his job, he always spotted the bidders and kept up with the numbers.

“Sold!”
Sylvester cried out. “To the man in the red bobble hat! Awesome hat, man, did
your mom knit it for you?”

Frankie
gave a louder than necessary laugh. Grace shook her head. How long was his man
crush going to last?

They
moved on to the next locker, the padlock was cut open and the door lifted up by
one of Sylvester’s helpers.

A
sudden pain shot through Grace’s neck. Her hand shot up and rubbed the right
side.

“What’s
wrong?” Frankie asked.

“I
don’t know, my neck suddenly hurts.”

Frankie
grimaced. “That’s the problem with getting older, everything starts falling
apart.”

“You’re
older than me,” Grace reminded him. She rubbed her neck a bit more.

The
locker door fully opened. The pain shot through Grace again.

She
soon realised why.

There
was her ghost.

The
ghost was holding the right side of her neck, just like Grace.

Chapter 2

Grace
stared at the ghost. It was an older woman, probably late fifties, early
sixties. She had black hair piled up on her head. She was wearing brightly
coloured clothes, some sort of long blouse over a long skirt. Even from this
distance Grace could see the thick make-up on the ghost.

“Another
rubbish locker,” Frankie muttered. “What is that? Some old curtains and table
cloths? Who would want that?” He laughed and jerked his thumb towards the crowd.
“I bet some idiot will start bidding soon.”

Grace
swallowed. “I want to bid on it.”

“What?”
Frankie’s eyes widened.

“I
want to bid on it, I think those look like quality curtains.”

Frankie
snorted. “They don’t! What do you want them for? Are you going to make some
clothes for yourself?”

“Don’t
be ridiculous. I just want them, maybe I’ve got a sixth sense too.”

“I
doubt it.” Frankie studied her for a second. “All right, if you want to bid
then go ahead. But you’ll have to use your own money.”

“I
don’t mind using my own money,” Grace said huffily.  She rubbed her neck again,
the pain was getting worse.

Sylvester
spoke, “Okay, not the best locker but could be worth something to someone.
Anyone give me £100? No? £50? Come on, folks, it must be worth that.”

“I’ll
give you £10!” a voice called out.

There
was laughter from the crowd. Grace looked over at where the voice had come
from. She couldn’t see who had made the bid, and she couldn’t tell if it was a
male or female voice.

Grace
turned back to Sylvester and shouted, “I’ll give you £20!”

The
laughter rose again, Grace’s cheeks heated up as people looked her way.

Frankie
folded his arms and took a step away from her.

The
other bidder hadn’t finished. “£30!”

“£40!”
Grace yelled.

“£100!”

Sweat
broke out on Grace’s forehead. Was she doing the right thing? Was this the
ghost that she was supposed to help?

She
looked back at the woman. The woman met her gaze and cried out, “Please help
me! Something terrible has happened and I don’t know what!”

The
woman collapsed on to the floor of the unit, her hand still pressed on her
neck.

A
peculiar feeling washed over Grace, she’d felt the woman’s confusion and
something else – fear.

Grace
stood up straighter. She had to have this locker. “£200!”

The
other bidder wanted the locker too. “£400!”

The
crowd had stopped laughing now, their heads swivelled as one from side to side
as Grace and the other bidder called out.

Grace
stood on her tiptoes and peered over to where the voice was coming from. Who was
it? She couldn’t see who was bidding.

Frankie
nudged her. “I think you’d better stop now, this is getting ridiculous.”

“I
have to have it!” Grace hissed at him. She registered the startled look in his
eyes. Let him think that she was mad, she didn’t care. That woman needed her
help.

Grace
quickly calculated how much money she could get her hands on. She called out,
“£1000!”

There
was a silence.

Even
Sylvester went quiet.

Grace’s
knees went weak. She didn’t have £1000 on her at the moment, would Frankie lend
her it? She knew the rules of the auction, you needed to pay there and then
with cash.

What
if she won the bid and wasn’t able to pay?

She’d
be kicked out!

Oh,
the shame. Frankie would never speak to her again.

She’d
have to deal with all of that later.

“£3000!”
the other bidder shouted.

“No!”
Grace cried.

“Was
that a bid, young Grace?” Sylvester asked.

Frankie
put his hand firmly around Grace’s shoulders and pulled her away from the
locker. “No more,” he said to her.

Grace’s
shoulders sagged. He was right. She didn’t have more than £3000, she barely had
£1000.

“Sold!
For £3000!” Sylvester announced.

The
crowd muttered and began to move on. Whoever bought the locker didn’t step
forward. One of Sylvester’s helpers closed the locker back up.

Grace
tried not to look in as the door came down but she couldn’t help herself. The
woman was still lying on the floor. She was crying, Grace could see ghost tears
rolling down her face. The woman was muttering, “Why? I don’t understand. Why?”

Grace’s
heart felt like it was breaking as Frankie firmly led her away.

She
had to help that poor woman.

But
how?

Chapter 3

Grace
couldn’t stop thinking about the ghost as Frankie led her to the next locker
that was for sale. She barely registered that Frankie had won it until he let
out a loud cheer and half scared her to death.

“I
won it, Grace! Look, we’ll make a good profit on that stuff, it sells quick.”

“What
is it?” Grace asked, squinting slightly.

“Costume
jewellery and clothes. We’ll put the clothes on a rack near the front of the
shop. We could display the jewellery in the shop window, it looks sparkly,
it’ll attract attention. Hello! Grace! Are you listening?”

“What?
Yes, of course I am. I’ll do that when we get back to the shop,” Grace offered.

“Are
you sure you’re all right? You can go home if you want, I think I’m going to be
here all day,” Frankie said.

“No,
I’ll stay.” Grace didn’t want to leave that ghost behind. But what if that
wasn’t the ghost she was supposed to help? Maybe there was another ghost in
another locker that needed her help more.

Ever
since the car accident that had claimed her parents’ lives, and almost her own,
Grace had been left with the ability to see ghosts. She saw images, almost
shadows at first, she thought her mind was playing tricks on her. She saw her
first fully formed ghost when Frankie took them to an auction similar to this
one. The ghost was a young boy called Jacob who’d died in the 1980s. Grace had
helped him with a problem he’d had. She’d helped other ghosts since.

She’d
never helped a ghost who’d been murdered before. She wasn’t sure she was up to
it. But she’d promised herself, and someone else, that she would try.

Frankie
took a padlock out of his pocket and secured the locker that he’d just bought.
He gave Grace a grin. “On to the next one! We’ll have to buy a bigger van
soon.”

The
next locker was opened. Sylvester beamed at the crowd, still looking as fresh
as he did when the auction first started. One of his helpers came up to him and
turned his back to the crowd as he spoke to Sylvester.

Frankie
frowned. “What’s going on? I hope the rest of the auction hasn’t been
cancelled.”

Sylvester
nodded, his smile dropped a little. He looked over at Grace, his beaming smile
returned.

Frankie
hissed. “He’s coming this way! What have you done, Grace?”

“I
haven’t done anything. Don’t look so worried.”

Sylvester
treated them both to his grin. “Hey there, Frankie, how are you? Good bidding
today, you’re getting better each time. How’s the website going? Love your blog
posts!”

Frankie’s
chin dropped, Grace noticed his ears getting redder. Really! When was he going
to stop being so star-struck?

Frankie
looked at Sylvester and gave him a sheepish grin. “Thanks,” he muttered.

Sylvester
turned his attention to Grace. “That locker that you were bidding on earlier?”

“Yes?”
Grace said. Had he found out that she wouldn’t have been able to pay if she’d have
won it? Was he going to throw her out? Frankie would literally die of
embarrassment.

Sylvester
carried on. “The bidder who bought it doesn’t want it anymore. It happens
sometimes, people change their minds when they get the chance to go inside the
locker. It’s been paid for, you can have it if you want. What do you say?”

Grace’s
eyebrows shot up. “Really? Are you sure? Don’t you want something for it?”

Sylvester
laughed. “I just want the contents gone! You can take it to the local dump,
there’s one down the road.”

The
ghost! She could talk to the ghost now.

Frankie
gave Grace a wary look. “Are you sure you want it? Where are we going to put
everything? We’re running out of room.”

Grace
was just about to mention the stockroom above the shop but she stopped herself.
Frankie was living in the stockroom. He said he had all that he needed there,
and he liked the short journey to work. Grace wasn’t convinced, she thought he
couldn’t be bothered to look for somewhere else.

Sylvester
held his hands up. “Sorry! I don’t want to cause any arguments. The locker’s
there if you want it, Grace. If not, would you let someone at the office know?
I have to get back to the auction, the crowd is getting restless.”

Grace
looked at Frankie. She narrowed her eyes. When did he get those wrinkles around
his eyes? Had he been doing too much lately? She knew he thought of himself as
her protector since their parents had gone. Had she been letting him do too
much?

She
thought for a few moments and then said, “I will take the contents of that
locker. I’ll sort through things and get rid of any rubbish.”

“How
will you get rid of the rubbish? I can’t leave the auction now.”

Grace
took a deep breath. “I’ll drive the van.”

“No!
I don’t expect you to do that!”

“It’s
time. I haven’t driven since the crash and it’s time I got over my silly fears.
I wasn’t even driving that night, I’m just being foolish. I can do it,
Frankie.”

He
gave her a searching look. “Are you sure? You don’t have to.”

“I’m
sure. And I’ll load that locker that you’ve just bought, the one with clothes
and jewellery. They were all in boxes, it won’t take me long.”

Tears
came into Frankie’s eyes. He quickly blinked. He muttered a gruff, “Thanks.”

“And
I’ll take everything to the shop and unload it. You can send me a text when you
want me to come back with the van. Is that okay?”

Frankie
was still blinking furiously. He looked away and muttered, “Yeah, ta, that’ll
be great.  Here are the keys to the locker and the van. Don’t crash the van.”

Grace
laughed. “I’ll try not to. See you later.”

“Not
if I see you first,” Frankie said. He shot her a quick grin and moved closer to
where the latest locker had just been opened.

Grace
walked in the other direction, towards the locker with the ghost in it.