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

‘I see your point, but it would be some coincidence. From what I’ve been told, no one from the apartments has said anyone is missing. We asked a fair few of them if someone hadn’t come out. Tough with these students, though. Don’t know their arse from their elbow. I’m sure this has already got its own WhatsApp group. If anyone was missing from inside, we’d have been told by now. We have a young woman, possibly suicidal, nineteen years old, who was last seen on CCTV a few yards down the road. Now, a dead woman of the same age and build, lying at the bottom of a tall building. Doesn’t take much to put it all together.’

‘We don’t know anything about Emily being suicidal, though, do we?’

‘I’m just guessing. You know what these teenagers are like these days. Not a day goes by when we’re not dealing with some form of bullying on social media, or mental health issues. Everyone pretending that they’re kind people, until someone does something they don’t agree with. And we’re left to pick up the pieces.’

‘Suppose so,’ Mark said, wishing he could make this giant leap with DS Cavanagh. They didn’t know for sure that Emily was suicidal. No one did. ‘Take me over.’

DS Cavanagh gave him a look, but didn’t say anything. He led the way, the sea of various forensic and uniforms parting in waves. They couldn’t go too close without donning white suits, so they kept their distance but he could see into the hastily erected tent from where he was standing.

Mark could only see flashes of her. A flay of hair here, a twisted foot there. And a lot of blood. More than he’d probably ever seen. It fanned out around the body, like a painting by an artist he couldn’t remember the name of. He didn’t want to think too much of the impact from a height such as it was, but he could see the body hadn’t broken up. That was what he’d been worried about most, he realised. That it would be unrecognisable to anyone. Instead, it looked like she had simply dropped to the floor and stopped being.

That’s if you ignored everything around her, of course. It certainly looked like the young woman he’d been looking for. It was difficult to be sure, though, and it didn’t help that he’d never met her in person.

There was only one way to be sure. The family would have to identify her.

He was suddenly glad he hadn’t eaten that morning. Wondered for a second if he ever would again. It never became any easier for him, it seemed. Even when the others carried on as if this was just a fact of life, he still felt that queasiness in his stomach.