Driven by Fear (The DS Lasser Book 27)

by Robin Roughley

  'I'm the same as you, he's kept me prisoner for…'

  'Rea Lomax!' Gemma gasped as she whipped her head around, her eyes widening.

  Rea felt her heart race as she nodded.

  'The police are looking for you, everyone's looking for you!'

  The news brought a sudden flood of tears to Rea's eyes, she had almost given up on the idea that people would be looking for her, she knew her father would be in a world of turmoil, but ever since this nightmare had begun, she had always pictured him alone and crushed.

  'What's your name?' she suddenly asked.

  'Gemma Fox, I'm a reporter and I came here to interview Jepson, but he attacked me, he was like some madman screaming and…'

  Rea looked at the woman, as her voice came to a stuttering stop. They appeared to be around the same age, and she recognised the terror in her eyes, brought on by her world being turned upside down in an instant by Charles Jepson.

  'Why did he do that, why did he attack me?' Gemma asked as she tried to come to grips with what had happened.

  Rea knew exactly why Jepson had attacked her and she knew that he had no intention of letting either of them go, not now, not ever.

  'I need to get out of here, I can't stay, I just can't!' Gemma's voice rose in panic, her face etched with fear, eyes manic.

  'We have no choice, we're here whether we like it or not,' Rea replied and winced at the harshness of her words.

  'But it must be some kind of mistake, it's…'

  'No mistake,' Rea interrupted.

  Gemma swallowed hard, her right hand reaching up to her bruised face as the tears slipped free. 'How did you get here?' she asked, her voice no more than a whisper.

  Rea started to talk, her voice emotionless, toneless as she explained about how Jepson had clubbed her on the country road, and she had woken in the dark. She didn't stop other than to take a quick sharp breath and then she was talking again. She told Gemma Fox everything and watched as the colour bled from the reporter's face, her hands shaking with the fear of what she was hearing.

  'But why, why did he do those things?' Gemma eventually asked, as she swiped the tears from her eyes.

  Rea thought for a moment before answering. 'He did it because he's insane,' she replied, knowing that she spoke the truth.

  It was the only thing that made sense, the final piece of gauze was stripped away from her mind, she had seen it more than once in Jepson's eyes. One minute he could seem relaxed, casual, talking to her about the need to expand both the mind and body, then he would change, and that's when the madness took over.

  She pictured him darting forward, the look on his face had been indescribable and then she had been sprawled on the ground, and then he would be apologising like some wife-beating husband who lashes out at his downtrodden wife. The violence would flare and then they would appear crushed by their actions, promising it would never happen again. But it was all lies and eventually the mask would slip again, and their true self would come roaring to the surface and the beatings would start again.

  'Please I can't stay here, we have to go now,' Gemma pleaded, her cheeks once more slick with tears.

  'The door will be locked, I've tried to escape before, but Jepson knows the grounds, he caught me…'

  'But we have to try!'

  Rea sighed and then nodded. 'We will, but we can only do it when he comes back.'

  'Then we run?' Gemma asked, her voice still crammed with fear.

  Rea slowly shook her head. 'Running will do us no good, there's another man out there who works for Jepson, he does exactly what he says and if one of us manages to get away from Jepson, then I guarantee the other one will be waiting.'

  'So, what are we going to do?' Gemma's hands were now clasped beneath her chin, her voice full of pleading and fear.

  Taking a deep breath, Rea drew her shoulders back. 'We don't run, whoever comes through that door then we have to be prepared to fight.'

  '''Fight''!?' the reporter gasped in astonishment.

  'We have to be ready to kill, because if we don't then we will both be dead before the night is out.'

  Gemma Fox broke down, her body slumped in despair.

  101

  Lasser was halfway up Red Rock when his phone chimed, he sighed before turning right onto the towpath. Checking his phone, he tapped at the screen, easing back in the seat.

  'Any news?' he asked.

  'The red Beetle belonged to Julie Emmeret,' Odette replied, her voice full of urgency.

  Lasser felt a couple of seconds disbelief, thinking he had heard her wrong. 'Jesus, are you sure?'

  'We managed to get the details from the DVLA, she owned the vehicle for five years, so it proves that Jepson was lying when he said he had never met her.'

  'Does Bannister know?'

  'Roger's on the phone to him now, but we have a link, we have proof that they had met, they went running together.'

  Lasser fumbled the pack of cigarettes from his pocket and lit one, taking a deep pull on the cigarette before blowing it out on a tremulous sigh. 'The lying bastard.'

  'Well, at least it gives us a legitimate excuse to question him properly.'

  'And try and find Rea Lomax,' Lasser added.

  'I'm going to contact Carole when I've come off the phone to you, see what she has to say and how she wants to handle this.'

  Sliding the window down, the smoke drifted out into the growing darkness.

  'Right, I'll let you go, no doubt either Alan or Carole will be in touch in the next few minutes.'

  'No problem, Odette, and let's hope this is the break we've been hoping for.'

  'Fingers crossed.'

  The phone died and Lasser slid the window back into place before getting out into the darkness. Half a minute later, he flicked the cigarette into the bushes before stepping onto the boat, the whippet dashing towards him as he opened the door.

  Jackie was on the sofa, she started to smile and then it slipped as she saw the dark frown on his face.

  'What's the matter?'

  Before Lasser could reply, his phone rang again, and he put it on loudspeaker.

  Bannister sounded enraged. 'You were right about the bastard; he's bloody lied to us from the start!'

  'What do you want to do?' Lasser asked as he looked at Jackie and gave an apologetic shrug.

  'We go and get the prick and we make him tell us the truth and this time we won't be fobbed off.'

  'Do you want me to meet you there?'

  'No, I'll come and get you.'

  'No problem.'

  'Make sure you're ready.'

  'He's always ready,' Jackie's voice rose, and Lasser saw the flash of annoyance in her eyes.

  'Ah, sorry, Jackie, didn't know you were there.'

  She made no reply.

  'See you in fifteen,' Lasser said before ending the call.

  'What's happened?' Jackie asked.

  Lasser sat down by her side and told her that Jepson had lied about having met Julie Emmeret, by the time he had finished she was shaking her head.

  'I wish Giles had told me.'

  'To be honest, he would have been clueless about it,' Lasser explained. 'It was only blind luck that he mentioned the woman and remembered the car she was using at the time.'

  'But what if Jepson denies it, I mean, Giles had no idea who the woman was, he couldn't even describe her to you?'

  Poppet jumped up and curled herself by Lasser's side, settling down with a contented grunt of pleasure.

  'The main thing is, it's something we can use to really grill the man, up until now we've had no real reason to come down heavy on the guy.'

  'Do you really think he's responsible for taking Rea Lomax?' she asked.

  Lasser thought before answering, the truth was he hadn't really trusted the man from the start, he didn't believe in coincidences and every bit of information they had discovered about Jepson had only made his suspicions deepen. Now, they had the link about the car and suddenly he was keen for Bannister
to get here, then they could head over and see what Jepson had to say for himself.

  'You'd better go and wait for Alan,' Jackie said. 'The last thing you want is for him to turn up in ranting mode.'

  Turning, he looked into her eyes, seeing the love reflected back at him. 'Are you OK?' he asked.

  When she smiled, he felt the hint of relief inside.

  'Of course I am,' she paused, 'just be careful out there.'

  Leaning over, they kissed, and Lasser felt his heart quicken, then he stood up and headed off along the boat, the whippet momentarily lifted her head to watch him go before settling back down to sleep.

  102

  Brewster frowned as two cars went driving past, he had counted eight in the last ten minutes and yet there was still no sign of Gemma Fox exiting from the long driveway that led to the mansion.

  He knew how these things went, normally at an initial interview you were in and out in no time and yet she had been gone for almost three hours.

  Again, he pictured them together, only this time the bitch was blowing Jepson on the sofa, her way of getting an exclusive. Michael Brewster's teeth continued to grind, it was always the same, women were all useless, but they did have the advantage of being able to sell themselves in the hope that they would get what they wanted in return. He could recall at least two women he had slept with when he had his own TV show, young women desperate to get their faces on the screen and willing to do anything to make that happen.

  He had used the two women in a re-enactment of the crimes he was doing the programme on, not speaking roles, never that, but they had been thrilled to act out their part, whilst spreading their legs for him in the process.

  'Bimbos and whores,' he hissed into the darkness of the MG.

  That's exactly what Fox would be doing to get an exclusive with Lord Jepson, and the thought infuriated him.

  Suddenly, headlights rounded the corner and he squinted against the glare as two more gleaming 4x4s went thundering by, buffeting the sports car. Brewster glared into the rear-view mirror, watching as the vehicles vanished around the bend.

  He started to tap at the steering wheel, the frustration building with every second that ticked by. The world was full of people trying to finish him, Karmen the editor, Fox the whore and the bastards Lasser and Bannister, all jealous of his skill, jealous of his reputation.

  With a shuddering sigh he shook his head, he had spent all his adult life fighting for the truth and had almost died more than once to get to that buried truth. It had been a long, lonely battle fighting injustice and yet he had never wavered, never backed away from the threat of violence. He had never given in to the thugs of this world, yet here he was sitting on the darkened country lane whilst his colleague fucked her way to the top.

  'I should have been born a woman,' he spat, his face grim.

  More lights appeared and three more cars went gliding by, a BMW, Mercedes and even a Porsche.

  He watched them disappear in the mirror and for the first time he wondered where the cars were going.

  Then he shook his head, what did it matter, the important thing was Gemma Fox, the conniving little whore, it had been ten years since he had done the documentary on Jepson, but perhaps they were getting ready to do another and this time super whore would be in charge.

  Michael Brewster continued to seethe in the darkness, his bitterness rising, the hatred searing through his mind as he waited for the women herself to appear.

  103

  Jepson stood in the huge barn, the place illuminated by bright light, the dirt ground packed hard, the space circled by a line of hay bales in case any of the elderly crowd wanted to sit down to watch the entertainment. Though experience had taught him that people never wanted to sit, not once the fighting started and he knew that some would stand on the bales, cheering and clapping as the violence unfolded before them.

  He thought of the woman who had appeared on the drive just as he had lashed out at Rea Lomax. Taking a deep breath, he tried to calm his nerves, the truth was he had acted out of instinct, knocking her out cold and all he knew was that she was a reporter.

  Closing his eyes, he cursed his temper, he should have remained calm, he should have found out exactly who she was and more importantly, who else knew that she was here.

  He could feel the tension twist inside as he realised that the mistake could prove problematic, she was a reporter so chances are that others knew she had been coming to see him and eventually they would start to wonder why she hadn't reported back to them, then the police would be called and…

  The fury inside roared as he pictured Lasser and Bannister turning up again at the house, only this time they would forgo any pleasantries, this time they would demand answers.

  Jepson cursed low under his breath as he realised that someone could already be wondering why the bitch had fallen off the radar. He looked around the barn again, within the next half an hour this space would be full of wealthy individuals baying for blood, but now he had this other problem to contend with.

  For the first time ever, he regretted the fact that the barn had always been used to hold the fights in. He had never even considered that it could prove fatal, until now the crowds had cheered in raucous delight as the gladiators fought in front of them, though when you lived in over four hundred acres of private grounds, covered in dense woodland then it had never mattered how much noise was made, no one would ever hear them. It had also offered a secure place to bury the bodies of the fallen, shallow graves holding the remains of those that Max had killed.

  Yet now he felt the first tremor of real fear slide into his mind, and it took him a few seconds to even realise what that emotion actually was.

  Perhaps he should have cancelled the event, but it was too late now, he licked his lips as the strange feeling of dread took hold. When he heard the barn door slide open, he turned to find Max standing in the doorway, he was drenched in sweat and Jepson knew he had been training hard and was now prepared for what lay ahead.

  'You look ready,' Jepson said as he tried thrust the concern from his mind.

  Max nodded. 'As I'll ever be,' he paused, 'look, are you sure this is a good idea?'

  Jepson looked at the big man convinced that he had heard him wrong and then he stepped forward.

  'What did you say?'

  Wiping a meaty forearm across his brow Max kept his eyes locked on Jepson. 'It's just that we know the police are looking for Rea and now you have the other one here and…'

  'Are you questioning my reasoning, are you really questioning my authority?

  When Max shrugged, Jepson felt his astonishment deepen, in all the time he had known Max he had never voiced a real opinion on anything, let alone questioned him about the choices he made.

  'I just think you're taking unnecessary risks.'

  'I know what I'm doing,' Jepson snarled, though deep inside he knew he was fooling himself. The truth was Max was right, this was a risk, the whole thing suddenly felt wrong and yet the part of his mind that had always been in control refused to accept the fact that he could have misjudged this whole thing. 'Are you afraid, is that it, do you think you're past your best?' Even as he asked the question Charles Jepson felt himself cringe inside.

  Max was always ready and here he was calling his nerve into question.

  'If I lose, I lose, but no, I'm not ''afraid''.'

  Jepson chewed the inside of his cheek and then he heard the sound of engines in the distance and any thoughts of cancelling the event evaporated as he realised that the others were starting to arrive.

  'I'll welcome our guests, I want Nash brought here, then meet me at the barn to get the women.'

  'You're going to make them fight, aren't you?' Max asked.

  'Why are you suddenly so interested?' Jepson demanded.

  'I just thought you were going to train Rea like you did with Julie.'

  'She would never be as good as Julie,' Jepson barked as the sound of engines drew closer.

  'I
think she could be with the right training.'

  'You think you know more about the training than I do, is that what you're saying?'

  Max could see the look of anger smeared across Jepson's aristocratic face. 'People need time to come to terms with events like this, you can't simply throw them to the lions.'

  Jepson lunged forward and stabbed a finger into Max's chest.

  'Don't you ever forget your place; don't you ever question ME again!' he hissed.

  Max didn't budge an inch under the onslaught, didn't take his eyes off Jepson's twisted face.

  'Remember what you were before I came along, you were nothing but an animal, a savage!' spittle flew from Jepson's jabbering mouth, his eyes almost bulging in blind fury. 'Without me, you would have been dead or jailed for life years ago. Now, get Nash and keep your imbecilic mouth closed.'

  Max made no reply to the vicious insults as he turned and strode towards the barn door, leaving Jepson livid with anger, his face livid with spite and entitlement.

  104

  Bannister took another pull on the cigarette; the smoke being sucked out through the open window of the Range Rover before vanishing into the darkness.

  Lasser sat in the passenger seat, arms folded as he watched the streetlights go by.

  'You're quiet,' the DCI commented.

  'Just thinking about Jepson.'

  'And?'

  Lasser turned his head to look at Bannister's shadowed profile. 'He could simply deny everything and if he does, then there's not much we can do about it.'

  The automatic gearbox clicked as Bannister increased the speed. 'It's a clue, Lasser, it's something we can use to get under the bastards skin.'

  'But we both know if he gets a solicitor involved and let's face it, he could afford the best, then he will answer for nothing.'

  Bannister sighed, he knew Lasser was right, all they had was the red Beetle and Giles Black's vague recollection of Jepson running with a woman he couldn't even describe. Plus, even it had been Julie Emmeret then it had taken place years earlier and the truth is that Jepson could even claim that the woman had been a fellow runner, unknown to him and they had merely set out together, kindred spirits, who simply loved to run.