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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 remember talking to The Thing about it one morning at the meds hatch and that’s pretty much what we were saying. You take a bunch of people who are all going through the worst time in their life, who are prone to mood swings like you wouldn’t believe and are all capable of kicking off at a moment’s notice. Who see and hear things that aren’t real. Who are paranoid or delusional or more often both, and are seriously unpredictable even when they’re drugged off their tits. Who are angry or jumpy or nervy or any of the other seven dwarves of lunacy that knock around in here twenty-four hours a day. You take those people and lock them all up together and it’s like you’re asking for trouble, wouldn’t you say?

A good day is when something awful doesn’t happen.

A murder isn’t really anything to write home about in a place like this, not when you think about it. It’s almost inevitable, I reckon, like the noise and the smell. You ask me, a murder’s par for the course.

Even two of them.

TWO

TWO

I know they found Kevin’s body on the Saturday because it was the day after my tribunal and that was definitely the day before. Official stuff like that never happens on a weekend, because the doctors and therapists aren’t around then and certainly not any solicitors. They’re strictly Monday to Friday, nine to five, which is a bit odd, considering that the weekends are probably the most difficult time around here and you’d think a few more staff might be a good idea. Saturdays and Sundays are when reality – or as close to it as some people in here ever get – tends to hit home. When the patients realise what they’re missing, when they get even more bored than usual, which often means trouble.

The Weekend Wobble, that’s what Marcus calls it.

Again, in the interests of accuracy, I should say it was actually my second tribunal. I’d already been through one when I was first brought into the unit on a Section Two. That’s when they can keep you for up to twenty-eight days, when theoretically you’re there to be assessed, and obviously I wasn’t remotely happy about the situation, so I applied for a tribunal as soon as I could. Why wouldn’t you, right? No joy that time, though, and a fortnight later, after a couple of unsavoury incidents which aren’t really relevant, my Section Two became a Section Three.