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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

My mum’s always had that kind of soft voice. The sort that makes you feel things will get a bit better, even when there’s no chance of that happening. I find myself getting sleepy, which is good, because I’ll need to be on the ball come the morning.

‘Listen, Mum, I’ll let you get back to sleep.’

‘I’m wide awake now, love. Anyway, you still haven’t said why you’re ringing at half past stupid?’

That’s my mum for you. Always the one to ask the awkward questions.

‘I was just ringing for a natter,’ I say. ‘That’s all.’

How can I tell her that I’m calling to say goodbye?

FIFTY-SIX

FIFTY-SIX

It’s the second day running that I haven’t eaten any breakfast, but this time I don’t even bother going to the dining room to not eat, because I want to be ready and I’m guessing they’ll come good and early. It’s what I would do. I have a conversation which I’ve already forgotten with Femi at the meds hatch, then another with Donna as I take the bottle of water and step away to swallow the multicoloured contents of the paper cup.

The anti-psychotics, the mood-stabilisers and whatever the new ones are.

Then I wait.

It feels strange around here this morning, though I’m well aware that could just be me. Projecting, I think it’s called. The members of staff I’ve run into since I got up definitely seem a bit tense, though, and I can’t help wondering if they’ve been pre-warned. It would make perfect sense and again, it’s what me or Banksy or any detective with a bit of nous would have done. So the arrest team have the ward set up just the way they want, before they come steaming in.

Two, possibly three of them.

An extra person in handcuffs with them when they leave.

Marcus is still around. I’ve never seen him here on a Saturday and a Sunday and although I’m guessing they’re still short-handed, because it doesn’t look like Malaika’s back yet, it might just as easily be because he knows what’s going to be happening.

I step in front of him when he emerges from the toilet.

‘When are they coming?’

‘When’s who coming?’

It seems convincing, so I decide to give him the benefit of the doubt, and, of course, there’s one very good reason why the members of staff might not know anything about it. Why the last thing the police would do is pre-warn them. Because perhaps the person they’re coming here to arrest is a member of staff.

Fuck’s sake, Al. Keep it together . . .

My voice or Johnno’s. It’s hard to be sure any more.