Driven by Fear (The DS Lasser Book 27)

by Robin Roughley

  When he drifted off to sleep, he did so with a smile curling his lips.

  14

  The last time Odette had seen Clifton Nash he had been a big man, though now as he stood in the doorway with his arms folded over his chest, he looked grotesque.

  His neck appeared to have vanished into his steroid-pumped shoulders, arms lined with veins that seemed to be trying to burst through the skin, she could even see where the false tan ended high on his forehead, his hair shaved close to the bone.

  'What do you want?' he demanded, looking from one to the other, his eyes sharp with malice.

  'Don't worry, Mr Nash, this is just a courtesy call,' Bannister replied with a small smile.

  'Bollocks, you're hassling me again.'

  The DCI sighed heavily and then he stepped forward, the false smile sliding from his face. 'I just want you to be aware that I know what your intentions are.'

  'Fuck off, you know nothing,' the big man snarled, showing teeth that looked abnormally white, almost as if he wore a disposable set that he took out in the morning and tossed into the bin before grabbing another pair of hermetically sealed gnashers.

  'Despite your denials, we know you are responsible for the sickening threats made against your wife and her new partner,' Bannister said, his voice clipped with anger.

  Nash's eyes narrowed. 'He's a prick and she's a slag.'

  'And what does that make you?' Bannister demanded as he tilted his chin.

  Odette glanced at Spenner who had stepped to the DCI's side without hesitation, then she did the same.

  Nash glared at them, his chest rising and falling, his muscle-bound arms held out from his sides at a strange angle, his sheer bulk making it impossible for him to simply relax his ham-shank arms, though he managed to make fists of his huge hands well enough.

  'The truth is that for years you have made her life a total bloody misery and now she has a chance of happiness, you don't like it,' Bannister said as his face twitched with rising anger.

  'She's married to me and that makes her my property,' Nash snarled.

  'You own her, is that what you really believe?' Bannister asked, his own hands closing into fists.

  'Yeah, I own the bitch and no wanker is going to take her off my hands, not until I'm good and ready.'

  'You mean when you've beaten her to a pulp, don't you, that's when you will lose interest in your wife?' Odette asked in disgust as she saw Nash's smug expression.

  'No fucking comment,' he barked in reply.

  'Come on, Clifton, you are incapable of being a real man, everyone can see that,' Bannister said straight-faced.

  'What's that meant to mean?' the thug demanded.

  'Look, everyone deserves to be happy in a relationship and yet all you do is spread your misery; the bare facts are that you've compensated for your physical inadequacies by turning your body into a bloody freak show.'

  Nash's fury erupted in an instant though one of the disadvantages of his bulk was the fact that he could only move slowly, like some preposterous oil tanker trying to pick up speed.

  All three watched as he lumbered towards them, veins popping, muscles bulging as he raised his right arm.

  'Gonna maim you for that, you wanker!' he roared as he swung his fist forward.

  Bannister snapped back, and Nash grunted as his intended target moved quickly to the left.

  'Calm down, Clifton, you are very close to assaulting a police officer,' Bannister warned, though he looked pleased by the big man's response.

  'Fuck you!' Nash threw his fist out again but missed by at least eight inches.

  Spenner lunged forward and then quickly to the right, grabbing Nash from behind, trying to wrap his arms around the huge chest, the big man grunted and flung his arms wide, a sneer of satisfaction on his tanned face as Spenner's grip sprang free.

  'Weakling!' he roared.

  Spenner lurched back as Nash threw his elbow out, missing Spenner's face by a couple of inches.

  He was in the process of turning, when Odette dashed forward and lashed out her right leg, her black leather, ankle-booted foot slamming between the big man's legs.

  Bannister grinned in delight as Nash immediately thudded to his knees, his hands clasped between his legs, head thrown back, his copper-coloured face writhing in agony as he gulped at the warm spring air.

  Odette glared down at the man and Spenner winced as if he felt Nash's pain.

  As if on cue a police van pulled up at the front of the house and Shaun Rourke jumped out, closely followed by Sally Wright.

  Bannister glanced at them before turning his attention back to Nash.

  'I knew you would throw a wobbly and look, your carriage awaits!' Bannister said with a theatrical flourish. 'Now you, my friend, are under arrest for the attempted assault of a police officer,' he said before giving Spenner the nod.

  'Give us a lift, Shaun,' Spenner said as he grabbed Nash's left arm.

  Seconds later, they were leading a hunched Nash towards the van, Bannister smiling in satisfaction.

  'Well done, Odette, you dropped him like a sack of shit.'

  'Yes, but we both know he'll be back on the streets within hours,' she watched Nash struggle into the rear of the van, then Spenner slammed the doors before heading back down the drive.

  'And I'll be back here again as soon as he does,' Bannister replied.

  'That could be classed as harassment,' she said.

  The DCI shrugged. 'Could not give a damn, now let's have a look inside the house see what Mr Nash has been up to.'

  Odette sighed as Bannister walked past her into the semi. She looked at Spenner who raised an eyebrow before giving a slight shrug as they followed him into the house.

  15

  Lasser watched as Draper squirmed, they were in the minute kitchen of the new build, three feet apart, Draper backed up against the sink unit.

  'Right, according to you, Rea left the pub to call for a taxi.'

  Draper nodded. 'That's right.'

  'And you say she wanted to head on to a nightclub?'

  'She did, but I've had a busy week at work, so I said no.'

  'Did she mention any club in particular?'

  'Not that I can remember,' Draper replied as he folded his arms.

  'You see if she was so keen to go clubbing, why didn't she just walk down the street into town, why would she have needed a taxi to travel what would have taken her two minutes to walk?'

  Draper shrugged. 'I have no idea,' he paused, 'perhaps she changed her mind about the club and called for the taxi to take her home instead.'

  'But she didn't arrive home, did she?'

  'I don't know anything about that; I can only tell you what happened.'

  'I don't trust you,' Lasser suddenly said as he stepped forward. 'Late last night a woman was knocked down and killed on Hamley Road, I take it you know where that is, don't you?'

  'I know nothing about any of that,' Draper licked his lips again, his gaze becoming more nervous by the second.

  Lasser sniffed the air as if he could detect the unpleasant stink of bullshit. 'We know that Rea Lomax found her, and we know this because she was the one who put the call in for help. Now, according to you, she wanted to go clubbing so what was she doing on Hamley Road at quarter to one in the morning?'

  Draper suddenly thrust his hands into the pockets of his jeans and hunched in his shoulders. 'Look, I don't know what she was doing out there, we had words and she stormed out of the pub.'

  'And the town centre security cameras will prove that?'

  If the situation hadn't been so serious then the expression on Draper's face would have been laughable.

  'Cameras?' he muttered as tiny beads of sweat appeared on his brow.

  'Oh yes, now, which pub did you drink in?'

  'The Raven,' Draper replied.

  'Ah good, I know the landlord, he's a friend so I'm sure he will remember you and Rea arguing.'

  Draper couldn't help but wipe the sweat from his brow as
his mind started to unravel.

  'Tell me, did you get a taxi home last night,' Lasser paused, 'or did you drive?'

  Draper opened his mouth, but he could feel the walls of the tiny kitchen shrinking as the copper looked at him with eyes that were almost coal black in colour and sparking with anger.

  'It's not a trick question, so come on spit it out?' Lasser demanded.

  'I drove.'

  'And how much did you have to drink in The Raven?'

  'One pint of shandy, that's all.'

  'You're lying again,' Lasser inched forward and watched as more sweat oozed from Draper's open pores.

  'No, I swear that's all I had, just the one shandy and then Rea started to go on about clubbing, but like I said I'd had a shitty week and I didn't even want to go out for a drink in the first place.'

  Lasser folded his arms and tilted his head slightly. 'Hamley Road would have been the quickest route for you to get home, wouldn't it?'

  'I…'

  'What time did you leave The Raven?'

  Draper hesitated before answering as if casting his mind back to the night before. 'I can't be one hundred percent certain, I mean Rea was in an argumentative mood and pecking my head, but it must have been close to twelve.'

  'Then you would have been driving along that road at no later than ten past midnight?'

  'But I didn't drive that way home,' Draper mumbled.

  'And why not?'

  The questions were coming thick and fast, and Draper could feel his mind slipping into meltdown as he tried to think of a rational answer.

  'I was running low on fuel for the car, so I took the long way around,' he explained.

  'Where did you fill up?' Lasser asked, his anger starting to grow with every lie that Draper uttered.

  Draper shuffled sideways slightly as if preparing to make a run for it. 'I went to ASDA.'

  'Not at gone midnight you didn't, the pumps shut at half-eleven.'

  For a few seconds, Draper looked mortified and then he nodded rapidly. 'Oh yeah, I'm sorry, it was Tesco,' he offered lamely, his face now sweating freely.

  'Again, that's easily checked, they have good cameras there.'

  Draper said nothing, his eyes now flicking around the room in desperation.

  'OK, don't you think it's time you stopped with the lies?' Lasser asked.

  'I don't know what you mean,' Draper replied.

  'If you insist on spinning me shite then you will only make your situation worse.'

  'What situation?' Draper asked, trying to sound confused and innocent at the same time.

  'It will take me an hour to check if you are telling the truth about your time in The Raven and what you had to drink. Even less to find out if you filled up last night, and if you are lying to me then I will make sure you are totally screwed, is that clear enough for you?'

  Suddenly, Mark Draper realised it was hopeless, the lies he had told would be discovered and then he would be locked up and his life would be in ruins.

  'I was telling the truth about arguing with Rea,' he paused to swallow, 'but it happened in the car.'

  'Explain?' Lasser demanded.

  Even though he had his hands in his pockets, Mark Draper could feel them start to shake in fear. 'She accused me of having too much to drink, but I swear I only had the one shandy. Rea can be arsey at times and she was moaning about everything and then she made me stop the car and she just got out. I tried to tell her she was being ridiculous, but she wouldn't listen,' he paused,' the truth is I think she was the one who was pissed, her not me, I would never drink and drive.'

  'And so you left her there by the side of the road?' Lasser asked as he tried to keep his anger under control.

  'I tried to persuade her to back into the car, but she was having none of it, so yeah, I drove away. I mean, you don't know what she was like, she lashed out and hit me, actually hit me while I was driving,' Draper claimed, angling for sympathy, though he suspected he would get none from the big copper who looked at him with disgust.

  'Then you headed out to Hamley Road, didn't you?'

  Draper's breath hitched in his throat and then he coughed as he realised that the copper didn't believe a single word he said.

  His mind desperately tried to think of another excuse, another lie that he could try and spin, then he lifted his hands from his pockets to wipe at the sweat that now coated his face. 'I never meant to hit her, she just came flying out of the field and there was nothing I could do to stop in time.'

  Lasser stepped back putting some distance between the two of them when what he really wanted to do was slam his fist into Draper's designer-stubbled face.

  'I swear to God I didn't mean to hit her, but there are no lights on that road and then she was just there in front of me,' Draper pointed at the tiled floor as if the body was there between them in the cramped kitchen.

  'Did you stop to see what you had done, did you put the call in to get help?' Lasser's voice came out as a deep rumble of anger, although he already knew the answers to the questions he posed.

  'I stopped and got out of the car but then I just freaked out, I know I should have tried to help but I couldn't do it, I couldn't walk towards her,' he glanced at Lasser with pleading eyes.

  'What about Rea?'

  Draper blinked, his gaze was now one of confusion.

  'Rea Lomax she was on that road, we know that for a fact, and we also know that she did the right thing, the decent thing, she called for help and now she's missing,' Lasser explained, his voice crammed with latent anger.

  Suddenly, Draper could see where this was going, and he shook his head rapidly from side to side. 'I swear to God, I left her by the side of the road, she was right there, and she was mad at me, but she didn't get back in the car, I swear on my life.'

  Lasser pictured the scene, Rea dumped at the side of the road by her pissed-up boyfriend, perhaps she had thought about ringing for a taxi and then changed her mind. The night had been mild enough and the walk would have taken her about forty-five minutes or an hour at the most and Hamley Road would have been the most direct route home. He imagined her finding the body broken and twisted on the tarmac, blood splashed across the road, white bone and grey brain matter adding to the horror. It must have been terrifying for Rea Lomax finding her like that and yet she had called for help whilst her bastard boyfriend was probably arriving home and pulling onto his drive.

  That all made sense, but what had happened to her after making the call, where had she vanished to and why wasn't she answering her phone? As he thought things through, he pictured the trail of flattened grass leading out into the darkness, if Draper was telling the truth, then that's where the unknown woman had burst from as she ran into the road.

  Lasser could feel the unease grow, then he focused on Draper who stood before him, his eyes still pleading, his hands locked in front of him as if awaiting the handcuffs.

  Then another image lanced into his mind, whoever the woman was who had died on the country road she had received no help from the prick who had slammed into her, Draper hadn't even had the balls to check on her. By his own admission he had driven away, too scared to approach the figure slumped on the road, her skull crushed, her life force wiped out in an instance.

  Unlike her wanker of a boyfriend, Rea had done the right thing and yet whilst she waited in the darkness for help to arrive something had happened and she had been…

  'Taken,' Lasser whispered the distressing word.

  Everything clanged into place and the sense of unease changed into outright concern as he stepped forward and grabbed Draper's elbow.

  'You're coming with me,' he thrust the man across the kitchen and along the hallway.

  'Please, it was an accident, I never meant to hurt her, she leapt out in front of me, no one would have been able to stop, and I thought it was some kind of animal, a dog or a deer…'

  Lasser came to an abrupt halt as they reached the front door and he spun Draper around.

  'The truth
is you were pissed and driving like a moron, that's why Rea got out of the car. I bet she begged you not to drive, but you ignored her and drove away, leaving her in the middle of nowhere. Now in my book that was bad enough, but you then went on to kill a woman, you left her there, you spineless prick, you got back in the car and drove away. That tells me you are a coward and a liar, and now Rea Lomax has vanished, and you are to blame for the whole fucking mess,' Lasser spat before reaching out and yanking the front door open.

  As soon as Dan Lomax saw Lasser leading Draper down the drive he was out of the van.

  'What's happened, what's he done?' he shouted as he hurried towards them.

  Lasser cut left, heading for the Audi as Lomax closed the gap, his expression full of fear and concern.

  'Get back in the van, Mr Lomax, and I'll let you know what's happened,' Lasser said as he continued to frogmarch Draper along the pavement.

  'I want to know what he's done with my Rea!?' Lomax snarled as he grabbed Lasser by the shoulder.

  Shrugging him off, Lasser reached the car and opened the back door before thrusting Draper inside, then he slammed it closed it and turned to face the irate father.

  'Calm down.'

  'I want to know what he's done?' Lomax demanded again.

  'He's admitted to being involved in the hit and run and…'

  'I'm telling you my Rea would not have driven off with that spineless bastard, she would have stayed with the woman.'

  Lasser held the sigh inside as Lomax's face twitched with fury.

  'I believe you, Mr Lomax, Draper says he left her on the outskirts of town, they did have an argument, but it wasn't about any nightclub.'

  'I bloody knew it!' Lomax said as he started to ring his hands together.

  'We know your daughter was the one who put the call in about the woman on Hamley Road.'

  'Of course she did, my Rea would never ignore something like that, but I bet that bastard had no trouble driving away,' he snarled, glaring at Draper through the side window.

  Lasser said nothing as he waited for Dan Lomax to ask the obvious, but for the moment he was too busy throwing looks of hatred at the man in the car.