Driven by Fear (The DS Lasser Book 27)

by Robin Roughley

  'Some people cannot change; they cannot make the leap of faith you need to survive in this world,' the man said with a heavy sigh of what sounded like disappointment.

  Rea felt her legs buckle and she fell to her knees, her head bowed as she broke down and cried.

  43

  'I think I might have found her,' Roger said, his voice holding a note of uncertainty.

  Odette appeared at his back and looked over his shoulder at the laptop screen, sunlight flooding the apartment, warming the room.

  When she saw the image of the woman smiling for the camera, she knew that Roger was right.

  'That's her,' she said waiting for him to reveal more details.

  'Julie Emmeret, aged twenty-seven, went missing over four months ago,' he said as he scrolled down the screen.

  Odette sighed as she moved around the sofa and sat down by his side. 'What else does it say?'

  'She's from North Wales, her car was found on a dirt track in Snowdonia National Park, it says here she was a keen fell runner, no boyfriend, both her parents died in an RTA in twenty-seventeen.'

  'So, no immediate family looking for her?' Odette asked.

  'Say's here that she was an only child and worked for the local council in Wales, responsible for paths and fences in the Snowdonia area.'

  'Meaning she spent a lot of time working outdoors.'

  'I guess so,' Roger replied as he looked at the smiling image on the screen, her eyes friendly, a million miles from the image of her on the slab, her skull cracked out of shape, her eyes lifeless.

  'Right, we need to circulate this and then try and find out the people she knew and the places she went to.'

  'I'll get it sorted.'

  Leaning over, she kissed his cheek. 'You're off today so don't spend the whole day in front of that screen, send the information over to the station and then get out for some fresh air,' she said knowing that he would still be here working away for the next few hours.

  He watched as she grabbed her jacket and slipped it on before sliding her hair from the collar, a movement that somehow always made him shiver with want.

  Seconds later, she left the apartment, and he got up to make a quick brew before sitting back on the sofa, cracking his fingers together he drew in a deep breath.

  'Right, let's see what we can find,' he said to himself as he went to work.

  44

  Gemma Fox threw Brewster a withering look as she entered the large open plan office, he was sitting at his desk and looked up and grimaced as she sat down and turned on her computer before glancing at him.

  'Is it true what that detective said, did you really step over me to search Draper's house?' she asked.

  'You'd sooner believe lying scum like Lasser than your own work colleague?' he asked with a scowl.

  'I just want to know the truth.'

  'The ''truth'' is you should never have gone there alone in the first place. So perhaps next time you will make sure you have backup, or better still ask a male colleague to do the hard work and you sit in your car and watch.'

  Gemma could hear the vitriol in his words, see the disdain in his eyes. 'You don't like me do you, Michael?'

  Brewster tilted his Roman nose into the air. 'I have no feelings about you either way, I just don't think that women should be doing this job, period.'

  'My God, you're serious, aren't you?' she looked at him in shocked surprise.

  Brewster pushed his chair away from the desk, the small wheels squealing as he spun towards her. 'Why would you even think I was joking about something like that?' he asked genuinely perplexed by her surprise.

  'A woman can do the job as good as any man.'

  'You are totally deluded,' he spat in reply.

  'It's the truth, you can't just sit there and come out with something so preposterous without any kind of justification.'

  'Justification?' he asked with a malicious gleam in his eyes.

  'Yes, it means…'

  'I know what it means, but in all my years doing this job I have never come across a female reporter who was worth their salt,' he paused, 'eventually you all play the female card.'

  'What does that mean exactly?' she asked as her computer screen woke up.

  'It means you lot have somehow managed to convince those in power that you are equipped to do the job, but the truth is you always end up in tears when you realise you are in too deep and can't find a way to extricate yourself from your self-made mess. That is what happened to you yesterday, you didn't have the skill set to cope with the situation, and it sounds as if you were lucky to survive the attack.'

  Gemma fumed at the insult. 'I was doing my job,' she fired back.

  'Yes, badly. Next time when you have a lead to follow then I suggest you let me know the score.'

  'YOU!?' she gasped. 'You seriously expect me to share anything with you after what you did last night and what you've just said?'

  Brewster shrugged before pushing a hand through his poodle hair, somehow convinced that it was still dark and glossy, when the truth was it looked as if someone had used the sweepings from a dog groomer's salon to make a ramshackle wig.

  'Don't say I didn't warn you,' he said with a huff before turning back to the computer screen.

  'Tosser,' she hissed.

  Brewster made no comment, but he stored the barbed insult away as another score to settle, one of many.

  45

  They listened as Odette gave them the details about Julie Emmeret, the incident room was full of officers, most sporting looks of concern and sadness.

  Lasser stood over by the door, arms folded, his thoughts on Rea Lomax and now Julie Emmeret.

  When Odette sat down, Carole Henson rose from her chair. 'Of course, we're looking into Miss Emmeret's past, but the truth is there's nothing we can do for her now, but it seems likely that whoever took her is also responsible for the disappearance of Rea Lomax. This happened on our patch, and we need to find her before Rea suffers the same fate.'

  'Hardly seems likely that she's going to die in a hit and run accident,' Black piped up.

  'I wasn't talking literally, Steven,' Carole replied as she glanced at the overweight PC.

  Black made no reply, and no one looked his way, choosing instead to ignore his crass, unhelpful comment.

  'The autopsy showed no evidence of sexual assault, we now know that Julie Emmeret vanished four months ago, so we have a time frame to work with, and we also know that she had access to food and water whilst being held prisoner, and…'

  'So why was she taken?' Black interrupted.

  'That's what we're trying to find out,' Spenner scowled at the interruption.

  'But nutters only ever take someone to either abuse or use them in some way, they don't feed and water them for four months and then let them go out for a midnight jog,' Black snapped in reply.

  Lasser held the sigh at bay, he couldn't be bothered with Black's petty spiteful remarks.

  'It was hardly a simple midnight jog,' Spenner replied, his voice laced with disgust.

  'It just seems a waste of time keeping someone prisoner like that,' Black replied, ignoring Spenner completely.

  'You'd sooner Julie Emmeret had been abused and starved, is that what you're saying?' Spenner asked in disbelief.

  'Don't try and be smart, Spenner, it doesn't suit you,' Black spat.

  Spenner said nothing, his face burning with anger as he pictured Julie Emmeret, her body smashed on the hard tarmac of Hamley Road.

  Carole sighed at Black's spiteful words. 'That's enough, Steven, we don't need negative comments and…'

  'I'm allowed to voice my opinion or is that not part of the remit these days?' Black demanded, aware of people looking his way and knowing they would all be wearing scowls.

  'You are well aware that everyone in this team has a voice and that will never change.'

  Black snorted as if he didn't believe a word.

  'You disagree?' she asked.

  'No comment.'

&nb
sp; Carole held his gaze for a moment before addressing the rest of the room. 'Any thoughts on how we find Rea Lomax?' she asked.

  'Well, whoever held Julie Emmeret must have kept her somewhere that wouldn't draw attention, so perhaps Rea Lomax is in the same place,' Spenner suggested.

  'Good point, John.'

  'Gold star, big tick,' Black hissed from the corner of his mouth.

  'What was that?' Carole asked.

  'Nothing,' Black replied as he folded his meaty arms over his barrel-like chest.

  Carole glared at him for a few seconds before speaking. 'I agree with John, keeping anyone prisoner especially for this length of time requires the victim to be kept in isolation. We need to be looking for a property or premises that are well away from prying eyes. It could be a house or farm or even a building on an old industrial estate, heaven knows we have enough of those around here. So, I want to make use of Google Earth to check the area and anything that fits the match then we need to check it out.'

  'But just because she was hit on Hamley Road and Lomax was taken it doesn't mean that her abductor lives around here,' Black said, seeming to delight in throwing a spanner into the works. 'After all, Emmeret vanished in North Wales and that's hardly local.'

  'We cover all bases, Steven, but options are always welcome as is thinking outside the box, so we keep an open mind,' Carole reminded him.

  Black grunted as if disappointed with her answer.

  'So, we take Hamley Road as a starting point, we know the direction Julie was running before she was hit so all farms and rural properties south of where she died need checking, so let's get to it, and remember we are also looking for Mark Draper, we know he was abducted last night, and we need to know if all this is linked with the disappearance of Rea Lomax and the death of Julie Emmeret.'

  Heads nodded in agreement and chairs were scraped back as the team filed out through the door, leaving Lasser, Odette and Bannister behind.

  'Do you have any theories on why Draper was taken?' Carole asked.

  Bannister rubbed at his tired eyes. 'Well, we don't think Rea's father was involved in the abduction, and let's just say he'll think twice before opening up to a reporter again.'

  'I still can't believe that Brewster was in the house whilst this Gemma Fox was out cold by the front door,' Carole said as she sat down before shaking her head in disbelief.

  'Nothing that man does surprises me anymore,' Bannister replied as he folded his arms.

  'You have a description of the man who took Draper?'

  'A vague one,' Lasser replied as he looked at Carole. 'Gemma Fox said he was huge and grabbed her like a rag doll, truth is she was luckier than she realises.'

  'I take it you told her that?' Carole asked.

  Lasser nodded, his face thoughtful. 'I did, but she wasn't really listening, she started to sound like Brewster, so I'd heard enough.'

  'Perhaps whoever took Draper was also the one holding Julie Emmeret prisoner?' Carole suggested.

  Bannister loosened his tie. 'If the guy is as big as Gemma Fox says then it doesn't sound as if he was built for cross-country running.'

  Lasser nodded in agreement.

  'So, you think there could be more than one person involved in all this?' Carole asked, her eyes widening slightly.

  'Truth is we can't even be sure whether Draper was taken because he was the one responsible for the hit and run or for something completely unrelated,' Lasser replied.

  'What do we actually know about Draper?' Carole started to tap her fingers on the desktop.

  'No police record,' Lasser answered. 'To be honest we've not had the time to look deeper into his past or known associates, but I think the whole thing is linked. I mean, we're fairly sure that Julie Emmeret was running away from someone, she was knocked down and killed and whoever had been chasing her took Rea Lomax in her place.'

  'As recompense,' Bannister added as he ran a hand across the back of his neck.

  Lasser jiggled the pack of cigarettes in his pocket. 'That's what I think,' he paused his brow suddenly creasing in thought, 'and if that's the case then what if those responsible got Rea Lomax to talk?'

  Odette frowned at Lasser's words.

  'You've lost me?' she said.

  'Well, we know that at some point Rea forced Draper to stop the car and he drove off and left her there by the side of the road. There's no doubt that she found the body put the call in and shortly after she's snatched. Now, if she's been questioned by her abductor then eventually, she would have mentioned Draper.'

  Bannister nodded, his eyes suddenly alert as he joined the dots. 'Then whoever the mad bastard is that took her decides that Draper has to pay for killing Julie Emmeret, so he sends King Kong to the house to snatch him.'

  The four of them looked at one another with a mixture of dread and certainty.

  'OK, that sounds plausible, which means those responsible could be holding both Rea and Draper prisoner, but what I can't fathom is what they intend doing with them,' Carole said.

  'Well, I don't think it will be a happy ending for Draper,' Lasser suggested. 'After all, he was the one who killed Julie Emmeret and we know she was held for four months, no physical abuse took place, she was kind of looked after if that makes sense.'

  'I bet it didn't feel that way to her, Sergeant,' Bannister grumbled.

  'Come on, you know what I mean, Steve Black is a total shit, but he was right about one thing, when individuals are snatched, especially females, then it's usually for one reason only.'

  'You're forgetting, not all abuse is physical,' Odette reminded him.

  Lasser glanced at her and nodded. 'I know what you're saying, and the fact that she was running and dashed out in front of Draper's car proves that she was desperate to get away from whoever was chasing her.'

  Bannister shifted his feet on the carpet tiles. 'Truth is, we don't even know if she escaped under her own steam, or whether she was deliberately released.'

  'I'd say she was released,' Lasser suddenly said.

  'What makes you think that?'

  'Well, look at the area, out in the middle of nowhere almost as if the place had been deliberately chosen because it offered plenty of scope for Julie to run, to try and escape and if she hadn't come across Draper – more than likely pissed behind the wheel – then chances are she could have flagged him down and got the help she needed,' he finished with a sigh.

  Odette glanced through the window, seeing the open fields at the back of the station that stretched over to the town centre, the canal dissecting the land. 'Like some kind of sport,' she whispered.

  'Deliberately hunted,' Carole added with a shiver at the images that flashed through her mind.

  Bannister's brow furrowed with anger. 'Sick bastards,' he spat.

  Lasser said nothing as the sun continued to pour in through the large office window, outside a magpie went flying by and he quickly saluted it as the bird vanished over the fields.

  46

  Rea had no idea of the time, no idea if daylight had arrived or whether it was still dark outside.

  After Mark had been killed, his body flying to her left, his head destroyed, she had fallen to her knees, her head bowed as she cried at the horror of what she had witnessed. Eventually, the tall man had helped her to her feet, his arm looped around her shoulder as he guided her back along the path and all the time, he had been talking to her, though at first his words had sounded meaningless. But now as she lay on the camp bed those words came back to her, or at least snippets of what he had said as he led her back to the circular stone building.

  'You shouldn't chastise yourself; we have all misplaced our trust at one time or another. Mark Draper betrayed you, he sacrificed you just so he could escape, you heard him, heard what he said, he tried to lay the blame for Julie's murder on you.'

  'Murder?' she could remember mumbling the word as he kept moving.

  'Draper wasn't fit to be behind the wheel, we both know that he was too inebriated to stop, and that equ
ates to murder.'

  'But…'

  'You are too forgiving, you try and see the good in people, but sometimes there is nothing to see, no redemption for people like Draper. Cowardice can be forgiven, we all have the flight or fight gene, and I would never judge those who choose to run, but Draper wasn't only a coward, he was also a liar, willing to say or do anything to save his skin. Look at what happened back there, you tried to help, and he tried to strangle you.'

  Rea closed her eyes in despair at his remembered words, had the man been right, would Mark have carried on, his hands locked around her throat, would he have tried to end her life in the vain hope that he could escape?

  Tears slipped from her closed eyes, and she sniffed heavily, her mind full of the huge bang, the impact hurling Mark to the ground, the wet sound and spatter of blood and brains on the leaf-littered ground had been terrible to bear witness to.

  Then she opened her eyes, the stone wall less than six feet from her face, lit by the flickering candles and she scowled as she thought of the man who was holding her prisoner, and she realised that he had a plan, otherwise she wouldn't be locked in here. Just like he'd had a plan for the woman named Julie before she was struck down by Mark in his BMW.

  The question she needed to be asking herself was what that plan could possibly be?

  Swinging her feet from the camp bed, she sat and stared at the rough stone wall trying to fathom why she had been taken and why she was being held, what was the purpose, what was the plan?

  She remained lost in thought, trying to unpick the puzzle, desperately trying to see what the future held.

  47

  'I hate this,' Bannister complained.

  'Hate what?' Lasser checked the mirrors before pulling off the main road and onto the country lane.

  'Well, look at us, we have a rough idea what happened to Rea Lomax and Draper but no bloody clues to follow.'