BooksBarbecue
Back Rabbit Hole
Chapters (73)
  1. Rabbit Hole
  2. Also by Mark Billingham
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright
  5. Dedication
  6. Epigraph
  7. Preface
  8. PART ONE
  9. ONE
  10. TWO
  11. THREE
  12. FOUR
  13. FIVE
  14. SIX
  15. SEVEN
  16. EIGHT
  17. NINE
  18. TEN
  19. ELEVEN
  20. TWELVE
  21. THIRTEEN
  22. FOURTEEN
  23. FIFTEEN
  24. SIXTEEN
  25. SEVENTEEN
  26. EIGHTEEN
  27. NINETEEN
  28. TWENTY
  29. TWENTY-ONE
  30. TWENTY-TWO
  31. TWENTY-THREE
  32. TWENTY-FOUR
  33. TWENTY-FIVE
  34. TWENTY-SIX
  35. TWENTY-SEVEN
  36. TWENTY-EIGHT
  37. TWENTY-NINE
  38. THIRTY
  39. THIRTY-ONE
  40. THIRTY-TWO
  41. THIRTY-THREE
  42. PART TWO
  43. THIRTY-FOUR
  44. THIRTY-FIVE
  45. THIRTY-SIX
  46. THIRTY-SEVEN
  47. THIRTY-EIGHT
  48. THIRTY-NINE
  49. FORTY
  50. FORTY-ONE
  51. FORTY-TWO
  52. FORTY-THREE
  53. FORTY-FOUR
  54. FORTY-FIVE
  55. FORTY-SIX
  56. FORTY-SEVEN
  57. FORTY-EIGHT
  58. FORTY-NINE
  59. FIFTY
  60. FIFTY-ONE
  61. FIFTY-TWO
  62. FIFTY-THREE
  63. FIFTY-FOUR
  64. FIFTY-FIVE
  65. FIFTY-SIX
  66. FIFTY-SEVEN
  67. FIFTY-EIGHT
  68. PART THREE
  69. FIFTY-NINE
  70. SIXTY
  71. EPILOGUE
  72. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  73. Back Cover

You have to go slightly mad to become properly sane.

The Beatles obviously existed and they were great, apart from the weird Indian stuff and that stupid song about an octopus.

There were no criminals wearing masks on my television.

Drink and drugs were partly, but not wholly, respon­sible for everything that led up to me being ‘retired’, and everything that’s happened since.

Johnno died because I was not a good enough copper.

I did not hurt anyone, except when I was trying to protect them and myself, and I would do so again.

Being banged up with mad people is not great for your mental health.

Almost all the people working here do an amazing job, clinging on by their fingernails, and there’s rarely a day goes by when I don’t think that being a copper was a doddle by comparison.

I was sexually assaulted. I was.

If they sent me home tomorrow – to a recovery house for a few weeks probably, then to Mum and Dad’s – I would be absolutely fine.

I will meet someone, get married and have a family like everyone else.

At some point, I will work as a police officer again.

Kevin Connolly was murdered just over two weeks ago on this ward by Deborah Anne McClure (FRCN). You already know the hows and whys so I don’t need to repeat them. You probably want to know how our conversation in the exam­ination room ended, but there really wasn’t much more to it after George interrupted us. All you need to know is that her mask stayed firmly in place until Debbie announced that she needed to be on duty at the meds hatch and left.

She had nothing to say. Nothing.

Yeah, a straight-up confession would have been nice, but that was as close to one as you can get. Her coming clean there and then would certainly have been a good result for me and, bearing in mind what was around the corner, would definitely have done her a major favour.

So, here we are. That’s us bang up to date.

Well, aside from the blood-soaked elephant in the room, which is the fact that, two days later – yesterday to be precise – I was the one who found Debbie’s body.

PART TWO

PART TWO

FIGHT OR FLIGHT

THIRTY-FOUR

THIRTY-FOUR

As you can imagine, it’s been all fun and games around this place the last twenty-four hours. A right old palaver. The police have packed up and gone, for the time being at least, but everything’s still all over the shop.

Everything and everyone.