Free A Sweet Murder by Gillian Larkin

you?”
    Grace’s hands
flew to her face, she’d put her make-up on this morning, had it
smudged? “What do you mean? Have I got something in my teeth? My
hair?”
    Pearl unfolded
her arms and waved them up and down in front of Grace. “What have
you been eating? You’ve really piled the pounds on.”
    Grace shrugged.
“I’ve had a few sweets, that’s all.”
    “ A
few sweet shops by the look of it. Crikey, Grace, have you seen the
size of your chest, you’re practically bursting out of that blouse.
Is this something to do with that Connie woman? Or are you using it
as an excuse to stuff your face?”
    “ I’m
not sure, I just feel like eating sweets all the time. I haven’t
had any this morning though.”
    Pearl narrowed
her eyes. “Is that because you’ve run out?”
    Grace changed
the subject. “Have you seen Connie?”
    “ I’ve seen her all right. She’s turning into a right pain in
the ... well, you know what. She’s been gorging herself on sweets
too. It’s like she’s got a magic pocket that keeps filling up with
sweets. You’ll end up as a sweet eating ghost too if you don’t slow
down.”
    “ I
don’t understand how she can still be eating sweets when she’s
dead.”
    “ It’s a habit, people take habits with them when they die.
Tell me what you’ve found out about Connie’s death. I hope you’ve
been forceful with your investigations, not wishy
washy.”
    “ I’m
not wishy washy!” Grace protested.
    “ You
are sometimes but you’ll toughen up. Let’s go into the kitchen, I
can’t bear to listen to your brother any more, he sounds like a
demented pig.” Pearl looked Grace up and down and then added, “I
think there’s some fruit in the bowl downstairs.”
    Once they were
in the kitchen Grace told Pearl everything that she had found out
so far. Pearl said, “So we know that Lucinda’s up to no good, and
that Vincent rented the locker. Hang on, when did you say Connie
died?”
    Grace looked at her notes. “16 th July.”
    Pearl frowned.
“And when did Vincent rent the locker?”
    Grace took
another look at her notes. “Oh! It was two months before that! I
hadn’t realised. Sorry, Pearl, I should have made that connection
last night.”
    “ Not
to worry, you were too busy having a sweet feast, I’ll let you off.
That’s interesting about Vincent. He rented the locker before
Connie died. I wonder if he was getting it ready to store the
things from the shop, is that what you said was in the locker? I
wonder if Connie knew he was ripping everything out of the original
shop.”
    “ I
did not!” an indignant voice rang out. Connie stood behind Pearl,
her hands on her hips. “I made it very clear to my family that the
original shop was to stay exactly as it was! How dare he take
everything away! He knew what it meant to me.”
    “ We
don’t know that it was Vincent who took everything away,” Grace
said gently, wanting to calm Connie down.
    “ It
most likely was,” Pearl said. “I think he planned to top you more
than six months ago, maybe when he had that meeting with your
daughters. Then he thought he’d get rid of the shop fittings once
you were dead. He rented the unit in readiness for your
demise.”
    Grace remembered
that Vincent had stopped paying for the unit two months ago,
despite reminders from Bill. She told the two ghosts about
this.
    Pearl nodded in
a knowing manner. “Once Connie had died he couldn’t bear to look at
the old stuff any more and thought he’d let it go to auction. No
more reminders of his old mum.”
    “ Pearl,” Grace said in a warning voice.
    “ What? I’m only saying what I think, like it or lump
it.”
    “ Pearl! She’s going a funny colour again, that grey
colour.”
    Pearl turned
around. “Not again! Connie! What did I tell you? You’ve got to
control your emotions.” Pearl looked back at Grace. “She was doing
this all day yesterday, I had to keep her away from you. I thought
we’d got it under control.”
    Pearl