Murder Vows (Storage Ghost Murders Book 4) (18 page)

Archie
was at Grace’s side in a second. He looked down at Sylvia who was writhing in
pain. He said, “I think I heard something crack.”

Grace
reached for her phone and quickly called for the police and an ambulance. She
wasn’t going to let anyone else be murdered in this room. She turned to Archie.
“Is Jessie still breathing?”

“She
is, it looks like she’s in a deep sleep now. What did Sylvia give her?”

Grace
got to her knees. “Lily, please move, I have to look at your mum.”

Lily
moved. Archie took her into his arms and hugged her. Ruth was face down on the
carpet. Grace turned her over. Red-rimmed eyes looked back at her. An aroma of
strong perfume wafted towards Grace. Ruth’s mouth opened, she croaked, “What
did she do to me? My eyes sting, she almost blinded me with that perfume.
Grace! Was it poisoned perfume?”

Archie
shook his head. “She’d be dead now if it was. I think it was ordinary perfume.
You might want to check her bag, see what she’s given Jessie.”

Grace
helped Ruth into a sitting position. Tears streamed down Ruth’s face. Grace
said, “It’s not poisoned perfume. I’d better let the paramedics deal with you,
I don’t want to stick you under the tap and make matters worse.”

Ruth
managed to smile. “I’ll be okay. Where’s Lily?”

“Sitting
on your right.”

Ruth’s
smile grew. “I think I can feel her. I feel warm down that side. How’s Jessie?”

Grace
stood up. Thankfully, Jessie did look a normal colour. She found Sylvia’s bag
and tipped everything on to the bed. Archie pointed and said, “Sedatives. She
must have given some to Jessie. Grace, look, there’s another bottle of perfume,
it’s just like the one that I saw before. She was planning to kill Jessie with
it.”

“Thank
goodness she didn’t spray Ruth with it.” Grace looked down at Sylvia. She’d
passed out, her hand was pressed over her left side. “I think I might have
broken one of her ribs.”

“Good,”
Archie said. “She deserves everything that’s coming to her.”

Grace
cocked her head. “I can hear sirens. Jessie! Hold on, help is coming.”

A
minute later many uniformed people burst in to the room. Grace quickly
explained what was going on. A young-looking policeman said, “These are serious
allegations. You’ll have to come down to the station.”

“I
will do, but can I go to the hospital first? I want to make sure Jessie and
Ruth are okay.”

The
policeman relented although he took another five minutes to get all her
details.

It
was a long wait at the hospital for Grace. Ruth came out of a side ward first,
her eyes a lot less red. Lily was skipping at her side. Ruth gave Grace a hug
and said thank you. “I’m going down to the police station to make a statement
about my Lily. I know there’s no evidence left but I’ll do what I can. Is Lily still
here? I feel as if she is, I feel lighter and happier somehow.”

Grace
said, “She is. Oh, hang on, she wants to tell me something.” Grace listened,
then smiled. “She said that you have to smile more, laugh more and dance more.
She’s going to be right at your side.”

Ruth
laughed. “I’ll do that. The next time I hear ‘Y.M.C.A.’ playing at the hotel
I’ll shimmy in and do my stuff! I can just imagine the looks on everyone’s
faces. They’ll think ‘Old Raspberry’ has lost the plot! Grace, thank you again.
If you ever need to book an over-priced hotel room come to me and I’ll give you
a good discount.”

Ruth
gave her another hug and walked away, a spring in her step and her daughter at
her side. Lily looked back over her shoulder and winked.

Grace
had to wait another three hours to see Jessie. The nurse let her in even though
Jessie was still groggy.

Jessie
was lying down when Grace gingerly entered the room. Archie was sitting on a
chair to the left of her, Grace sat in the chair to the right.

Jessie
said, “I don’t understand what’s going on? Why am I here? And why do I feel so
light-headed. The last thing I remember is being at Dad’s house, Sylvia was
making me a cup of tea. It tasted funny but I drank it anyway.”

Grace
said, “You don’t need to worry about anything yet. I can explain everything
later.” That wasn’t a conversation that Grace was looking forward to. She’d
have to think of a way to tell Jessie what happened without mentioning ghosts.

Jessie
said, “Sylvia was acting weird with me. She said she’d been to see Dad and he
had a message for me. He’d said I wasn’t to worry about the perfume, he knew
what I’d done and that I was obviously worried about getting caught. He said
he’d take care of me, protect me, just like he’d always done. I told Sylvia
that I didn’t know what Dad was talking about. Her face went all twisted and
she said she knew what Gordon was talking about. I can’t remember much more
after that. I had a dream that I was back at the hotel, in the honeymoon suite.
I thought I saw Archie.”

Grace
reached into her handbag and took out the hammer necklace. She lifted it up and
looked at Archie. He nodded and said, “It’s time.”

Grace
passed the necklace to Jessie and said, “This belongs to you. Don’t argue! It
was made for you.”

Jessie
clasped the necklace, a tear escaped and trickled down her cheek. She mumbled,
“Thank you, Grace, and thank you for coming to see me.” She held the necklace
up and smiled, “I feel like Archie is near.”

You
don’t know how near, Grace thought as she stood up.

Archie
said, “Grace, I can’t thank you enough. You are an amazing person. I’m going to
stay with Jessie for a while, make sure she’s okay.”

Grace
gave him a slight nod. She smiled at Jessie and said, “I’ll come back tomorrow.
You get some rest.”

The
young policeman was waiting for her outside the hospital.

“Ready?”
he asked.

“As
ready as I’ll ever be,” Grace replied. She wondered what time she’d actually
get home.

Chapter 38

It
was another two hours before the police allowed her to go. Grace returned to
the shop. She felt guilty about leaving Frankie alone after his ordeal with the
pensioners.

She
needn’t have worried. She found him on his bed with his laptop open.

“Sorry
I’ve been gone so long,” she said.

Frankie
looked up in surprise. “What? Did you go out somewhere?”

Grace
nodded. “What are you looking at? Something decent I hope.”

He
nodded eagerly. “We’re going to have a busy weekend! I’ve put us down for all
the storage auctions in the area. I think we’ll have to hire a bigger van.
We’ll soon have the shop bursting at the seams”

Grace
indicated towards the shelves at the other side of the room. “Don’t we have
items over there that we can sell. This is a stockroom, I’m assuming that those
are stock items”

Frankie
paused in his tapping, he looked at Grace. He said quietly, “We can’t sell
those items Mum and Dad bought them. Most of it is rubbish, you know what Mum
was like, she bought anything that was shiny. But it’s the only things we have
left that they bought.”

Grace
nodded. In a soft voice she said, “Okay, we’ll never sell them, we’ll keep them
here. Do you want a cup of tea?”

Frankie
was back to his typing. “I thought you’d never ask. Make me a toasted cheese
sandwich whilst your there, extra pickle. And don’t burn it this time.”

Grace
shook her head slightly. He went from one extreme to the other. She went down
to the kitchen. She was glad to see Pearl there. She filled her in on all the
events. “Do you think Lily will stay with her mum forever? Is that what some
ghosts do?”

“They
do, they make their own choices. You’ve done a good job but you look
knackered.”

Grace
stifled a yawn. “I could sleep all weekend but Frankie’s lined up some auctions
for us. I could miss some of them, I’m sure he won’t mind.”

Pearl
put her hand on Grace’s arm. In a serious voice she said, “You have to go to
the auctions. Someone needs your help. This next case isn’t going to be an easy
one.”

Grace
looked into the old woman’s face.  She was glad she had Pearl in her life.

“Get
that soppy look off your face! Are you going to the auctions or not?” Pearl
snapped.

Grace
laughed. “Of course I’m going!”

A
note from the author

I
love watching storage auction programmes. I’ve never been to one but I’d love
to visit one of the big ones in America, I’m sure I’d be useless at bidding
though – I’d be too excited.

When
I watch the shows I always wonder where the items have come from, and who they
belonged to. I wondered what would happen if some of the items had ghosts
attached. I reached a point where I couldn’t stand it anymore and I knew I had
to write some stories down, I was inspired by the variety of items that have
been discovered in storage lockers. Also, I am a big fan of ‘cozy’ murder
mysteries and I wanted to combine items found in a locker with a murder!

I
hope you enjoyed this story. If you did could you post a quick review? Thank
you, I read all my reviews and I really do appreciate them.

Grace’s
first murder mystery is ‘The Last Reading’. It’s free on Amazon :

Amazon
Com

Amazon
UK

Grace’s
adventures with ghosts that weren’t murdered are available as a box set, there
are 5 short stories in the set:

Amazon
Com

Amazon
UK

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wishes