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

Mark believed him. Despite what they knew about the man and what he’d done – the violence he’d been a part of, the criminal activity – there was no way he was this amazing an actor on top of that. ‘She was excited – about what?’

‘I don’t know,’ Rich said, holding his hands out in front of him. ‘I wish I could tell you.’

‘Did she mention any kind of game?’ Mark replied, trying to keep his voice from showing any excitement. ‘Something she had to play?’

Rich stared back at him, then leaned back as if thinking about it carefully. ‘Don’t think so. She was talking about some kind of self-help thing, where she was moving through levels. Think she was on Level Three or something.’

Mark looked at DS Cavanagh, who stared back with wide eyes. He sat back, taking it all in. The whole story. The Game he’d now heard about a few times, Emily saying she just had to play and everything would be solved.

‘Who do you think could have done this to her?’ DS Cavanagh said, as Mark tried to make the pieces fit together.

‘I don’t know,’ Rich replied, his voice changing. Hard and devoid of light. ‘But I hope I find out before you lot do, so I can get proper justice. That’s all I’m going to say.’

Forty-Two

Him

It was becoming too much for him to handle. The waiting. It was endless, the seconds ticking by with nothing happening.

He couldn’t deal with it.

He checked the phone sitting beside him for the fifteenth time in the past minute, placing it back down on the bed when he saw nothing new. The laptop was perched on his crotch and stomach, heat pouring from it.

He had chosen her. There was no turning back from that.

He just needed them all to see the proof, so he could get that feeling again.

That acceptance. They would all know he’d been brave enough to allow this to happen.

Maybe, now, his life would get better. Maybe he would be better.

First, she’d had to be dealt with. That was all.

His choice. His decision.

He wanted to be sure he would never be found out. Wanted to make sure he had his story straight, if they ever knocked on his door.

He was safe.

Your hands are clean.

Soon, his screen was filled with photographs.

There she was, standing near the waterfront, looking out. He could only see the back of her head, but that was enough to recognise her.

Then, he could see her face as she turned around and the photographs became almost like a flick book of small drawings. In each picture, she moved slightly closer to the camera. Unaware of its existence. The streetlights around her provided some illumination, but otherwise, she was a blurry form in the dull light.