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

‘Is that right?’ Barry replied, lifting his pint and draining a third of it in one slug. ‘What’s that got to do with me?’

‘You don’t know?’ Mark said, wishing he was suddenly anywhere else. ‘We’ve been trying to track you down for a couple of days now. She’s missing. It’s been on the news, online and that.’

‘I don’t bother reading all that shite. It’s usually all lies. Anyway, she’s twenty-odd years old now, I’m sure she can look after herself.’

‘She’s nineteen,’ Mark corrected, trying to keep his voice calm and steady. ‘And we’re worried she may have come to some harm.’

‘And what do you need me for? It’s not like I know where she is. I’ve not seen her in over ten years. Thanks to that bint of a mother she’s got. Should I be worried?’

‘That’s not for me to say.’

Barry considered this and sniffed. ‘I’m sure she’ll be fine. It’s not like they need my help anyway. Wouldn’t piss on me if I was on fire, thanks to their mother. She’ll turn up soon enough, no doubt. And won’t thank me for caring.’

‘I’m guessing my next question is going to be easily answered then.’

‘No, I haven’t seen her. Wouldn’t even know what she looked like now. Any of the kids. They don’t want to know me, so what can I do? It’s not like they’re missing out on anything. They’d only want to know why I wasn’t around when they were growing up. All that touchy-feely Jeremy Kyle bollocks. It’s not like I could give them an answer they’d like. I’d only be landing their mum in it.’

‘She kept you from seeing them?’

‘She didn’t want me having anything to do with the kids,’ Barry said, stroking the side of his pint glass with an idle hand. From the look of him – and the smell – Mark guessed it wasn’t his first pint of the afternoon. ‘I was a bad influence because I wouldn’t put up with the shite she would. They needed discipline, not a friend. That’s what she wanted to be. I wanted to be a dad. Show them the right way about things. Real-life stuff, you know? Especially the boy. He was soft as shite, even as a baby.’

‘So, you haven’t heard from any of them in years?’

Barry paused, then lifted his pint to his mouth. Motioned towards the barman for a refill. He didn’t move. ‘Not a word in at least four or five years. Their head will be full of crap by now. Their mum never had a good word to say about me and I can only imagine what she’s said since then. All lies, of course.’

‘Really?’