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

‘Oh, I did some kind of project about it,’ Stephanie replied, her hands unclasping quickly. ‘About modern-day myths and how they become part of wider societal thinking. Proper college level, pseudo-intellectual bullshit. Stories interwoven into the fabric of how we think, how we act… all that rubbish. I’d used The Game as an example and talked about some real-life examples of mysterious disappearances, to do with other kinds of online games of this sort. That kind of thing. There’s very little out there about it, to be honest. Some forums online that talk about it, but it’s always different. All with different rules.’

Mark began to see things becoming clearer, but still wasn’t sure if he could make this even slightly believable to DI Bennett. ‘And Emily asked you about it?’

‘She had obviously read my essays on it and had her own questions. Problem was, she didn’t want to talk to me. It was still tense between us. Not from my side, but I think she still felt guilty about what she’d done. She wanted to know if I’d ever found a case where it was proven that someone had actually played it. Of course, I couldn’t give her that. It’s not like it’s a real thing. And even if it was, it’s not like we’d ever know for sure. It was a day or so later that it all came out anyway, so it was forgotten about.’

‘What came out?’

‘All the stuff she was doing to people online,’ Stephanie said, another dismissive wave of the hand. He guessed she had been more bothered when what Emily had been doing was first revealed, but had a little perspective now. ‘That came out and it was just endless after that. I was doing damage control for her from that point until I went back to university. People wanted blood, but I managed to keep the worst of it controlled. She denied doing it, but the evidence was all there. That was bad enough when it got out, but if she’d done something even worse, it could be the reason someone could have forced her to play The Game. And she didn’t think she had any choice.’

‘The pictures, of you – when did that happen?’

‘Around the same time. She denied doing that as well, but I knew when she was lying. Mum never found out, thankfully, and hopefully she never will. Emily was…’

‘Troubled?’ Mark said for her, when it became clear Stephanie was struggling to find the right word. He used the one she’d given him a few days earlier, when they’d been sitting in her bedroom. When they had still hoped to find her alive. ‘So, I think I’m starting to put this together.’

‘Really? Because to me, it all seems so much more difficult to work out. If this was someone online, it could be anyone.’