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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

‘Yeah, I hear what you’re saying.’ It wasn’t very long ago that Marcus and the hundreds of thousands like him were heroes. The saviours of a nation. I’d been one of those standing outside my flat, clapping in the street.

‘It was never applause we needed.’ Marcus stood up. ‘It was money and the proper equipment. Four nurses died on this unit.’

‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘Public funding is one thing that’s always been massively fucked. Same in the Met.’

He stopped at the door. ‘That’s another thing.’

‘What?’

‘This is what tells me that you still have a fair way to go before you are well. You talking about the police.’ He was playing with his stupid ID card again. ‘Like you are still working for them.’

‘OK, now you really can fuck off,’ I said.

He didn’t. ‘Why were you asking Femi those questions?’

‘I don’t know what you’re on about.’

‘Missing drugs.’

‘You’ve got no idea how crime is actually solved, have you?’ I was kneeling up on the bed now, my voice a good deal louder than his and both fists clutching the duvet. ‘You probably think it’s all about CCTV and mobile phones and all that technical crap, don’t you? The truth is, doesn’t matter how much of that stuff you’ve got, crime actually gets solved because human beings like me ask questions.’ I took a few deep breaths. ‘One of your patients was murdered, I’m not sure if you’re aware of that.’

‘What happened to Mr Connolly was truly horrible,’ he said. ‘But I still have patients like you to take care of and keep safe.’ He took hold of his badge again, held it up like I’d never seen it before. ‘That is my job.’

‘Right, and I don’t need you to tell me how to do my job, fair enough?’

‘It’s not your job, Alice.’

I was still screaming when he closed the door.

After that I tossed my duvet and pillows around for a while, heaved the mattress on to the floor exactly as George and Marcus had done the night before and turned the bed over. Then once I was out of breath and had put everything back together again, I lay down until I was feeling a little less like putting my fist through a window.

I needed to get my act together, because there was lots to do.

I would start getting into this properly the next day.

There were plenty of people to talk to and I had no shortage of questions to ask.

FIFTEEN

FIFTEEN