Daisy's Chain: A Cozy Ghost Mystery (Storage Ghost Mysteries Book 5) by Gillian Larkin

sleep
tonight! I’ve got so many plans to make.”
    “I’ll see myself
out. Good luck, Daisy, I know you’re going to make a wonderful doctor.”
    Mr Manville
swooped to Grace’s side. “Thank you isn’t enough. Sorry for all the shouting. I
think I’m ready to go now, I’ll stay with Daisy and the little one for a while.
Thank you again.”
    Grace smiled and
said goodbye to Daisy. Her heart felt so light she was surprised her feet were
still on the ground.
     

Chapter 19
     
    The next day
Grace went to the shop. Frankie raised an eyebrow when he saw her.
    “I wasn’t
expecting you today, I thought you’d still be getting rid of that rubbish that
you bought yesterday.”
    “I did get rid of
it,” Grace said. She came around the counter and put her handbag down.
    “Are you
staying?” Frankie asked.
    Grace sighed. “I
don’t know what I’m doing with my life.”
    Frankie held his
hands up. “I haven’t got time for a heart to heart, are you staying or not?”
    Grace nodded. “I
can do. Have you got somewhere to go?”
    “Big Bob’s going
to an antique fair. I know I said we should concentrate on household goods for
the shop but I thought I’d go along for the ride, see if I can spot any
bargains.”
    Grace noted his
eager expression. “You liked looking at antiques with Dad, didn’t you?”
    Frankie grinned.
“I did, something about the history side of things excited me. A love of
history must run in the family. Which reminds me, when are you going back to
your teaching job?”
    Grace sighed
again. “I don’t know, I got a letter from the school this morning wanting to
know the same thing. What should I do?”
    “Again, I haven’t
got time. We can talk later. Do you want to look after the shop whilst I go
out? I can close it up if you don’t want to. It won’t be busy.”
    “I’ll stay, it
looks like it could do with a dust.”
    Frankie laughed
and grabbed his jacket. “You and your cleaning! A bit of dirt won’t kill you.”
    Grace shook her
head. Frankie tried using that argument several times when Mum ordered him to
have a bath in his younger years.
    Frankie dashed
out from the counter. “See you later, alligator.”
    Grace sighed
again as the door shut behind him. She suddenly smiled. She was starting to
sound like a balloon going down. She couldn’t help feeling frustrated, she just
wanted someone to talk to, someone to help her figure out what she was doing
with her life.
    “You can talk to
me.”
    Grace turned
around. “Pearl! I can see you! At last!”
    The old woman
grinned. “Nice to have someone so pleased to see me. How are you, Grace?”
    Grace smiled at
the old woman, she was pleased to see her. She was just as Grace had imagined,
small and grey haired. She wore a floral housecoat over a long dress. Grace
glanced down at her legs, her tights were wrinkled as if they were a few sizes
too big.
    Pearl said, “Now
you’ve looked me up and down do you want to tell me why you’ve got a face as
miserable as a wet Sunday?”
    “I want to know
about you! How long you’ve been here, did you live in this shop, did you know
Mum and Dad, when did you die, how did you die?”
    “Whoa! Stop with
the verbal diarrhoea! Never mind about me, I’ll tell you what you need to know
when you need to know it, okay?”
    Grace nodded.
She’d already been told by previous ghosts that Pearl liked to swear. She
didn’t want to be on the receiving end of an outburst.
    Pearl’s wrinkled
face wrinkled even more. “No need to be afraid of me, Grace. I know I’ve had
words with some of your ghost friends but I’m only protecting you. That’s what
I’m here for.”
    “To protect me?
Against what?”
    Pearl waved a
hand dismissively. “We’ll get to that later. Right, tell me what’s going on.
Something to do with that school job of yours? Lock the door, we don’t want any
busybodies getting in the way.”
    “But I told
Frankie…”
    Pearl folded her
arms. “Don’t even mention that