‘Of course. I found that pretty quickly. I’ve found a number of cases that are similar though.’ He handed over a pile of printouts he’d been holding back for the right moment. This was it. ‘That’s six more deaths. Three in Newcastle. Three in Leeds. They were considered suicides, and someone noticed that each of them had displayed odd behaviour in the weeks leading up to them being found. And that’s not all. There’s probably more. This isn’t all just a coincidence. They were all found within days of each other as well. They thought it was a suicide pact each time, but they could never find a link. Not until now. There has to be more out there as well.’

Mark waited as DI Bennett leafed through the pages, sitting back in his chair. It wasn’t as heavy on detail as he would have liked, but he thought he’d done enough.

She would see what he could see now.

‘I fail to see how any of this has any relation to our case.’

Mark thought he had heard her wrong. ‘I don’t…’

‘Mark, you’re clearly overworked and knackered. All you’ve given me here is a silly ghost story kids have told each other and some suicides hundreds of miles away. People kill themselves every day. They’re not all connected.’

‘Yes, but—’

‘But nothing, Mark,’ DI Bennett said, pushing the papers back his way and folding her arms across her chest. ‘This is ridiculous. You’re asking me to believe, what, exactly?’

‘The Game… it’s being used somehow. They’ve been chosen or volunteered to do it and then they’re being murdered.’

‘There’s no evidence for that—’

‘Yes, there is,’ Mark said, and now he was shouting. He didn’t care anymore. ‘Emily’s blood being found away from her body was for a reason. It’s because it was supposed to look like she killed herself in that yard. Only it didn’t work out that way and she almost escaped. Then, whoever it was panicked and put her where she was found. Probably to frame her uncle when it became obvious she’d been strangled, rather than slit her wrists. It all fits. I bet you anything, if we look into those other deaths, we’d find the same thing. And there’ll be more, I reckon. It’s obvious.’

DI Bennett didn’t say anything, staring him down. She cocked her head, studying his face.

‘Look, I know this sounds crazy,’ Mark said, lowering his voice and trying to salvage the moment. ‘Nothing about this makes any sense, but we can’t just ignore what’s been happening here. This isn’t what it looks like. And more people are in trouble. Holly Edwards, the girl who came in and confessed to Joanna’s murder – that could be part of this game. We need to pick her up and find out.’