Chase The Devil: (DI Jake Sawyer series Book 5)

by Andrew Lowe

  Blackness. Prickling around the edge of his vision.

  Muscle convulsions, gut cramps. He was crawling now, heading for the front door.

  He managed to reach up, force it open.

  He fell forward onto the porch and dragged himself down the stairs, across the driveway bridge, down onto the roadside verge.

  Drums, pounding from the house behind.

  His hands gripped the grass: skin clammy, nails turning blue.

  No air.

  No strength left to fight back, to stay conscious.

  It all fell away.

  53

  ‘You don’t write, you don’t call.’

  Sawyer opened his eyes. Maggie stood at his bedside, arms folded.

  He looked around the private hospital room. A middle-aged man with rolled-up shirt sleeves and a lanyard badge around his neck stood at the door, in discussion with a nurse out in the corridor.

  He turned to Maggie. ‘You’re in your civvies.’

  ‘I was about to leave. Then they brought you in.’

  ‘This isn’t your old room, is it?’

  She smiled. ‘No.’

  He pushed himself upright, winced at the pain in his side. His limbs felt tender, hyper-sensitive, and it hurt his ribs to take deep breaths.

  Maggie glared at him with a mixture of anger and concern.

  ‘Mr Sawyer. I’m Doctor Randall.’ The man approached his bed. ‘You’ve been under sedation for a few hours, so you may feel rather groggy. From the sound of things, you were extremely lucky. The screening shows you ingested quite a large amount of heroin mixed with a powerful drug called fentanyl. It’s one of the most common causes of overdose death, particularly among heavy users with high tolerance. You were picked up by an ambulance called by a passer-by, near to your home. You’ve been given oxygen to counteract cyanosis. That’s peripheral skin discolouration. You’ve also been given a drug called naloxone, which is an opioid antagonist.’ He checked a folder on the bedside table. ‘I’m guessing you didn’t inject? I’m not sure you’d have been so fortunate if that had been the case. Tox screen also showed the presence of marijuana.’ Randall glanced at Maggie. ‘Apologies. Is this your—’

  ‘Fiancée,’ said Sawyer.

  Maggie sighed. ‘What happens next, doctor?’

  ‘If… there’s an issue with dependency, I would suggest you reduce your dose—’

  ‘There’s no issue with dependency,’ said Sawyer. ‘It was a one-off.’

  Randall’s eyes flicked to Maggie again. ‘Okay. Well, I would suggest you explore the root cause of your action. Psychotherapy. Self-care. The circumstances that led you to use the drug in the first place. I’m happy for you to stay overnight, but if you’re feeling well enough to go home, I won’t stop you. Your heartrate is a touch erratic, but not outside acceptable limits. You’re young, Mr Sawyer.’ He smiled. ‘Relatively. And you’re otherwise healthy. I can prescribe a naloxone nasal spray as a precaution, but generally, I would advise you to rest, recover, and try to avoid ingesting Class A drugs of dubious origin.’

  He gave an abrupt nod and hurried away down the corridor alongside the nurse.

  ‘It’s hard not to take it personally, you know,’ said Maggie. ‘You have to be on the brink of death before you’ll come to see me.’

  ‘Had a lot going on. Sorry. And I did see you.’

  ‘Did you get him for me?’

  Sawyer took a drink of water from his bedside jug. ‘Who?’

  ‘The man who attacked me.’

  ‘Let’s not go there.’

  Maggie raised her eyebrows, tucked her hair behind her ear. ‘What went wrong with Alex, Jake? Why did you stop the work? When it was working?’

  ‘I got the gist. Avoid triggers. Eat better.’

  ‘She didn’t specifically tell you not to use heroin, so you thought that was okay? Which parts of your history did you talk about?’

  Sawyer rubbed his hands together, trying to stimulate more sensation. ‘I did a stupid thing, but I’m not stupid any more. Not in that way.’

  Maggie’s smile was pained. ‘You promise you’ll try not to do it again?’

  He took another drink.

  Maggie sat down. ‘Distraction isn’t a good strategy, because it just forces you to pursue more extreme forms of distraction. In other words, self-medication. Traumatised people pursue distraction because of their terror of introspection. Remember what Pascal said?’

  Sawyer nodded. ‘All our problems come from our inability to sit quietly in a room alone.’

  ‘Yes. You have to get good at that, instead of surrounding yourself with more and more distraction. I think your time with Alex got derailed because you hadn’t taken the first step to wellness. Being comfortable with your own thoughts. It’s why so many troubled people who are scared of introspection tend to spend time with children or animals. They’re not given any time or space to turn their thoughts on themselves.’

  ‘I’ve been hallucinating, Maggie.’

  She grimaced. ‘More drugs?’

  ‘No. Just… It happens sometimes. Like before. Past events, reoccurring in the present. People. As real as if they were right there before me. They speak to me.’

  Maggie sighed. ‘Jake. You’re strong, but there’s only so much you can take. I’m concerned about the regressive behaviour, and… Seeing things? Hearing voices? This is post-traumatic stress disorder, possibly more. The thalamus works as a subtle gatekeeper in your brain, filtering out sensory information, separating threats from everything else. But in people with PTSD, this filter is faulty, and they’re hyper-aware, hyper-sensitive. And when they try to shut this down completely, they throw the baby out with the bathwater. They risk screening out the sources of joy and pleasure along with the things that bring them pain.’ She shunted her chair closer, reached out, took his hand. ‘You’ve suffered great loss. But you have to try and absorb the loss, and replace it with a gratitude for the time before. And then use the source of that gratitude to allow you to embrace whatever is left after the loss.’ She sat back. ‘You’re carrying a mountain, instead of learning to climb.’

  Later that afternoon, Sawyer dressed and signed himself out. As he pulled on his hoodie, he felt a solid weight in the inside pocket and took out the coin given to him by his father. One side was dominated by a profile illustration of a skull, which sat between the words MEMENTO and MORI with an hourglass on one side and a tulip on the other. The tulip represented life, the skull depicted death, and the hourglass exemplified time. On the reverse side, six words were stacked in the centre: a quote from Marcus Aurelius, one of the founders of the Stoic philosophy.

  YOU COULD LEAVE LIFE RIGHT NOW

  He mouthed the rest of the quote to himself. ‘Let that determine what you say and think.’

  He took the burner phone from the shelf on the bedside table and switched it on. Several Missed Call alerts from the same number.

  Walker.

  He navigated to his voicemail and opened the first message.

  Commotion in the corridor outside. He recognised one of the voices.

  Sawyer pocketed the phone as a short, formally dressed young man crashed into the room.

  Sawyer stood back from the door. ‘Matt.’

  ‘Sir. They’re going to charge you. For Bowman.’ He caught his breath. ‘They… know about Tony Cross. Farrell is calling it premeditated. Moran spoke to Cross.’

  ‘Did he say anything?’

  Walker shook his head. ‘No, but they have evidence that Cross was with you on the day of the Bowman raid. And there’s something else. Jordan Burns. He’s spoken to Farrell. Stephanie Burns has revised her story. She’s saying you didn’t kill Bowman in self-defence. She’s saying it was cold blood.’ He swallowed, steadied his breathing. ‘Sir.’

  DCI Farrell walked through the hospital reception. DC Moran trotted past him and jabbed at the lift button.

  ‘Let’s be clear about this,’ said Farrell as they waited. ‘Once we have DI Sawyer
under arrest, he is to be treated like any other potential criminal. This will already be an embarrassing case, and we have to be completely—’

  Farrell caught Moran’s gaze, looking up and over his shoulder.

  He turned.

  DS Walker on the central staircase, coming down.

  ‘Stairs,’ said Farrell.

  They ran from the lift and charged past Walker, bounding up the stairs to the private ward on the third floor.

  Farrell sprinted down the corridor. He stopped at the nurse station. ‘Sawyer. Jake. Where is he?’ The young nurse hesitated, and Farrell pulled out his warrant card.

  She pointed. ‘Room 12. At the end.’

  Farrell bolted away, Moran close behind.

  They pushed into Room 12.

  Empty bed. Empty room.

  Farrell turned to Moran. ‘Fuck!’

  JAKE SAWYER will return, in

  THE SKELETON LAKE

  Summer 2021

  Acknowledgments

  For their insight on issues of animal abuse, my thanks to Ellie Greer and Helen Lewis from The League Against Cruel Sports, Debbie Bailey from the High Peak Badger Group, and Mark Randell from Hidden-in-Sight.

  Tom Ford (not that one) was a patient educator on urbex culture. His website Whatever’s Left is fascinating and definitive, with some beautiful photography.

  Bryony Sutherland was my all-seeing editor.

  Stuart Bache at Books Covered was my peerless designer.

  Special thanks to Julia, for listening to me go on about it all.

  Andrew Lowe. London, 2020

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  THE DI JAKE SAWYER SERIES

  CREEPY CRAWLY

  STRONGER THAN DEATH

  THE DYING LIGHT

  PRAY FOR RAIN

  CHASE THE DEVIL

  BOOK ONE IN THE DI JAKE SAWYER SERIES

  DI JAKE SAWYER is the brightest star of the Met Police murder squad. Sharp, tough and pathologically fearless.

  Now he’s quit the capital and returned to his home town in England’s Peak District, to investigate the savage murder of his mother, thirty years earlier.

  But when the body of a teenage boy is found in a shallow grave, Sawyer must risk his own life to hunt the hunter and save an innocent.

  https://books2read.com/creepycrawly

  BOOK TWO IN THE DI JAKE SAWYER SERIES

  After a bruising confrontation with a cruel killer, DI JAKE SAWYER has isolated himself in a remote cottage in the bleak and beautiful northern Peak District.

  When an ex-TV star is found murdered, from a single stab to the heart, Sawyer suspects a ritualistic angle. But then a second victim is found, and he forms a terrifying theory about the killer’s twisted logic.

  Sawyer must protect the killer’s targets as he closes in on the truth behind his mother’s death: a truth that will put his reputation - and freedom - at risk.

  https://books2read.com/strongerthandeath

  BOOK THREE IN THE DI JAKE SAWYER SERIES

  DI JAKE SAWYER is out in the cold. As winter descends on the Peak District, he finds himself suspended from the force, accused of murder.

  When two young children go missing, feared abducted, Sawyer must improvise to help solve the mystery. As the bodies of adults start to appear in remote locations, Sawyer suspects a chilling connection to the missing children. With time running out on his bail, he must fight to crack the cases and clear his name.

  But then Sawyer uncovers the shocking truth behind his mother’s murder, thirty years earlier: a truth that leads him to question his sanity, and threatens to tear his world apart.

  https://books2read.com/thedyinglight

  BOOK FOUR IN THE DI JAKE SAWYER SERIES

  DI JAKE SAWYER is feeling the heat. Returning to duty after an enforced psychological break, he’s called in to investigate the murder of a young woman found near one of the Peak’s key beauty spots.

  Sawyer is intrigued by the unusual mix of extreme violence and decorative presentation, and when the death is connected to the earlier killings of three other local women, he joins a task force of regional detectives in a hunt for the man the media are calling The New Ripper.

  As the UK sweats in a record-breaking heatwave, a fifth woman goes missing, and the killer contacts the police, personally challenging Sawyer to catch him before he claims her as his next victim.

  https://books2read.com/prayforrain

  BOOK FIVE IN THE DI JAKE SAWYER SERIES

  DI JAKE SAWYER is in limbo. Facing an internal enquiry into his capture of a vicious killer, he turns private detective, and takes the seemingly hopeless case of a teenage boy, missing for seven years.

  When a young woman podcaster investigating the boy’s disappearance also goes missing, Sawyer is drawn into the secretive and treacherous world of urban exploration.

  But then an adult male body is found, showing signs of extreme torture, and the murder reminds Sawyer of an unsolved case from his early career. He connects the past with the present, uncovering a terrible truth which could hold the key to the disappearances.

  http://books2read.com/chasethedevil

  BOOKS 1-3 BOX SET

  DI JAKE SAWYER is the brightest star of the Met Police murder squad. Smart, tough, and pathologically fearless.

  Now he's quit the capital and returned to his home town in England's Peak District, to join a Major Crime Unit and to privately investigate the savage murder of his mother, thirty years earlier.

  As Sawyer faces three nightmarish new cases, he slowly uncovers the shocking truth behind what really happened to his mother.

  It’s a truth that leads him to question his sanity and threatens to tear his world apart.

  https://books2read.com/sawyerboxset1

  Glossary

  AFO – Authorised Firearms Officer. A UK police officer who has received training, and is authorised to carry and use firearms.

  ALF – Animal Liberation Front. A political and social resistance movement that promotes non-violent direct action in protest against incidents of animal cruelty.

  ANPR – Automatic Number Plate Recognition. A camera technology for automatically reading vehicle number plates.

  BSE – Bovine Spongiform Encephalopahy. Colloquially known as ‘mad cow disease’. A neurodegenerative condition in cattle.

  CCRC – Criminal Cases Review Commission. Independent organisation which investigates suspected miscarriages of justice in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

  CI – Confidential Informant. An individual who passes information to the police on guarantee of anonymity.

  COD – Cause of Death. Police acronym.

  CROP – Covert Rural Observation Post. A camouflaged surveillance operation, mostly used to detect or monitor criminal activity in rural areas.

  D&D – Drunk & Disorderly.
Minor public order offence in the UK (revised to ‘Drunk and disorderly in a public place’ in 2017).

  EMDR – Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing. An interactive psychotherapy technique used to relieve psychological stress, particularly trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder.

  ETD – Estimated Time of Death. Police acronym.

  FLO – Family Liaison Officer. A specially trained officer or police employee who provides emotional support to the families of crime victims and gathers evidence and information to assist the police enquiry.

  FOA – First Officer Attending. The first officer to arrive at a crime scene.

  FSI – Forensic Science Investigator. An employee of the Scientific Services Unit, usually deployed at a crime scene to gather forensic evidence.

  GMP – Greater Manchester Police. Territorial police force responsible for law enforcement within the county of Greater Manchester in North West England.