A Deadly Lesson (Storage Ghost Murders Book 5) (4 page)

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.”