The Last Reading (Storage Ghost Murders Book 1) by Gillian Larkin

A Storage Ghost
Murder – The Last Reading
     
    Chapter 1
     
    Which
locker was the murdered body in?
    Grace
Abrahams shoved her hands deeper into her jacket pocket.
    8
a.m. on a Saturday morning at a storage locker auction, looking for the ghost
of a murdered person.
    No
wonder she couldn’t eat her breakfast this morning. That wasn’t like her at
all. She was known to have a second breakfast of a morning, sometimes a third.
    Grace
held her breath as another locker was about to be opened. Would this contain
the ghost? What would the ghost look like? Would there be signs of the murder?
Missing limbs? Ghostly knives in the throat?
    Grace
gave a small shiver, she wasn’t looking forward to seeing the ghost, but she’d
made a commitment  to herself to help them.
    Sylvester
Sylver, the auctioneer  called out, “Right folks, this is our third locker on
this marathon auction locker sale today. I hope you’re keeping up with me!
Don’t be fooled by this outer package, I’ve got the stamina of a young
stallion!”
    The
silver haired man turned and winked at Grace. She laughed. He always made her
feel happier, he was forever optimistic.
    Someone
gave her a little push. It was her brother, Frankie. He glared at her and said,
“Don’t be flirting with Sylvester! He’s got a job to do, you’ll put him off.”
    “I
wasn’t!” Grace said indignantly. She was about to say she didn’t go for much
older men, especially ones that styled themselves on Elvis Presley. But there
was no point saying anything negative about the great American auctioneer to
Frankie, he was Sylvester’s number one fan.
    Grace
turned her attention back to the locker that was just about to be opened. She
held her breath again as the metal door was lifted up.
    “Office
equipment, rubbish, we don’t need any of that,” Frankie complained. He looked around
at the crowd. “Look at all these newbies, no idea what they’re doing.”  
    “Newbies?”
Grace asked.
    “Yeah,
new people. They don’t know how to spot a good locker, they’ll throw any old
bid out there.” Frankie tutted and shook his head.
    “We
were newbies a few months ago, in fact, I still am,” Grace pointed out.
    Frankie
nodded. “That’s true. I think I’ve got a gift for this auction locker business,
like a sixth sense. I’m picking up some real bargains, getting some great stock
for our shop.”
    “I
know you are, I’m pleased that the shop is doing so well. If it was left to me
we wouldn’t have any stock to sell.”
    Frankie
gave her an unusually kind smile. “It’s our shop and I’m happy you’re working
there full-time now, I like seeing more of you.”
    Grace
smiled back at him. “Thanks, Frankie.”
    He
added, “Even though you are a bossy boots and you do too much cleaning.”
    Grace
held on to her smile. She’d given up her job of teaching history at a local
school so that she could work full-time in their shop. It was partly to help
Frankie but there was another reason that Grace was doing it. And that reason
was why she was standing at an auction facility on a cold Saturday morning with
a large group of men, some who looked like they hadn’t had a good sleep or a
good shower for weeks.
    She
looked away from the crowd and focused on the office equipment. She couldn’t
see any ghosts.
    The
bidding began. Sylvester kept up with the bids. Grace had to admit that he was
good at his job, he always spotted the bidders and kept up with the numbers.
    “Sold!”
Sylvester cried out. “To the man in the red bobble hat! Awesome hat, man, did
your mom knit it for you?”
    Frankie
gave a louder than necessary laugh. Grace shook her head. How long was his man
crush going to last?
    They
moved on to the next locker, the padlock was cut open and the door lifted up by
one of Sylvester’s helpers.
    A
sudden pain shot through Grace’s neck. Her hand shot up and rubbed the right
side.
    “What’s
wrong?” Frankie asked.
    “I
don’t know, my neck suddenly