The Last Reading (Storage Ghost Murders Book 1) (4 page)

Chapter 10

The
vision Mae hitched up her long skirt in one hand and gripped the banister with
her other.

Grace
wanted to turn away but she knew that wasn’t an option.

A
voice called out, “Mae Moonshine!”

It
sounded dull and slow as if it was underwater.

In
slow motion the vision Mae turned around, a smile on her face.

Two
hands reached out and pushed her.

The
smile was replaced by a look of surprise.

Mae
toppled down the stairs, still in slow motion.

Grace
heard the gasps of ghost Mae at her side. Grace’s hand flew to her mouth as she
watched Mae tumble down the steps. She landed with a sickening thud at the
bottom, her head twisted unnaturally to the side.

A
sharp pain flared up in Grace’s neck. She knew where it had come from now.
Grace turned to where the person who had pushed Mae was standing. There was no
one there. Grace tried to recall the hands. Were they male or female? She
didn’t know.

In
a trembling voice ghost Mae said, “Why would someone do that to me? Oh, Grace!
Look at me, down there, what an awful way to go!”

Grace
couldn’t think of anything to say. It was an awful way to go and now they knew
for sure that Mae had been murdered. Grace walked down the steps and looked
closer at the vision Mae. She was lying near a pair of thick velvet curtains
that covered a floor to ceiling window. The same curtains that were now in
Grace’s shop. Had the tarot cards fallen out of Mae’s pocket and into the hem
of the curtains? Grace reached out in the hope of touching something solid. Her
hands floated through the curtains.

Ghost
Mae joined her. “Grace! There’s someone coming downstairs, I think it’s the
murderer!”

Grace
looked back, there was a figure but it was blurred. “The vision’s starting to
fade. It must be because you’re ... taking your last breaths.”

The
whole vision began to fade and parts of Grace’s shop began to reappear.

Grace
watched in horror as the last few seconds of the vision played out.

Ghost
Mae let out a whimper. “What’s that person doing to me? Why are they touching
my clothes? Grace! What’s happening?”

The
vision faded completely. Grace turned to Mae, she could feel the sting of tears
forming in her eyes. “It looked like he, or she, was searching for something.
What do you think it was?”

Mae
shook her head. “It might have been my tarot cards, everyone at the fair knew
I’d had them for years. Would someone really kill me for my cards?”

“They
might have, they might have seen how popular you were. Mae, I just don’t know.
I thought your cards might have flown out of your pocket and into the curtains.
Do you think that might have happened?”

“Yes!”
A voice boomed out. Grace yelped and dropped the cards.

“Pearl!
Don’t sneak up on us,” Grace said. She picked up the cards and showed them to
Pearl. “This is what Mae is attached to, we went into a vision.”

Pearl
nodded and gave her a smug look. “I know. I had a feeling something was happening
so I came over here and I saw everything. It was like a small TV screen in the
front window. It was a bit boring with you walking round at first. There are
some weird people that go to those fairs, haven’t they got anything better to
do?”

Mae
gave a sniff of indignation.

Pearl
carried on. “It got interesting when you fell down the stairs. Arse over ...”

“Pearl!
Mae died,” Grace said.

“I
know, we all die. I saw those curtains and I did see the cards flying off into
them. It must have been what the murderer was looking for. But I thought I
heard something else falling too, like coins or something. These curtains were
in the storage locker weren’t they? The anonymous bidder that you never saw
must have known they were up for sale somehow and they bought the locker.
Grace, you said it looked like the locker had been searched when you went in.”

Grace
nodded.

Pearl
folded her arms and said wisely, “The murderer must bought the locker, looking
for those cards. I don’t know why they wanted them but it was enough to kill
Mae for.”

Grace
held the cards out as if they were an unexploded bomb. In a shaky voice she
said, “You know what this means?”

Pearl
smiled.  “Yes, the murderer might come here for a second look at the curtains.
Get the big tea pot ready, Grace, you might need to whack someone on the head
with it.”

Chapter 11

“I
don’t want to whack anyone!” Grace exclaimed. “I don’t want a murderer coming
here.”

“You
don’t want to let them get away with it, do you?” Pearl asked.

“Well
no, but I don’t want them coming here. Whoever bought the locker seemed to have
a good look whilst they were there, I don’t think they’ll come here.”

Pearl
pursed her lips and gave Grace a look. “There’s a chance that they will. Get
that teapot ready.”

Mae
spoke. “It might be someone at the fair, one of the other readers. Is there a
fair this weekend? If there is they’ll be too busy with readings to come here.”

Grace
relaxed a little.

Pearl
considered this. “In that case you need to go to the fair. Question people, see
who looks shifty. Mind you, from what I just saw in that vision they all look
three sandwiches short of a picnic.”

Mae
looked at Pearl. “You have issues, I can help you with them.”

“Pah!
I haven’t got any issues! We never had issues in my day, we got on with things.
Grace, your next step is to go to the fair. You could wave those cards around,
see if you can lure the murderer out.”

Grace
didn’t fancy doing that at all. The image of Mae being pushed down the stairs
flashed into her mind. She would go to the fair and take it from there.

“You
can go now,” Pearl said.

Grace
stood up straighter. “Yes. I’ll do that.”

Her
phone beeped. Grace took it out and read the text.

“Frankie
needs me to come and get him, he’s bought two more lockers.”

Pearl
waved her hand. “Tell him to get the bus.”

Grace
put the phone away. It was all very well helping the dead but she still had to
help the living. She remembered Frankie’s tired face. “I’ll go to the fair
tomorrow.”

She
ignored Pearl’s calls of protest as she left the shop.

Grace
collected Frankie and the mountain of items that he’d bought. She had to make
two journeys to get it all back to the shop.

Frankie
didn’t help by shouting out, “Watch out for the bus stop! You’re too close to
the kerb! Let me drive.”

Grace
refused. She had to get over her fear of driving. She had to get over her fear
of letting other people tell her what to do.

She
spent the rest of the day sorting out the new stock, she wasn’t going to let
Frankie do it all.

By
10 p.m. everything was to her liking. Frankie offered to drive her home.

“No,
I’ll get the bus, there’s one in five minutes. You get some sleep. I’ll see you
on Monday.”

Frankie
yawned. “Any plans for tomorrow?”

Grace
smiled. “I’m going to the fair.”

“What?”

“Nothing.
See you later.”

Grace
walked the few streets to the bus stop. The tarot cards were in her handbag.
Mae appeared at her side and said, “Grace, I think we’re being followed.”

Grace
gave a slight nod and whispered, “So do I.”

She
only had to wait a minute before the bus arrived. She quickly got on. No one
got on behind her. As the bus pulled away Grace looked out of the window. All
she could see in the dark was her own worried face looking back at her.

She
wasn’t sure about this murder business. Perhaps it would be easier being a
teacher.

Mae
sat at her side and said, “I know you can’t talk to me in front of the other
passengers but I wanted to say thank you for helping me, I know you don’t have
to. People must have thought I tripped over my skirt and tripped down the
stairs, but now we know different. I don’t know what the murderer was looking
for, but, Grace, you don’t have to help anymore if you don’t want to. I
understand.”

Grace
took her phone out and typed in a text message. She angled it so Mae could read
it:

‘I’ll
help you, I’ll find out who killed you.’

Chapter 12

The
psychic fair opened at 10 a.m. on Sunday. Grace joined a surprisingly long
queue to get in. She paid a £5 entrance fee and walked into the church hall,
Mae at her side.

Grace
sniffed the air, it was just the same aroma as in her vision. She could already
hear the low drone of humming voices.

Mae
pointed towards a table. “Look, there’s my table, still with my purple cloth
on. No one’s doing any readings there.” She gave a happy sigh. “The organisers
must have left it as a tribute to my memory, how kind of them. The people here
were always so kind.”

Apart
from the one who shoved you down the stairs. Grace kept the thought to herself.

They
walked further into the room. Grace recognised some local faces, some she’d
only passed in the street and some that had come into the shop. They walked by
the reiki healing stand. Grace looked longingly at the couch.

Mae
caught her look. “I don’t think we have time for that now. You would benefit
from it in the future though, it would help you sleep better. I hope you don’t
think I’m intruding but I did hear you turning about in your bed last night.”

Grace
sighed. She hadn’t had many good nights’ sleep since her parents died. She
moved closer to the reiki stand and took one of the business cards. She popped
it into her handbag. She opened the bag wider, the tarot cards were still
there. Mae insisted on them being wrapped up in her purple scarf again.

They
continued their stroll around the hall. People were selling health supplements,
alternative health books and crystal jewellery. There was a calm feeling in the
hall. Grace could understand the pull of the fair. It felt like all your
troubles could be solved under this roof.

Her
calm feeling suddenly shattered like breaking glass.

A
woman looking very much like Mae was sitting at the next table giving a tarot
card reading.

Grace
looked at Mae, her shocked expression matched her own.

“Brenda!”
Mae exclaimed. “What’s she doing here? She’s wearing my clothes! And those are
my tarot cards!”

“You
have more than one pack?” Grace whispered.

“Of
course. I have my favourite then a few backups. I’ve never used that set
though, too modern for my liking. Talk to her! Find out what she’s up to. Oh
no!”

Mae’s
hands flew to her chest. Grace raised a questioning eyebrow.

“Pearl
might have been right. Brenda could have been the one that pushed me down the
stairs. She wanted to take over my business! How could she? Grace, talk to
her.”

Grace
stood to one side as the present reading was tied up. The young woman who was
having the reading wiped a tear away and smiled gratefully at Brenda. She stood
up and said, “Thank you, you’ve helped me so much.”

Brenda
smiled. Grace took a step back, she didn’t think Brenda was capable of smiling.

Brenda
said, “Take my card, and here, don’t forget your CD recording. Play this back
to yourself in a few weeks, remind yourself of what I said. Good luck, Chloe.”

The
young woman clutched the CD and business card to her chest as if they were made
of gold. She looked at Grace and said, “She’s very good.”

Brenda
gathered her cards together as Grace sat down. Without looking directly at her
Brenda said, “Won’t be a moment, I need to put a new CD in my machine for your
recording.”

Brenda
did so then she looked over at Grace. Her friendly smile froze on her face.
“You!” she hissed.

“Yes,
me,” Grace replied. “I thought you didn’t believe in all of this stuff.”

“That’s
none of your business. Leave my table before I call security and tell them
you’re bothering me.”

Mae
was standing behind Brenda. She said to Grace, “Tell her I’m here.”

Grace
quickly shook her head. She wasn’t ready to tell anyone that she could see
ghosts.

“Trust
me,” Mae added.

Grace
didn’t have a choice. She had to tell Brenda or be escorted away from the
table. She leant a bit closer to Brenda and quietly said, “The spirit of your
sister is here. She’s standing behind you.”

Brenda
snorted. “Don’t be ridiculous! You’ve got 20 seconds to leave of your own
accord.”

Mae
said something.

Grace
repeated it to Brenda. “Mae said those tarot cards were in her wardrobe, on the
top shelf, next to the box of childhood memories, the one that you started
together. You were planning to show them to your grandchildren in the future.”

Brenda
blanched. “That doesn’t prove anything.”

Mae
put her hand on Brenda’s shoulder. Brenda shivered.

Grace
smiled and said, “That was Mae. She said that you’ve got your baby teeth and
her’s in that box, you both lost your front teeth on the same day. Your mum
thought it was disgusting to keep them but  you two didn’t care. That’s quite
specific, Brenda. Can’t you feel Mae behind you?”

Brenda
closed her eyes and took some deep breaths.

She
burst into noisy sobs and shouted, “Mae! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to hurt
you!”