Murder Vows (Storage Ghost Murders Book 4) (17 page)

Lily
burst out again, “Is he really that dumb? She wanted you to go to her room, she
didn’t want you up in the honeymoon suite. She told Jessie to go there!”

“That’s
right,” Grace said. She paused whilst Archie tried to absorb this new
information. She had another bombshell ready. “Sylvia didn’t intend to kill
you. She wanted to kill Jessie.”

Chapter 35

Archie
shook his head violently. “No! That’s not true! It can’t be true!”

Pearl
said, “Mothers have been known to kill their children before.”

“But
Sylvia wouldn’t do that to anyone. And Jessie wasn’t her daughter, her mum died
when she was five. Gordon married Sylvia when Jessie was ten.”

Pearl
banged her fist on the table. “You could have told us that before!”

Grace
said, “How did Sylvia and Jessie get on with each other?”

“All
right, I suppose. Sylvia did like to have Gordon to herself, but that’s normal,
isn’t it?” Archie paused and seemed to be reflecting on something. “Now I come
to think of it, Jessie and Sylvia didn’t spend any time together. If they had
to spend time together Jessie was always quieter than normal. And Jessie didn’t
want anything to do with the wedding arrangements, she said Sylvia was more
than capable of organising everything.”

Grace
nodded. “So, they didn’t get on that well. Sylvia probably resented the close
relationship between Jessie and Gordon. Then you came along, she probably hated
Jessie even more as she fell in love with you. Is that grounds for murder?
Pearl?”

“Absolutely.
People have killed for less. I haven’t heard of anyone using poisoned perfume
before. I wonder where she got it from.”

Archie
said, “You can get anything on the Internet. Sylvia was becoming quite a
computer geek, she was on it for hours. I even showed her some of the
underground sites that I have to deal with. I realised later that I shouldn’t
have, but Sylvia was so interested in my work and it was hard to say no to
her.”

“What
kind of underground sites?” Grace asked.

Archie
gave her a wry smile. “Sites that would turn your hair as grey as Pearl’s. You
name it, and, somewhere on the Internet, I could find it. I still can’t believe
Sylvia would do that.”

“I’d
like to look at some of those sites,” Pearl said gleefully. She caught Grace’s
look and added, “For future investigations, of course. Archie, you’ll have to
give Grace a note of those sites.”

Lily
bounced out of her chair. “When can we talk about me! I have to tell you what I
saw, what she did!”

Pearl
pointed at her. “Oi! None of that bouncing about, you’re making my head hurt.
Sit down and talk to us.”

Lily
grinned at Pearl and sat down. “I remember that wedding day. All the maids
fancied Archie, they all wanted to help him with his bags but Mum asked me to
do it. That older woman, Sylvia? She asked me to help her. I helped her carry
things to the honeymoon suite. I didn’t like her. She smiled at me with her
mouth and not her eyes. I don’t like people like that.”

“Go
on,” Pearl urged.

Lily
lifted her chin proudly. “I took the wedding dress and I hung it carefully in
the wardrobe, that big walk-in wardrobe that’s in the room. I put some more things
away but I couldn’t stop looking at that dress. It was beautiful! Sylvia said
she had to go talk to the DJ and went out.” Lily sighed. “I couldn’t help it, I
knew Mum would be mad but I had to do it! I tried the dress on, and the shoes.
I looked gorgeous! Archie, don’t you think I look gorgeous in Jessie’s dress?”

Archie
gave her a gentle smile. “Yes, you do. What happened next, Lily?”

“I
was dancing around the room when I heard the door opening. I ran into the
wardrobe and closed the door. Sylvia came in. I heard her locking the door. I
saw her walk to the dressing table. She put that perfume bottle right in the
middle. I thought she must be happy giving such a present because she was
smiling so much. The smile even went to her eyes. She went out, I took the
dress off, put it away and left the room.”

Grace
nodded. “So we know Sylvia left the perfume there for definite. Lily, you said
you found the perfume later?”

“I
did, in that cleaning trolley, wrapped in that handkerchief. Sylvia was
downstairs in the toilets, crying her eyes out about Archie. I tried to give
her the perfume bottle back, I had to tell her that I saw her earlier when I
was hiding. She stopped crying and her eyes went all wide. She said I could
keep the perfume. Then she gave me one of those funny smiles again. She said
when the police had gone she was going to give me the wedding dress and shoes,
Jessie wouldn’t want them any more. I had to wait ages for the police to
finish! I was so excited about the dress! Sylvia gave me it later, all wrapped
up. She said I should try it on at home, and I should put on lots of the
perfume.”

“She
actually said that? To put on the perfume?” Grace said.

Lily
nodded. “She said it a few times. She said it was a fancy perfume from France
and it smelled of roses. I love roses. When I got home I put the dress and
shoes on. Then I picked the perfume up and ...” Lily looked down at her dress,
her smile died. “She killed me, didn’t she? That Sylvia woman, she killed
Archie and then she killed me.” Lily looked up. “Why did she do that? I didn’t
do anything to her.”

Grace
said, “It’s because you saw her place the perfume in the room. You might have
told the police.” She turned to Archie. “Now do you believe that Sylvia killed
you? That her intended target was Jessie? She didn’t think twice about killing
Lily.”

Archie
gave a big sigh. “I suppose you’re right.”

Pearl
snapped, “There’s no suppose about it! That Sylvia is not right in her head!”

Archie
said, “Sylvia won’t be happy about Gordon being in jail, she’ll be furious.”

Grace
stood up. “Jessie! She might try to kill Jessie again! Where is she?”

Grace
got Jessie’s number and tried her phone. “It’s gone to answer-phone. Archie, do
you know Sylvia’s number?”

Archie
did, he gave it to Grace. “Answer–phone for her too. Have you got Rob’s number?
Jessie’s address? Her work address?”

Pearl
stood up. “Grace, calm down, you’re not thinking clearly.”

Grace
jumped as her phone rang. “Jessie? Is that you? Ruth! What?” Grace looked
wide-eyed at the others. “Okay, I’m on my way. Thanks.”

“Well?”
Pearl asked.

“Ruth
Berry has just seen Sylvia and Jessie come into the hotel. Sylvia wanted to
look at the honeymoon suite. She told Ruth who they were and that Jessie still
hadn’t come to terms with Archie’s death. Sylvia thought a quiet hour or two in
the honeymoon suite might bring Jessie some closure. Ruth agreed even though
she knew it was a strange request, she recognised Jessie and Sylvia as soon as
they walked in. Ruth said that Jessie didn’t look right. She was leaning
against Sylvia as if she was drunk.”

“Or
drugged,” Pearl suggested. “You’d better get over there. Don’t worry about
Frankie, I can hear his snores from here. Go!”

Lily
and Archie were at Grace’s side. Archie said, “I hope we’re not too late.”

“Me
too,” Grace added.

Chapter 36

Ruth
wasn’t on the reception desk when Grace bounded through the hotel doors. Grace
didn’t stop to ask the man standing in her place where Ruth was. She didn’t
waste time waiting for the lift and ran up the stairs instead. She was out of
breath when she finally stopped outside the honeymoon suite. A grim-faced Ruth
was waiting for her.

Ruth
nodded towards the door. “They’ve been in there a while. I interrupted once to
see if they wanted any refreshments. They were standing by the French doors
when I went in. Sylvia had her arm around Jessie, but it looked like she was
holding her up. I’ve been listening at the door, I can hear two voices but it’s
mainly Sylvia talking. I can’t work out what she’s saying. What are we going to
do? I can knock at the door again.”

“No
time,” Grace said. An uneasy feeling was growing in her stomach, she hoped she
wasn’t too late. “We’re going in.”

Ruth
reached for a key on her belt. Grace said, “You don’t need that. Lily showed me
how to open this door without a key.”

Ruth
looked past Grace’s shoulder. “Is she here? Lily?”

Grace
nodded. “She’s dancing about at your side.” Grace twisted the handle as Lily
had shown her. She burst into the room, followed by Ruth, Archie and Lily.

Jessie
was lying on the huge four-poster bed, her eyelids were fluttering as if trying
to open. Sylvia was perched at her side, a contented smile on her face. She
looked over at Grace, her smile immediately vanished. “Who are you? And how
dare your burst in! We’re having a private moment! Ms Berry, what sort of a
hotel are you running?”

Archie
whooshed across the room, straight through Sylvia and lay at Jessie’s side. His
ghostly hand touched her hair. Without taking his eyes from Jessie he said,
“Grace, she’s still alive but her breathing doesn’t sound right.”

Grace
walked further into the room. “I’m a friend of Jessie’s. I was concerned when
she didn’t answer her phone. What’s wrong with her? Why is she lying down.”

Various
emotions fluttered over Sylvia’s face, Grace could almost hear her thinking of
excuses. Sylvia settled on concern. She said, “I think she’s taking Archie’s
death badly, that was her groom, he died in this room.” Sylvia paused and
dramatically pulled her hands to her chest. “We thought he was the victim of a
break-in but it seems that’s not true. Look.” Sylvia picked up a piece of paper
that was lying at Jessie’s side. “I found this in her pocket. It says that she
killed Archie, and she can’t bear to go on.”

Grace
took a slow step closer to the bed. “Why would she kill Archie?”

Sylvia
tried to look embarrassed. “I can’t bring myself to say it, but I suppose I
have to. Archie was desperately in love with me. He only went through with the
wedding because he felt sorry for her, he was that kind of man.”

Lily
shot over to Sylvia. “Liar! You killed him!”

Sylvia
hadn’t finished. “Gordon, my husband, he found Archie and told the police about
the break-in. He must have known that Jessie did it. He’s been covering for her
all this time. But that wasn’t good enough for her,” Sylvia pointed at Jessie.
Grace flinched at the hate that showed up on Sylvia’s face for a second.
“Jessie forced Gordon to confess, now he’s in prison. She’s very selfish,
always has been.”

The
note had become crumpled in Sylvia’s hand. Grace took another step and said,
“What’s wrong with her? She’s hardly moving.”

“Good!
She deserves to die! She made my Archie die! And she put my Gordon in prison!”

All
pretence had gone, the true Sylvia emerged.

Grace
said, “I know what you did. I know you bought the poisoned perfume for Jessie
and put it in here. Your plan went wrong and Archie died. Why are you trying to
harm Jessie now? Is it because Gordon is in prison? Do you blame her for that?”

Ruth
said, “What are you talking about, Grace? Did Sylvia try to kill her own
daughter?”

Sylvia
spat, “She’s not my daughter! I never wanted her in my life. She has to die!”
She turned hate-filled eyes towards Grace. “And who are you anyway? Coming here
and spouting that nonsense, you don’t know what you’re talking about. Get out!”

Ruth
touched Grace’s elbow. “Is it true about the poisoned perfume? Was it the same
perfume that I found in Lily’s room?”

Grace
nodded, still keeping her eyes on Sylvia. She could see Sylvia slowly reaching
in to her pocket.

Ruth
moved forward. “Was that how my Lily died? Did you kill my Lily?”

Sylvia
scowled. “Lily? Who the hell is Lily?”

In
a deceptively calm voice Ruth said, “She was my daughter. She was a maid at
this hotel, she helped carry your bags.”

Recognition
dawned. Sylvia waved a hand and said, “Oh, the maid with the blonde hair? I had
to get rid of her.”

Her
casual manner made Grace’s stomach harden in anger. That was nothing to what it
did to Ruth Berry.

Ruth’s
arms shot up, her fingers stretched out like talons. An angry roar burst from
her and she threw herself at Sylvia.

“No!”
Grace warned. She’d seen what Sylvia had pulled out from her pocket.

Sylvia
aimed the spray at Ruth and pressed the end. A vapour shot towards Ruth, she
screamed, and her hands covered her face. She dropped to the floor.

Sylvia
smiled at Grace and said, “Your turn now.”

Chapter 37

“Mum!
No!” Lily flew over to Ruth and lay on top of her.

Archie
called out, “Grace! Move!”

Grace
had no intention of being Sylvia’s next victim. She remembered one of the moves
in her self-defence classes. She bent forwards and launched herself at Sylvia.
Sylvia was knocked to the ground. Grace grabbed the spray from her hand and
flung it under the bed. She felt her hair being pulled, Sylvia was back on her
feet. Grace aimed her unnaturally sharp elbow backwards and connected with
flesh. Sylvia howled and collapsed on to the thick carpet.