Grace joined him and nodded. “They are. Frankie, my brother, isn’t sure how much they could be worth. I’m sorry, it must be awful for you, seeing your things like this and knowing we’re going to sell them.”
Clive shrugged. “I’ve no use for them. I hope you get a good price. You’re a good person, Grace, I can see it in your eyes. I’ve met many cads and scoundrels in my time, I know a bad penny when I see one.” Clive looked closer at Grace. “You’re carrying a great sadness, it shows on your face. What happened to you?”
It was Grace’s turn to shrug. “Nothing. Well, something. I’m dealing with it.” She made to walk away. “I’m going to the kitchen to put the kettle on, won’t be long.”
Clive reached out and grabbed her arm. Grace felt the coldness of his touch.
Clive was staring at the camera cases. “It’s in there, the thing I’m looking for, Grace, in that red camera case.”
Grace reached for the camera case and opened it. She lifted it up to Clive. “There’s nothing in here, it’s empty.”
Chapter 8
Clive shook his head vigorously. He stood up and pointed at the case. “It’s there! I know it.”
Grace didn’t know what to say. She looked at the case again, there was obviously nothing there. She gave it a shake. “Oh! What was that? I heard a rattle.”
Clive clicked his fingers. “Of course! I remember now. There’s a secret compartment in that case, for when I had to smuggle...well, you don’t need to know about that. There’s a false bottom. Can you prise it open?”
Grace ran her hands around the bottom of the case. She felt a slight ridge and put her nail under it. She gently pulled it up. The bottom of the case came away, Grace put it on the counter.
Clive was peering over her shoulder, she could feel the coldness of him on her cheek.
Grace paused. She was concerned about what she might find. She didn’t like Clive’s reference to ‘smuggle’. She reached down. Her hand closed around a cylindrical object. She pulled it out and placed it on the counter. She put her hand in again and pulled out a similar item.
Clive’s face lit up. “Film canisters! That’s what I was looking for. I’d forgotten they were in there. You found them! Thank you, Grace.”
Grace checked the bottom of the case, there wasn’t anything else in there. She looked at the canisters, they were made of metal. “Do they have films inside?”
“They do, undeveloped films. This is so exciting!” Clive was almost bursting with happiness.
“What are the pictures of? Were they taken a while ago?” Grace asked.
Clive looked at her, his smile growing. “I’ve no idea! Could be anything.”
Grace frowned. “Then why are you so happy?”
“Because I know that this is what I’ve been looking for. The next thing we have to do is get these developed. Do you have a dark room?”
Grace gave a little smile. “The kitchen is a bit dark, we need a new light bulb.”
Clive stopped smiling. “I didn’t mean, oh! You’re joking. You look much prettier when you smile. Of course you don’t have a dark room. I bet you haven’t even got a camera. People today use their phones, don’t they?”
Grace nodded, she assumed from that information that Clive had died recently. She said, “There’s a chemist down the road, they develop films there. I don’t know how long it would take.”
Clive turned towards the door. He walked right through the counter and stood waiting for Grace. “We must go now!”
Grace looked longingly towards the kitchen. No cup of tea for her then. Couldn’t they have found the films after she’d had a cuppa? She sighed and collected her handbag. She popped the films in and walked out of the shop. Clive was at her side as she locked the door.
The chemist was a short walk away. The man behind the counter gave her an incredulous look as she handed the films over.
“Where did you get these? A museum?”
Grace heard Clive utter obscenities at the youth. She was inclined to agree with Clive.
“How quick can you have them developed?” Grace asked.
The young man looked at his watch. “We can do them in a hour, if you’re in a rush. Otherwise, it would be three working days.”
Clive shouted, “One hour of course, you imbecile!”
Grace kept her smile in and said, “One hour would be perfect, thank you.”
After the young man had taken her details Grace headed towards the park. The clouds had all gone and it had turned into a lovely day. Clive walked at her side. He smiled appreciatively at the surroundings.
“I’d forgotten how green England is, and how happy people are when the sun comes out.”
Grace checked to make sure that no one was looking her way, then she said, “Let’s sit on this bench whilst we wait for the photos. I’d love to hear more about your travels.”
For the next hour Grace listened as Clive regaled her with tales of his exploits. She noticed that he spoke more about the people he had met rather than the places he had visited.
She didn’t realise she was smiling and nodding to herself until a small boy walked past with his mum. He said, “Mum, what’s wrong with that lady? Who’s she talking to?”
The woman gave Grace a worried glance and pulled her little boy closer as they hurried away.
For once, Grace didn’t care. Clive was making her feel braver. How she’d love to see the world, to meet amazing people like Clive had done.
A sudden thought shocked her. What was stopping her from doing it?
Oh no. She wasn’t that brave, she couldn’t ever do something like that.
Her phoned beeped. Grace said, “That’s my alarm, that hour passed quickly. Let’s get your photos.”
She stood up. Clive didn’t move. He seemed to have turned grey.
“What’s wrong?” Grace asked.
“I’ve remembered what the photographs are of. I don’t want to see them! Grace, don’t pick them up. Leave them there. Please!”
“But I have to,” Grace said.
Clive stood up, his ghost form shimmered, his hands shook as he held them up to Grace in a pleading manner. “Please, Grace, please don’t collect them!”
Clive disappeared.
Chapter 9
Grace was in a quandary. What should she do? If she didn’t collect the photos the man at the shop would phone her, she’d given him her mobile number. Could she leave the photos at the shop? What could be so bad about them?
Grace’s curiosity won. She’d pick the photographs up, she didn’t have to look at them.
Although she could just have a peek at the first one.
Grace walked in to the chemist shop, the young man that had served her earlier held up two envelopes from across the shop. Grace stumbled slightly. What if the photos were pornographic? Maybe that’s why Clive had hidden them away. He’d been around the world many times, he’d told her that he’d seen things that would make her hair curl.
She took a step forward. The man behind the counter would have seen the photos as he developed them. She studied his face. Did he look embarrassed? Mortified?
No, he looked like a bored teenager as he waved the envelopes impatiently at her.
Grace took the photos and paid for them. The man didn’t seem interested at all in the contents. She walked back to the shop and let herself in. Clive hadn’t reappeared.
Before she did anything Grace made a big mug of tea. Then she sat down at the small kitchen table and put the envelopes of developed photographs in front of her.
To open, or to not open?
Grace took a few minutes to have a good drink of tea. She took a few more minutes to enjoy some chocolate covered biscuits.
“Oh, what the hell,” she said to her nearly empty mug. “I’ll open them. What harm could it do?”
Grace took the photos out of one envelope and started to flick through them. The people that looked back at her instantly made her smile.
Street ven
dors, young children on the beach, toothless old men in markets. These must be the people that Clive had met on his journeys, perhaps the ones that he had bought his souvenirs from. Clive was an excellent photographer, he seemed to have captured the very essence of each person, as if their souls had picked that moment to shine out.
Then Grace came to the second set of photos. These must have been taken in England, perhaps in a park similar to the one down the road.
The photos were mainly of a pretty young woman dressed in a floaty summery dress. Grace guessed by the look of the woman, and people in the background, that these photos were taken thirty, maybe forty years ago.
The young woman was pictured laughing on a swing, then messily eating an ice cream. One photo took Grace’s breath away. The young woman was sitting on a picnic blanket, staring in to the distance. The sun had fallen on her hair and made it impossibly shiny. The woman had a small smile on her face as if she was keeping a secret.
“I wonder who she is,” Grace muttered to herself.
The next photo made her laugh out loud. It was Clive, sitting on the same picnic blanket. He had hair and was much slimmer. His young face grinned up at the camera.
“That’s the only photo I’ve got of me at that age,” a voice said.
Grace looked across the table at Clive. He carried on, “I never let anyone take pictures of me, I was the one in charge of the camera.”
He spoke softly, the sadness in his voice unmistakeable.
Grace pointed at the young woman. “Who is she?”
“Laura Opalson. My first love. In fact, she was my only true love. We’d been together five years when those pictures were taken. She was the one who bought my first professional camera. I found out later that she’d had to save her money for six months to buy it. I’d forgotten how beautiful she was, how photogenic. I never found anyone who had Laura’s smile.”
“What happened to her?” Grace asked, half-dreading the answer.
Clive sighed. “I don’t know. I started my new job the day after those were taken. I tried to keep in touch but she never wrote back. It broke my heart to leave her behind. Can you look at that one where she’s looking out across the park again? That really captures her beauty.”
Grace found the photo and placed it in the middle of the table. Her hand was still on it as Clive reached out his hand to touch it.
The kitchen around them began to fade.
Clive quickly withdrew his hand and looked over at Grace. “What’s happening? Where has your kitchen gone?”
Grace didn’t panic. This had happened to her previously with the other ghost she had met.
“We’re going to be shown something, like a vision from your past.” Grace sniffed. “I can smell cut grass. I think we might be going into this photograph.”
Clive clutched his heart. “No! I can’t bear it!” he called out.
Chapter 10
Too late.
Clive and Grace found themselves standing about ten metres away from a young Clive and Laura Opalson.
The couple were sitting on the picnic blanket and chatting.
Grace couldn’t hear them so she moved closer. She could hear the laughter of nearby children, the warmth of the sun washed over her. She felt the older Clive follow her.
Laura was saying, “It’s going to be wonderful, Clive, all that you’ve ever wanted. To see the world and to get paid for it! I’m so happy for you. Promise you’re going to send me postcards? I want the silliest ones that you can find.”
Laura laughed, the young Clive laughed too. Grace felt that Laura’s laugh sounded forced.
Young Clive spoke. “Of course I will. And when I’ve saved enough money I’ll pay for you to join me. Where shall we go first? Egypt? Africa? Australia? You decide.”
Laura smiled. Grace noticed the smile didn’t reach her eyes. Laura said, “I’d love to go to Australia first. But you mustn’t think about me. You know I’ve got that office job lined up. I want to make a go of it, to prove to myself that I can be successful. We’ve got plenty of time for travelling. What time do you leave tomorrow?”
Clive grimaced and said, “Six o’clock. Are you sure you won’t see me off?”
“No chance, buddy. I need my sleep, look at the bags under my eyes!”
“You look beautiful. Let me take another photo,” Clive said.
“More? You’ve nearly used a full roll of film on me. Save some for your journey.”
“I’ve got another roll. Look out over the park, let me get your profile,” Clive said.
Laura looked out, the secret smile that had been recorded on the photo appeared.
The older Clive spoke. “Her beauty outshines the sun. Such a funny smile on her face. I wonder what she’s thinking.”
The young Clive took his photo and then started to fiddle with the camera. He didn’t notice what Laura did next, but Grace did.
Laura Opalson placed her hand gently on her tummy. Grace involuntarily did the same and immediately felt a peculiar sensation, like small bubbles popping in her tummy. It was a pleasant feeling and made Grace feel warm and peaceful.
The older Clive looked at Grace and said, “What’s going on, you’ve got the same funny
smile on your face.
Grace gave him a direct look and said, “Laura’s pregnant.”
Chapter 11
The park scene faded and they were back in the kitchen.
Clive stared at Grace. “No! It can’t be true, she would have told me. How do you know anyway?”
Grace still had her hand against her tummy but the fluttering feeling had gone. She said, “I felt it, Laura touched her tummy and I felt it in mine. That would explain the secret smile on her face.”
Clive shook his head. “No, I refuse to believe it. We never kept secrets from each other.”
Grace sat down at the kitchen table and watched Clive as he walked around the kitchen muttering to himself and shaking his head. After a few minutes he said, “If she was pregnant why didn’t she tell me?”
Grace looked at him and kindly said, “She was thinking about you. You’d just got this amazing job and were about to set off on your travels. What would you have done if she’d told you she was pregnant?”
Clive threw his arms up. “I would have given my job up of course! Without hesitation, I would have looked after her and the baby. I’d have married her, I’ve been asking her for years.”
“She put your needs first, is that the kind of thing that she’d do?”
Clive gave a resigned sigh and sat down at the table. “It’s exactly what she’d do. She’d done it many times for her friends and family, put their needs before her own. She seemed to think that she deserved second-best, whatever was left over. If she was pregnant can we find out if she had the baby? Can we go back into the picture?”
“I don’t think so, we can only go into the time frame that you captured. We could look online though, see if there are any Laura Opalsons out there. It’s not a common name, I can’t imagine there would be many.”
“Good idea,” Clive said. He looked around the kitchen. “Have you got a computer, I can’t stand the blasted things, I never could get the hang of them.”
Grace stood up. “My brother has a laptop upstairs, I’ll get it.”
Clive glanced upwards. “Oh, has he got a flat up there? That’s convenient, right above the shop.”
“Something like that,” Grace admitted. She wasn’t going to tell Clive that Frankie was staying in the stock room, despite her repeated requests for him to move in with her. He was so stubborn.
Grace returned to the kitchen with the laptop. She fired it up and then typed in Laura’s name. Two Opalsons came up, one was Laura’s, the other belonged to a man called David. Grace’s scalp prickled as she realised who David Opalson might be. She kept her thoughts to herself and clicked on Laura’s name.
Clive came round to her side. Grace pointed at the screen. “She’s got a website. And it looks like she’s got her
own consultancy business. Very impressive. Can you see that photo of her?”
Clive’s eyes seemed to mist over as he studied Laura’s face.
“She’s aged well,” Grace noted.
Clive didn’t speak, he moved closer to the screen as if he wanted to jump in to it.
“She’s beautiful,” he said it so quietly that Grace almost missed it.
Grace scrolled down the screen so they could see more photos. Laura looked every inch the professional business woman.
Clive suddenly made a weird wailing noise. Grace looked up, his face was so grey that it was almost black.
“Grace! I’ve just realised what I lost, what I’ve been looking for. It wasn’t those damned photographs, it was Laura! I left her behind. How could I have done that? And the baby! Was I a father all these years? What a waste! A complete and utter waste!”
Grace looked sadly at Clive. She knew how it felt to lose somebody, how lost and alone you felt afterwards.
She remembered something. “Clive, you said you had to find something in order to help someone, do you remember?”
Clive nodded, his face still grey.
“What if you have to help Laura in some way?”
“Yes! You’re right, I think that’s what I have to do. Why else would we have found these photos of her. Do you think she’s in danger?”
Grace tapped the screen. “We could visit her at her office, I could give her these photos. Perhaps have a chat with her, see if she’s in trouble. What do you think?”
Clive brightened. “Can we go now?”
Grace smiled, glad to see the older man looking happy. “Her office is closed today, we’ll go tomorrow.”
“Oh, thank you, Grace, thank you. I knew you were a good person,” Clive said.
Let’s hope Laura thinks that tomorrow when I arrive unannounced, Grace thought.
Chapter 12
It was getting dark so Grace locked up the shop and headed out of the door. She made sure the precious photos were in her bag. As she locked the door her phone rang. It was Frankie.
Lost And Found: A Cozy Ghost Mystery (Storage Ghost Mysteries Book 2) Page 3