Jacob's Coins: A Cozy Ghost Mystery (Storage Ghost Mysteries Book 1) (7 page)

Chapter 23

Grace
moved to the front of the shop as if examining the contents in the window.
Jacob followed her.

Grace
took out her phone and typed in, ‘You look as if you’re glowing. What’s
happening?’

Jacob
smiled, a look of peace settled on his face. “I think it’s time for me to go,
move on.”

He
looked forward, his smile grew as if he could see something wonderful.

Grace
typed again. ‘Go where? What can you see?’

Jacob
laughed. “My grandad! And his brother, the Jacob we saw earlier, he’s giving me
a thumbs up. They want me to join them.”

He
looked back at Grace. “Do you want me to stay? Will you be all right?”

Grace’s
eyes prickled. She felt as if she was losing a friend. That was ridiculous!
She’d only known him a day. And he was only 17. And he was a ghost.

“You
go,” she whispered. “I think it’s time for you to go to wherever ghosts go.”

He
nodded and looked forward again. “I feel all warm and fuzzy inside, like I used
to do when I was little.” He shot her a final look and said, “Thanks for
helping me, Grace.”

Jacob
moved forward in a glow of light. Bit by bit he disappeared, the last thing to
go was his mullet hair.

Grace
tapped in to her phone, ‘You helped me more. Thanks, Jacob.”

“Hey,
Sis, what’s wrong? Why are you crying?”

Grace
quickly brushed her tears away and looked into the concerned face of her
brother. “I’m just happy, it’s nice to have a bit of money for a change.”

Frankie
nodded and said, “I think our luck is changing. If we go to more storage
auctions we can find more treasure. We can soon pay Eddie Tominski off.”

“I’ve
been thinking about that, I could go back to school and start teaching again.
We can put money aside and pay Eddie off bit by bit. It’s time I did something.
I never said thank you for dealing with all the legal stuff after Mum and Dad
died. It can’t have been easy having to sell everything.”

“It
wasn’t, but I had to do it. You’re not going back to work yet, I don’t think
you’re ready. And don’t get on your high-horse and start being stubborn about
it. I think we should try some more auctions, just go for it and see what
happens. Look at this.” Frankie got his phone out and opened his emails. He
proudly said, “I’m on Sylvester Sylver’s mailing list, he’s going to let me
know when the next auction is.”

Grace
hated to diminish the light in Frankie’s eyes but she had to say it. “It’s a
dream, Frankie, trying to find treasure in those lockers. We should think about
something else.”

A
tune rang out loudly, startling them all. Big Bob called over, “It’s that your
ringtone, Grace? Bruce Springsteen? You don’t look the type.”

Grace
blushed and looked at her phone. How had that ringtone got there?

There
was a text.

‘Grace!
I’m sending a text! It’s me! Jacob! You have to go for it, you have to go to
the storage auctions! You have to live!’

Grace
smiled. How on earth had he managed to do that? Her smile faded, she still
wasn’t sure, it seemed too much of a risk. They needed to make a sensible plan.

Bruce
sang out again as another text came through.

‘Grace,
don’t freak out but I’ve got a message from your dad. He says you were right,
he wasn’t drunk, he’s been framed. He says you’ll find the answer in the
storage lockers. Just do it!’

Frankie
caught Grace before she hit the floor. “Whoa! Steady there. I’m taking you
home.”

Grace’s
head spun as she was led into the van. She heard Big Bob call out that he would
bring their money over later. Frankie checked she was buckled in before he drove
off.

“Are
you okay? You had me worried there for a moment. Too much excitement in one
day, Grace. Imagine if it was like this every day! So awesome!” Frankie laughed
as he drove.

Grace
checked her phone again. The messages from Jacob had gone.

Had
she imagined it?

Frankie’s
phone pinged. He nodded at it on top of the dashboard and said, “That’s an
email  message, read it out for me.”

Grace
picked up his phone and read the message. “It’s from your friend, Sylvester,
there’s an auction next week.”

Frankie
grinned and banged his hands on the steering wheel in delight. “Awesome! Are
you coming with me?”

Grace
took a breath. The dancing butterfly of excitement was spreading its wings in
her  tummy, it was hard to resist. It was good to feel excited about something
again. Perhaps she should go to the storage auctions, perhaps she could help
more ghosts. And maybe she’d find the answer to the puzzle about her father’s
death.

She
said, “Yes, I’ll be there.”

A
note from the author

Just
like Frankie in this story I love watching storage auction programmes. I’ve
never been to one but I’d love to visit one of the big ones in America, I’m
sure I’d be useless at bidding though – I’d be too excited.

When
I watch the shows I always wonder where the items have come from, and who they
belonged to. I wondered what would happen if some of the items had ghosts
attached. I reached a point where I couldn’t stand it anymore and I knew I had
to write some stories down, I was inspired by the variety of items that have
been discovered in storage lockers.

I
hope you enjoyed this first story. If you did could you post a quick review?
Thank you, I read all my reviews and I really do appreciate them.

You
can buy the box set of this series which includes this story and the following
4 stories:

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Com

Amazon
UK

The
second book in this series is Lost And Found:

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Com

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UK

The
third book is Tick Tock:

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Com

Amazon
UK

The
fourth book is The Write Dream

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Com

Amazon
UK

The
fifth book is Daisy’s Chain:

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Com

Amazon
UK

You
can get a free pdf copy of ‘A Different Shade Of Death’ when you sign up to my
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www.gillianlarkin.co.uk

You
can email me at:

[email protected]

Best
wishes

Gillian