Free Evil Games by Angela Marsons Page B

capacity so he doesn’t divulge histories to me. That’s up to the individual.’ What she really wanted was for Barry to tell her himself so she could gauge where his vulnerabilities were. David had given her the facts but she wanted the emotional triggers. She had already deduced that Barry couldn’t look at the two little girls. They reminded him that his own daughter was being cared for by another man. His own brother.
    He stared at the cakes.
    She pushed. ‘Okay, no more one-sided conversations. Ask me anything and I’ll tell you.’
    He turned towards her with interest. ‘Married, kids?’
    ‘Separated and a daughter,’ she said, looking over at the girls. She lowered her gaze. It was a good work of fiction that would bring them closer. She needed that affinity of being separated from a child.
    He caught her subtlety. ‘Where’s the kid?’
    ‘With her father. It’s his weekend.’ She looked away.
    ‘Look, I’m sorry …’
    She waved away his apologies. ‘It’s okay. Breaking up a family is always painful but we’re trying to work it out.’
    Fantastic, she thought. Now he felt guilty that he’d caused her pain and he’d be more likely to open up.
    She already knew his story inside out. Barry had been an amateur boxer with a young wife. Under pressure from his wife to quit the sport, he started driving a delivery van. Some time later his wife became pregnant, but eight months in, the baby stopped breathing. His wife went through labour to give birth to a dead child.
    Barry had tried to be strong but had returned to boxing to alleviate the rage. Every fight saw him more damaged, but he couldn’t stop. During the time Barry should have been comforting his wife, his brother had been doing it instead.
    When he caught them, Barry had beaten his brother so badly he was paralysed from the waist down. Seven months later, Lisa gave birth to Barry’s child. A daughter.
    ‘What did your husband do?’ Barry asked, quietly.
    She looked him square in the eyes. ‘Hazard a wild one.’
    ‘Affair?’
    She nodded.
    He shook his head. ‘Anyone you know?’
    Alex considered inventing a best friend to fit into her fictional scenario but she felt that was stretching credibility a little too far. ‘No, some girl he met at a coffee shop. She’s a barista, whatever that is. Apparently, she’s less challenging.’
    ‘Bet that makes you feel good.’
    ‘Tremendous.’ She smiled at him. ‘Hey, who’s the shrink here? I’m half expecting you to present me with a bill before I leave.’
    ‘Yeah, a cool coupla hundred quid for me,’ he quipped.
    ‘Anyway, enough about me. How are you doing?’ she asked, eager to resume her experiment.
    ‘Not good, they’re married now,’ he said, miserably.
    ‘Oh, Barry. I’m so sorry. I had no idea.’
    He waved away her apology. ‘Not your fault.’
    Alex sat in silence beside him for just a minute, allowing his mind to linger on what he’d said.
    But now it was time to begin.
    ‘Does she love him?’ she asked, softly.
    That question pained him, as she’d intended. And a flash of confusion registered in his eyes.
    ‘I don’t know. I mean … I assume so. She married him.’
    ‘Do you think Lisa married him due to a sense of responsibility?’
    ‘Does it matter?’
    ‘It would to me if I was still in love with her,’ Alex said, gently.
    He shook his head. ‘She’d never take me back.’
    Alex paused for a few seconds. ‘Hmm … did you and your brother fight as children?’
    Barry smiled. ‘That’s the first shrink thing you’ve said.’
    ‘I apologise. I’m just interested in whether this was purely accidental.’
    He frowned. ‘What do you mean?’
    ‘Aah, hang on, you told me I couldn’t be a shrink. Make your mind up.’
    ‘Go on.’
    ‘Well, sometimes siblings compete throughout their childhood, normally for the affection or validation of a parent. If a child feels their brother or sister is more intelligent, attractive or favoured, they try