Tick Tock (Storage Ghosts) (4 page)

“I
don’t believe it! How could he do this!” Frankie exploded.

Grace
joined him on the pavement. “This is Eddie’s work. He’s actually left his name
on the boards. Frankie, what are we going to do? He’s taken our shop. I can’t
even see where the door is.”

“Move
out of the way,” Big Bob called out from behind them. He came forward with a crowbar
and started pulling off the boards as if they were made of marshmallow.

He
ripped them all off and flung them to the ground in disgust. “He’s a ... well,
I won’t say what he is in front of you, Grace. Let’s get the truck unpacked
then I can go and see the slimy rat and get this ridiculous loan paid off.”

Frankie
unlocked the shop door. Grace remembered something. “Eddie’s got a key to the
shop, he mentioned that he’d let himself in the other day.”

“No
problem,” Big Bob said. Grace could tell he was trying to control his anger as
he took his phone out and tapped a number in.

An
hour later the truck had been unpacked and the items placed in the shop. The
locks to all the doors had been changed, extra locks placed on them and the
windows.

Grace
could almost see the steam coming out of Big Bob’s ears. He looked furious.

He
nodded to them both and said, “I’m off to see Eddie now, I know where his type
hangs out. I’ll call you later. Lock the doors behind me.”

“I’m
going with you,” Frankie said.

“No,
you stay with your sister.”

Grace
was worried about Big Bob, he looked like he could kill. She said, “I’m fine
here with all these new locks. Frankie, you go.”

Big
Bob took some persuading but he eventually gave in.

The
two men left, Grace secured the doors. Then she turned to the two ghosts who
had been watching their antics with interest.

Lynne
Opendale shook her head and said, “Well, Grace, this is a right carry on!”

Chapter 8

Lynne
gave Grace a gentle smile and said, “You’ve grown into a lovely young woman,
hasn’t she, Tom?”

Tom
Opendale looked up from his work table and nodded towards Grace. “She has.” He
returned his attention to his work.

“It’s
good to see you again, even if you are ...” Grace faltered.

“Even
if we are dead!” Lynne said with a laugh. “We don’t mind being dead as long as
we’re together, do we, Tom?”

Tom
nodded without taking his eyes away from his desk. Grace looked a bit closer,
he seemed to be working on the insides of a watch.

She
remembered that her mum always referred to the Opendales as ‘the bird couple’.
She said that Lynne was like a colourful parrot, always chattering away, whilst
Tom was like a quiet, wise owl. Both very different but strangely suited.

Lynne
stepped closer to Grace, her multi coloured blouse making her face seem even
paler. “How are you coping, Grace? We heard about your parents. So, so sad. How
is Frankie doing? I remember when you used to visit our shop. You were
fascinated with that tiger clock! Your dad bought your first watch from us, do
you remember?”

Grace
smiled. “It had a pink unicorn on it, I’ve still got it. Can I ask you
something?”

“Fire
away! Whether I can answer it or not is another matter.”

“How
long have you been dead? Mum and Dad died recently. I haven’t seen you two for
years, your shop was suddenly empty, no one knew what had happened to you.”

Tom
looked at his wife and gave a slight shake of his head. Lynne frowned, “I have
to tell her, Tom, she has to know.”

Tom
pursed his lips and once again gave his attention to the watch in front of him.

Lynne
said, “We died about 5 years ago. Our shop was sold quickly. Our daughter,
Clare, I don’t know if you remember her, dealt with our affairs. There was a
notice in the paper about our deaths. I don’t know if your mum and dad saw it.”

“They
never said anything if they did,” Grace said. “If you died 5 years ago then how
do you know about Mum and Dad? Have you seen them? Is there some sort of place
where dead people go? If you saw them, what did they say?”

Lynne
put a hand on Grace’s arm, Grace felt a coldness shoot through her body. Lynne
said, “Don’t get yourself in a state, Grace love, we haven’t seen your mum and
dad, we just know that they’ve passed on.”

“Oh,”
Grace said. She sat down on a wooden chair. A sudden feeling of hope about her
parents had just as suddenly disappeared.

Lynne
sat next to her. Grace could smell a faint aroma of the rose perfume that Lynne
used to wear.

Lynne
said, “There’s something you need to know. Tom and I have appeared to you for a
reason.”

Grace
nodded. She’d helped other ghosts that had shown themselves to her.

“We
can’t quite remember how we died. We need you to find out.”

Grace
frowned. “But how will that help you?”

Lynne
shook her head and gave Grace a sad smile. “We aren’t here to ask for your
help, we’re here to help you.”

“Help
me? Why do I need help?”

Lynne
looked over at Tom. “Tom, you explain, I can’t bear to say the words.”

Tom
put the watch down and slowly stood up. He pulled his cardigan tighter around
his thin frame. He walked over to Grace, his eyes shone kindly through his
spectacles. He said, “We were murdered, Grace. And the same person that
murdered us, murdered your parents.”

Chapter 9

“No!”
Grace jumped up. “No! That can’t be true. Who would murder Mum and Dad?
Everyone loved them.”

Tom
waited for her to calm down. “Think about it, Grace. You must have had your
suspicions. We heard that your parents died in a car accident, and that your
dad was driving whilst under the influence of drink. He never struck me as a
drinker and I’d known him for years.”

Grace
sat back down. She couldn’t ignore the feeling in her stomach. Dad hadn’t been
a drinker. He would never have put her and Mum’s life in danger by driving
after a drink. But murder? That sounded so far fetched. Who would murder him?

Grace
voiced her thoughts to Lynne and Tom.

Lynne
said, “The night of our deaths isn’t clear, it’s as if we’re blocking it out.
But I know it’s somehow linked to your parents’ deaths.”

“What
can I do? How can I find out more information?” Grace asked.

Tom
looked at Lynne and nodded. Lynne said, “You’ll have to go and see Clare, our
daughter. She’ll tell you everything.”

Grace
said, “I think I remember Clare. She’s s bit older than me, she had this
amazing job in marketing. She always looked so glamorous.”

Lynne
burst into tears. Tom put his arm around his wife’s shoulders and said, “It’s
okay, Lynne, Grace might be able to help Clare. Come on now, stop crying.”

A
feeling of dread settled on Grace. “What’s happened to Clare? Is she alive?”

Tom
gave a sad shake of his head. “Only just. When you see her, you’ll understand.
Will you go and see her, Grace?”

“Of
course.” What else could she say? “Can you come with me? When I’ve spoken to ghosts
before they were able to travel with me, they attached themselves to their
belongings so that they could move with me.”

Lynne
burst into fresh tears. Tom said, “No. I can’t put Lynne through any more pain.
Clare isn’t the same person that you remember. But please listen to her, she
isn’t mad.”

“Okay.”
Grace was beginning to have misgivings. “Where does she live?”

Tom
recited Clare’s address and telephone number.

“Will
she want to see me?” Grace asked.

“Once
you tell her what it is about, she will,” Tom said. “You’ll understand
everything when you see her.”

Tom
led his wife back to the comfy armchair and settled her down. He returned to
his table and resumed his work. Lynne looked over at him, her fond smile
returned as she watched him work.

Grace
could see that she wasn’t going to get any further information from the couple.

Where
was Frankie? And Big Bob? Shouldn’t they have been in touch with her by now?

Grace
tried Frankie’s phone, it went straight to voice mail. So did Bob’s.

Had
they spoken to Eddie Tominski? Had the debt been paid off? Grace couldn’t bear
this waiting.

She
needed to phone Clare too but she didn’t want to do it in front of Lynne and
Tom. As if reading her thoughts Tom said, “Time for you to go now, Grace. You
can phone Clare when you get home. Let us know how you get on, we’ll be here
for a while.”

Lynne
looked over at Grace. “I like it here, this is a lovely shop.”

“It
is,” Grace said. She hoped they could keep it.

She
said goodbye to Tom and Lynne and locked the door behind her. Out of habit she
checked up and down the street. No one was watching her. Well, if they were
they were good at it.

Grace
caught the bus home. She left over ten messages for Frankie to call her the
minute he was able to.

Her
mouth felt dry and her tummy was making all sorts of strange noises. Something
was worrying her, she just didn’t know what.

She
had a feeling that she was going to find out soon.

Chapter 10

The
first thing Grace thought when she stepped into Clare’s home was, ‘She’s a mad
crazy stalker’.

Grace
looked over her shoulder but Clare had already closed and bolted the door
behind them. The Clare that Grace remembered didn’t bare any resemblance to
this unkempt woman in front of her.

Clare
was only a few years older than Grace but now looked about twenty years older.
Her once shiny hair hung in dirty curtains around an angry looking face. There
wasn’t a scrap of make up on Clare’s face. Grace tried not to inhale too
deeply, it was obvious that personal hygiene was not a priority with Clare.

Clare
peered at Grace as if scrutinising her. “Did anyone see you? Were you
followed?” she barked.

“I
don’t think so,” Grace began. “Thanks for seeing me.”

“I
knew someone would be in touch, someone like you. It’s happened to you too,
hasn’t it? I recognise your face. Follow me,” Clare instructed.

Grace
looked at the walls as she followed Clare down a narrow hallway. Scraps of
newspaper clippings were stuck everywhere. There were various pen markings and
circles on the newspaper entries. The whole scene reminded Grace of thrillers
that she’d seen on the TV. The part when the police suspected someone and broke
into their homes. The police were often met with a scene like this, and they
knew instantly that they had the right person.

What
had Grace got herself into? She gingerly made her way forward, remembering her
vow to help Tom and Lynne.
Did they know that Clare was like this now? Is that why Lynne didn’t want to
see her daughter?

If
Grace thought the hall way was bad she soon changed her mind when she saw the
living room. There were no visible signs of any wallpaper or painted areas.
Every spare part of the living room walls had been covered with newspaper
clippings. Grace stopped in her tracks when she saw a familiar headline. She’d
seen it many times. It was about her parents’ death. The newspaper reported
that David Abrahams had killed himself and his wife, their daughter had
narrowly escaped death. The newspaper further reported that David had drunk
heavily before driving.

Clare
noticed where she was looking. She said, “It’s all lies, all of it. No truth in
any of these disgusting articles.”

“My
dad wasn’t drunk, I know the medical reports said otherwise but he just
wouldn’t have had that much to drink before driving,” Grace said.

“I
believe you,” Clare said.

Grace
looked at Clare, expecting to see the sympathetic look that people gave her
whenever she said that about her dad. Clare didn’t have that look, she really
did look as if she believed Grace.

Clare
said, “The same thing happened to my mum and dad. They died and the medical
reports showed the same findings. I thought it was the doctors at first, I thought
they were being paid off to submit false records. I thought he’d paid them off.
It happens, I know it happens.”

Even
though Clare was rambling, Grace believed what she was saying.

Clare
waved her arm around the room. “It’s not just us, it’s happened to many people.
Oh! He’s good, he’s very good. He covers his tracks, he pays people off and
then ... then he gets away with murder!”

“Who
does? Who are you talking about?” Grace asked.

Clare
gave her a direct look and said, “Eddie Tominski, of course.”

Grace’s
legs gave way and she collapsed into a grubby looking chair. Clare let out a
bitter laugh and said, “You know Eddie, of course you do. He’s probably been to
see you. I know he’ll have threatened you. What is it he wants from you? Apart
from money. Do you have a business? A shop? My mum and dad had a shop.”