Murder Vows (Storage Ghost Murders Book 4)

by Larkin, Gillian

  “He looks like he’s going to a funeral.” Grace paused. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that but he doesn’t look happy. Sylvia looks like she’s trying to cheer him up. They’re a funny couple, aren’t they?”

  “Love brings all sorts together. He’s a lucky man. For some reason Sylvia loves him. She was the only one in the family that welcomed me in. She took an interest in my work. I helped her set up Gordon’s website. She was fascinated by what you could find online, she even found old photographs of herself when she was a model. Hang on! What’s he doing there?”

  “Who?” Grace peered at the screen. “Is that Jessie coming in? She is beautiful. Who’s that with her?” Grace looked back at Archie. She cried out, “Archie! Calm down! You’re going all shimmery, you’ll disappear if you’re not careful.”

  Archie’s body flickered as if deciding whether to disappear or stay. Grace heard Archie muttering something. The flickering of his body stopped and Archie returned to his normal self. His mouth twisted as he looked at the screen. He said, “Sorry, Grace, I didn’t mean to frighten you. That is Jessie, but that man at her side, the one carrying her bags? That’s Rob, the one I told you about before. He said he wasn’t going to be at the wedding. Jessie invited him, I tried not to mind, I wanted her to be happy. Rob turned up at my house after receiving the invite. He was furious and called me all the names under the sun. He said he’d come to my wedding over my dead body.”

  Grace looked at the image on the screen, then back at Archie. “I don’t mean to sound rude but he’s quite rough-looking, and overweight. I don’t think you had anything to worry about. Had Jessie ever shown any romantic feelings towards Rob?”

  “None at all. She laughed when I said he fancied her. She said they were like brother and sister. Look at him! Giving her a peck on the cheek!”

  “He doesn’t look as if he’s dressed for the wedding, he looks like he’s in his work clothes. Maybe he was giving her a lift.”

  “Hmm. I didn’t know he was there at all that day. I didn’t see him at the ceremony.” Archie said. In a softer voice he added, “Jessie does look beautiful, doesn’t she? Wait until you see her in her wedding dress. Fast-forward, please, it’s guests arriving. And me flashing backwards and forwards, trying to get everything perfect.”

  Grace hit the pause button, she laughed. “I see you’ve used your charm on Ms R. Berry, you’ve made her smile.”

  “Pardon? Who’s Ms R. Berry?”

  Grace tapped the screen. “That woman on reception. She’s smiling at you.”

  Archie looked closer. “I remember her, didn’t smile at me once all day. Look again, she’s smiling at someone behind me.”

  “I wonder who.” Grace pressed fast-forward again. She slowed down as Jessie walked down the hall in her wedding dress. She couldn’t meet Archie’s look, this must be agony for him. Gordon was proudly smiling at his daughter as they walked together. Sylvia had gone ahead a few minutes before, looking stunning.

  “This is when we got married. There was a lovely room at the back of the hotel that overlooked the fields, it was beautiful.”

  Grace could feel herself choking up. She blinked away a tear. Jessie and Gordon moved out of view.

  “Stop!” Archie called out. “Rob’s walked up to reception. What’s he still doing at the hotel?”

  Grace shrugged, she was wondering that too.

  “You can fast-forward the next few hours. We were having the photographs done, and then we went into the ballroom. Stop when you get to 3 p.m. Thanks, Grace, I hope this isn’t boring for you.”

  Grace wished she could give Archie a reassuring hug. “Don’t worry about me, I’m concerned about you. Are you sure you want to continue?”

  “We have to. There, 3 p.m. That’s me, coming out of the ballroom. Why am I rubbing my head?” Archie clicked his fingers. “That’s it! I had a migraine. There were flashing lights in the ballroom, even though I’d asked the DJ not to use them. I told Jessie I’d have to lie down for a while. I always carry my migraine tablets with me. I took a few just before I left the ballroom. Jessie was going to check on me in half an hour.”

  The CCTV showed Archie getting into a lift, he’d undone his tie and top button.

  Twenty-five minutes later Jessie appeared. She headed towards the lift but was stopped by Rob who waved to her from the main doors. His mouth moved and he indicated to something outside. Jessie nodded and went out of the doors with him.

  Archie and Grace looked at each other. Grace assumed her expression matched Archie’s puzzled one.

  Five minutes after that, Gordon headed for the lift, a grim look on his face. He got in the lift.

  He returned to the main reception area twenty minutes later, his face ashen. Jessie came in just at that moment. Gordon put his arm around her shoulders and spoke to her.

  Jessie’s hands flew to her mouth. Archie cried out and reached for the screen as Jessie collapsed in Gordon’s arms

  Chapter 17

  Silence.

  Neither Archie nor Grace spoke as they watched the scene in front of them unfold. People rushed in from all sides. Gordon picked Jessie up, she looked like a limp rag doll in his arms He carried her out of shot, closely followed by some of the hotel staff. Grace watched as other people appeared. From the shock on their faces it was obvious that they had heard about Archie’s death.

  Grace saw movement at her side. Her heart twisted as Archie slumped forward, his head in his hands. Grace paused the video and said quietly, “I’m so sorry, Archie, this must be so difficult for you.”

  Archie looked up, pain in his eyes. He gave a slow nod, cleared his throat and said, “The look on Jessie’s face ...” His voice broke and he looked away.

  Grace wished again she could put her arms around him. How could you comfort a ghost? She said, “We can stop there, I don’t think we need to see more.”

  Archie turned back to her, a brave smile on his face. “No, we need to see the rest of it. We don’t want to miss anything important. We can fast-forward it though, I imagine the police were called and people questioned. Don’t look so worried, Grace, I’m fine.”

  Archie was right about the police being called. There were comings and goings on the screen, in the reception area and the lifts. Sylvia seemed to be the one who had taken control. It was easy to see the grief on her face but she kept her composure as she led the police back and forth. She spoke to the guests as they left and even organised the removal of the wedding gifts.

  Grace and Archie watched as the police finally left. Grace felt her heart actually miss a beat as a covered figure was carried away on a stretcher.

  “That’ll be me then,” Archie said in a flat voice.

  Grace gave a slight nod. What could she say to that comment?

  She pointed to the screen. “Gordon and Jessie are leaving now, Gordon looks as dazed as Jessie. I wonder where her wedding dress is?” A guilty pause. “Sorry, Archie, that’s a stupid thing to say, it doesn’t matter where her dress went.”

  “It does matter, I haven’t forgotten about our friendly dancing ghost who’s wearing that dress now. Perhaps she left it in another room? Maybe Sylvia and Gordon’s room. I wonder where they went next. Hang on, who’s that? I don’t believe it!” Archie’s hands curled in to fists. “It’s Rob! Look at him, putting his arm around Jessie. Get your hands off, you filthy ...”

  Grace interrupted his rant. “Had Rob been at the hotel all the time? Please calm down, Archie, you’re going all out of focus again.”

  Archie’s jaw tightened. “I don’t trust him, I never have. I bet it was him who killed me, the swine.”

  Grace looked at the CCTV footage. Everyone had left, the only people remaining were the hotel staff. They looked as if they wanted to gossip about the events but a stern look from Ms Berry had them scuttling away.

  Grace stopped the video. She took a breath and turned to face Archie. “From what we’ve just seen I don’t think it was Rob who killed you. It was Gordon who t
old Jessie about your death, it must have been him who discovered you. And, I hope you don’t mind me pointing this out, he was gone a good twenty minutes before he told Jessie about you. He headed to the lifts and didn’t return back downstairs for those twenty minutes. That would give him enough time to murder you, and then cover his tracks, before returning to the wedding. Archie, I know this is difficult but can you think of a reason why Gordon would want to kill you?”

  Archie ran his hand through his hair. He stopped and looked at Grace. “Oh! Of course! My brain is turning to mush, why can’t I remember anything? New York! I was going to take a job in New York. I’d set a company up there and I was going to be running it from the city. Jessie was coming with me, she was so excited and talked about it all the time. Gordon hated the idea but I thought he’d come round.”

  “Would he really kill you to keep Jessie here?” Grace asked.

  Archie nodded. “Jessie is his only child. He was so proud of her, so happy to have her working with him in the family business. He was always boasting about how wonderful she was. I knew he used to annoy some people with his boasts but, of course, I completely agreed with him. If I had a daughter like Jessie I’d hate the man who tried to take her away. Also, he never really liked me, I could tell.” He paused and then nodded again. “I think we’ve found our murderer.”

  “You could be right. Now, we need to find the evidence to convict him. That’s not going to be easy, he’s obviously covered his tracks or the police would have arrested him.”

  “I wonder what he told them,” Archie mused.

  “Oh!” Grace threw her hands up. “Now my brain is turning to mush! We should have done this first.” She turned towards her laptop and started to tap the keys.

  “What are you looking for?” Archie asked.

  “Newspaper reports about your death. We can see what the official version was. Are you ready for this?”

  “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

  Chapter 18

  Grace typed in the date of the wedding, Archie’s full name and ‘death’. A few entries came up. Grace and Archie scanned them.

  Grace pressed her lips together, this wasn’t looking good for Archie. After a while Archie seemed to have digested all the information in front of them. He said, “Well, I wasn’t expecting that.”

  “Neither was I. The reports are saying the same thing, that you were the victim of a break-in at the wedding.”

  “It doesn’t make sense. It says that I went to my room to have a lie down, I fell asleep but then apparently woke up when I heard someone inside the room. The police have assumed that a robbery was taking place and the thief, or thieves, panicked and killed me.”

  “Killed you by putting a pillow over your face. It seems a feeble reason to me. If you woke up and disturbed the thieves would you just lie on the bed and wait for them to come over to you? I would have thought you’d leap out of bed, maybe grab a weapon and then attack. It says in the report there were no signs of a struggle although the drawers had been opened.”

  Archie frowned. “Unless, as that other report said, I was totally oblivious to the break-in and the thieves decided to do away with me anyway. That doesn’t make sense at all. And how did they get on to the balcony and break through the French doors? Was there any evidence to back that up? This sounds suspicious to me, someone is covering their tracks well.”

  Grace nodded. “Perhaps it was a member of staff who knew about the dodgy lock on the honeymoon suite door. They could have thought you’d be away from the room for hours and they decided to steal your belongings. They could have gone out through the French doors.”

  Grace and Archie suddenly looked at each other. Archie said, “That girl! In Jessie’s dress! Do you think she had something to do with it? She might have had an accomplice and the robbery thing went wrong.”

  “That’s a possibility. She’s showing up for a reason.” Grace sighed. “These reports don’t tell us anything, they don’t even mention what everyone was doing at the time of your murder. How are we going to find that out?”

  “I suppose you’ll have to find a way to talk to them,” Archie said.

  Grace sighed again. “That’s exactly what I’ll have to do. I think I’ll start with Gordon, ask him to come round to the shop to price up some work. It wouldn’t be a lie, we do need some alterations doing.”

  “Then you can ask him if he did away with his wonderful son-in-law,” Archie said with a poor attempt at a smile.

  “Archie, you don’t look good.”

  “I don’t feel good. I feel cold all over, like I’ve been betrayed. Would you mind if I disappeared for a while? I don’t want to bring you down with my miserable face.”

  “No, I don’t mind, and you haven’t got a miserable face. Where will you disappear to? I know Pearl goes away quite often but she never tells me where she goes.”

  Archie gave her a genuine smile. “Pearl’s a good woman. We had a long talk when we were alone, she’s had a tough life.”

  Grace casually looked down at her lap. “What did she tell you?”

  Archie laughed. “Ah! She was right. She said you’d try to find out things about her. I won’t repeat her precise words but she said that if you asked about her life I’m to tell you to mind your own business.”

  Grace looked up and grinned. “It was worth a try.”

  “She added that she’ll tell you what you need to know – when you need to know it. Now, as for disappearing, I’m going to a place that was special to Jessie and me, a beach in Cornwall. It’ll be deserted at this time, not that anyone can see me. It’ll calm me down, give me chance to think about things. Pearl said it’ll help me to be on my own, to get used to being dead.” Archie laughed again. “Don’t look so worried! It’s a good place. I’ll come back tomorrow. You have a good sleep. And, Grace, thank you for helping me. I appreciate it. Goodnight, and sweet dreams”

  Archie winked at her and disappeared.

  The house felt empty immediately. Thoughts of loneliness threatened to flood Grace’s mind. She stood up and took her plate and mug into the kitchen. She started to sing to herself.

  Dealing with ghosts was a difficult business, she was glad she was doing it but it would be lovely to share this with someone else apart from Pearl. Maybe one day she’d find that someone, someone who understood her.

  Until then she’d deal with her ghosts alone.

  Grace returned to the living room and took out a notepad and pen. She was glad that Archie had gone. He wouldn’t be pleased about what she was going to do next. She wrote down a list of names, then ‘motives’, and then ‘means’.

  She tapped her pen on the first name and said, “Now then, Jessie, let’s see what reasons you would have to kill that handsome husband of yours.”

  It was surprisingly easy for Grace to come up with motives for everyone on her list. All those hours watching ‘Murder, She Wrote’, and countless nights reading Agatha Christie, were paying off.

  She was going to find out who murdered Archie Goodwin. She just wasn’t sure how she was going to do it.

  Chapter 19

  Grace was up early the next morning, eager to get going. She planned to catch the bus to the shop and to then collect Frankie’s van. Her appointment at the hotel wasn’t until 10 o’clock so she had plenty of time.

  As she walked down the stairs she noticed something on the floor near the front door. She picked it up.

  “Oh, Frankie’s dropped the van keys off me. That was considerate,” Grace said to herself, touched by her brother’s kindness. She saw a scrunched up note half-sticking out of the letter box. She pulled it out and read the scribbled message:

  ‘Grace, here are the keys. Van needs filling up with petrol, £50 should do it. Ta.’

  Grace sighed. That’s why he’d dropped the van keys off. It wouldn’t surprise her if he’d run out of petrol right outside her house.

  She made some breakfast and decided on her plan of action. She didn’t really have o
ne, she was going to turn up at the hotel with Archie and see if he could remember anything. It was highly unlikely that there would be any clues hidden away.

  Speaking of Archie, where was he?

  Feeling a bit silly, Grace called out to him. “Archie? If you’re here please show yourself.”

  She felt a cold draft on her cheek. Archie appeared inches from her face, a smile on his face. Grace kept forgetting how handsome he was. Thank goodness she’d put her make-up on. Not that she was trying to impress Archie, no, that wasn’t the reason at all.

  Archie took a step back and looked Grace up and down. He said, “That’s a lovely outfit, that colour suits you. I can see you’ve had a good night’s sleep, your skin is glowing.”

  Grace glowed a bit more as she waved away Archie’s compliments. She explained about Frankie’s van as they walked into the kitchen.

  Archie glanced at the clock on the kitchen wall and said, “We’ve got plenty of time. Have you had a cup of tea yet? Why don’t you make one and you can tell me all about yourself. I wish I could join you in your morning beverage, I’ve got a real craving for a strong coffee.”

  Grace said, “You don’t want to hear about me.”

  Archie settled down at the kitchen table. “I do want to hear about you. You know as much as you need to know about me. I’m fascinated by your work. Have you seen ghosts all your life? Aren’t you scared?”

  Grace began to make herself a cup of tea. As she did so she told Archie about how she only started seeing ghosts after a near fatal car accident. She explained that her parents had died in the accident and for once, she didn’t feel the familiar pricking in her eyes as she spoke about Mum and Dad. She made the tea and sat opposite Archie. He was a good listener and Grace found herself telling him more than she’d told anyone, even Pearl.

  Archie frowned. “It sounds a dangerous job, you have to make sure you don’t put yourself in harms way.”

  Grace gave him an embarrassed smile. “I’ve been to a few self-defence lessons. Apparently, I have unusually sharp elbows which are super for jabbing people.”