Ian Rankin. Standing in another man's garve. Page 12.

He studied the cigarette he was holding. He'd undergone a medical (an examination of a person's body by a doctor to discover if that person is healthy) a few months back and received the usual warnings. His dentist, too, was always checking for the first signs of anything nasty.

'Every lucky streak (a period of time during which something continues to happen) comes to an end, John.' his dentist had told him. 'Trust me.'

'Can I get an each-way bet (if you put an amount of money each way on horse race, you will win money if the horse you have chosen comes first, second or third) on that? Rebus had replied.

He wasn't drinking as much either: couple of beers of an evening, with maybe a tot (a small drink of alcohol) or three of whisky before bed. He had a beer open now - his first of the day.

Neither Bliss nor Robison had fancied a drink after work, and he hadn't been about (to be going to do something very soon) to ask Cowan.

'It's called stalking (stalking is a term commonly used to refer to unwonted and obsessive attention),'

And I notice you don't pull him up (to tell someone that they have done something wrong) when he calls you Dan…'

There were almost certainly less proficient (skilled and experienced) officers around who had more successfully scaled the heights (if you scale the heights of a work, you are very successful in it). Cowan certainly felt that, and it gnawed away at him (to gradually reduce or spoil something), so that he was almost followed out (to make an empty place inside) by it.

He felt a small tremor (a slight shaking movement in a person's body, especially because of nervousness or excitement) of anticipation whenever he undid (unfasten) the binding (the tie of cover that a book has) from an old case file.