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

‘Yeah, well, we all know it’s not looking good, right? She wouldn’t just go off on her own for days. You can barely get her out of the house at the best of times. Plus, the fact that she dropped out of college and didn’t even tell us.’

‘Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,’ Mark said, sensing he was losing control of the conversation before it had even really begun. He hadn’t read all the report – what there was of it – but had read about Emily dropping out and not telling her family. ‘It’s best we all remain calm and see what we can find out in the meantime. I’ve gone over the notes so far, but the more things you can tell me, the better.’

He was greeted by near silence, only broken by the mum chewing on the end of her wool jumper like a small child.

This would be his life until the missing girl was found, Mark thought. This family. This dodgy estate. This misery.

He made a decision to split them up, talk to them individually, rather than letting them continue to snipe at each other. It was probably in a handbook somewhere that it is better to do it that way, but he allowed himself a mental pat on the back for thinking of it now.

‘I’ll put the kettle on,’ Mark said, breaking the growing discontent brewing in the small living room. ‘Stephanie, do you want to show me where things are in the kitchen?’

He waited for her to stand up and make her way out of the room before following close behind her.

Mark followed the twin into the kitchen, leaning against the doorway as she busied herself filling a kettle. He’d only seen a picture of Emily Burns, but he could see major differences between the pair. Differing hair colours – Emily a brunette, Stephanie blonde, albeit from a bottle, he guessed. Life looked like it had been kinder to Stephanie, it seemed. Which made him think of the nineteen-year-old Emily, possibly living in her twin’s shadow.

‘Sugar?’

‘Two please,’ Mark replied, watching as she removed cups from a cupboard on the wall. ‘Should I be worried about the rather large bloke in the living room? He looks ready to take my head off at any moment.’

‘Uncle Rich is harmless really,’ Stephanie replied, still facing away from him. ‘His bark is worse than his bite.’

‘Good to know. Although I don’t think I want to test that theory.’