Daisy's Chain: A Cozy Ghost Mystery (Storage Ghost Mysteries Book 5)

by Gillian Larkin

  Grace said, “Guilt is an empty emotion, it never does anyone any good. My parents died in a car crash a while ago. I was with them. We were going to celebrate my birthday, Dad was driving my car. After the accident I blamed myself, I shouldn’t have pestered them to go out on my birthday, I shouldn’t have let Dad drive the car. I blamed myself so much that I couldn’t eat or sleep.”

  “I’m sorry to hear about your parents. Was the accident your fault? Was there something wrong with your car?”

  Grace shook her head. “No, I found out months later that my dad had been drugged, he was murdered by … well, I won’t go into details. The accident wasn’t my fault at all. They were victims of a terrible crime, there are some evil people out there who don’t care who they hurt as long as they get what they want.”

  Daisy looked down at her hands. Grace put a hand on top of them and said softly, “Are you blaming yourself for something that wasn’t really your fault?”

  More tears flowed down Daisy’s cheeks. She nodded, “I think I am. I should have had the courage to tell mum and dad.”

  Mr Manville shouted out, “I would have understood. Oh, Daisy, why didn’t you tell me?”

  Daisy wiped the tears away. “It’s all in the past. I destroyed Dad’s love and I can never get it back.”

  Mr Manville swooped to her side and gave her a tender look. “You never destroyed my love, how could you? It was still there, it was my fault, I buried it in hate.”

  The door swung open and a little boy of about 3 or 4 ran in. He was wearing Spiderman pyjamas. He jumped onto Daisy’s lap and snuggled up close to her. She laughed and said, “You’re supposed to be asleep, Danny.”

  The little boy snuggled closer and gave Grace a shy look.

  Mr Manville murmured, “She named him after me.”

  Daisy said, “Dad never saw Danny, he died soon after he was born. I took him to see Mum and I was getting ready to tell her the truth about what happened to me but then Mum passed away too. I’m so glad she agreed to see me before it was too late. I sent her a letter after Dad died.”

  “You’ve had a rough time.”

  Daisy grimaced. “You know what they say, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. I should be like Superwoman by now!”

  Grace looked at the little boy, his eyes were staring to close. She said, “Don’t you want the best for Danny? You could take your parents’ money and build a better life, if that’s what you want?”

  Daisy smiled down at the boy. “Of course I want the best for him. I just don’t think I could take the money. No matter what you say I don’t think Dad ever forgave me for having a baby as a result of a one night stand.” Her look darkened. “Even though the one night stand wasn’t my idea.”

  Grace said, “Wouldn’t you love Danny if he did something terrible? Or if he was the victim of a crime but blamed himself?”

  Daisy pulled Danny closer. “Of course I would!”

  “Then don’t you think your dad still loved you, even if he didn’t show it?”

  “I’m not sure, he was very angry.”

  Grace remembered something. She pulled it out of her pocket and held it up. “I found this in your dad’s jacket.”

  “My necklace! He must have kept it!”

  “Of course I kept it, it was part of you,” Mr Manville said.

  “Of course he kept it, he loved you,” Grace said. She moved the necklace closer. “If you can’t accept the money for yourself can you accept it for Danny’s sake? I’m sure your dad would have learned to loved him.”

  Daisy looked at the necklace for a while. Then she reached out and took it. “I think you might be right. I’m as stubborn as Dad.” Daisy put the necklace on and placed her hand over the heart shaped pendant.

  Grace’s eyes widened as she saw the effect it had on Mr Manville. The black cloud that used to surround him was replaced by a white shimmering outline. Grace had seen this before, it meant that the ghost had done what they needed to do, and that they were ready to leave.

  Daisy gave Grace a big smile. “I suddenly feel stronger. I will take Mum and Dad’s money and I will carry on with my studies, I want to be a doctor. I don’t know how you managed to come into my life today but I’m so glad you did! Thank you so much, it took a lot of courage to come and see me.”

  “It took a lot of courage to walk through this estate!” Grace said.

  Daisy frowned.”You can stay here tonight if you want, it’s not safe out there after dark.”

  Grace stood up. “I’ll be alright, I’ve got a bodyguard. Look, here’s my number if you want to talk about anything. Sometimes you just need to talk to someone, to have someone listen to you.”

  Daisy took the paper. “Thank you, you’re a kind person. I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep tonight! I’ve got so many plans to make.”

  “I’ll see myself out. Good luck, Daisy, I know you’re going to make a wonderful doctor.”

  Mr Manville swooped to Grace’s side. “Thank you isn’t enough. Sorry for all the shouting. I think I’m ready to go now, I’ll stay with Daisy and the little one for a while. Thank you again.”

  Grace smiled and said goodbye to Daisy. Her heart felt so light she was surprised her feet were still on the ground.

  Chapter 19

  The next day Grace went to the shop. Frankie raised an eyebrow when he saw her.

  “I wasn’t expecting you today, I thought you’d still be getting rid of that rubbish that you bought yesterday.”

  “I did get rid of it,” Grace said. She came around the counter and put her handbag down.

  “Are you staying?” Frankie asked.

  Grace sighed. “I don’t know what I’m doing with my life.”

  Frankie held his hands up. “I haven’t got time for a heart to heart, are you staying or not?”

  Grace nodded. “I can do. Have you got somewhere to go?”

  “Big Bob’s going to an antique fair. I know I said we should concentrate on household goods for the shop but I thought I’d go along for the ride, see if I can spot any bargains.”

  Grace noted his eager expression. “You liked looking at antiques with Dad, didn’t you?”

  Frankie grinned. “I did, something about the history side of things excited me. A love of history must run in the family. Which reminds me, when are you going back to your teaching job?”

  Grace sighed again. “I don’t know, I got a letter from the school this morning wanting to know the same thing. What should I do?”

  “Again, I haven’t got time. We can talk later. Do you want to look after the shop whilst I go out? I can close it up if you don’t want to. It won’t be busy.”

  “I’ll stay, it looks like it could do with a dust.”

  Frankie laughed and grabbed his jacket. “You and your cleaning! A bit of dirt won’t kill you.”

  Grace shook her head. Frankie tried using that argument several times when Mum ordered him to have a bath in his younger years.

  Frankie dashed out from the counter. “See you later, alligator.”

  Grace sighed again as the door shut behind him. She suddenly smiled. She was starting to sound like a balloon going down. She couldn’t help feeling frustrated, she just wanted someone to talk to, someone to help her figure out what she was doing with her life.

  “You can talk to me.”

  Grace turned around. “Pearl! I can see you! At last!”

  The old woman grinned. “Nice to have someone so pleased to see me. How are you, Grace?”

  Grace smiled at the old woman, she was pleased to see her. She was just as Grace had imagined, small and grey haired. She wore a floral housecoat over a long dress. Grace glanced down at her legs, her tights were wrinkled as if they were a few sizes too big.

  Pearl said, “Now you’ve looked me up and down do you want to tell me why you’ve got a face as miserable as a wet Sunday?”

  “I want to know about you! How long you’ve been here, did you live in this shop, did you know Mum and Da
d, when did you die, how did you die?”

  “Whoa! Stop with the verbal diarrhoea! Never mind about me, I’ll tell you what you need to know when you need to know it, okay?”

  Grace nodded. She’d already been told by previous ghosts that Pearl liked to swear. She didn’t want to be on the receiving end of an outburst.

  Pearl’s wrinkled face wrinkled even more. “No need to be afraid of me, Grace. I know I’ve had words with some of your ghost friends but I’m only protecting you. That’s what I’m here for.”

  “To protect me? Against what?”

  Pearl waved a hand dismissively. “We’ll get to that later. Right, tell me what’s going on. Something to do with that school job of yours? Lock the door, we don’t want any busybodies getting in the way.”

  “But I told Frankie…”

  Pearl folded her arms. “Don’t even mention that boy to me. The things he watches on his computer upstairs! Your hair would be as grey and curly as mine if you saw what he was looking at! Mind you, those programmes have taught me a few things too. Lock the door, I want your full attention.”

  Grace did as she was told. She was beginning to think that Pearl was not someone who you argued with.

  Pearl listened as Grace told her about her teaching job. Grace wasn’t sure she wanted to go back, she didn’t think she could give her all as a teacher anymore, it wouldn’t be fair to the students.

  “Why can’t you give your all?” Pearl asked.

  Grace gave a little laugh. “I know it sounds silly but I like helping ghosts. It’s probably selfish but I feel wonderful when I’ve helped them. I wish I could talk to someone about it, discuss the ghosts’ problems with them.”

  “You can talk to me. I’ve seen how you are with those ghosts, they’re lucky to have found you. Although, they should have sorted out their problems whilst they were alive! People waste so much time on the unimportant!”

  Grace waited for Pearl to calm down. “I know, but sometimes life gets in the way, things don’t run smoothly. I really like helping them but can I do that for a living? I need to pay my bills.”

  Pearl nodded. “You can do it for a living. You can work here with your brother. I can help you look out for good storage units. Don’t look at me like that! I know all about the storage unit business, I watch the same programmes as Frankie.”

  “But how will you help me? Will you come with me?”

  “Questions! Questions! What did I tell you about questions? Now, tell me about this last ghost you helped, this problem was different from the others. And, don’t ask me why just yet, there was a reason it was different.”

  Chapter 20

  Grace told Pearl all about Mr Manville and Daisy. Pearl was a good listener, she nodded and didn’t interrupt.

  When Grace had finished Pearl said, “Do you know what was different about this situation?”

  Grace thought for a moment. Then anger reared up in her. “That man at the nightclub! That vile man and his friends! How could they get away with it? They’re probably still doing it now. Oh! It makes my blood boil! I wish I could find him.”

  “And would you hit him on the head with your favourite tea pot?” Pearl teased.

  Heat flushed into Grace’s cheeks. “I’d forgotten you were there for that. In fact, I think you might have been responsible.”

  “Details, we’re not talking about me. What about that … so and so, Eddie Tominski? How did you feel when you knew he’d murdered your parents? No, that’s a stupid question, I know how you felt. But what would you do if you discovered a murderer? Would you try and help? Or let the police sort it out?”

  Grace wanted to know why Pearl was asking all these questions but she was too afraid to ask. She thought for a moment and then answered truthfully. “I’d get involved. I can’t stand back and let people get away with things.”

  “Many people can. Aren’t you going to ask me why I’m asking you all these questions?”

  Grace gave a sheepish smile. “I daren’t.”

  “Get some backbone, Grace, you’re going to need it. When I was alive I was like you, I could see ghosts. And I helped them. But the ghosts I helped were different, they’d been murdered and I helped find out who had murdered them. The things I saw! And the pieces of scum I met! But I was like you, I had to help.”

  Grace didn’t like where the conversation was heading. Pearl looked at her and waited. Grace didn’t want to speak.

  Pearl said, “We can stare at each other all day like a pair of stuffed dummies or you can ask me what you’re already thinking.”

  Grace swallowed. “Are you telling me that I need to help ghosts who have been murdered?”

  “Yes. Next question. You can ask questions now.”

  “But why me?”

  “Because you’re kind, helpful and you can see dead people. Next?”

  “Where will I find them? The murdered people?”

  “In the storage units. You’ll find the murder weapons, bloodied clothes and other delightful items. You’ll be busy.”

  Grace frowned. “But I haven’t seen any murdered ghosts yet. Are you sure they’ll be in the storage units?”

  Pearl put a ghostly hand on Grace’s arm. Instead of feeling the usual chill when a ghost touched her, Grace felt a warmth. It felt good. Pearl said, “The ghosts are there, you didn’t see them because it wasn’t time for you to see them yet. Some of them followed you home, some are still in this shop. You can get to them later.”

  Grace looked around the shop expecting to see deformed ghosts with knives sticking out of them.

  She said, “I’m not sure, Pearl, I don’t think I’m strong enough. How could I help them? Can’t I just tell the police about them? Can’t the ghosts tell me who murdered them?”

  “They don’t know, or they forget at the moment of death. Grace, it has to be you. You have the gift, just like I had. I’ll help you. I can’t leave the shop but we can talk, work out clues and stuff like that. Wouldn’t it be nice to talk to me about this ghost business?”

  Grace nodded. She had no one else to talk to about ghosts.

  Pearl shouted out, making her jump. “Stop keeping your thoughts to yourself! Tell me what you’re thinking. Remember how good it felt to help all those other ghosts? Think how much better you’ll feel helping poor sods who’ve been murdered? You might stop other people being murdered. It’s your duty!”

  Grace flinched. That little woman had a big voice. “But …” she began.

  “Buts are for losers!” Pearl declared. “You can do this, Grace, I believe in you.”

  Grace was just about to sigh but then caught Pearl’s look. Could she do this? Could she help people who’d been murdered?

  Grace nodded at Pearl and said, “When do I start?”

  A note from the author

  Just like Frankie in this story I love watching storage auction programmes. I’ve never been to one but I’d love to visit one of the big ones in America, I’m sure I’d be useless at bidding though – I’d be too excited.

  When I watch the shows I always wonder where the items have come from, and who they belonged to. I wondered what would happen if some of the items had ghosts attached. I reached a point where I couldn’t stand it anymore and I knew I had to write some stories down, I was inspired by the variety of items that have been discovered in storage lockers.

  I hope you enjoyed this first story. If you did could you post a quick review? Thank you, I read all my reviews and I really do appreciate them.

  The first book is Jacob’s Coins (it’s free):

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  The second book in this series is Lost And Found:

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  The third book is Tick Tock:

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  The fourth book is The Write Dream:

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  You can see all my books at:

  www.gillianlarkin.co.u
k

  You can email me at:

  gillianlarkin67@gmail.com

  Best wishes

  Gillian

  STORAGE GHOSTS – DAISY’S CHAIN

  By

  GILLIAN LARKIN

  KINDLE EDITION

  www.gillianlarkin.co.uk

  Front cover image by Vectorstock.com

  Copyright 2014 by Gillian Larkin

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form, electronically or mechanically without permission from the author.