2 A Different Shade Of Death (6 page)

Chapter 16

“Once
my husband and Father were gone my son became more ... normal, I suppose. We
had a good life together. I think losing his father and grandfather affected
him even though he never spoke about it. He became a bit of a loner, stayed at
home. I was soft with him. Instead of making him go out to work I told him he
didn’t have to. We had plenty of money to live on. I quite enjoyed using the
family money, it had been stuck in the bank for too long. I can see now that I
spoilt him, I should have insisted on him getting a job and becoming
independent.”

Grace
gave her an understanding smile. “I think I’d be the same too if I had
children, I’m sure you’re not the only mother to feel overprotective. You
mentioned something about computers?”

“Oh,
yes, he loved computers! We got one of the first ones that came out, all those
years ago. He was always playing games on them. And when a new model came out,
he had to have it. He even made me a buy a laptop. That’s when the trouble
began. I couldn’t use it at first but he told me I was being silly. He showed
me how to use it and even how to send emails.”

Emily
paused, she looked as if she was not sure whether to go on.

“I
remember when that first email arrived. I didn’t know at the time that it was
spam. I thought it was a genuine offer. It said I had £20 in credit to play on their
online bingo. I didn’t see the harm in playing a few games, it was fun.”

Grace
didn’t say anything, she had an awful feeling that she knew where this was
going.

Emily
said, “You can probably guess what happened, I became addicted. I played more
and more. I had trouble sleeping, I used to think I could hear ghosts in the
house, particularly in the library. I know it sounds silly. Anyway, I used to
be up until the early hours most days, gambling away. I won occasionally but
mainly I lost. I thought there was plenty of money in the bank but it began to
go down. I was so silly. I even went on other gambling sites, it’s so easy
online!”

“It’s
too easy,” Grace added. “Did your son know?”

Emily
shook her head vehemently. “I couldn’t tell him, I was too ashamed. The money
had been promised to him and there I was, gambling it away at the click of a
button. I started to sell some of my jewellery to pay for my gambling debts. I
felt awful taking them into shops to sell, I felt so grubby. Luckily, I didn’t
have to do that for long. That woman got in touch with me and sorted everything
out.”

“What
woman?”

“This
woman phoned me up, I don’t know how she got my number. She said her name was
Janet Smith and she’d heard that I was having trouble paying my debts. She was
so understanding, she told me I shouldn’t be ashamed about my gambling if it
gave me enjoyment. She gave me the website addresses of other sites, she said I
would be more likely to win on them. Then she said she could help me pay my
debts without me having to leave the house to sell items. She knew where I
lived ...”

“How?”
Grace interrupted. This Janet Smith was sounding highly suspicious.

Emily
shrugged. “I think you can find out all sorts on the Internet. Janet Smith said
I must have some old furniture that I didn’t need anymore. She offered to have
it collected and sold on my behalf. Wasn’t that kind of her? There were some
old pieces that I didn’t like so I agreed to it. Some men came round and collected
quite a bit.”

“What
did you tell your son? Wasn’t he suspicious?”

Emily
looked towards the window. “I told him I was having them restored. I’m so
ashamed, I didn’t want to lie to him. I happily carried on gambling. That Janet
was wrong about the new sites, I didn’t win at all. And I needed more money to
gamble with. She phoned me again to say she knew about a loan company that
would be able to help me.”

Emily
stopped talking. She sighed deeply, her eyes glittered with tears.

Grace
said softly, “You don’t have to go into details. I’m guessing that your debts
got higher, you took more loans out to meet the costs?”

Emily
nodded. “And don’t forget the part about lying to my son, that was the worst
part. I could barely sleep with worry. It wasn’t just the ghosts at Heathville
that were keeping me awake, it was my guilt. I joined an online support group,
I had to do something. That’s where I met Ted, my boyfriend. He was so
supportive, didn’t judge me. The first thing I did was close down all my memberships
on the gambling sites. Ted told me to get legal advice about my debts. He’d
gone through something similar. Well, I didn’t need to. Janet Smith phoned me
the day after I closed my last account. She said she understood exactly what I
was going through and that she had an easy solution for me, one that would
clear my debts in one go.”

Charlie
spoke. Grace had almost forgotten he was there. He said in a dull voice, “She
told you to sell Heathville.”

Emily
said, “She told me to sell my house. She already had the name of someone who
might be interested, a Charlie Ford.”

Grace
looked at Charlie, he gave a slight shake of his head as if this was the first
he’d heard about it.

“I
was shocked at first, I couldn’t leave Heathville! It had been in the family
since it was built. I told Janet I’d have to think about it. I actually slept
better that night knowing a solution was near to hand. I thought about all the
bad memories I’d had, how I’d wanted to leave years ago. A lovely light feeling
began to settle on me, it was like someone had lifted a boulder from my
shoulders, I could breath easily again. When Janet phoned me later I said yes.
Within two days that Charlie Ford came round. He was a bit brusque but I could
see that he would take care of the house. He gave me a good price, enough to
clear all my debts and buy this lovely place. I thought I would feel sad when I
left Heathville for the last time but I felt so light I almost thought I could
fly! And I love my new home, it’s perfect for me.”

“Sounds
like everything worked out well for you,” Grace said. Charlie stood up and
walked over to the window, he looked out, his hands clasped behind his back.

Emily’s
smile dropped. “Everything was good for me but not James, my son. He’s had to
get a job and ...”

“Where’s
my kiss!” a voice boomed out.

“Oh!”
Emily’s hand flew to her mouth, her cheeks coloured. She looked at Grace and
said, “That’s Ted, my boyfriend.”

Ted
walked into the room, his lips puckered up.

Grace’s
mouth dropped open. Ted was the foreman that she’d seen earlier at Heathville.

Charlie
spun around, he pointed a finger at Ted and yelled, “I remember! I’ve seen him
before, when I was alive. He’s the one who killed me!”

Chapter 17

Ted’s
puckered lips didn’t move, his startled eyes darted between Grace and Emily.
Emily laughed, stood up and kissed Ted.

Ted
muttered, “What’s going on? I didn’t know you had company.”

Emily
said, “This is Grace, she called round to drop some of my belongings off. I’m
afraid I’ve rather bored her with my family history.”

Grace
stood up. “Not at all.” She winced. Charlie was shouting in her ear, something
about room plans and a funny smell. Grace tried hard to ignore him, she would
talk to him later.

Ted
frowned. “I know you, you’ve just been up to Heathville.” His voice rose, “Did
that Amy Ford send you? She’s not getting another penny out of Emily! You can
tell her that!”

Emily
put a hand on Ted’s arm in an effort to calm him down. “Grace doesn’t have
anything to do with Amy. I really don’t understand what you’ve got against Amy.
See that box? It’s got some of my belongings in it, Amy gave it to Grace and
Grace brought it to me, that’s all that’s going on. You need to calm down, Ted,
your face is going red.”

Ted
scowled at Grace. “Are you sure you’ve got nothing to do with Amy Ford?”

Grace
confirmed that she hadn’t. She told him why she had paid Amy a visit earlier.
Grace noticed that Charlie had gone quiet now.

Ted
seemed to accept Grace’s explanation.

Grace
said, “I’d better be going. Thanks for the tea.”

Emily
smiled at her. “It should be me thanking you, listening to my tales of woe.”

“What
have you told her?” Ted blurted out.

Emily
gave him a stern look. “Don’t you talk to me like that, Ted Thomas. I’ll talk
to who I like about what I like. You’re not talking to one of your lads now.”

Ted
 gave her an embarrassed smile. “Sorry, love, it’s been a difficult day. Let me
see Grace out.”

“Okay,
and you can apologise to her on the way out,” Emily said. She turned to Grace
and winked.

Grace
said goodbye and followed Ted out through the bungalow. He stopped at the end
of the path. “I am sorry about shouting at you.  You won’t know but Emily had
to sell Heathville.”

“I
do know, Emily told me everything. All about the gambling and then having to
sell. I think she felt better for telling me. She said you’ve helped her a
lot.”

Ted
smiled. “I’d do anything for Emily. It just makes me so mad to think that Amy
Ford is now living in Emily’s house.”

Grace
said, “Emily told me it was a relief to sell the house, to clear all her debts.
She mentioned that the woman on the phone, Janet Smith, put Charlie Ford in
touch with Emily. I don’t think it’s Amy’s fault that Emily had to sell her
house.”

Ted
gave Grace a searching look. He looked back over his shoulder towards the
bungalow and then back at Grace. “You don’t know, do you? Well, why would you?
I only found out recently. When Emily sold her house to Charlie Ford I thought
he had something to do with her debts and loans. He’s in the loan business so I
thought he’d been in cahoots with gambling sites to get Emily to gamble all her
money away. Then, when the time was right, he swooped in with offers of loans
and eventually, when she couldn’t pay, he then bought the house. That was the
general opinion of everyone who knew Emily, we all thought Charlie Ford was the
cause of her problems.”

Grace
shot a sideways glance at Charlie. His brow wrinkled and he shook his head.

Ted
carried on, “After he died I overheard something that changed my mind. Me and
the lads started doing work on the house when Charlie was alive, just the
basics, going through the plans, looking at what needed doing. After Charlie
died Amy Ford became impatient, she wanted the work doing quicker so we were at
the house most days. She must have forgotten we were there most of the time,
people become invisible if you’re used to seeing them all the time.

“One
day, a few weeks ago, me and one of the lads were stripping wallpaper outside
the room that she uses as an office when we overheard her on the phone. I was
only half listening at first but then what she was saying made me stop in my
tracks. She was talking to someone about their debts and how she could help
them. Emily had told me everything that Janet Smith had said to her on the
phone. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, Amy Ford was saying the exact
same things that Janet Smith had said to Emily. I had no doubts that Amy Ford
was Janet Smith. And I knew that it was Amy who had tricked Emily out of her
house.”

Charlie
moved closer to Grace. He said, “That’s impossible, Amy’s not capable of that,
she hasn’t got the brains for it.”

Grace
said, “How do you know it was Amy? She could have been working for someone

called
Janet Smith.”

“The
lad who was with me thought that too, he said I couldn’t accuse Amy of anything
until I had proof. We waited until she left the house then we looked in her
office. Don’t look at me like that! She hurt my Emily, she wasn’t going to get
away with it.”

Ted
paused and sighed. “We were right. Amy Ford was Janet Smith. She owns several
loan companies, she has agreements with many gambling sites. They let her know
when someone has trouble paying their gambling fees, they give Amy all the
details, the phone numbers and the rest. Then Amy phones them, catches them at
their lowest and offers them a way out.”

Grace
took a moment to let the information sink in. Had Charlie found out what Amy
had been doing? Had he threatened her in some way? Had Amy killed Charlie to
silence him?

Chapter 18

Ted
voiced Grace’s concern. “I can tell you, I was shocked at what I’d found out.
Amy comes across as so kind and thoughtful, almost like a doormat kind of
person, not the type to stand up for herself. But there she was, conning people
out of their money and destroying lives. I wondered if she’d killed her
husband. Maybe he’d found out about her scheme and was going to do something
about it. But she was away when Charlie Ford died, on some holiday abroad with
her friends. It was me who found him, lying in the library. I thought he was
sleeping at first. I don’t know why there wasn’t a full inquest into his death,
the police never interviewed anyone about it.  I don’t know what’s wrong with
the police nowadays.” He shook his head. “ I’d better get back to Emily. You
steer clear of Amy Ford, she’s a nasty piece of work.”

Ted
turned away and walked back towards the bungalow.

Grace
took a moment. She couldn’t believe it, was Amy really like that? Was she
capable of scamming someone like Emily? And was she capable of murder? If
Charlie had been poisoned it could have been a gradual process. Amy could have
made sure that she was away when Charlie finally died to throw any suspicion
off herself.

Grace’s
heart sank. What had she got herself into? She walked away from the bungalow,
her steps heavy.

Charlie
walked at her side. “I can’t believe that about Amy, it can’t be true, I would
have known.”

Grace
didn’t say anything. She didn’t feel like talking. How could she have been
fooled so easily?

Charlie
said, “I suppose she could have been up to something, I never really paid her
much attention, I had my own work to do. Could she be so cold hearted?”

Grace
stopped. She looked around, no one was near. She said, “You told me that she’d
always wanted to live in Heathville, maybe she was behind all of this. She’s
fooled everyone. When we were inside Emily’s house you said that you’d seen Ted
before, you accused him of murdering you. What did you mean?”

Charlie
put his hands in his pockets and stared at the ground. “I can’t quite remember
now. He was always cold with me, I can understand why now if he thought I had
something to do with Emily losing Heathville. But there was something else,
something to do with the original plans of the house. And there was a smell, an
awful smell somewhere.”

Charlie
clutched his stomach. He let out a cry of pain. “Not again! I thought it had gone!”

Grace
said, “What is it? Has the pain come back? Is it worse than before?”

He
straightened up and rubbed his stomach. “It’s gone now, it was just a spasm.
Who are you phoning?”

“My
brother. If you’re in pain he might be too,” Grace said.

Frankie
answered on the second ring. “Yo, Sis, how’re you doing? Hope you’re not
phoning up to check on me.”

“Just
phoning,” Grace tried to keep her tone light. “How are you anyway?”

Frankie
snorted. “Fine! My bottom’s fine too if that’s what you wanted to hear.”

“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.