Driven by Fear (The DS Lasser Book 27)

by Robin Roughley

  117

  Lasser opened his eyes and Jackie's face slowly swam into view, the relief in her eyes materialising a little at a time.

  'Thank God you're awake,' she said before dipping to kiss his lips.

  'Is everyone OK?' he asked before cracking a yawn.

  'Everyone's fine.'

  Bannister's face appeared and Lasser grimaced.

  'God, you're ugly close up.'

  'Cheeky bastard I…'

  Lasser heard nothing else as he slipped away into the darkness again.

  118

  Next Day

  Lasser sat on the rear of the boat, a can of dandelion and burdock in his right hand, Bannister opposite, his backside plonked into one of the matching folding chairs.

  'Where's Jackie?' the DCI asked.

  'Taking the dog for a walk.'

  'So how are you feeling?'

  'I'm fine, never better. What about Jepson and the gorilla, have we got the bastards yet?'

  Taking a gulp of the coffee, Bannister licked his lips. 'After you got clobbered, the search continued, and we found that his lordship's Bentley was missing.'

  Lasser looked confused for a moment. 'But the exits were all blocked so how did they get away?'

  'Ah well, there were two other ways off the estate that we didn't know about, we think they used one of those and scarpered.'

  Lasser looked disappointed with the news.

  'Don't fret, we'll get the pair of them, I mean, Jepson's accounts have been frozen so how long can a lord stay on the run for, especially with empty pockets?'

  'Wasn't there someone called Lord Lucan who did just that?'

  Bannister sniffed. 'Before my time, but sooner or later he'll put a foot wrong, or one of his highbrow mates will grass him up to save their own skin.'

  'Odette said they were all there to watch some kind of fight and that the one called Max was involved.'

  Bannister's expression darkened. 'Did she tell you about the dead man we found in the barn?'

  'Yeah, she did,' Lasser admitted.

  'It was bloody barbaric, we have no idea who the dead guy is and we're trying to decide what to charge the bastards with, though it won't be easy, of course they all claim it was Jepson who set the whole thing up. Some have said that it was the first time they had ever been to the place, and they had no idea what was going to happen. They claim that when you get an invite from a lord then no matter how vague that invite might be you attend.'

  'Do you think it had happened before?' Lasser asked before taking a sip from the can, watching the ducks on the water squabble.

  'We've found two bodies in the woods so far, but it's slow work and we have a vast area to search.'

  'I take it Draper is one of them?'

  The DCI nodded. 'Shotgun at close range and buried in a shallow grave, Nash was found on a path through the trees, according to Shannon he was beaten to death using bare fists.'

  'The gorilla again?'

  Bannister nodded. 'That's what we think, so it looks as if you were lucky to get away with a small bump on the head.'

  'It doesn't feel like a ''small bump'',' Lasser replied with a scowl.

  Bannister tutted as he shook his head. 'The one and only time that having a thick skull has any kind of benefit.'

  'What about Rea Lomax?'

  'Like you, they kept her in the hospital overnight just to make sure she was OK, in fact, I'm heading over to pick her up shortly.'

  'Why?' Lasser asked.

  'She wants to help catch Jepson, she mentioned some kind of building in the forest, that's where he kept her, and she knows the way.'

  'Brave woman,' Lasser said with admiration in his voice.

  'I spoke with her last night and she said that Jepson had been the one chasing Julie Emmeret on the night she died.'

  'Does she have any idea why?' Lasser asked as he lit a cigarette before handing the pack over to the DCI.

  'This is where it gets bizarre.'

  'It's already bloody ''bizarre'',' Lasser replied as he blew smoke towards the towpath.

  'It seems that Jepson was trying to brainwash Rea, we can't be certain but that could well be what he did to Julie Emmeret. He'd told Rea that when she was running on the night she died Julie's heart was, and I quote, ''full of joy''.'

  Lasser shook his head. 'What a load of shit.'

  'Agreed, but until we catch the prick then there's no way we can unpick what really happened.'

  'And what about Rea, was he trying to do the same thing with her?''

  'She said he kept going on about expanding her mind, personal growth, mystical crap, beyond this world,' Bannister's mouth twisted at his own words. 'Like you said, it was all shit, but she admits that she almost fell for it. Apparently, after Draper was snatched, he was questioned by Jepson and after hearing what he had to say he told Draper that he was free to go. He then had the drunk driver shot. A couple of days later he said the same thing to Rea, he said she was free to go, but of course she remembered he had made the same promise to Draper, so she got as far as the lane and then she went back to the house, claiming she wanted to know more of what Jepson was offering.'

  'Under the circumstances, that can't have been an easy decision, heading back to the house like that,' Lasser said approvingly.

  'She even saw you and Carole on the lane after you'd been to see Jepson but was too scared to get your attention.'

  'Does she know why she was taken in the first place?'

  Bannister tapped ash over the side of the boat. 'He wanted a replacement for Julie, and the truth is I think he had a group of sick bastards who were prepared pay to hunt her down. That's why he was so fucking mad when Julie died, he told Rea that he had spent a long time training her, making her more than she was.'

  'Diversifying from fighting to the death in the barn to chasing people like wild animals,' Lasser growled in disgust.

  'Trouble is, proving it is going to be almost impossible, like you said, all those who we caught on the estate are loaded and their solicitors are already gathering to defend the wankers. I mean, some of them were in their seventies, two were over eighty…'

  'Which could mean that they had attended these fights in the past?' Lasser said as he drained the can and wiped his lips with the back of his hand.

  Bannister nodded, his expression grim. 'For all we know this could have been going on for years.'

  Lasser thought for a moment, smoke trailing up from the end of the cigarette. 'When you consider how far back the Jepsons go and how much money they have then it could be something that was passed down through the family over the generations.'

  'It's a possibility,' Bannister answered with a sigh. 'We know they made their initial fortune through slavery, so it was in their blood to use the weak and vulnerable, and perhaps Jepson's claims of disgust at the way his ancestors behaved was all a sack of shit.'

  Lasser could feel the anger start to build again and he took a quick shallow breath in an effort to stem the rage. 'It's like I said, he had to fill his time somehow.'

  'The super-rich at play,' Bannister snarled and then sighed. 'Brewster will be fucking loving this.'

  'I can see the headlines, Brewster claiming he was in the thick of things yet again putting his life on the line to get to the truth.'

  Bannister shook his head in disgust. 'I'm telling you, Lasser, that man will come to a sticky end.'

  'We've been saying that for years and yet he's still there clinging onto his stinking life and trying to use others to reclaim the glory days,' Lasser reminded him.

  Bannister yawned and rubbed at his eyes. 'Forget about him, that man will never change.'

  'And what about Gemma Fox, what does she have to say about it all?'

  Lasser listened as Bannister talked about her arriving at the house only to find Jepson assaulting Rea Lomax and then being attacked herself.

  'I had a word with her, and she was going ballistic over Brewster's insinuations about her and his lordship.'


  'Let me guess, Brewster being vague but pointing the finger, saying she must have known what was going on,' Lasser said.

  'Exactly, and also managing to hint at the possibility that Jepson and Fox were in a relationship of sorts.'

  'What a wanker that man is.'

  Bannister checked his watch. 'Right, I'd better get going, I said I would pick Rea up at one.'

  'I'm coming with you,' Lasser said.

  'Not a bloody chance, you are staying here.'

  'But…'

  'No buts, that's an order,' Bannister said as he drained the cup before rising from the chair. 'Don't worry I'll give you a ring and let you know what's happening.'

  'Make sure you do, I want to be kept in the loop, I don't want to have to come looking for you,' Lasser said trying his best to mimic the DCI.

  Bannister glared at him for a couple of seconds. 'Christ, why the hell do I put up with you?'

  'Perhaps it's the free cigs you are always cadging?' Lasser said with a thin smile before closing his eyes.

  He felt the boat sway slightly and he listened as Bannister strode away, his curses fading, the ducks quaking reminiscent of laughter.

  119

  'Are you sure you're OK?' Bannister asked as they made their way through the trees.

  The leaves swished beneath their feet, the afternoon was warm and in any other situation Bannister would have been enjoying himself, out in the fresh air, the sun shining.

  'I'm fine,' Rea replied. 'How's Lasser?'

  'Oh, he'll be fine, he has a thick skull.'

  Rea threw him a sideways glance. 'He saved my life.'

  Bannister coughed and nodded. 'I know he did and perhaps that came out the wrong way, but when I left him, he was smoking a cigarette and drinking a can of pop, so believe me he is doing well.'

  'Thank God for that.'

  'How's your father?'

  They moved around the trunk of a fallen tree. 'Relieved to have me back.'

  'I bet he is.'

  They moved deeper into the forest and the DCI realised how easy it would be to get lost in this place.

  Five minutes later, the trees started to thin out and then Rea came to a stop.

  Bannister looked at her in confusion. 'Problem?' he asked.

  'There it is,' she replied and pointed.

  Bannister turned and narrowed his eyes and then he saw the rise in the earth.

  'I don't follow?'

  'There's a door on the other side.'

  'You mean that mound is the place where Jepson kept you?' he asked in disbelief.

  He heard her sigh. 'That's right, most of the building is underground and I think it was an …'

  'Icehouse,' Bannister suddenly said as they set off walking again.

  Seconds later, they reached the grassy swell in the earth and moved right following the circumference of the mound, suddenly Rea gasped and came to a halt.

  Bannister could see the metal door set back in the earth, a large chunk of wood had been lodged against the lock, the other end driven into the soft earth at an angle.

  'I take it the door wasn't normally wedged shut?' he asked.

  Rea could feel the fear seeping through her body as she shook her head. 'No, Jepson had the key, and it was always locked,' she replied.

  'Right, I want you to wait here, OK?'

  All she could do was nod as he moved away from her.

  Approaching the door, Bannister's hands hung by his side, his booted feet moving over the uneven ground.

  Then he came to a stop and bent at the waist before grabbing the log and hauling it to one side, letting it fall to the ground with a dull thud.

  He was just about to turn back to the door when he felt a cold draft of air as the door swung open.

  Something clattered onto his back. 'Shit!' he hissed as he scrabbled free.

  Lord Jepson fell and hit the ground.

  Rea Lomax screamed, the woodland swallowing the sound as he stepped forward. Jepson had fallen with his head to one side and the DCI felt his stomach roll as he saw the savage slash that cut across Jepson's throat, face contorted in agony, his shirt drenched in red, hands claw-like and coated in blood.

  When he felt movement at his side, he looked at Rea as she peered down at his lordship.

  'Max,' she whispered.

  Suddenly it all fell into place and Bannister pictured the scene, the gorilla had picked Jepson up after Lasser had flattened him and they had been working under the illusion that he must have carried his boss to the car and then made their escape, now he knew that couldn't have been the case.

  'Any idea why he would have done this?' he asked.

  Rea couldn't take her eyes off the grisly scene, and she pictured Jepson smiling at her as he talked about improving her life in ways she couldn't even comprehend, yet the truth was he had been insane, a killer, someone who believed they were entitled to take anything they wanted from life.

  Well, he wasn't smiling now that was for sure.

  'Rea?' Bannister said her name.

  At last, she lifted her gaze from the body and turned to him.

  'They tell you to never bite the hand that feeds,' she paused, 'but I think the one called Max did exactly that,' she replied, her hands starting to shake.

  Bannister thought about what she was saying and found himself nodding in agreement, he took hold of her arm and led her away from the body sprawled on the ground, the metal door of the icehouse standing open.

  No more fun and games for you, sunshine, Bannister thought as Rea drew closer to his side.

  Somewhere in the trees the carrion cawed.

  END.