Tick Tock (Storage Ghosts) (2 page)

Eddie
took a step towards her. “Grace, how lovely to see you this afternoon.”

Grace’s
eyes darted to the exit door, the three men were blocking it. Should she
scream? Would anyone hear her?

 “What
do you want?” she said, trying to make her voice sound normal. “If you come any
closer I’ll scream.”

Eddie
chuckled. “Why would you scream? I just wanted to have a friendly chat with
you.”

He
took another step closer. Grace didn’t miss the steely look in his eyes. She
could smell his aftershave, her bile began to rise. She leant against the sink
to help support her suddenly trembling legs. “How did you know I was here?” she
asked.

Eddie
held his hands out and said, “I followed you of course. I’ve been following you
for days, didn’t you notice?”

Grace
didn’t say anything.

Eddie
carried on. “I didn’t think much of that dress you tried on the other day, it
really didn’t suit you. You should make the most of your curves. Talking of
which, you really should close your curtains better on an evening. Did you know
there was a small chink left open the other night, wasn’t there, Dave?”

This
last comment was directed at the man behind him, the one with the bandaged
cheek. He gave Grace an evil leer and said, “That’s right, Eddie, I got a right
eyeful.”

Grace’s
nostrils flared, one hand flew to her tummy, she felt like she was going to be
sick.

Eddie
grinned at her discomfort. “Do you want to know why we’ve been following you?
No? I’ll tell you anyway. Dave here noticed all the new stock in your shop,”
Eddie suddenly laughed, “sorry, my shop, I keep forgetting you don’t own it
anymore. He noticed the new stock and told me about it. I said to Dave, ‘That’s
impossible! Frankie and Grace owe me £50,000, how could they possibly have
money to spend on new stock? And why would they? I’m sure they would give any
spare money they had to me.’ Well, Grace, you can imagine my surprise when I
let myself into the shop one night and saw he was right.”

He
stopped talking and took another step. His aftershave was becoming
overwhelming, Grace felt her vision blurring.

“Still
nothing to say? I made some enquiries and found out about these storage
auctions you and your idiot brother have been going to. And I’ve heard about
the money you’ve made. Grace, I’m deeply, deeply hurt.” He put a hand over his
heart and shook his head sadly. Grace suspected that the area under his hand
was devoid of a heart.

Eddie
reached into his pocket and took out a slim red book that Grace recognised. He
made a show of opening it up and sliding his finger down a page. He looked up
at her. “I’ve been so patient with you two. I gave you the chance to pay off
your alcoholic father’s debts but you threw my patience in my face.” He slammed
the book closed in his big hands. “I can’t let you get away with that.” The
book was placed back in his pocket, Eddie’s eyes never moved from her face.

The
men behind Eddie stepped forward, their looks reminded Grace of hungry lions
that she’d seen on TV.

Eddie
reached out his hand and gently stroked Grace’s face. She flinched and pulled
her head away. Eddie laughed. “You’ll get used to my touch one day, dear
Grace.”

“Never!
Don’t you touch me again!” Grace cried out. A fury was building in her tummy,
it was the same fury that had given her strength on the day that she had used
the tea pot as a weapon.

“I’ll
do what I want with you, I owe you,” Eddie said quietly. “You and your brother
have made a fool of me, you are going to pay for that.”

Eddie’s
hands shot out and he pinned Grace against the sink.

“Get
your hands off her!” a voice boomed out.

The
startled Eddie turned his head to see who had interrupted him.

Big
Bob took two huge strides over to Eddie and yanked him away from Grace. He took
a fistful of Eddie’s immaculate shirt and lifted him up. “Never, ever lay a
hand on this woman again. I’ll snap your head in a second. And don’t even think
of ordering your sidekicks to move.”

Eddie
wriggled free from Big Bob’s grip. He smoothed his shirt down and glowered at
him. “You don’t know what you’ve just done. I don’t know who you are but you’re
going to wish you’d never walked in here today.”

Big
Bob grabbed Eddie’s shoulders and spun him around. “I don’t respond to threats,
especially not from scum like you, Eddie Tominski. You can leave on your own,
or I can assist you.”

Eddie
shot a disgusted look at Big Bob and then stormed out of the bathroom. His two
men scarpered after him.

Grace
collapsed onto the floor.

Chapter 4

Big
Bob picked her up as if she was a rag doll. He carried her outside and sat her
down on a nearby stack of pallets. Frankie raced over and sat down next to her.
“Grace! What happened? Did you fall down the toilet? Have you banged your head?
You look as white as a ghost.”

“It’s
nothing,” Grace muttered. She took some deep steady breaths. She couldn’t bear
to look at Big Bob.

Frankie
turned to Big Bob, his eyebrows raised.

Big
Bob studied them for a moment. “I can’t believe that you’d have anything to do
with a lowlife loan shark like Eddie Tominski. Do you want to tell me what’s
going on?”

Frankie’s
head spun back to Grace. “Eddie? What’s going on? Was Eddie here? Did he attack
you?”

He
jumped to his feet and looked around the storage facility, his fists clenched,
murder on his face.

Grace
reached a hand out and grabbed his coat. “He was here, he’s been following me.
He didn’t hurt me, Frankie, calm down.”

“He
would have hurt you if I hadn’t stepped in,” Big Bob said. Grace finally looked
at him, she’d never heard him speak in such an angry way before. “Tell me
what’s going on! One of you! Whatever it is I can help. You can’t owe money to
someone like Eddie, you’ll never be free of him.”

Grace
said, “It’s a long story. Thank you for helping me in there, I was so scared I
could hardly move.” She didn’t mention the fury that had started to rise in
her, that was something that was starting to scare her.

Big
Bob let out an exasperated sigh. “Will you please tell me what’s going on?”

Frankie
shoved his hands in his pocket, his chin jutted out. Grace had seen his
stubborn look many times. Frankie said, “It’s our business. Thanks for helping
Grace, but I can deal with everything now.”

“But
I could help you. If you owe Eddie some money I can give it to you and you can
pay him off. It’s the least I can do, your dad helped me so much when I was starting
out in the antique business. You can even borrow the money if you won’t accept
it as a gift, wouldn’t you rather owe me money than owe it to Eddie?”

Frankie
looked away from Big Bob and said firmly, “No. Thanks.”

Grace
couldn’t bear it. Whatever scheme Frankie was using to help them out of this
terrible situation wasn’t working. He was in total denial. They were going to
lose their shop, just as they’d lost their parents’ house and belongings. And
here was this generous man offering to help them out.

She
looked at the ground, her shoulders slumped. She did want to put her faith in
Frankie, but it was hard. The shop, their lovely shop that mum and dad had
loved, being taken over by that hideous Eddie. He’d rip it to pieces, destroy
it.

Grace’s
heart felt like it was too heavy for her body, she couldn’t bear any more pain.
She didn’t want to be a person who was attacked in a toilet area.

Big
Bob said, “Frankie, look at your sister.”

Grace
felt an arm around her shoulder. She looked at Frankie’s face, the pain on it
made her heart feel even heavier. He said, “Don’t cry, Grace, I hate to see you
cry.”

She
shook her head. “I don’t want to lose the shop, it feels like I’m losing them
all over again. Frankie, I wished I’d died in the accident, this pain is too
much.”

“No!
Don’t say that! You’re all I’ve got left. You’re right, we can’t lose the shop,
it’s ours. Grace, I’ve been an idiot, trying to sort everything out on my own,
too afraid to admit that I can’t deal with it. Stop crying, we’ll sort
something out.”

Grace
sniffed and wiped her face with her sleeve. “Will you let Big Bob help?
Please?”

Frankie
sighed. “I will. But I’m going to make sure we never get into this situation
again. And I’m going to make sure you never look this sad again. What now?
You’ve just stopped crying and now you’ve started again! Women!”

Big
Bob handed Grace a tissue. “I think those are happy tears. You’ve got five
minutes to tell me your long story, the auction’s going to start soon. I
absolutely insist on helping you two. How much do you owe that slippery snake?”

Grace
wiped her eyes with the tissue and listened as Frankie quickly told Big Bob
about their dad’s debt and their subsequent dealings with Eddie Tominski. To
Big Bob’s credit he barely flinched when they told him how much they owed.

After
five minutes Big Bob nodded and said, “I’ll sort Eddie out. You two forget all
about him.” He held out a hand to Grace and helped her to her feet. She felt a
hundred pounds lighter.

“We’ll
never be able to thank you enough,” she said.

“I
just want to see you both happy. Now, let’s make fun of your brother, watch his
face change as his hero approaches.”

Frankie
stood up. “If you mean Sylvester Sylver I’m totally over being star struck by
him.”

Sylvester
Sylver,  spotted them and ambled over, his purple satin shirt catching the light.
He placed a friendly arm around Frankie and said, “Good to see you again, pal.
We’re about to start, want to walk over with me?”

Frankie
grinned at his favourite auctioneer, adoration clearly written on his face. He
nodded like an obedient dog and walked at the side of Sylvester. If he had a
tail he would have wagged it.

Grace
and Big Bob burst into laughter.

Grace
couldn’t remember that last time she’d laughed so loudly.

Could
it be true that their money problems were over?

Chapter 5

Sylvester
Sylver stood at the front of a row of lockers. The crowd of people in front of
him began to quieten down. Sylvester beamed a brilliant white smile at them.
Grace was struck again at how like Elvis Presley he looked, albeit with silver
hair. She half expected him to break into song.

He
gave his usual talk about the rules of the auction. Grace was becoming familiar
with them now. Her favourite part was when Sylvester said he would throw anyone
out that stepped into a locker before they bought it. Grace had never seen that
happening but Frankie had watched Sylvester throw someone out of an auction on
one of his TV shows. She suspected that Frankie would be able to tell her which
series and show it was, such was his addiction to the shows.

The
first locker was opened. Some people shook their heads, some people moved
closer for a better look, Grace stared at the ghosts inside the locker. There
were about 5 of them.

Ever
since the car accident that had claimed her parents’ lives, and almost claimed
hers, Grace had been able to see ghosts. She hadn’t told anyone about this, and
she had no intention of doing so. She could just imagine the jokes that Frankie
would crack if he knew.

Big
Bob nodded at the locker and said to Grace, “Looks like old weaving looms, I
can see some spindles on the floor. I’ll bet they’ve come from an old woollen
mill, lots of them are being converted into homes now.”

“Are
they worth anything?” Grace said. She was itching to move closer, to look at
the ghosts more closely.

Big
Bob shrugged. “No commercial value, they’d be better off in a museum. Not worth
bidding on.”

As
nonchalantly as she could Grace said, “I think I might have a closer look. I
studied the industrial age at university, I like seeing things in the flesh.
Well, not in the flesh! They’re made of metal! And wood! You know what I mean.”

Realising
she was rambling Grace moved forward. Big Bob called out, “See if you can peel
your brother away from Sylvester Sylver’s side. He’s so close he’s almost
become a shadow.”

Grace
queued behind some other bidders as they moved towards the locker. When it was
her turn Grace didn’t look at the items. Her eyes looked over the ghosts. She’d
never seen ghost children before. It was obvious from their grubby faces and
tattered clothes that they were mill workers. Grace’s heart ached as she
remembered the stories about how children as young as 6 would work in the
mills, some for as long as 14 hours a day. Their small frames were perfect for
grabbing fluff from the fast moving factory machines.

The
children were running around the small unit area, playing chasing games and
laughing. Their laughs sounded like echoes as the sound bounced off the metal
walls. Grace winced when she noticed the injuries on the children. One of them
had fingers missing, one had a whole arm missing. A little girl had a red bald
patch on one side of her head. Grace assumed that she had got her hair caught
under one of the machines. Grace sighed, what a waste of young lives. But the
children didn’t seem sad, they laughed loudly as one of them tagged the other.