A Deadly Lesson (Storage Ghost Murders Book 5) (6 page)

Chapter 15

Brooke
tapped away on her phone as she walked along. She turned left into a cafe.
Grace stopped outside the side of the cafe and looked in through the window.
There were menus and advertisements on the window of the cafe and Grace
positioned herself so that she, hopefully, wouldn’t be spotted. Abbie floated a
few inches above Grace and said, “I can see him! I can see Ethan. He hasn’t
changed much, still looks like Clark Kent before he changes into Superman. Yuk!
She’s touching him.”

Grace
looked closer at the couple inside. Brooke had her arms around Ethan’s neck and
was pressing herself against him. Ethan’s head was turned away from her, his
arms hung loosely at his side. It was obvious that Brooke’s feelings for Ethan
were not reciprocated.

Grace
said, “I don’t think they’re a couple.”

“But
she called him her boyfriend,” Abbie pointed out.

“I
think she might be lying. Look at his face, he looks uncomfortable.”

Brooke
and Ethan sat at a table. Brooke gazed at Ethan and fluttered her spider-leg
lashes. Ethan sat back in his chair with his arms folded. His brow was furrowed
as he looked at Brooke.

Brooke
began to talk. Ethan’s lips pressed tightly together and he shook his head.
Brooke talked some more, Ethan continued to shake his head.

“I
wonder what they’re talking about,” Grace said. “Shall we try and sneak in?
It’s only a small cafe though, she might see me. Hang on, what’s going on now?
Is she crying?”

Abbie
shook her head. “I’ve never seen Brooke cry, not even when her cat died. She
doesn’t even look sad, she’s just dabbing her eyes. I can’t believe she’s
meeting Ethan, after all she said about him!”

Grace
saw Ethan’s look of desperation as Brooke made a show of crying, he looked like
some sort of trapped animal. He forced a smile on his face, leant forward and
patted Brooke’s arm. Brooke immediately grabbed it and pressed it to her cheek.
Ethan shuddered but kept his smile in place. Brooke kissed his hand and stood
up. She spoke some more and then seemed to wait for a reply. Ethan’s shoulders
slumped and he slowly nodded his head. Brooke blew him a kiss and then turned
away. She left the cafe with a smug smile on her face. She walked straight past
Grace without glancing at her.

Grace
looked at Abbie and said, “We’re going in.”

Grace
opened the door, Abbie floated through the window. Grace sat at the table next
to Ethan. He now had his head in his hands.

Abbie
said, “I’ve never seen him looking so sad. What do you think Brooke said to
him?”

Grace
took her phone out and typed in a text – ‘Who bought you the driving
book? Does Ethan know about it?’

Abbie
gave her a slow smile. She pointed at Ethan and said, “He gave it to me. He
wanted to help me pass my test.”

Thank
goodness for that, Grace thought. Time for a sneaky trick. Grace placed the
book on the table and then made a big show of rooting through her handbag. Her
elbow caught the book and sent it flying to the floor. Would Ethan be a gent
and pick it up for her?

He
certainly was a gent. He handed her the book and said, “You dropped this.” His
eyes were on Grace and not on the book.

Grace
took it and said, “Oh! I’m so clumsy. Thanks for this. It’s a great book. Have
you ever read it?”

She
placed it inches from his face. Ethan’s eyes grew wide and the blood ran from
his face. He said, “Where ... I mean ... when ...”

Abbie
giggled. “He does recognise it! He should do, I’ve drawn a picture of him on
the front.”

Grace
turned the book towards herself, she hadn’t noticed a drawing before. Oh! There
it was, a little stick figure with glasses.

Ethan
pushed his glasses further up his nose, and in a shaky voice, he said, “Could I
have a look at that? Please. My friend used to have one like this.” He took the
book and began to flick through the pages. Any blood that he had left in his
cheeks had now completely drained away. He turned his attention back to Grace
and said, “Where did you get this? It did belong to my friend, Abbie Quill,
she’s put notes inside to help her remember things. I was there when she did
that.”

Grace
explained about finding the book at an auction. She took a breath and readied
herself for a lie. “Abbie Quill? That name rings a bell. Wasn’t she the victim
of a hit-and-run a few years ago?”

Ethan
nodded and handed the book back to Grace. “It was on her birthday. It was the
worst day of my life. I miss her so much. We were good friends, but I felt more
than friendship for her. I was planning on telling her my true feelings that
night, that I loved her. But I never got chance. How can somebody be here one
minute, and then just gone the next? It doesn’t make sense.”

Abbie
said quietly, “He loved me, just like I loved him.”

Ethan
pointed at the book. “I was helping her with her driving test. We used to
borrow my dad’s car and sneak off somewhere. She was becoming a good driver but
when it came to the test she must have lost her nerve because she kept failing.
I really wanted her to pass.”

“How
long had you known Abbie?”

“All
my life! Well, since I was about five. We played together at school.” Ethan
gave a bitter laugh. “When she was allowed to play with me, that is. She had a
so-called friend who was awful to her. So controlling and abusive, but Abbie
could never see it. I tried to tell her gently but she’d never hear a bad word
said about her friend. I knew exactly what her friend was like, everyone did,
except Abbie.”

Grace
went on, “I hope you don’t mind me saying this, but as I walked in I saw you
with a woman. Is she your girlfriend? Did she ever meet Abbie?”

Ethan
looked towards the window, his jaw clenched. “She’s no friend of mine.” He
looked back at Grace. “That was the person I was telling you about, she’s
called Brooke. I’ve never liked her. At school she had all the boys round her,
her parents are rich and she used to get boyfriends by bringing them presents.
Her bribery never worked on me, I knew what she was really like. She never
forgave me for turning her down. I overheard her talking to Abbie about me,
saying I was common and needed a good wash. Abbie never listened, thank God.

When
Abbie died, Brooke played the sympathy card. She claimed she was heartbroken,
she said no one was suffering more than her over Abbie’s death, not even
Abbie’s parents. She actually said that! Can you believe that?”

Grace
nodded. Abbie moved closer to Ethan.

“Brooke
kept texting me, asking to meet me, said it helped her to talk about Abbie with
me, to keep her memory alive. I couldn’t say no, could I? I tried but she never
took it in. This has been going on for years, she thinks we’re great friends.
She was just here to ask me to go on holiday with her, to the places that Abbie
planned to go to. I told her no but then she started to cry and said it was
Abbie’s wish that she go. Being the idiot that I am, I agreed to it.”

“I
don’t think you’re an idiot, I think you’re considerate. But you can’t live
your life according to what someone else wants.”

“I
know. I’m going to tell her I’m not going.” He sighed and then said with more
conviction, “I will tell her this time, she can cry all she likes.”

Grace
suddenly laughed at something Abbie said. Ethan looked at her.

Grace
said, “I’m sorry. I was thinking you should hit her with this book.” That
wasn’t her thought at all. Ethan would think she was weird.

He
smiled. “Perhaps I should, but I wouldn’t want to damage the book.”

Grace
then said something that she didn’t want to. “You can have the book, if you
like.”

He
shook his head. “I can’t take it. But I know somebody who might want to see
it.”

Chapter 16

Grace
waited for Ethan to continue. He said, “Her dad would love to see it. He used
to ask her questions all the time about her driving, you know, road signs,
speeds, all that stuff. How did this book get into a storage locker?”

Grace
shrugged. “I don’t know how half of the contents end up in those lockers. This
book was with lots of older books. My brother referred to them as charity shop
rejects, he was probably right.”

“I
bet it was Brooke. After Abbie died she asked Abbie’s mum if she could have
some of Abbie’s things, like her favourite necklace and such. She claimed it
would help her deal with her grief. The bloody cheek! Anyway, Abbie’s mum
agreed to let Brooke go into Abbie’s bedroom and take what she wanted. She
probably took that book and gave it to a charity shop out of spite.” Ethan
looked at his phone. “She’s texting me again! Right, that’s it, I’m going round
there to give her a piece of my mind. I’ll tell her where she can stick her
bloody holiday!”

He
stood up and shoved his phone in his pocket. Grace had one more question. “You
mentioned Abbie’s mum, is she still alive?”

Grace
heard Abbie’s intake of breath.

Ethan
shook his head slowly. “She is alive, but I don’t know if you could call it
living. I’ll give you Derek’s address, that’s Abbie’s dad. He loves talking
about Abbie, if you can bear to listen he’ll talk about her all afternoon.”

Ethan
wrote an address on the back of the menu. Grace didn’t need it, she knew where
Derek lived but she wasn’t going to tell Ethan that. He pushed his glasses up
again and said goodbye. He marched purposefully out of the cafe. He looked like
a man on a mission. Grace wished him a silent good luck.

Abbie
said, “Can we go and see Dad now? I want to see him again, I want to know
what’s wrong with Mum.”

Grace
tapped a message onto her phone – ‘No, sorry, I have to get back to the
shop. We’ll see him soon, promise.’

Abbie
sighed and gave Grace a small smile.

Grace
was back at the shop within ten minutes. There weren’t many customers and
Frankie looked as if he was falling asleep behind the till. Grace gave him a
friendly whack on the arm.

“Oi!
That’s child abuse!”

“It
was a tap, and you’re not a child. Well, not legally. Has Big Bob been in?”

“No,
why? Are you going to assault him too?” Frankie said as he dramatically rubbed
his arm.

“I’m
going to keep the car. I’ll need to pay Big Bob.”

Frankie’s
hand dropped. He grinned at her. “That’s great news! I knew you could get in a
car again. I’ll send Big Bob a text to let him know. This is really good news!”

Grace
frowned. “It’s nice that you’re happy for me. Hang on, what’s going on?”

Frankie
took his phone out. “We can share the car now, saves me having to drive that
dirty old van around. I don’t know why you never clean it.”

Grace
held her hands up. “No! Never! No way! Get your own car!”

“I
don’t need to, I just said, I’ll borrow yours. I don’t know why you’re making a
fuss about it.”

Grace
shook her head. Then she remembered something. “All right, you can drive Fred
if you want to.”

Frankie
looked up from his phone. “Fred?”

“Yes,
Fred Ford Focus, that’s his name. I’m going to put it on the windscreen. And
I’ve already bought some fluffy pink dice to hang from the mirror. And I’ll get
some car freshener. I think the smell of freshly cut roses would be nice.”

Frankie
threw her a disgusted look. “You know how I feel about people who name their
cars. If you’re going to put pathetic girly stuff in your car I’m not going
anywhere near it. In fact, you can keep it at home, I don’t want it near the
shop.”

Grace
grinned at him. “I’ll park round the back. Have you sent Big Bob a message? Can
he send his bank details then I’ll transfer the money over.”

“Give
me a chance,” Frankie muttered. “What sort of a car name is Fred anyway?”

Grace
couldn’t resist. “Maybe I should call it Frankie Junior.”

Frankie
pointed his phone at her and said, “Stop that right now.” He looked back at the
phone. “Big Bob says he’s not giving his bank details over a text, he doesn’t
trust texts. He’ll stop by the shop tomorrow.”

“Fair
enough,” Grace replied. A memory of her dad came to mind. He could never get to
grips with the Internet, he claimed that someone was spying on him. Mum loved
the Internet and ordered things constantly. Grace smiled, it was comforting to
have such memories of them. She looked over at Abbie. The poor girl looked so
sad. It must be awful to find out what people really thought about you.

Grace
stayed at the shop with Frankie for the rest of the day. Whenever she was on
her own, she took the opportunity of calling out for Pearl.

Abbie
said, “I don’t think she’s coming back.”

“She
will, she has to,” Grace said, sounding more confident than she felt. She
couldn’t bear the thought of Pearl disappearing from her life.

Abbie
didn’t speak on the drive home. Grace was grateful as she needed to concentrate
on driving through heavy traffic. She smiled as they pulled up outside her
house. She turned to Abbie and said, “I didn’t even break into a sweat on the
drive home, I must be getting better.”

Abbie
didn’t return her smile. She was looking at something over Grace’s shoulder.
She said, “I think someone’s trying to break into your house.”

Grace
whipped herself around and peered through the car window and in to the
darkness.

A
figure was creeping along the side of her house. It stopped near the back door
and reached towards the handle.

“I
don’t think so,” Grace said through clenched teeth.

Abbie
cried out, “Call the police! Don’t go out there! They might hurt you!”

“I’ve
been taking self-defence classes, I know how to injure someone. Come on.”

“What
are you going to do? Give them a karate kick? Poke them in the eye?”

Grace
grabbed her bag and took a quick look inside. She held it up and said, “I’m
going to whack them with this.”