A Deadly Lesson (Storage Ghost Murders Book 5)

by Larkin, Gillian

  Grace hadn’t realised she was crying. She gave Ted a grateful smile. They each got out of the car and swapped places. She could feel Frankie looking at her from the shop, she put her head down as she got into the passenger’s seat.

  Ted started the engine and said, “Now then, that’s better. You might not believe me but I used to be like you. I had a bad experience and it put me off driving for life.” He quickly pulled into the traffic. “Now look at me! A driving instructor! If I can do it, then so can you. Let’s put some music on.”

  Music filled the car, Ted sang along loudly and Abbie placed a cold hand on Grace’s shoulder. Grace was thankful for the support. Her heartbeat slowed down and she began to feel normal.

  Could she actually do this? Drive a car again?

  She suddenly remembered something. Abbie knew Ted. Could she pump Ted for information about Abbie? That would take her mind off her driving for sure.

  Chapter 10

  Ted drove confidently through the traffic, still singing along with the radio. He slowed down as they approached some road-works. He nodded and said, “I’ll have to let the other instructors know about this so they can avoid it. Would you mind doing me a favour? I’m not supposed to do this whilst driving but I can’t pull over at the moment. There’s a button near the radio, it says, ‘All Cars’. Can you press it then I can let everyone know about this mess up ahead. Thanks. Don’t want anyone to waste their driving lesson sitting in a traffic jam!”

  At this moment, Grace couldn’t think of anything better that she’d like to do, sitting in a traffic jam rather than driving this car sounded ideal. She pressed the button and Ted happily sent out a message to his fellow instructors.

  “Thanks, Grace. Okay, we’re off again. We’ll pull into this car park just here and have a chat.”

  A minute later Ted faced Grace, a smile still on his face. Grace gave him a quick look over and guessed he must be in his mid-forties. The casual look of a shirt and pressed trousers suited him. His beige cardigan added to the overall friendly look. He waited patiently for Grace to answer his question.

  Grace sighed and looked at her knees. “I know exactly when I became scared about driving a car.” She proceeded to tell him everything about the crash that had killed her parents. Ted nodded sympathetically and didn’t interrupt once.

  When she’d finished Ted said, “I understand. Let me ask you, do you really want to drive a car again?”

  Grace nodded.

  “Why?” Ted asked.

  “So I can have freedom to go where I want to go. I hate asking my brother if I can borrow his van.”

  “Anything else?” Ted persisted.

  Grace thought about when she’d first passed her driving test, how proud she’d felt. When she’d got her first car she felt like she could drive around the world. She spent many happy weekends just setting off and seeing where she’d end up. Many times, she took Mum and Dad with her. As she recalled these events to Ted a feeling of peace settled over her. She said, “I think I’m ready to try again.”

  Ted’s smile grew. “I think you are too. If you remember the positive reasons for driving you’ll soon forget the negative ones. Come on, time to swap seats again! It’s like musical chairs!”

  This time, Grace started up the engine with only a slight tremble of her hand.

  Ted said, “You drive where you want to. Pretend you’re on one of your old driving weekends. And, don’t forget, this car has dual controls. I can always take over if you get into trouble.”

  Abbie leant forward and said in Grace’s ear, “We’re close to where I live. Can we drive past my house? We might see Mum and Dad.”

  Grace gave her a slight nod. Abbie told her which way to go.

  Grace was soon so busy listening to Abbie’s instructions that she forgot she was driving a car. Her confidence grew as she manoeuvred roundabouts and overtook slower drivers.

  “Turn right on to the next street. It’s the third house on the right,” Abbie informed her.

  Grace made the turn. She heard a sharp intake of breath from Ted. She slowed the car down and said, “Is everything all right? Did I do something wrong?”

  “No, not at all. This would be a good place to stop for a moment.”

  Grace did so. She could see Abbie’s house a little way up the road. It was a detached house, and even from this distance, Grace could see that it needed some work doing on it.

  Abbie obviously thought the same. “Why hasn’t Dad painted the fence? He did that every year.”

  Grace wondered if Abbie’s dad still lived there. She looked at Ted and was shocked by the sadness on his face.

  He caught her look and said, “You must be wondering what’s wrong with me. I shouldn’t gossip but I used to have a client who lived on this street, at that house over there. She was called Abbie, she was killed by a hit-and-run driver when she was eighteen. A tragic accident. Poor girl. She was one of my better clients, eager to learn, and she listened to me. Not like other people her age. Teenagers! Think they know everything. I try not to have teenagers now, the wife takes them instead. She’s firmer than me, makes them listen to her. Oh! Who’s that?”

  Grace looked up the street. A green van had pulled up next to Abbie’s house. A man and a woman got out.

  Ted moved forward and peered through the screen. “I wonder who they are. They’re going into Abbie’s old house. I think her dad still lives there, I’ve seen him in the garden a few times, he always gives me a wave. What’s written on the side of the van?”

  Grace smiled. Ted was just as nosy as she was. She said, “Shall I drive a bit closer? Then we can see what’s on the van?”

  “Yes. No! Sorry! Listen to me, I sound like I’m an undercover cop. It’s none of my business. You’re doing really well, drive on when you’re ready.”

  Grace started the car up and purposely drove slowly past the parked van. She read the company name out loud, she could see from the corner of her eye that Ted was straining to read it. “‘Last Hope Repossession’,” Grace said. “Sounds ominous. I wonder what they do.”

  “There’s a lot of repossessions going on at the moment. I hope Mr Quill isn’t being forced to sell his house. Poor chap, he’s never been the same since Abbie died. Turn left at the end of this road. We’d better start heading back to your shop.”

  “Already?” Grace asked.

  “We’ve been out for over an hour, you’ve been driving for twenty minutes. How do you feel?”

  Grace slowed the car to a stop at a junction, she checked the traffic and pulled out. “I feel great, I haven’t felt nervous once.”

  Ted gave the dashboard a happy tap. “Good! That’s great! Drive on.”

  Grace felt a sudden tremble in her legs. Oh no! Now was not a good time for her nerves to start up again.

  Abbie leaned forward and said something that took Grace’s mind off her nerves. “Those people going into Dad’s house, I know them. It was my sister, Julianne, and her boyfriend, Carlos. I haven’t seen that van before. Grace, Ted said Dad still lives there but he didn’t mention Mum. Where is she? Where’s Mum now?”

  Grace had been thinking the very same thing.

  Chapter 11

  Grace drove back to the shop without any problems. She parked outside and turned to Ted.

  He gave her two thumbs up and said, “That was great, you’re a confident driver. Your confidence was just hiding under your nerves. I have another free appointment on Friday at 10 a.m. if you’d like to book it. Or do you think this lesson was enough?”

  Grace pressed her lips together. She did feel better now, but another lesson might make her feel even more confident. She agreed to the Friday lesson.

  Frankie was standing behind the counter when she entered the shop. He was gleefully counting money from the till. Grace pointed at him and said, “You look like a version of Scrooge, standing there, counting your money.”

  Frankie looked up and wiggled his eyebrows. “It’s our money, and there’s a lot
of it. I had a rush of customers the minute you drove off.” He paused, and then added, “When your driving instructor drove off. Lots of wrinklies came in. I swear those old codgers travel around the shops in packs, like wolves. They loved the new stock.”

  Grace walked further into the shop and looked around. Her face lit up. “Ha! My books! They’ve all gone.”

  Frankie shrugged and turned back to the money. “Whatever. It was my stock that enticed them through the doors.” He placed the money back in the till and closed it. He looked back at Grace. “All right! No need to look so smug. Anyway, how did your lesson go? Did you drive at all?”

  Grace gave him a satisfied smile. “I did. It took a while but the instructor, Ted, convinced me to get behind the wheel. I think I did okay, I think I might be ready to drive a car again. Not immediately, but soon.”

  Frankie returned her smile. “I’m happy for you. Don’t forget about the car money. Are you staying?”

  “I am. Do you want a cuppa?”

  “I thought you’d never ask. Can you stop buying that semi-skimmed milk? It’s not real milk, it’s like water.”

  Grace heard a giggle coming from Abbie at her side. The teenager said, “He’s funny, and cute.”

  Grace shook her head slightly. That’s all she needed.

  Grace helped Frankie in the shop for the next few hours. At lunchtime he offered to get their dinner. Without waiting for her order, Frankie nipped out of the shop door.

  The shop was completely empty. Grace called out Pearl’s name. There was no reply. She turned to Abbie and said, “Have you seen her anywhere? She might not be visible to me at the moment, that’s happened before.”

  Abbie shook her head. “I could look for her.” She promptly disappeared.

  Grace was totally alone. She took the opportunity to start undertaking some research. She’d start with Julianne’s company. What was it called again? Last Hope Repossession? That was it.

  Grace opened the shop laptop and typed the name into the search box. The first results were the company itself proclaiming their services. There was a picture of Julianne and Carlos, along with some other professional-looking people in suits. They all had caring looks on their faces. Grace cynically wondered how many times that photo had been taken before their expressions looked caring enough. She mentally chided herself. She shouldn’t form opinions so easily.

  Grace studied Julianne’s image. She was a curvy girl with shoulder-length blonde hair. She looked nothing like Abbie, but she wouldn’t, would she? Grace wondered what the story was behind Julianne and her adoption. Had Julianne ever searched for her real parents? Could that have something to do with Abbie’s death?

  Grace then looked at Carlos. He was certainly handsome with his dark complexion and black hair. She enlarged the image. There was something in his eyes, something cold and calculating. She shivered. She wasn’t looking forward to meeting him in the flesh but she knew that was something she’d have to do soon.

  She looked at the next few pages. There were many reviews about the company, all of them glowing and full of praise. Grace frowned when she saw a few names that didn’t have comments underneath, a note had been added to state the comment had been removed. Why? Had the customer left a less than favourable review?

  It seemed that the company helped people who were behind with their mortgage payments, those people that were about to have their homes repossessed. Last Hope Repossession claimed that they would pay the home owner a ‘fair price’ for their house. The company would then allow the customer to stay in their homes, they would pay the company a monthly rental amount that would be considerably less than their mortgage payments.

  “Hmm,” Grace muttered to herself. Last Hope Repossession were making themselves sound like a benevolent charity. She was sure there was something dodgy going on, she could feel it in her water, as Pearl would say.

  Grace looked through more pages. She couldn’t find one single negative comment about the company. She found many more comments that had been removed though. How had they been removed? And by whom?

  Grace typed in another word and found a reputable well-known consumer company. She found a heading, ‘Mortgage Help’ and scrolled down to the help part. There was a section where people could ask questions. Grace typed in a question stating that she was about to have her house repossessed but had been approached by Last Hope Repossession. She enquired about their suitability.

  Let’s see what happened with that.

  “I didn’t know Julianne had changed jobs.”

  Grace jumped and clutched her chest. “Crikey! Try not to sneak up on me, Abbie!”

  Abbie grinned. “Sorry.” She pointed to the screen. “Julianne must have started that company after I died. She used to work at a bank with Dad, on the mortgage side of things. She was always talking to Dad about mortgage rates. Boring! Have you checked on Brooke yet? I bet she’s been travelling the world! I bet she’s married to some rich footballer!”

  Grace got some information from Abbie about Brooke, and after a few searches, they found her.

  “Oh. She works in her dad’s travel shop,” Abbie said, her disappointment clear.

  “Not just any travel agent, that fancy one down the road. I’ve always been too scared to go in, I’ve always felt so scruffy,” Grace said. “Now I’ve got a reason to go in.”

  The shop door opened. Abbie beamed as Frankie sauntered in. Grace’s mouth watered as an aroma of bacon and sausage wafted towards her.

  Frankie threw a paper bag at her. “I didn’t know what to get you. You’re always on some sort of diet. Eating bread one week, then not eating it the next week.”

  Grace began to open the paper bag. “I think you’re getting me mixed up with someone else.”

  Frankie went on, “Then I thought that all women eat salads, but then I didn’t know what kind of salad you liked so I got you ...”

  “A bag of lettuce,” Grace held the bag up in disgust.

  Frankie smiled and nodded at her. “You’re welcome.”

  Chapter 12

  Grace felt better after supplementing her bag of lettuce with a Pot Noodle that she found at the back of a kitchen cupboard. She quietly called out for Pearl when Frankie wasn’t within earshot. The old ghost didn’t appear. She had never been absent for this long before and Grace was beginning to worry. Abbie had also made herself scarce.

  Frankie and Grace were busy in the shop for the rest of the day. At four-thirty Big Bob entered the shop. He had to duck to get his bear-like frame through the door.

  He walked over to Grace and dangled a set of keys in front of her. “Don’t shout but I’ve taken the liberty of organising a car for you.”

  “What?” Grace took a step back.

  Big Bob faltered at her expression, he lowered the keys. “Oh! Me and my big ideas! Sorry, Grace, I wasn’t thinking straight. My brother is selling his car and I immediately thought of you. Ignore me, I’ll take it away.”

  “What sort of car is it?” Frankie asked.

  “A Ford Focus, dark blue, five years old. He’s taken good care of it. Don’t pay me any attention, Grace, I’ll drive it back to him.”

  “Where is it now?” Grace asked.

  “I’ve parked it round the back.” There was a pause. “Are you interested? You could have it for the night, drive it around, see what you think.”

  Grace looked at the floor and muttered, “I don’t know.”

  Frankie said, “At least have a look at it. Big Bob’s come round specially. It won’t hurt to look at it. You can even sit inside it and pretend to drive.”

  Grace looked up. Big Bob was smiling at her expectantly. He was so kind. She held her hand out. “Thank you, that’s very thoughtful. I’ll have a look at it.”

  Big Bob nodded and dropped the keys into her hand. “No pressure. If you don’t like it, just let me know. Frankie, are you ready?”

  “I am. Grace, lock up. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Frankie reached for his coat.

&nb
sp; “Where are you going?” Grace asked.

  “Out. Don’t forget to lock the till.”

  Big Bob threw Frankie a disgusted look. “Don’t talk to your sister like that. Grace, we’re going to look at shop premises, I’m thinking of branching out. I’d like Frankie’s opinion.”

  Frankie’s chest puffed out, Grace struggled to keep her laugh in. She said, “Okay, have a good time.”

  Grace closed the shop five minutes after Frankie left. If she was going to drive that car she didn’t want to get stuck in rush hour traffic. And, it was already dark outside.

  “What am I thinking? I can’t drive at this time of the day!” Grace said to herself.

  Abbie appeared and said, “Course you can, stop being a wimp.”

  “I can’t help it, I know I’m a wimp. There’ll be a bus in ten minutes. I’ll think about the car tomorrow.”

  Grace stepped out of the shop and in to a downpour. Muttering to herself she walked around to the back of the shop and stopped at the little blue car. It was a lovely car.

  Grace got in and immediately switched the engine on. If she didn’t give it too much thought she could just get going. The radio came on. One of Mum’s favourite songs was playing. Grace laughed and said, “Okay! I’ll do it!”

  Abbie sat at Grace’s side as Grace drove home, as confidently as she could whilst gripping the steering wheel tightly.

  It was a strange feeling to be parking a car in front of her house. Grace liked it. She gave her new car a friendly tap as she locked it up. She almost felt like saying thank you to it.

  Grace settled Abbie down in front of a season of Supernatural that she’d missed. After yet another ready meal, Grace decided to check her emails.

  Two people had replied to her query about Last Hope Repossessions.

  The first came from Bertha - ‘That company is wonderful! The bank were going to take my house but that nice girl sorted everything out for me. I sold my house to them in no time! And now I’m paying rent and I get to stay in my lovely home. That company was a god-send! Highly recommended!’