BooksBarbecue
Back The Game
Chapters (68)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. NOW
  4. One
  5. BEFORE
  6. Two
  7. Three
  8. Four
  9. Five
  10. Six
  11. Seven
  12. Eight
  13. Nine
  14. Ten
  15. Eleven
  16. Twelve
  17. Thirteen
  18. Fourteen
  19. Fifteen
  20. Sixteen
  21. Seventeen
  22. Eighteen
  23. Nineteen
  24. Twenty
  25. NOW
  26. Twenty-One
  27. BEFORE
  28. Twenty-Two
  29. Twenty-Three
  30. Twenty-Four
  31. Twenty-Five
  32. Twenty-Six
  33. Twenty-Seven
  34. Twenty-Eight
  35. Twenty-Nine
  36. Thirty
  37. Thirty-One
  38. Thirty-Two
  39. Thirty-three
  40. Thirty-Four
  41. Thirty-Five
  42. Thirty-Six
  43. Thirty-Seven
  44. Thirty-Eight
  45. NOW
  46. Thirty-Nine
  47. BEFORE
  48. Forty
  49. Forty-One
  50. Forty-Two
  51. Forty-three
  52. Forty-Four
  53. Forty-Five
  54. Forty-Six
  55. Forty-Seven
  56. Forty-Eight
  57. Forty-Nine
  58. Fifty
  59. Fifty-One
  60. NOW
  61. Fifty-Two
  62. Fifty-Three
  63. Fifty-Four
  64. Fifty-Five
  65. AFTER
  66. Fifty-Six
  67. Acknowledgements
  68. About the Author

‘We received a call from a Julie Burns, a few days ago,’ PC Robertson said, both hands finding her hips as she began talking. She was shorter than him by a few inches, but broad with it. Stocky didn’t seem the right word, but it was the only one that came to mind. ‘Her daughter – Emily– was last seen late Saturday night. Nineteen years old, no history of taking off or anything like that. She didn’t say where she was going and nothing was missing from her bedroom, apart from her mobile phone. It seems she got on a bus into town, then walked from the London Road area to here. We had a look at CCTV yesterday and this morning, tracking her along The Strand to here. Wasn’t exactly difficult, but that’s where the trail finished.’

‘No cameras in here then?’ Mark said, looking around for any familiar technology on the walls but seeing only bare brick.

‘Nothing here or on the promenade over there,’ PC Robertson replied, gesturing towards the end of the yard in the distance. ‘We came down just for a look while we were quiet. Found what looked like blood spots leading to a bigger pool. Dried up now, but unmistakeable if you’ve seen it before, like. Thankfully it hasn’t rained since then, otherwise we’d probably have missed it.’

‘Take me over.’

Mark followed the two uniforms to where a forensic tech officer was on his haunches packing up kit. He stopped a few feet away, cocking his head and taking it in. ‘Not a huge amount.’

‘Enough to be worrying,’ PC Robertson said, crossing her arms across her chest. ‘We’ve looked around the place to see if we could find anything else, but there’s nothing to suggest any violence of any kind. Apart from the blood, of course.’

Mark followed her eyes to the steel railings that bordered the end of the yard from the waterfront, understanding what she might be thinking. ‘If it is blood, maybe she tried to do something here and eventually ended up in the river?’

‘That’d be my guess,’ PC Robertson replied, her voice softer now as she looked out across the water. ‘Someone’s gone to see the family again. I guess that’s your job now though. They haven’t mentioned suffering from depression, but doesn’t mean she wasn’t and they just didn’t realise it. Only thing is, we can see most of the waterfront from a camera further down. Nothing clear enough to be sure, but there was nothing that looked like a body going into the river.’

‘Late at night though, so not the best light. Could have happened in a split second for all we know.’