Jacob's Coins: A Cozy Ghost Mystery (Storage Ghost Mysteries Book 1) (3 page)

Chapter 8

Grace
followed Sylvester and Frankie over to a line of storage lockers. Frankie was
walking behind Sylvester with a funny look on his face. Grace sized him up. A
lovesick puppy, that’s what he looked like she decided. She grabbed his arm and
pulled him closer to her. She hissed, “Get rid of that soppy look on your face,
people are staring.”

Frankie
blinked a few times, his smile faded, but then it came back. “I can’t help it,
Grace! It’s him. He’s my favourite auctioneer. It’s like meeting a Hollywood
Star!”

“Yes,
I worked that out. But you’re going to have to calm down. Look around us,
everyone’s sizing us up, like we’re some sort of bait.”

Frankie
did look around. His smile completely vanished. In a quiet voice he said,
“What’s wrong with them all? Not a friendly face amongst them. It’s not like
this on the telly.”

Grace
folded her arms and looked at Frankie. “I don’t like it, I hate people staring
at me. Do you think they recognise us? From the papers? Or the television?”

Frankie
gave her a concerned look. “Doesn’t matter if they do, that’s in the past.
Don’t let anyone upset you, Grace. I’ve calmed down now. I’m going to put on my
poker-face, the other buyers won’t know that I’m new. Look.”

Frankie’s
features rearranged themselves into a serious look.

Grace
pressed her lips together to stop laughter escaping. A little giggle came out.

Frankie
shot her a look. “What’s so funny?”

“You
might have a poker-face but your eyebrows are jiggling about like demented
caterpillars!”

The
side of Frankie’s mouth lifted a little. “My eyebrows are still excited about
seeing Sylvester Sylver. Shhh! It’s starting!”

Sylvester
Sylver stood in front of the lockers. Grace was thankful to see everyone turn
their attention away from her and Frankie, and towards Sylvester.

“Good
morning, folks! What an amazing day for an auction!” Sylvester began. “Now, you
know the rules but I’ll repeat them. You get thirty seconds to look in the
room, absolutely no one must enter. You will be thrown out if you do! And don’t
let my age deceive you, I’ve thrown out many a bidder before and I’ll do it
again!”

Frankie
elbowed Grace and said, “He has, I’ve seen him, it’s awesome.”

Sylvester
continued, “Whoever gets the highest bid wins the locker. I’m the auctioneer,
I’m the expert, I’m the one who sees the final bid. There is no arguing with
me! And it’s cash only. No cheques, no running to an ATM and no IOUs! Are we
clear?”

There
were a few murmurs and nods of heads.

Sylvester
released his megawatt smile and yelled, “Let’s begin!”

Frankie
gasped. “The first locker is opening! Grace, I can’t believe we’re here. I
think I might throw up!”

Grace
smiled at her brother. She was happy that he was so excited, he hadn’t been
this excited about anything since the accident.

The
locker opened and people moved forward.

“Are
we looking in?” Grace asked.

“We
might as well,” Frankie said casually. “I know we’re not buying, but we can
look.”

Grace
looked towards the sky and gave a little shake of her head. He was obviously
lying, she was going to have to let him know that she knew about his plan to
buy something.

They
moved closer to the locker.

The
people in front must have spotted something valuable because they were talking
to each other in excited whispers.

It
was their turn to look.

Frankie
pointed and said, “Look at that beautiful wardrobe, that’ll be worth a penny or
two. That sideboard looks expensive too, I think it’s probably two hundred
years old.”

Grace
nodded. She could see the furniture. She could see something else too.

She
could see the ghost standing at the side of the wardrobe.

Chapter 9

Grace
had been seeing strange figures for a while, since after the accident. At first
she thought her eyes were playing tricks on her, but she soon realised that she
was seeing real things. The figures were shadow-like at first but as months
passed, and Grace paid more attention, the shadows took the form of people.

Grace
knew she was seeing ghosts but there was no way she could tell anyone, Frankie
had never said anything but she knew from his long looks that he still
considered her a risk for another breakdown. She quite often felt on the edge
of one, her doctor said the feeling would pass, that she would get stronger.

Grace
hoped so, it felt like her self-confidence had died in the accident along with
her parents.

She
looked at the ghost in the locker. The figure shimmered around the edges
slightly. It looked like the figure was put there as an afterthought, like a
bad special effect. Grace concentrated on the vision, it came more into focus.

The
ghost was of a small woman, from her clothes Grace guessed that she must have
been from the Victorian age. The woman moved closer to the wardrobe and began
dusting it, she seemed to be singing as she did so. Her lips moved and Grace
heard a faint tune.

Perhaps
the wardrobe belonged to her? Or had been passed down through her family?
Grace had the sudden urge to move closer to the woman and try to talk to her.
It would be wonderful to find out the history of the items in the locker.

She
took a step forward, and then stopped herself. She could just imagine what
everyone would say if she started talking to someone that only she could see. Frankie
would drag her away and down to the hospital in a heartbeat.

Grace
stood still and watched the woman, she was giving the wardrobe a thorough clean.

“Who’s
going to give me £100 for this beautiful locker?” Sylvester called out. “Looks
like it might be from the Victorian age, these are quality items.”

The
bidding began. If the Victorian woman was aware of the talking she showed no
indication of it.

There
were grunts, murmurs and calls of ‘Here!’ as the auction went on. Grace looked
at the bidders, she had no idea who was bidding. She glanced at Frankie, he
looked as confused as she felt.

“Sold!
To the man with the overgrown beard!” Sylvester announced. “Let’s move on,
folks, there’s plenty more to see.”

A
hairy-faced man moved towards the locker and pulled the door down. Grace’s last
glimpse of the ghost showed the woman fluttering her duster into the air. Ghost
dust?

Frankie
rubbed his hands together and grinned at her. “That was awesome! I can’t wait
to join in the bidding.”

Grace
raised her eyebrows at him. “Bidding? I thought we were just looking.”

Frankie
shoved his hands in his pockets and said, “Well, there might be a cheap locker,
one that has stuff for the shop, you never know.”

“But
how are you going to bid? You don’t have any money,” Grace pointed out.

Frankie
kicked at some loose stones on the ground. “I’ve got a bit, I sold my bike.”
Grace’s hand flew to her mouth. “Frankie, no! Not your motorbike! It’s your
pride and joy.”

Frankie
met her look, he raised his chin and said, “Pride and joy doesn’t pay the
bills. I didn’t have a choice.”

Grace
put her hand on his arm, “I’m sorry you had to do that. I’ve still got a bit of
money in savings, you should have come to me.”

Frankie
gave her a brave smile. “I can look after myself, I’d never take your money,
you need it. Besides, if we get a good locker I might make lots of money and
get myself an even better bike.”

Grace
matched his smile. “Well, you’d better get a good locker then.”

A
loud shout made them both jump.

“Oi!
You two! You shouldn’t be here!”

They
turned towards where the voice was coming from.

Frankie
gulped. “Is that a bear or a man?”

“I
don’t know but he’s heading our way, I don’t like the look on his face,” Grace
said. She looked towards where their van was parked. Should they make a run for
it?

Chapter 10

The
bear-like man strode towards them so quickly that any thoughts of escape were
useless.

He
bore down on them and blocked out the sun. His thick eyebrows moved downwards
as he studied them.

He
suddenly smiled. “I thought it was you two, it’s Frankie and Grace isn’t it?”

Frankie
nodded.

The
man grabbed Frankie’s hand and shook it. “I knew your dad, he was a great
fella. We used to go to antique auctions together. Did he ever mention me?
Bob’s my name, but everyone calls me Big Bob, for obvious reasons.”

“Big
Bob? Yes! Dad told us about you,” Frankie said. “He said you had a good eye for
antiques.”

Big
Bob released Frankie’s hand. “Yes, I do. My mum said it’s a gift. What are you
doing here? I thought you were carrying on your dad’s business.”

Frankie
shrugged and said, “There’s not much money in antiques, I thought I’d look into
something else.”

Big
Bob studied Frankie for a second. In a quieter voice he said, “I was sorry to
hear about your mum and dad. It was a great loss. And I don’t believe for a
second what the papers said about him.”

Grace
spoke, “Thank you, that means a lot.”

Big
Bob smiled at her. “I’m glad you’re out of danger, from the photos in the paper
it looked like you were lucky to be alive.”

Grace
nodded, she didn’t feel lucky. There had been more than one dark day when she’d
wished that she’d died in the car accident too.

Big
Bob said, “You’re right about there not being much money in antiques, there is
still some but you have to find the right items. That’s why I come here, I
stock up on things that I know will sell,  it’s not always antiques, but I have
found the odd valuable item now and again. It’s like going on a treasure hunt.”

Big
Bob reached into his pocket and took out a card, he handed it to Frankie. “Have
a look at my website, you’ll see the sort of things I sell. Call round to the
shop too, I do a lot of business online but I get plenty of customers in the
shop too. I can always give you a bit of business advice, if you’d like it?”

Frankie
shrugged again. “I think we’ll be all right.”

A
frustrated sigh escaped from Grace. Why was he being so difficult? Man pride or
something just as stupid. She said to Big Bob, “That’s really kind of you, we
appreciate it. How long have you been coming to these storage lockers?”

Big
Bob let out a loud bark of laughter. “About a year. You wouldn’t believe the
mistakes I made at first! I thought I knew what I was doing. I wasted a lot of
money. Hey, would you like to walk round the rest of the lockers with me? I
could give you some advice.”

“That
would be lovely, thank you. Don’t you think so, Frankie?”

Another
shrug from Frankie. “We can do.”

“Follow
me,” Big Bob said.

The
huge man turned away. Grace gave Frankie a little shove.

“Hey!
What was that for?” he said.

“For
being a man!” Grace said and she gave him another shove for good measure.

She
walked after Big Bob. She grinned, it felt good to feel a bit of anger, she
hadn’t felt anything other than hopelessness for months.

Chapter 11

The
rest of the auction continued. It went so fast that it made Grace’s head spin.

She
didn’t know where to look. She was mesmerised by Sylvester Sylver’s warm voice
and friendly smile. She had no idea what he was saying at times, he seemed to
sing as he called out the bids.

The
other bidders nodded and mumbled, she sort of followed the bids for a while but
soon lost track of who was winning.

Big
Bob stood at their side and indicated towards the lockers and whether they were
worth bidding for or not. Frankie had lost his stubbornness and paid close
attention to what Big Bob was saying. Big Bob also warned them about some of
the other bidders, the ones he called the ‘big players’.

But
it was the ghosts that caught Grace’s attention. They weren’t in every locker
but the ones that Grace saw were getting clearer. She was even starting to hear
what some of them were saying. She blushed slightly as a young female ghost
swore profusely as her sewing table was sold for £10.

Frankie
tugged at her jacket. “I want to bid on something, Grace. What do you think,
shall we try and get a bit of something for the shop?”

Big
Bob overheard him. “Would you like me to bid for you? You might not of noticed
but some of the big players have been keeping an eye on you. As soon as you
start to bid they’ll bid against you and raise the price. I’ve seen it happen
before.”

Frankie
shoved his hands deep into his pockets and said defiantly, “I can do it
myself.”

Grace
sighed and said, “For goodness sake! Stop trying to be so macho! Accept help
when it’s offered.”

“You’re
a fine one to talk,” Frankie mumbled. He looked up at Big Bob and nodded
reluctantly. “Thanks.”

“No
problem, there’s only one locker left. Let’s have a closer look,” Big Bob said.

They
moved closer to the freshly opened locker. Grace heard other people say that it
was rubbish and not worth anything. Was it that bad?

They
looked in the room. It didn’t have much. It looked like a bedroom from the
1980s. There was a slim wardrobe, a chest of drawers and a single bed.

Big
Bob nodded and said, “It looks like someone moved house and forgot to come back
for this. There’s nothing special, quite recent stuff and not even quality
items. Not worth a bid.”

Frankie
looked disappointed.

Grace
looked closer at the bed. She turned to Frankie and said, “Why don’t you bid on
it anyway? If you’re intent on staying in the stockroom at the shop you could
do with a bit of furniture.”

Frankie’s
eyes lit up. “Excellent idea.”

Grace
turned back to the room and looked straight into the sad eyes of the teenage
ghost who was sitting on the bed.