A Sweet Murder by Gillian Larkin Read Free Book Online Page A

got nothing to do
with Connie.”
    Grace told Pearl
all about the family vision. When she’d finished Pearl said, “Treat
that vision as a gift, a lost memory that’s been given back to you.
A lot of people will never get that.”
    Pearl gave Grace
a kiss on her cheek. It felt warm. Pearl was the only ghost who
felt warm against Grace. Whenever another ghost had connected with
her physically she had felt a coldness.
    Grace was
touched by Pearl’s kindness. But not for long.
    “ Get
yourself home and get some beauty sleep,” Pearl ordered. “You’d
give Frankenstein’s monster a run for his money with that face of
yours at the moment.”
    Pearl winked at
her and disappeared. Grace shook her head, Pearl was beginning to
sound like Frankie.
    Grace caught the
bus home and was soon walking though her front door. After
something to eat and an episode of ‘Murder, She Wrote’ she was
ready for bed.
    She was almost
asleep when her phone rang. She glanced at her bedside clock – 11
p.m. Who was ringing at this time? Grace steeled herself for bad
news.
    It was Frankie,
he sounded impossibly loud and happy. “I’ve remembered where I’ve
seen that chair before! It was in a sweet shop, about twenty miles
from here. Mum and Dad took us once, I got some banana fizzles and
you got some chocolate buttons! Ha! I knew I’d remember. See you
later!”
    Before Grace
could ask him if he was drunk he’d rung off. She’d nag him tomorrow
about that.
    Grace dreamt
about being in the sweet shop with her family. When she woke up her
heart felt warm from the memory but her pillow was damp.
    She swung her
feet onto the floor. Something crackled. Grace frowned when she saw
two empty sweet packets next to her bed. What was that ache in her
jaw? Had she been grinding her teeth in the night?
    She looked at
the empty packets again. She hadn’t eaten any sweets before bed.
Where had the packets come from?
    Grace pressed
her lips together. Don’t say she’d been sleepwalking, and then
sleepeating. She shook her head. It seemed that Connie was having a
strong effect on her, she’d have to find out who her murderer was
soon otherwise her teeth would fall out. Having the odd sweet now
and again was fine but stuffing her face in her sleep was another
matter.
    Grace stood up
and straightened her pillow and bed cover. She suddenly laughed as
she remembered a joke Dad used to tell her – ‘I had a dream last
night that I was eating a giant marshmallow. When I woke up my
pillow was gone’.
    Grace patted the
pillow, glad it was still there.
     

Chapter 13
     
    Frankie was
snoring his head off when Grace arrived at the shop. She closed the
door to his bedroom/stockroom and then opened the shop for the day.
Despite calling out for them neither Pearl nor Connie
appeared.
    The shop was
pleasantly busy and Grace made many sales. There was a lull in
customers when Frankie finally ventured into the shop at 11
a.m.
    He yawned and
scratched his side as he walked over to Grace.
    Grace wrinkled
her nose. “Your breath stinks! What were you drinking last night?
And what time did you come home?”
    Frankie leant
against an antique table and rubbed his bristly chin, his eyes
looked bloodshot. “Some time in the morning, we went to a
club.”
    “ We?”
    “ Yeah, me and the woman. Put the kettle on, I’m
parched.”
    “ Put
the kettle on yourself. Don’t you think you’re too old to be going
to clubs?”
    Frankie’s tired
eyes twinkled. “You’re only as old as the woman you feel. Pop some
bread in the toaster whilst you’re in the kitchen.”
    “ Do
it yourself, and don’t be disgusting. How old is your lady
friend?”
    “ A
couple of years older than you. Do you have to nag?”
    “ Yes. Will there be many more late nights?”
    Frankie slumped
onto the table. “I hope not. I know I look young but I can’t do
that every night. Those people in the club never stopped dancing. I
think it must be the sugar.”
    “ What sugar?” Grace