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

‘Tell them everything, John,’ Mark repeated, making his way towards the bedroom door. ‘That’s your only hope. I’ll tell you this, though – those girls are dead because of you and your friends. You’re going to have to accept that. Those girls were murdered and it’s your fault.’

Mark didn’t wait to hear anymore, making his way out of the bedroom and down the stairs. John’s mum was standing in the doorway to the living room, staring at him, shock plastered across her features.

‘Call them,’ Mark said, reaching for the front door. ‘Now. You understand?’

‘Yes,’ she replied, nodding her head for extra effect. ‘What’s going on?’

‘Ask your son. He needs to speak to the detectives and tell them everything.’ Mark went to leave, then turned back. ‘Tell them I’ll be in touch soon, but I have to do something first.’

He left then, opening the front door and jogging to his car. He threw the laptop into the backseat, then jumped in. He plugged his phone into the charger, then set up the navigation on the map, and started driving.

The message had been clear. Go alone, or she dies. It made the decision an easy one. He knew he should have ignored it – got in touch with Cavanagh and told him what was happening.

The only way to make sure nothing happened to her was to do it this way. It had to be just him.

He just hoped he was right and it wasn’t already too late.

Fifty

Mark’s phone buzzed in its cradle, but he ignored it. He was on his own again now, had to be. The voice on the sat nav guided him out of the city and further north. That was all he was interested in now. The destination. The rest of it could wait. He could worry about everything else later.

First, he had to get to Natasha.

Along the journey, his brain worked overtime. Doubt creeping in the entire time.

He continued to ignore it.

The day had passed in a blur. The sun had started disappearing an hour or so earlier, winter nights drawing in closer. He was barely more than sixty miles out of Liverpool, but travelling up the M6 had brought home the differences quickly. The countryside on both sides of the motorway – the Yorkshire Dales and Lake District only a little further up the road on either side. The city of Liverpool a distant memory.

‘Your destination is two hundred yards away.’

He pulled his phone out of the cradle, switching off the map after a glance to make sure he knew where he was going, then locked it and placed it in his pocket. Then thought again and pulled it out to check it.

A whole heap of missed calls, a series of text messages.

They were all from the station, the texts from DS Cavanagh, all becoming increasingly fraught.