Free Daisy's Chain: A Cozy Ghost Mystery (Storage Ghost Mysteries Book 5) by Gillian Larkin Page B

following my blog posts. If there’s
going to be a mob I want you to come back to the van and lock yourself in.”
    “Why would your
fans be here?” Grace asked. “Oh no, don’t tell me you’ve told everyone where
you’re going to be today?”
    “I have a duty to
my fans,” Frankie said in a noble tone. “Come on, brace yourself.”
    Frankie put a
smile on his face and opened his van door. Such was his confidence that Grace
half expected a mob of groupies to descend on him.
    “Nice to see you
too,” said Big Bob.
    Grace got out of
the van and walked over to the lone figure that was standing next to Frankie.
    “Hi, how are
you?” Grace said with a smile. Big Bob used to tour the antique fairs with her
dad. He had proven to be a great friend since they started out on this locker
buyer business. It helped that he was the size of a grizzly bear, Grace always
felt braver at his side.
    Frankie was
looking around Big Bob.
    “Looking for
something?” Big Bob asked.
    “Nothing in
particular,” Frankie said. He started to look around the car park.
    A voice suddenly
cried out. “You! In the denim jacket! Don’t move!”
    A young woman in
a bright orange security vest ran towards them.
    Frankie puffed
his chest out and gave Grace a knowing look.
    “What’s going
on?” Big Bob asked.
    “It’s one of my
fans, she probably wants an autograph.”
    Grace noticed the
angry look on the woman’s face but didn’t say anything.
    The woman stopped
in front of Frankie and waved a notepad at him.
    Before she could
speak Frankie grabbed the notebook, took a pen from his pocket and paused for a
second. He smiled at the woman and said, “What’s your name?”
    The woman
snatched the notebook back. “Never you mind! You owe me £10!”
    “Pardon?”
Frankie’s smile slipped.
    “I’m in charge of
parking and you haven’t paid any parking charges since you started to come to
these auctions. I know your sort, think you can get away with murder!” The
woman held her hand out. “Ten pounds.”
    Grace pressed her
lips together, her laughter was aching to come out. She glanced at Big Bob and
noticed he was doing the same.
    Frankie’s cheeks
had gone red. He fumbled in his pockets, pulled out a crumpled note and handed
it to the woman.
    She gave him a
look as she straightened the note out. She wrote something in her notebook and
then said, “All paid up. Don’t forget next time.”
    “I won’t, sorry,”
Frankie said in a quiet voice.
    Grace saw
Frankie’s crushed look and started to feel pity for him.
    The woman
suddenly laughed and said to Frankie, “I love your site by the way, your blog
is hilarious!”
    She turned and
walked away. Frankie gave Grace a smug look and said, “I told you, fans
everywhere.”
    Any pity she felt
for Frankie evaporated.
    Grace flinched.
    There was that
banging noise again.
    It was really
loud. She looked at Frankie and Big Bob. They seemed oblivious to it.
    Which only meant
one thing.
    The noise was
being made by a ghost.
     

Chapter 4
     
    The
auction began when Sylvester Sylver appeared.
    He
was wearing an orange leopard print silk shirt today. His collar was pulled up
and he looked more like a silver haired Elvis Presley than ever. He treated the
bidders to one of his famous megawatt smiles. He turned towards Frankie and
winked at him.
    Frankie
gave him a casual wave. He turned to Grace and grinned, “Did you see that? He
winked just at me.”
    “Calm
down, I thought you were getting over this man crush of yours,” Grace said.
    Frankie
tutted. “Man crush! I admire Sylvester, he’s the best auctioneer in the world.
If ever we had another auctioneer you’d soon see the difference. Sylvester is a
professional.”
    Sylvester
called out, “Are we ready to begin? We’ve got some awesome lockers today, and,
I’ll be honest, folks, some not so awesome ones.”
    The
banging noise had reduced in volume and Grace wasn’t flinching anymore at the
thudding. She said to Big Bob, “What