Vanished Beneath: DS Lasser six (The Lasser series Book 6) (9 page)

Andrew frowned as he passed a huge lake to his right, a flotilla of small boats bobbing on the water whilst a few hardy individuals were windsurfing on the choppy surface. The realisation that the town wasn't trapped in the Dickensian age only served to stoke his anger, as if northerners had no right to expect anything other than poverty and rickets.

An image of Emma sprang to the front of his mind, young, beautiful, and talented; if she was a typical northerner then he'd have to be careful. He'd been convinced the place would be full of idiots, and that he would be able to swan into this town like some superior being and whisk Emma back to the centre of the universe.

Gripping the wheel tight he continued onto the one-way system, he would have to find somewhere to stay until he found out where she was hiding, but the place seemed devoid of guesthouses or hotels.

After another ten minutes of driving, he pulled onto the forecourt of a Shell service station and went in search of somewhere to stay.

23

Lasser gave Elizabeth Rogers a hug. 'I'm sorry, Lizzie.'

They were standing by the side of Lasser's Audi on the car park of Wigan general.

Lizzie dabbed at her eyes with a piece of tissue. 'It's hardly a surprise, Lasser. I mean, it was never going to have a happy ending, our Joe was too stupid to see what was happening and too old to change.'

Lasser fiddled with the cigarettes in his pocket, it was a habit that was proving hard to break. 'Look, I know this isn't a good time but do you have any idea where your brother was getting his gear from?'

Lizzie shrugged. 'Anywhere and everywhere, you know what it's like; he owed money to them all so he was always looking for a new supplier.'

Lasser sighed, it was always the same, when someone became hooked they'd trawl around town like the living dead looking for somewhere to score. When your credit was good it was easy but when the cash ran out and you found yourself hounded by the dealers, then suddenly your options dried up.

'What about the other two you pulled from the water?'

'What about them?'

'Well, do you want me to take a look?' she asked.

'I couldn't ask you to do that, Liz, you've been through enough for one day.'

She pulled her jacket tight around her shoulders; her hair cut in a short bob, her face slender she looked like her mother. 'It makes no difference to me and you never know it might help.'

Lasser gave in to temptation, dragging out his cigarettes he lit one with a sigh. 'To be honest, Lizzie, we don't think there's a link, I mean, your brother was forty seven, we have a woman in her early thirties and a girl of about seventeen.'

'And they all died from an overdose?'

Lasser nodded.

'So someone used them to try a new product?'

Lizzie Rogers had been out of the force for over two years but her instincts were still good.

'That's what we think.'

'
Bastards
,' she spat.

'Precisely.'

Lizzie squared her shoulders. 'I'd still like to check the other bodies.'

Lasser looked over his shoulder and sighed, Lizzie might have been a copper, but now she was just another member of the public. If Bannister found out, he wouldn't be happy.

Dropping the cigarette onto the floor, Lasser crushed it with the heel of his boot. 'Come on but we'll have to be quick.'

Shannon had just taken a bite from a foot long baguette; he looked like Desperate Dan setting about a cow pie. He frowned as Lasser stuck his head around the door.

'Have you got a minute, Doc?'

Shannon dropped the torpedo like sandwich onto his desk before flapping his hand in a come hither motion. When he saw Lizzie Rogers, his eyes grew wide.

'
Problem
?' he asked around a mouthful of bread and cheese.

'We want to take a look at the other two we pulled out of the water.'

Shannon's face crinkled in a frown. '
Why
?'

Lasser sidled up to the desk as Lizzie closed the door quietly behind her. 'Look, Doc, Lizzie used to be one of us and I think it's worth her taking a look.'

'Does Bannister know about this?' Shannon asked wiping his fingers on a length of blue paper towel.

'No he doesn't.'

Shannon grinned. 'Right then, follow me.'

Lasser smiled and shook his head as Shannon rose from behind the desk and walked towards the set of double doors.

They followed him into the morgue; Shannon yanked the handle down on one of the fridges before sliding out the metal gurney. When he pulled the sheet back, Lizzie peered down at the young girl and sighed, her fair hair had been washed her face and shoulders alabaster white against the stainless steel.

She looked up at Shannon and shook her head - with a nod he slid the body back into the dark before opening the next one.

As soon as he pulled back the cover Lasser felt Lizzie tense at his side, he frowned and looked at her.

'
Lizzie
?'

'Mary Sheldon.'

'You know her
?' Lasser asked in surprise.

'We pulled her in a couple of times; she was one of Callum Green’s girls.'

'One of his girls
?' Shannon asked.

Lizzie nodded. 'She worked at one of the clubs in town, we raided the place once, and she was found to be carrying a quantity of class ‘A’ drugs.'

Lasser slid his hands into his pockets. 'Was she a user?'

'Not back then, though we dragged her in twelve months later and you could tell she was on something by then.' Lizzie slipped her hands into her coat pockets. 'She was a nice woman, harmless you know.'

Shannon flicked the sheet back over the body.

'What about family?' Lasser asked.

'Mary was from Glasgow originally, she'd been down here for years.'

'
Boyfriend
?'

Lizzie shrugged and watched as Shannon clacked the handle down on the door.
'Poor Mary,'
she said with a heavy sigh.

'What about an address?'

'She lived out near Plank Lane in a council house.'

Lasser scrubbed at his chin. 'So, why hasn't she been reported as missing?'

Lizzie smiled sadly. 'Mary tended to move around a bit, you know what it's like, they have a base but sometimes they can go weeks, months even before they go back home.'

'Right, Lizzie, you've been brilliant.'

'I do know she spent a lot of time with a woman on Millers Lane.'

'Do you know her name?'

'Kylie Frodsham, she'd had a lot of trouble with an ex-partner, you know - the usual stuff, he would turn up and break down the door and go on the rampage. Kylie moved into sheltered accommodation for a while and then I think she moved out to Hag Fold estate. Mary was good to her; she tried to help her out with money and stuff. In fact she was the one who stood up to Kylie's bastard boyfriend, he came around one day and she leathered him with a frying pan, knocked out most of his teeth and fractured his eye socket.'

'So, she was a good girl then?' Lasser asked.

Lizzie smiled. 'I tell you, Lasser, she was one tough nut and to see her like that,' she sighed. 'Well, it's just wrong you know.'

Lasser nodded, he knew exactly what she meant.

24

Bannister rubbed his hands together, at first Lasser had thought his boss would be furious letting a member of the public wander around the morgue like a morbid sightseer. As soon as Lasser told him about Mary Sheldon, Bannister had clapped him on the back.

'Good work, Sergeant.'

'So, that just leaves the girl.'

They were sitting in Bannister's office; the spider plant in the windowsill had withered through lack of water.

'Right, take Coyle and head out to Plank Lane, see if any of Sheldon's neighbours can help us out.'

'Seems unlikely, according to Lizzie Rogers she didn't spend a lot of time there and no one had reported her missing.'

Bannister stood up and straightened his tie. 'Nevertheless it needs checking and if you have no luck then you can head out to Millers Lane and give Cooper and Chadwick a lift.'

Lasser grimaced and Bannister flapped a hand. 'Just do it, Sergeant.'

'No problem,' Lasser replied as he clambered to his feet.

'One more thing before you go, what do you make of Spenner?'

The question took him by surprise. 'I don't follow?'

'Well, does he seem alright to you?'

Lasser shrugged. 'To be honest I was surprised to see him back so soon. I thought he'd have been off for at least another couple of months.'

'You think he's come back too soon?'

Lasser thought about the way Spenner had jumped when Bannister had tapped on the window of the car. 'Well, he said he was sick of sitting at home staring at four walls.'

'That's not what I asked you, Lasser.'

'Come on, you can see where he's coming from, maybe it'll take him a while to get his confidence back, but I'm sure he'll be OK.'

Bannister pursed his lips. 'I don't know the lad seems different...'

'Hardly surprising considering what he's been through.'

'I'm not an idiot, Sergeant, I realise it'll be hard for him but he seems…' he paused as if searching for the right word, '
Brittle
.'

'Well, he said he's on light duties so...'

'That's the problem we're stretched to the limit. I can't afford to have someone who isn't up to the job.'

Lasser looked at Bannister through narrowed eyes. 'Hang on, you're not thinking of giving him the push are you?'

Bannister looked annoyed at the suggestion.
'What the hell do you take me for
?'

'I...'

'I just need to know that he won't do a runner if things get heavy.'

Lasser suddenly remembered Cathy Harper his ex-colleague and lover, dead now for almost twelve months. She’d been partnered with Spenner and the young PC had left her to tackle a scrote on
her
own, Cathy had ended up in hospital after the thug took a swing at her with her own nightstick.

'Sergeant?'

'I'll keep an eye on him.'

Bannister nodded. 'Right well, forget taking Coyle, take Spenner instead. But I want to know if he can't cut it, Lasser, no bullshit excuses, no holding out on me is that clear?'

'Yeah OK.'

'Good, now off you go and let me know how you go on at Mary Sheldon's place.'

Lasser left the room and went in search of PC Spenner.

25

Donny Elliot stalked the small flat like a demented automaton; his world crumbling around him, the walls of his defences had been breached leaving him clueless as to what he should do. He didn't own a television, and he never listened to the radio, so when he'd arrived at the pond he'd been surprised to see the water's edge cordoned off with blue police tape. Climbing out he'd stood and looked out over the water in confusion, somewhere above a curlew screeched and Donny had suddenly felt the creeping sense of unease rear into outright panic.

Leaping back into the van Elliot crunched into first gear and headed back down the narrow rutted lane, hawthorn branches clattered along the side of the van sounding like hands banging to be let in.

Then he had spent two nerve-shredding hours driving around town with the body in the back of the van, desperately trying to decide where he could dump the remains. Donny had lost count of the number of lay-bys he had pulled into but they had all seemed inadequate for the job. In the end, he'd headed out towards Rivington, driving along the darkened lanes with the black bulk of the Pennines to his right. After ten minutes of searching, he had pulled up on a long stretch of desolate road. In the distance, he could see the lights of the town and the glare from the endless stream of traffic that rumbled along the M61. The lane bordered on the left by a deep drainage ditch; Donny clambered from the van and rushed to the rear doors, the sky lit by a billion uninterested stars. By the time he'd dragged Sarah from the back he was drenched in sweat and breathing hard.

When the scream erupted from the bundle, Donny Elliot leapt back in terror, his feet had become entangled and he'd crashed to the floor, the pain slamming along his spine. As he watched, Sarah's hands clawed free of the plastic bin bag. A squirt of piss leaked into his jeans, his mouth locked open in fright. Her pale arms waved back and forth grasping at the cold air.

'Help me!'
she wailed.

Donny shot to his feet, hands jittering in indecision.

Her face emerged, her hair writhing as she grabbed at the gaffa tape around her legs.

Donny Elliot lunged into the back of the van and grabbed the tyre iron from the dusty floor.