A Different Shade Of Death: A Cozy Mystery Ghost Story (Storage Ghost Murders Book 2)

by Gillian Larkin

  “Well, not really, I was only checking ...”

  “Stop being a pain, I’m fine. Those suits I bought are selling well, people know quality when they see it. I might keep one for myself. Was there anything else? I’ve got to go. Don’t come in if you’re going to natter me. Bye!”

  Grace stared at her phone. Frankie had been his usual abrupt self. “He seems fine,” she said to Charlie. “I think I need to sit down and go through everything, there are too many facts, I can’t make sense of them all. We’ll go to my house. I don’t want any comments from you when we get there.”

  “Such as?”

  “How it could look better, how I could increase its value. You’re very free with your opinions.”

  Charlie looked offended. “Am I? I hadn’t realised.”

  Grace looked at him for a moment. People really were blind to their own faults. Or was it because she expected everyone to have the same values as her?

  Charlie didn’t say a word as they caught the bus to Grace’s house. When they walked through the door he just smiled and said, “Very homely.”

  “It is. I’m making a cup of tea. Any comments to make about that?”

  “Nope. What are we doing again?”

  “Trying to get our thoughts together, I told you.”

  Charlie frowned. “Our thoughts about what?”

  “About whoever murdered you!”

  “Of course, is it all right if I sit down?”

  “Yes,” Grace said. She indicated for Charlie to sit on the sofa. Something wasn’t right with him. As she walked into the kitchen she caught him rubbing his head, like he’d done when they’d first met. Was the pain coming back again?

  Grace made herself a quick sandwich and a cup of coffee, she needed something stronger than tea.

  When she came back into the living room she almost dropped her plate. Charlie was lying down on the sofa, his eyes closed. He looked just like the dead Charlie she’d seen in the vision the previous day.

  Chapter 19

  Grace put her plate and cup down and dashed over to Charlie. She automatically put her hands on his shoulders. They sunk through to the sofa behind.

  “Charlie! Charlie! Wake up!” she cried out.

  Charlie’s eyelids fluttered.

  “Wake up! Don’t you dare pass out on me!” Grace wished she could grab his shoulders and shake him.

  His mouth opened, his lips moved as if he was trying to say something.

  “What is it? Speak to me!” Grace yelled.

  His eyes opened fully. “Will you stop shouting? You sound like some sort of harpy.”

  With a sigh of relief Grace sat back on the sofa.

  “Excuse me, but you seem to be sitting on my legs,” Charlie pointed out.

  “Oh, sorry,” Grace stood up. “You gave me a fright, I thought you’d ...”

  “Died? I’ve already done that. I felt a bit peculiar, sleepy. I think I felt like that before I died. I can’t remember much else though. I must have been confused towards the end. Don’t just stand there looking useless, I thought you had a plan of action.”

  Grace pressed her lips together, he really was annoying. She collected her plate and cup and sat in a chair opposite Charlie.

  “More tea?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

  Grace retorted, “Coffee, actually.” She immediately felt annoyed with herself for rising to the bait. She took a few mouthfuls of her sandwich before she spoke again.

  She put her sandwich down then reached for a notepad and pen. She opened the pad up to a fresh page and looked at Charlie. “Right, I’m going to make a list of everyone who may have wanted to kill you.”

  Charlie looked taken aback. “Wow, that’s a weird thing to hear about yourself.”

  “Get ready for more weirdness, I can already think of three, maybe four people who would have liked to see you dead.”

  “Go on.” Charlie sat up and made himself comfortable.

  A thought flashed through Grace’s mind, do ghosts feel comfort? If they can feel pain can they still feel other things? She’d have to ask Pearl.

  Grace said, “Amy is top of my list. You could have found out about her scheme and threatened to tell the police or something.”

  “Not my style.”

  “Or you could have blackmailed her or forced her to give you a cut of her profits.”

  “That sounds more like me. But I really don’t remember anything like that. If I’d have found out the truth about Amy before I died surely I would have remembered?”

  “Maybe. Amy could have poisoned you slowly over a period of time. Maybe she didn’t like you any more? Perhaps she’d had enough of you and your ridiculous opinions.”

  Charlie’s eyes narrowed. “What are you trying to say?”

  Grace gave an innocent shrug. “Nothing, just saying. The next person I can think of is Toby. I know he’s your brother but he could have been jealous of your success. Perhaps he even knew about Amy’s operation and wanted to be part of it. Maybe Amy asked him to do away with you.”

  “That doesn’t sound like Toby. We had arguments but I don’t think he hated me.”

  “Are you sure? You can be quite irritating.”

  “Are these your unbiased opinions of what people might think of me? Or are your own feelings clouding your judgement?” Charlie asked, his voice rising slightly.

  Grace lowered her pen. “I’m not sure. I’ll try to stay unbiased but I’ll have to be honest, you are forthright with your views.”

  “You’ve said that already, it’s not a bad thing, you should try it sometime. Who’s next on your list?”

  “Ted, the foreman. He could be lying to us about Amy. He’s got a temper. He could have been so annoyed with you for taking Emily’s home that he decided to kill you. And he admitted that he was the one who found you. Perhaps he found some old tins of poison in the house. They used to put small amounts of poison in certain substances, they didn’t realise there was any harm in it.”

  Charlie thought for a moment. “That is a possibility. You said there was a possible fourth suspect, don’t tell me that you think Emily Heath might have killed me.”

  Grace drew a doodle on the paper. In a small voice she said, “We can’t rule anyone out.”

  “I think we can rule Emily out. What do we do next? Are you going to question all these suspects? You don’t seem the confrontational type.”

  “I’m not but I have to do something. I think it would help if we tried to go into a vision again, perhaps find out more about you.”

  Charlie shrugged. “If you think it’s worth a go I’ll do it but I think you’re wrong. We’ll end up in the hall again with that mad man pacing up and down.”

  Grace reached into her handbag and took the pocket watch out. She was about to sit next to Charlie so he could touch the watch when the room began to blur.

  “What’s happening?” Charlie asked.

  “Looks like I don’t need you to touch the watch. Look, we’re in Heathville again. This is the room I was in earlier with Amy.” Grace moved further into the room, Charlie followed her.

  He said, “There I am, at my desk. What’s that I’m looking at?”

  Grace and Charlie moved closer to the Charlie in the vision. Grace looked over his shoulder. “It looks like an old map.”

  Charlie said, “I remember now, it’s the original plans for the house. Can you see where the hall is on the map?”

  Grace squinted and moved a bit closer. “Oh yes, I can make out the library as well. Hang on, that doesn’t look right.”

  “What doesn’t? What’s happening now? Where’s the room going?”

  “The vision is changing again. I think we’ve gone back to the past.”

  Charlie looked around the room that they were now in. He said, “This isn’t the past, this room is my secret office. I can’t remember how I found it, did someone tell me about it? It’s amazing, isn’t it? It’s exactly the same as when the house was built, no one has touched it, a
part from adding a few modern touches like the lights. Look at the furniture, isn’t it beautiful?”

  Grace studied the room, it was beautiful. “Someone liked green, I’ve never seen so many shades. Look at the flocked wallpaper, it’s a lovely mint green. The paintwork, even the candles are green. It’s quite calming.”

  A sudden aroma made Grace retch. “What is that smell? It’s disgusting! Smells like something mouldy and rotten.”

  There was no response. She looked to where Charlie was. She jumped as she saw his horrified expression.

  He clutched his stomach in pain and cried out, “Get out, Grace! Get out of this room!”

  Chapter 20

  The green room faded and Grace found herself back in her living room. Charlie was bent over on the sofa, his face was screwed up. He gasped, “This is the worst I’ve been! It feels like I’m dying all over again. You’d better get to your brother, he might be hurting too.”

  Frankie’s words suddenly came back to her. He’d called Charlie’s clothes ‘quality’ and he’d said that he’d even consider wearing his suits. Was Frankie still been affected by Charlie somehow? Another look at Charlie’s distorted features spurred her into action.

  Grace flung the pocket watch into her handbag and grabbed her phone. Her fingers shook as she pressed speed dial 1. The phone rang and rang, after a while it went to voicemail.

  Grace’s scalp prickled. Something was wrong. Frankie always answered his phone.

  “I’ll have to go to the shop,” she said to Charlie.

  Charlie curled up even more, his body shimmered as if it was going in and out of focus. Then, with an anguished cry, he disappeared.

  Grace didn’t have time to worry about Charlie, her primary concern was Frankie.

  She picked up her handbag and coat and raced out of her house. She ran to the bus stop wishing fervently that she had a car.

  She hopped from foot to foot as she waited for the bus. Where was it? Could she run to the shop instead?

  She’d phone for a taxi, that’s what she’d do. Grace pulled her phone out just as the bus came round the corner. Typical. She put her phone away and stuck her hand out for the bus.

  Grace climbed on and then sat on the edge of her seat willing the bus to go faster. The driver was oblivious to her panic and whistled happily as he drove along.

  Ten minutes later Grace ran towards the shop. A disgruntled looking woman was standing at the door.

  Grace put her hand on the door handle.

  “Don’t bother! He threw me out!”

  “What?” Grace said. She didn’t have time to chat.

  The woman nodded towards the shop. “That rude young man in there. I was looking at some plates and wondering if they would do as a Christmas present for our Brenda, she’s very fussy you know, when that young man told me to get out. So rude!”

  “Frankie? What did he say?”

  The woman pursed her lips and pulled her handbag closer to her chest. “He said something about not feeling well. He did look pale but he could have waited until I made my mind up about that plate. Just a minute, don’t you work here too? Are you going to open up? You can let me in.”

  Grace hesitated. Then she lied, “I can’t let you in, Frankie’s got a contagious disease, he shouldn’t have been working today, I told him not to.”

  The woman took a step backwards as if Grace was disease ridden too.

  Grace carried on, “If I were you I’d go home and take a long shower. Or a bath. Have a lie down.”

  The woman said, “I do feel a bit funny. You’re right, I’d better go. What disease has he got?”

  Grace didn’t have time to be polite. She took out her shop key and quickly unlocked the door. She shot a hurried, “Sorry,” to the woman and went into the shop, locking the door behind her.

  The shop lights were on, the till was open. It looked as if Frankie had been in the middle of serving someone.

  Grace ran through the shop and into the kitchen. She checked the toilet, Frankie wasn’t there. She raced upstairs and into the stockroom that Frankie was calling his home.

  There he was, lying on the bed, his eyes closed. Grace’s breath caught, he looked like a ghost.

  “Don’t worry, he’s not dead. Yet.”

  “Pearl! What’s wrong with Frankie? Is he going to be all right?”

  Pearl sat down on the side of Frankie’s bed. “Frankie’s being affected by that ghost of yours. I think he’s going to be fine, I hope he’s going to be all right. I’ve seen this before, and I think I know why it’s happening.”

  Grace moved closer to Frankie. She placed her hand on his forehead. He felt as clammy as a cold fish.

  Pearl said, “The person who murdered that Charlie fella is going to murder again. Are you any closer to finding out who murdered him?”

  Grace’s eyes prickled. “I don’t know who it is. I can’t do this, Pearl.”

  Pearl looked up and gave her a steady look. “You can do this. You know who it is. Just think, think about what you’ve seen and heard.”

  Grace sank down on to the floor. She roughly wiped away a tear. This was no time to feel sorry for herself. “What will happen to Frankie if someone else dies? Why is this happening to him?”

  “He got the full force of Charlie’s symptoms when he brought those clothes back here. Is Charlie suffering too?”

  Grace nodded.

  “The next victim must be someone whom Charlie is close to, that must be why he’s suffering again. You go downstairs and sit in the kitchen. Have a bit of quiet time, I’ll look after young Francis here.”

  Grace gave Pearl a sad smile. “That’s what my mum called him. Everyone else called him Frankie but she insisted on Francis, she said that was his proper name.”

  “I know. I’ve been in this shop a long time, I know how your mum spoke to him. Off you go.”

  Grace suddenly straightened up. “That’s it! Of course! Why didn’t I realise?”

  “Are you going to explain yourself or do I have to guess?”

  “Mum wouldn’t use a different name for her son, and neither would Emily. When she spoke about her son today she called him James. That name can be shortened to Jim! There’s a Jim working at Heathville, Ted was shouting at him. Oh!”

  Grace stood up and walked to the other side of the room. She turned around and held her finger up. “Ted said something to Jim earlier about not being used to working, and Emily said her James had to get a job for the first time after their money troubles started. I wonder if James and Jim are the same person. Jim could have been with Ted when they found out about Amy. He was most likely there when Charlie first moved in. Ted said that everyone thought Charlie was to blame for losing Heathville. Jim must have hated what he thought Charlie had done to his mum. And now ... now he knows that Amy is the one who caused Emily to lose the house.”

  Grace stopped. A feeling of fear trickled down her back. “Jim, or James, must be planning to kill Amy.”

  Chapter 21

  “Are you sure?” Pearl asked.

  “It all makes sense, or sort of sense. I never thought of him as a suspect. I have to go to Heathville and warn Amy. Will you be okay if I go?”

  Pearl nodded. “There’s nothing you can do for Frankie. If this James, or Jim, is planning another murder you have to stop him. I’ll do what I can for this young chap.”

  Grace said, “Are you going to absorb his pain again? Is it safe for you to do that?”

  Pearl looked back at Frankie. “I’ll do what I have to do, you go and warn Amy. Grace, be careful and remember the condom.”

  “What?”

  “The protective condom that you need to imagine around yourself, it should protect you from any harm.”

  “Right.” Grace wasn’t going to think about a condom. “I’ll take Frankie’s van.” She paused and took a final look at Frankie. She couldn’t lose him, he was the only family that she had left.

  Grace drove Frankie’s van to Heathville. Ted was coming out
of the door as she ran up the path.

  “Is Amy in?” Grace asked.

  Ted grunted. “She is, somewhere. We’re finished for the day. Watch yourself with Amy, don’t let her sweet talk you into taking a loan out.”

  “I won’t.”

  Ted left the house, followed by a couple of workmen. Grace looked at the men, Jim wasn’t with them. She tried to recall his face from earlier in the day. She couldn’t quite bring his features to mind. Did he look like the boy in the photos at Emily’s house? She just wasn’t sure.

  The door closed behind Grace making her jump. Why was she so nervous?

  She went in to the room that she’d been in earlier with Amy. There was no one there. Out of curiosity Grace walked over to a piece of furniture that was covered up. She lifted the sheet. Definitely an antique. Was this a piece that used to belong to Emily? A piece that she had been tricked out of to try and pay off her debts? One that Amy had now moved back into the house?

  Grace jumped again as a creak overhead sounded out. She called out, “Amy? It’s Grace, from the shop. Are you here?”

  Grace walked out of the room. Should she go upstairs? Her gaze was drawn to the library. That room had something to do with Charlie’s death. And what was it on the original house plans that she’d seen earlier? Something was bugging her.

  She called out Amy’s name again but didn’t receive a reply. She took hesitant steps towards the library, pushed the door open and stepped inside.

  It was a spacious room with floor to ceiling windows at the opposite side to the door. Bookshelves decorated two sides of the room complete with old looking books.

  Grace’s eyes flicked to the left and towards the bookcase there. Something looked odd.

  That was it!

  The original plans showed another room behind the library. Grace remembered that the door to that room was to the left of the library, right where she was looking now.

  She moved further into the room and towards the bookshelf where the door should be. The bookshelf looked slightly off kilter.

  Grace peered closer. Was it really? It was! A secret door disguised as a bookshelf. Grace smiled, it was just like from an old movie. She walked closer to the door. Did she need to pull a certain book towards herself to open it?