The Death Planner (Storage Ghost Murders Book 6) (12 page)

Chapter
28

Elsa
was quietly sobbing when Grace brought Angela into the room. Angela shot Grace
a quizzical look. Grace indicated for her to sit down.

Grace
knelt at Elsa’s side and put her hand on her arm. “Elsa, there’s someone here I
want you to meet. Her name is Angela, she knows Giles too.” Grace moved to sit
at Elsa’s side but Jenny was still sitting there so she stayed where she was.

Angela
smiled at Elsa and said, “Do you remember me? We worked together a few times. I
knew your sister.”

Elsa
nodded and wiped away a tear. “Jenny’s here now. She’s sitting next to me.”

Angela’s
smile faltered for a second and then she carried on. She gently explained how
she knew Giles, how they had met and how they had become more than friends.

Grace
took hold of Elsa’s hands as slow tears trickled down her cheeks. Poor Elsa,
her heart must be breaking into a thousand pieces. Grace reckoned that Jenny’s
look of concern must mirror her own.

Angela
concluded with how she’d finally broken up with Giles that afternoon. As simply
as she could, she explained to Elsa that Giles had been after her money. He’d
admitted that to her when she broke up with him for good following Grace’s
visit.

Angela
turned her attention to Grace. “I followed him when he left my house after his
second visit today. I know where he lives. Someone else must live there because
I saw a second car in the driveway.”

Elsa
said, “Grace thinks he’s married to Letty.”

Angela
frowned. “Letty?”

“Her
business name is Letitia Leigh.” Grace said and let this information sink in.

“Letitia
Leigh!” Angela exclaimed. “If Giles is married to her then he must know that
I’ve been in touch with Letitia many times about work! Do you think Letitia, or
Letty, knows about me?”

“I
think she knows about me,” Elsa said sadly. “She gave me a note from Giles at
the wedding. Then they were together in another photo.”

Angela
looked from Grace to Elsa, and back again. “What wedding? What photos?”

“The
one where Jenny died,” Elsa told her. “Jenny’s here with me now. I told you
that.”

Grace
took a deep breath and told Angela all about the wedding and the photos. Angela
nodded throughout. Then Grace told her about seeing ghosts.

Angela
held her hand up. “Nope! You’ve gone too far! I don’t believe in ghosts at all.
It’s a load of nonsense!”

Jenny
spoke and shared a confidence that only she and Angela knew about. Grace
repeated it.

It
was now Angela’s turn to cry. She shook her head vigorously. “No! It’s not
happening! It can’t!”

Grace
stood up and said, “It’s your choice whether you believe me or not. I’m going
to confront Giles.” She looked down at Elsa. “You can come with me if you like.
I want to ask him what he’s done with your money. I’m sorry if this upsets you,
Elsa, but I think he’s stolen it.”

Angela
jumped to her feet. “Hang on a minute! This doesn’t make sense. Why has Jenny
really appeared to you? Is it just to look out for Elsa? Or is there something
else?”

Grace
looked at the carpet, as if trying to find the right words there. She didn’t
need to.

“You
think Jenny was murdered!” Angela cried out. “You think she was murdered at
that wedding. And you think Letty, or Giles, had something to do with it!”

A
whimpering noise came from Elsa. “No, that isn’t true. My Giles would never hurt
Jenny. And Letty wouldn’t, she was Jenny’s best friend.”

Grace
rubbed her head. “Elsa, there’s something that you need to know about Letty.”

Angela
folded her arms. “I want to hear this too.”

Grace
quickly explained about her vision and the subsequent conversations she’d had
with Jenny about Letty. Elsa cried even more. Angela let forth a string of
expletives. They weren’t on Pearl’s level, but they were close enough.

Grace
said, “So, now you know why I have to confront Giles and Letty.”

Angela
said, “If those two are married, it sounds to me like they planned this whole
thing with Elsa. Would Letty have known about Jenny’s money?”

Jenny
said something. Grace repeated her words, “Letty was in the same room at
university when Jenny’s parents visited once. They told her about their life
insurance policies and their savings. They wanted Jenny to know in case
anything happened to them. And Letty did work for Jenny for a while, she’d know
how much money the company was making.” Grace gave Elsa a soft look. “I know
she had issues with Jenny, but to take it out on Elsa is an incredibly nasty
thing to do.”

Elsa
stood up and said, “I’m coming with you. I want to confront Giles too.”

Angela
spoke, “I’m going to give him a piece of my mind. And a piece of my fist!”

Grace
nodded in Jenny’s direction as she said something. “Angela, Jenny doesn’t want
any violence. She said there’s been enough.”

Angela
gave Grace a small smile. “I can understand that but my fists don’t. Come on,
no more messing around. Let’s find out who killed poor Jenny.”

Chapter
29

Grace
decided that she should be the one to drive. Elsa sat in the back and chattered
non-stop to Jenny about what she’d been doing since Jenny had died. Love shone
from Jenny’s eyes as she listened to her sister.

Angela
sat in the passenger seat and muttered and mumbled to herself about the lies
that Giles had told her. Her fists clenched and unclenched throughout the
journey.

Grace
followed the directions that Angela gave her and stopped outside a detached
house. There was a sudden stillness in the car.

Jenny
floated forwards and said, “Why have you stopped here?”

Grace
replied, “This is the right address, Angela’s just given it to me.”

Jenny
shook her head. “No! This can’t be the right house! Letty can’t have gone that
far.”

Elsa
tapped Grace on the shoulder. Grace turned to look at her. Elsa’s eyes
glittered with tears as she said quietly, “This is where Mum and Dad lived. We
lived here when we were younger. We sold it because it seemed weird without Mum
and Dad there.”

Angela
let out a low whistle. “That Letty’s got some nerve. And some mental problems
by the sound of it. It’s like she’s trying to take over Jenny’s life.”

Grace
looked towards the house. She saw two cars in the driveway, one was Giles’. The
curtains twitched and Grace saw a face peering out at them. It looked like
Letty’s face.

Grace
said to Elsa, “You don’t have to come in if you don’t want to.”

Elsa’s
chin wobbled. “I will come in. I want to talk to Giles.”

The
four of them left the car and walked slowly up the driveway. Jenny stayed close
to Elsa.

The
door opened before Grace had a chance to knock on it. Letty scowled as she
looked out at the three visible visitors. “What do you want? I’m not buying
anything.”

Grace
said, “We’re not selling anything. I came to your office earlier. I showed you
the headset that belonged to your old friend, Jenny Lorrimer. You lied and said
you didn’t know her.”

Angela
jumped in, “And I’m the woman who your husband has been seeing on the side!”

Elsa
lifted her chin bravely and tried to speak, “I’m Elsa and …”

Letty
smirked. “I know who you are. And I know what my Giles has been doing with you.
We have such a laugh about it. You’re such a stupid girl.”

Angela
lunged forwards, her fists raised. Grace’s hand shot out and grabbed hold of
Angela’s sleeve. Grace gave Letty a direct look and said, “We can either stand
here and discuss how you’ve treated Elsa and Angela, or we can go inside and
talk about it.”

“I’m
not letting you lot inside my house!” Letty threw them a disgusted look.

Grace
nodded. “Fine. We’ll talk on the doorstep. I may have to raise my voice so that
your neighbours can hear me. Oh, and I’ll have to phone the police soon.”

“The
police? What are you talking about? I haven’t done anything wrong.”

Angela
started to tell Letty exactly what she and her husband had done wrong. Grace
held a hand up to silence her. Then she looked at Letty and said, “I believe
that you, or your husband, could have murdered Jenny Lorrimer. You were both at
the wedding venue in 2010, and from the information I now have, I believe that
you both had a motive to kill Jenny.”

Letty
blanched and held onto the door. “Killed Jenny? I would never … She was my best
friend.”

Grace
waved her hand towards the house. “Friends don’t treat each other like this.
You’re living in Jenny’s old house. You’re using the same website design that
Jenny used. And, for some unbelievable reason, you’ve decided to steal Jenny’s
money and business from her sister.”

Letty
looked down and opened the door wider. She mumbled, “You’d better come in.”

Grace
stepped in first. Jenny floated at her side and directed her towards the living
room. Giles was sitting in a large chair, a confident smile on his face. He
stood up when Grace entered and extended his hand. “A visitor! And a beautiful
one at that. Let me introduce myself.”

Letty
entered the room and said dully, “Don’t bother. She’s not a friend or client.”

Giles
dropped his hand. His smile dropped just as quickly when he saw Angela and
Elsa. “Letty, what’s going on? Why are these people in here?” He cleared his
throat. “And who are they?”

Angela
put her hands on her hips. “You can stop lying now, you scumbag. You know full
well who we are!” She looked him up and down. “I don’t know how you can live
with yourself!”

Giles
looked around the room. He made a move towards the door. Letty held her hand up
and said, “You’re not going anywhere. They know what we’ve been doing.”

Giles
tried to smile. “Doing? I haven’t done anything. I really must go. I’ve got an
important meeting.”

Grace
saw Angela move but, this time, she didn’t stop her. Angela landed a fist on
Giles’ face. He yelped and collapsed to the floor. Angela stood over him and
said, “That wasn’t for me, that was for Elsa!”

Grace
looked over at Elsa. She was sitting in a chair with her hands over her face.
She was crying silently and rocking backwards and forwards. Sudden anger rose
in Grace. She said firmly, “Enough!” She pointed at Letty and Giles. “You two,
sit down and explain yourselves. And before you do, look at Elsa over there.
Look at what you’ve done to her! Does it make you feel good about yourselves?”

Giles
and Letty looked at Elsa. Grace thought she saw a flicker of remorse on Letty’s
face, but it soon disappeared. Letty said, “We don’t have to take orders from
you.”

Grace
sighed and took out her phone. “That’s it. I’ve had enough of all of this. I’m
going to phone the police. You can explain everything to them.”

Giles
said, “The police? Letty, what is she talking about?”

“She
thinks we killed Jenny, at that wedding,” Letty told him. “She doesn’t know
what she’s talking about.”

Giles
ran his hands through his hair. “The police! Letty! We can’t have the police
here! They’ll find out what we’ve done.” He looked at Grace and raised his arm
towards Letty. “It was all her idea! She’s the one who hated Jenny. She’s the
one who made all the plans!”

Grace
gave him a sad look. “But you’re the one who broke Elsa’s heart.” She put her
phone away and moved to the sofa. She lowered herself. “Let’s start at the
beginning.”

Chapter
30

Grace
kept a tight rein on her anger as she listened to Letty talking about Jenny.
Letty told them how she was the one who inspired Jenny to take action on her
dreams, and that Jenny wouldn’t haven’t been successful without her input. She
went on to explain how betrayed she felt when Jenny moved to Manchester.

Letty
waved her hand around, full of self-righteousness. “She should have asked me if
the job was right for her! I knew what was best for her. That’s why I followed
her, I had to be there for when she made mistakes.”

Jenny
shook her head throughout Letty’s tale and muttered, “I can’t believe she felt
like that.”

Letty
concluded with, “I had to set up a rival firm, I had to make myself known to
Jenny’s clients. I knew she would fail eventually without my help, I had to
have a business ready for her to step into.” She smiled as if expecting
everyone to agree with her.

Angela
folded her arms and said, “You’re not right in the head. Have you had any
counselling? If not, you should book some sessions.”

Grace
said, “I can sort of understand why you would be obsessed with Jenny when she
was alive, but why have you done this terrible thing to Elsa?”

Letty
sniffed. “Jenny shouldn’t have left me. And all that money from her business
should have gone to me anyway. She was noting without me.”

“What
about the money from her parents That didn’t have anything to do with you,”
Grace pointed out.

Letty
gave Grace a smile, it was unnervingly bright. “I always considered myself part
of the family. I was more like a sister to Jenny than Elsa was.”

Elsa
started to cry. Angela moved over to her side and put her arm around her
shoulders. Angela said, “Don’t listen to a word she says, she’s crazy.”

Letty
spat out, “I’m not crazy! I knew the truth behind Jenny’s success!”

Grace
shook her head. She could see how deluded Letty was and nothing anyone could
say would change her mind. Grace said, “If you wanted to get money from Elsa
you could have gone about it another way. Why did you use your husband to trick
her?”

Letty
sneered, “Why not? She’s daft enough to fall for his lies.” She nodded towards
Angela. “Even that one fell for him. It was so funny to listen to Giles on a
night, to hear the lies he’d told them.”

Giles
shifted uncomfortably in his chair. He managed a weak smile and said, “I didn’t
mean to hurt anyone.”

Elsa
looked at him and said, “You said you loved me. Was that true?”

Giles
shrugged. “I was fond of you.”

Angela
pulled Elsa closer as she began to cry again.

Grace
frowned. “I don’t understand how you could let your husband sleep with other
women just to get money.”

Letty
snorted. “He didn’t sleep with them!”

Angela
let out a loud laugh that made everyone jump. “Is that what he told you? Ha!
Giles, why don’t you tell your lovely wife what you were doing in my bedroom
today?”

Giles
looked at the carpet.

Letty’s
head snapped his way. “What is she talking about?”

Elsa
spoke quietly, “He slept with me too. He’s the only man I’ve ever been with.”

Giles
gave a nervous laugh. “Letty, love, it meant nothing. Honestly.”

Letty’s
eyes grew round and her nostrils flared. “Giles, we had an agreement!”

Angela
said what Grace was thinking. “It hurts to be lied to, doesn’t it? Now you know
what kind of a man you’re married to.” Angela looked at Elsa. “And we’re better
off without him in our lives. It’ll hurt for a while, but you will feel better
in the future.”

Letty
stood up. “You can all go now. I want to talk to my husband, alone.”

“We’re
not going anywhere,” Grace said. “I want to know what you were doing at the
time Jenny was murdered. You gave Elsa a note from Giles, it told her to meet
Giles in a hotel room at 9 o’clock. He didn’t turn up until twenty minutes
later. Where was he? And where were you?”

“I
… I … can’t remember! It was years ago,” Letty said. “I gave the police a
statement at the time. Not that it’s any of your business.”

Grace
looked towards Giles. “You didn’t give a statement, you left the hotel before
the police arrived. Where were you at the time of Jenny’s death? Did you kill
her?”

Giles
held his hands out. “Of course I didn’t kill her! I didn’t even know her.” He
looked at his wife. “Letty! You’ve got to believe me.”

“I
don’t know what to believe any more. Were you having an affair with Jenny?”
Letty asked.

Giles
stood up and moved towards his wife. “Don’t be ridiculous! Of course not!”

Letty
turned away from him. She said to Grace, “Get out of my house, you’ve caused
enough damage.”

Grace
stood up and gave her a direct look. “No, you’ve caused all this damage. And
we’re not leaving until Elsa’s money situation is sorted out. You stole her
money, and I’m going to make sure she gets every penny back.”

Angela
came to Grace’s side and added, “And I think I might report your business
dealings to the police. How many other women has your husband been fooling?”
She frowned. “Why did you come after me?”

Letty
looked her up and down. “Because you were friends with Jenny. I saw you
chatting to her and trying to worm yourself into her good books. I knew you
were trying to steal her from me. I had to teach you a lesson.”

Angela
shook her head. “You are one crazy person. Grace, do we really have to stay
here a minute longer? I can help Elsa sort out the financial stuff tomorrow.”

Elsa
stood up and touched Grace’s sleeve. “Please can we go? I don’t like arguing in
Mum and Dad’s house, it doesn’t feel right.”

Jenny
floated to Elsa’s side and said to Grace, “It’s time to go.”

Grace
really wanted to pin down where Letty and Giles were at the time of the murder,
but she knew she couldn’t take it any further at the moment. Maybe she could
return here tomorrow on her own.

Grace
had an uneasy feeling as she drove away from the house. There was something she
forgot to ask Letty and Giles. What was it?