2 A Different Shade Of Death (7 page)

Chapter 19

Grace
put her plate and cup down and dashed over to Charlie. She automatically put
her hands on his shoulders. They sunk through to the sofa behind.

“Charlie!
Charlie! Wake up!” she cried out.

Charlie’s
eyelids fluttered.

“Wake
up! Don’t you dare pass out on me!” Grace wished she could grab his shoulders
and shake him.

His
mouth opened, his lips moved as if he was trying to say something.

“What
is it? Speak to me!” Grace yelled.

His
eyes opened fully. “Will you stop shouting? You sound like some sort of harpy.”

With
a sigh of relief Grace sat back on the sofa.

“Excuse
me, but you seem to be sitting on my legs,” Charlie pointed out.

“Oh,
sorry,” Grace stood up. “You gave me a fright, I thought you’d ...”

“Died?
I’ve already done that. I felt a bit peculiar, sleepy. I think I felt like that
before I died. I can’t remember much else though. I must have been confused
towards the end. Don’t just stand there looking useless, I thought you had a
plan of action.”

Grace
pressed her lips together, he really was annoying. She collected her plate and
cup and sat in a chair opposite Charlie.

“More
tea?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Grace
retorted, “Coffee, actually.” She immediately felt annoyed with herself for
rising to the bait. She took a few mouthfuls of her sandwich before she spoke
again.

She
put her sandwich down then reached for a notepad and pen. She opened the pad up
to a fresh page and looked at Charlie. “Right, I’m going to make a list of
everyone who may have wanted to kill you.”

Charlie
looked taken aback. “Wow, that’s a weird thing to hear about yourself.”

“Get
ready for more weirdness, I can already think of three, maybe four people who
would have liked to see you dead.”

“Go
on.” Charlie sat up and made himself comfortable.

A
thought flashed through Grace’s mind, do ghosts feel comfort? If they can feel
pain can they still feel other things? She’d have to ask Pearl.

Grace
said, “Amy is top of my list. You could have found out about her scheme and
threatened to tell the police or something.”

“Not
my style.”

“Or
you could have blackmailed her or forced her to give you a cut of her profits.”

“That
sounds more like me. But I really don’t remember anything like that. If I’d
have found out the truth about Amy before I died surely I would have
remembered?”

“Maybe.
Amy could have poisoned you slowly over a period of time. Maybe she didn’t like
you any more? Perhaps she’d had enough of you and your ridiculous opinions.”

Charlie’s
eyes narrowed. “What are you trying to say?”

Grace
gave an innocent shrug. “Nothing, just saying. The next person I can think of
is Toby. I know he’s your brother but he could have been jealous of your
success. Perhaps he even knew about Amy’s operation and wanted to be part of
it. Maybe Amy asked him to do away with you.”

“That
doesn’t sound like Toby. We had arguments but I don’t think he hated me.”

“Are
you sure? You can be quite irritating.”

“Are
these your unbiased opinions of what people might think of me? Or are your own
feelings clouding your judgement?” Charlie asked, his voice rising slightly.

Grace
lowered her pen. “I’m not sure. I’ll try to stay unbiased but I’ll have to be
honest, you are forthright with your views.”

“You’ve
said that already, it’s not a bad thing, you should try it sometime. Who’s next
on your list?”

“Ted,
the foreman. He could be lying to us about Amy. He’s got a temper. He could
have been so annoyed with you for taking Emily’s home that he decided to kill
you. And he admitted that he was the one who found you. Perhaps he found some
old tins of poison in the house. They used to put small amounts of poison in
certain substances, they didn’t realise there was any harm in it.”

Charlie
thought for a moment. “That is a possibility. You said there was a possible
fourth suspect, don’t tell me that you think Emily Heath might have killed me.”

Grace
drew a doodle on the paper. In a small voice she said, “We can’t rule anyone
out.”

“I
think we can rule Emily out. What do we do next? Are you going to question all
these suspects? You don’t seem the confrontational type.”

“I’m
not but I have to do something. I think it would help if we tried to go into a
vision again, perhaps find out more about you.”

Charlie
shrugged. “If you think it’s worth a go I’ll do it but I think you’re wrong.
We’ll end up in the hall again with that mad man pacing up and down.”

Grace
reached into her handbag and took the pocket watch out. She was about to sit
next to Charlie so he could touch the watch when the room began to blur.

“What’s
happening?” Charlie asked.

“Looks
like I don’t need you to touch the watch. Look, we’re in Heathville again. This
is the room I was in earlier with Amy.” Grace moved further into the room,
Charlie followed her.

He
said, “There I am, at my desk. What’s that I’m looking at?”

Grace
and Charlie moved closer to the Charlie in the vision. Grace looked over his
shoulder. “It looks like an old map.”

Charlie
said, “I remember now, it’s the original plans for the house. Can you see where
the hall is on the map?”

Grace
squinted and moved a bit closer. “Oh yes, I can make out the library as well.
Hang on, that doesn’t look right.”

“What
doesn’t? What’s happening now? Where’s the room going?”

“The
vision is changing again. I think we’ve gone back to the past.”

Charlie
looked around the room that they were now in. He said, “This isn’t the past,
this room is my secret office. I can’t remember how I found it, did someone
tell me about it? It’s amazing, isn’t it? It’s exactly the same as when the
house was built, no one has touched it, apart from adding a few modern touches
like the lights.  Look at the furniture, isn’t it beautiful?”

Grace
studied the room, it was beautiful. “Someone liked green, I’ve never seen so
many shades. Look at the flocked wallpaper, it’s a lovely mint green. The
paintwork, even the candles are green. It’s quite calming.”

A
sudden aroma made Grace retch. “What is that smell? It’s disgusting! Smells
like something mouldy and rotten.”

There
was no response. She looked to where Charlie was. She jumped as she saw his
horrified expression.

He
clutched his stomach in pain and cried out, “Get out, Grace! Get out of this
room!”

Chapter 20

The
green room faded and Grace found herself back in her living room. Charlie was
bent over on the sofa, his face was screwed up. He gasped, “This is the worst
I’ve been! It feels like I’m dying all over again. You’d better get to your
brother, he might be hurting too.”

Frankie’s
words suddenly came back to her. He’d called Charlie’s clothes ‘quality’ and
he’d said that he’d even consider wearing his suits. Was Frankie still been
affected by Charlie somehow? Another look at Charlie’s distorted features
spurred her into action.

Grace
flung the pocket watch into her handbag and grabbed her phone. Her fingers
shook as she pressed speed dial 1. The phone rang and rang, after a while it
went to voicemail.

Grace’s
scalp prickled. Something was wrong. Frankie always answered his phone.

“I’ll
have to go to the shop,” she said to Charlie.

Charlie
curled up even more, his body shimmered as if it was going in and out of focus.
Then, with an anguished cry, he disappeared.

Grace
didn’t have time to worry about Charlie, her primary concern was Frankie.

She
picked up her handbag and coat and raced out of her house. She ran to the bus
stop wishing fervently that she had a car.

She
hopped from foot to foot as she waited for the bus. Where was it? Could she run
to the shop instead?

She’d
phone for a taxi, that’s what she’d do. Grace pulled her phone out just as the
bus came round the corner. Typical. She put her phone away and stuck her hand
out for the bus.

Grace
climbed on and then sat on the edge of her seat willing the bus to go faster.
The driver was oblivious to her panic and whistled happily as he drove along.

Ten
minutes later Grace ran towards the shop. A disgruntled looking woman was
standing at the door.

Grace
put her hand on the door handle.

“Don’t
bother! He threw me out!”

“What?”
Grace said. She didn’t have time to chat.

The
woman nodded towards the shop. “That rude young man in there. I was looking at
some plates and wondering if they would do as a Christmas present for our
Brenda, she’s very fussy you know, when that young man told me to get out. So
rude!”

“Frankie?
What did he say?”

The
woman pursed her lips and pulled her handbag closer to her chest. “He said
something about not feeling well. He did look pale but he could have waited
until I made my mind up about that plate. Just a minute, don’t you work here
too? Are you going to open up? You can let me in.”

Grace
hesitated. Then she lied, “I can’t let you in, Frankie’s got a contagious
disease, he shouldn’t have been working today, I told him not to.”

The
woman took a step backwards as if Grace was disease ridden too.

Grace
carried on, “If I were you I’d go home and take a long shower. Or a bath. Have
a lie down.”

The
woman said, “I do feel a bit funny. You’re right, I’d better go. What disease
has he got?”

Grace
didn’t have time to be polite. She took out her shop key and quickly unlocked
the door. She shot a hurried, “Sorry,” to the woman and went into the shop,
locking the door behind her.

The
shop lights were on, the till was open. It looked as if Frankie had been in the
middle of serving someone.

Grace
ran through the shop and into the kitchen. She checked the toilet, Frankie
wasn’t there. She raced upstairs and into the stockroom that Frankie was
calling his home.

There
he was, lying on the bed, his eyes closed. Grace’s breath caught, he looked
like a ghost.

“Don’t
worry, he’s not dead. Yet.”

“Pearl!
What’s wrong with Frankie? Is he going to be all right?”

Pearl
sat down on the side of Frankie’s bed. “Frankie’s being affected by that ghost
of yours. I think he’s going to be fine, I hope he’s going to be all right.
I’ve seen this before, and I think I know why it’s happening.”

Grace
moved closer to Frankie. She placed her hand on his forehead. He felt as clammy
as a cold fish.

Pearl
said, “The person who murdered that Charlie fella is going to murder again. Are
you any closer to finding out who murdered him?”

Grace’s
eyes prickled. “I don’t know who it is. I can’t do this, Pearl.”

Pearl
looked up and gave her a steady look. “You can do this. You know who it is.
Just think, think about what you’ve seen and heard.”

Grace
sank down on to the floor. She roughly wiped away a tear. This was no time to
feel sorry for herself. “What will happen to Frankie if someone else dies? Why
is this happening to him?”

“He
got the full force of Charlie’s symptoms when he brought those clothes back
here. Is Charlie suffering too?”

Grace
nodded.

“The
next victim must be someone whom Charlie is close to, that must be why he’s
suffering again. You go downstairs and sit in the kitchen. Have a bit of quiet
time, I’ll look after young Francis here.”

Grace
gave Pearl a sad smile. “That’s what my mum called him. Everyone else called
him Frankie but she insisted on Francis, she said that was his proper name.”

“I
know. I’ve been in this shop a long time, I know how your mum spoke to him. Off
you go.”

Grace
suddenly straightened up. “That’s it! Of course! Why didn’t I realise?”

“Are
you going to explain yourself or do I have to guess?”

“Mum
wouldn’t use a different name for her son, and neither would Emily. When she
spoke about her son today she called him James. That name can be shortened to
Jim! There’s a Jim working at Heathville, Ted was shouting at him. Oh!”

Grace
stood up and walked to the other side of the room. She turned around and held
her finger up. “Ted said something to Jim earlier about not being used to working,
and Emily said her James had to get a job for the first time after their money
troubles started. I wonder if James and Jim are the same person. Jim could have
been with Ted when they found out about Amy. He was most likely there when
Charlie first moved in. Ted said that everyone thought Charlie was to blame for
losing Heathville. Jim must have hated what he thought Charlie had done to his
mum. And now ... now he knows that Amy is the one who caused Emily to lose the
house.”

Grace
stopped. A feeling of fear trickled down her back. “Jim, or James, must be
planning to kill Amy.”