Vanished Beneath: DS Lasser six (The Lasser series Book 6) (3 page)

'And you also said it was a
female!'
Bannister snapped.

The man was bald, the head grey in colour and smothered with leeches.

Lasser swallowed, 'Female with long dark hair - that's what we were told.'

Bannister jabbed out a finger. 'Does that look like a
woman
to you, Sergeant, or are you going to tell me that the body could have been wearing a wig?'

Lasser winced at the sarcasm. '
I
...'

'Right, Shannon, what do you think?'

Shannon looked at Bannister and frowned. 'About what?'

Bannister waved his hand at the body. 'Come on, man, don't act the bloody fool, tell me what you make of it?'

'Well, why don't I dive in for a closer look…?’

'Bloody hell
!'

Bannister glanced at Lasser, with a sour expression on his face. 'What’s the matter with you?'

Lasser pointed.
'There's another one!'

Bannister snapped his head round, in the centre of the lake another body had broken the surface of the water.

Half an hour later, the bodies lay side by side on the bank. Somewhere high above a skylark warbled.

Doc Shannon was crouched on his haunches studying the corpse of the bald headed man. The woman lay three feet away; her hair was short and blonde.

Bannister scratched at his chin. 'So, if Hammond and his son are to be believed, then there's still another body out there.'

Lasser grunted a response before leaning down over the body of the unknown female. Her face looked as if it had been moulded from pale yellow wax.

'Tell me, Doc, how long does it take a body to bloat like that one?' Lasser asked, nodding at the bald-headed man.

Shannon looked from one body to the other. 'I'd say he's been in the water for a while...'

'And how long is a while?' Bannister asked through gritted teeth.

'I can't tell you until I get him back to the lab.' When he saw the expression on the DCIs face he held up a hand. 'But if I had to hazard a guess I'd say he's been under the water for at least a month, possibly longer.' 

'And what about her?'

Shannon pursed his lips, 'Not long, I mean, there's no sign of decomposition, the skin looks intact and of course no bloating, so I'd say no more than a few days, a week maybe, but not much longer.'

Lasser nodded before standing up. Both bodies were fully clothed, the man was wearing a pair of dark jeans, the seams stretched to the limit by the swollen flesh beneath. His coat black and padded, though the zip had burst revealing a stretched dirty white T-shirt beneath.

The woman was dressed in grey leggings with black trainers, her crop top revealed a silver belly bar in her navel. She also had a gold stud in her nose and one crucifix earring in her left lobe, the right one was missing.

'Well at least we know it can't have been some kind of dodgy suicide pact,' Lasser said.

Bannister grunted. 'Any idea how they died, Shannon?'

'Impossible to tell with this one,' he said pointing down at the male.

'What about her?'

Shannon sighed. 'I'm not a miracle worker! We're in the middle of nowhere, they've been out of the water for ten minutes, and you want to know how they died'

Bannister squared his shoulders. 'That's about the size of it.'

With a shake of his head, Shannon scuttled over to the woman and leaned in close. 'Well there's no obvious trauma to the head, and it doesn't look as if she's been strangled,' he said as he peered at her neck. 'The clothing seems to be intact, no stab wounds that I can see.'

'What about her arms?' Lasser asked.

Shannon grunted before gingerly sliding the arm of her thin nylon jacket up, the needle marks where puckered and grey trailing from the crook in her left arm down to the wrist. 'Well, she was definitely using something,' Shannon said, before checking the other arm, a similar track of needle marks mirrored the first.

'What about him?' Bannister said.

'I don't know, and if you think I'm going to check, then you can sod off.'

'What did you say?' Bannister asked in disbelief.

'You heard, I refuse to handle the body until I'm in a sterile environment. I mean, if he blows are you going to help mop it up?'

'
I
...'

'No, you'll be over there throwing up in the grass.'

'Don't be so bloody
soft...'

Shannon stood up and pointed down at the corpse. 'OK, be my guest; just let me get well out of the way first.'

Lasser glanced at Bannister; the DCI licked his lips and looked down at the bloated body.

'I thought as much,' Shannon said with a smirk. 'Now as soon as the meat wagon gets here I'll get them back to the lab and we can do this properly.'

As if on cue, the black transit arrived, bumping over the uneven ground, followed by three police cars and a van loaded with officers.

When a shout went up, all three men turned in surprise as another body rose to the surface, long black hair covering the face.

'Fucking great
,' Bannister hissed.

6

Medea parked in the short-stay bay waiting for Emma to arrive. Market Street was busy with Saturday shoppers, a gang of young lads were loitering outside the Victoria pub, some smoking cigarettes, others leaning against the wall watching as a couple of young girls sauntered past. Through the open window she heard a wolf whistle and one of the girls spun around and popped her middle finger, a couple of the lads cheered and laughed.

When Medea spotted Emma walking from the station she smiled before climbing from the car and waving. As soon as Emma saw her, her face broke into a wide grin and she hurried over dragging a small suitcase on wheels behind her. Dodging around a passing taxi she threw her arms around Medea, from across the road another wolf whistle rang out.

Emma shook her head. 'I see some things never change,' she said with a scowl.

Grabbing her suitcase Medea hauled it into the boot before climbing behind the wheel.

Emma was already in the passenger seat. 'God, it's great to see you,' she said as she dragged a hand through her shoulder length fair hair.

Then they had their arms wrapped around one another; Medea felt the tears pricking her eyes. 'I still can't believe you're here.'

'Hey, you're my best friend and besides I want to check out this fella of yours, make sure he's good enough for you before you tie the knot.'

Starting the car, Medea couldn't stop grinning. 'So, how was your trip?'

'Fine,' she looked out of the window at the people passing by, the black and white timber framed shops had been given a new coat of paint. 'The place doesn't look half bad for a change.'

'Right let's get you settled. I've got a couple of bottles of red in the fridge.'

'So, where is this Lasser today?'

'Working as usual.'

'I still can't believe you fell for one of the boys in blue.'

Medea clicked her seatbelt into place before pulling away from the curb. 'Ah well you see, he doesn't wear a uniform.'

'So he's a
detective?'

Medea nodded.
'Detective Sergeant actually
,' she said with mock seriousness.

'So does he pull the hand cuffs out if you don't do as he says?'

'Chance would be a fine thing.'

Emma grinned and shook her head. 'So, have you kept in touch with any of the other girls?'

'I still see Susan and Claire but you know what it's like, most of them are married with kids.'

'Well, you'll soon be catching them up.'

At the traffic lights Medea turned left onto the one-way system. 'What about you, have you got a man in your life?'

'Not at the moment.'

'But you're looking, right?'

Emma shrugged.

'Too busy with work, is that it?'

'Something like that,' Emma replied with a smile. 'So, you're really getting married?'

'Well, we haven't set a date yet, I mean, neither of us is in a rush.'

'Hey come on, Med, the biological clock is ticking.'

'I'm twenty-eight, there's plenty of time to plan for a family.'

'So, you both want kids?'

'To be honest we haven't discussed it.'

'Well you should, you need to make sure you want the same things. I mean, what if he decides he doesn't want kids and you do?'

Medea shrugged. 'We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, besides you and I are the same age so mine isn't the only clock ticking.'

Emma didn't reply.

7

It was half five before Shannon emerged from his sterile lair, Bannister and Lasser had waited in the corridor like expectant Fathers drinking tasteless coffee from the drinks machine outside the morgue.

For once even Shannon looked pale as he walked from his office. 'Right, I've done the preliminaries; John Doe has needle marks on both arms and also some on the lower part of his left leg.'

'So, they overdosed, is that what you're saying?' Bannister asked as he dropped the plastic cup into the bin.

'It's too early to give you a definite, but there were no signs of violence on either body, so it seems likely.'

'What about number three?' Lasser asked.

'Bit of an odd one, there’s no sign that she was attacked and as far as I can tell, no needle marks either.'

'So how did she die?'

'I'm working on it.' Shannon explained.

Lasser took a sip from the plastic cup. 'That still doesn't explain what they were doing in the water.'

'Yes well, I can tell you that the blonde female died about eight to twelve days ago, the male has been dead for about three to four months. The lady with the dark hair, somewhere in between.'

Bannister pursed his lips. 'So, they were dumped there?'

Shannon nodded. 'I'd say the girl was seventeen possibly eighteen years old, the man was well into his forties and his liver shows signs of alcohol abuse, the other one was probably thirty to thirty five years of age.'

'What about the drugs, do you have any idea what they were using?'

'I've sent samples off to toxicology; they should have the results by tomorrow morning.'

'Birth marks?' Lasser asked.

'Nothing obvious, although the man does have the name
‘Shelly’
tattooed on his left buttock.'

'
Tasteful,
' Bannister shook his head in disgust.

'Apart from that, he's clean, and before you ask the other two are ink free.'

Bannister rubbed his hands together. 'Right, Doc, good job, and when you get the blood results let me know ASAP.'

'Will do,' Shannon replied before pushing his way through the double doors and vanishing back into the morgue.

'Right, Lasser, we need to check missing persons, some bugger must be able to put a name to these people.'

'No problem.'

Bannister checked his watch. 'Right, I'll call a meeting for eight in the morning and don't be late.'

'I'll set the alarm.'

'Make sure you do, Sergeant, or I won't be a happy chappie.'

8

Lasser opened the front door to the sound of laughter drifting out from the kitchen. Slipping his coat onto the banister, he walked down the short hallway to find Medea standing by the sink, tears running down her cheeks. When she spotted Lasser, she blushed and smiled. 'You're home early.'

'A quiet day for a change,' he replied before smiling at the woman sitting at the kitchen table. 'You must be Emma,' crossing the room he stuck out his hand. 'Pleased to meet you, love.'

Emma flapped her hands before rising to her feet and throwing her arms around his neck, he got a waft of alcohol. Medea grinned over at him and then hiccupped.

'You were right, Med, he's to die for,' Emma beamed, her eyes of pale blue blinked up at him.

'You should have gone to Specsavers, Emma,' Lasser said with a smile.

'I'm not pished if that's what you're suggesting?'

'I...'

'Medea said you were good looking but I've seen some of the blokes she's been out with and you are a definite improvement.'

Medea spluttered out a giggle.

'Glad to hear it.'

Emma kissed his cheek again and Lasser managed to disentangle himself. 'So, I can guess what you two have been doing all day and I would imagine you're starving, so, who fancies a curry?'

Both women thrust their hands into the air like know-all schoolgirls desperate to be the teacher's pet. When their eyes met, they both broke into gales of uncontrollable laughter. Lasser went in search of the takeaway menu.