Free All Fall Down: A gripping psychological thriller with a twist that will take your breath away by Tom Bale

‘You and some of the guys from poker lost a lot of money.’
    ‘Yeah, but that’s our problem. And I don’t blame you – ’cos it was me that decided to lend it to him: no one else.’
    ‘But he was trading on the business reputation the whole time, the reputation that he and I had as partners.’
    Jason shook his head. ‘Nah, it was a private loan. I cocked up, not you. Thought the wanker wouldn’t dare try to rob me.’ A final puff on the cigarette, then he flicked it into the mud. ‘Anyway, you offered to pay some of it back.’
    ‘Because I felt guilty. He swindled a lot of people that I knew and liked.’
    ‘Yeah, well, that offer still counts in your favour. . . just about.’ A wry smile. ‘If anything else happens, and you need some help, give me a shout, yeah?’
    ‘I will. Thanks.’

    R ob felt his phone bleep , checked the display and found a reminder from Cerys. ‘Shit. I’m meant to be interviewing someone at two.’
    ‘Not like that, you aren’t.’ Jason pointed to his mud-splattered shirt and jeans.
    Rob sighed. He might just make it home in time to shower, but it would be a close-run thing. ‘Bloody traffic’s horrendous. That’s what got me in such a bad mood.’
    ‘You need to chill a bit, mate.’ Jason gestured lazily at the water. ‘You live in one of the most beautiful places in the world. Of course it’s gonna be busy.’
    ‘Words of wisdom,’ Rob murmured.
    ‘Too right, and here’s some more.’ Jason reached for another cigarette. In a very different tone, quiet and gritty, he said, ‘I wouldn’t go talking to anyone about Iain Kelly, and especially not the cops, yeah? Might make life a lot harder for all of us.’
    There was a beat of silence, a long moment of intense eye contact, and then Rob broke away and nodded. He wetted his lips before speaking.
    ‘Understood.’

Seventeen
    G eorgia didn’t quite believe it. Not that she was desperate to be ‘besties’ or anything – not with the stars of BitchWorld like Amber, Chloe or Paige. But it was better than having them as enemies, especially as most of her year group would be attending the same sixth-form college in September.
    In BitchWorld it was all or nothing. Ignore them and they’d do everything they could to make your life hell. The only other option was to worship them, and no way did Georgia want to do that. Now, thanks to some poor dead guy, it looked like she might not have to.
    She’d decided it was probably worth the risk she’d taken in telling the other kids what had happened on Sunday – her dad would go ballistic if he knew, but to her mind, if the word was already out there, it couldn’t really hurt to fill in some of the details.
    On Monday she’d hung out in the park at Heath Pond with a big group from her year, all still hyper from having finished their GCSEs. It had gone okay: most of the girls preferred talking to listening, so Georgia was quickly able to fade into the background.
    Yesterday, after surviving the sleepover, she hadn’t been in the mood to do it again, so she’d gone for a walk and lied to Wendy that she’d been with her friends. She knew her mum worried if she didn’t mix with people, but the trouble was that Wendy didn’t have a clue what it was like to be in Georgia’s skin.
    Wendy and Rob’s upbringing had been normal, cosy, safe – never any shortage of love or money – and so they both seemed convinced that Georgia’s experience must have left her weighed down with all kinds of trauma and stress and psychological pain, even though she maintained that it hadn’t.
    Half the time she couldn’t even work out whether she thought of her as Mum, or as Wendy. There was no question that the woman loved Georgia to bits, but did she love her, really and truly, as a daughter ?
    Georgia didn’t know. Maybe she never would.
    Rob, though, was definitely getting cooler towards her. In his eyes, she was going the same way as Josh: someone who spoke back, who wouldn’t