Free Jacob's Coins: A Cozy Ghost Mystery (Storage Ghost Mysteries Book 1) by Gillian Larkin Page A

black stuff?”
    “Pepper.
And the green bits are mixed herbs, I thought it might add a bit of flavour.
Are you going to eat it or what?”
    “You’ve
put something else in, haven’t you? I’d forgotten about your special
sandwiches. Come on, you might as well admit it.”
    Grace
laughed. “Really, Frankie! Don’t you trust me?”
    “Nope.”
    Grace
put her hand on his arm, her eyes twinkled. “Honestly, I haven’t put anything
extra on your sandwich. I thought about it but I didn’t do it.”
    “Is
that the truth?” Frankie asked.
    Grace
nodded. “I’ll take the first bite if you don’t believe me.”
    She
reached for the sandwich. Frankie slapped her hand away. “Get your own! This is
mine.”
    He
picked it up and took a big bite. He grinned at Grace, his cheeks stuffed like
a hamster’s.
    “It’s
great, thanks for making it. It’s good to see you smiling again. We’re getting
too old to be playing tricks on each other anyway,” Frankie said.
    He
reached for his tea.
    Grace’s
eyebrows arched as she said slowly, “Yes, we’re far too mature for things like
that. Enjoy your tea, dear brother.”
    Frankie
slammed his cup down, tea sloshed over the sides. “What have you done to my
tea? You’ve gone too far this time! Tea should never, ever, ever be tampered
with.”
    Grace
couldn’t keep her laughter in. “I’d forgotten how gullible you are. I haven’t
done anything, drink up.”
    Grace
took a sip of her own tea, her laughter still fresh on her lips.
    It
did feel good to laugh.
    Frankie
gave her a playful shove. “You just wait, Sis, I’ll get you back.”
    “We’ll
see.”
    Grace
and Frankie grinned at each other for a moment. All thoughts of their parents
were far from their minds.
    The
shop bell rang, they turned their heads towards the potential customer.
    In
unison, their smiles immediately disappeared when they saw who had walked in.
     

Chapter 3
     
    Grace
glared at the well-dressed man in front of her. She took in the expensive
clothes, the professionally styled hair, the confident stance of a man who was
pleased with himself. Her eyes, as always, flicked to the scar above his left
eye. She’d give her last penny to shake the hand of the person who had given
him that scar.
    She
pursed her lips, she nearly was down to her last penny, thanks to this man.
    The
man smiled, the smile of a shark, a loan shark who was ready for his first bite
of the day.
    “Good
morning, orphans. How are you today? Isn’t it a wonderful day?” the man beamed
at them.
    “What
do you want, Eddie,” Frankie said coldly.
    Grace
saw that Frankie’s fists were tightly clenched below the shop counter that
separated them from Eddie Tominski.
    Eddie’s
smile widened. Grace saw the glint from a tooth filling, it looked like gold.
It probably was. It wouldn’t surprise her if it used to belong to someone else.
    Eddie
spoke in a jovial manner, as if they were best friends. “I just popped round to
see how my shop was doing. It looks spic and span. Is that down to you, Grace?
I might keep you on when I take over this shop, you look like you could be a
professional scrubber.”
    Grace’s
nostrils flared. “This isn’t your shop! It still belongs to us!”
    Eddie
chuckled. He gave her a sympathetic look. “Poor Grace. You still can’t face up
to facts, can you? This shop will be mine, just like everything else that
belonged to your father, God bless his alcoholic soul.”
    Frankie
banged his fist on the counter. “Don’t you dare talk about my dad like that!”
    Eddie
shrugged. “But it’s true, everyone knows it.” He frowned. “In fact, his
reputation might hurt my sales when I take over. I’ll have to change the name
of the shop, of course. And antiques are so last year.”
    Eddie
suddenly stopped and let out a guffaw of laughter. “So last year! Did you hear
that? I’m so funny I surprise myself!”
    Grace
looked at Frankie. She could see he was trying to control his breathing. She
knew how