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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

KEVIN. Well . . . dead, obviously, but it doesn’t seem right or kind that’s all he is, or all you ever know about him. He was ten years younger than me and he supported West Ham, which was a shame, but there you go. He had ‘issues’, of course, and you can take it as read that everyone I’m going to describe has plenty, so I won’t use that stupid word again. Kevin’s were all about his parents, I think, but he never went into details. He was one of the friendliest in here. Too friendly sometimes, if I’m honest, meaning that certain people took advantage and he didn’t really stand up for himself enough, which you’ve got to in this place. I think he was a skinhead before he came in and I remember how much he smiled when he showed me his tattoos. He had a lovely smile. I never found out how he ended up on Fleet Ward, what went on before he was sectioned, but I do know there’d been a lot of drugs, probably still were . . . well, you’ll see.

He was fit, too, I don’t mind telling you that.

GRAHAM, aka The Waiter. I should point out that nearly all these nicknames are ones I’ve come up with myself and most of the people concerned don’t even know about them. I’ve always been rubbish at putting names with faces, so they helped me remember who was who early on, and now sometimes I use real names and sometimes the ones I’ve made up, depending on my mood or my memory, or how drugged up I am, which tends to affect both those things. This one isn’t the most inspired nickname, I’m well aware of that, but it works. Graham doesn’t bring people meals or carry drinks or anything like that. He’s the waiter because he waits, simple as that. All the bloody time, waiting. You always know where Graham is, because once he’s had his breakfast he’ll be standing at the meds hatch, waiting for it to open. As soon as he’s taken his meds, he’ll be outside the dining room waiting for them to start dishing up lunch. Then back to the meds hatch, then the dining room, then the meds hatch again, same daft routine every day. You get used to seeing him, just standing there staring into space, always the first in line even if it’s half an hour early. Once, when it had started to get on my tits a bit, I marched up to the meds hatch (which wasn’t due to open for like an hour) and asked him what the hell he was standing there for, what the point was. He looked at me like I was an idiot and said, ‘I don’t like queuing.’