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

‘So, we have this thing online that is talked about a lot,’ Mark said, continuing his monologue. He glanced up at DI Bennett, who was giving away nothing. ‘We’ve seen this sort of thing before, but this seems to be more on the quiet. And it fits perfectly with what we saw Joanna doing on the CCTV. She was re-enacting the rules of one form of this game.’

‘She was being made to play some sort of game – that’s what you’re telling me?’ DI Bennett asked, and this time her expression had changed. ‘And she was either killed at the end, or killed herself to really atone for her supposed crimes?’

‘Yes… I mean, no, of course not really,’ Mark replied, hearing the eagerness in his tone. He couldn’t let her dismiss this so easily. ‘It doesn’t really exist. That’s not what I’m saying. It’s… it’s a form of punishment. Joanna and Emily did something wrong and they had to play a game to atone for it. Say, you got found doing something you were ashamed of and someone came along and said play this game and it’ll go away, you’d do it, right? If you struggle with life anyway, you might try it out, right? If you were desperate. Then, if it doesn’t work, they’re destroyed mentally.’

‘So, you’ve spent all night proving Joanna Carter committed suicide?’

‘No, that’s not the point,’ Mark said, unable to hide the irritation from his voice. Now he really was losing DI Bennett. ‘The thing is, I think this is murder. And there are two victims in the past week alone. And more.’

‘Go on.’

‘Emily’s sister spoke with her about this game a few months ago. Stephanie wrote about it in college for an assignment and Emily was asking lots of questions about it. I went through the reports from her laptop and she googled different versions of these games. Joanna Carter did the same thing.’

‘I’m not following…’

‘It’s a link,’ Mark said, trying to keep his cool. To keep calm. ‘And that’s not all. It got me thinking, about the fact that Joanna’s body was found before Emily’s, but she died after. Something went wrong with both of these deaths – Joanna, we see someone following her on CCTV. And Emily was beaten before being killed. It was supposed to look like suicide. I started looking at missing people all over the country, who turned up dead.’

‘That’s a long list, I bet.’