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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

Had one of his visitors smuggled them in for him? Quite a lot, Banksy had said. OK, sneaking in the odd bottle wasn’t out of the question, but more than that was hard to imagine. Kevin must have been trying to sell them to someone on the outside, though, however he got hold of them. There’d def­initely be a market for it and I had a feeling he’d been involved in stuff like that before he came in.

I couldn’t think of any obvious way he’d got hold of the drugs in here, though.

Nicking a pack or two of aripiprazole from an unguarded trolley was not beyond the bounds of possibility, but there’s some proper locks on the medical supplies rooms, so a large quantity would definitely have been trickier. No, some things on the ward might not be as shipshape as they should be – the mash-on-the-cameras thing for a kick-off – but they do tend to be quite careful about the meds.

The whole suicide thing.

So, where was Kevin getting the drugs and why was he stockpiling them in his bedroom?

I was still thinking about it while I strolled down to a spot just inside one of the hospital gates. Billy was waiting by the wheelie bins, playing some stupid game on his phone.

‘Been a while,’ he said.

I handed over the twenty pound note and he handed me the baggie. It would be more than enough. He’d pre-rolled a freebie for me, which was thoughtful.

‘Things got a bit messy,’ I said.

Billy folded the note into his well-stuffed wallet and began scrolling through his messages. ‘Got messy again, have they?’

‘In a different way,’ I said, as he walked away towards the main road.

At exactly nine-fifteen I rang the bell and watched George sauntering towards the airlock. He nodded, reaching for his keys, so I leaned against the window and said, ‘Bang on time, mate,’ and hoped I wasn’t shouting or grinning like an idiot without knowing it.

I told George I was going to get an early night and winked at Donna as I marched straight down to my room.

‘Sleep well, pet,’ George shouted.

He’d smelled it on me, though, course he had.

Ten minutes later, him and Marcus were knocking on my bedroom door and there wasn’t a fat lot I could do. While they turned my room upside down, I stood outside in the corridor and cried for a few minutes, holding Malaika’s hand and listening to her telling me I was ‘daft’. I knew they’d find the weed – it was tucked into the toe of one my trainers – but I’d rolled a couple before coming back in and stashed them, so at least there was that.

Think ahead and keep your fingers crossed, right?