A Deadly Lesson (Storage Ghost Murders Book 5) (2 page)

Chapter 4

Abbie
gave Grace her full attention.

Grace
smiled and then said, “I can drive this van but I can’t drive a car. Frankie’s
been on at me to get my own car, he said I can’t keep borrowing the van. I’ve
been to a few car dealers on my own, I’ve even booked test drives. But every
time I sit in the driver’s seat of a car I freeze. All the memories of the
night of the car crash flood into my head and I can’t move. I wasn’t even
driving the car that night. I’ve made a fool of myself every time I’ve booked a
test drive. I’ve mumbled and muttered to the poor sales assistant that I’ve
changed my mind. Goodness knows what they thought about me!”

Abbie
nodded. “I get like that when I do the test. It must be something in our heads
that’s stopping us.”

Grace
looked out of the window. “I think I know what’s stopping me. The last time
that I drove a car my mum and dad were alive. I can’t bear the thought of
driving a car knowing that they’re dead. That’s a ridiculous thing to think,
isn’t it? I know it’s ridiculous but I can’t get past it.”

Abbie
smiled at her. “Perhaps I should have tried driving a lorry.”

Grace
laughed. She turned back in her seat and set off into the traffic again.

A
sad sigh came from Abbie. “I’m not going to pass my test now, am I?”

Grace
shot her a quick look and grinned. “You don’t need to drive. From what I’ve
seen of ghosts, some of them can fly!”

Abbie
laughed. It was the first time she’d done so since they’d met.

Grace
arrived at the shop a short while later. She parked at the rear so that she
could unload the boxes straight into the building. Before she got out of the
van Grace said to Abbie, “I think you’re attached to something that was in that
storage locker, something that’s in one of those boxes. From what I’ve seen so
far, the boxes seem to be full of books. Is there a particular book you might
be attached to? One from your childhood perhaps.”

Abbie
shrugged. “I can’t think of anything. Should I call out if I see anything
familiar?”

“That
would help. You’ll most likely feel yourself being pulled out of the van when I
move a particular object.” Grace sighed and rubbed her aching arm muscles.
“Here I go again!”

Grace
realised how out of shape she was as she took one box at a time out of the van
and transferred it to the shop. Grace kept checking on Abbie to see if she had
moved. She hadn’t.

Grace
reached into the van for another box, she turned round and yelped in fright.
The box crashed to the ground.

Abbie
was inches from her face. With a small smile she said, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to
make you jump.”

“That’s
okay, we must have found what you’re attached to,” Grace said, the sound of her
heart still thudding in her ears. She looked down at the books scattered across
the yard. In a hopeful voice she asked if Abbie recognised any of the books.

Abbie
looked closer, her face scrunched up in concentration. “That one!” She whooshed
over to a brightly coloured book and pointed at it. “Of course! I should have
remembered!”

Grace
picked the book up and read the title – ‘Get Off Your Butt And Get In
That Car!’ She raised an eyebrow at Abbie.

Abbie
laughed, “My friend, Ethan, bought it for me. It’s all about overcoming your
fears about driving. There’s tips on how to remember the legal stuff like
speeds and signs. It’s got lots of good reviews. I’d only got halfway through
it. You can read it if you like.”

Grace
examined the back cover. The writer was making some outlandish claims. She said
to Abbie, “I need to make sure you’re attached to this book.”

Grace
walked swiftly into the shop and right up to the front exit door of the shop.
Abbie floated behind her. Grace smiled and nodded. “You are attached to this.
You stay here and have a look around our shop. I’ll bring the rest of the books
in.” Grace placed the driving book on the shop counter.

By
the time she’d returned with the last book Abbie was sitting on a top shelf at
the side of the shop. She waved down to Grace and said, “I can fly! This is
awesome!”

Abbie
gracefully held her arms out and swooped down to Grace. Grace grinned and said,
“I wish I could do that. What do you think of our shop? Mum and Dad set it up
as an antiques shop but Frankie and I fill it with things that we find at
storage lockers. The shelves are a bit empty at the moment, I’m sure Frankie
will bring some good things back later. In the meantime, I’ll put some of these
books on the shelves and you can tell me all about yourself.”

“I
wish I could help you with the books,” Abbie said.

“You
can help by telling me about the night you died.” Grace looked closer at Abbie.
“If that’s all right?”

Abbie
nodded. Grace noticed her feet were inches off the ground.

Grace
pulled a box of books closer to a shelf at the front of the shop. She started
to place the books on the shelf, and Abbie started to talk.

“I
died on the night of my eighteenth birthday. I had a party at The Old Highway Man
pub. Do you know where that is?”

Grace
nodded. “I’ve been a few times, it’s lovely.”

“All
my friends were there. It was our last year at school, we were all turning
eighteen that year. Everyone was making plans to go to university. Not me
though, I was going to take a gap year! Oh! You should see the places I was
going to visit. I had it all planned out. I was going with my best friend,
Brooke. She was even more excited than me!”

“Was
Brooke at the party? And that other friend you mentioned earlier, Ethan?”

Abbie
turned her head away from Grace and said sadly, “Yes, they were both there.”
She turned back to Grace and gave her a wobbly smile. “And Mum and Dad were
there. And my sister, Julianne, she’s ten years older than me. And her
boyfriend.” Abbie began to giggle. “She gets so mad when anyone calls him her
boyfriend. She keeps saying that he’s her fiancé! But Carlos has never asked
her to marry him, it’s so funny!”

Grace
made a mental note of the people at the party. She hadn’t missed the sadness in
Abbie’s voice as she spoke about her friends, Brooke and Ethan. What was going
on there?

Grace
pulled another box over. She said, “You told me that you’d been run over, when
did that happen? Was it after the party?”

Abbie
floated over to Grace’s other side, her brow wrinkled. She said, “I think it
was during the party. I got some bad news, or did I hear some bad news? I can’t
remember but it made me sad and I wanted to get away for a while. I went
outside and was going to cross the road. There’s a bit of grass opposite the
pub, it’s got a bench on it. I was going to sit down for a bit. I remember
stepping off the path and ...”

Grace
paused and looked at Abbie. Abbie’s face had gone as white as a sheet, her eyes
were wide with terror. She pointed a shaking finger to something behind Grace.

Chapter 5

“What’s
she staring at!” a voice shot out.

Grace
turned around to face Pearl, the resident ghost of the shop. She was shorter
than Grace with grey curly hair, she wore a floral housecoat over a long blue
dress.

Pearl
had her hands on her hips, she nodded towards Abbie and said, “What’s wrong
with madam here? Why’s she looking at me like that?”

Grace
looked back at Abbie. She looked frightened. Grace said, “There’s no need to be
scared of Pearl. She lives at this shop, she’s a friend of mine.”

Abbie
gulped. “But she looks so angry.”

Pearl
barked out, “I always look like this, get used to it!”

Grace
frowned. The old ghost wasn’t usually this abrupt, what was wrong with her?

Pearl
folded her arms and muttered to herself. Grace moved closer and quietly said,
“What’s wrong, Pearl?”

Pearl
tutted and said, “I’ve got a bad feeling brewing in my stomach, a bit like wind
but much worse. Something terrible is going to happen, I can feel it in my
water.”

Grace
said, “I thought you were feeling it in your stomach.”

Pearl
pursed her lips and gave Grace a scathing look. Then she said, “I’ll feel it
where I want to feel it! Don’t get fresh with me, young lady.”

“I
wouldn’t dare,” Grace admitted. In a louder voice she said, “This is Abbie,
she’s eighteen and she died on her birthday.”

All
the bad humour disappeared from Pearl’s face. She unfolded her arms and moved
over to Abbie. She put her arm around her and said, “I’m sorry to hear that.
Eighteen is no age to die.” Pearl shot a knowing glance at Grace. Grace nodded.
Pearl went on, “And you think you were murdered too?”

Abbie
nodded, a tear escaped and trickled down her cheek. Pearl pulled her closer.

Grace
told Pearl what they knew about the night that Abbie died. Pearl nodded and
then asked what Abbie was attached to.

Grace
had placed the driving book on the shop counter. She walked over and reached
out to touch it, at the same time Abbie flew over with her arm outstretched.

“No!”
Grace yelled out.

Too
late. Grace and Abbie touched the book at the same time. The shop began to fade
around them.

Abbie
whimpered and moved closer to Grace. Her voice shook as she asked, “What’s
happening? Where did your shop go? Where are we?”

Keeping
her voice calm, Grace said, “We’re going into a vision, a scene from your past.
It’s happening because we touched that driving book at the same time. Don’t
worry, there’s nothing to be frightened of.”

Abbie
looked around her as a new scene unfolded. She shivered and looked at Grace
with wide eyes. “I am frightened. We’re outside The Old Highway Man pub. I
think it’s the night of my birthday, I recognise Dad’s car in the car park. And
there’s Julianne’s and Brooke’s cars. Brooke’s dad had just bought her a new
car, she wanted me to see it.”

Grace
and Abbie were standing on a grass verge in front of the pub, the sky was
turning purple. Grace took note of the cars as Abbie pointed them out.

The
pub door was suddenly flung open, a young girl dashed out.

Abbie
gasped. “That’s me! Can we stop her? I mean, me? Can we shout at her and tell
her to go back inside?”

Grace
shook her head. “We can’t do anything except watch. Let’s move closer. The
vision you is crying. Can you remember why?”

Abbie
frowned. “Someone had said something to me. I think it had something to do with
a secret. I promised them I wouldn’t tell anyone!”

Grace
was just about to ask who Abbie was talking about when she saw the Vision-Abbie
run on to the road without looking. Grace’s head snapped to the side as she
heard a car approaching.

The
Vision-Abbie heard it too. She froze in mid-step and looked towards where the
car was coming from. Grace and Ghost-Abbie were abruptly pulled on to the road.
They stood at the side of Vision-Abbie.

Grace
put her arms out to steady herself. That had never happened before, she’d never
been forced to move in a vision. What was she supposed to see? She looked to
her side and saw the two Abbies, both of them staring straight ahead at the
approaching car. They were both wearing identical looks of horror as the car
came closer. Time seemed to slow down.

Grace
heard the car loosing speed. Was it stopping? Surely the driver had seen Abbie?
The road was well lit and it wasn’t fully dark yet. Going by the look on Vision-Abbie’s
face it looked liked she was thinking the same thing. Vision-Abbie’s look of
horror was replaced with a look of recognition. She smiled, raised her hand and
waved at the driver of the car. It was obvious that she knew the driver. The Ghost-Abbie
at her side was waving her arms through Vision-Abbie as if trying to drag her
away.

A
feeling of dread settled in Grace’s stomach as she realised what was going to
happen next.

Sure
enough, the car began to speed up. The wheels squealed as the driver pushed
their foot on the accelerator. Vision-Abbie never stood a chance.

Grace
squeezed her eyes closed. She couldn’t bear to see it. She felt her hair whip
back as the car raced past her.

There
was no doubt about it – Abbie Quill had been murdered. And she’d been
murdered by someone she knew.

Chapter 6

Grace
and Abbie found themselves back in the shop. Abbie’s hands covered her face and
she collapsed to the floor. Wails of grief-filled screams erupted from her
shaking body.

Pearl
said, “What the hell is going on? One second you were here, and the next ... I
presume you went into a vision. Bloody hell! That girl’s making a right
racket!”

Grace
explained. “We saw her death. I’m not surprised she’s crying so much. The
driver of the car that killed her came at her like a rocket.” She knelt down
next to Abbie. “I’m sorry you had to see that, Abbie. Please, try to calm down.
It’s all over now.”

The
wails increased. Pearl made a few grumbling noises, then she said, “Shift out
of the way, Grace. I’ll do what you can’t.”

Grace
stood up and took a step backwards. Pearl gently pulled Abbie to her feet and
wrapped her arms around the quivering girl. Abbie leant her head against
Pearl’s shoulder whilst Pearl made comforting noises. After a few moments,
Abbie’s wails turned to sniffs.

The
corner of Grace’s mouth lifted. Pearl might act all tough but she was a
kind-hearted soul. If ghosts had souls. Grace didn’t know the answer to that
one. There was a lot about ghosts that she didn’t know.

Abbie
lifted her tear-stained face and smiled at Pearl. “Thank you, I feel better
now.” She turned to Grace and said, “Sorry about that, what a drama queen!
Shall we talk more about my murder?”

Grace
blinked, surprised by Abbie’s complete emotional turnaround. Was Pearl some
sort of magician?

Pearl
patted Abbie’s shoulder and pushed her gently away. “I think you’re all right
now, young lass.”

Grace
stiffened. She didn’t miss the tremble in Pearl’s voice. She looked closer at
the old ghost, her shoulders drooped and her left hand was clutching her
stomach.

Pearl
forced a smile and said, “I can’t stand here chatting all day, I’ve places to
go.” She grimaced as she raised her right hand in a farewell gesture and,
before Grace could say a word, she disappeared.

Grace’s
scalp prickled. Something was wrong with Pearl, something serious. She never
left Grace alone at the beginning of a murder investigation. Pearl had been
holding Abbie tightly whilst she was crying. Had Pearl absorbed all of Abbie’s
pain? Grace had seen her do that before with another ghost. Pearl must have
done something because Abbie was now flying around the shop with a delighted
expression on her face.

Grace
knew it was useless to call out for Pearl, she would return in her own time.
Grace turned her attention to Abbie. She called out, “Would you mind coming
back down to earth? I can’t talk to you whilst you’re zooming around the
shelves.”

Abbie
laughed. “But it’s so much fun! I love it!”

Grace
shook her head. She preferred the happy Abbie to the heartbroken one. Let her
have a few more minutes of fun before they got down to the nitty-gritty of
possible suspects. That was always a difficult subject for murdered ghosts to
deal with.

Grace
picked up the driving book again and started to flip through it. A card fell to
the floor. Grace picked it up and read it : Fairway Driving School

She
felt a breeze at her side as Abbie came in for a landing.

Abbie
pointed at the card and said, “That’s who I was having driving lessons with.
They’re really good. Everyone at my school tries to go with them, they’ve got a
huge waiting list. You should ring them.”

Grace
frowned. “Why? I know how to drive.”

“They
teach people who’ve lost their confidence with driving. Look, it says so on the
bottom of the card. Why don’t you ring them? You could have a few lessons and
get your confidence back.”

Grace
shrugged. “I don’t think so. Anyway, you said they were always busy.”

“With
new drivers, they might have different instructors for other kinds of drivers.”

“I’m
not sure,” Grace said.

Abbie
planted her feet directly in front of Grace. “You’re making excuses! Don’t you
want to drive a car again?”

Grace
nodded and looked down at the card. Abbie’s look was quite intense.

Abbie
hadn’t finished with her yet. “Don’t you want your own car? To go off whenever
you want? What’s stopping you? Ring them!”

Grace
looked up. “All right! I’ll ring them, when I get home.”

Abbie
glared at her.

Grace
laughed at her stern expression. “Okay! I’ll ring them now.”

She
did so. The phone was answered by a friendly-sounding older man. He said he had
a cancelled appointment for the next morning and he could fit Grace in then.
Feeling Abbie’s eyes boring into her, Grace agreed to the appointment.

Grace
ended the call, put the card in her handbag, and said to Abbie, “Happy now?”

Abbie
grinned and flew in a circle around Grace. Grace flapped her hand at her to
stop. “You’re making me dizzy. Can you settle down for a minute? I need to know
more about you.”

Abbie
gently floated down to the ground. Grace indicated for them to move in to the
kitchen. Abbie sat at the kitchen table whilst Grace put the kettle on.

A
few minutes later Grace sat opposite Abbie, a fresh mug of tea in her hand.
Grace said, “Right, start with your family life, please.”

Abbie
looked over Grace’s shoulder, then to the left and right. “Where did that old
woman go?”

“She’s
gone somewhere for a while, she’ll be back,” Grace said. She hoped Pearl would
be back.

Abbie
began to talk. “I live with Mum and Dad, Derek and Dorothy. They had me when
they were old, Mum was in her forties, Dad was even older than that. I wasn’t
planned, Mum didn’t even know she could have babies.”

Grace
put her mug down. “I thought you said you had a sister, Julianne, isn’t that
her name?”

Abbie
nodded. “She was adopted. Mum told me that her and Dad had been trying to have
babies since they were married.” She pulled a face at the thought. “When they
knew they couldn’t, they adopted Julianne. I think she was five or six at the
time. Then five years later I come along!”

“How
did Julianne feel about you?”

“What
do you mean?”

“Well,
there she was, an only child, getting all the attention from your parents, and
then you were born. Was she jealous?”

Abbie
frowned and looked down at the table. “I think she was pleased, Mum said she
was. Julianne used to dress me up like a doll, I didn’t mind. I thought we were
friends, but when I got older ...”

“Go
on,” Grace said.

Abbie
looked up at Grace, a sadness in her eyes. “When I got older she used to get
annoyed with me being around, especially when she had one of her boyfriends
with her.” She gulped and paused. “On the morning of my eighteenth birthday we
had an argument. We were in my bedroom. Julianne was furious and she said,
‘Sometimes, Abbie, I could kill you!’”