Grace sighed. She hadn’t had many good nights’ sleep since her parents died. She moved closer to the reiki stand and took one of the business cards. She popped it into her handbag. She opened the bag wider, the tarot cards were still there. Mae insisted on them being wrapped up in her purple scarf again.
They continued their stroll around the hall. People were selling health supplements, alternative health books and crystal jewellery. There was a calm feeling in the hall. Grace could understand the pull of the fair. It felt like all your troubles could be solved under this roof.
Her calm feeling suddenly shattered like breaking glass.
A woman looking very much like Mae was sitting at the next table giving a tarot card reading.
Grace looked at Mae, her shocked expression matched her own.
“Brenda!” Mae exclaimed. “What’s she doing here? She’s wearing my clothes! And those are my tarot cards!”
“You have more than one pack?” Grace whispered.
“Of course. I have my favourite then a few backups. I’ve never used that set though, too modern for my liking. Talk to her! Find out what she’s up to. Oh no!”
Mae’s hands flew to her chest. Grace raised a questioning eyebrow.
“Pearl might have been right. Brenda could have been the one that pushed me down the stairs. She wanted to take over my business! How could she? Grace, talk to her.”
Grace stood to one side as the present reading was tied up. The young woman who was having the reading wiped a tear away and smiled gratefully at Brenda. She stood up and said, “Thank you, you’ve helped me so much.”
Brenda smiled. Grace took a step back, she didn’t think Brenda was capable of smiling.
Brenda said, “Take my card, and here, don’t forget your CD recording. Play this back to yourself in a few weeks, remind yourself of what I said. Good luck, Chloe.”
The young woman clutched the CD and business card to her chest as if they were made of gold. She looked at Grace and said, “She’s very good.”
Brenda gathered her cards together as Grace sat down. Without looking directly at her Brenda said, “Won’t be a moment, I need to put a new CD in my machine for your recording.”
Brenda did so then she looked over at Grace. Her friendly smile froze on her face. “You!” she hissed.
“Yes, me,” Grace replied. “I thought you didn’t believe in all of this stuff.”
“That’s none of your business. Leave my table before I call security and tell them you’re bothering me.”
Mae was standing behind Brenda. She said to Grace, “Tell her I’m here.”
Grace quickly shook her head. She wasn’t ready to tell anyone that she could see ghosts.
“Trust me,” Mae added.
Grace didn’t have a choice. She had to tell Brenda or be escorted away from the table. She leant a bit closer to Brenda and quietly said, “The spirit of your sister is here. She’s standing behind you.”
Brenda snorted. “Don’t be ridiculous! You’ve got 20 seconds to leave of your own accord.”
Mae said something.
Grace repeated it to Brenda. “Mae said those tarot cards were in her wardrobe, on the top shelf, next to the box of childhood memories, the one that you started together. You were planning to show them to your grandchildren in the future.”
Brenda blanched. “That doesn’t prove anything.”
Mae put her hand on Brenda’s shoulder. Brenda shivered.
Grace smiled and said, “That was Mae. She said that you’ve got your baby teeth and her’s in that box, you both lost your front teeth on the same day. Your mum thought it was disgusting to keep them but you two didn’t care. That’s quite specific, Brenda. Can’t you feel Mae behind you?”
Brenda closed her eyes and took some deep breaths.
She burst into noisy sobs and shouted, “Mae! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to hurt you!”
Chapter 13
There was a sudden hush in the hall, broken only by the agonised sobs coming from Brenda. Grace gave an embarrassed smile and shrugged at the people that were staring at her. She said, “She’s feeling my pain, sorry.”
A woman nodded vigorously. “She’s really good that one. Enjoy your reading.”
Brenda’s sobs abated. Grace handed her a tissue. Brenda wiped her eyes and tried to smile at Grace.
“I’m so sorry for that. Tell Mae I’m sorry.”
“She can hear you. Do you want to tell me everything? Tell me why you need to say sorry to Mae?”
Grace shot a glance at the CD player. Was it recording? If Brenda was about to confess to a murder shouldn’t she try and get a recorded confession? How? She could hardly ask Brenda to press ‘Record’.
Brenda took a deep sigh and rested her hands on the table. She had such a sad smile on her face that Grace felt her previous dislike of her lessening.
Brenda began. “I never agreed with Mae doing readings, I know now that I was jealous. I had some insights to people too, I saw visions of their future but I kept it to myself. I didn’t want people to befriend me just so they could get information from me. Mae didn’t care, she said she wanted to help people. I wasn’t that soft. The more popular she became, the more jealousy and resentment I built up. Oh, I’m so ashamed. The insults I used to throw at her.”
Grace repeated what Mae had just said. “Mae never hated you, no matter how bad things got between you. She never stopped loving you.”
Brenda waved a hand at Grace. “Stop, you’ll make me cry again. Things came to a head when she gave a reading to Neil, my late husband. He said that she gave him some business advice that he had to follow.”
“I never!” Mae exploded.
“When the business deals went wrong Neil blamed Mae, he said I was never to speak to her again. Things got worse for Neil, he owed money everywhere, we ended up going bankrupt. He committed suicide. He left a note. He blamed Mae for everything, he said she’d even put a curse on him.”
Mae shook her head vehemently. “His death wasn’t my fault.”
Brenda looked directly at Grace. “The thing is, I knew it wasn’t Mae’s fault. I know what she told him, I don’t know how. I must have linked into our twin telepathy, it was quite strong when we were young. I knew Neil was lying but I wanted things to go wrong for him so that I could blame Mae.” She looked away. “Mae got the blame for his death, the rest of my family never spoke to her again, even our parents. It was all my fault, I could have stopped it and told everyone the truth. I wonder if I could even have stopped Neil from killing himself.”
Grace looked over at Mae and said, “Mae never told me about her family not speaking to her.”
Mae gave a shrug, Grace saw through the pretence of not caring.
Brenda said, “No matter how much I wanted to I couldn’t bring myself to speak to Mae. She’d see the truth as soon as she looked at me. Then she died and left me the house.”
She gave a mirthless laugh and waved a hand over the table. “I never thought I’d end up like this. I had every intention of selling her house. I was there one morning when this distraught woman came in. She was in tears and wanted a reading immediately. I had a feeling that I could help her. I dressed up in Mae’s clothes, even used her make-up and I took these tarot cards that I found in the wardrobe. I did help the woman. I’m sure I wasn’t as good as Mae but the woman was satisfied. She left the house smiling. It made me feel good, I hadn’t felt like that for years.”
“Mae’s glad that you did that reading, she doesn’t mind about the clothes, she says they look better on you.”
Brenda gave her a genuine smile. “Thank you. I was going to stop but then more people turned up. I told them Mae was dead and I was her twin sister. They didn’t care, they wanted a reading. People like to get a bit of hope in desperate times. I enjoyed the readings and the money came in useful! I started doing these church fairs a few months ago. I call myself June Moonshine, I hope Mae doesn’t mind.”
“She doesn’t, sh
e says she’s very proud of you. There’s one thing I need to ask, if you don’t mind, please don’t take offence.”
“Go on.”
“Where were you when Mae died?”
Brenda frowned. “I was at my cleaning job. I’ve given that up now. Why are you asking? It sounds like the sort of question you ask someone when ...” Brenda’s eyes widened. “You don’t think Mae was murdered, do you?”
Grace made shushing motions with her hands.
“You do, don’t you? And you thought it was me?” Brenda stopped and nodded to herself. “That’s a fair assumption. Who do you think did it?”
“I don’t know. Can I come over to your house later to discuss it? You might be able to give me more information about Mae’s contacts.”
A huge cheer went up followed by loud applause.
“What’s that?” Grace asked looking behind her.
Brenda folded her arms and gave a tut of disgust. “That’s Autumn Rose. The new star. She sits at Mae’s table now. I don’t like her, and I don’t trust her.”
Chapter 14
Grace told Brenda that she would see her later that evening. She left the table and walked over to where the noise was coming from.
Mae had beaten her to it. She was standing at her old table, arms tightly folded, a look of disgust on her face. She looked like Brenda.
Mae nodded towards a young woman who was slowly approaching the table. “Look at her! Acting like some sort of celebrity!”
Grace looked closer at the young woman. She had long blond hair draped over her shoulders. Her see-through blouse showed a bright purple bra. Her jeans looked as if they’d been sprayed on along with her fake tan. Perfect white teeth showed as the woman nodded graciously at a line of people waiting by her table. Some of the people were fanning themselves with church programmes as if seeing this woman in the flesh was too much.
“Autumn Rose! I love you!” a hysterical voice cried out.
Autumn Rose nodded and said, “That love is returned a thousand fold to you, my friend.”
Grace could have sworn that the line of people actually swooned as one.
It was quite a show.
Mae wasn’t happy. “Look at her, sitting at my table, using my cloth. And why is she showing everyone her bosom? Ought to cover herself up, this isn’t a nightclub.”
Grace held in a smile. Mae was starting to sound like Pearl.
A burly security man appeared and told the line to move back. Then he pulled a chair out for Autumn Rose. She smiled at him, touched his arm and said, “Thank you, my friend, I appreciate your services.” She sat down, still smiling regally.
The security guard gave a gruff cough and muttered, “It’s all right. Are you ready for the first one?”
Autumn Rose pulled more silken hair over her shoulders. She took a deep breath and nodded.
Grace noticed the necklace that she was wearing. It was oval with a black circle in the middle, it looked like an eye. Grace shivered, she didn’t like jewellery like that.
The person at the front of the queue stepped forward reverently, an eager look on her face.
Autumn Rose treated her to a full toothed smile, it was very Hollywood. “My friend, do sit down.” Autumn Rose looked at a list an the side on the table. “Are you Lindsey Littlewood?”
The woman nodded and sat down.
Autumn Rose gave her a wise smile. “I’ve been waiting for you, Lindsey. I’ve got a lot to tell you. First, that holiday that you’ve been planning to Greece?”
Lindsey gasped. “How did you know about that? I haven’t even told my boyfriend yet.”
The queue had moved closer, some people were leaning in with their heads to one side.
It’s hardly private, Grace thought. She wouldn’t want everyone knowing her business.
Autumn Rose seemed to be thinking the same thing. She gestured to the security guard and waved an open hand to the queue.
The guard strode forward. “Everyone back, you’ll get your turn. Miss Rose needs space. Move back or I’ll throw you out!”
The queue immediately moved back.
Grace heard Mae tutting. “Outrageous! Treating people like that. And why isn’t she using any cards? There’s something fishy going on here.”
The guard grabbed Grace’s arm. “No pushing in, get to the back.”
“I wasn’t pushing in!” Grace protested.
The guard didn’t listen, he was on a mission. He pulled Grace towards the back of the queue.
“No!” Grace called out. “Get your hands off me! I’m not here to see Autumn Rose.”
There was a sudden hush – again. Grace didn’t care. She wasn’t going to be shoved around.
The guard let go. He had the decency to look embarrassed. “Sorry, I’m just doing my job.”
He walked swiftly back towards Autumn Rose’s table.
“You told him!”
Grace looked at the queue. Who had said that? That boy? Hang on, wasn’t that the postman that she’d seen at Mae’s house yesterday? She almost didn’t recognise him out of his uniform.
He gave her a little wave. “It’s me, the postman. You decided to come, it’s great, isn’t it?”
Grace took a careful step closer to him. She didn’t want the queue to think she was pushing in. She said, “What’s going on? What’s the deal with Autumn Rose? How long have you been queuing here?”
The postman’s smile grew bigger. “She’s amazing. I’ve heard so much about her. I’ve been queuing here since the doors opened but I’ve been on the waiting list for 5 months!”
“Waiting list? I thought you just turned up.”
The postman took a sharp intake of breath. “Not for Autumn Rose. You go on her waiting list, you have to put your full name and address on her list, she won’t let just anyone talk to her.”
Grace’s eyes narrowed. Something wasn’t adding up. She said, “How much does she charge?”
“It’s only £50 and you get a full ten minutes,” the postman said this with pride as if he was getting a bargain.
“Blimey,” Grace muttered. She had another question for him but something out of the corner of her eye distracted her.
She turned her head to see Mae waving wildly.
Grace walked over to her and gave her a questioning look.
Mae said, “I knew there was something funny going on. You won’t believe this!”
Chapter 15
Realising they couldn’t talk in front of everyone, Grace headed towards a door that had a stair sign on it. Mae followed her.
Grace pushed the door open and walked through. She came to an abrupt stop, the door swung closed behind her.
“Grace, what is it? Your face has gone a funny colour.”
Grace pointed at the floor in front of her. “This is where you died. I didn’t realise, I think I pushed it to the back of my mind.”
Mae nodded. “That’s in the past now. Oh look, they’ve got new curtains, very fancy.”
Grace couldn’t take her eyes away from the area that she’d seen in the vision. The image of Mae’s crumpled body came afresh to her mind. Her eyes smarted, she quickly blinked. She felt a coldness on her arm, Mae was resting her hand there and smiling gently at her.
“Grace, wait until you hear this. When Autumn Rose was giving her reading, or whatever it was that she was doing, I went closer to her body. I think I almost went inside.”
Grace wrinkled her nose.
“I know. But anyway I could hear a voice.”
“What kind of voice? A voice in her head from some sort of spirit guide?”
Mae shook her head. “I could hear the voice coming from an earpiece stuck inside her ear! It’s hidden by her hair. I knew something funny was going on.”
“What was the voice saying? Was it male or female?”
“Male. He was giving Autumn Rose details about the person in front of her. Telling her about the person’s friends, who was going on holiday, who had fallen out with each other.
She told that Lindsey woman to book that holiday she’d been considering, Autumn Rose somehow knew that Lindsey had been looking at one. How would someone know all that from a name? I noticed she had a list of customers on her table.”
Grace thought for a moment. Something the postman had told her came to mind. “People have to sign up, they give details about themselves. What if Autumn Rose and this man who is talking to her looked these people up online before today? There’s so much online about everyone these days. I wonder if that’s what they’re doing?”
“But how would they know what holiday someone had been looking at? I don’t understand all this Internet stuff. Why do people have the urge to tell everyone what they had for lunch.”
Grace said, “I watched a programme where someone hacked into someone’s computer just from their email, they could read all their messages without the original person knowing. They could even see what pages the person had been browsing, I don’t really understand it myself. I wonder if that eye necklace that Autumn Rose wears contains a hidden camera? They could make sure they’ve got the right person.”
Mae waved her hand. “I don’t think they can make cameras that small. Can they? Your face has gone a funny colour again.”
Grace’s chest felt tighter. She didn’t want to voice her thoughts but she had to. “What if Autumn Rose was the one that killed you?”
“But why would she?”
“To get your table, get your customers?” Grace suggested.
Mae frowned, “Do you really think she would?”
“She’s charging £50 for ten minutes with each customer, she’s making a fortune. Without telling anyone’s real fortune.”
Mae shook her head. “I just don’t know. Can you question her?”
“I can’t get anywhere near her. I wonder where her accomplice is? Maybe he’s somewhere in this church. We could find him and maybe get closer,” Grace said hopefully.
The Last Reading (Storage Ghost Murders Book 1) Page 4
