The Last Reading (Storage Ghost Murders Book 1) (3 page)

Chapter 7

Grace
swallowed the guilt she felt about entering Mae’s house. She wasn’t exactly breaking
and entering was she? Just entering. And there was a note on the front window
inviting her in.

She
nodded and decided that was the argument she would use if the police suddenly
turned up and caught her.

Mae’s
kitchen was lovely, if old fashioned. It was decorated in pale shades of yellow
and blue. There was a large round table in the middle of the room with what
looked like a list of prices. Grace picked it up, her eyebrows raised. That’s a
lot to charge for a tarot card reading. And what was reiki healing?

Grace
put the list back down and continued to look around the kitchen. It felt wrong
to be looking in someone else’s house, but it sort of felt good too, as if
she’d given herself licence to be nosy.

She
remembered all the ‘Murder, She Wrote’ programmes that she’d enjoyed watching.
What would Jessica Fletcher do? The remark that the postman made about the post
not being cancelled came to mind. Was a member of Mae’s family collecting it?
Was someone living here?

Grace
realised with a start that she hadn’t asked Mae if she had a husband or
children. What if there was someone upstairs right now? She suddenly felt like
Goldilocks.

“Who
the hell are you?”

Grace
spun round. A grim faced woman glared at her, hands on her hips. She was
dressed in various shades of beige.

“Well?
Don’t stand there looking gormless. Who are you and what are you doing in
here?”

Grace
quickly thought of a story. “I had an appointment booked with Mae Moonshine, I
booked it last year, I could only make the appointment this month. Where is
she?”

The
woman spat at her. “Liar! I heard you talking to that nosy postman, I heard him
tell you that Mae was dead. Who are you? One of those morbid people who like
looking at homes where dead people lived? It’s bad enough that you might be one
of those idiots who falls for all that fortune telling rubbish. Well? Explain
yourself!”

Grace
looked closer at the woman, there was something familiar about her. She took a
chance and said, “You look like Mae, are you related?”

“How
do you know what Mae looks like? Looked like?” the woman snapped.

Grace
took another chance. “I saw a picture of her online.”

The
woman’s lip curled. “Yes, that sounds like Mae, putting herself out there for
the whole world to see. That’s not even her real name, it’s Sandra Drake, not
as glamorous is it? If you must know I’m her sister. Was there anything else?
You know where the door is.”

Grace
knew there was no point asking her any more questions. She gave the woman a
bright smile and quickly walked out of the back door. Something was bugging her
about the woman’s face.

It
was when she was driving back to the shop that she realised what it was.

“The
lipstick! It was the same colour as Mae’s!”

It
had looked totally out of place on her. Why was she wearing it?

Chapter 8

Grace
had many questions for Mae when she returned to the shop.

Mae
was wandering around the shop looking at various items. Pearl was nowhere in
sight.

Mae
smiled at Grace when she came in. “My memory’s returning a bit more. How did
you get on? Was my house a crime scene? I was imagining a white outline of my
body drawn somewhere, like you see on those police shows.”

Mae
chuckled, Grace was glad to see her looking more cheerful.

Grace
opened her mouth to speak.

Pearl
appeared right in front of her and said, “Not a word yet, I’m not ready.”

The
old woman settled herself down on one of the chairs that had been in the same
locker as Mae. “Right, you can start. I want every tiny detail.”

“There
isn’t much to tell. I met the postman and then I met Mae’s sister.”

“Brenda?
Oh! How is she? Does she look well?” Mae asked.

“Well,”
Grace began.

Mae
burst out laughing. “Does she still look as if she’s stepped in something
disgusting? Her mouth  used to pucker up so much that it looked like..”

“A
cat’s arse.” Pearl finished for her. “I’ve met that type before, they love
being miserable. Tell us more, Grace.”

“Brenda
wasn’t friendly, she threw me out before I had a good look around. I didn’t
know you were a psychic, Mae.”

Mae
gave a bashful nod.

“Psychic!
Why didn’t you say so!” Pearl burst out. “Hang on, in that case, why don’t you
just tell us who killed you? Didn’t you foresee it in your tea leaves or
crystal ball?”

Mae
shook her head. “I never could tell my own fortune. I was quite good at telling
other people’s though. What was Brenda doing in my house?”

“She
didn’t say. Were you two friends? She looks like you, but older.”

Mae
laughed again. “Don’t ever say that in front of her! We’re twins, I’m the
slightly older one. We used to be best friends when we were younger but it all
changed when I turned 13. I started to see things that would happen to people,
it was just a feeling at first but then I started seeing more. My friends loved
it! I could tell them if they would end up with a certain boy. I bought my
first tarot cards and started doing readings, it came naturally to me.”

“And
Brenda didn’t like it?” Grace asked.

Mae
sighed. “I think she was jealous, I had all these people who wanted to be
around me all the time. I knew they wanted information out of me, I wasn’t
stupid, but it was good to feel popular. It’s hard for me to make genuine
friends, as soon as someone knows what I do they start asking questions. Brenda
made fun of my readings and the ‘false friends’ as she called them.”

“Did
you ever do a reading for Brenda?” Grace said.

Mae
let out a laugh. “No! She said she’d rip my tarot cards up if I came anywhere
near her with them. I did do a reading for her husband, Neil, about ten years
ago.”

Sadness
crossed Mae’s face, she looked down at the floor.

Grace
asked, “What happened in the reading? Did you give him bad news?”

“From
what I can remember he was asking about his business, I told him to rely on his
common sense. Something happened shortly after that. Neil went bankrupt. Brenda
stopped talking to me. I tried to contact her several times but she ignored me.
I don’t know what went wrong.”

Pearl
stood up and raised a hand. “I know what happened. You gave him some dodgy
business advice, his business went bust, Brenda blamed you and never spoke to
you again.”

“That’s
possible, although I didn’t give him any dodgy advice. But there’s more. A year
after the reading Neil killed himself. I wonder if Brenda blames me for that.”

Pearl
put her hand down. “Probably.  She might have been the one who killed you. Her
resentment built up over the years and she couldn’t bear to see you alive
anymore. Most murders are committed by people known to the victim.”

Mae
frowned. “But Brenda? She wouldn’t.”

Grace
said, “What was she doing in your house?”

“I
left it to her but I thought she’d sell it. I never married.”

“But
if she hated you as you think, why is she living there?”

Mae
shrugged.

Grace
remembered something. “Does Brenda wear make-up? Lipstick?”

“Never,
she used to say I was ‘tarting myself up’ whenever I wore it.”

Grace
told Pearl and Mae about the lipstick.

“Something’s
going on,” Pearl pointed out. “I think you need to talk to Brenda again. She
might be our murderer.”

Chapter 9

Grace
shook her head. “I don’t want to go back now and talk to her, I don’t know what
to say.”

Pearl
said, “You have to talk to her again, you need some evidence.”

Grace
sighed. “Let me get my thoughts together, I need some time to think.”

“If
Brenda killed Mae you can’t let her get away with it,” Pearl said insistently.

“I
know. Look, let me sort some of these things out from the storage lockers. I
can’t leave it all to Frankie. It’ll give me time to think.”

“Don’t
take too long,” Pearl said. She disappeared. Mae started to wander around the
shop again.

Grace
didn’t want to think about the murder at all. She’d forgotten to tell Pearl and
Mae about the murder occurring at St Mark’s Church. She’d tell them later.

She
looked at the dark pink curtains. She could put them in the front window, place
the costume jewellery on top, it would look inviting.

She
dragged the curtains over to the window, they really did weigh quite a bit. She
cleared out some plates and pans that Frankie had put there a few weeks
previously. She yanked one of the curtains into place. She folded the side
where the hooks go underneath and pulled it close to the edge of the window.
The opposite end where the hem was looked scruffy as if the curtain had been
dragged along the floor many times. Grace smoothed it out as best as she could.

“What’s
this?”

There
was a bump in part of the hem. She looked closer, the hem had come undone.
Grace hoped it wasn’t a dead animal that had crawled inside, she gingerly put
her hand in.

She
pulled something out. It was a dark purple scarf. The scarf was wrapped around
something. Grace unwrapped it.

Mae
was at her side the moment she unwrapped it.

“My
tarot cards!” Mae exclaimed.

Grace
looked at the tattered box.

“I’ve
had them since I was a teenager,” Mae said with a laugh. “The things I’ve seen
with these! I’ve had other packs but these are my best cards.”

“Why
are they wrapped in a scarf?”

“To
protect them against evil forces, of course.”

Of
course.

Grace
turned the cards over. Mae reached out to touch the cards.

Something
changed.

Grace
looked up. “We’re not in Kansas anymore.”

Mae
let out a gasp of delight. “Is this the vision thing you were telling me about?
I must have been attached to my cards. This is really clear, it’s like we’re
really here.”

“Wherever
here is,” Grace muttered. “What’s that smell?”

“It’ll
be incense. I didn’t realise you’d be able to smell anything. I know where we
are, it’s St Mark’s Church. They hold a psychic fair for two days every month.
I used to give readings. Can we move closer into the vision? I’ll take you to
my table, it’s right near the door, I was the one that people saw the minute
they came into the church hall.”

Grace
moved forward, still holding the cards. Mae had let go. She walked in front of
Grace through the crowds.

“I
had no idea these kind of fairs were so popular,” Grace said.

“People
like to know what’s happening in their lives, they like to have hope. Follow
me.”

Grace
could hear tinkly music, like wind chimes, coming from several directions.
There was also a low sound of chanting. Stalls were placed all around the hall.
It reminded Grace of the local market. But the stall owners weren’t shouting
out their wares to passers-by, they were just smiling. It all seemed very
friendly.

Grace
saw a stall that offered reiki healing. She paused for a moment. A young woman
was lying down on a couch with her eyes closed. An older woman was holding her
hands several inches above her body.

Mae
noticed her looking. “It’s to align the chakras and get rid of any blockages.”

“Hmm.”
So that’s what reiki was. Grace had a fleeting thought that she might want to
try it.

They
headed closer to the main door.

Mae’s
hand shot out, she pointed towards a table. “There I am? Do I really look like
that from behind?”

They
walked nearer until they were facing the Mae who was still alive. Grace saw the
sad look on ghost Mae’s face. It must be awful facing your former self.

Mae
was giving a reading to a middle aged woman who had tears in her eyes.

Ghost
Mae said, “I gave her a message from her mum who had recently become a spirit,
I remember that her mum was telling her to leave her bully of a husband.”

“And
you told her that? I thought you were only supposed to give good news or something.”

“I
told people the truth, even if they didn’t want to hear it. If someone got
really upset I’d offer to give them a refund.”

“Did
you ever see someone’s death? Did you warn them about it?”

Ghost
Mae shook her head. “No, thankfully. I often saw illness and would tell the
customer to make an appointment with their doctor.”

The
customer wiped her eyes and thanked the vision Mae profusely.  She stood up and
walked away. Another customer was waiting nearby with a hopeful smile. The
vision Mae smiled and said, “Please excuse me for a few minutes.”

The
ghost Mae gave an embarrassed laugh. “Oh, I remember this. I’d drunk too many
teas that day, they kept appearing on my table. I normally just sip water
through the day so that I don’t need the toilet. I didn’t want to refuse the
tea, I didn’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings.”

Ghost
Mae and Grace turned to follow the vision Mae.

The
scene changed.

“We’re
upstairs, just outside the toilets. There I am, hitching my dress up to go
downstairs. Those church steps are so steep! I kept thinking I was going to
fall down them one day!”

A
chill shot down Grace’s back and terror gripped her stomach.

“Mae,
I think this is when you died.”