Lasser smiled. ‘I was thinking more about my colleagues.’
She placed the cup in front of him and then crossed her arms, ignoring the eight chairs that stood around the huge dining table; she leaned back against the worktop. ‘At first I wasn’t even sure if I should ring you.’
‘Why’s that?’
A sour look flitted across her face. ‘Well, it isn’t the first time.’
‘I’m sorry I don’t follow.’
‘Look, this is a nice place to live. I mean, there are only six houses, very exclusive.’
‘I can tell.’
She looked at him as if unsure whether he was being sarcastic. ‘The Butchers have only been in the place for twelve months, but they never really took the opportunity to get to know the rest of us.’
Lasser nodded, he knew what these gated communities could be like. If your face didn’t fit then you could find yourself ostracised.
‘You said the police have been called in the past?’
‘I most certainly did not.’
‘Oh, I’m sorry, I thought...’
‘I said this isn’t the first time there have been disruptions with that family.’
The way she said it left little doubt in Lasser’s mind that Rosalynn McQueen had an intense dislike for her newish neighbours.
‘What kind of disruptions?’
To his surprise, she opened a cupboard and pulled out a pack of cigarettes, lighting one she clicked on the extractor fan and blew a cloud of smoke toward it. ‘Well, judging by the noise that came from that place I would suggest that the Butchers were having a few marital problems.’
‘They must have been loud if you could hear them from here?’
‘Meaning what exactly?’
He sighed, Madam McQueen wasn’t going to make this easy. ‘I simply meant that the houses are separated by quite some distance.’
‘Believe me, Sergeant, when that husband of hers gets going you can hear them from a field away. In fact I tried to get my husband to have a word with him but he said it was none of our business,’ she shook her head in disgust. ‘I mean, this house cost nearly five hundred thousand, the very least you can expect for that amount of money are civil neighbours.’
‘So it was James Butcher who did most of the shouting?’
She snorted. ‘He did all the shouting.’
‘And who was on the receiving end?’
‘His wife of course, believe me I've tried to befriend the woman, but it became obvious that her husband didn’t like her having friends.’
Lasser tried to imagine what Callum Green would have done when he found out that his kid sister was being terrorised by her husband.
He thought about Marcy Philips and Suzi Beddows, two young woman brutalised by the man in their lives, both living in relative poverty, living lives that revolved around doing whatever Collins demanded. It was hard to fathom that Green’s sister could be trapped in a similar position.
‘That’s why last night was so strange.’
‘In what way?’ he took a sip from the cup and sighed.
‘Well, they had a visitor and that's most unusual.’
‘You saw this man arrive?’
She nodded. ‘You can imagine that in a small cul-de-sac when any of us see someone we don’t know it makes us curious.’
‘And you hadn’t seen him before?’
‘Well of course, you can never be one hundred percent certain, but this man was rather striking to look at.’
Lasser fiddled with the cigarette packet in his pocket, the smoke that escaped the pull of the extractor fan setting off his craving. ‘Striking, in what way?’
‘Well, he was a good looking guy, quite tall, with this really short blond hair.’
Lasser frowned. ‘Did you notice what model of car he was driving?’
‘Well, no. In fact, he must have been parked around the corner, because there were definitely no cars parked on the road.’
‘So what happened?’
‘Well, he was standing on the doorstep talking with that Butcher man, and to be honest, it seemed as if he they were arguing.’
‘What makes you think that?’
She turned on the tap and pushed the cigarette into the flow of water. ‘It’s just the way Butcher was standing with his hand on the door as if he were thinking of slamming it closed.’
‘So you’re sure you saw this man go into the house?’
‘Oh yes, but the strange thing was, the door was left partially open and after a couple of minutes they came back out. But the man with the blond hair was supporting Butcher; you know the way men do sometimes when they have had too much to drink.’
‘But you don’t think Butcher was drunk?’
‘Well you never know with people like him. I’ve seen him dropping the empty bottles into the bin on a regular basis. To tell you the truth, I wouldn’t have given it a second thought, but when they got halfway down the street the man simply let him go and Butcher fell to the floor.’
‘He dropped him?’
She nodded. ‘I thought at first he must have slipped; with all this snow we’ve been having the pavements are treacherous.’
‘I know what you mean. I nearly fell when I got out of the car.’
‘Precisely, but then instead of trying to help the man up, he simply grabbed hold of his leg and dragged him around the corner.’
Lasser raised an eyebrow, as tall tales went; this was one for the scrapbook. ‘And then you rang us?’
‘Straight away, I thought about walking after him but to be honest, the whole thing had unnerved me.’
‘I can imagine.’
‘And I’m afraid that's all I can tell you.’
‘Can you remember what the man was wearing?’
‘I know he was wearing a long dark coat,’ she paused to think, ‘and I do remember he was sporting a bright green scarf.’
Lasser blinked, a sudden image of Plymouth came into his head. Standing outside Munroe’s, wrapping a green scarf around his neck, the type that only certain men could wear without looking ridiculous. ‘And you mentioned earlier that he had fair hair.’
‘No it was blonde, well actually it was as white as the snow,’ her eyes had a faraway look, as if she were reliving some fantasy.
Lasser smiled at the woman. ‘Well, thanks for your help, Mrs McQueen.’
Her eyes refocused and he saw the colour rise in her cheeks. ‘Not a problem.’
She led him back to the front door, once outside he turned to thank her again but the door was closed.
Crunching his way over to the Butcher house, he rang the bell, though the house had that empty feeling about it. He peered in through the front window, a huge Christmas tree stood in the corner, with assorted colourful boxes placed underneath. The front room was huge, leading directly into the dining room, he could see straight through into the rear garden through a set of patio doors. The expanse of lawn covered in snow, a large wooden shed stood at the far end of the garden.
Turning, he made his way back towards the car and climbed in. He thought about what McQueen had said, it must have looked bizarre seeing Butcher dragged down the street. Spenner had said that as soon as Rimmer arrived at the scene he had all but sent them packing. Though, what had Rimmer been doing there in the first place? Spenner had made no mention of contacting Rimmer, which meant that Green must have summoned him to the house. Lasser sniffed as if he could detect the scent of something bad, the subtle stench of bullshit.
CHAPTER SIXTY
Susan Green looked at her eldest son, her face brittle with fury. ‘I blame you for this!’ she spat.
‘Hang on, Mother...’
‘Don’t Mother me, you lying bastard.’
Tammy sat on the sofa her eyes wide in amazement.
‘Listen to me, Craig was a grown man, I wasn’t his keeper.’ Callum spat out the words, his own frustration swamping the innate respect he had for his mother.
‘Oh listen to the big man.’ He
winced, at the ridicule in her voice.
‘That’s always been your problem, Callum; you always thought you were above everyone else, strutting around selling your bloody drugs and thinking there would be no come back.’
Callum glanced at his sister, her face creased in puzzlement.
‘Keep your bloody voice down,’ he hissed as if Tammy was in another room and might overhear the accusation.
‘But there is come back now isn’t there?’
Susan stood in front of her son, a foot shorter than him; she looked like a child in his hulking shadow. Nevertheless, she had a finger held just below his nose, a look of hatred that was hard to witness smeared across her face.
‘You think I don’t know how you make your money?’
‘Listen, I don’t know what you are talking about, I run a haulage company.’
She slapped his face. In the sudden silence that followed, Callum, opened and closed his huge hands as if he already had them grasped around his mother’s throat.
‘Mum, what’s going on?’ Tammy stood up, her eyes flicking back and forth between her mother and big brother.
Susan spun around, the threatened tears spilled from her eyes leaving twin tracks through the foundation on her cheeks. ‘Didn't you know, Tam, your precious brother is a scum drug dealer...’
‘Shut it,’ he barked, but she ignored him keeping her eyes locked on her daughter.
‘He likes people to think he’s a respectable businessman, but I know different.’
‘You know fuck all, Mother!’
Susan turned slowly. ‘I should have put a stop to you years ago, Callum, you were always out of control.’
‘Put a stop to me, listen to yourself, you live in a house bought and paid for by me. The holidays, the bloody car, even your fucking spray tans come from money I give to you!’ He jabbed a finger at her.
‘Do you think I’m bothered about any of that, you stand there and tell me that my beautiful son is dead and you think I care about the house and holidays?’
‘I never heard you turn any of it down so don’t try to act holier than thou. If you think you know where the money comes from then why haven’t you refused any of it? I mean, if it wasn’t for me you’d still be in a prefab on Lancaster Road.’
Susan Green shook her head and then stepped forward, a moment later she spat full into his face.
Callum rocked back as if he had been physically hit, Tammy put a hand to her mouth as if she was about to throw up. Susan grabbed her bag from the table and stormed from the room.
The front door shook in the frame as she slammed it shut. Callum watched as she climbed into her car, a moment later she pulled away from the curb and disappeared around the corner. He didn’t want to turn around, didn’t want to see the look he knew would be on his sister's face. Family was everything to him and now it was being torn apart.
‘Is she telling the truth, Cal?’ Tammy sounded bemused, like a small child who has awoken to find an imposter in her room dressed as Santa Claus, a dream shattered.
He didn’t turn around just continued to stare out of the window. ‘Leave it, Tammy, I’ve got enough on my plate at the moment.’
‘Is that why they killed Craig, because of drugs?’
‘No, Tammy, it has nothing to do with drugs.’
‘So, why did that man come to my house?’
He turned to face her. ‘I don’t know, Tam, and that’s the truth. Maybe Jimmy rubbed someone up the wrong way, perhaps he owed money, and they came to collect.’
He didn’t have a clue what he was saying; he just wanted to break the spell of anger and frustration that flooded his brain.
‘He sniffed cocaine,’ her voice was low, as if the admission was somehow a failure on her part. ‘That’s when he was at his worst.’
Callum walked slowly toward her. ‘Do you have any idea where he was getting the drugs from?’
She shook her head. ‘He was always going out; sometimes he wouldn’t come back till the following day. I mean, I asked him about it a couple of times and he said he was doing some business for you over in Chester.’
‘He said he was working for me?’ Green asked in surprise.
‘That’s what he said.’
‘And you’re sure you’d never seen the man who came to the house before.’
Tammy dragged her eyes away from her brother’s face. ‘Positive.’
‘But Jimmy knew him?’
‘Look, I’ve already told you all this.’
‘Chester.’ Callum said the word, in the same way a magician says abracadabra as if he expected some blinding revelation to occur.
Tammy looked at him, she had always been proud of her brother, running a successful company and taking care of the family. Now her mother’s accusation and the look of disgust on her face lodged in her brain and began to grow like a malignant tumour.
‘Tell me it’s not true, Cal,’ she whispered.
He ignored her. ‘I don’t know any fucker from Chester.’ His voice sounded as if it came from a great distance, his eyes vacant as he tried to piece together the information. ‘I need you to think, Tammy, did Jimmy ever mention anyone by name?’
‘No.’
He smiled at her, a ragged grin that made her shuffle back on the sofa. ‘Take your time, sweetheart.’
‘You still haven’t answered my question.’
The smile slid from his face. ‘What question?’
‘Is it true you deal drugs?’
Callum looked at the ceiling his jaw clenched in frustration.
‘Listen to me, Tammy; she was upset because of what happened to Gran and now Craig...’
‘Is Craig dead because of you?’
Callum took a step back. ‘No he isn’t.’
‘Then why would someone kill him?’
Callum sucked in a huge lungful of air. ‘That’s what I’m trying to find out. Now did Jimmy ever mention anyone by name?’
‘No he never mentioned anyone, but then again he was always good at keeping his dirty little secrets.’
Callum frowned, although they were talking about her missing husband, it was almost as if the words were directed at him, an accusation that she couldn’t bear to level at the brother she loved and respected.
‘Did he ever mention where he was going in Chester?’
‘You don’t get it do you, he never told me anything and I didn’t ask in case it set him off again. I mean, you have no idea what it’s like to live with someone who hits you because he doesn’t like the way you cooked his egg. Or drags you down the stairs with your hair because you forget to iron his shirt,’ she glared at Callum, her eyes sparking with anger.
When he reached out his hand to cover hers, she snatched it away. ‘I want to go home.’
‘No chance, you’re staying here until I’ve sorted all this.’
‘And how do you intend to do that?’
He stood up and looked down at her; his brain seemed to be seizing up, as all clarity of thought deserted him. Uncertainty was a new experience for him and one that he immediately despised.
‘I’ll sort it, but until I do it’s safer for you to stay here.’
She pushed herself up from the sofa and winced, every bruise that Jimmy had inflicted upon her seemed to throb with pain. The earlier sense of relief dissipated and she looked around the room of her brother’s house and felt like a prisoner. A sense of panic began to swell in her chest.
‘I’ll go to Mum’s.’
‘No, you’re staying here, you can stay in the annex, but you can’t go home, not yet.’
‘Callum, I’m not a child you can’t tell me what to do.’
‘Don’t be a bloody idiot. Our Craig’s dead and...’ he clamped his lips closed, colour rushing to his cheeks.
She looked at him closely; a sudden dawning came into her head, like bright sun punching a hole through thick mist. ‘The man who came to the house wasn’t really after Jimmy was he?’
Callum sighed and looked at h
is shoes. ‘I don’t know, and that’s the God’s honest truth.’
‘Was it the same man who killed, Craig?’
‘How am I expected to know that? You’re asking me all this shit and I don’t have a bloody clue...;’
‘You think Jimmy’s been grassing you up, don’t you? This man killed Craig and then he came for me but took Jimmy instead because he could point the finger and needed to be gotten rid of.’ Her eyes were wide, she felt breathless and weak.
‘I just need to know that you’re safe and then I can concentrate on finding this piece of...’
‘Everything Mum said is the truth, isn’t it?’ She spoke as if asking a question of herself.
Callum squared his shoulders and looked her in the eye. ‘I do what I have to.’
Her laughter was bitter and mocking. ‘What’s that supposed to mean, you sell drugs to people like Jimmy so they can go home and beat their wives, don’t you, Cal?’
Callum Green felt bombarded. ‘You’re not thinking straight, Tammy; people like Jimmy don’t need drugs to be an arsehole.’
She stabbed a finger at him, eighteen months of pent up fury bubbling to the surface.
‘Don’t you dare tell me that, do you honestly think I would have married him if he had been into drugs? He started knocking me about when he started to sniff coke and he got it from people like you.’
‘Tam...’ he reached out, but she slithered away across the sofa.
‘You don’t care, do you? You couldn’t give a toss about the people whose lives you ruin, as long as you’re making money out of it, then fuck them all!’
‘Come on, where do you think I got the money from to buy your bloody house,’ he could hear the pleading in his own voice and despised himself for it.
‘Oh I see, so it’s my fault. I should be grateful is that what you are telling me?’
‘No, of course not, but come on, you must have had an idea?’
‘Oh I’m sorry. I thought my big brother was a successful businessman running his own company. I thought he was someone to look up to. I use to pray that if I had kids they would grow up to be like you and all this time you were nothing but a low life piece of scum.’
The Way That It Falls: DS Lasser series volume 2 (The DS Lasser series.) Page 21