Murder Vows (Storage Ghost Murders Book 4) (5 page)

Frankie
soon had the new items priced up. When Grace opened the shop doors at nine
o’clock she was pleased to see customers already waiting.

“Anything
new?” an old man asked as he shuffled past Grace.

Grace
pointed towards the new stock. The man’s eyes lit up like a little boy on
Christmas morning. “By heck!” he exclaimed. “My mum used to have picture frames
like those. I’ll take them!”

The
old man wasn’t the only one that was pleased with the new stock. Grace and
Frankie were rushed off their feet as more pensioners entered the shop. How did
they know about the new stock? Was there some sort of old-age telepathy going
on?

Grace
chuckled to herself as she saw an old lady tapping away expertly on her phone.
Of course, they were texting their friends.

Grace
wished she could text Pearl.

As
if by magic, at midday the pensioners began to leave the shop. An elderly man
winked at Grace on the way out. “We’re off to bingo now. Thanks for the lovely
items, you’ve got a good eye for buying stock. We’ll be back!”

The
door closed behind him. Grace looked at Frankie, a smile on her face.

“There’s
no need to look so smug,” Frankie said. “You got lucky with that locker.”

Grace
gave him a push.

He
held his hands up. “All right! You chose well.”

Grace
reflected that it was the locker that chose her.

Frankie’s
phone beeped. He read the message and nodded to himself. Then he turned to
Grace and said, “There’s a replay of the match on the TV now. Do you mind if I
go upstairs and watch it? It’ll only be an hour or two.”

“Why
would you want to watch the replay?”

“So
I can see again how much of an idiot that referee was. Bring me a another sandwich
if you’re making one. Thanks.”

Frankie
walked away tapping on his phone as he went. Grace marvelled at how some people
could text and walk at the same time. She hadn’t quite mastered that yet.

Grace
heard Frankie thud upstairs. She soon heard him yelling and swearing and
presumed the replay had started. There were no customers at all in the shop. It
wouldn’t hurt to close up for ten minutes.

Grace
locked the door. She stood in the middle of the shop and said, “Pearl! Archie!
I know you must be here somewhere! Show yourselves! Please. I need to speak to
Archie. There’s something I’ve noticed about your wedding suit.”

Grace
smiled as a warm feeling travelled down her arm.

It
was Pearl. She was wearing her floral housecoat again and all traces of
lipstick had gone. The old ghost looked quickly left and right. She beckoned
Grace closer and whispered, “I need to tell you something about Archie.”

“Talking
about me?” Archie appeared at Grace’s side, a charming smile on his face.

Chapter 10

Grace
felt heat rushing to her cheeks. She wasn’t sure if it was because she’d
forgotten how handsome Archie was or if it was because he’d clearly overheard
Pearl mentioning his name.

Archie
said, “Lovely to see you again, Grace. Pearl, was there something you wanted to
talk  to Grace about? I don’t mind if you want to tell her something about me.
I can disappear for a while.”

Pearl
sighed. “No, you may as well stay here and listen. It’s nothing bad, in fact,
it’s just the opposite.”

“I
don’t understand,” Archie replied.

Pearl
gave him a direct look. Grace could see the fondness in her eyes. Pearl said,
“Archie, you’re a wonderful man, a real charmer. I mean that in a good way.
I’ve met many charming men before but they all had an ulterior motive. I won’t
tell you what their motives were, not in front of Grace, she’s very naive.”

Grace
put her finger up to object, but then thought better of it. She wasn’t that
naive but she didn’t want Pearl to go into details about the men in her past.

Pearl
continued, “Archie, you are a genuine and honest man. We talked a lot last
night but I noticed that you kept turning the conversation back to me, as if I
was the most important person there. You’re attentive and a good listener.
You’re great company, I didn’t even realise we’d been away from Grace so long!”

Archie
frowned. “Is that a bad thing? About my character, I mean, not being away from
Grace so long. I can see why you wouldn’t that to happen.”

Pearl
threw her arms up. “There you go again! Being considerate and polite. It’s not
normal.”

“Sorry,”
Archie mumbled and looked down at the ground.

Grace
gave Pearl a stern look. “Why are you being so mean? If Archie has all those
wonderful qualities then why is that a bad thing? Why did you say you needed to
warn me about him?”

“You
don’t see, do you? Either of you?” Pearl looked from one confused face to the
other. “Archie, I’ll be blunt. You’re gorgeous and charming. You’ve made me
fall in love with you and I’m a tough old boot. I can see that Grace likes you
too. Don’t look like that, Grace! No need to be ashamed of your primal urges.
The point I’m making is that it’s easy for people to fall in love with you.
Now, if you were getting married and a jealous ex-girlfriend didn’t like it she
might feel the urge to do away with you. She might think, ‘If I can’t have him,
nobody can!’. People go crazy when they’re jealous. And, on the other side of
the coin, ex-boyfriends might hate the sight of you as you parade around town
with their former love. They wouldn’t think twice about stabbing you in the
back.”

Grace’s
mouth had dropped open. She looked at Archie, he looked as stunned as Grace
felt.

Pearl
nodded and folded her arms “Love makes a mess of people. They don’t think
straight. And you, young Archie, bring out either hate or love in people. It’s
not your fault. I was half tempted last night to run away with you, to keep you
all to myself. And I’m quite sure that other people have felt that way too.”

Archie
tried to smile. “I don’t know what to say. I didn’t know I had that effect on
people. Sorry.”

Pearl
unfolded her arms and patted Archie on his chest. “Don’t you be sorry. I
haven’t felt that way for years. I enjoyed it, you’re better than gin!”

Archie
let out a laugh. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

The
atmosphere lightened and Grace felt ready to ask Archie about what she had
discovered the previous evening.

Grace
pointed to Archie’s jacket pocket. “That handkerchief, it matches your tie.”

“It
does. The wedding was all colour co-ordinated. Why are you asking?”

“When
we went through your wedding clothes yesterday in the suitcase I didn’t see it.
Did you keep it in your pocket all day? Can you remember taking it out at all?”

Archie
frowned. “No, I don’t think I took it out. I didn’t want to ruin the overall
effect. Are you thinking that it was taken from my body after I died?”

Pearl
jumped in. “Perhaps it was used to kill you! You said that you had trouble
breathing and that your throat felt sore. Maybe the killer crept up on you,
whipped your handkerchief out and shoved it over your mouth and nose.”

“They
would have to be strong,” Grace pointed out. “Can we have another look in your
suitcase? I don’t want us jumping to conclusions if it’s tucked down the side
somewhere.”

“Please
do,” Archie said. “Where is my suitcase?”

Pearl
looked around the shop. She let out a string of expletives. “A lot of that
stuff from the locker has gone. Don’t tell me your idiot brother has sold it!
Grace, you should have hidden it.”

“I
did hide it. And he’s not an idiot,” Grace said.

Pearl
sniffed. “He does a good impression of one. Where’s the case?”

Grace
moved towards the kitchen. “I put it somewhere where Frankie wouldn’t look.”

She
pulled open a door that contained cleaning equipment. Archie’s case was at the
back. Grace pulled it out, sat on the floor, and carefully went through it
again.

“Check
the pockets,” Archie said.

Grace
did so. She felt uncomfortable going through the pockets of a dead man’s
jacket, especially when the dead man was watching her.

“I
can’t find the handkerchief,” Grace said.

Archie
lowered himself next to Grace. He put his hand on Grace’s arm. She shivered. In
a calm voice Archie said, “Look in the inside pocket.”

Grace
did so. She didn’t find the handkerchief.

She
found something else.

Chapter 11

Grace
pulled out a small velvet pouch. It was the same deep red colour as the missing
handkerchief.

Grace
looked at Archie and raised her eyebrows. There was such a look of sorrow in
his eyes that Grace felt her heart hurt.

Archie
said, “You can take it out. It’s a necklace. I had it made specially for
Jessie. I was going to give it to her on our wedding night.”

Grace
carefully opened the pouch and reached inside. She pulled out the necklace and
held it up.

Pearl
cried out, “A hammer! You got her a necklace with a hammer on it! That’s not
much of a wedding present. What’s wrong with you?”

Grace
cringed at Pearl’s outburst. However, she was thinking the same thing. She had been
expecting some sort of love symbol, not a tool.

Archie
stood up and brushed non-existent dust from his trousers. There was a grin on
his face. He turned to Pearl and said, “I know it seems strange but if I told
you the story behind it your lovely old heart would melt.”

“Convince
me,” Pearl ordered.

Archie
chuckled and began to speak.

“Shh!”
Grace hissed. “I can hear Frankie! He’s coming downstairs! I’ll have to put
this back.”

Pearl
and Archie floated out of the way as Grace shoved the necklace back into the
jacket pocket and then flung the case to the back of the cleaning cupboard.

Frankie
marched into the kitchen. “That ref! What a loser! He can’t even see straight.
He shouldn’t be refereeing a match! There should be laws against it.” He
stopped ranting and looked at Grace. “Why are you leaning against that
cupboard? And where’s my sandwich?”

There
was a loud thudding noise, it came from the shop area.

“What
the hell was that?” Frankie said. He went into the shop, closely followed by
Grace.

The
thudding was coming from the front door. Frankie strode over to it and tried to
pull it open. “What’s wrong with this stupid door?”

“Has
it got stuck again?” Grace said in a rush. She knew why it wasn’t opening,
she’d locked it but she didn’t want Frankie to know that. “Move out of the way,
there’s a knack to opening it.”

Frankie
looked back over his shoulder. “I think I know how to open a door.” There was
some fumbling. And some muttered curses. After a moment Frankie stood to one
side and indicated for Grace to come forward.

Grace
did so. She quickly unlocked in the usual fashion without Frankie seeing her.
Then she made an elaborate show of bumping the door with her bottom. She
cheerfully opened the door with a triumphant smile.

Frankie
shook his head. “We’ll have to get that fixed. My backside is far too delicate
to do what you just did.”

Grace
was pushed to one side as an irate customer barged in. The customer glared at
Grace and Frankie, and then stormed indignantly into the main part of the shop.

Frankie
wiggled his eyebrows at Grace. This woman was one of their regulars. She never
smiled, and she never spoke. But she always bought something. Frankie had
already given her a nickname. He whispered now to Grace, “Looks like
Chatty-Cathy has arrived.”

Grace’s
laugh was stifled by the sudden appearance of Archie. He was inches away from
her face. Grace tried to keep her composure as Frankie started to go on about
the match again. She felt like some sort of secret agent who had to keep their
face straight in the midst of interrogation.

Archie
spoke in an urgent tone, “Grace! You have to go outside! Quick!”

Grace
felt twinges of discomfort as she tried to contract her face into different
expressions: a listening one for Frankie and a ‘What are you talking about?’ one
for Archie.

Pearl
appeared at Grace’s other side. Grace’s eyes widened. There was no way she
could cope with another expression. It seemed that Pearl could sense her
discomfort. She pulled on Archie’s arm and moved him away from Grace. Then she
returned to Grace’s side and whispered, “Archie has seen Gordon West, his
father-in-law, going into that cafe across the road. Archie thinks you should
go across and somehow get talking to him. I think so too. Going by that charade
with the door you could use that as an excuse, get him to look at the door. He
is a builder, isn’t he?”

Grace
nodded her head slightly. A pause. Then Grace shook her head.