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

‘Happens all the time. I’m sure you know the score on that one. Quarter of a million a year? Usually back within a day or two. Only a tiny proportion disappear forever or end up… you know.’

‘Dead,’ Mark finished for her. ‘There’s something about this one I can’t quite put my finger on. A part of the story I’m not seeing yet. I’ve only been on it a day though, so I’m sure it’ll all come out. And I’m probably just pretending I have some kind of intuition, like all those old detectives seem to have.’

‘Would it help if I started calling you Poirot?’

‘As long as I don’t have to grow the moustache.’

Natasha started to laugh, which set Mark off. When it subsided, he sighed and scratched the back of his head. ‘Honestly, I thought it would be… not easier, but something like that. Like I’d know what I was doing as soon as I was actually doing it. It’s been eighteen months and I still feel clueless.’

There was a slight shift of weight from his shoulders as he spoke. A release. A momentary feeling of relief to share this with someone.

‘I get that,’ Natasha replied, moving a strand of hair back behind her ear. ‘I’m sure it’ll get easier. And that you’re doing fine anyway.’

‘I haven’t made any massive screw-ups yet, thankfully.’

‘How old is she?’

‘Nineteen.’

‘An adult…’

‘Exactly. Yet, the way her family talk about her – not outright, but it’s implied by what they say – they act like she’s far younger. Like she couldn’t be trusted to look after herself. It doesn’t seem like she was very popular. No friends in real life, only online.’

Natasha sighed and tucked her legs beneath her once more. ‘Hopefully she’ll turn up. I’m seeing a lot of that sort of thing at the moment. Teenage girls, dealing with social media and all of that crap. The bullying that’s going on is rife. My colleagues who have been doing the job a lot longer reckon it’s never been as bad as it is now.’

Mark nodded, unable to disagree. They sat in amiable silence for a little longer, tiredness suddenly washing over him. He thought about Emily Burns, the house where she’d last been seen and the family who’d been left behind.

He wanted Natasha to be right, for Emily to be found soon.

But something told him not to get his hopes up.

Ten

He was a minute’s walk from the yard where the blood was found when the call had come in. Mark imagined there would have been little discussion before DI Bennett had taken over and called him in.