Murder Vows (Storage Ghost Murders Book 4)

by Larkin, Gillian

  For Rosie and Eve – my world

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  Murder Vows

  Chapter 1

  Grace shivered as another chill ran down her back. The chills had nothing to do with the cold November wind that was whistling around the storage unit area.

  It was a ghost that was causing her to shiver. Grace couldn’t see the ghost – yet. But she could hear her.

  There it was again!

  A humming sound, right next to her ear.

  “Stop twitching, Grace, you look demented,” Frankie, her brother, said.

  “Sorry, must be the cold,” Grace muttered. She didn’t mention the ghostly sound to Frankie. He didn’t know she could see ghosts. He’d freak out if he knew. Then he’d book her in for a long stay at the local hospital.

  Grace had been able to see ghosts following the car crash that claimed her parents’ lives, and nearly her own. She met most of the ghosts at storage unit facilities, like the one she was standing at now. Lately, the ghosts that she’d met had been murdered and they needed Grace’s help to find the person who murdered them.

  Grace flinched as the humming suddenly got louder.

  Frankie said, “Let’s see what’s in this next locker. The rest of them have been rubbish. We need something for the shop, we’re running out of stuff to put on the shelves.”

  Sylvester Sylver was the auctioneer at today’s proceedings. He was famous in storage auction circles. He was an American and had been on many television shows. He bore an uncanny resemblance to Elvis Presley, albeit an Elvis with silver hair. Despite meeting him many, times Frankie was still in awe of Sylvester and was often tongue-tied in his presence.

  Frankie nodded towards Sylvester and said, “That blue shirt looks good on him, makes him look younger.”

  Grace controlled the rolling of her eyes. She said, “Do you think he ever gets fed up with these auctions? He’s been doing them for years. He must have seen everything by now.”

  “You never know what you’re going to find in these lockers. I think I’d like to be an auctioneer one day.”

  Grace gave him a surprised look. “Are you serious? You should talk to Sylvester about that. He could give you some training.”

  Frankie gave an embarrassed shrug. “I can’t do that. He hasn’t got time for me.”

  “You should ask him. You know he’s got time for you, he reads your website doesn’t he?”

  Frankie’s chest puffed out slightly. “Yeah, he does. Perhaps I should talk to him. Look, the unit door is coming up now. I wonder what’s in that locker, hope it’s something useful.”

  Grace almost jumped out of her skin as a woman’s voice whispered urgently in her right ear, “Help her! Please help her!”

  Grace looked from left to right. If this ghost was trying to contact her could she at least have the good manners of showing herself? The humming had stopped. Grace turned her attention back to the unit door that was being opened. She knew a ghost needed her help, she could feel it. Was it the ghost who had been humming in her ear?

  Sylvester Sylver beamed at the crowd of bidders. “Well, folks, our exciting Sunday morning at the auction continues! We’ve got some interesting objects in this locker. Lots of household goods, some boxes, a suitcase, even some old-looking picture frames. Who’s interested in this one? Who will start me off at £100?”

  Frankie nudged Grace. “This is what we need. Keep calm, don’t show any excitement. I’ll do all the bidding. I can tell that the other bidders want it too.”

  Grace looked at the other bidders. They were useless at hiding their emotions, some of them were almost dancing on the spot. She turned back to the locker. She couldn’t see a ghost inside it. This wasn’t the locker for her.

  Grace winced as the humming began again. It was so loud in her ears that it was almost painful. She tried to stop her face from scrunching up in pain. It took her a few seconds to realise that something strange was happening around the storage unit area.

  The other bidders had stopped moving, their facial expressions had relaxed into contented smiles, they were staring off into the distance as if in a trance. Grace was about to say something to Frankie when she noticed his face had the same trance-like look.

  What was happening? It was like they were under some sort of spell.

  Then Grace saw her. The ghost who had been humming and talking in her ear.

  A young woman dressed in a white wedding dress was twirling and dancing amongst the bidders. She hummed happily and smiled at people as she waltzed through them. She seemed to be in her early twenties. She had a pretty, heart-shaped face and her blonde hair was pulled back in a high ponytail. It was obvious the bidders couldn’t see her, but they were somehow affected by her.

  The girl danced over to Grace. She sashayed from side to side and smiled at her. “Will you help her? Please, say you’ll help her.”

  “Who?” Grace asked. “Who are you talking about? And who are you?”

  The woman spun around and danced towards the open locker.

  Sylvester Sylver and his assistant seemed unaffected by the dancing ghost. Sylvester frowned as he surveyed the bidders. “Hey! Anyone at home? Have you all fallen asleep? Is anyone bidding? Who will give me £50?”

  The ghost danced into the locker and stopped. She smiled at someone and held out her hand. The ghost of a man appeared. He was dressed in a black wedding suit, his tie was undone and hung loosely around his neck. Even from this distance Grace could see how handsome he was. He nodded at the girl and took her hand. They began to dance around the unit, moving through objects as if they were mere shadows.

  Grace smiled. Were they a couple? Newly married? Did they need her help?

  The woman looked over the man’s shoulder, her eyes locked on to Grace. In an anguished voice she called out, “Please! You have to help her!”

  Sylvester said, “Okay, no one will pay £50. How about £30? £20? £10? Come on, folks, you’re breaking my heart!”

  Grace stepped forward and said, “I’ll give you £10.”

  Chapter 2

  “Sold!” Sylvester’s voice boomed out.

  It was like a wake-up call for the other bidders. Some jumped as if they’d been prodded, some blinked and then rubbed their eyes. Frankie swore under his breath and muttered, “I think I fell asleep for a minute.”

  Sylvester called out, “That was the last locker of the day, folks. Thanks for coming out today, see you next time! Safe journey home.”

  Frankie frowned. “Last locker? What’s he talking about? Did he just sell that one?”

  Grace gave him a satisfied smile. “He did, to me. For £10.”

  “When?” He rubbed his chin. “I knew that fourth beer was a mistake last night, it looked dodgy.”

  “Only four beers? I don’t believe that. Anyway, doesn’t matter how I got it, I just did. It looks a good one too. Let’s have a closer look.”

  Grace and Frankie walked towards the locker. She ignored the suspicious looks coming from the other bidders as they walked past. She wasn’t the one who had hypnotised them with her dancing, it was the young ghost. Speaking of which, where was she? And where was that man she was dancing with?

  Grace wasn’t worried. Ghosts often disappeared in front of her, they always turned up later.

  Frankie walked into the locker. “This is a good one. Looks like someone was moving house and forgot to come back for their things. We should make a decent profit out of this locker. I don’t know how you did it, Grace, but
well done.”

  “Thanks,” Grace replied. She wasn’t going to tell Frankie about the dancing ghosts. She looked around the locker. The ghosts that she’d helped before were always attached to something. What were the ghosts here attached to? And was it just the man that was attached to something? The young girl had freely left the locker to dance around the unit area, that meant she wasn’t attached to anything. In that case, what was she doing here?

  Frankie kicked a broken chair. “We’ll stop off at the tip on the way home. Some of this stuff is rubbish. There’s no point taking it all back to the shop.”

  “No! We have to take it all back!”

  Frankie’s hands came up. “Whoa! No need to shout, you nearly blew my ears off.”

  “Sorry, but I think we should take everything back. I can repair things.”

  “Yeah, right. Okay, we’ll take everything back, but you can sort it all out.”

  “I will,” Grace promised. She couldn’t leave anything behind, the ghosts could be attached to any one of these items They were dressed in wedding clothes, could they have been in the middle of moving house before they died? Grace surveyed the items in front of them. They seemed old-fashioned and not suited to a young couple.

  Frankie nudged her. “Don’t just stand there. Go and get the van and we’ll start loading it. Get a move on.”

  “What’s the rush?” Grace asked.

  Frankie gave her an incredulous look. “The match.”

  “Match? What match?”

  Frankie’s eyes widened. “Are you kidding me? It’s the final. I’m meeting all my mates down the pub.”

  Grace took a chance. “Football?”

  “Of course it’s football. Stop nattering and get the van.”

  Grace did so. The van was soon loaded up and shortly after Frankie helped Grace to unload it into their shop.

  He looked at his watch. “Leave everything and I’ll sort it out later.”

  “I don’t mind staying,” Grace offered.

  “It’s Sunday afternoon, haven’t you anything better to do,” Frankie said. He paused and then added in a softer tone, “No, you probably don’t. Why don’t you get in touch with some of your old friends? You need to get out more.”

  “I will do,” Grace said even though she had no intention of doing so. Not yet anyway.

  Frankie said goodbye and left the shop.

  Grace was alone.

  Apart from the ghost standing in front of her.

  It wasn’t either of the ghosts from the storage unit. This was the ghost of an old woman. She was wearing a floral housecoat over a long blue dress. Her hair was grey and curly. Her face wrinkled up even more as she smiled at Grace.

  Grace fondly returned her smile. “Hello, Pearl. It’s lovely to see you.”

  “Of course it is, I’m a lovely person.” Pearl looked at the items that Frankie and Grace had brought in. “By heck! You’ve brought a load of crap into the shop. You should have taken it all to the dump where it belongs.”

  “It isn’t junk, there are probably some antiques here. And something else.”

  Pearl’s grin widened. “Have you brought a ghost with you? One that’s been murdered? Have they got all their limbs? It’s been a while since you’ve dealt with a murder case. Tell me everything.”

  Grace told Pearl about what she’d seen so far.

  “Two ghosts. Interesting. Do you think they’re a couple?” Pearl asked.

  “I don’t know, he looked older than her,” Grace said.

  They jumped as a man’s laugh boomed out. “Not that much older!”

  Grace looked behind her. No one was there. She said to Pearl, “Can you see anyone? You can sometimes see ghosts that I can’t.”

  Pearl’s face scrunched up. “I can’t see anyone but I can hear something. It’s like a humming noise, like someone’s trying to hum some sort of tune. Is that what you heard earlier?”

  Grace nodded. She lifted her head and called out, “Please show yourselves. I’m Grace and this is Pearl. We’d like to help you but we need to see you.”

  There was another deep laugh. A shape appeared in front of Grace, it was a human shape. It shimmered for a while and then became solid.

  It was the man from the storage unit. He was tall and even more handsome close up. He smiled at Grace. Grace felt her heartbeat quicken.

  In a deep soft voice he said, “Hello, Grace and Pearl. I’m Archie, Archie Goodwin. It’s a pleasure to meet you both.”

  Grace glanced at Pearl to make sure she could see Archie too. Pearl was staring intently at Archie, then she suddenly blinked and, just as suddenly, disappeared.

  “Oh! Pearl? Where have you gone?” Grace called out. There was no reply. She turned back to Archie and said, “I’m sorry about that. I’m sure she’ll come back. I’ve found that ghosts do that a lot.” She paused. She’d had a case recently where a ghost didn’t know that she’d died. Grace looked closer at Archie. Did he know he was dead?

  It seemed like Archie caught her thought. “Don’t look so worried, I’ve worked out that I’m dead. And thank you for your offer of help, I think I’m going to need it.”

  Grace looked to the left and right of Archie. “Where’s your wife?”

  Archie frowned. “Wife?”

  “That woman you were dancing with earlier.”

  Archie ran his hand through his dark brown hair. “Now, that is a mystery. I’ve never seen that woman before but she was wearing my wife’s wedding dress.”

  Chapter 3

  Grace asked Archie, “Did you die on your wedding day? Is it okay if we talk about that?”

  Archie nodded and gave her a wry smile. “I’m guessing that’s why I’ve appeared to you. Have you done this sort of thing before? Helped ghosts? Have you seen ghosts all your life? You must be brave, I’m not sure I could cope with that.”

  “It’s a recent thing, and yes, I was scared at first but I’ve got used to it.” Grace felt a warmth on her arm, she knew what that meant. Pearl had returned, she was the only ghost that felt warm when she touched Grace.

  Grace looked over her shoulder. She felt her neck crack as she did a double take. “Pearl! I didn’t know you could take your housecoat off.” Grace narrowed her eyes. “Are you wearing lipstick? I didn’t know you could do that.”

  Pearl moved to Grace’s side and said, “There’s a lot you don’t know about me.” She extended her ghost hand towards Archie and treated him to a full view of her teeth as she smiled. “I do apologise for disappearing so abruptly, please excuse my bad manners. I’m Pearl, I help Grace with her ghost business. I used to be in the same trade when I was alive.”

  Grace blinked. She had never heard Pearl talk so politely, she hadn’t sworn once yet.

  Archie took Pearl’s hand and shook it. Pearl actually giggled and then she drew Archie towards herself, grabbed his face and planted a kiss on each of his cheeks.

  “How continental,” Archie said when Pearl finally let go of him. Grace didn’t miss the dazed look on his face, he looked as if he’d been hit by a bus. Poor man. And what was going on with Pearl? She was far too old to be giggling.

  Grace spoke, “Archie was just telling me that he died on his wedding day.”

  A spark of hope flared up in Pearl’s eyes. “Was that before or after the wedding ceremony?”

  Archie looked at his left hand. He smiled. “I’m glad to say that it was after the ceremony although I can’t remember much about it.”

  “Memories will come back to you in time. What can you remember? Pearl! What are you doing?”

  “I’m looking for signs of bodily injury,” Pearl said. She ran her hands down his back. “No, I can’t feel anything untoward here.”

  Grace was embarrassed on Pearl’s behalf, which was just as well because Pearl showed no qualms about frisking Archie. To his credit, Archie smiled good-naturedly as Pearl continued patting him down.

  Grace said, “Pearl, you’ve told me before that injuries don’t always show up
straight away.”

  Pearl gazed up at Archie’s face. “We’ll start as we mean to go on, thorough and professional. Open your mouth please. Oh! Haven’t you got lovely teeth? If you don’t mind me saying, you remind me of that George Clooney fella. Don’t you think so, Grace?”

  “I suppose so. Archie, can you tell me what you do remember about your wedding day? Do you feel any discomfort anywhere?”

  Archie frowned as he considered Grace’s questions. “My throat does feel sore, like I’ve been coughing, and my nose feels blocked. I’m not sure if that is to do with my murder or if I had a cold before I died.”

  Grace’s breath caught. “You said ‘murder’. Do you know that you were murdered?”

  “I certainly do. It was my last thought before I died. Sorry, I can’t tell you more than that. I hope it does come back to me. I do remember that the wedding took place at The Sycamore Hotel.”

  Pearl let out a low whistle. “That big fancy hotel? I thought only royalty and millionaires got married there.”

  Archie nodded. “So did I. My fiancée, well, I should call her my wife, booked it. Her name is Jessie West. Her dad, Gordon, paid for everything. He’s a builder and I think he did some urgent work for the hotel when they were let down by another contractor. The hotel gave him a discount.” Archie paused and looked into the distance. “The wedding is starting to come back to me. I remember the dancing. Then there was a pain in my body and I had to leave the room. I think I went to our room. We had the honeymoon suite.”

  He stopped and sighed.

  “Don’t worry, you’ll remember more later. That gives us a start,” Grace said. “Do you know when you got married?”

  Archie laughed. “I’ll never forget that date! I was forever quoting it for all the bookings that we had to make. Jessie wasn’t one for making a big fuss so she left it to me to book flowers, cars, catering and all the other stuff that goes with a wedding. The date was 20th July 2012. Just a few weeks ago.”

  Grace and Pearl shared a look. Grace said, “It’s the first week of November 2014 now. You’ve been dead for over two years.”