Vanished Beneath: DS Lasser six (The Lasser series Book 6) (41 page)

'That’s another thing Bannister warned me about.'

'Oh aye, what's that?'

'He said your jokes were rubbish.'

'Fair enough, ' he smiled as they set off back to the car.

101

Albie sat on the edge of the bed, head in his hands, the piece of crumpled paper held tight in his sweaty grasp. When he'd seen the name written on the single sheet of A4 his stomach had lurched in terror.

Now he watched, as the room grew dark around him, fading sunlight replaced by the pitiful glow of the streetlight outside his bedroom window.

His head throbbed, the blood rushing through his skull like the sea in an empty shell.

Scrubbing both hands down his face, he pushed himself up from the crumpled bed and shuffled to the bathroom. While taking a leak he caught sight of his face in the mirror, haunted eyes glared a back at him from a face he barely recognised.

When he'd arrived home another envelope had been waiting on the welcome mat, this time there had been over three grand inside and the name scrawled on the paper. The money had felt like a gipsy-curse in his hand, the name had dropped him to his knees.

The words twenty-four hours had been scribbled at the bottom of the sheet, Albie knew what they meant, what the consequences would be if he failed to carry out the order.

The problem was, if he failed in his task then the police would be the least of his worries, and if by some miracle he managed to succeed then he could already guess who the next target would be.

Albie closed his eyes and stuffed his dribbling member back into his boxers before wandering back into the bedroom.

Whichever way he looked at it all he could see was disaster a choice between a lifetime in the nick, or beaten to death and fed into the mechanical crusher.

When his phone began to ring, he reached for it with a sense of inevitability.

'Well done Albie you did a good job.'

Albie flopped back onto the bed. 'Listen I
can't
do the name you sent me.'

'Your reason being?'

'Because the Mellor’s are fucking
nutters.
'

'So you're turning the job down, I'm disappointed but as long as I know where I stand, goodbye...'

'
No, no wait
, I mean, what are you going to do?'

'You know the answer to that, so if you want my advice you'd better get your running shoes on.'

Albie shot up from the bed in fear. '
No wait, please don't go
!' he sounded like a love struck teenager on a sex chat line.

'
You've changed your mind
?'

Albie licked his lips. 'Look, I might need more than twenty four hours; I need to be careful, you know if they catch me then I'm fucking dead!'

He heard a sigh drift from the mobile.
'You have forty-eight hours, no more, no less.'

'If I do manage it then what, I mean, is this going to carry on forever?'

'So that's what your worried about, you think when one brother is gone I'll ask you to repeat the task?'

'Well yeah and, I mean, it just ain’t possible not the two of them...'

'Let me put your mind at rest Albie. If you do this thing for me then the next envelope   will contain ten thousand pounds and more importantly no name.'

Albie blinked in the gloom. 'But I thought...'

'I know what you thought, but I'm telling you how it will be.'

Albie sat back down on the corner of the mattress. 'But what about the coppers?'

'If you keep your word then I'll do the same, no police banging on your door, no need to run.'

Albie felt the confusion seizing his brain, the thought of actually trusting someone was an alien concept.

'How do I know you'll keep your promise?'

'You don't but if I'd wanted to get the police involved I would have done it by now.'

'
Bollocks
.' Albie snapped.

This time when the voice spoke there was a hard edge to it.
'Take the job, don't take the job it makes no difference to me, but if you decide not to then I guess you'll never know whether you could have trusted me or not.'

And there it was, all laid out in black and white, no shades of grey, no ifs and buts.

'OK look I'll try.'

'I thought you'd see sense, now shouldn't you get busy, you don't want to waste the few hours you have.'

'I...'

The voice vanished the screen flashed and then went blank

Albie took a huge shuddering breath before reaching for the pile of clothes on the floor.

102

Lasser stood in the empty kitchen with a look of confusion on his face.

Odette stood with hands on hips. 'Are you sure Medea actually exists Sergeant, or is it just a ploy to get me on my own?'

'I'll put the kettle on,' he said.

Odette shook her head and looked around the room, in the kitchen window was a vase filled with colourful blooms, two cups on the drainer a handbag hung from one of the chairs.

Filling the kettle, Lasser dropped it back onto the cradle before flicking the switch.

'Now do you want tea or coffee?'

'Are you any good at brewing up?' she asked.

'I spent years on my own so the answer is probably no.'

Pulling out a chair, she sat down. 'I'd better play it safe then, have you got any fresh orange juice?'

'I've got Vimto.' Lasser replied before pulling out his phone and sliding a finger down the screen.

'I haven't had Vimto since I was about ten.'

'You'll love it,' he gave her the thumbs up as he listened to the phone ring. 'Hi Med where are you?'

When she replied it was in hushed tones.
'I'm with Emma; we're at her dad's place.'

'Oh right, how is he?' he asked as he opened a cupboard door and lifted the bottle of Vimto onto the work surface.

'
Not good
,
the McMillan nurse is here.'

Lasser frowned
.
'Jesus, I didn't think it had got to that stage?'

'Neither did we but Emma was talking to the nurse and she seems to think the cancer is reaching the final stages.'

Lasser looked through the kitchen window at the towering grass and the flowerbeds littered with weeds. 'And how is she bearing up?'

'You can imagine after the last few days she's distraught.
'

Lasser sighed and loosened his tie. 'Right, well is there anything I can do?'

'Not really but the thing is Emma doesn't want to leave him.'

Lasser unscrewed the lid from the bottle. 'That's understandable.'

'And she's asked if I'll stay with her, it's just for one night I'd be home in the morning.'

'No problem, sweetheart, and you're sure I can't bring you anything?'

'Positive, like I said it's all about pain relief now and all we're doing is drinking gallons of tea and talking.'

'Well listen give Emma my love and tell her she's welcome back here anytime.'

'Thanks, I know she'll appreciate that, now I'd better go.'

'OK, but if you need anything then just give me a shout and I can be over there in ten.'

'Thanks. Oh by the way, I left you a salad in the fridge, I mean, it's not deep fried so I don't expect you to eat it all.'

'Very funny.'

'I love you, Lasser.'

'Ditto,' he said and then she was gone.

'Is everything alright?' Odette asked.

Lasser sloshed some of the juice into a glass before filling it with cold water, when he turned; she was looking at him in concern.

Placing the glass on the table, he explained about Emma and her father.

'And she's the one you went into the water to save?'

'Yeah, but it looks as if her bad luck hasn't finished yet.'

Odette took a sip from the glass. '
Poor woman
.'

Lasser pulled out his cigarettes and lit one. 'Med and Emma go way back, childhood mates.'

'Is that why you dived in to save her because she was Medea's best friend?'

'I'd like to say no, but who knows, I mean, it isn't something I'd want to do again in a hurry.'

'I can imagine.'

'Right, do you like salad?'

'I don't care what it is, I'm starving.'

Lasser leapt up and tossed the cigarette into the sink before yanking open the fridge door, he grinned when he saw the two plates covered in cling film.

Lifting them out, he pulled off the wrapping and plonked them on the table. 'Now do you need a knife and fork?'

'Unless you expect me to eat the coleslaw with my bare hands?'

'Oh yeah sorry,' he said before opening a drawer and dragging out the cutlery.

'So what about the Mellor brothers, what's your take on them?'

Lasser slid back into the chair. 'Local scumbags trying to break into the big time, Boris is the thick one, more muscle than brains.'

Odette popped a cherry tomato into her mouth. 'What about the other one?'

'Norvil's the one to watch, a slimy sod - he's the one pushing for world domination.'

'But Sharon Cliff was dumped outside the gates to their yard wasn't she?'

Lasser placed his elbows on the table. 'Yeah, that's what makes us think that someone has a vendetta against them.'

'Do you think they're on the killers list?'

Lasser pondered for a moment. 'If you really think about it, then the whole thing is bloody weird.'

'You mean getting someone else to do the actual killing?'

'Yeah, why would someone do that?'

Odette speared half a boiled egg onto her fork. 'Well if you can trap someone into thinking this is simply a business opportunity then why not use them, I mean, it takes the heat off the real killer.'

'Yeah well, Elliot was as thick as pig shit so I can imagine him not realising it was a trap before it was too late.'

Odette nibbled at the egg the ponytail curled around her shoulder. 'And now the killer’s got someone else on the payroll.'

'That's the problem with this town, there are too many idiots ready to grab the cash without thinking of the consequences.'

'Off course there could be another reason the killer uses someone else.'

Lasser lifted the lettuce with his fork and smiled when he spotted the slice of ham hidden beneath. '
Another reason
?' he mumbled as he took a bite.

'Well let's look at the facts, we have Crank and Sheldon and the unidentified girl.'

'Yeah.'

'Then there’s Sarah Clark and Sharon Cliff.'

'Sounds like a double act, the Cliff and Clark show!'

Odette gave him a crooked smile. 'Now it makes sense to use someone else if you knew these people would recognise your face.'

'But we already know all this.'

'But what if there was another reason?'

Lasser raised an eyebrow. 'Come on, Odette, the suspense is killing me.'

'What if the killer uses a third party because they can't physically do the actual killing?'

Lasser's fork clattered onto the plate. '
A woman
!'

Odette took a sip from her glass, her eyes watching Lasser over the rim. 'I mean, you'd have to be pretty strong to drag a body from the back of a van and then carry it to the water.'

'Bloody hell you're right. They can't manage the heavy stuff that's the real reason they get the monkeys involved.'

'You think it makes sense?' She asked.

'Yeah, yeah it makes perfect sense. We've been looking at this wrong, OK, it helps the killer to remain hidden, and I can guarantee that Elliot would have had no idea who he was working for, it's probably the same with Elliot version two. But that's just a by-product; the killer remains hidden because they don't have the strength to risk doing it themselves.'

'Do you think Bannister will buy it?'

'Oh he'll rant and rave like he always does, but when the dust settles he'll see it makes sense.'

'What about the girl who was with Hancock in the Vic?'

Lasser nodded slowly. 'Yeah, it puts a whole new spin on things. We know she had a run in with Cliff and Clark so perhaps she's a candidate.'

'But Bannister will point to the fact that it was Hancock who pulled her out of there so why should she add him to the list?'

'Yeah well, relationships change, besides, there are plenty of men in this town who treat women like shit, even if they have saved them from getting bottled.'

'So we need to find out who
she
is?'