Vanished Beneath: DS Lasser six (The Lasser series Book 6) (48 page)

Lifting the letterbox flap, Odette looked inside, she could see straight down the narrow hallway and into the kitchen, the faint scent of floral air freshener drifted out through the slot.

When she saw the back door open and Lasser step into the kitchen, she snapped the flap closed and dashed around the side of the house.

Odette moved around the corner and through the door, Lasser was standing in the middle of the room head cocked on one side.

'
What
...'

He snapped a finger to his lips and Odette moved to his side.

'The back doors been forced,'
he whispered.

Odette turned and looked at the split wooden casing.

Then Lasser moved to her left and gingerly pulled open the drawer beneath the sink.

'
What are you doing
?' she whispered.

Lasser frowned down at the mixture of spoons before closing it and opening the cupboard beneath. Reaching inside, he pulled out a marble rolling pin, she saw his teeth flash and then he tiptoed back to her.

'Have you still got your pepper spray?'

'Yes but...'

'Did you see the red BMW parked next door?'

Odette shook her head.

'I recognised the plates. PIT 1 that car belongs to Dave Pitt.'

'
Who is Dave bloody Pitt
?' she hissed in annoyance.

'He does odd jobs for the Mellor’s, breaking arms and legs mainly and believe me he takes his work very seriously.'

'And you think he's
here?'

'Pitt's car - kicked in back door – oh, he's here alright.'

Lasser tested the weight of the pin and grunted in satisfaction. 'So what do you say, are you up for it?'

Odette nodded without hesitation

Lasser blew out through pursed lips and headed for the hallway.

Pitt stood in the middle of the bedroom, one massive hand clamped over the girls mouth the other wrapped around her waist.

'One peep out of you and you're fucking dead,'
he whispered into her ear.

When he took a step towards the door the floorboard creaked and he cursed low under his breath, that was another drawback of being so heavy, sneaking around was a difficult thing to achieve, he was more used to rampaging than tiptoeing.

Then he suddenly wondered why he was trying to creep around. He was Dave Pitt not some chicken shit bag head on the rob. Those who knew him called him Pit bull, a tank of a man, a one-man fucking army. With a snarl, he tossed the girl to one side and headed for the door.

'OK, wankers, here I come!'
he bellowed as he stormed along the landing.

Lasser felt his guts tighten as he saw Pitt appear at the top of the stairs.

The huge man stopped and grinned down at them. '
Lasser
,' he hissed. '
I've waited a long time for this you little prick
.'

'Still having trouble getting an erection Dave,' Lasser snarled back and then Pitt came barrelling down the stairs, the walls seemed to shake around him as he swung a massive fist. Lasser bulleted up the stairs, his fury erupting and then Odette popped up over his right shoulder and fired off the pepper spray.

Lasser snapped his head to the left and Pitt bellowed as the spray entered his eyes.

Odette turned and leapt down the four steps to the floor, Lasser ducked to avoid Pitt's fist but he could do nothing about moving out of the way. He managed to slam the marble rolling pin into Pitt's rock hard stomach and then the body builder slammed into him.

Lasser snapped up his knees but when he hit the ground he hit hard, the breath shot from his lungs, pain swamped him. Then Pitt slammed down on top of him, lunging his head forward eyes streaming as he tried to bite Lasser's nose off.

Odette slammed the can into the side of his face and Pitt snarled as if annoyed by the whine of a fly, before lashing out a hand that slammed into her midriff sending her clattering against the wall. Odette grunted and then she flew straight back at him, her ponytail swished across her face, her eyes lashed out a fury of their own.

'Bastard!'
she screamed and landed on Pitt's back, her hands clawing for his eyes, she missed but managed to hook her index finger in his right nostril Odette grunted in satisfaction and yanked back hard.

Dave Pitt bellowed like a castrated bull and tried to grab Odette's hand but she twisted left and right, Pitts head thrashing back and forth, as he tried to break her grip.

'Fucking bitch!'
he bellowed and pushed himself to his feet, then he turned and rammed back against the wall. Odette slammed into the plasterboard but managed to keep hold, she wrapped her long legs around his waist and squeezed as hard as she could.

Lasser shook his head and coughed, he felt as if he'd been run over by one of Norvil Mellor's JCBs. When his vision cleared, he saw Odette clinging onto Pitt's back, her finger rammed up the big man's nostril. With a groan, he pushed himself to his knees, one hand scrabbling for the wall as he rose unsteadily to his feet.

Pitt glared at him through streaming red-rimmed eyes.
'Kill you, you little shit!'
he spat before slamming back again, this time Odette hit the corner of the wall and she grunted as the air was forced from her lungs, she felt her grip begin to slip and desperately tried to reaffirm her hold.

Then Lasser saw Pitt's eyes widen slightly as he looked at the opposite wall, Lasser spun left, he could see the coat hook drilled into the wall, four inches of curved metal that came to a point.

Then Pitt looked at Lasser and grinned before spinning around in the narrow hallway. Lasser lunged forward as Pitt lurched back, Lasser made it, but only just, managing to trap his body between Odette and the hook.

He felt the metal gouge into his shoulder and snarled in pain, then Pitt moved forward again to take another backwards run at the hook. Lasser staggered forward, he could feel the blood warm and slick running down his back, his shirt tacky, the pain building as his vision blurred.

Pitt grabbed hold of the spindles on the banister rail; he seemed to swell in size as he prepared to stick the bitch to the wall.

Then Lasser blinked and looked up as a woman with shoulder length brown hair leaned over the banister and stabbed down and to the side.

The needle disappeared into Dave Pitt's temple, and Lasser watched as she gently put pressure on the syringe.

Pitt grunted and then he seemed to snap upright like a soldier standing to attention. Odette slithered to the floor and Lasser grabbed the collar of her jacket and dragged her across the laminate floor as Pitt began to topple backwards.

It was testament to Pitt's strength that he managed a backward step before his legs gave way.

Lasser winced as he saw what was going to happen, the back of Pitt's head slammed into the coat hook, spearing through his skull then the hook was wrenched from the wall as he clattered to the floor.

Plaster dust sprinkled down onto his bald head, peppering the shoulders of his shiny leather jacket. Then dark blood started to spray up hitting the magnolia coated walls, running down in a red smear.

'Fuck!'
Odette whispered.

Lasser had his hands draped around her shoulders; the pain in his back seemed to diminish as he watched Dave Pitt die.

When he looked up, he opened his mouth and screamed.
'No!'

The woman was half way up the stairs, the needle poised over the pale skin of her left forearm.

'Don't do it Kylie!'

She looked down and smiled.
'Kylie's dead,'
she said before sliding the needle into her vein, she was dead before she hit the bottom step.

Odette felt her head drop, Lasser laced his arms around her, and she raised a hand and placed it over his.

123

Lasser winced as the nurse put in yet another stitch. Odette sat in the corner of the room rubbing at her bruised ribs.

'I didn't know you had a tattoo?' she said as she spotted the raven on Lasser's right shoulder, the black wing folded across his chest.

'Meet Walter,' Lasser said with a grimace.

The nurse frowned before cutting the thread.
'Walter,
what kind of daft name is that?'

Lasser made to shrug and then changed his mind as he felt the pull on the stitches.

'I was a kid when I had it done and Walter seemed to suit him,' Lasser replied as he turned and looked down at the beady eye of the raven before slipping gingerly into his shirt.

'Right you'll have to call at the pharmacy for a course of antibiotics and then it's back here in ten days’ time to make sure it's healing well.'

'No problem,' Lasser said as he slid down from the bed.

When the door barged open, the nurse frowned.

Medea dashed into the room, her face creased with concern.
'My God are you alright?'

Lasser smiled as she laced her hands around his neck. 'I'm fine it's just a war wound that's all.'

Medea leaned back and shook her head. 'Let me guess, you thought it best to go
barging
into trouble rather than calling for help?'

'Honestly Med there wasn't time, ask Odette, she'll tell you.'

Med turned and raised an eyebrow.

'I told him we should call for backup but he wouldn't listen.'

Lasser's mouth dropped open.
'Hang on...'

'I knew it,'
Medea snapped.
'Why do you never listen...?’

'But she's...'

'How many times have I told you to look after yourself, let somebody else have a go for a change?
'

Lasser turned to Odette who looked at him with a stern expression. 'I agree with you Medea he's a liability.'

'Bitch!'

'Er, no bad language please,' the nurse said.

Lasser could feel his face burning, Medea rapped her knuckles on his head.

'
Idiot
, ' she said.

Odette smiled at him and then gave the thumbs up.

124

Bannister tossed the pen onto the desk before rubbing his hands across his eyes.

'I just don't get it, I mean, why the hell did this Amy Frodsham go to all this trouble, why not just come to us instead of going on the rampage?'

They were in Bannister's office, Odette and Lasser sat opposite, Lasser sitting up straight - too uncomfortable to lean back in the chair.

'Well she wrote a lot of it down...'

'I know that Odette, but bloody hell, it all seems a bit extreme.'

'Not to Amy, she saw her sister's life ruined, she ended up dead because of these people.'

Bannister held up a hand. 'OK, I get Hancock; he was a total shit...'

'A total shit who beat her and burned her with cigarettes.'

Bannister's face darkened.
'I said, I get it
.'

Lasser cleared his throat. 'We can only presume that Kylie told her all this before she died I spoke to the nurse and she said they spent hours talking, but it was too late to save her, the damage had already been done.'

'And what about Cliff and Clark?'

'Well we know about the incident in the Vic, but in the diary Amy talks about them coming to the house and threatening Kylie.'

'
But
...'

Odette leaned forward. 'Come on sir, they were friends of Hancock before Kylie came on the scene, they spent time at the house and they hated Kylie with a vengeance.'

'But that's what I don't understand?'

Lasser crossed his legs and loosened his tie. 'You know what people are like, it could have been anything, I mean, before the drugs Kylie was a good looking woman and sometimes that's all people like Cliff and Clark need. They see someone better looking and it eats away at them.'

'And the lower she fell the more they would have loved it. Amy mentions that the two of them were there when Hancock beat her sister and yet they did nothing,' Odette said.

'Chances are they even egged him on,' Lasser added. 

Bannister nodded slowly.
'OK that makes sense
, Amy was working over in Liverpool and when she
did
come to visit she sees her sister through the window already half dead. Kylie tells her some of the stuff that happened and she decides these people need to pay. Now what about Crank and Sheldon where do they fit into all this and the unknown girl, I mean...?'

'We're not sure sir, I mean, if Elliot were still alive then he'd be able to tell us if he was working to a list or whether he chose the first three victims randomly.'

'And there's no mention of them in the diary?'

Lasser shook his head. 'None, but we do know it was Elliot who killed them so at least they won't go down as unsolved.'