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Back Rabbit Hole Save as PDF
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

I look at her. Stupid thing to do, I know, but I can’t help myself.

‘Well, we all know you thought Debbie was the one who killed Kevin, don’t we?’

I don’t know about all, but I’m not surprised that Lauren knows. Marcus would have discussed it with the other nurses and one of them was bound to let it slip at some point. Or found themselves unable to resist sharing a bit of gossip about one patient with another. George, maybe, or Malaika.

‘So?’

‘So . . . it must have been doing your head in that she’d got away with it. I mean the police obviously hadn’t worked it out or she’d have been arrested, right? I’m not as experienced as you with this stuff, but I think that’s how it’s supposed to work. So she’s just swanning around, free as a bird and all the time you know what she’s done. You’re the only one who knows that she’s guilty.’ She shakes her head. ‘I’m just saying . . . if that was me I don’t think I could have handled it. I don’t think I could have coped, seeing that murdering cow every day, laughing and joking after what she’d done to poor old Kevin.’

I glance over at Shaun again. He’s hanging on every word.

‘Is there a point to any of this?’ I ask.

‘Only that maybe, seeing as nothing was happening to her and that, you know, justice wasn’t being done . . .’ She shrugs as if she doesn’t really need to say any more.

‘Just spit it out,’ I say. ‘You can sing it, if it helps.’

She slowly brings a finger to her lips like a naughty schoolgirl, stares at me for a few seconds, then hauls herself up and wanders out. Almost as soon as the door closes behind her I hear scratching and look over to see Shaun scribbling on a scrap of paper. Whatever he’s writing doesn’t take long and he scrunches the paper into a ball, then steps over to press it into my hand before hurrying from the room.

I open it up and read the message.

thank you

FORTY-TWO

FORTY-TWO

French and Saunders are back for more interviews this morning, and according to Ilias they’ve brought a friend along, but before I’m called in to see them, I get a chance to say sorry to L-Plate. I know now that all the stuff she accused me of yesterday actually happened, because Marcus made a point of catching up with me before bedtime and asked me about the ‘bullying’ incident in the dining room at lunchtime. He was not happy. For obvious reasons – like not remembering any of it – there wasn’t a fat lot I could tell him, but he made it clear we’d need to address my unacceptable behaviour at Friday’s assessment meeting.