The Game Changer Read Online Free

brother-in-law of the chief super?’
    ‘It’s time to stop the questions. I need sleep.’
    ‘Humour me.’
    ‘Michael O’Neill.’ He lay down. ‘Apparently, he couldn’t come to terms with being retired.’
    ‘Strange.’
    ‘What is?’
    ‘That was Kevin’s surname too, or at least the name of the family he was living with. I think he was fostered.’
    ‘O’Neill?’
    ‘Yeah – I suppose it’s a common enough name. Did the O’Neills have any children?’
    ‘Not unless you include the ones he watched in the schoolyard.’
    ‘Was he …?’
    ‘I’m told by the chief super it was nothing like that. Apparently, he simply couldn’t cope with not being there, but it made some of the parents uneasy.’
    ‘I’m sure the school wasn’t happy about it either.’ She frowned.
    ‘You okay?’
    ‘Yeah, I’m fine, but it must be difficult for his wife, now that’s she on her own.’
    ‘I know, and here’s the thing, Kate. A guy spends his whole life teaching, helping others, and when it’s his turn to live a little, he ends it all.’
    ‘These things can be hard to understand.’
    ‘There’s something else.’
    ‘What?’
    ‘Over the last few months, his wife says he’s been going to some kind of meetings. He wouldn’t say who he was seeing. He kept it all very secretive. I think she partly blames herself.’
    ‘She wasn’t to know. A person intent on dying by suicide can keep it from those closest to them.’
    ‘Maybe – but there’ll be plenty of digging now, although it will have to be handled sensitively.’
    ‘Sensitively?’
    ‘Being related to the chief super.’
    ‘I see,’ she said, unimpressed.
    ‘It’s not like that, Kate. It’s just that he’ll be closely involved. Everything we find out will have to be run by him.’
    ‘Isn’t that normal?’
    ‘More or less, but we’re talking
everything
.’ He waited a few moments, then asked, ‘What do you think?’
    ‘About what? The chief super or the investigation?’
    ‘The investigation, of course – the chief super I can handle. Let’s say for a second this wasn’t a suicide. Other than redirecting blame, why would anyone set it up like that?’
    ‘Was there any sign of forced entry?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘And you’ve no way of knowing if a second key was used to lock the door on the other side?’
    ‘I guess not.’
    ‘The crime scene always tells you more than you can see.’
    ‘I’m listening.’
    ‘The means of killing is certainly important, but if a potential perpetrator got that close without using any force, assuming another party was involved, then more than likely, they meant something to each other. It’s the first marker.’
    ‘Marker for what?’
    ‘The relationship between the killer and their victim.’

The Game Changer
     
    AFTER LISA’S APPOINTMENT, HER CHEQUE FOR forty-five thousand euros, donated to help others within the programme, was locked away in the safe. Lisa believed that separating herself from the money had helped her along the path to self-enlightenment and therefore greater happiness. The Game Changer knew she would progress with speed.
    That evening, the only sound in the room was the steady, hypnotic rhythm of tapping on the laptop keyboard as the member/ player records were brought up to date.
    CENTRE OF LIGHTNESS
    20 Steps to Self-enlightenment Programme
    Player: Lisa Redmond – Evaluation 7
    Attributes: Ambitious and attractive
    Career: Webcam sex
    Current Bank Balance : €50,000
    Step 7: Completed
    Money is a form of validation for Lisa. It tells her people will pay for what she is prepared to give them. It also tells her that she is successful and in many ways special. Overall, she doesn’t want to perform webcam sex; neither are her actions solely based on a desire to do things well, she being something of a perfectionist. The money is her gold star. Like the cheap paper gold stars her teachers gave her when she behaved well in school (see earlier notes).
    Lisa maintained