A Storage Ghost Murder – The Last Reading
Chapter 1
Which locker was the murdered body in?
Grace Abrahams shoved her hands deeper into her jacket pocket.
8 a.m. on a Saturday morning at a storage locker auction, looking for the ghost of a murdered person.
No wonder she couldn’t eat her breakfast this morning. That wasn’t like her at all. She was known to have a second breakfast of a morning, sometimes a third.
Grace held her breath as another locker was about to be opened. Would this contain the ghost? What would the ghost look like? Would there be signs of the murder? Missing limbs? Ghostly knives in the throat?
Grace gave a small shiver, she wasn’t looking forward to seeing the ghost, but she’d made a commitment to herself to help them.
Sylvester Sylver, the auctioneer called out, “Right folks, this is our third locker on this marathon auction locker sale today. I hope you’re keeping up with me! Don’t be fooled by this outer package, I’ve got the stamina of a young stallion!”
The silver haired man turned and winked at Grace. She laughed. He always made her feel happier, he was forever optimistic.
Someone gave her a little push. It was her brother, Frankie. He glared at her and said, “Don’t be flirting with Sylvester! He’s got a job to do, you’ll put him off.”
“I wasn’t!” Grace said indignantly. She was about to say she didn’t go for much older men, especially ones that styled themselves on Elvis Presley. But there was no point saying anything negative about the great American auctioneer to Frankie, he was Sylvester’s number one fan.
Grace turned her attention back to the locker that was just about to be opened. She held her breath again as the metal door was lifted up.
“Office equipment, rubbish, we don’t need any of that,” Frankie complained. He looked around at the crowd. “Look at all these newbies, no idea what they’re doing.”
“Newbies?” Grace asked.
“Yeah, new people. They don’t know how to spot a good locker, they’ll throw any old bid out there.” Frankie tutted and shook his head.
“We were newbies a few months ago, in fact, I still am,” Grace pointed out.
Frankie nodded. “That’s true. I think I’ve got a gift for this auction locker business, like a sixth sense. I’m picking up some real bargains, getting some great stock for our shop.”
“I know you are, I’m pleased that the shop is doing so well. If it was left to me we wouldn’t have any stock to sell.”
Frankie gave her an unusually kind smile. “It’s our shop and I’m happy you’re working there full-time now, I like seeing more of you.”
Grace smiled back at him. “Thanks, Frankie.”
He added, “Even though you are a bossy boots and you do too much cleaning.”
Grace held on to her smile. She’d given up her job of teaching history at a local school so that she could work full-time in their shop. It was partly to help Frankie but there was another reason that Grace was doing it. And that reason was why she was standing at an auction facility on a cold Saturday morning with a large group of men, some who looked like they hadn’t had a good sleep or a good shower for weeks.
She looked away from the crowd and focused on the office equipment. She couldn’t see any ghosts.
The bidding began. Sylvester kept up with the bids. Grace had to admit that he was good at his job, he always spotted the bidders and kept up with the numbers.
“Sold!” Sylvester cried out. “To the man in the red bobble hat! Awesome hat, man, did your mom knit it for you?”
Frankie gave a louder than necessary laugh. Grace shook her head. How long was his man crush going to last?
They moved on to the next locker, the padlock was cut open and the door lifted up by one of Sylvester’s helpers.
A sudden pain shot through Grace’s neck. Her hand shot up and rubbed the right side.
“What’s wrong?” Frankie asked.
“I don’t know, my neck suddenly hurts.”
Frankie grimaced. “That’s the problem with getting older, everything starts falling apart.”
“You’re older than me,” Grace reminded him. She rubbed her neck a bit more.
The locker door fully opened. The pain shot through Grace again.
She soon realised why.
There was her ghost.
The ghost was holding the right side of her neck, just like Grace.
Chapter 2
Grace stared at the ghost. It was an older woman, probably late fifties, early sixties. She had black hair piled up on her head. She was wearing brightly coloured clothes, some sort of long blouse over a long skirt. Even from this distance Grace could see the thick make-up on the ghost.
“Another rubbish locker,” Frankie muttered. “What is that? Some old curtains and table cloths? Who would want that?” He laughed and jerked his thumb towards the crowd. “I bet some idiot will start bidding soon.”
Grace swallowed. “I want to bid on it.”
“What?” Frankie’s eyes widened.
“I want to bid on it, I think those look like quality curtains.”
Frankie snorted. “They don’t! What do you want them for? Are you going to make some clothes for yourself?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I just want them, maybe I’ve got a sixth sense too.”
“I doubt it.” Frankie studied her for a second. “All right, if you want to bid then go ahead. But you’ll have to use your own money.”
“I don’t mind using my own money,” Grace said huffily. She rubbed her neck again, the pain was getting worse.
Sylvester spoke, “Okay, not the best locker but could be worth something to someone. Anyone give me £100? No? £50? Come on, folks, it must be worth that.”
“I’ll give you £10!” a voice called out.
There was laughter from the crowd. Grace looked over at where the voice had come from. She couldn’t see who had made the bid, and she couldn’t tell if it was a male or female voice.
Grace turned back to Sylvester and shouted, “I’ll give you £20!”
The laughter rose again, Grace’s cheeks heated up as people looked her way.
Frankie folded his arms and took a step away from her.
The other bidder hadn’t finished. “£30!”
“£40!” Grace yelled.
“£100!”
Sweat broke out on Grace’s forehead. Was she doing the right thing? Was this the ghost that she was supposed to help?
She looked back at the woman. The woman met her gaze and cried out, “Please help me! Something terrible has happened and I don’t know what!”
The woman collapsed on to the floor of the unit, her hand still pressed on her neck.
A peculiar feeling washed over Grace, she’d felt the woman’s confusion and something else – fear.
Grace stood up straighter. She had to have this locker. “£200!”
The other bidder wanted the locker too. “£400!”
The crowd had stopped laughing now, their heads swivelled as one from side to side as Grace and the other bidder called out.
Grace stood on her tiptoes and peered over to where the voice was coming from. Who was it? She couldn’t see who was bidding.
Frankie nudged her. “I think you’d better stop now, this is getting ridiculous.”
“I have to have it!” Grace hissed at him. She registered the startled look in his eyes. Let him think that she was mad, she didn’t care. That woman needed her help.
Grace quickly calculated how much money she could get her hands on. She called out, “£1000!”
Ther
e was a silence.
Even Sylvester went quiet.
Grace’s knees went weak. She didn’t have £1000 on her at the moment, would Frankie lend her it? She knew the rules of the auction, you needed to pay there and then with cash.
What if she won the bid and wasn’t able to pay?
She’d be kicked out!
Oh, the shame. Frankie would never speak to her again.
She’d have to deal with all of that later.
“£3000!” the other bidder shouted.
“No!” Grace cried.
“Was that a bid, young Grace?” Sylvester asked.
Frankie put his hand firmly around Grace’s shoulders and pulled her away from the locker. “No more,” he said to her.
Grace’s shoulders sagged. He was right. She didn’t have more than £3000, she barely had £1000.
“Sold! For £3000!” Sylvester announced.
The crowd muttered and began to move on. Whoever bought the locker didn’t step forward. One of Sylvester’s helpers closed the locker back up.
Grace tried not to look in as the door came down but she couldn’t help herself. The woman was still lying on the floor. She was crying, Grace could see ghost tears rolling down her face. The woman was muttering, “Why? I don’t understand. Why?”
Grace’s heart felt like it was breaking as Frankie firmly led her away.
She had to help that poor woman.
But how?
Chapter 3
Grace couldn’t stop thinking about the ghost as Frankie led her to the next locker that was for sale. She barely registered that Frankie had won it until he let out a loud cheer and half scared her to death.
“I won it, Grace! Look, we’ll make a good profit on that stuff, it sells quick.”
“What is it?” Grace asked, squinting slightly.
“Costume jewellery and clothes. We’ll put the clothes on a rack near the front of the shop. We could display the jewellery in the shop window, it looks sparkly, it’ll attract attention. Hello! Grace! Are you listening?”
“What? Yes, of course I am. I’ll do that when we get back to the shop,” Grace offered.
“Are you sure you’re all right? You can go home if you want, I think I’m going to be here all day,” Frankie said.
“No, I’ll stay.” Grace didn’t want to leave that ghost behind. But what if that wasn’t the ghost she was supposed to help? Maybe there was another ghost in another locker that needed her help more.
Ever since the car accident that had claimed her parents’ lives, and almost her own, Grace had been left with the ability to see ghosts. She saw images, almost shadows at first, she thought her mind was playing tricks on her. She saw her first fully formed ghost when Frankie took them to an auction similar to this one. The ghost was a young boy called Jacob who’d died in the 1980s. Grace had helped him with a problem he’d had. She’d helped other ghosts since.
She’d never helped a ghost who’d been murdered before. She wasn’t sure she was up to it. But she’d promised herself, and someone else, that she would try.
Frankie took a padlock out of his pocket and secured the locker that he’d just bought. He gave Grace a grin. “On to the next one! We’ll have to buy a bigger van soon.”
The next locker was opened. Sylvester beamed at the crowd, still looking as fresh as he did when the auction first started. One of his helpers came up to him and turned his back to the crowd as he spoke to Sylvester.
Frankie frowned. “What’s going on? I hope the rest of the auction hasn’t been cancelled.”
Sylvester nodded, his smile dropped a little. He looked over at Grace, his beaming smile returned.
Frankie hissed. “He’s coming this way! What have you done, Grace?”
“I haven’t done anything. Don’t look so worried.”
Sylvester treated them both to his grin. “Hey there, Frankie, how are you? Good bidding today, you’re getting better each time. How’s the website going? Love your blog posts!”
Frankie’s chin dropped, Grace noticed his ears getting redder. Really! When was he going to stop being so star-struck?
Frankie looked at Sylvester and gave him a sheepish grin. “Thanks,” he muttered.
Sylvester turned his attention to Grace. “That locker that you were bidding on earlier?”
“Yes?” Grace said. Had he found out that she wouldn’t have been able to pay if she’d have won it? Was he going to throw her out? Frankie would literally die of embarrassment.
Sylvester carried on. “The bidder who bought it doesn’t want it anymore. It happens sometimes, people change their minds when they get the chance to go inside the locker. It’s been paid for, you can have it if you want. What do you say?”
Grace’s eyebrows shot up. “Really? Are you sure? Don’t you want something for it?”
Sylvester laughed. “I just want the contents gone! You can take it to the local dump, there’s one down the road.”
The ghost! She could talk to the ghost now.
Frankie gave Grace a wary look. “Are you sure you want it? Where are we going to put everything? We’re running out of room.”
Grace was just about to mention the stockroom above the shop but she stopped herself. Frankie was living in the stockroom. He said he had all that he needed there, and he liked the short journey to work. Grace wasn’t convinced, she thought he couldn’t be bothered to look for somewhere else.
Sylvester held his hands up. “Sorry! I don’t want to cause any arguments. The locker’s there if you want it, Grace. If not, would you let someone at the office know? I have to get back to the auction, the crowd is getting restless.”
Grace looked at Frankie. She narrowed her eyes. When did he get those wrinkles around his eyes? Had he been doing too much lately? She knew he thought of himself as her protector since their parents had gone. Had she been letting him do too much?
She thought for a few moments and then said, “I will take the contents of that locker. I’ll sort through things and get rid of any rubbish.”
“How will you get rid of the rubbish? I can’t leave the auction now.”
Grace took a deep breath. “I’ll drive the van.”
“No! I don’t expect you to do that!”
“It’s time. I haven’t driven since the crash and it’s time I got over my silly fears. I wasn’t even driving that night, I’m just being foolish. I can do it, Frankie.”
He gave her a searching look. “Are you sure? You don’t have to.”
“I’m sure. And I’ll load that locker that you’ve just bought, the one with clothes and jewellery. They were all in boxes, it won’t take me long.”
Tears came into Frankie’s eyes. He quickly blinked. He muttered a gruff, “Thanks.”
“And I’ll take everything to the shop and unload it. You can send me a text when you want me to come back with the van. Is that okay?”
Frankie was still blinking furiously. He looked away and muttered, “Yeah, ta, that’ll be great. Here are the keys to the locker and the van. Don’t crash the van.”
Grace laughed. “I’ll try not to. See you later.”
“Not if I see you first,” Frankie said. He shot her a quick grin and moved closer to where the latest locker had just been opened.
Grace walked in the other direction, towards the locker with the ghost in it.
Chapter 4
The locker door was open. Grace noticed immediately that the items looked different. They had been flung around the locker as if someone was looking for something.
Grace froze. What if the other bidder had taken the item that the ghost was attached to? All the ghosts that Grace had helped previously had been attached to a specific item or set of items.
That would explain why Grace couldn’t now see the ghost of the older woman.
What was she to do now? She looked around.
Better start taking things out.
She picked up a pink velvet curtain. Crikey! It was heavy. And a bit whiffy. How old we
re these curtains?
“Oh! You’re back! It’s you, the girl who can see me, isn’t it?”
Grace looked into the corner of the unit. The ghost was standing there, wringing her hands, her face creased with worry.
Grace put the curtain down and moved closer to the ghost. She said gently, “Yes, I can see you. I’m Grace. Do you need some help?”
More wringing of the hands.
Grace tried again. “Do you know that you’re ... dead?”
There was never an easy way to say that.
The woman nodded, bits of black hair wafted around her face. “I know that. But I don’t know much else. I can’t remember much. I don’t know how long I’ve been in here. I feel like something simply terrible happened to me. I don’t know why though. Why would someone hurt me?” She rubbed the right side of her neck. “And my neck is killing me. I didn’t think I’d feel pain if I’d passed over, but I do.”
Another bolt of pain shot through Grace’s neck. She grimaced and said, “I’m feeling your pain too.”
The woman’s hand fell down. “Oh, my dear! I’m so sorry. Is that my fault? Am I doing that? What’s going on?”
“That’s a lot of questions. Don’t worry about the pain, I can deal with it. I’ve helped people before like you.”
“Who’ve passed on?”
“Yes, passed on. They’re usually attached to something in the locker. When I take that item out the ... passed on person comes with it.”
The woman gave her a small smile. “You can refer to me as a spirit.”
Grace waved her arm around the locker. “Do you recognise anything?”
The woman frowned and looked around. “It seems familiar but I don’t know why. I’m not sure I’d have curtains like these, but I might have done. And those chairs don’t look very comfy. I’m not sure, sorry. I can’t even remember my name at the moment!”
Grace held in her sigh. It wasn’t the spirit, or ghost’s fault. She’d have to take everything to the shop and see what happened there.
Grace explained what she was going to do. “There’s also another locker that I need to pack up. I’ll back the van down here. You might suddenly whoosh into the back of the van. Don’t worry, I’ve seen that happen before.”
The Last Reading (Storage Ghost Murders Book 1) Page 1
