Read Online The Last Reading (Storage Ghost Murders Book 1) by Gillian Larkin - Free Book Online Page B

you tell the Post
Office? Why is he still working as a postman?”
    Mae
gave Grace a grim look. “I didn’t have time, I had to go to the church, it was
the day of the psychic fair. It was the day that I died.”
    Grace
gave a low nod and said, “I think we’ve just found our murderer.”
     

Chapter 21
     
    Mae
and Grace sat in silence for a while, both lost in their thoughts.
    Grace
frowned and said, “Do you think he was at the fair?”
    “He
must have been although I don’t remember seeing him. I probably wouldn’t have
recognised him without his uniform. He could have been the one bringing me cups
of tea knowing that I’d have to pay a visit to the toilet eventually.”
    Grace
said, “He’s not a big man but it doesn’t take a lot of strength to push someone
down the stairs. He must have been looking for the pendulum when he started
rummaging through your clothes.”
    “That
makes sense. He must have been the one buying the locker, maybe he thought the
pendulum had rolled out when I fell.”
    “He
was taking a bit of a gamble with that, he paid a lot of money on the chance of
the pendulum being there. No wonder I couldn’t see him at the auction, he’s too
small to stand out from the crowd. Where is your pendulum?” Grace suddenly
gasped. “Don’t tell me you were buried with it? Is Tom mad enough to dig your
grave up?”
    Mae
gave a small laugh. “He’s mad enough but I hid the pendulum before I went to
the fair. I had a feeling that he wouldn’t be above breaking into my house when
I was out. Do you remember that box of childhood memories that I mentioned
earlier, when we were talking to Brenda?”
    Grace
nodded. “The one on top of your wardrobe? Is that where it is?”
    “It
is. I told Tom it wouldn’t do him any good to use the pendulum but ... you
should have seen the crazy look on his face. I didn’t think he was capable of
murder though.”
    “Do
you suppose he murdered Autumn Rose too? He could have been annoyed with her,
maybe he demanded winning lottery ticket numbers and she refused? Maybe she
just told him things that she’d found on the Internet about him. He told me
he’d been waiting months to see her, it could have enraged him again when he
didn’t get the information he wanted. Oh! Do you remember Shirley talking in
the cafe? She said something about annoying customers, ones that had even
turned up to her house. That could be Tom too.”
    “Sounds
like he’s working his way through all the psychics. Grace, you have to do
something, he might kill again.”
    Grace
considered this. “I wonder if he did try to break into your house after you
died. I’ll ask Brenda when I see her.” She looked at her watch. “We may as well
go now. I’ll tell Brenda everything we know. She might have spotted Tom at the
fair, she might have seen something that we missed.”
    “Good
idea. We could warn her as well, Tom might be looking at her as his next
victim.”
    Grace
stood up. “You’re right, let’s get going.”
    A
short while later Grace walked swiftly down the path of Mae’s house, the one
that now belonged to Brenda.
    She
stopped in surprise. “The back door’s wide open. It’s not warm enough for
that.”
    Mae
said, “Perhaps she’s with a client and they forgot to close the door when they
came in.”
    Grace
stepped carefully through the door. There was an eerie silence, the hairs on
her arm started to lift.
    Mae
followed her in and paused. “I can feel it too, something’s wrong.”
    They
heard a quiet mumble of voices coming from the living room. Grace walked
towards it.
    The
door was ajar. Grace peeped through. She could see Brenda kneeling on the
floor, her back was towards her. Grace heard a sob coming from Brenda.
    Without
thinking Grace barged into the room. “Brenda, are you all right? Have you
fallen?”
    Something
small prodded into Grace’s back. She looked over her shoulder, and down.
    Tom
smiled at her, it wasn’t a friendly smile. “Brenda hasn’t