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

Still, Mark didn’t know if he was talking to a grieving uncle, or someone who potentially had something to do with his niece’s disappearance. And there lay the dichotomy he had to live with as a detective. One part of him providing comfort and resolution to a family; the other, constantly on guard. Looking for inconsistencies in stories. Viewing every word spoken with suspicion.

‘I’m sorry for the way I spoke to you when you turned up,’ Rich said, catching Mark’s eyes and holding them.

‘It’s okay—’ Mark began, but stopped as Rich moved forward a couple of steps.

‘No, I mean it. I know you’re only doing your job. And that you’re all doing the best you can. It’s just I’m not used to being this side of it. Usually when I speak to your lot, it’s defending something or other I’ve got myself mixed up in.’

Mark smiled thinly, but didn’t reply.

‘Just bring her back home,’ Rich said, turning away. ‘Not for me, because I don’t expect you to do anything for me. For her. For Julie. She doesn’t deserve this. Any of this.’

‘We’ll do everything we can,’ Mark replied, watching Rich nod his head but not turn back. Then, the older man opened the back door and went inside, leaving Mark alone, wondering whether he’d just been played.

Eight

Leaving the house as soon as he’d finished the third cup of tea he hadn’t really wanted, Mark made his way back to the station. The family hadn’t been exactly what he’d been expecting. He was too used to barely constrained anger from the occupants of that sort of estate. The family had seemed more lost than anything else, the only exception being the big fella.

Good ol’ Uncle Rich. Keeping stereotypes in business.

He wasn’t expecting much to have happened in the time since he’d turned up at the house, but he guessed his boss would be interested in an update of some sort. Especially as he’d been away from his desk for a few hours now.

He knew the score. Someone goes missing, usually they either have problems they want to escape, or someone close to them wouldn’t allow them to get away from problems they had created for them. He also knew that finding blood at the scene meant the second option was going to be the most likely scenario. Whether it was by her own hand, or if she had come to some harm by someone else, it would be up to him to find out. All that would be up for discussion now; he would have to look into every aspect of this family’s life – the way they interacted with each other, the way in which problems were solved when they came up. Whether any of them had any secrets.