Free Murder Vows (Storage Ghost Murders Book 4) by Gillian Larkin Page A

life.”
    Grace
casually looked down at her lap. “What did she tell you?”
    Archie
laughed. “Ah! She was right. She said you’d try to find out things about her. I
won’t repeat her precise words but she said that if you asked about her life
I’m to tell you to mind your own business.”
    Grace
looked up and grinned. “It was worth a try.”
    “She
added that she’ll tell you what you need to know – when you need to know it.
Now, as for disappearing, I’m going to a place that was special to Jessie and
me, a beach in Cornwall.  It’ll be deserted at this time, not that anyone can
see me. It’ll calm me down, give me chance to think about things. Pearl said
it’ll help me to be on my own, to get used to being dead.” Archie laughed
again. “Don’t look so worried! It’s a good place. I’ll come back tomorrow. You
have a good sleep. And, Grace, thank you for helping me. I appreciate it.
Goodnight, and sweet dreams”
    Archie
winked at her and disappeared.
    The
house felt empty immediately. Thoughts of loneliness threatened to flood
Grace’s mind. She stood up and took her plate and mug into the kitchen. She
started to sing to herself.
    Dealing
with ghosts was a difficult business, she was glad she was doing it but it
would be lovely to share this with someone else apart from Pearl. Maybe one day
she’d find that someone, someone who understood her.
    Until
then she’d deal with her ghosts alone.
    Grace
returned to the living room and took out a notepad and pen. She was glad that
Archie had gone. He wouldn’t be pleased about what she was going to do next.
She wrote down a list of names, then ‘motives’, and then ‘means’.
    She
tapped her pen on the first name and said, “Now then, Jessie, let’s see what
reasons you would have to kill that handsome husband of yours.”
    It
was surprisingly easy for Grace to come up with motives for everyone on her
list. All those hours watching ‘Murder, She Wrote’, and countless nights
reading Agatha Christie, were paying off.
    She
was going to find out who murdered Archie Goodwin. She just wasn’t sure how she
was going to do it.
     

Chapter 19
     
    Grace
was up early the next morning, eager to get going. She planned to catch the bus
to the shop and to then collect Frankie’s van. Her appointment at the hotel
wasn’t until 10 o’clock so she had plenty of time.
    As
she walked down the stairs she noticed something on the floor near the front
door. She picked it up.
    “Oh,
Frankie’s dropped the van keys off me. That was considerate,” Grace said to
herself, touched by her brother’s kindness. She saw a scrunched up note
half-sticking out of the letter box. She pulled it out and read the scribbled
message:
    ‘Grace,
here are the keys. Van needs filling up with petrol, £50 should do it. Ta.’
    Grace
sighed. That’s why he’d dropped the van keys off. It wouldn’t surprise her if
he’d run out of petrol right outside her house.
    She
made some breakfast and decided on her plan of action. She didn’t really have
one, she was going to turn up at the hotel with Archie and see if he could
remember anything. It was highly unlikely that there would be any clues hidden
away.
    Speaking
of Archie, where was he?
    Feeling
a bit silly, Grace called out to him. “Archie? If you’re here please show
yourself.”
    She
felt a cold draft on her cheek. Archie appeared inches from her face, a smile
on his face. Grace kept forgetting how handsome he was. Thank goodness she’d
put her make-up on. Not that she was trying to impress Archie, no, that wasn’t
the reason at all.
    Archie
took a step back and looked Grace up and down. He said, “That’s a lovely
outfit, that colour suits you. I can see you’ve had a good night’s sleep, your
skin is glowing.”
    Grace
glowed a bit more as she waved away Archie’s compliments. She explained about
Frankie’s van as they walked into the kitchen.
    Archie
glanced at the clock on the kitchen wall and said, “We’ve