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

‘Yes, you do. You hated your sister and wanted to punish her. It was all you. I don’t know why and maybe you’ll never tell us, but want to know my guess? Jealousy. That’s it. I remember everything you said to me, the last time I was stood in this room. I remember you talking about The Game. I remember the way you talked about your sister. The way you kept trying to say your uncle had something to hide. John told me that the victims were all left in places he was asked to leave them. When she fought back, you needed a cover story. Now, I don’t like coincidences, but there was one here. Your uncle’s yard wasn’t that far away. You helped take her there because John needed your help when it all went wrong. You knew your uncle would be the one who would go down for her murder.’

‘You don’t know anything…’

‘You’re wrong about that,’ Mark said, his face now only a few centimetres from the young lad’s. ‘You probably think we’ll never find any evidence on that computer, but you’ll be wrong about that too. I promise. Your family are going to know what you’ve done and you’ll have to live with that forever. Charlie Burns, this officer has some things to say to you now.’

Mark stood aside and allowed the uniform to take over. Watched Charlie’s young face begin to comprehend what was happening.

There was a moment of struggle, as Charlie began to shout and plead for his mum. Tried to shout his innocence, but it was too late.

His life as he knew it was over.

‘Everything okay, Mark,’ DS Cavanagh said, joining him upstairs, once Charlie had been taken away. ‘Did he say anything?’

‘Nothing we weren’t expecting.’

‘Hopefully we have enough. At least to prove he was there that night. And everything before that. I’m betting you’re right about this as well, though. You haven’t been wrong yet.’

Mark nodded, then allowed himself to be led away. Now, it was over. There would be more to come, but he felt as if it were really over finally. That all the pieces had been discovered and now someone else could stand back and work out what the full picture was.

Every now and again, he remembered that brief moment of anger back in the park. That still kept him awake at night. The idea that he could have ended up just like all those other men and boys out there. All those who had been prepared to watch someone they professed to care for be killed by John. To revel in their deaths, as if they deserved it.