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

Back at the station, things had moved on in their absence. Emily’s uncle had been brought in and was currently being questioned. Answering ‘no comment’ to everything, Mark imagined. Another group of detectives were searching his house and car, looking for anything to tie him to the scene. The officers who had searched Emily’s house all looked a little relieved about that. The team were gathered quickly, ready for an impromptu update on what was happening. Mark lurked near the back of the group as his phone buzzed away in his pocket. He ignored it.

The investigation team had grown in size since a few days earlier. Faces he’d never noticed before were suddenly a part of what had been a one-man band two days earlier.

Just him and a missing girl.

‘Right, so the latest we’ve got back from the team searching Richard Burns’s house and car is that several items of interest have been found. Forensics are going over the car, as you’d expect. Unfortunately, nothing was found in the victim’s home that was evidence of anything happening there. We’re not ruling out that Joanna Carter’s death is linked at this stage.’

DI Bennett continued on, listing what they still didn’t know, as she perched on a desk addressing the room. Phones rang and were cut off mid-ring. Feet shuffled about, someone coughed.

‘With regards to Joanna Carter. The man we saw on CCTV didn’t look big enough to be Rich Burns,’ DS Cavanagh said, arms folded across his chest, muscles in his neck straining against the surface. ‘I think Mark was right though. I don’t like the coincidence at all. If the two are connected – and we have to be seriously asking ourselves why they wouldn’t be – there’s the possibility of another person’s involvement. Plus, we now have another angle to consider.’

A few heads turned his way, but Mark ignored them. He stared straight ahead, at the wall to the left of DI Bennett.

‘It’s not enough at the moment,’ DI Bennett said, a touch of irritation in her voice at the interruption from Cavanagh. ‘All our concentration needs to be on nailing him for Emily’s death first. He’s giving away nothing in interview at the moment, other than veiled threats and barely contained anger. At least it’s not a “no comment” interview at the moment. I’m hoping they can break him down quickly.’

Rich was talking then, Mark thought with surprise. He glanced at the clock on the wall and wondered how much longer this would go on for. The urge to slip away quietly was becoming difficult to ignore.

Stephanie was in the building somewhere. Probably in the family room on the third floor, he guessed. He thought they’d be still be in shock, trying to deal with what had taken place that day.