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

He left the keys under one of the wheel arches and jogged back to the garage. The air was still and silent. The wind had died down around him, in the time it had taken him to hear all the names of the people who had been killed.

He just needed to make it to a full day. He could do that.

‘Steven Hallet…’

Mark heard sirens in the distance, coming closer to him. He walked back into the garage, pacing up and down. Trying to remember every single name, chanting them over and over to himself. ‘Steven Hallet… Stacey Green… Melissa Carmichael…’

Over and over, until he had the names and how they had died lodged in his head. He couldn’t mess this up, not now. It would take only a momentary lapse and it would be all over. He needed to save Natasha.

That was all he could think of, in that moment. That his actions would keep her alive.

He ignored the rational part of his brain, even if it was currently making more sense than the rest of it. He had to concentrate on the names. The methods of death. His story.

The Game.

The sirens sounded closer, drifting on the wind towards him. He had seconds left before they arrived and he would have to start telling his story.

They would arrest him. Place him in handcuffs and put him in a cell. Within a matter of hours, they would start interviewing him.

He wondered how long it would take for them to identify him. He wouldn’t be able to give his own name, not at the beginning. He would be anonymous for as long as he possibly could. Long enough for them to believe his story.

The sirens were close now.

‘Steven Hallet… motorway… Stacey Green…’

He could hear engines outside on the road. Mark lifted his head and opened his eyes. Red and blue lights streaked across the darkness out on the road. He heard doors slamming closed.

Mark dropped to his knees. Holly Edwards lay motionless behind him. He placed his hands behind his head.

‘I’m in here,’ he said, his voice bouncing off the walls. ‘I did it.’

NOW

Fifty-Two

The Third Interview

Tuesday 30th October

Interview Room One

Lancaster Police Station – sixty miles from Liverpool City Centre

‘We know who you really are.’

The words hung in the air between them. He kept his face as straight as possible, trying to work out how much time he had left.

‘Does it matter who I am? I did this. You have me. Charge me.’

‘Under what name, exactly?’ DI Hicks said, and now there was a look of pity on his face. ‘We could charge you as a John Doe, I suppose, but we both know that wouldn’t last long. CPS would have a fit.’