Murder Vows (Storage Ghost Murders Book 4) (12 page)

“Of
course. This is Frankie, my brother.” Grace and Jessie looked at Frankie.
Grace’s hand itched, she longed to reach over and close his mouth.

“Hi,
Frankie. I’m Jessie, I’m here to look at your room.”

Frankie
blinked and, thankfully, closed his mouth. “Pardon? You want to go to my
bedroom?”

Grace
shook her head. “I’ve asked Jessie to give me a quote to convert the stockroom
so that you can have proper accommodation.”

Frankie
stood up straighter. He addressed Grace but his eyes never left Jessie.
“Really? My room?”  

Grace
could see she wasn’t going to get any sense out of Frankie. She said to Jessie,
“It’s upstairs, follow me. Oh! Frankie, you said you wanted a rest.”

Frankie
stood up even taller, he puffed his chest out, lifted his chin and, in an
unusually deep voice, said, “I don’t need a rest. I could work all day without
stopping. You two girls go upstairs, I’ll take care of business here.”

Grace
saw Jessie’s mouth twitch.

“This
way,” Grace said to Jessie.

Once
they were out of ear-shot Grace apologised for her brother.

Jessie
waved her hand. “Doesn’t matter, he’s sort of cute.”

Grace
wasn’t sure about that. She took Jessie into the stockroom. Jessie took her
notepad out and began scribbling on it. She had some electronic device that she
pointed at the walls. Grace presumed it was to measure them. Grace discreetly
looked around the room and out on to the landing. There was no sign of Archie or
Pearl.

Jessie
looked at her notepad. “It won’t take too much work. Do you still need a
stockroom? This room’s big enough for both, we could put a dividing wall in.”

“That
sounds good. Oh! I haven’t offered you a cup of tea. Would you like one?”

Jessie
put her notepad away. “I’d love one, thanks. What kind of business are you
running? You’ve got a real mix of stuff.”

“We
buy things from storage locker auctions, you never know what’s going to be
inside a locker.”

Jessie
gripped Grace’s arm. Grace tried not to flinch. This elfin-faced woman had a
strong grip. Jessie’s eyes shone as she said, “Storage locker auctions? Like
those that are on the TV?”

“Exactly.”

Jessie’s
grip tightened. “I love those shows! I watch them all the time. My favourite
auctioneer is one that looks like Elvis Presley.”

“Sylvester
Sylver? He does the auctions nearby, we’ve met him several times. Frankie’s a
big fan of his.”

Jessie
released her grip. Her mouth formed a huge ‘O’. “I can’t believe it! You have
to tell me more.”

Grace
turned towards the door. “I’ll tell you over a cup of tea, we’ve got a small
kitchen downstairs. Do you need to look at anything else up here?”

“No.
Have you spoken to Sylvester Sylver?”

Grace
smiled. Jessie sounded like a female version of Frankie. Her smile faltered.
She hoped Jessie wasn’t the one who murdered Archie, she seemed far too nice.

Grace
settled Jessie at the kitchen table and then turned her attention to the
kettle. Talking about the auctions would be a good way to introduce the subject
of Archie’s suitcase. And the hammer necklace, she had to mention that. Grace
paused. This was going to be awful. She felt as if she was tricking Jessie.

It
had to be done.

Grace
made the tea, brought out a plate of biscuits and sat down opposite Jessie.
Jessie had a million questions about the storage business. Grace answered them
all, waiting for an opportunity to mention the suitcase.

An
opportunity arose when Jessie asked, “What unusual things have you found?”

Grace
put her cup down, steeled herself and stood up. She casually said, “I found
something on Sunday, it’s sort of sad really. Let me show you.”

Trying
to keep her shaking hands steady Grace opened the cleaning cupboard and took
out Archie’s suitcase. She placed it on the table in front of Jessie.

Jessie’s
smile died, the colour drained from her face. In a quiet voice she said, “Where
did you get this?”

Grace
hated lying. “In a storage unit not far from here. You look as if you recognise
it.”

“I
do. I bought it, I had the initials put on it. You found it in a storage unit?”

Hating
herself even more Grace opened the case. Jessie recoiled as if being hit. Grace
picked up Archie’s wedding jacket and held it up. “It looks like someone’s
wedding suit.”

Jessie
blinked rapidly. “It is a wedding suit.”

Grace
remembered that the necklace was in her handbag, which was in the shop. She
couldn’t leave Jessie whilst she went to retrieve her bag.

A
familiar voice whispered in her ear, “Your bag is under the table.”

It
was Pearl’s voice but not Pearl’s body. She’d obviously made herself invisible.
Was Archie here too? And how had her handbag appeared under the table? Was
Pearl half poltergeist, half ghost?

Grace
reached under the table and into her bag. She took the necklace out. She heard
the wobble in her voice as she spoke, “I found this too, in one of the
pockets.”

Jessie’s
hands flew to her heart. Grace tried to move the necklace closer so that Jessie
could take it.

Jessie
jumped to her feet and screamed, “No! No!”

Grace
pulled the necklace back. Jessie raised her face to the ceiling and let out a
scream that was full of anguish and pain. She sounded like a wounded animal
caught in a trap.

Grace
dropped the necklace and rushed to Jessie’s side. Just in time to catch her as
she fainted.

Chapter 25

Frankie
raced into the kitchen. “What the hell was that noise?”

Grace
struggled to hold Jessie’s weight. “She fainted.”

“After
seeing my room? It’s not that bad.” Frankie dashed around the table and took
Jessie into his arms “What do we do now? Shall I give her the kiss of life?”

“Don’t
you dare. Sit her down, she’s coming round.”

Frankie
placed Jessie into a chair as if she was a delicate flower.

“You
can move your arms now, her eyes are open,” Grace instructed.

Frankie
moved his hands a few inches away but hovered close to Jessie.

Jessie
blinked and looked from Grace to Frankie, and back to Grace. “What happened?
Did I faint?”

“You
did, and I caught you,” Frankie added. Grace could imagine him tipping an
imaginary hat in Jessie’s direction.

Jessie
sat up straight, a slight blush on her cheeks. “I’m so sorry! I haven’t fainted
since ... Oh! The necklace! The suitcase!” She burst into noisy sobs.

Frankie
looked horrified, he took three steps back. “What’s she doing?” he asked Grace.

“Crying.
Move out of the way, I need the tissues.”

“But
she’s so loud. Is that normal?”

Jessie’s
wails increased in volume. Frankie jumped, he looked at Grace and indicated
towards the shop. “I’d better get back to it.”

He
raced away before another sob burst forth from Jessie.

Grace
sat next to her and handed her a tissue. In between sobs Jessie mumbled, “Sorry
... I haven’t cried properly since ... since ... oh! The necklace! He got me a
hammer necklace!”

Grace
rubbed her ear. Jessie was a loud crier. Grace didn’t mind, better to get it
all out.

It
took Jessie five more minutes of crying. At one point she became almost
hysterical and Grace took her in her arms and held her shaking body.

The
crying stopped, Jessie gave her nose a huge blow and tried to smile.

“Do
you want to talk about it? I presume the owner of the suitcase was someone
close to you,” Grace ventured.

Jessie
nodded. Then she told Grace what she already knew, how she’d met Archie, the
story behind the hammer and the fateful wedding day.

Jessie
said, “It’s all my fault, I should have gone to check on him earlier. If I had
I might have stopped whoever it was from breaking in.” With a small grin Jessie
flexed an arm muscle. “I’ve got quite a punch on me. I can’t believe someone
would kill him so easily. How could someone do that? Poor Archie, my poor love.
No one will talk about the wedding. Dad won’t tell me exactly what he found
when he went to check on Archie, he just said there’d been a break-in. I wished
we’d never booked that stupid hotel! It wasn’t my idea at all.”

“Whose
idea was it?” Grace asked.

“My
dad’s. The hotel contacted him about some urgent work they needed doing,
another company had let them down. Dad did the work immediately, the manager
was so pleased he offered Dad a discount for any future events. Well, Dad only
went ahead and booked it for our wedding. Even with the discount Dad went into
debt. He thought I didn’t know but I did. I saw all the extra hours he had to
put in. He’s so stubborn! He wouldn’t take a penny from me or Archie. Archie
did pay for my wedding dress though, he insisted on that. I got Archie’s money
after he died, I’ve offered it to Dad but he won’t take it. He had some sort of
grudge against Archie, I never knew why. He wasn’t the only one with a grudge
against Archie.”

“Rob?”
Grace said without thinking.

 Jessie
stared at Grace. “Yes, how do you know his name?”

“I
think you mentioned it.”

Jessie
nodded. “I probably did. Yes, Rob hated him. Kept telling me not to trust him,
said he’d seen Archie with lots of women. I didn’t believe any of his tales, I
trusted Archie completely. We invited Rob to the wedding but he refused to
come. The funny thing is that the hotel needed urgent repairs doing on patio
doors and Rob offered to do it. So he was there on our wedding day. It made me
so sad that he wouldn’t join us. I was on my way to check on Archie that day
when Rob asked me to look at the work he’d done.”

“Whereabouts
at the hotel was he working?”

Jessie
gave her a wry smile. “The doors that you found us at today. Rob didn’t do a
good job the first time, I don’t think his mind was on his work. The hotel have
been complaining for months that the doors leaked. I couldn’t face going back
but Rob said I had to let the past go. Can I look at the necklace again?”

Grace
picked it up and handed it to Jessie. Archie appeared and knelt at Jessie’s
side, his eyes shining with love. Jessie smiled as she took the necklace. She
sighed happily and said, “It’s beautiful. What a romantic thing to do. My
Archie was such a romantic, I miss him so much.”

“Miss
who? Me, I presume?”

Rob
stood in the doorway, his bulky frame blocking out the light from the shop
behind. He was smiling but hate radiated from his eyes. Archie immediately
vanished leaving a trail of black smoke behind him.

To
Grace, Rob looked every inch the killer.

Chapter 26

Rob
moved into the kitchen, his eyes on the necklace dangling from Jessie’s hand.
Grace didn’t miss the slight shake of Jessie’s hand. Rob pointed a stocky
finger at the necklace and said, “What’s that?”

Jessie
dropped the necklace on to the table. Her cheeks were red. “Nothing, nothing at
all.”

Rob
grabbed the necklace, it looked even daintier in his huge fist. “Looks like a
hammer, what idiot would buy a necklace like this?” Rob looked from the
necklace to the open suitcase. His grip on the necklace tightened as
recognition dawned. “Is that Rob’s suitcase? What’s it doing here? Jessie, do
you want to explain what’s going on?”

Jessie
looked down at the table, her shoulders bent. All her earlier confidence had
seeped away. A flush of anger swept through Grace. She’d met people like Rob
before, he was nothing but a bully.

Grace
stood up and put her hand out. “That necklace is mine. I’ll have it back. And
this suitcase and the contents are mine too. I bought them at a storage locker
auction.”

Rob’s
face darkened. “I don’t believe you. You’re up to something. I bet you’re one
of Archie Goodwin’s ex-girlfriends, I bet you’re after money from Jessie.”

Grace
walked round the table, her hand still outstretched. In a cold voice she said,
“I’ve never met Archie Goodwin.” Not while he was alive, she mentally added.
“But I can assure you that necklace is mine. Hand it over.”

Rob
glared at Grace. She didn’t blink. With a grunt Rob shoved the necklace into
Grace’s hand. He jerked his thumb towards the suitcase. “How did that get in a
storage unit?”

Grace
put the necklace in her pocket and said, “I don’t know. From what I gather
Archie Goodwin died on his wedding day and someone got rid of his suitcase.”

There
was a flicker of triumph in Rob’s eyes. He smirked. “That was me, I got rid of
his rubbish. Well, he wouldn’t be needing them any more.”

Jessie
looked up at Rob, her eyes wide. “What? Why would you do that?”