Vanished Beneath: DS Lasser six (The Lasser series Book 6) (33 page)

The pathologist stood up before grabbing a file from the desk. 'Follow me gents,' he said as he slid a security card trough a slot on the wall before walking into the morgue.

Of the three metal gurneys, only one was occupied. Sharon Cliff lay on the middle one a thin plastic sheet pulled up to her chin. Shannon fiddled with his beard for a moment before flicking the file open.

'Sharon cliff aged twenty six, she...'

'We already know who she is Doctor,' Bannister said. 'I want to know how she died and why she was dumped outside the gates of Mellor's scrap yard?'

'Well I can answer the first question, but the latter is your problem.'

Bannister frowned. '
Just get on with it man
!'

Shannon eased down the sheet, Cliff was naked her skin waxy and tinged blue.

Lasser could see a crude swallow tattoo high on her left breast; her startling blond hair spread out on the cold metal like a silver halo.

Shannon pointed down to the crook of her left arm. 'You can see where the cuff was tied; the needle went in just below.

Lasser and Bannister leaned forward; they could see a thin band of red skin where the tourniquet had been tightened around her arm, an inch below it a tiny hole could be seen, the skin slightly puckered from the needle.

'Do we know what she took?'

Shannon turned and dropped the file onto the empty gurney. 'I've been taking a look at the toxicology reports on the three bodies we pulled from the water.'

Bannister folded his arms. 'Go on.'

'There's something strange going on here, Joseph crank, Mary Sheldon and the young girl all had traces of the same drugs in their bodies.'

'This is old ground Doctor.'

When he saw the warning in Bannister's eyes, Shannon held up a hand. 'Bear with me. Among other things, Crank had heroin in his system, standard stuff, the kind that's mixed down until it's virtually harmless...'

'I think Tilly Crank would disagree with your prognosis Doctor,' Bannister said in a rumbling voice.

'OK maybe that came out wrong but you get the idea, however, an antidepressant called Tricyclic was also found in all five bodies...'

'
Five bodies
!'

'Yes Sergeant,' Shannon popped up a finger. 'Crank,' then another digit shot up,' Mary Sheldon,' another joined in the fun. 'The same with the unidentified girl and Sarah Clark, and Miss Cliff here is the same,' by the time he'd finished he was holding up four fingers and a thumb.

'So they all got their stuff off the same dealer?' Bannister asked.

'Definitely, but that's not what I'm getting at. You see the traces of Tricyclic were present in each body but to wildly varying degrees.'

Lasser slipped his hands into his pockets. '
I don't get you
?'

Shannon pointed down at the body. 'You see the damage to the side of her head and also her shin?'

Both men followed his finger.

'I think that was done because she went into a spasm.'

'So she jittered, I mean, it's not unusual with addicts when they get their fix,' Lasser said.

'Agreed, but when you compare her sample with that of the others, then Sharon Cliff has five times the amount of Tricyclic in her blood than Crank, four times more that Sheldon.'

Bannister scratched his chin. 'So whoever's mixing this stuff is increasing the dose?'

'Radically, but you have to ask yourself
why
?'

Bannister exchanged a look of confusion with Lasser.

Shannon dragged a hand down his beard. 'Think about it if you're trying to get a new drug onto the market then the last thing you want are people dropping like flies.'

'Well maybe it's someone who doesn't have a clue what they're doing?' Lasser said and Bannister nodded in agreement.

Shannon shook his head. 'One death and the chemist reduces the dosage it's the sensible thing to do, but whoever's responsible for this decides to add more of the Tricyclic, why would they do something like that, I mean, it makes no sense,' he paused, '
unless
?'

'The chemist isn't interested in getting any new drug onto the market?' Lasser said as understanding dawned.

Bannister frowned. 'What are you talking about Lasser; these people are in it to make money, it's all they care about?'

Shannon raised an eyebrow and looked at Lasser.

'But what if, in this case, money wasn't the motive?'

'You're talking out of your arse, money is always the motive in the drug trade.'

'But what if it has nothing to do with the drugs trade?'

Bannister rubbed his hands together. 'Ah, a conspiracy theory I was wondering when you'd pull one out of the bag.'

'Maybe we need to look more closely at the people involved; perhaps they all have a common link...'

'They do have a link they all got their drugs from Elliot.'

'Sharon Cliff didn't.'

'Look Lasser, he could have given her the drugs days ago before Colly Roberts attacked him with the bloody bed pan.'

'So who drove her to Mellor's place?'

Bannister frowned and threw a quick look at Shannon. 'And you can take that smirk of your face Doctor before I wipe it off for you.'

Shannon shrugged as if the threat was of no concern. 'I think Lasser's right.'

'Oh, that's sorted then, Miss Marple here thinks these five all knew one another so it must be true,' his face twitched in aggravation.

Lasser sighed and folded his arms. 'If it was a dealer then he'd be trying to get the balance right he wouldn't be adding lethal doses of this antidepressant. I mean, if Elliot was still alive then we'd be able to ask him if he was working to a list...'

'
A bloody list
?'

Lasser shrugged. 'I'm not saying it's a definite but surely we need to see if there's a link between them all.'

'So come on smart arse what would Crank, a forty seven year old alcoholic with a chronic drug problem have in common with her,' he jabbed a finger down at Sharon Cliff.

'I don't know, but...'

'But nothing you're just muddying the waters and I
won't
have it!'

'Look, you might not like it but someone gave Cliff the drug and we know it can't have been Elliot.'

Bannister snorted in derision. 'All that proves is that Elliot wasn't the one mixing the stuff and we already knew that.'

Lasser tried to forge the links but he suddenly felt worn out, he shivered as if her were back in the freezing water of the blackened reservoir. Suddenly, all he wanted to do was go home and climb into bed with Medea by his side.

'Fine, the five of them had sod all in common, have it your way.'

Bannister jabbed out a finger. 'But you don't really
mean
that do you Sergeant, you're now convinced that they knew one another?'

Lasser felt his shoulders sag.

'That's not what Lasser's saying,' Shannon said.

Bannister spun towards him ready for a full-blown bawl out.
'What?'

'Perhaps you're right and they'd never met one another.'

'That's what I've been saying all along but...'

'But what if the link is the person who got Elliot to give them the drugs?'

Bannister blinked. '
What
?'

Suddenly Lasser felt wide-awake again. 'The Docs right, this isn't about five people who might have known one another, it's about the killer knowing all of them as individuals!'

Bannister opened his mouth to fire back a barbed comment and then he frowned as Lasser's words seeped through his anger. '
That's ridiculous
,' he mumbled with dwindling conviction.

'It's the only thing that makes sense,' Shannon said. 'Like Lasser said if this was drugs related then whoever's mixing the cocktail would be toning it down not making it more potent.'

Bannister looked from one man to the other and then folded his arms. 'So you think this is someone with a grudge against these people?'

Lasser thought for a moment before nodding. 'And we can probably include the Mellor’s, like you said earlier she wasn't dumped there for the fun of it. I think someone's trying to point the finger.'

Bannister pursed his lips. 'Possible I suppose.'

'I think the killer knows next to nothing about drugs,' Lasser said as if thinking aloud.

'And how do you work that out? I mean, it's obvious he has access to the gear and like the Doc said he must have some knowhow.'

'I never said that,' Shannon said with more than a hint of annoyance.

Bannister flapped a hand. 'OK don't get your knickers in a twist.'

'In fact, the person responsible is more than likely clueless. They started out by giving Crank what they think is enough to kill him and it does the job, but only just, but then they up the stakes, they want to make sure the drug really hits hard.' He looked down at the body before him. 'By the time you get to Cliff, she's thrashing about no doubt in great pain.'

'How do you know that?' Bannister asked.

'Because she bit through the end of her tongue and smashed her head leaving a two inch gash on her temple, no doubt when she was in the middle of a fit.'

Bannister cleared his throat, 'Right.'

'I also think the reaction to the drug was extremely quick.'

Bannister sighed. 'Go on I'm listening.'

'When I was doing the examination I found traces of semen in her mouth and on her lips.'

Lasser tugged at his ear lobe. 'So she was giving someone a blow job?'

'Just finished and them bam she goes off like a rocket.'

'Right we need to find out who she was seeing, maybe there's a boyfriend on the scene,' Bannister turned to Lasser. 'You said she was picked up in a boozer for affray?'

'Yeah, it was the Vic in the town centre.'

'Right tomorrow I want you to get over there, maybe it was her local, see if anyone can point us in the right direction.'

'What about family, I mean, wouldn't it be better to try there first, surely they'd know if she was seeing anyone.'

'I'll see to that Sergeant, but first we have to see what tall tales the Mellor brothers have come up with.' Bannister dragged the car keys from his pocket before looking Shannon in the eyes. '
Bloody good work Doctor
.'

The pathologist's eyes sprang wide in surprise and Lasser thought he saw the doctor blush behind all the facial hair.

'Not a problem, I'm glad I could help you out.'

Bannister flapped a hand. 'OK no need to get carried away,' he said as he headed for the door.

Lasser flicked a smile towards Shannon before heading off in pursuit.

87

When Medea started to cry, Suzanne slipped an arm around her shoulder and gave her a comforting squeeze.

'I'll put the kettle on,' she said before moving over to the sink.

Medea dabbed at her eyes with a piece of tissue. 'This is
ridiculous,'
she said with a sniff.

Suzanne filled the kettle and set it to boil before pulling a chair out from beneath the kitchen table and sitting down. 'Go easy on yourself Medea, everything worked out.'

Pushing her hair from her eyes Medea slumped down opposite. 'But it was all down to blind luck Suzi, I mean, Emma could have drowned and Lasser could have gone down with her.'

The tears came again and she shook her head in distress.

Suzanne unbuttoned her coat with a sigh. 'But it didn't happen that way, your friend is fine and Lasser's back out there as if nothing's happened.'

'But that's just it,'
Medea looked up at her with pain filled eyes.
'I mean, how can he just carry on after what happened?'

Suzanne dragged the scarf from around her neck and dropped it onto the table. 'Look, I'm not saying they see this kind of thing every day but they see more than most.'

Medea twisted the engagement ring on her finger; the small diamond glinted in the light. 'I still can't believe how I behaved; I mean, I went ballistic when he didn't ring to tell me about Emma being seen in the bank.'

'You were upset.'

'While Lasser was watching someone throw themselves off a block of flats,'
her voice broke with emotion.

'But you weren't to know that.'

Medea scrunched the tissue up in her hand. 'But I didn't even give him chance to explain and then when Emma rang I went running off without letting him know.'

'So you did it to get back at him, is that what you're saying?'

Medea looked across the table her eyes shimmering with tears. 'Part of me did and that's what I can't stand. I wanted him to suffer for being selfish, I wanted him to wonder where I was, I mean, what does that say about
me
.'