Chapters (68)
- Cover
- Dedication
- NOW
- One
- BEFORE
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- NOW
- Twenty-One
- BEFORE
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- NOW
- Thirty-Nine
- BEFORE
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- Forty-Seven
- Forty-Eight
- Forty-Nine
- Fifty
- Fifty-One
- NOW
- Fifty-Two
- Fifty-Three
- Fifty-Four
- Fifty-Five
- AFTER
- Fifty-Six
- Acknowledgements
- About the Author
‘There is that,’ Mark replied, leaning back and scratching the growing stubble on his cheek. Made a decision. ‘There was another girl found dead this week. A student living in the new block, down past the Baltic Quarter on the waterfront.’
‘The one we saw…’
‘Yes. She was called Joanna Carter, not sure if you were ever told her name?’
‘We were, to see if we recognised it or if it might have been someone Emily was talking to. You asked us.’
Mark nodded slowly, remembering. His memory of the week’s events was already becoming jumbled up, he realised. ‘Right, of course. Anyway, they think she was killed after seeing what happened to Emily. She was a witness and paid for it. Yards away from where Emily was seen last. Only there was something more. She was a loner, like Emily. Struggled to make friends and seemed to live her life online. And there were some reports that she was doing some strange things in the weeks leading up to her death. I’ve not found anything to suggest she was doing what Emily was doing to people…’
‘Catfishing.’
‘Right, catfishing. Joanna just seemed to live her life in anonymity on the internet, rather than making friends in the real world. We haven’t dug deep enough yet, so maybe she was doing something similar online. Even so, it’s sort of similar to what Emily was doing; not living in the real world, finding herself on the internet, etcetera etcetera. On the night of her death – two days after Emily goes missing – the only thing we know for certain is that she was caught on CCTV in the student building. She was in the lift, doing some weird stuff, then outside of it, then she is followed by someone up to the roof. The next morning, her body is found.’
Mark stopped talking, as Stephanie’s eyes widened with alarm. He could see flecks of red in the white around her pupils. ‘What is it?’ he said, pausing from his speech.
‘Was she like, pushing buttons and going in and out?’
‘Something like that,’ Mark replied, about to continue but Stephanie wasn’t going to let him.
‘That’s a version of it. Of a game, I mean. It’s called the Elevator Game. That’s all online, you can look it up.’
‘This just gets better and better,’ Mark said, covering his face with both hands. ‘So, there’s different versions of this game and they’re being used to, what, make people pay for things they’ve done wrong?’
Stephanie opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Instead, she shook her head and shrugged her shoulders. ‘I don’t know. It all sounds stupid when you say it out loud.’
Mark didn’t want to hear any more of this, but couldn’t stop it now. He realised what a mistake he had made. Being drawn into this.