Free Dark Suits and Sad Songs by Denzil Meyrick

pockets.
    ‘You’ll likely have lost them,’ Annie replied, patting the pocket of her jeans to make sure Scott’s car keys were still there. ‘I’ll need tae get another bottle. Jeest you wait there till I get back, I’ll no’ be long.’ She pushed through the door behind the bar and into the small office behind the reception desk. On the wall hung a list of names and numbers which Annie ran her finger down until she found the number for Kinloch Police Office.
    Brian Scott didn’t notice his old friend and colleague when he entered the bar, engaged as he was in a heated debate with another customer about football.
    ‘It wouldnae matter what team it was, it’s still a disaster for the whole country.’
    Daley noticed that his speech was slurred and his eyes were half shut in his red face. ‘Brian, can I have a word?’
    ‘What?’ Scott turned around so quickly on the high bar stool that he nearly took a tumble. His annoyed expression was soon replaced by a wide grin as he recognised Daley. ‘Big man, it’s yoursel’, come on in an’ I’ll get you a dram.’
    ‘It’s OK. Come with me.’
    ‘Aye, whit is it, big fella? No’ another pair o’ trousers away, I hope.’ Scott laughed uproariously at the thought.
    ‘Come on.’ Daley heaved his DS off the barstool by the scruff of the neck and marched him towards the hotel’s vestibule which was mercifully quiet.
    ‘Is there a fuckin’ fire or whit?’
    ‘Right, Brian, listen to me.’ Daley’s expression was dark. ‘I know you’ve been through the mill in the last few months; nobody needs to tell me that. But I haven’t seen you sober in, well, since I can’t remember when. Every time I come to your house, no matter what the time of day, you’ve been on the piss. In your own time, that’s up to you, though after what your body’s been through, I’d have thought you would want to give it time to recover. Anyway,’ Daley talked over Scott’s protests. ‘ Anyway , that’s none of my business. What is my business is when one of my officers, no matter who they are, turns up for duty in the state you’re in. What the fuck’s wrong with you?’
    ‘Ach, it’s being back – comin’ doon that road. You know yoursel’, a bloody nightmare. An’ me feeling like this,’ he rubbed at his stomach, ‘well, it’s enough tae send anybody ontae the bevy, is it no’?’
    ‘Right. This is where it starts and ends, Brian, have you got me? At least Annie had the good sense to give me a call and tell me what state you were in. When would you have stopped? When you fell over?’
    ‘Nah, nah, Jim, come on, man. A few drams tae take the edge off. It’s no’ easy for me being back doon here again, no’ after what happened. Even you must realise that.’
    ‘I know what it’s like, trust me. But you have to get back into it, OK?’ Daley’s tone was less harsh now. ‘Get back in the saddle, you got it?’
    ‘Aye.’ Scott shuffled from foot to foot, both hands in his pocket, looking at the floor like a naughty child. ‘C’mon, then. Gie me a lift up tae the office and we’ll get intae it, big man.’
    ‘Office? Bugger off! If I let you anywhere near a police office now, I’d get my jotters, quicker than you’d get yours, and rightly so. Get yourself up the stairs and into your bed. Watch TV, read a book, listen to the radio, anything, just don’t come back down here. I’ll see you up at the station at nine tomorrow morning. Sober. Got it?’ Daley grabbed Scott by the lapels and looked straight into his face. He could see Annie lurking behind the reception desk, pretending not to hear. ‘Will you make sure this bloody reprobate has nothing more to drink, Annie?’
    ‘Aye, yes, nae bother, Mr Daley. I’m . . . I apologise for lettin’ him get intae such a state. Och, it was so nice tae see him back in one piece. I should have thought aboot it mair.’
    ‘Don’t blame yourself, Annie. This here,’ he nodded to Scott, ‘is big enough