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

As he moved the light away, his attention was grabbed by something. A gap in the floor below him. Mark crouched down towards it, shifting his feet slowly along the wooden beam as he did so. It took him a minute to make his way there, crossing slowly and painfully, as his legs began to protest at the movement.

It was as if a part of the insulation had been removed purposely, a perfect gap in the floor. He shone the torch around the space, seeing it was next to where the chimney stack was, jutting out of the wall to the right. The air seemed colder the further he got into the attic. He shivered and almost lost his balance again, steadying himself once more. He breathed a few times, then pointed the torch at the gap.

There was something snagged in the wood there.

An envelope. He picked it up carefully, shining his torch across the front of it.

Written across it, in block capital letters, were the words THE GAME.

Mark shifted his position and swept his torch across the envelope. As he did so, something caused him to look down and see what had been at his feet the entire time. He could suddenly hear the voices that had been muffled until then, clearly echoing up at him.

A hole, which he’d uncovered accidentally. The piece of wood that had covered it, now lying a few inches away.

He was above Emily’s bedroom.

Thirty-Seven

Mark was sitting down on the chair in the bathroom, wishing he’d left it for someone else to check. That he had ignored the part of his mind that had screamed to look and instead searched under beds like a normal detective.

His hands were shaking slightly, the white forensic gloves still adorning his hands, as he read the words printed on paper inside the envelope. He swallowed back saliva and fear.

And excitement. Tried to keep it all inside him.

He stopped reading, looking up at the attic opening and wondering how or why Emily would have gone up there to leave behind something like this. How long it had been up there for, how long she had planned to leave this, waiting for someone to discover it.

Mark blinked down at the page again and read it through.