Read Online 2 A Different Shade Of Death by Gillian Larkin - Free Book Online Page A

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