‘Ket?’ He laughed. ‘I thought it was Charlie?’ He shrugged his shoulders; he’d done more drugs in one night before than most people did in a lifetime, a bit of ketamine was nothing.

Nathan was looking at the glass of whisky which the barmaid has just brought him. It was only inches from him on the glass-topped table, but he couldn’t reach it. He tried to raise his arm, but it wouldn’t move. People around him were starting to talk very slowly, or he was hearing slowly. His brain had turned to pea soup. Suddenly he couldn’t move any part of his body. He tried to stand up. In his mind, he was doing it, but he wasn’t actually moving. People were still talking and laughing and drinking around him, unaware that he was paralyzed. He started to panic then, his breathing becoming erratic. What the fuck was happening? Why couldn’t he move?

‘John, John.’ he slurred at the nearest body to him. ‘I can’t move, mate. I can’t fucking move.’

‘What are you on about, Nathan?’ John said amiably, plonking himself on the seat next to his boss.

It took a few minutes, hindered by Nathan’s slurred speech, to convince John that he was telling the truth.

‘What the fuck did you give him?’ John snapped at the blonde, grabbing her by the arm.

‘Just some ketamine,’ she shrugged. ‘Don’t worry, he’ll be fine. Some people just have a bad reaction, that’s all. And he took a shitload of it. He’ll be okay once it wears off.’

John pushed her roughly out of the way ‘Come on, mate. Let’s get you home.’

John and Kenny drove Nathan home and carried him upstairs to the flat. He was in and out of consciousness by that point. Nathan could hear snippets of their conversation with Grace.

‘He’ll be fine … Ketamine … Just keep an eye on him …’

Then they were gone, and Nathan thought that he might be a goner too.

Chapter Sixty-Five

‘Grace, Grace, are you in there?’ A voice Grace didn’t recognize said quietly at her bedroom door, followed by a light knock, rousing her from sleep.

‘Grace!’ A bit louder this time.

Who the hell was it? She glanced at the clock and saw it was just past midnight. Taking the baseball bat Nathan kept under the bed she tentatively opened the door. She saw a round, pale face she didn’t recognize looking at her. His eyes were wide, like a frightened rabbit.

‘Grace?’ he asked. ‘It’s John. I’m sorry to get you out of bed, but it’s Nathan. He’s not well. He’s in the living room.’

She followed John out of the bedroom, and saw another man she didn’t recognize, as well as Nathan, who was lying on the sofa, looking like he’d passed out.