Murder Vows (Storage Ghost Murders Book 4) (11 page)

“A
bit,” Grace admitted.

Archie
rubbed his forehead. “I don’t know what happened, it’s not like me to lose my
temper. Jessie, on the other hand, could fly into a rage at the drop of a hat.”

Grace
mentally stored that nugget of information away. She returned to the room.
Archie had no choice but to follow her. He said, “Now what?”

“We
go downstairs and find out who those voices belong to. If they do belong to Rob
and Jessie you’re going to have to find some way of keeping yourself calm. Can
you do that?”

Archie
nodded. “I’ll try. For you.”

Grace
took one last look around the room. She didn’t think she was missing anything.
They left the room.

Beth
was waiting for them near the lift. She held up her hands and said, “I’m so
sorry but you’ll have to see yourself out. Can you remember the way?”

“Yes,
I’ll be fine on my own,” Grace said, stopping herself just in time from saying,
‘We’ll be fine’.

Beth
nodded towards the lift. “Old Raspberry tracked me down, she’s got a new list
of things she wants me to do.” She tutted to herself then frowned. “I shouldn’t
really talk about her like that, she’s been through a tough time. Then again,
that’s no excuse for being a miserable old trout. Bye!”

Beth
walked quickly away.

Grace
and Archie took the lift to the ground floor. Grace decided to use the garden
exit door again. Hopefully, she wouldn’t be seen by whoever was under the
honeymoon suite balcony.

Her
plan worked. She skirted round the edge of the garden and found a spot to hide
in.

Archie
looked at the trees on either side of them. “Would have been better if the
leaves were still on.”

Grace
waved at him to be quiet. She was peering through the bare branches of the
trees. There was the honeymoon suite. And underneath were two people dressed in
overalls. They were working on a door that had been removed from the area under
the honeymoon suite. Grace focused on the two people. Even at this distance she
recognised them. She’d seen them on the CCTV footage.

She
felt a cold breath on her cheek. She turned her head and was confronted by
Archie, the sadness on his face made her own heart sink. At least he hadn’t
made a black cloud appear this time.

It
looked like Archie couldn’t bring himself to speak, so Grace voiced the
obvious. “It is Jessie and Rob, isn’t it? Jessie’s hair is still the same.
Rob’s changed a bit, lost a lot of weight, looks like he’s been working out.”

“The
slimy toad,” Archie muttered. “What’s going on? I thought they were just good
friends. Looks like more than that to me.”

Grace
put her hand on Archie’s arm, it sank right through. She said, “They could have
got together after the wedding. We don’t know the full story.”

“Hmm,”
was Archie’s reply.

“They’re
talking, I can’t hear anything from here. Let’s move closer.”

“May
I ask what you’re doing out here? Apart from talking to yourself.”

Grace
stiffened. She knew that icy tone. Slowly, she turned around to face the angry
face of Ms Berry.

“You’re
in trouble now,” Archie helpfully pointed out.

Grace’s
brain went into overdrive as it looked for reasonable excuses. She came up with
one. Grace stood up taller and tried to look indignant. Raising her voice she
said, “I was checking out the safety of the hotel. I was on the balcony of the
honeymoon suite and I heard loud voices below. Well! I don’t want that level of
noise on my honeymoon night!”

Archie
snorted with laughter.

Grace
ignored him and carried on. “I came down here to see who was making that
racket.” She waved her arm towards Rob and Jessie. “There’s building work going
on. How long will it be before they’re finished? Or is this the kind of hotel
that has work going on all the time? I’m not paying good money to have my
honeymoon night ruined!”

For
once, Ms Berry looked flustered. “Let me assure you that this is a temporary
situation. Those builders have almost finished.”

Grace
pursed her lips in what she thought was an angry manner. Then she said, “I’ll
have to think carefully about any potential booking. I’ve heard about this
hotel and that dreadful murder that happened a while back. The police said that
someone climbed on to the balcony!”

Archie
nudged Grace. It felt like someone had prodded her with an icicle. Archie was
staring at Ms Berry.

Grace
immediately lost her angry stance. Ms Berry was looking past Grace’s shoulder,
her eyes glazed over as if in some sort of trance. Grace had seen that look
several times over the last few days.

Sure
enough, the cause of the trance appeared.

“Hi,
Lily,” Grace said quietly.

Lily
gave her a friendly wave. She stood at the side of Ms Berry. She leant against
her and smiled.

Of
course, it was obvious now. She should have spotted it earlier.

Grace
looked at Archie. He nodded and said, “They’re mother and daughter.”

Chapter 23

Ms
Berry snapped out of her trance, she frowned as she looked to her left.
Unbeknownst to her, Lily was smiling lovingly at her. Ms Berry cleared her
throat and brought her attention back to Grace. She said in a softer tone,
“I’ll leave you alone to consider your future plans.”

She
turned away and walked back towards the main entrance, her shoulders slightly
bowed. Lily walked at her side, she was a bit shorter than her mum but had the
same shaped body.

Grace
said to Archie, “I could feel her sadness then, could you? I wonder what
happened to Lily?”

Archie
nodded. “I remember Lily now. She was a hotel maid, she was here on my wedding
day.”

“That
must have been who Ms Berry was smiling at on the CCTV footage and in our
vision. Why do we need to know that? How is Lily connected to your murder? And
why is she wearing Jessie’s wedding dress?”

“That’s
a lot of questions. She was very helpful on the wedding day. Sylvia had
Jessie’s dress covered up and ready to take to the honeymoon suite. Jessie was
getting ready in that room, I was sharing with my best man. I made a move to
pick up the dress, Sylvia practically screamed at me. She said it was bad luck
for me to see it. Lily offered to take it, she said she’d dealt with wedding
dresses before and that she knew how to hang them so that any creases fell
out.” He paused. “She was a lovely girl, always smiling and humming to
herself.” Grace said, “She must have tried the dress on at some point for her
to be wearing it now. Before the wedding? Would she do that? I wish she’d come
back, I need to talk to her.”

Archie
looked towards the hotel. “Do you think Lily saw who murdered me? Perhaps the
murderer saw Lily and then killed her too.”

“I
was thinking the same thing. If I talk to Lily I can find out how, and where
she died.” Grace sighed. “I seem to have more questions than answers. Come on,
we may as well head back to the shop. We’ll have to fill Pearl in on what’s
happened so far.”

They
walked towards the car park. Archie abruptly stopped. “Look, it’s Jessie’s
van.”

Grace
looked at the van, it was a smaller version of the one she had seen Gordon
standing next to in the cafe car park. Her eyes took in the logo, the telephone
number, the website address and ...

“Ladders!
Ladders on top of the van,” Grace pointed out. She didn’t need to say any more,
Archie’s grim look probably mirrored her own.

Grace
continued walking towards Frankie’s van. Then it was her turn to perform a
sudden stop. “Oh! This is no good! I can’t wait for answers to come to me.” She
turned on her heel and headed towards Rob and Jessie.

Archie
said, “What are you doing? Don’t talk to them! I don’t want to see them!”

“Then
disappear,” Grace said as politely as she could. Archie did so.

She
approached the working pair, a friendly smile on her face. It wasn’t easy to do
bearing in mind that the people in front of her were murder suspects.

Grace
spoke, “Hello there! Sorry to bother you. I noticed your van in the car park.
This is a bit cheeky but could I ask you for a quote for some building work?”

Rob
put down his saw, nodded his head towards the car park and said, “There’s a
telephone number on the van. Ring that and make an appointment.”

Annoyance
flashed across Jessie’s face. She gave Grace an apologetic smile and placed her
hammer on the ground. The same hammer that had landed on Archie’s foot?

Jessie
took out a notebook and pencil. “Of course you can have a quote. Where do you
live?”

Grace
replied, “It’s for a shop. I run it with my brother. He’s taken to living in
the stockroom above the shop. I wanted to see if it’s possible to convert it
into proper living quarters for him. He keeps saying he’ll get round to it one
day but he hasn’t yet.”

Jessie
smiled at Grace. “Men are pretty useless at things like that.”

Grace
and Jessie ignored the muttered curse that came from Rob. He picked up his saw
and turned his back on them.

Grace
gave Jessie the address. Jessie nodded. “My dad is working nearby. I was due to
work with him this afternoon, I can pop in to your shop later on today, if
that’s all right?”

“Perfect.
Thank you. I’ll see you then.” Grace turned away. As she made her way back to
the car park she heard Rob say, “Any excuse to get away from this hotel,
Jessie? I thought you were over him.”

There
was a resigned sigh from Jessie. “Don’t start that again, you know I’m over
him.”

Archie
reappeared in the passenger seat as Grace drove away from the hotel. Grace
said, “Did you hear our conversation? Or did you go to your quiet place?”

Archie
looked straight forward. “I heard. I don’t like how Rob was talking to Jessie.
I presume the ‘him’ she was talking about being over was me. It didn’t take her
long to get over me.”

“We
don’t know the full details yet. I’m sure Jessie loved you very much.”

Archie
didn’t look convinced. “I’m beginning to doubt her innocence. What if she and
Rob planned to kill me together? They left the hotel at around the time I died,
and they had access to a ladder.”

They
drove on in silence, both lost in thought.

Grace
thought Archie could be right about Jessie and Rob. But why would they kill
him? For love, to be with each other? That didn’t make sense, Jessie could have
just called off the wedding.

That
were a lot of things that didn’t make sense, including Lily, the dancing ghost.

Grace
gripped the steering wheel. She was going to get to the bottom of this mystery
somehow.

Chapter 24

Grace
parked the van at the rear of the shop. She did a double take as she entered
the main shop premises. There were customers everywhere. There was also a
flustered-looking Frankie standing at the till, a queue of grumbling people in
front of him.

Archie
took in the scene and said, “I’ll find Pearl and tell her what’s happened, I
think your brother needs you.”

Grace
shoved her coat and handbag away and ran over to Frankie’s side. He gave her a
grateful look. Grace nodded and called out, “Who’s next?”

She
spent the next two hours dealing with the influx of customers, Frankie working
just as frantically at her side.

When
there was a lull in customers Grace asked Frankie why the shop was so busy.

He
gave her an embarrassed smile. “I think it’s my fault. I put a message on my
social sites saying that there was a 40 per cent discount on all goods this
afternoon.”

Grace’s
eyebrows rose. “Any reason for that?”

He
shrugged. “Seemed like a good idea. It’s working, the shelves are getting emptier.
I think we finally might be able to move some of that stuff out of the
stockroom.”

“Talking
of the stockroom,” Grace began. She never finished her sentence as another
onslaught of customers barged into the shop.

It
was another hour before Grace could take a proper breath. “Wow! Warn me next
time about any discounts. Has it been like this all day? You should have called
me.”

“It
started at ten o’clock. Must be pension day or something. The old codgers had
to collect their money first. I’m dying for a cup of tea, I haven’t had any
lunch.”

“Me
neither. Shall I make you something?”

Frankie
rested on the till. “I could do with a sit down. My back is killing me, I’m not
used to this hard work.”

“You
go have a rest,” Grace said.

At
that moment Jessie walked into the shop. Frankie’s mouth dropped open as he
stared at her.

Jessie
smiled and said, “Is this a good time?”