The Write Dream (Storage Ghosts) by Gillian Larkin

Storage
Ghosts
    The Write Dream
     
    Chapter 1
     
    “And
here we have Grace, my younger sister, cleaning the shelves of our shop. She’s
eagerly preparing them for our new stock. You can see the excitement in her
face as she scrubs that glass.”
    Grace
looked up from the shelf. “Are you talking to me?”
    “And
over here is some of our existing stock, these tables and chairs are prices at
reasonable amounts.”
    “Frankie!
Who are you talking to?” Grace asked.
    Frankie
hissed at her, “Shhh! I’m filming. Just get back to your cleaning.”
    “Filming
what? I don’t want to be filmed,” Grace said with a frown.
    Frankie
sighed and tapped the record button on his phone to ‘off’. “I’m filming our
shop so my followers can see what my day to day life is like.”
    Grace
gave a little smile and folded her arms. “Followers? What followers?”
    “I
told you that I’ve set up a website,” Frankie began.
    “You
did. Is it live yet? Don’t tell me you’re posting video clips on it? Am I in
any of them?”
    “Calm
down. The site is live and I’ve had 2 visitors.” Frankie gave her a proud look.
    “And
the video clips?” Grace prompted.
    “I’m
putting them on my social network site. I’ve got 5 followers on there. I think
they would like to see how my business works. How I cleverly bid at auctions
and get the best items. Then they can see where the items end up, they could
come and visit our shop.”
    Grace
narrowed her eyes at her brother. “That’s quite clever, did you think this up
yourself?”
    Frankie
fiddled with a button on his phone. “Sort of, Big Bob suggested it. People like
videos. And do you know what else I thought of? If we get a good item we could
do our own auction through the website, get a good price for it. I’ve already
listed some things.”
    Grace
nodded. “That is a good idea. Have you made any sales yet?”
    “It’s
early days. Can you move out of the way, Grace. I want to get a shot of that
old teapot.”
    Grace
held her hand up. “Just a minute, I want to know if I’m in the videos or not. I
don’t want to be in them.”
    Frankie
grimaced. “Too late, I’ve already posted a few. You don’t look that bad on
them, but to be honest, Grace, you could do with some more make up.”
    Grace
threw the duster at him. “And you could do with some more manners! Why are you
filming the teapot?”
    “You
know why,” Frankie said. He started to record again. His voice had a serious
tone as he said, “Here it is, the infamous teapot. The very one that was used
in an attempted murder.”
    “Pah!”
Grace called out.
    Frankie
continued, “The attempted murder of a vicious loan shark called Eddie Tominski.
If you’re not aware of what happened I’ll fill you in. The evil Eddie tried to
poison my sister, Grace, but she whacked him on the head with this very
teapot.” Frankie zoomed in. “If you look closer you can still see specks of
blood on the bottom. Grace! Get out of the way!”
    Grace
glared at Frankie and put her outstretched hand towards the camera. “I don’t
want you videoing that. It will attract the wrong sort of customers. I want to
forget all about Eddie Tominski. Please, Frankie.”
    Frankie
gave her a pleading look. “Come on, it’ll be great publicity.”
    Grace
shook her head. “I’ve had enough publicity to last me a lifetime. Eddie’s
locked up now, I’m still struggling to deal with the fact that he killed Mum
and Dad. I want to put it behind me. There must be something else you can
film.”
    Frankie
studied her. “Okay, I understand. It would make a good story though. You look
tired again, didn’t you sleep well?”
    “I’m
getting better,” Grace admitted.
    Frankie
put his phone down on a table. “I’ll make us a cuppa. Are there any biscuits
left or have you scoffed them all?”
    Grace
tutted. “I’ve only had one.”
    “One
biscuit or one packet?” Frankie said with a grin. “If I see a safe at an
auction I’m going to buy it