Twisted

Twisted Page 27

by Robin Roughley

  'I mean it, I know what you're like, just don't do anything crazy.'

  'Understood.'

  'I love you,' she said hurriedly and then the phone beeped, this time she'd gone for good.

  Lasser felt the smile tugging at the corners of his mouth and then a wide grin spread across his face.

  'So what do you want to do, boss?' Paul asked.

  Clearing his throat, Lasser turned. 'Come on, get the dog and we'll go and check it out,' he saw Currie grin as he turned away. 'What's so funny?'

  The dog handler shook his head. 'I was just thinking about Bannister when he stood in the dog shit.'

  Lasser laughed aloud, his mood suddenly felt lighter; he had a woman who said she loved him and the memory of his boss wiping excrement from the sole of his shoes. Maybe life wasn't so bad after all.

  107

  'You know I'm going to kill you, don't you Robert?'

  He'd propped Flynn up against the trunk of the fallen tree, his hands tied tight behind his back, the noose still around his neck.

  'Why would you want to do something like that?' Robert asked as if genuinely curious. He could feel the tablet taking effect. It wasn't the mind-shattering explosion that taking two or three could bring on. Nevertheless, the medication brought calmness to his mind, a kind of order than made it easier to think.

  Shaun finished rolling the cigarette and lit up. 'Do you really need me to answer that?' he asked, as he blew the smoke out into the damp air.

  'Is it because of the people I've killed, because if it is then none of it was my fault?'

  Shaun spat a flake of tobacco from his bottom lip. 'That's not what the police think. They're convinced you killed the young girl in the park, and the guy in the burger van, not forgetting Erin's husband.' He watched as Flynn's faced soured at the mention of her name.

  'You're forgetting Connelly and the bitch last night,' he spat.

  Shaun peered at him through a cloud of smoke. 'So you admit it?'

  Robert shook his head and winced as the rope slid through the open flesh of his throat. 'It wasn't me.'

  'Then who was it, Robert?'

  'I don't know his name but he's the one who tells me what to do.'

  Shaun tapped a finger to the side of his head. 'And you hear him in here do you?'

  'He's gives me instructions.'

  Shaun made no attempt to hide his smile. 'So you were only following orders, is that it?'

  Robert nodded, his face solemn. 'He doesn't like it when I refuse, he makes my head hurt and tells me he'll leave and never come back.'

  'And that scares you, does it?' Shaun saw a shimmer of fear in the man's eyes.

  'I can't be alone, it makes me ill, makes me feel,' his eyes swivelled left and right as if searching for something amongst the trees. 'Raw.'

  Shaun drew hard on the cigarette. 'That's a strange word to use.'

  'He makes me feel like a child and I hate it,' Flynn shivered.

  'So the voice threatens to leave and you do these things so you're not left alone.'

  'That's right.'

  'I can understand that, no one likes to feel alone, but you see the thing is, I think secretly you enjoyed killing those people.'

  'You're wrong, I hate myself but I can't stop, I daren't stop. I mean, you know what he's like, you've seen him…'

  'What are you talking about?'

  Flynn's mouth slammed shut and Shaun watched as a fresh stain blossomed on the front of his sweat pants. 'I want to go home,' huge tears welled, spilling over, before running down his grizzled cheeks. 'I want to go home, but I can't remember where I live anymore.'

  'You haven't answered my question, Robert?'

  'Take me home, please.'

  'The voice inside your head, does he have a name?'

  Robert licked his ragged lips. 'I need my medication…'

  'You've just had it.'

  'He made me leave the others behind, he tricked me,' Robert's right shoulder suddenly jerked up, his head whiplashed right, as if someone had slammed the flat of their hand across his face.

  'What are you talking about, Robert?'

  'My medication, he made me leave it hidden, he wouldn't let me bring it. It's his way of controlling me.'

  'Tell me more about the voice, Robert?'

  'Please, you have to give me my medication.'

  Shaun pulled the plastic sleeve from his pocket. 'You have two left. If you tell me his name, then I'll let you have one…'

  'I don't know his name,' Robert's eyes were huge as he glared from the tablets to Shaun's face, brittle hatred and blind fear mixed in the grey depths.

  Shaun dropped the cigarette onto the floor and ground it under the heel of his heavy boot. 'So what makes you think I know this man?'

  'Please.'

  Shaun popped a tablet free and held it up. 'Tell me and I'll gladly hand it over.'

  'I can't, he won't like it…'

  'Fine,' Shaun flicked the tablet watching as it sailed away into the long grass.

  'No!' Flynn tried to lurch forward but the ropes snapped him back and suddenly the black knife was hovering an inch from his right eye. Robert gasped and tried to twist away, but the blade tracked his movements as if his eyeball were magnetised. 'Please, no…'

  'Tell me?'

  'You were there at the hospital; I saw you talking to him.' Robert spat the words and tried to lick his lips but his tongue cleaved to the roof of his mouth.

  Shaun eased the knife away and sat back on his haunches. 'What man, what hospital?'

  'Tablet, please,' he whined.

  Popping the last one free Shaun tossed the empty sleeve onto the floor between them. 'Tell me what I want to know and it's yours.'

  'I saw you at the hospital in Leigh; you were with him, talking to him. But he didn't see me,' a sly smile slid onto Robert's face. 'As soon as I saw him I knew he was the one…'

  'The voice inside your head?'

  Robert chewed at his ravaged bottom lip, his eyes locked on the tablet in the palm of Shaun's hand. 'I'd seen him before you see.'

  'Where, Robert, where had you seen him?'

  'He used to come and see my mother.'

  'Your mother was ill, is that what you're saying and this doctor visited her?'

  'He used to come and see her all the time, he was the one who killed her, he cut her throat, and then he stuck his thing inside her. But he never knew I was watching, never knew I saw everything.'

  Shaun slid the knife into the soft earth. 'Open.'

  Robert's mouth stretched wide, his tongue protruding, like an acolyte kneeling before a priest. Shaun placed it on the tip and the tongue snapped back into the mouth. Robert closed his eyes in ecstasy.

  'This doctor, do you know his name?'

  Robert's eyes cracked open. 'I do but it'll cost you.'

  Shaun smiled and bulleted forward, dragging the knife from the ground as he lunged. Flynn's mouth flew open and then he felt a searing flash of pain on the right side of his head. As quick as it came it vanished and he looked in amazement as Shaun held the severed ear in front of his face.

  Then Shaun slapped the gaffa tape back over Robert's mouth, just as the agony registered in his eyes. 'You have my permission to scream now, Robert.'

  Flynn obliged.

  108

  Lasser checked the mirrors and indicated before pulling up to the kerb. The mobile buzzed on the passenger seat. Picking it up, he checked the number and frowned. 'Medea, is everything all right?'

  'Lasser, where are you?'

  'I'm in Hindley, but…'

  'I mean; can you talk?'

  Yanking on the handbrake, he trapped the phone against his shoulder and fished out his cigarettes, trying to quell the feeling of unease. 'What do you mean?'

  'Listen, I've got something to tell you.'

  Lasser felt his stomach plummet, his lightened mood suddenly crushed. He'd known eventually it would end like this, with Medea explaining that she couldn't cope. She'd thought she was strong en
ough but didn't want to waste the best years of her life shackled to a no-hoper. Although he knew she would phrase it differently, the outcome would be the same.

  Swallowing down his fear, he cleared his throat. 'OK, I'm listening.'

  'I'm over at Suzanne's house…'

  'Yeah I know, you rang me earlier, remember?'

  'Yes well, she's asked me to give you a call…'

  'Suzanne has?'

  'Look will you just shut up and listen?'

  Lasser felt his teeth clack together in shock. 'OK.'

  'She's been trying to get in touch with Alan, but apparently he's been called into a meeting.'

  Lasser grimaced, no doubt welcoming DCI Wilson to the fold, the backstabbing double-dealing…'Go on.'

  'Well, Suzanne, rang me this morning because a friend of hers had been in touch, she works at Wrightington Hospital.'

  Lasser shook his head in an effort to dislodge the confusion; he'd been expecting the 'Dear John' speech and couldn't get his brain into gear. 'I'm sorry, Medea, you've lost me.'

  'Her name's Claire Oxbury, she works under someone called Dawes.'

  'Collier Dawes?'

  'You've heard of him?'

  'Yeah, we met him the other day. Look Medea, what's this all about?'

  'She's the psychiatrist who happened to be in charge of Robert Flynn.'

  Lasser lit a cigarette; someone drove past and gave a blast on their horn. 'She was his shrink?'

  'That's right.'

  'And?'

  There was a pause on the line. 'Look. I think it's best if you get over to Suzanne's house and listen to what she has to say.'

  'Medea, I can't I'm on my way to search some woodland at the back of Sarah Palmer's house, it's…'

  'This is important; I wouldn't have called you otherwise.'

  'Can't you just tell me?'

  'She's upset but she's willing to talk to you, so just get here.'

  Lasser sighed, trying to weigh up his options; he thought about his earlier musings about the mystery man somehow being involved. Perhaps Flynn was hiding out in the woods that backed onto the house but it seemed unlikely. After all, why would he run four or five miles in the opposite direction just to double back? No, chances are he'd changed clothes and then carried on in the direction he was heading which was away from the house. Maybe he might regroup and try again but did he really need to be there while they searched the woods?

  'Right, I'll be there in half an hour but I hope for my sake it's worth it or Bannister won't be impressed.'

  'Stop fussing, Suzanne says he's a pussycat.'

  'Yeah well tell her from me she's talking out of her arse.'

  'I'll let you tell her that, now hurry up.' The phone flashed and died.

  Lasser slid down the window and dropped the cigarette stump out onto the road, before indicating and pulling back into the stream of traffic.

  109

  By the time, Robert regained consciousness; Shaun had smoked three cigarettes and eaten a Mars bar. He could see the blood congealing on the side of Flynn's head, the remains of his right ear lay on the leaf-covered ground, a couple of ants crawled over the mangled flesh.

  'Welcome back, Robert.'

  Flynn's eyes spat hatred, Shaun could see his mouth working beneath the gaffa tape; hear dark mumbles coming from the trussed man.

  'If looks could kill I'd be in serious trouble, wouldn't I Mr Flynn? I'm going to remove the tape and you know the rules, no shouting or screaming, keep things nice and civil and you get to keep your nose and lips.' Reaching forward he yanked back the tape, Robert lashed his head to the left and the ruined ear began to leak blood again.

  'Now you were going to tell me the name of the doctor, you thought you saw me with?'

  'I told you I never knew his name,' he hissed.

  'Describe him?'

  Robert sniffed and groaned as he shifted his back against rigid trunk of the tree. 'When he used to visit mother, he was a lot younger and I was still at school.'

  'Go on.'

  'But when I saw him at the hospital I knew it was him.'

  Shaun dug the makings from his pocket and began to role another cigarette. 'Smiled a lot did he, this doctor?'

  'All the fucking time, he never stopped. Even when she was bleeding on the bed, he was still smiling and then when I saw him at the hospital I knew, I fucking knew it was him.'

  'A small man with glasses?' Shaun watched as a look of confusion skimmed across Robert's face.

  'No, no he was tall and he never wore no glasses.'

  'Blonde hair?'

  'No, man, you know he didn't have white hair, it was grey, but it used to be dark like mine.'

  Shaun drew hard on the cigarette. 'His name's Fleming.'

  Robert returned his gaze with a blank expression.

  'So how did you know it was me?' Shaun asked.

  'I never forget a face.'

  'Somehow I find that hard to believe.'

  'You were with a woman, dark hair, brown eyes, she was wearing cream jeans and a black top with a picture of a dog on the front,' he paused and then nodded to himself. 'She was walking on crutches.'

  Shaun blinked; the cigarette trembled in his fingers. Gemma had been with him to the hospital on a couple of occasions, the last time she'd sprained her ankle at the gym and was indeed hobbling on crutches. As for the clothes Flynn was describing he'd always hated the jumper with the dog on the front and yet Gemma had insisted on wearing it on a regular basis. Her image rose in his mind with such clarity that for a moment he could see nothing but her face, her eyes grave as she looked at him with reproach.

  'I'm right aren't I?' Robert was grinning as if he could see into Shaun's head and cherry-pick his memories.

  'And you say Fleming killed your mother?'

  'I'm not lying, I can see him as clearly as I see you, she used to be his patient and then he killed her,' he looked bemused as if suddenly realising what it all meant.

  'Your medication, Robert, you said you had more of it?'

  Flynn nodded oblivious to the blood that trickled down the right side of his face and dripped onto his shoulder, the red stain spreading. 'I can't live without my medication.'

  Shaun looked at the pitiful figure slumped on the ground, the huge piss stain on the front of his pants, the listless eyes. It was hard to imagine it was the same man who'd been terrorising the town for over a week.

  'I'm going to go now, but I'll come back.'

  Robert's eyes were suddenly wild with fear. 'You can't go, you can't leave me here, there are spiders and bugs, and they'll come for me, and…'

  When he saw the tablets in the palm of Shaun's right hand his eyes flashed, his mouth opened and closed like a gasping fish. 'Where did you leave the other tablets, Robert?'

  'Borsdane Woods,' he instantly replied.

  'I know the place, but exactly where did you hide them?'

  A cautious look set up home in Flynn's watery eyes. 'Why do you want to know?'

  'You tell me where they are and after I've been to see Fleming…'

  'Fleming!'

  'I want to hear what he has to say about your story.'

  'He'll lie, he'll say he's never heard of my mother, he'll use his smile and you'll believe him…'

  'Believe me, Robert, I can tell when someone's lying to me.'

  Robert's face curdled. 'I can never tell,' he sounded like a petulant child, who never gets the joke, always the last one picked when choosing sides for a football match.

  'And when I've been to see him, I'll come back here with your medication and I can either cut your throat or feed you all the tablets you can eat.'

  Flynn's eyes shone with rapture. 'Halfway through the woods there's an old house, you can't see it from the path because of the trees and brambles.'

  'Is it on the right or left?'

  'Left, it's opposite an old wooden bridge.'

  'And you hid the pills in there?'

  Flynn's eyes flicked from Shaun's face to the sma
ll white tablets in his hand, 'In the corner under a pile of leaves.'

  Shaun held out the pills and Flynn's mouth opened. 'Listen, Robert, if I go to this place and find that you've been lying to me I'll come back and make small cuts over your body. Then the spiders will come and the ants and beetles and they'll feed off you, do you understand what I'm saying to you?'

  Robert's eyes were glassy with terror; a string of drool hung from the corner of his mouth, and dripped down onto the blue sweatshirt.

  'So you're telling me the truth?' Shaun asked.

  Robert nodded slowly and Shaun flicked two pills into his open mouth.

  'Try and get some rest, I won't be back for a few hours.'

  'Please hurry.'

  He looked down at Flynn, his eyes stark and pleading, then he saw a calmness flood through the tied man. Robert sighed as the medication kicked in, his eyes fluttered and then he was asleep.

  Hoisting the rucksack onto his back, Shaun headed off through the trees.

  110

  It had been almost twelve months since he'd been to Suzanne Ramsey's palatial home. As Lasser pulled in through the electric gates, he was surprised to see a For Sale sign on the immaculate front lawn. Parking behind Medea's Kia, he walked up the drive past the gleaming Range Rover and knocked on the door.

  Medea popped her head around the corner of the house. 'We're round the back.'

  Leaping over a flowerbed, she stood on her tiptoes and gave him a quick kiss on the lips.

  'Thanks for coming.'

  'Did I really have any say in the matter?' he asked with a smile.

  'Not really.'

  He followed her down the side of the house and through a gate that led into the huge garden.

  Suzanne looked up at him and smiled, she was dressed in jeans and wearing a dark blue hoodie, the woman who sat with her on one of the patio chairs looked to be about the same age as Suzanne, fortyish with short black hair wearing a typical two-piece power outfit, all sharp angles to match her sharp cheekbones.

  Lasser noticed the three glasses on the glass-topped table, alongside a couple of empty bottles, a patio heater blasted out waves of heat.

  'Either you three have a drink problem or there's some serious soul searching going on?'

 

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