A Deadly Lesson (Storage Ghost Murders Book 5) (13 page)

Chapter 31

Grace
was taken aback at Derek’s cheerfulness. He laughed and said, “Don’t be so
surprised, I’m quite open-minded.” His smile dropped slightly. “Why didn’t I
listen to Dorothy before? I did believe the things she’d been told by the
psychics, why didn’t I help her?”

“Dorothy
said that Carlos convinced you otherwise,” Grace said.

Derek
shook his head sadly. “What an idiot I’ve been. Well! Enough of that! Dorothy
seems like her old self again, she had a few choice words to say about Carlos.
She said I’m to listen to you, and to help in any way that I can. Shall we go
back to your lovely shop and talk? Or would you prefer to go back to my house?”

Grace
cast a glance at Abbie through the mirror. Abbie said, “I want to go home.”

Derek
caught Grace’s look. He put his hand near his mouth and whispered, “Is Abbie
here? In the car?”

Grace
nodded. “She is, and she said you don’t have to whisper.”

Derek
chuckled. “What a peculiar day I’m having! I’m so happy that my Dorothy is
getting better.”

Derek
didn’t catch the look that Grace shared with Abbie.

Over
tea and a cheese sandwich in Derek’s kitchen, Grace told Derek everything she
knew, apart from Abbie’s secret. She had a feeling that Derek didn’t need to
know that yet. She apologised for misleading him over the book.

Derek
waved his hand dismissively. “Don’t worry about that! You’re like some sort of
detective, you have to undertake your enquiries in a way that doesn’t arouse
suspicion.”

“I
know, but it doesn’t make it any easier. What do you think we should do now?”

Derek
sighed. “Well, it looks like Brooke and Carlos are the prime suspects. Poor
Julianne. We used to work at the bank together. I remember when Carlos arrived
in her life. Her confidence just drained away. I caught her a few times looking
at people’s mortgage details when she shouldn’t have been. Carlos must have
asked her to do that. It seems that Brooke was better at getting the details. I
don’t believe that Julianne knows fully what’s going on.”

“What
don’t I know?”

Julianne
stood at the kitchen door, thankfully without Carlos.

Derek
stood up and opened his arms. “Julianne! Whatever’s the matter? Come here.”

Julianne
brushed the tears away that were trickling down her cheeks. “Oh, Dad, I’ve been
such a fool! Carlos ...” She burst into fresh tears and ran into Derek’s arms.
He patted her back. In a muffled voice Julianne said, “He’s left me! He said he
didn’t need me any more! He said he’s got someone better! After all I’ve done
for him.”

Abbie
flew to her sister’s side and put her hand on her back. “You’re better off
without that slimeball. I bet I know who he’s with now.”

Derek
looked over Grace’s shoulder and gave her a small smile. Grace stood up and
said, “I’ll leave you to it.”

Derek
released Julianne and told her to sit in the living room. He walked Grace out
of the house and towards her car. He said, “I’ll tell Julianne all about what’s
happened this afternoon, I’m not sure she’ll believe the part about you seeing
ghosts. I can’t let Carlos and Brooke get away with this. I’ve got some
contacts at the bank who could do some investigating for me. Would you mind
giving me the details of that Kevin Thompson chap? I could speak to him too.”

Grace
wrote down Kevin’s details. “Will you let me know how you get on?”

“Of
course. Dorothy said my priority was to look after Julianne. Will you let me
know how you get on? What’s your next step?”

“I’m
not sure yet,” Grace lied. She knew the next step was to find out Abbie’s
secret but she couldn’t tell Derek that. “I’ll phone you as soon as I have more
information.”

Derek
grinned at her and wagged his grey eyebrows. “We’re like undercover spies! I
haven’t felt this happy for years! Oh! Blooming heck! I nearly forgot. Dorothy
said I have to take that book from you, the driving book that belonged to
Abbie.”

“Oh,”
Grace looked down at her handbag. If she handed the book over that meant Abbie
would go with it. Perhaps that’s what Abbie needed to do now. Grace reached
into her bag, took the book and handed it to Derek.

He
took it and winked at her. “Speak to you soon, partner!” With a spring in his
step he walked back to his house.

Grace
was glad to see him so happy. He had a purpose for the first time in years. She
wasn’t going to burst his bubble of happiness.

Grace
drove away from Derek’s house and headed towards the shop. Out of habit she
glanced at the back seat through the mirror. No Abbie looked back at her. Grace
was surprised at how lonely she felt. Never mind! She could speak to Pearl in
peace now.

A
short time later Grace walked into the shop and called out Pearl’s name. A
grunting noise came from the kitchen.

Frankie?
Was he hurt?

Grace
raced into the kitchen. She came to a halt at the scene that met her eyes.

Pearl
was holding on to the kitchen table with one hand, her other was wrapped around
her stomach. The old woman’s face was creased in pain. She bent over and let
out a blood-curdling wail.

Grace
moved to Pearl’s side. “Pearl! What is it? What’s wrong? How can I help?”

Pearl
turned a pain-filled face towards her, and through gritted teeth said, “I’m
sorry, I can’t hold it in much longer. She has to have it back. Stand back,
Grace, here it comes!”

Grace
moved backwards. Her eyes widened as Pearl’s back arched and a blue beam of
light shot out from her stomach. It was like something from a science fiction
film. The beam wavered in mid-air and then aimed towards the other ghost who
had appeared in the kitchen.

Chapter 32

The
blue light bathed Abbie from head to toe. Grace watched as the young girl
seemed to absorb all the light.

Grace
turned to Pearl. “What’s going on? Is she all right?”

Pearl
nodded and said, “She’s nearly done now. Look, the light’s all gone now, it’s
inside her.”

Abbie’s
face looked different, she looked calmer and a bit older. She smiled at Grace
and Pearl and said, “Thank you, Pearl, I don’t know how you did that, but thank
you.”

“You’re
welcome, lass, but don’t ever ask me to do that again! You’re stronger now, you
can cope.”

Grace
threw her arms up. “Would someone like to tell me what’s going on?”

Pearl
tutted and folded her arms. “Keep your hair on. What do you think has been
going on?”

Grace
matched Pearl’s stance by folding her arms. “I think that when you first met
Abbie you absorbed all the pain she was feeling, mental and physical. It hurt
you so you went away to where ever you go. I think you’ve returned now so that
you can give Abbie something back.”

The
corner of Pearl’s mouth lifted. “Go on.”

Grace
unfolded her arms. “I think Abbie’s pregnant and somehow you took away the
spirit, or soul, of the baby until she was strong enough to deal with it.”

Pearl
cackled. “Well done! That’s exactly what happened. Although I didn’t know what
I was letting myself in for when I first hugged her. I thought I would just
absorb her obvious distress so that you could talk to her better. What a
surprise I got! Found myself with a bun in the oven, at my age!”

“Did
it hurt? You should have said something,” Grace said.

“The
baby didn’t hurt, it felt nice to have that feeling again. And don’t look at me
like that, Grace Abrahams! I’m not about to tell you anything about myself when
I was alive!”

Grace
gave a nonchalant shrug. “I wasn’t even thinking that.”

“You’re
a terrible liar. I had to stay away, poor Abbie had been hurt emotionally in
the months leading up to her death. She would have done nothing but cry if I’d
returned too early. That baby of hers is strong, he wanted to get back into her
body.”

Abbie
stroked her tummy. “A boy?”

Grace
stared at Abbie, “Your tummy is already growing. Pearl! Is she going to give
birth soon? In our shop? What do we do?”

Pearl
flapped her hands at Grace, “Calm down, he’s not ready yet. When it’s time I’ll
take Abbie away.” She paused and looked closer at Grace. “Go on, you might as
well ask what you’re thinking, your face is going all twisty, like you’ve got
wind or something.”

Grace
said, “I don’t understand how she can still be having a baby, with her being
dead.”

“It’s
the baby that decides. Some baby souls wait for the next generation, some float
out of the dead mother’s body and find a woman that’s alive.” She smiled at Abbie.
“And some decide to be born in the spirit world and to stay with their original
mums.”

Grace
wiped a tear away. “Ghost babies, that’s so sad.”

“Not
sad at all! You should hear the racket some of them make!”

Grace
turned to Abbie. “Did you know you were pregnant? Was that the secret that your
mum was talking about?”

Abbie
nodded, her hand resting on her extended tummy. “I didn’t know that Mum knew.
When I first found out I tried to deny it, I kept thinking it wasn’t happening,
I thought it would go away. I think that’s why I couldn’t remember being
pregnant these last few days, I’d blocked it out. I’m sorry, I’m causing you
all sorts of problems.” She looked round the kitchen. “I don’t understand why
I’m back here with you now. I thought I was attached to that driving book, the
one you gave to Dad.”

Grace
frowned. “So did I. Abbie, I need to ask you something now, and, please, tell
me the truth.”

“You
want to know who the father is, don’t you?” Abbie said.

“I
do.”

“So
do I,” Pearl added. “Whoever it was had a good motive for getting rid of you.
But what sort of a man runs a pregnant woman over? Pah! If I was still alive
I’d find that monster and ring his neck!”

Abbie
gave a sad sigh. “I can’t remember. Honestly, I just can’t remember. I can see
a dark face in front of me but I can’t make out the features. I know it’s the
same face that I saw in the car.”

“Did
the father of your child know that you were pregnant?” Grace asked.

“Yes,”
Abbie said with a smile. “He said he was happy, he said he’d look after me. He
made me promise not to tell anyone, he said he had to sort some things out
first then we could be a proper family.” Her voice broke. “I promised I
wouldn’t tell anyone! I promised! Why did he kill me? Why did he kill my baby?”

Pearl
put her arms around Abbie and made soothing noises. She said quietly to Grace,
“Don’t question her any more, she can’t take it.”

Grace
nodded. The fact that Abbie was pregnant changed everything. Or did it? She
mentally went through the list of suspects.

Carlos
– Abbie had fond feelings towards him. If he was the father he would want
to get rid of her, Grace didn’t see him as the family type.

Brooke
– if Carlos was the father she wouldn’t hesitate to get rid of Abbie.

Julianne
– would she be jealous enough to kill her own sister if she thought Abbie
was carrying Carlos’ child?

Ethan
– was their friendship more than Abbie and Ethan let on? Grace remembered
his blog comment about not being tied down. And he had borrowed Derek’s car
shortly before Abbie was killed.

“You’ve
got that look on your face again,” Pearl said. “Are you thinking about ...?”
she nodded towards Abbie.

Grace
gave her a quick nod.

Pearl
said, “Abbie’s still attached to something which means she’ll go home with you
tonight. Can you give her a good night? Watch telly? Take her mind off things?
I think we’re getting closer to a conclusion but it can wait another night.”

Grace
smiled and said, “Abbie, shall we have a night in front of the telly? Frankie
will be there but I can tell him to go home if you like.”

Abbie
brightened. “No, let him stay. He’s cute, I can cuddle up to him.”

Pearl
held Abbie at arm’s length and said, “And I thought you were a sensible girl.”

Grace
laughed along with Abbie. How was she supposed to stop thinking about the
father of Abbie’s child, the one who had murdered her? She blinked rapidly as
she saw Abbie’s stomach grow a little more.

Grace
sent a silent prayer upwards, ‘Please don’t let Abbie have her baby in my
house!’

Chapter 33

In
the shop the next morning, Frankie rubbed his left arm. “You should get the
heating sorted out in your house. I had a draft down this side all last night.
Can’t you afford the bill or something?”

Grace
smiled. “Of course I can afford the bill. It must be your age catching up with
you, I was fine.” She didn’t add that Abbie had been leaning against Frankie
last night on the sofa as they all watched a film together. The young ghost was
still at his side now.

Frankie
gave a shiver. “You might be right, I still feel cold now.” He took a nervous
look round the shop. “I can’t hear any strange voices today. Someone must have
had their radio on loud or something yesterday.”

Pearl
cackled at Frankie’s other side. “If he could see us now! A ghost at either
side of him, he’d run a mile! Or have an accident in his underpants. Or both!”

Grace
glanced at Abbie’s stomach. Her once floaty top was now stretched tightly over
her bump. She looked as if she was about to burst.

Something
caught Frankie’s attention outside. He moved closer to the window and peered
out. “Hey, Grace, it’s that driving instructor again, he’s outside. Are you
having more lessons? I thought you were all right now.”

Grace’s
hand flew to her forehead. “Oh knickers! I forgot about that. The instructor
booked me in for another lesson when I saw him on Monday. What are you
sniggering at?”

Frankie
grinned. “You’re so old-fashioned, no one says ‘knickers’!”

Abbie
was sniggering too. Pearl folded her arms and looked at them both. She said,
“I’ve got a few choice words to say to these two, shall I let rip, Grace?”

Grace
gave a small shake of her head. She’d have to tell Ted Fairway that she didn’t
need another lesson. Or ... she could ask him some more questions about Abbie.
Maybe Abbie confided in him. That was unlikely, but she may have told Ted
something about her life. Any detail, however small, would help.

Grace
grabbed her handbag and headed for the door. “I’d better take this lesson. It
was kind of Ted to book me in.”

Frankie
raised an eyebrow. “Ted, is it? He looks a bit old for you, but I suppose you
can’t be fussy at your age.”

Grace
pointed at him. “You’re older than me, and your body is starting to show signs
of it, feeling the cold easier and that business with hearing voices. I’ll be
an hour or so.”

The
smile dropped from Frankie’s face to be replaced with a look of concern as he
lifted his left arm up to examine it.

Pearl
laughed. “Good retort, Grace!”

Ted
had already moved into the passenger seat in the car. He wound the window down
and said, “Morning, Grace, what a lovely morning it is! Are you okay with
driving straight away? We can always swap if you like.”

Grace
looked at his cheerful face. She hadn’t the heart to tell him she’d been
driving confidently on her own for the last few days. Instead she said, “I
think I’ll be all right, thank you.”

Ted
gave her a thumbs up and said, “Righty-ho! Let’s go!”

Grace
placed her handbag on the back seat. Her breath caught as Abbie appeared. What
was she attached to? Or was she a ghost that wasn’t attached to anything?

Grace
sat behind the steering wheel and made a show of taking a deep breath before
starting the engine up. Ted muttered encouraging words. Grace heard a snort
coming from Abbie.

Grace
pulled slowly away.

“You’re
doing fantastic! We’ll soon have you driving on your own. Do you want me to
give you directions, or would you like to set off on your own like you did the
other day?”

“I’ll
go my own route, if that’s okay,” Grace replied. A familiar route would help as
she questioned Ted about Abbie. But where to begin with her questions?

She
drove down the main road. Ted suddenly raised his hand and waved at a woman in
a similar car. He said, “There’s the missus, she’s got a young driver with her.
She’s much better with them than me! Good luck to her!”

Ted’s
wife raised a hand as her car passed theirs, but she didn’t smile. A spotty
teenager was at her side, gripping the steering wheel for dear life.

Abbie
said, “Sour-faced old cow. Look at her, giving you a filthy look! She used to
look at me like that. I’m glad I didn’t have lessons with her.”

Grace
saw an opening for a question. “Do you ever teach teenagers? I thought you said
you taught that young girl, Abbie.”

Ted
sighed and looked out of the front window. “I did teach Abbie. We had a really
busy period and Kath, that’s my missus, said she was too busy to take any more
students on. Abbie sounded so eager over the phone so I said I’d take her. Kath
wasn’t too happy about it when she found out later, but I told her we can’t
turn business away. Watch out for that pedestrian!”

Grace
carried on driving, thinking of other questions to ask. They turned into a
quiet road. She jumped as Ted slammed his hand on the dashboard. “Stop!” he
yelled.

Grace
did so. “What? What is it? Have I run over something?”

“There’s
danger up ahead. Look, those people are arguing, they’re standing too close to
the road.” He tutted loudly. “One of them could step backwards and be knocked
down. Drive slowly on, Grace. It’s not just other drivers you have to watch out
for, it’s pedestrians.”

Grace
drove slowly past the arguing people. There were three of them, two women and a
man. Her heart speeded up.

Abbie
leant forwards and said, “It’s Julianne and Carlos! And Brooke! That’s Brooke’s
house over there. Look at Julianne! She looks ready to hit someone. What’s
going on?”

Grace’s
scalp prickled. It really was none of her business what they were arguing
about. But there again, it could be something to do with Abbie. She had to
know.

Grace
drove a bit further down the road, stopped the car and switched off the engine.
She turned to Ted as she unbuckled herself. “I’m so sorry, but I know those
people. I have to see what’s going on. Won’t be a moment. Sorry!”

Grace
jumped out of the car before Ted could protest. She raced towards the arguing
trio.

As
she drew close they stopped shouting and stared at her.