'From the look on your face I'd say you had a problem with the man?'
Moore nodded, his frown growing sourer by the second. 'Yeah, he was a bloody wife beater, we knew nothing about any of that when he first joined, but then one of the guys recognised him, so I cancelled his membership.'
'And how did he react to that?'
'Turns out it had happened before, I contacted three other gym owners and he'd been at each one and then got kicked out. I know some of the guys who use gyms look like thugs and one or two are, but none of us can stomach people like Nash, in fact, my own father used to knock my mother about, so I know all about pricks like Nash,' Moore said darkly.
'Do you know if he trained anywhere else after you got shut of him?' Lasser asked.
'I doubt it, I spread the word to all the local gyms, but he could have gone out of the area I suppose.'
'And what about enemies, did you know if he had any?' Lasser asked hopefully.
'No idea to be honest, the bastard kept pretty much to himself, he wasn't one for chatting with any of the other lads, all he was concerned with was getting as big as was humanly possible.'
Five minutes later, Lasser was back in the car, a cigarette on the go, the sigh building as he realised that they had hit another dead end.
Whoever had taken Rea Lomax it was obvious that she hadn't been deliberately targeted, it had literally been a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. She had stopped to try and help Julie Emmeret even though she would already have been dead by the time Rea found her slumped and broken on the country road. Whoever had been chasing her must have been close by and they had taken Rea as some kind of replacement for the dead woman. That in itself was bizarre, they had followed the tracks across the field but then the trail had gone cold, though Lasser suspected that whoever had taken her had at some point been parked on the small track that he and Bannister had been on before talking to Dyer, the tenant farmer.
Sliding the window all the way down he pondered why the abductor had kept Julie Emmeret for four months, what had been the reason? According to Doc Shannon it hadn't been for any sort of sexual gratification, and she'd had access to food and water, so what had been the point?
He thought back to his earlier notion that it was all to do with the chase, and still it was the only thing that made any sort of sense.
Smoke drifted out into the afternoon air as he thought back to May Linton and felt the sadness grow inside.
She had suffered at the hands of others until she had decided to turn the tables on the men she hated, they had thought they were the ones doing the chasing, hunting her in woodland and an old five-storey factory in Leigh, but the truth was it had been the complete opposite. She had been the hunter, though by the time the men realised that fact it was too late, and they had died badly. The job she had set out to do had been completed, the guilty ones had all paid with their lives and then she had ended her own. To Lasser, the whole thing had been a tragedy, a broken woman with a will of iron and a heart burning with revenge, the eternal victim.
With a sigh, he took another pull on the cigarette, his mind filtering through the facts, desperately hoping that something would emerge through the confusion, something he could latch onto, a clue, anything that he could chase down.
He watched the afternoon traffic moving past the gym, people going about their business, each with their own concerns. That was the trouble with the world today, everyone had something that ate away at them, be it money worries or health problems, it didn't matter what it was, it affected their life, it weighed heavily on their mind and body.
Flicking his ash, he conjured an image of Jepson and wondered what kept him awake at night? From the way the lord had acted it appeared he had no worries, his brow had been free of frown lines, his smile open and friendly, a man seemingly without a care in the world. Had that been a façade or had Jepson been genuine?
Having millions in the bank no doubt helped, though he had known people who had plenty of cash, but it had offered little in the way of comfort for them. He thought of Benedict Fripp, a man who'd had more money than he could have hoped to spend in several lifetimes. The man had done good work with some of his wealth, charitable work, though inside he had been as rotten as a chunk of meat left out in the blazing sun. Despite his immeasurable fortune, he had spent all his life confined to a wheelchair, unable to walk, his body twisted and fragile, his mind dark and vicious, hiding behind the mask of respectability. Somewhere inside, Fripp had blamed the world for the irony of his situation, he had the wealth but had been unable to find any enjoyment in that fact, though it had allowed his dark side to flourish like some grotesque growth.
Fripp had been a self-made man, Jepson had been born to wealth that stretched back over nine centuries, old money, ancient money and what does someone like that do with their life?
His lordship had claimed that there was always something to be done, but Lasser suspected that sitting on your ride along mower trimming the grass would soon become tedious, the truth was that Jepson had never had to really worry about money. No doubt he would sit in on the occasional board meeting of the companies he was involved with, but he hadn't had the problems that blighted the lives of normal people.
Directly opposite, a car pulled up in a queue of traffic and he looked at the driver, he appeared to be in his late forties, his mouth working as he talked to someone on the phone, his face looked blasted with stress. Lasser watched as the man shook his head before dragging a frustrated hand through his hair, his eyes widening, the anger written large across his face.
Seconds later, the car moved forward, the man still ranting and raving, Lasser watched the rest of the traffic move by and didn't see one smiling face, nobody appeared happy with their lot in life.
Jepson had smiled, a wide beaming smile, but what was his lordship actually doing to keep that smile on his face?'
Lasser looked at his own reflection in the mirror, he had a few frown lines, each one a mark of sadness for those he had lost.
Then he smiled and the lines seemed to smooth out and he knew that was all Jackie's doing and…
Pursing his lips, the frown lines were suddenly back as he wondered if Jepson was sharing his life with someone he loved, did he have a soulmate who kept him smiling, warmed his heart and gave his life meaning?
He had no idea but suddenly he was keen to know more about his lordship, because something was making the man happy, something was entertaining him.
Backing up, he made his way to the road and hesitated for a moment before turning right, the frown lines once more creasing his brow.
62
Nash lay in the dirt, his face bruised and bloodied as he tried to push himself upright, though his mind screamed for him to stay down.
Jepson looked at Max who lifted his heavy shoulders in a shrug.
'I guess we know what he's made of now,' his lordship said as he held up his bloodied fists.
'What do you want me to do with him?' Max asked.
'Well, the wife beater turned out to be a waste of time,' Jepson paused as he looked down at the injured man, 'but waste not want not, he might still serve a purpose.'
Max watched as Jepson walked back to the rocking chair and sat down, eyes closed, red smeared hands resting on the arms of the chair.
Over time, Max had become used to some of Jepson's strange ways and this was one of them, it was as if he could switch off from everything and rest. In the past he had even known him fall asleep with a dead man or woman at his feet as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
Nash groaned in the dirt and Max glanced down at him, the fight could have been over a lot sooner, he knew that, but Jepson had taken his time, dismantling the man a piece at a time, the blows landing with a speed that Nash could never have hoped to cope with even though he had tried. When he had raised his arms, Jepson had concentrated on the body and when Nash had dropped his arms then the fists had slammed into his face. In the end, he had been be
wildered, helpless to stop the onslaught as his legs buckled and he fell to his knees.
Jepson's face had been marred with disappointment as he waited for Nash to get back to his feet.
'Is that it?' he had asked with a shake of the head.
Slowly, the big man had looked up, blood spilling from his nose, coating his lips and teeth, the flesh around his eyes already swollen, the skin purple and angry.
Nash had been unable to utter a word, his body screamed out in pain and his mind could not seem to comprehend what had happened, and how easily the tall slender man had demolished him. Suddenly, he realised that all the weights he had lifted had done nothing, the drugs he had taken had added bulk and muscle but all it had done was slow him down, the man had taken advantage of that fact, just like the female copper had done when she had planted her ankle boot between his legs.
The brute force was all a scam, what was the point in being so huge when you couldn't even defend yourself against someone like the man who stood over him with contempt in his eyes.
Now, he lay in the dirt, trying to breathe as the birds continued to sing, the only other sound was that of the rocking chair creaking back and forth.
Creak, creak, the noise sounding like some strange death knell as Nash waited to see what would happen next, his bloodied face in the dirt, his spirit crushed.
63
Elizabeth Evans wiped the tears from her eyes as Odette explained about the death of Julie Emmeret.
They were standing in a polytunnel full of tomato plants, the air stifling, Elizabeth sat on a stack of wooden vegetable boxes as she shook her head in distress.
'Julie was like a daughter to me,' she looked up at Odette, her eyes brimming with yet more tears.
Roger stood over to the left, feeling the sweat ooze from open pores.
'I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, Mrs Evans, but…'
'Call me Elizabeth, please.'
Odette nodded in sympathy. 'Obviously, we're trying to gather as much information as we can about Julie, so whatever you can tell us would really be appreciated?'
The woman dabbed at her eyes again with a sheet of kitchen roll. 'She was wonderful, smart and loved her job, she didn't have a bad bone in her body.'
'You'd known her for quite some time?' Odette asked.
'Since she was ten years old, I knew her parents – they were regulars here – and Julie was always with them, even back then she had a keen interest in horticulture. When she was twelve, she used to come and work here during the summer holidays and as soon as she left school, she went straight to college though she still worked here part-time. The customers loved her, and she was so knowledgeable I had no problem leaving her to work unsupervised.'
'You say she worked here during school holidays, but what about her friends?'
Elizabeth sighed and shook her head. 'Not many kids of that age have a keen interest in anything apart from boys and fashion, but Julie was never like that.'
'She was a bit of a loner then?' Odette questioned.
'Not a loner as such,' the woman paused, 'she was just older than her years, she had plans, even when she worked here, she never let her homework slip, she was determined in everything she did.'
'She liked to run, is that right?'
Elizabeth smiled sadly as if recalling some touching memory. 'God yes, she could run like the wind, it didn't seem to matter if it was the sprint or cross country, she always won every race at school, not that things like that bothered her, she was never competitive in that respect.'
'Do you know if she was she a member of any running club?'
Elizabeth Evans shook her head. 'Never. She would enter competitions, but she always trained alone.'
Odette sniffed the warm air, the plants providing that strange tomato tang. 'What about boyfriends?'
Elizabeth sighed, her hands planted on the knees of her worn jeans. 'She was always too busy to be honest, either working here or studying for her degree and then there was the running of course.'
Odette nodded in understanding and then decided to change tack. 'How long have you owned this place?'
'We rent the house and land, we don't actually own it.'
'And Charles Jepson is your landlord?'
Elizabeth looked at her with a hint of surprise in her tearful eyes. 'That's right, we've been here for over thirty years now.'
'And when was the last time you saw Mr Jepson?'
Elizabeth's face creased in thought, the tears still staining her cheeks. 'Well, I actually saw him about five months ago, but it wasn't here, and it has to be about ten years since he last came to the garden centre.'
'Can I ask where you saw him?'
'I was in Bangor doing a bit of shopping and I saw him driving along the High Street, at first I thought he must have been on his way here, but he never showed up.'
'Do you have any idea what he could have been doing in Bangor?'
Elizabeth thought for a moment before answering. 'To be honest no, I mean, I have no idea if he owns anything in the town or perhaps one of the outlying farms, it's possible, the Jepson family own lots of land all over the place.'
'Did he know Julie?'
For the first time, Odette saw the look of confusion in Elizabeth Evans's eyes. 'Well, I'm not sure to be honest, like I said it's been a long time since Charles has been here,' she paused, 'I suppose they could have met in the past, but I can't be certain and if they did then Julie would only have been around fifteen at the time.'
'And she never mentioned Jepson to you at any point?'
'No, never.'
Odette held the sigh inside. 'I take it he's a good landlord?'
'He's been wonderful with us, there have been a few years when the weather has been dreadful, and earnings have dropped alarmingly, and he has frozen the rent on this place. The last time was for six months and the year after it was a hot summer so we made a good profit and I offered to pay back some of what we owed and he said it was fine, he wouldn't take it, I mean, how many landlords do you know that would do something like that?'
'Not many,' Odette admitted.
'Some would say that he doesn't need the money and that might well be true, but he still didn't have to do that, he could have insisted that we paid back what we owed.'
'That was a very kind gesture,' Odette replied with a smile.
Elizabeth dabbed at her eyes again. 'I still can't believe Julie died like that, I mean, do you have any idea what she was doing all the way over in Lancashire?'
'To be honest, we're not sure,' Odette paused, 'though we do know that she died on land owned by Lord Jepson.'
The woman's eyes widened at the news, and she quickly licked her lips. 'I didn't know that.'
'Can I just ask again, are you sure it was five months ago that you saw him in Bangor?'
Elizabeth's cheeks inflated at the question. 'Well, I suppose it could have been four months rather than five.'
'So not long before Julie vanished?'
Evans blinked several times her eyes hardening slightly. 'Look what are you suggesting here?'
Odette kept her expression neutral. 'We're simply gathering information at this point, trying to establish Julie's movements and why she ended up nearly seventy miles away.'
The woman looked down at her booted feet planted in the dirt, and Odette glanced at Roger who raised an eyebrow.
When she looked up at Odette, she sniffed back more tears. 'I remember the Christmas tree had just gone up in the town centre and that gets decorated at the start of December.'
'So, it was four months ago rather than five?'
Elizabeth nodded. 'About that.'
'You'll have to forgive my ignorance, but where was Julie's car actually found?'
'On a track that led out to the mountains, it was one she used a lot when she was going for a run.'
'And how far from Bangor is this track?'
Elizabeth suddenly looked uncomfortable again as she swiped a hand across her wet cheeks. 'I gue
ss it's about a mile out of the town centre.'
'On the day you saw him in Bangor would he at any point have driven past this track into the mountains?'
Elizabeth chewed at her lip and then she sighed. 'Well, he was heading back this way and when I got home, I asked my husband if he had called, when he said he hadn't then I knew he must have been heading home when I saw him.'
'Yes, but would he have passed the lane that Julie was parked on?' Odette asked again.
'I suppose so, but surely you don't think he had anything to do with what happened to Julie?'
'Like I said, all we are doing is trying to piece together where she had been before she vanished,' Odette explained again.
'You mean before turning up dead on Lord Jepson's land, don't you?' Elizabeth asked, her voice no more than a hushed whisper.
'Those are the facts, and of course we will be looking into the information you have provided.' Odette replied as she looked at her watch. 'Well, I'd like to thank you for your help, it really is appreciated.'
Elizabeth rose to her feet. 'I loved Julie; I have no daughters but if I had then I would have wanted them to be just like her.'
'Once again, I'm sorry for what happened and…'
'What about the driver who knocked her down?'
Odette paused for a couple of seconds before answering. 'We know who he is.'
'Well, if you know who was responsible then why are you asking about Lord Jepson?' Elizabeth asked with a frown of confusion.
'As I said, we are just looking to resolve things in the right way,' Odette explained.
'Well, the next time you see her killer then make sure he knows what he's done, make him see that Julie was special, that she was loved and cherished.'
Odette nodded in understanding, though the truth was she had no idea if Mark Draper would ever be found, then Roger was by her side.
'Thanks again for your help,' Odette said as they turned and walked out of the polytunnel, both glad to be out of the raging heat
They said nothing as they made their way to the Audi, only once they were inside did Odette speak.
Driven by Fear (The DS Lasser Book 27) Page 20