A Deadly Lesson (Storage Ghost Murders Book 5) by Gillian Larkin Read Free Book Online Page B

of Mum’s favourite
songs was playing. Grace laughed and said, “Okay! I’ll do it!”
    Abbie
sat at Grace’s side as Grace drove home, as confidently as she could whilst
gripping the steering wheel tightly.
    It
was a strange feeling to be parking a car in front of her house. Grace liked
it. She gave her new car a friendly tap as she locked it up. She almost felt
like saying thank you to it.
    Grace
settled Abbie down in front of a season of Supernatural that she’d missed.
After yet another ready meal, Grace decided to check her emails.
    Two
people had replied to her query about Last Hope Repossessions.
    The
first came from Bertha - ‘That company is wonderful! The bank were going to
take my house but that nice girl sorted everything out for me. I sold my house
to them in no time! And now I’m paying rent and I get to stay in my lovely
home. That company was a god-send! Highly recommended!’
    The
second came from Tom - ‘They’re a bunch of lying criminals! Don’t go anywhere
near them. They trick people into selling their homes at ridiculously low
prices, they get them to pay a low rent to begin with. Then the thieves
increase the rent so that no one can afford to pay them. It happened to one of
my mates, he ended up moving out of his house because he couldn’t afford the
rent that those thieving sods made him pay! His house is now for sale at double
what those scumbags paid him. Keep right away from them! What I want to know is
how do they know when someone is having trouble with their mortgage? It’s an
inside job, that’s what it is. Search the Internet, you’ll find the truth.’
    Grace
sat back and looked at the message again. She was inclined to believe Tom,
rather than Bertha. Julianne’s company was up to no good. Did Julianne have
contacts at the bank still? Did they let her know when one of their customers
was in trouble? Did the informant get a cut of the profits? Grace had another
thought. Didn’t Abbie say her dad worked at the bank? Was he the informant?
    Had
Abbie found out what Julianne and her dad were up to? No, Abbie said Julianne’s
business had started up after she died. But still – maybe Julianne had
been making plans about setting the business up, and Abbie had found out about
it.
    Hmm.
She was going to have to speak to Julianne.
    Grace
hadn’t noticed Abbie was behind her until Abbie let out a gasp. “I can’t
believe Julianne’s involved in something like that! That Tom must be lying!
Creep!”
    Grace
turned to face Abbie. “You said that on the morning of your birthday, you and
Julianne were arguing. Can you remember any more about the argument?”
    Abbie’s
face screwed up in concentration. Her confused look was suddenly replaced by a
horrified one. She said, “I remember! I knew about the company. I heard her and
Carlos talking about it. Carlos said it would be like taking money from a baby.
Dad was involved somehow. I got mad with Julianne and said I’d tell Mum
everything! Then Julianne said something funny, she said really calmly, ‘We’ll
talk about it after the party.’”
    Abbie
slid slowly to the floor. Grace crouched at her side. Abbie looked at her and
said, “Do you think Julianne killed me? To keep me quiet?”
    Grace
truthfully said, “I’m not sure yet – but it is a possibility.”

 

Chapter 13

 
    Abbie
refused to speak for the rest of the night. She sat on the sofa and stared
morosely at the television. Grace tried to gently coax her out of her silence,
but Abbie ignored her.
    Grace
could see she was wasting her time so she slid another DVD of Supernatural into
the player and pressed, ‘Play All’. Then she bade Abbie a cheerful goodnight,
getting a grunt in return.
    Grace
could understand why Abbie was in a bad mood but her silence wasn’t going to
help them find out who killed her. Maybe she’d feel better in the morning.
    Grace
certainly did. She woke up with a plan. Making her way to the living room Grace
opened her computer and