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

Mark walked through the kitchen and into the back garden, where he could talk a little more privately. The family were now ensconced in the living room, a renewed sense of hope tangible among them all.

From the sound of DI Bennett’s voice, things had clearly changed now the body had turned out to be some other poor girl.

‘Any news on ID?’

He imagined there would be a few people being shouted at back at the station for being too quick to believe the body was Emily Burns. He had no doubt he would’ve been on the end of one of those bollockings if he’d been there as well.

‘Joanna Carter,’ DI Bennett said, once Mark was outside. ‘Has that name come up at all?’

‘Not from my investigations so far,’ Mark replied, shaking his head. ‘I’ve not got very far with the social media aspect though, so can’t say if they’re connected online or something. It’s all moved on a bit since yesterday afternoon. Is that the dead girl?’

‘Woman,’ DI Bennett corrected, tutting to herself over the phone. ‘Twenty years old. Student, from down south originally, so I imagine it’s unlikely she’d know Emily.’

‘Not that unlikely, if there’s been contact online.’

‘Nonetheless, she lived in the building where we found her. Private student accommodation. Not cheap either. She was studying medicine, at the City university. A world away from a place like your missing girl’s house. She hadn’t been seen for a few days, but didn’t exactly have many friends in the building. Kept herself to herself, according to a whole bunch of students we’ve been speaking to today. None of them knew Emily when her name was mentioned. Seems like Joanna was a bit of a loner. Would have made things a bit easier if she had a boyfriend or girlfriend, at least. Once we realised it wasn’t Emily, we went back over those who lived in the building. Should have been our first action really, but I guess we all just thought it would be too much of a coincidence, that we would find a body a few yards from where Emily’s blood was found and it not be her. A mistake that won’t be happening again.’

‘So, you think there’s some kind of connection?’

‘What do you think?’ DI Bennett said, a patronising tone creeping into her voice, which made Mark grit his teeth a little. ‘Dead woman, found not that far from Emily’s last known location. Blood found at that location – nothing else. Emily goes missing in the same area. Doesn’t exactly take Sherlock to work this one out. Come on, Mark. I know you like the family, but there’s something not right with this whole picture. With this Emily.’