#1Second Hand Ghosts - The Final Bet (A Paranormal Mystery) (3 page)

Emily began to close her eyes, “Can you make him happy, mum? I don’t like him being sad.”

I told Emily I would talk to the man and then I kissed her goodnight.

I walked downstairs. I was mad with Frank. Not only had he ‘forgotten’ to tell me about his gambling debts, he was now getting my daughter to feel sorry for him. I had a word or two to say to him!

But when I saw Frank all my anger went away. He wasn’t just sitting on the settee, he seemed to have collapsed into it. His whole body seemed to have shrunk and his face was hollow. Emily was right about his colour, he looked grey. Even his navy cardigan had turned grey.

He looked up at me, “Please don’t be angry, Kate. I’ve been such a fool. No one can hate me as much as I hate myself.”

I sat down next to him and asked him to explain.

“When I first met you I’d forgotten about the gambling thing but as soon as I saw Peggy then I remembered the whole horrible mess. I only started a few years ago. I got this voucher for a free bet at a casino in Leeds. I was good at it at first and won a lot of money. I thought I could win lots of money and then take Peggy to all the places she’s wanted to go. But then I began to lose money, more money than I had. So I took out loans and credit cards.”

“I’m surprised you got credit, you know, at your age,” I said as politely as I could.

Frank gave me a sad smile, “Some people will always lend you money. There were people at the casino who did that. The gambling was like an addiction. I couldn’t stop and I was too ashamed to tell Peggy. And now she’s found out. No wonder she hates me.”

“She doesn’t hate you, she told me so. I think she’s still in shock,” I said, trying to make Frank feel better. “Lots of people have debts, there are places that can help.”

Frank shook his head, “Me and Peggy have never been in debt. If we didn’t have the money for something we’d save up or do without. I can’t believe what I’ve done to her.”

I looked at the boxes of Frank’s things that I’d brought in from the car. I pointed to them and said, “Do you think there’s anything in there worth something?”

“Nothing but memories in there. If you could sell memories then we’d be rich,” Frank sighed. Then he frowned, “Hang on, I think there might be something.”

He thought for a few minutes. I waited hopefully. He shook his head.

“I can’t remember. Probably just wishful thinking,” Frank said. “Do you think you can help Peggy with the debt stuff?”

“I can try,” I said.

Frank sighed again and seemed to shrink even more, “I can’t believe I was such an idiot. Do you think Peggy will forgive me one day?”

“I’m sure she will. I’ll speak to her tomorrow and tell her what you’ve told me,” I promised.

“Thank you, lass,” Frank said. He disappeared.

I knew someone who could give me money advice – Carol. But she’d already given me her view on this ghost business and I wasn’t sure she’d help me. I’d have to ask her anyway.

I got off the settee and sat on the floor. I pulled one of Frank’s boxes towards me and tipped the contents carefully onto the floor.

If there was anything valuable in these boxes I was determined to find it.

Chapter 12

I didn’t find anything of value in the boxes. There were a lot of unopened bank statements. I guessed that Frank didn’t want to face the reality of his money situation. I found lots of cards that Peggy had sent to Frank over the years. I looked at a few but it didn’t feel right so I put the bundle in my handbag. Perhaps Peggy would like them back.

Emily was in a better mood when I dropped her at school.

“That man isn’t as sad anymore, is he, Mum?” she said.

“No, he’s a bit better. Did he scare you? When you saw him?” I asked.

Emily laughed, “No, he wasn’t scary at all. Were you scared? If we see any more ghosts you can hold my hand. Bye, Mum.”

She skipped towards the school entrance.

Carol was inside the shop when I arrived.

“Do you think we should change the name of the shop? ‘Second Hand Rose’ is so old fashioned,” Carol said.

“We haven’t even buried Rose yet,” I said coldly. “And we don’t even know what’s going to happen to the shop. There’ll probably be a will or something.”

“If she made a will. You know she wasn’t a paperwork sort of person. Always seemed to be going out somewhere on urgent business,” Carol tutted.

I wondered if that urgent business was ghost business, and if I’d end up doing the same. I wasn’t even sure I wanted to help ghosts as it was just bringing me problems at the moment.

Which reminded me.

“I need your help,” I began.

“Does it involve ghosts?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“Then the answer’s no.”

“It’s about money too,” I added.

Carol’s eyebrows moved up a bit. She liked talking about money.

“You can tell me what you need to, and then I’ll tell you if I can help,” Carol offered. “But I’ll probably say no.”

I told her all about Frank, Peggy and the debt problem.

Carol said, “I don’t want to get involved with other people’s debts.”

“I’m only asking for your advice. I didn’t want to deal with Frank’s ghost but I’m doing it because of Rose. She was good to me and she was good to you too! Can’t you just help!”

“Okay, no need to shout,” Carol said. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“Good,” I said and I put one of Frank’s boxes on the counter. It had documents inside.

The shop door opened.

“We’re closed!” Carol shouted.

I looked over to see who had walked in.

It was Peggy. And she wasn’t alone. A big man wearing a leather jacket was walking right behind her. Peggy looked scared.

She walked over to us, the man right behind her.

“I need my rings back,” she said in a wobbly voice. “This man has come to see me about Frank’s debts and he says he can take the rings as part payment.”

The man spoke. “And then I’ll see what else you can sell.”

The man had such a menacing way about him that even Carol looked frightened.

Peggy put her hand on my arm. She was shaking. “Just give him the rings. Please.”

Chapter 13

Carol looked at me and said, “Are the rings in the safe, Kate?”

“Yes, I put them in there yesterday,” I said. I knew Carol was thinking about when the rings appeared on my finger the previous day.

Carol bent down to open the safe. A few seconds later she straightened up and looked at me again.

“Kate?” she asked.

I didn’t need to look at my hand to know that the rings were there again, I could feel them. Which meant that Frank must be nearby.

I held up my hand and said to the man, “Are these what you’re looking for?”

Peggy looked confused, “Why are you wearing them?”

“I’m keeping them safe. Frank doesn’t want you to sell them,” I explained.

“Frank isn’t here,” Peggy said quietly.

Before I could say, “Actually, he is,” the man moved forward and roughly grabbed my hand.

“Stop messing. I haven’t got time for this. The rings belong to me now. Hand them over,” he snarled.

He was even more scary close up.

I snatched my hand back and said, “Okay.”

I tried to pull the rings off. They wouldn’t move.

“Let me try,” Peggy offered. She was very gentle and absolutely no use. The rings stayed on my finger.

“I’ll do it,” Carol stepped forward and almost pulled my fingers off. But still, the rings didn’t move.

The man in the leather coat narrowed his eyes. Then he grinned. He reached into a pocket and pulled out a knife.

Peggy screamed. Carol ran behind the counter. I nearly had an embarrassing accident.

“I’ll just have to cut your finger off then, won’t I?” he sneered.

Someone else appeared in the shop.

It was Frank. He stood at the side of the man and said, “I know him! This is the man who leant me the money at the casino to have a ‘final bet’. I told him I didn’t want to gamble anymore but he insisted. And when I lost the money he came to the house and threatened me! He said if I didn’t pay he would hurt Peggy! I was so scared.”

I looked from Frank to the man. “You went to Frank’s house, didn’t you?”

The man rubbed his nose, “I might have.”

“And you threatened him. You threatened an old man,” I went on, my voice rising.

“So? He owed me money,” the man said.

Frank clutched his chest and cried out, “Kate! This is how I died! This man scared me so much that my heart stopped. He stood there and watched me die!”

Chapter 14

My eyes widened. I moved closer to the man. I didn’t care that he had a knife pointed at me.

“You killed Frank!” I prodded his chest. “You watched him die!”

The man looked at the floor and muttered, “He owed me money.”

He didn’t see Peggy’s face getting redder. He didn’t see how she quickly pushed up her coat sleeves. But he certainly felt the first hit of her handbag against his head.

“You killed my Frank!” Peggy screamed and she launched into a full attack on the man. The knife fell on the floor. I quickly kicked it under a nearby set of drawers. Frank was right about Peggy being like a firecracker.

Carol and I watched as Peggy laid into the man. She bashed him over and over with her bag. I was impressed with her energy. We were ready to help Peggy, if needed. It wasn’t a fair fight, the man didn’t stand a chance.

After a while Peggy got tired and stopped hitting the man. He took the opportunity to run towards the door and out of the shop.

As he went out he shouted, “I’m coming back for my money. And I won’t be on my own!”

I got Peggy a chair as she looked exhausted. Carol went into the kitchen to make us all strong tea.

“I right enjoyed that,” Peggy said. “Serves him right. I know he’ll be back though. I’m going to have to sell the rings. Can you try and take them off again?”

I pulled the rings, they came off easily. I handed them to Peggy. She put them in her handbag.

Frank was still in the shop. He was walking up and down and muttering to himself, “The paper! Where did I put it? I need the paper!”

Peggy  said, “Is Frank here now? Did he tell you about that man?”

I nodded and told her that he was now going on about some paper.

“Does he want me to buy a newspaper?” Peggy asked.

“I don’t think so,” I said.

Frank was getting more irate. Then he stopped pacing and said, “Yes! That’s it!”

He walked behind the counter and the next thing we saw was my handbag hurtling through the air!

The bag landed in front of us. All the contents, including personal items spilled out. I quickly picked things up and tried to put them back in my bag.

Frank was practically jumping up and down. “The cards! Look inside the cards!” he yelled at me.

I’d forgotten about the cards that I’d put in my bag. I was going to give them back to Peggy anyway so I handed them over to her.

Peggy smiled, “Thank you. I didn’t want to throw them away. I was just so mad with Frank.”

“Look inside! Look inside!” Frank shouted in my ear.

“Ouch!” I said. “No need to shout, I’ll tell her.”

I told Peggy what Frank had said.

Her cheeks went red, “I’d rather do that at home. There are some private messages in here.”

Frank looked liked he was about to explode.

“Frank wants you to look now. There might be something important inside one of them,” I said.

I pulled a chair up next to Peggy whilst she went through the cards.

I waited patiently as she went through each card. There were no hidden papers stuck inside any of them. The hopeful look on Frank’s face died away.

Peggy read the last card.

Still nothing.

Peggy put the cards together and got ready to put them in her bag.

“What’s that?” I spotted some writing on the back of  one of the cards.

Peggy turned it over. She read the words written in pencil, “Trinity Mutual Life Insurance.”

I pointed to some numbers. “That looks like a policy number. Did Frank have a life insurance policy?”

“I don’t know, he never mentioned anything,” Peggy said.

I looked up at Frank. He was grinning broadly.

“I remember now! I did have a policy. I took it out when we first got married. I wanted to make sure that Peggy would be okay if something happened to me.”

I told Peggy what Frank had said.

She grabbed my hand and smiled, “Oh! What good news!”

“What’s good news?” Carol said as she walked towards us with a tray of cups.

“It’s good news about Trinity Mutual Life Insurance,” I said.

Carol put the tray down on a table. “I don’t see how any news about that company can be good. They went out of business years ago.”

Chapter 15

Peggy went so pale that I thought she was going to faint. I put extra sugar in her tea and handed it to her. She sipped it slowly.

“I thought my money problems were over for a moment,” she said sadly. “I will have to sell my rings after all.”

I noticed that Frank had gone.

I told Carol to look after Peggy for a while. I stood up and walked into the back room. Something was bothering me. It was about that life insurance company. I’d heard something years back but I couldn’t quite remember what. I switched on the computer, and once it had warmed up, I did some research.

I found some interesting information but I didn’t know if it would help Peggy.

I went back into the shop and over to the counter. Carol came over to join me.

She whispered, “I can’t look after her for much longer. You know I’m not good with emotions.”

I told Carol what I’d discovered. Her eyes lit up and she said, “ I know where to look.”

Carol picked up Frank’s papers and was soon looking at bank statements.

Her eyes scanned the documents. Her finger pointed to some numbers.

“That might be what we’re looking for,” she said. She checked some more statements and nodded.

I took the statements over to Peggy. I sat next to her.