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

Barry barked out a short laugh, then, a little sliver of tongue slipped out of his mouth as it ran along the cigarette paper, sealing it shut. ‘You’ve met her brother then, I’m guessing. Richie Burns. Is he still a big, jumped-up lump? You know, he never said a word to me, in all those years me and his sister were having problems. All talk, that one. Don’t let him make you think different. He’d sooner beat up some poor drunk bloke a foot shorter than him, than actually take on someone who could fight back. His reputation is not well earned, I’ll tell you.’

‘So, you’ve not seen Emily, or any of your kids in over a decade. Or their mum. Or any of their family.’

Another short pause. ‘That’s right.’

‘Emily is missing…’

‘You said that when you first came in and I told you then – I can’t help you.’

Barry stood up with the easy grace of someone used to alighting from a bar stool, even with a bellyful of booze inside him. He stopped in front of Mark, scratching at his face and looking up towards him. He was smaller than Mark had been expecting, with the air of a man who had spent his life trying to make up for the fact. ‘Look, it’s sad that the kid has done one, but I’ve got nothing to do with it. She probably just got sick and tired of that woman and her mind games. She’ll turn up sooner or later. And she still won’t want to have anything to do with me, so why should I care now? It’s not like it’s going to end in some lovely reunion or some such bollocks. No, best leave me out of it. We’ve all moved on. Those kids probably don’t even know my last name anymore.’

Mark stood aside as Barry shuffled off towards the exit, wondering if he should try one more time. Whether he should make the man see sense and actually care about his own flesh and blood.

Yet, he knew he wasn’t there to be Jeremy Kyle, as Barry had said.

‘Your neighbour from across the way wants you to bring her back a pint of milk.’

Barry lifted a hand in response, but didn’t turn around.

He clearly didn’t care, but Mark couldn’t worry about that. He only needed to find out one thing. What happened to Emily Burns.

And the answer to that wasn’t there, in that pub, with its fat barman and a man who looked twenty years older than he was.

The barman gave him a look as he walked away, but went back to staring at the television. Mark waited, knowing what was coming.