Free Tick Tock (Storage Ghosts) by Gillian Larkin

Storage Ghosts
     
    Tick Tock
     
     
    Chapter 1
     
    Grace
closed the cash register drawer and said, “I can’t believe how much money we’ve
made, it’s incredible.”
    Her
brother, Frankie, looked over at her from the front door of the shop. “Are you
pleased?”
    “Of
course,” Grace replied.
    “Well,
you might want to tell your face that, you look as miserable as an empty pint
glass.” Frankie turned the ‘Open’ sign to ‘Closed’.
    Grace
folded her arms and studied him. He whistled as he locked the door. He really
was in denial, putting on a cheery show as if nothing was wrong.
    He
gave a startled look when he saw how she was examining him. “What?”
    “You
know what! Of course I’m pleased that we’ve sold lots of stock today, but you
know why I’m not smiling. It’s not really our money is it? I don’t know why you
insisted on us opening the shop anyway.”
    Frankie
gave a nonchalant shrug. “Why shouldn’t we open? It’s our shop, left to us by
our parents, free to do with as we please.”
    Grace
threw her arms up. “Why are you ignoring the obvious? You know Eddie Tominski
is going to appear at any moment and take our shop away, and any profits that
we make. I feel like we’re working for him. How can you be so calm?”
    Frankie
came round to Grace. “I haven’t forgotten about him. How could I? I’ve still
got the bruises from when his cronies beat me up earlier this week. I’m sure
Eddie will be round to collect on his debt, but until he does, it’s business as
normal.”
    “I
don’t like it,” Grace said. “He said he’d be round on Friday to take the shop.
That was yesterday and we haven’t heard a word from him. Do you remember that
cat we had when we were little? That nasty one? It used to catch mice and play
with them for hours until it finally killed them. I feel like one of those
mice. Are you sure he hasn’t been in touch? Don’t lie to me again.”
    Grace
stared intently at Frankie to see if he was lying. He held her gaze for a
moment and then looked away. He said, “Fancy a cuppa?”
    Grace
prodded him. “I knew it! You are lying. Eddie has been in touch. When, and what
did he say?”
    Frankie
sighed and took out his phone. He held it closer to Grace and showed her the
texts that Eddie Tominski had sent him.
    “‘Tick
tock’. Is that it?” Grace asked.
    “Yep,
he sends them every hour, on the hour. I think it’s supposed to scare me, make
me a nervous wreck or something.”
    “Doesn’t
it? It’d scare me, thinking he was getting closer,” Grace admitted.
    Frankie
grinned. “I use it like an alarm, to time my day. That’s why I’ve just closed
up, I heard his text coming through and knew it was 1 o’clock. I almost feel
like sending him a text back saying thank you.”
    “Don’t
do that! You’ll antagonise him,” Grace said.
    Frankie’s
grin grew. “I think you did that when you tried to kill his cronies.”
    Grace
looked at the floor. She mumbled, “I wasn’t trying to kill them.”
    “Whacking
them with a great big tea pot wasn’t exactly giving them a massage, was it?”
    Grace
shrugged and looked back up. “I don’t know what came over me. I couldn’t bear
to see them hurting you like that. I was angry.”
    “I’ve
seen you angry before, and that was more than angry! I’m not complaining, you
probably saved my life,” Frankie said.
    Grace
gave a weak smile. She had tried not to think of the day that she’d found those
horrible men attacking Frankie. A feeling of immense hatred and power took over
her and she used an old tea pot to hit both men. She winced as she remembered
the cracking sound that had shot out when the tea pot connected with the bigger
man’s cheek.
    It
had almost felt like someone had possessed her. She looked up at the shelf
where the tea pot had been standing.
    Frankie
followed her look. “I’ve hidden it away. I don’t want any weapons getting into
your hands again.”
    He
laughed and Grace tried to laugh