Lost And Found: A Cozy Ghost Mystery (Storage Ghost Mysteries Book 2) by Gillian Larkin

nose. Look at him in the school play.
He looks happy, Laura’s done a good job.”
    “I’m
glad we came to see Laura but why did we need to? You said it was urgent, I
can’t see that she needs any help.”
    “Isn’t
it obvious?” Clive said.
    “No.”
    “You
don’t know Laura like I do, and,” Clive wiggled his eyebrows theatrically,
“with my new psychic powers, I can tell what’s wrong with her. She’s putting
everyone else’s needs first. She put my career before her happiness and now
she’s doing the same with our son.”
    The
last two words were said with pride.
    “Do
you think she wants to go and live with David?” Grace asked.
    “Of
course, she’s falling to pieces without him. You’ve got to convince her to go,
she’s always wanted to go to Australia.”
    “But
how can I convince her? I don’t know her well but I can see she’s the type to
stick to a decision once she’s made her mind up.”
    Clive
nodded. “We’ll have to play to her greatest strength, it’s also her weakness -
her kindness, she’ll go out of her way to help anyone.”
    Clive
outlined his plan to Grace.
    Grace
said, “That sounds sneaky, I don’t like it.”
    Clive
pointed to the last image on David’s photo montage. “Look at the date, it was
taken this morning. And look.”
    He
pointed something out to Grace. She nodded in understanding and said, “Okay,
I’m going to convince Laura that she has to go to Australia.”
    Grace
sounded much more confident than she felt.
     

 
    Chapter 17
     
    Laura
returned a few minutes later carrying a tray of tea things. Grace noticed that
there was also a plate of chocolate biscuits. Clive was right about Laura, she
really did think about others.
    Laura
set the tea down and said, “I’m assuming you drink tea?”
    Grace
nodded.
    “And
I’m assuming you eat choccy biscuits?”
    Grace
nodded again.
    Laura
gave her a satisfied smile. “Good, you’re my kind of person. Help yourself,
you’d better hurry up with the biscuits though, I’m liable to eat them all!”
    Grace
glanced over at Clive’s face. Pure love radiated out from his eyes as he looked
at Laura.
    Grace
helped herself to tea and biscuits, Laura did the same. Remembering what they
had agreed during Laura’s absence Grace said, “The photos of your son are
lovely. It must have been difficult bringing him up on your own. Can you tell
me about David, and what he was like?”
    Laura
dunked a biscuit in her tea and then put it in her mouth. After a moment she
said, “Are you sure you want to hear about him? I love talking about him and I
might not stop!”
    “I’m
sure,” Grace said. Following Laura’s lead she dunked her biscuit in her tea.
She must have left it there a second too long because when she lifted it up the
soggy half plopped back in to her tea. Laura didn’t notice, she was gazing
fondly at the images on her screen.
    “He
was a lovely boy but a little terror! Never still, always exploring, always
asking questions. Just like his father I suppose.”
    “Did
you have any help with him?” Grace asked. She put the rest of the biscuit in
her mouth, she didn’t have the courage to try dunking again.
    Laura’s
smile faltered. “No. My parents were in shock at finding out I was pregnant.
There was still a stigma attached to unmarried mothers at that time. My aunt
took me in, she didn’t give a fig what anyone thought. She encouraged me to go
back to work after David was born. I don’t know how I would have coped without
her. She gave up her own career to look after me and David. Whenever I said
thank you she waved her hand as if it was nothing. She was the kindest person I
knew. She died a few years ago. Once Mum and Dad disowned me she was the only
family I had left, her and David.”
    “You
said that David had moved to Australia with his wife,” Grace prompted.
    A
look of pride appeared on Laura’s face. “He’s going to start his own branch of
this business. He worked here for a while