Chapters (73)
- Rabbit Hole
- Also by Mark Billingham
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Preface
- PART ONE
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- PART TWO
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- FORTY-FOUR
- FORTY-FIVE
- FORTY-SIX
- FORTY-SEVEN
- FORTY-EIGHT
- FORTY-NINE
- FIFTY
- FIFTY-ONE
- FIFTY-TWO
- FIFTY-THREE
- FIFTY-FOUR
- FIFTY-FIVE
- FIFTY-SIX
- FIFTY-SEVEN
- FIFTY-EIGHT
- PART THREE
- FIFTY-NINE
- SIXTY
- EPILOGUE
- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
- Back Cover
She pulled a chair across and sat down. ‘So, what can I do for you, Alice?’
Before I knew what I was doing, I had reached into my pocket for my mobile, pressed a few buttons and was holding it out towards her. ‘Look at this,’ I said.
She watched, started to smile.
To this day I can’t quite explain what I was doing for that minute or so. It wasn’t like I’d changed my mind or chickened out or anything, it wasn’t any kind of clever delaying tactic. It was a switch that tripped for no good reason. I just forgot myself and . . . went somewhere else.
‘That’s funny,’ she said.
I was showing her the video my dad had sent me a few days earlier. A monkey being shown a magic trick, for fuck’s sake. I was smiling myself, even though my hand was shaking as I held the screen up. Christ alone knows what happened or where my head was at right then, but looking back now I was like a hitman who pulls out a gun then gets distracted by the colour of the curtains. ‘Look at the monkey’s face when he sees it . . .’
She laughed at the monkey’s double-take. ‘Ah . . . that stuff’s brilliant,’ she said. ‘I love all those cat ones.’
Then, just like that, the switch flipped back again. I slipped my phone back in my pocket and looked up to see her staring at me.
‘I know what you did,’ I said.
‘OK, Alice.’ She shook her head. ‘What did I do?’
‘I know that you murdered Kevin and I know you did it because of the drugs.’ She looked at me like I was mad and I know that sounds like a strange observation bearing in mind where we were, but trust me, it’s a look they try very hard not to give anyone in here. They’re trained to do precisely the opposite. That’s why it made such an impression. ‘Kevin didn’t want any more to do with the whole thing and he was almost certainly threatening to blackmail you with the drugs you’d already given him and which he’d hidden. The drugs you couldn’t find when you went into his room that night.’
‘OK,’ she said.
It was just pouring out. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt so confident or in control, so the person I wanted to be.
I felt like I was fucking invincible.